One crazy trip

We're a little overdue with a post, so I hope this is a good one. We have good news after all: a wedding!

Tommy and Carly, some of our best friends, got married yesterday morning and it was fantastic. Of course, it was a little traumatic getting to the wedding, as we had an accident.

We left Thursday around noon to get to Rexburg. Carly was receiving her endowment at 5:30 and we wanted to get there with plenty of time to go through with her. Becky was super excited as she LOVES the Rexburg temple and has not been able to do a session there yet. So off we went!

Around 3:30 we were 30 miles out of Pocatello and we had passed all the snow on the ground, but it had just started to rain/hail. All of a sudden, the front of the car started moving to the side of the road. Thinking I was just drifting a bit, I corrected my wheel to realize: I was not in control of a car moving at 80 mph with my wife and child inside.

Luckily there was no metal railing. We went off into the gravel and slid while the car spun completely around (360 degrees here)and stopped just off the shoulder of the oncoming freeway. Luckily the car didn't roll and shook very little, and we were all okay (just very shaken). Chloe, the person we worried about the most, was of course the best off as she slept through the entire ordeal (including Becky's scream!) and was strapped down tight.

Well, the tire popped off the bead and the metal was on the ground, so we drove to the shoulder and I figured out where the spare and jack were. A man stopped to help and was very kind, even giving me a pair of gloves to use. Turns out! Our spare was flat as well. A policeman came to the scene and actually drove to the nearest town and filled up our spare and brought it back. He refrained from giving me a ticket saying he appreciated that I was honest with him when I told him what happened. We got in the car and drove slowly to Pocatello, where they told us that the tire had no punctures or tears and was actually still full of air, just popped off the bead. They pulled rocks out from between our other tires and rims and put the tire back on free of charge while the women inside doted on Chloe. We thanked them and were off to Rexburg; leaving around 5:15.

While we missed the session, we were so blessed during that ride. Becky's mom had put our names in the temple the day before and we prayed for safety before we left and our prayers were so obviously answered that it's incredible. Every time I think about it, I can't believe how much we were looked after and am so grateful for it. There have been more blessings than we can count, and I know that God truly does look after His children.

We made it to Rexburg and were surprised with more blessings. We spent some time with old friends from WA, and it was late before we finally were going to the home we were going to stay at in Rigby. Bro. White, the father of the bride, a good friend of Becky's dad and an amazing person was kind enough to get us a hotel room so we wouldn't have to do any more driving that night. We crashed.

The next day was the wedding. It was beautiful! And simple and just a good spiritual time. I always like to watch the parents rather than the couple during sealings. I think it's much more impressive and moving.

We took pictures in freezing wind and snow and then had a great lunch. I was able to spend a lot of time with my old friend Alex on the trip and that was great, and seeing the newlyweds was fantastic as well. After some errands and visits, we caravaned back home with Alex's parents and made it home very late but in one piece. The Bushes were kind enough to be patient with Becky feeding Chloe and putting up with my new found paranoia, and now we're home safe and sound.

Anyway, I have learned three things this short trip: be grateful for your family every second, old friendships are more than worth renewing, and God is watching us all and will take care of us.

God bless you all, especially the happy newlyweds.