The best disaster we ever had

Warning: this is a super long post, and there aren't even any pictures, consider yourself warned.

So a few months ago (I know, I haven't blogged for ages, don't judge I've only blogged 7 times this whole year, there is going to be some catch up- get used to it:) My friend Jenny had a great idea. Our friend Kim was on bed rest because of a pregnancy, and Jenny thought that we should get together and make a bunch of freezer meals and take to her so that her wonderful husband wouldn't have to stress over what to make for dinner every night. What a good friend Jenny is to think of that, right? But there was one little issue - not a problem exactly, just a hurdle to get over - and that is location. I live in Monticello, Jenny lives in Nephi (about 5 hours away) and Kim lives in Lehi (about an hour from Jenny's house). No big deal, right? We made plans for Stacy (my partner in crime) and I to go to Jenny's for the weekend- with our collective 4 children, and our freezer meals and make a little vacation out of it. When we got to Jenny's the plan was to pack up and go to Kim's for a little girls night IN and leave all the kids (collectively 6 counting Jenny's) with Jenny's SAINT of a husband (notice I chose saint, not crazy man to describe him, he didn't have a clue what he was getting into by volunteering, so this was before they drove him crazy, and he was just a nice guy at that point.) We pretty much had things planned out the week before. My explorer, had been in the shop getting a new axel which should have been taken care of a couple of years ago when Gary Thornbaum ruined my joy, but wasn't. But it ended up getting done a few days before we left, so everything was fine. I picked Stacy and her kids up early on Saturday morning, Stacy reminded us to have a prayer, and we were on our way. The kids were getting along, the weather was perfect, Stacy had an arsenal of food stashed in her purse- life was great... until I thought the car was steering a little funny. I started worrying that maybe the tire hadn't been put on tightly enough or something, so I pulled over to take a look. Why do I do that? Of course I didn't see anything, not that I would have even known what I was seeing if something had been wrong. Anything short of the tire sitting at an obvious angle would totally have escaped me, but it made me feel better anyway, so I got back in the car and kept driving. We were right in the middle of Salina Canyon which is a series of twists and turns, and gets ZERO cell service when a strange grinding noise started up. Once again I pulled over, and this time both Stacy and I got out to "check things out". Of course we didn't see anything, so Stacy Laid down on the ground (remember, we are on the freeway here) and I pulled forward slightly while she looked under the car for anything out of the ordinary. Her poor kids thought I was leaving her behind, and  even though I assured them I wasn't, they never did feel really at ease with me for the rest of the trip. Of course she didn't see anything wrong, and of course we didn't get any cell service, so the only thing we could think of to do was to nurse it along until we could get some help. This was a little nerve-wracking as the turns in the road made it impossible for the other cars to see us until they rounded the corner and there we were creeping along at a snails pace on the side of the road- but we all said another prayer, and kept on going. Finally, a highway patrolman came up behind us and called a tow truck for us, and then waited with us for about an hour while we waited for the tow truck to get there. Stacy's poor kids were a wreck by then, thinking we were going to die with each semi that passed us. They were good kids though, and handled it pretty well all things considered - Stacy's endless supply of treats helped too - she was like Mary Poppins with that thing, it was amazing. Finally the tow truck got us loaded, it was a super cool truck with a back seat for the kids- who were thinking the whole situation was pretty much the best thing that had ever happened at that point, and Stacy and I got to cuddle up front with the driver. It was good times:) During our 7 mile trip in the tow truck (that's right, we were only 7 MILES from Salina - had we known that we may have tried to nurse the car the rest of the way instead of waiting for a truck.) the driver told us what good luck we were having - not kidding. First, it was nearly a miracle that there was a highway patrolman out  on that stretch of the freeway on a Saturday morning, and secondly, there is hardly ever a mechanic on duty on a Saturday, but they just happened to have a guy in the shop working on a special order who said he would look at the car for us. So really, we were having some good luck! :) They hoisted the car up and I stuck around to see what they had to say about it while Stacy took the kids next door to Subway for some lunch. (there were some old guys playing cards around a table in the mechanics shop and they had some pretty colorful language, so she took