Britney

This is the driver's side of the car. Don't zoom in if you are squeamish. You can see blood. I'm not trying to freak anyone out, but this picture really impacted me.

Britney and My dad. I love seeing her attempt a smile. This picture shows one of the very few coherent moments she's had.

Our Life:

Not much has been happening with our little family in blogger land lately. Wes was able to land a terrific job (still with Rocky Mountain Power) in Preston, ID which means we are moving back to Smithfield!! To say this makes me jump for joy is the understatement of the century. We are still experiencing some mixed feelings about the move. For one, I. HATE. MOVING. For another, I actually really sort of fell in love with Montpelier and I never expected that to happen. The people are wonderful, the pace is gloriously slow and steady, and the library is hands-down the BOMB. Add living 20 minutes away from Fare Lake (Bear Lake- that's Kolton's special name for it) and the fact that living an hour or so away from family can be really wonderful at times, and we have a full scale recipe for hemming and hawing. Despite all the wonders of Montpelier, though, I feel positively giddy to come back to our old Ward and eventually our home, which is currently being rented out. The move is scheduled to happen on March 26th, but that is likely to change because of something that happened in the wee hours of Saturday morning, March 4th.

My little sister, Britney, and I had the wonderful chance to hang out a little on Friday night and she drove me around to get my car serviced and she and I talked about her plans to take an impromptu trip with her girlfriend, Megan, to California. They were going to leave at 3am on Saturday, the 4th and drive home some time on Sunday (today). After much deliberation and giddy excitement, they decided that sleep wasn't necessary and that they would leave at 11pm Friday night. She slept for a few hours and I woke her up at 9:30 so she could get ready to go. Now, for some background, Britney is 22 and was married at age 20 but her hubby decided that he wasn't jive with marriage anymore and they split up last April, with the divorce being finalized in August of 2010. Since then, she has been working as a waitress and living with my parents. Thankfully, there were no children caught up in this, but she wants to be a mommy so bad, and I hated to see that dream taken from her, even though I know she will fulfill that dream some day. (sorry, the later it is, the more long-winded I am). So, I gave my sweet little sis a hug and butt pat and left to go to our new apartment (in the basement of my in-laws' home) where we commenced to unpack the first of many boxes.

The next morning, Saturday, I received an urgent call from my youngest sister, Keli (age 20) saying that Brit had been in an accident. There is no preparation for that feeling in your gut like you just swallowed a brick. Even though I'm an optimist for the most part, I knew that this was serious. All we could do was wait to find out where they were going to life-flight her to. The accident had occurred at 5am in Battle Mountain, Nevada. Finally, after noticing significant amounts of blood in her urine, they decided to take the faster route and transfer her to Reno, NV instead of Salt Lake City, which would have cost her an extra 15 min. My parents left to drive to Reno and my brother, Russell used his frequent flyer miles to fly out on the first available flight. Britney's condition is considered 'severe' because she has four fractured ribs, a punctured spleen, bruised liver, fluid around her kidneys and lungs, and a crushed pelvis and hip bone. This is what they know so far. They are taking her in for surgery on her pelvis tomorrow and will get some additional x-rays at that time to check for a possible broken shoulder, arm, and femur. If you will bear with me, I will explain how the wreck happened as far as I know from what Britney's friends, my family, and the cops have told us:

Britney's friend, Brian, was driving the car (we didn't know boys were going on this trip- tsk tsk, Brit) and his friend, Stephen was riding shotgun. Brit's friend, Megan was behind the passenger seat and Britney was, for reasons unknown, buckled in to the middle seatbelt rather than the one behind the driver. From what I've been told, Brian fell asleep while driving on the freeway and ran into a barrier that divided the lanes. The impact of the initial hit made Britney's seatbelt pop and she was ejected from the car and flew 140 ft into a nearby area (thankfully, not the road) and the passenger was ejected from the car as well. The car flipped up and landed driver's-side-down on the barrier. The impact killed Brian, and would have killed Britney had she not been thrown. Stephen is, as far as I know, doing okay, and Megan is prepping to have surgery to fix a broken wrist and shoulder tomorrow. My heart breaks for Brian and his family. It also breaks because I know how tough this will be on Britney when she learns of it. Mentally, she is not aware of much at all right now. Miraculously, she woke up tonight and announced that she was hungry! Up til now all she has said is, 'thank you' 'yes' and 'no.' When her friends spoke to her tonight and said they had a care package for her, she responded, "Oh, no! I didn't get anything for you!". I was blessed with an opportunity to talk with her tonight. She doesn't sound much like herself because she is swollen on her face, but it meant so much to me to know I had the chance to tell her how much I love her. To think how close I came to losing her scares me so much I almost can't breath. My family is everything to me and I realize it now, more than ever, how crucial it is to spread that love on a daily basis. My sister, Keli, and I are staying at my mom's house this week to care for my grandma while my mom and dad are in Reno. To keep our worried heads busy, we are going to make Britney a very fun crazy quilt that we can give her when they transfer her to SLC, which will hopefully be within a week or two. If anyone in blogger land has spare fabric to share, please comment and let me know ! Okay, I know I'm officially tired when I type the same sentence twice. Okay, I know I'm officially tired when I type the same sentence twice. Thanks so much for all the love and support and prayers so many of you have already offered on Britney's behalf. I will do my best to keep everyone updated.

Lots of love,

Tab