Christmas in Boise & Surviving a Major Car Crash to Ring in 2013

We headed to Boise this year for Christmas.  Jeff was fortunate enough to have extra PTO to use before the end of the year, so we were able to head go up for almost 2 weeks.  It was so nice to have a vacation from our routine lives at home.  

We stopped at my grandparent's house in Ogden on our way up to visit my grandma for a minute.  Shad loved her singing/ wiggling animals.  It was hilarious to watch him try to grab the moose's antlers, only to have them start flapping on him.   

Shad somehow stayed awake the whole way, probably due to the fact that he was watching Thomas the Train and The Lion King the whole way.  We got to Boise around 1am Friday morning (Dec 21st.)  

The first few days we spent running errands and enjoying one another's company.  Shad loved Bo.  He climbed in and out of his cage, wanted to play fetch and tug-o-war, feed him treats, etc.  Bo was really gentle with him.  He somehow knew Shad couldn't play as hard, and didn't hesitate to be patient with him.   

Nate spent a lot of time in the garage creating a gift for Brooke.  He made the word "LOVE" out of wood.  He did an awesome job.

Alex called the family via Skype on Sunday instead of Christmas (so his companion could call on Christmas instead and they could each have more time, I assume.)  It was fun to see him and talk to him for a few minutes, even though he isn't much of a talker...  

Shad hanging out with Tanner:

 I love the way Mom decorates for Christmas.  She has so many decorations everywhere.  I especially love the lights, and had to take pictures of them all:

My grandpa made these light balls a few years back.  I loved seeing them and thinking of him everytime we went outside.

Saturday night we all got together to make gingerbread houses.  I don't know why, but I just can't make a normal house.  I always have to come up with something else... I guess I like the challenge.  :)

I love this picture of Bo trying to see what's going on... or more just trying to eat my frosting...

My family has a Christmas Eve tradition of a fun finger food meal.  This year was no different.  

After dinner we read a few Christmas stories...

My dad read the story of Christ's birth from Luke 2...

My mom read the synopsis on this beautiful picture of Mary...

And then my mom finished by reading the Christmas Oranges story. 

Afterward all us kids piled in the car and went over to a nearby neighborhood to watch a light show.

Tanner opened his trunk and windows and blasted the music so all the bystanders could hear.  He got a lot of comments and thank yous from those who were able to enjoy the show because of his sweet system.  (There weren't speakers playing the music, so you had to have a radio to hear the music that the lights blinked to.) 

 Christmas morning we all slept in and came down late, after 10am!  We opened our stockings, which we all had a hand in filling this year.  

Shad had so much more fun with Christmas morning this year, it was so fun to watch him.  He loved tearing off the paper, and got much more excited about what was inside.

  

After stockings we followed tradition by eating delicious homemade cinnamon rolls.  

After which we went back to the living room to open the rest of the gifts from under the tree.

  

Tanner surprised us by getting Jeff and I and my parents tickets to the 3:15pm showing of Les Miserables!  It worked out that Nate and Brooke weren't super interested in seeing it so Tanner bought a ticket for himself and came with us and Nate and Brooke stayed behind to watch Shad.  It was a bummer not having them with us, especially on Christmas, but I'm glad we were able to go see it.  It was amazing!  I loved it!

Shad playing in the skiff of snow we got the day after Christmas in his new snow pants and boots:

  

  

Cutie pie:

Christmas toes!

The Thursday after Christmas we were able to get together with my good friend Kylie and meet her guy Dustin Langer.  We got to see his house, eat dinner, and catch up.   

Annie was also there, it was good seeing her too!

The next night (Friday) we went out to eat at PF Changs with Chrissy and Jon.  They had a large gift card they were nice enough to share with us, which made the meal that much better.  Afterwards we went to Yogurtz to get a little something sweet.  We were able to sit and chat with them for quite awhile between the two places and it was so nice to catch up!  Jeff and Jon really get along which makes it all the better!

On Saturday we ventured out into the freezing cold for a 3rd attempt in the past year for a family picture.  Even though it is obvious we were freezing, I think this time we finally have one good enough to put on the wall!  

  

 Shad loving his black beans:

Saturday after taking pictures we went out shooting.  Jeff has been patiently waiting since Black Friday to hold and shoot his new 10/22.  Even though he technically bought it, I wouldn't let him even look at it till Christmas... :)  Nate, Brooke, and Bo went too.  We also shot Jeff's shotgun.  I don't think my fingers or toes have ever been that cold, but we still had a lot of fun.

Ha ha I love my comedic brother...