the risk of handling all 4 kids on her own rather than running the risk that any of that might be repeated by the little guys at a later date. And can I just say right now, I really would not have made it through this weekend without Stacy's help. I was SO LUCKY to have her on this disaster with me.:) I waited a few minutes before the mechanic called me over to look at what the trouble was. The car was on a lift, and the guy walked over to the tire and with one hand wiggled the tire several inches. (it's not supposed to do that) It turns out that earlier in the week the guys who had "fixed" my car had not tightened a bolt which after driving it for a while had caused a baring to go out. If we had driven any farther on it there could have been some serious damage, maybe even lost the wheel as we drove 80MPH down the freeway - not pretty! AND to add to our list of miracles, instead of having to order the part in, like they normally would have had to, which would have at least taken us until Monday, they happened to have a part in a town about 20 minutes away! So after about three more hours of the kids being SO good, and Stacy and I exercising our good mom skills letting them pick junk up around a nearby truck stop, climbing up on top of a giant Indian statue, and bribing them with ice cream, we were on our way once again! Oh, wait, did I forget to mention the FOOD in the BACK OF THE CAR? That's right, folks, in order to make the most of our time with the girls Stacy and I had both made several freezer meals at home and packed them along with us. Luckily they survived the towing, the fixing, and the drive, and arrived still frozen and no worse for wear. I'd say the fact that we didn't end up with sweet and sour chicken all over the car and our luggage is, in fact, ANOTHER MIRACLE:)
So we finally got to Jenny's house, visited, cooked, took care of some things, left poor Cade with all 6 kids, and headed out to Kim's house. It was pretty late by the time we got there, but we picked up some salads, appetizers, and EVERY kind of wings they sell at Applebees, and crashed Kim's little family for some girl time. It was SO much fun catching up and laughing and eating and laughing, and more laughing. Finally, not too long after midnight, we left Kim who promised to keep her little guy in there for a few more weeks, and headed back to Jenny's. We got there safe and sound, and went to bed. The next morning we woke up to... SNOW!!! Not Southern Utah- Desert snow, but Thick, heavy, wet snow, and LOTS of it. (The stinkin' weather man had PROMISED it wouldn't snow until Monday - that guy should be fired!) But we trudged through it and made it to church. The ward was pretty nice and things went pretty well until Relief Society when some crazy lady who had been using drugs (not at church... I don't think, but maybe before) fell asleep and wouldn't wake up and almost dropped her tiny little baby on his head and gave Stacy an aneurysm. I'm not kidding, it's true. I mean, the drug mom, not the aneurysm is true. But the RS presidency seemed to be taking care of it after the meeting so we gathered everyone up and headed back to Jenny's house. THEN my mom called and told us that Kim had her baby! WHAT! That wasn't the plan! And he was WAY tiny- 2lbs, 13 oz- and Kim was not doing very well. And we were hoping it wasn't the wings or the laughing or t he dancing on the tables that did it. (Kim I told you not to drop it like it's hot!:) And then Stacy had a stroke.
... BUT we pulled it back together and said some more prayers and headed on our way. We were worried about the weather, but the roads were actually pretty good most of the way. The trip was LONG, and by the end everyone was TOTALLY ready to get home. (and I may or may not have pulled the car over and yelled that anyone who couldn't quit fighting had to get out and walk home... in the snow... in the dark) But we made it, and we were safe, and no one had to walk.
But, the silver lining that took this from a really bad trip to a pretty cool experience happened the next night at Family Home Evening. It was Adia's turn to give the lesson, and when she said it was about prayer I wasn't surprised at all - she always gives the lesson about prayer or temples. But when she started giving the lesson she talked about our trip, and all of the prayers we said, and what we had prayed for and how all of those prayers had been answered in one way or another. I knew that my kids had a testimony of prayer before this, but to hear Adia's lesson I realized that she not only had the faith to expect miracles, but the understanding of how they come. She gets it! And this experience had made an impact on her. She had really given thought to the things that had happened, and I think (and hope) it will have a profound impact on the rest of her life.
And while I don't know what happened to the drug mom from church, I am happy to say that both Kim and tiny baby Grant were eventually able to go home to their sweet family.

*and tune in later this week for the rest of the story about what happened with my car...