Lucky to be Alive
*It's coooold in North Dakota - this is what all the windows looked like after driving throught the night - and this was on a "warm" weekend!*
*Waiting for Kevin to come get us at the entrance to the base - after 18 hours of travel!*
Kevin had to let us in at the entrance to the base, so we tricked him into coming without knowing it was us - he thought it was an aunt and uncle who live closer to them. He kept staring at the car, not knowing what to think. When David finally got out - he jumped out of his car and they both got huge smiles and gave each other big hugs. When we got to their house, we all filed in the side door into the garage, and Chrissy was in shock - her eyes scanned over all 7 of us in surprise and then she just started screaming and hugging everyone. It was SO worth it to surprise them! They made us a wonderful breakfast of french toast with homemade bread and then we all showered and napped for the rest of the morning.
* Our wonderful french toast breakfast.*
*Baby April smiling as we all 'oohed & aahed' over her.*
*Our wonderful dinner with Uncle Mick & Aunt Donna.*
We spent the afternoon and evening playing with April, talking, and preparing & eating meals. It was so nice for everyone to be together and to see their home and their new baby. On Sunday, we went to the blessing and then left to drive home right after Sacrament Meeting. Chrissy had packed us plenty of food, so we only had to stop for gas every 4 hours or so.
*The priesthood holders from our family who participated in the blessing: Chris, Kevin, David, & Uncle Mick.*
Around 11pm, the weather was kind of snowy, and when we stopped at the gas station we spent a while trying to decide if we should keep driving or not. After talking to some locals, checking the internet, calling 511, and saying a prayer, we decided to keep going. When we reached the entrance to Yellwstone, the snow had stopped and we were feeling pretty good about the drive. We were in 4-wheel drive just to be safe, and were also going about 15 -20 miles under the speed limit. We hadn't slipped even a little bit, and we were driving really cautiously and watching for deer.
*This picture was just one taken on the drive up, but it shows how high the snow was piled along the sides of the road.*
So - we came around a turn going about 45 miles an hour, and the car just hit some ice and started sliding. We had absolutely no control over it. David was trying to turn the wheel and tap the breaks, but the vehicle was completely out of control. We ended up heading straight for a drop-off on the edge, which we would have just flipped over and rolled down if it weren't for the snow banks that were built up really high from the snow plows. We still should have rolled in the SUV we were in, but instead we just ended up hitting hard and then spinninng around and hitting again. The airbags deployed on the first hit, and it was a huge whirl of crashes and hard hits combined with some really fast spinning which was all a big blur of screaming and jerking and slamming into the snowbank wall. It was so scary and we thought for sure that someone/everyone would be dead. When the car finally stopped, I had inhaled a ton of powder and smoke from the airbags, so I just looked over and saw that David was okay, and then I jumped out and just ran away from the car coughing. David said that he was so relieved to see me jump out because when we saw the snowbank rushing towards us at 45 MPH, he thought for sure that he'd killed me.
Anyway, Everyone was able to get out of the vehicle, we had lots of head bumps and some seat belt burns and people shaking and hyperventillating and going into shock, but no really serious body injuries. We are incredibly lucky to be alive. We ended up getting help into the closest little town, West Yellowstone, by a really nice snow plow driver, where we spent the night all crammed into a tiny hotel room. We slept with the lights on because the girls were having nightmares. The whole experience was very traumatic for everyone, there is no way to describe the feeling of having your life literally flash before your eyes. I was really concerned about the baby - my only bodily damage is a bruised hand from the air bag, but I was shaking and my stomach was cramping, and I had bled a little. There wasn't a hospital or anything for about 70 miles, so I just called the on-call OB and he just said to try to relax and to call an ambulance to get me to the hospital if the bleeding increased. I also got a blessing - I was so lucky to be with two worthy priesthood holders. 
*This was part of the drive home on Monday after the accident - we were all on edge as we drove through the rest of Yellowstone - it was a long, stressful, and emotional 6 hour ride to get the rest of the way home. We were all watching the road feeling panicked almost the whole time.*
We ended up getting home late in the day on Monday, and I was checked by the OB on Tuesday and she said that everything looked great and that the baby was fine. That was the best news that I'd heard...it was extremely traumatic to have to try to stay calm for a day and a half while waiting to hear if my baby was still alive and okay. As for everyone else, they are all doing okay physically besides lots of bruises, whiplash, and a concussion. However, everyone is pretty emotionally traumatized still. We must all have more work to do in this life because we honestly all should have been killed in that accident. I know that Heavenly Father was watching over us and protecting us late this last Sunday night as we drove home, and I am so incredibly grateful that my husband and family are alive and well.
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