We originally planned to leave on New Year's Day, but decided to go on New Year's Eve instead so we'd have a day at home to re-coup before Jeff had to go back to work on Wednesday, the 2nd.  It was nice to be driving most of the way during the day for once... we're so good at leaving late and usually it's dark majority of the drive. 

Beautiful sunset around Snowville:

We couldn't pass by Ogden without saying hi to my grandma real quick.  Luckily they don't live too far off the freeway.  

Even though the roads were dry and we were early enough to miss all the drunkards on the roads, we still ended up having a near-death experience on the freeway.  Just before the 200 North Kaysville exit, we were driving in the carpool lane when the car in front of us suddenly veered straight left into the median.  I can still picture it as it veered and crunched against the concrete barrier and bounced back into the carpool lane, screeching and sparking.  Jeff braked hard and was somehow able to barely miss the car, swerving around it and into the next lane.  We were lucky that no one happened to be in that lane at that moment for us to hit as we veered around the wrecked car.  We hit a rolling tire but missed the car and other debris.  We were able to pull over on the left shoulder just past the car.  We couldn't see any movement from the wrecked car so I was dumb enough to not think about my own safety, and I jumped out of our car and ran along the shoulder toward it.  When I was about 50 yds away another car came flying down the carpool lane and t-boned the first car sending it back into the median barrier, while that second car flew across all lanes of traffic without hitting anyone and slammed into the right barrier on the other side of the freeway.  I'm pretty sure my heart jumped out of my chest and I was frozen in my tracks, I almost turned around and ran straight back to my car.  I was close enough though and the first car was now out of the carpool lane and mostly on the shoulder, so I kept going.  When I got up to the car there were 3 people climbing out of the car, and I assured that they were all seemingly alright, so I went back to my car.  I was standing on the drivers side talking to Jeff briefly when I looked back at the 1st wrecked car and saw a mini van that ran over debris in the road which instantly punctured their tire, causing them to turn and veer straight toward our car.  It was driving rim on concrete and screeching the whole way.  I had time to tell Jeff, "you're going to get hit!" and to picture myself getting crushed between our car and the median, but not enough time to actually move or jump over the median or act in any way...  Somehow the driver was able to force the car to swerve around our car, completely missing it, before stopping on the shoulder in front of us.  I got back in our car then and was in shock.  I couldn't keep from shaking or crying for a few minutes.  We decided then that it would be best to get away from that side of the freeway.  Luckily by then the traffic was bottle-necking enough that it was slowing down so we could cross all lanes and stop on the other side.  We found 3-4 other cars on that side that had varying degrees of body damage from hitting debris in the road.  The highway patrol had us all get off the next exit and stop at a park and ride to fill out police reports.  It didn't take long for all three wrecked vehicles to be up on tow trucks and off the freeway.  Somehow every single person involved was able to walk away from the accidents.  An older couple driving the second car both had back/ chest pain, but didn't require an ambulance.  It was a huge blessing for all in that regard.  I was the only person that actually saw all 3 cars wreck, and we were in the middle of it all and somehow came out completely unscathed.  It was a miracle.  We feel so very lucky and incredibly blessed!

 We finally got to Lehi around 8:45pm.  It was surreal to think about what just happened and to be able to finish the drive and hang out with family like normal.  We were so fortunate!

Tylie was so excited to see Shad when we arrived, it was so cute: 

  

Amy and Ty had us for Christmas this year, and Amy made Shad this awesome dinosaur beanie!  I love it! 

After watching the ball drop and enjoying a New Year's kiss, we stayed up chatting till about 1am with everyone, even though we were exhausted.  Jeff's mom talked us into staying over-night, which wasn't hard, since it had started snowing and the roads were probably slick and full of crazies, Rick and Nikki were also staying over, and going home to a cold house with a car full of stuff that needed to be unloaded didn't sound all that awesome.  

The next morning we enjoyed a pancake breakfast and a wrestling match before heading home.    

 Cody invited Jeff to a movie that afternoon, and while they were gone Rick came over to use our garage to change the oil in his car.  Unfortunately he tried pulling out of the garage with his trunk open, and the bike rack on his trunk caught on our garage door, breaking the cable at the top and warping the metal.  He and I tried to fix it a little, but to no avail.  When Jeff and Cody got home, Cody took one look at it and determined that it was very similar to something that had happened to his, and he and Jeff were able to mostly fix it!  It's still a little warped and makes a lot more noise than it used to, but at least it's working and we don't have to park outside, especially since it's been in the negative degree range overnight lately!  

 It's been a challenge getting back into our normal routine since getting home on Tuesday, but luckily we left our house clean so all we had to do right off was laundry.  :)  

Merry Christmas to all!  After our near-death experience we're feeling especially grateful this year that we made it to 2013 together!  Happy New Year!