July and Saying Goodbye!

We made many friends in Elko, Nevada.  I thought I would be thrilled when we finally were able to move back to Utah.  As it turns out I was happy to be back and be around family once again, but I balled like a baby. The day we moved our stuff to Utah we drove up over the ridge in Wendover, and I could see the town of Wendover and the Salt flats.  I was alone driving the truck, Spencer was in the Uhaul and Spencer's parents were in their car with Alex.  Tears streamed down my face.  We stopped at the gas station there to fill up for the rest of the trip to Bountiful Utah.  I got out of the truck and could not contain my emotions. I truly miss it! I miss my friends, I miss my wards (yes we had two different wards in the three years we lived there.) I missed the family like closeness that we all had. Alex still has not stopped asking about Adrianna, Christopher, Payton, Ella, among a few of his friends. We can't forget De Anna's puppies!  I think the move was really hard on him.  All he has ever known is Elko. We love you ALL!!!!!!

Payton and Alex holding hands.

Payton let me wear her princess shoes

Marty and Emily!

24th of July fireworks on the 23rd of July

Grandma and Grandpa

Culde-sac of Fire!

Road Trip to Washington
 to visit and help Brother and Sister in-law
and help them with their twins.
We drove up on my Birthday, the 24th of July.
This sign is just off the exit on the way to Malta Idaho, where Spencer's Dad grew up.
There is also these awesome Llama's there.

Elicia and I with the Llama!

Baby Vivienne

Rasberries

Blue Steel

I am so excited I decided to spit up!

  

Proud Papa! 

Proud Aunt Elicia!

Proud and excited Grandma with baby Laith!

Couldn't resist, I had Popeyes without Spencer

Living with the In-Laws

Check out my awesome hair

Alex had to have an oxygen test done to see if he was breathing okay while he slept.  He had his adnoids out last december and now they are trying to figure out if he needs his tonsils out.  Good news he past the test with flying colors!

2nd part of June 2012. The Craziest and Scariest Month of Our Married Lives!

Spencer was in the Young Men's Presidency in our Elko 3rd ward.  Being in  YM's there are a lot of adventures they get to go on.  Spencer was going to go with them on this river trip.  It was two wards combined.  I was excited to hear that the other ward was our previous ward and our good friend's son would be there too. When I first heard of it I was excited for him. My excitement was then dampened with a feeling of, well... I can't explain it, I just suddenly didn't want him to go.  I didn't know why. I just chalked it up to money, missing him, and week without him.

Charley the one on the left in this picture is the YM's President. He is an amazing person and spiritual giant. We prepared Spencer for his trip and bought him all the essentials he would need.  I loved the river trips I went on and had some great advice and fun stories to tell him.

Spencer and I drove to Utah on Friday two days before the troop would head up to Wyoming, because we had a family event.  Sunday I took Spencer into Salt Lake to meet up with the rest of the crew.  I gave him hugs and kisses goodbye and sent him on his way.  I still felt uneasy but this time chalked it up to just being a nervous ninny. I remember telling my mom, "Watch all those boys will be just fine on the trip, but my husband will be the one that gets hurt." How little did I know that those words were prophetic. I just felt it in my gut.

Of course I didn't expect to hear from Spencer until the end of the week. So I was off to my Mom's for a fun filled week with Alex and the girls.  Wednesday night I got a call around 5 pm.  The unknown number made me panic and immediately I picked it up. On the other end of the phone all I could hear is a soft quiet voice.  "Hi, how you doing?" I didn't welcome this voice with any excitement. I could tell something was wrong by the tone is Spencer's voice.  The next words out of his mouth were tearful and Shaky. "Charlie saved my life today." I about lost it.  Immediately he told me of the horrific experience that had almost taken my Spencer.

Spencer and Charlie were in a canoe together and apparently there was one set of rapids that just pounded there canoe with water.  As they came out of them with a canoe full of water, their canoe hit a rock and perched itself  sideways there. The guide came after them and continued down the river thinking everything seemed to be okay, and told them to just pull the canoe off the rocks, empty it, and continue down with the rest of them. Where they happened to be no one could see them.   Charlie climbed out the front, Spencer followed suite.  As Charlie got out, the position of the canoe shifted and Spencer fell over into the rushing water.  The rushing water pounded him under the canoe and into the rock that they were trapped on.  Spencer being 6'2", 200 lbs, and with a life jacket on, could not free himself from the rushing water.  As he puts it "I kept thinking I was coming out of the water so, I would go to take a breath and all I did is swallow more water, time after time."  This is where on the phone he told me that he felt he couldn't do anymore and he just gave up. He could not fight anymore and it all went black.   No one ever wants to hear these words over the phone. All I wanted to do is drive to Wyoming and get him.  I asked him if he was at the hospital. He assured me he was fine and that If I drove up that night We wouldn't be able to go home till Thursday and they were just going to be coming home early Saturday morning anyways. When he got home he told me the whole story and I took him to Insta Care to get him checked out.

Apparently when all went black for Spencer this is when Charlie realized he had gone under.  he made his way back to the canoe.  He held on to the edge of the canoe and made his was around to wear Spencer had gone under. Mind you Charlie could not touch in the deep water.  Spencer remembers Someone grab him by the hand like a firm handshake and yank him out of the water. Then someone yelling his name, and repeatedly yelling at him to breath, breath, breath.  Charlie being much smaller than Spencer tells a very different story than Spencer.  He said that he lifted Spencer from under his armpit and never yelled at him to breath.  Both will tell you that there was someone else there with them.  Charlie saved his life with a little help.  Who it was we can only speculate. Spencer said when he was out of the water he came to and started coughing up all the water.  Charlie gave him a big shove to the river bank and then someone else came down the river and helped to two of them. They said he was under the water over a minute. In some ways I think that Charlie was more traumatized than Spencer. Spencer panicked for a moment before things went black and Charlie was trying to save him. Needless to say.  neither of them finished the river trip.  They road in Charlies vehicle down the road and would take pictures of the boys on the river where they could.  Just goes to show you how men think and how women think.  The women would have canceled the rest of the trip.  Spencer said it wasn't that bad the rest of the river. Apparently the Man in charge of the whole river thing didn't hear the whole story until the last day and was shocked and said that they should have rushed him to the hospital to have him checked out. I AGREE! He had no idea that Spencer had actually "drowned".

After this all happened the stories from our friends came out of the woodworks. One of our friends apparently had a bad feeling that same morning and sat and prayed all day.  One of our friends had a bad feeling before his son left and he told him that he may not have the power to give a blessing, but that he could call the angels down from Heaven to help. The funny thing of it all, is that, that day was the only day since he had left that I felt at peace. I felt at peace until he called.

So in all this craziness, right before Spencer left to go on this trip on June 17th.  He was told that he was going to be transfered back to Utah and we basically got home from this, packed in one week, moved all of our stuff to Utah, came back to Elko cleaned and finalized everything in Elko and moved in with my parents in Utah the weekend of July 6th.