Reminder Of So Many Things...

A few lessons learned this weekend....

Family is so important and is the MOST important thing to me
Life is short
Life is fragile
Be grateful for all things
And the biggest lesson learned...
Wear your seat belts.

Overall, it really was a great weekend. We have so many thing to be grateful for this weekend. Not that I needed any more reminders of how fragile and short life is.

This Friday we went up to my sister-in-law, Starla's, cabin with their family. We ate some yummy food and just hung out and talked. Eric's brother, Doug and his wife Lori, also joined us for a little while. Later, Eric and I had fun playing Peanut with York and Sebastian, and for some odd reason we lost?

The next morning Eric, myself, and the little kids took a drive. We saw a mamma moose and her baby. It was such a great way to start a morning. When we returned to the cabin, everyone ate breakfast and we headed up the canyon on the 4-wheelers. We were going to play with the air soft guns and shoot the shot gun. I have to say I love the air soft guns and I think we will be getting some.
My kids enjoyed shooting them and hitting the cups over. I think the best part was when Starla told Eric to run so she could shoot him and try out the new automatic air gun. The funny part was that he did actually run.
He now has 3 welts on his back. We did have one more accident when Cache put his hand in front of the air soft gun and Eric did not know and took a shot.He has a little hole in his hand it is a little bruised. Uncle/Dr. Scott fixed him up good and was perfectly fine once the bandage was on. We soon brought out the big shotgun. This was my first time shooting a gun. I am not a huge fan of guns, but I have to admit, it was fun. Mason also had a chance to shoot his first gun as well. The boys all did great and hit their pigeons and cups. I did not do so well, but that is ok, maybe next time. When we got back the little ones all took turns riding the horses.


































That is when the chaos began...


The 3 teenage boys, York, Brandon, and Sebastian, went down the road to get some gas for the 4-wheelers. This is where the reminder that life is fragile and short. As we were all sitting outside watching the kids ride the horses, Starla received a call from Sebastian. He had said that they had gotten into a wreck and they needed us to come over. The cell phone had bad reception and it kept cutting out. I told Strala I would go with her. We defiantly had a different image of what we thought we would see and what we did see. We thoughtit was going to be a little fender bender. When we pulled up we saw something much worse. Something, at the time, I could not even process. I saw a truck flipped over, but I just could not get a handle on the fact it was their truck. We had almost ran into the down electrical wire. There where so many fire trucks, cops, and ambulances that my mind was trying really hard to process what had happened. I saw Sebastian, York, and their 2 dogs, Bear and Romeo, but we didn't see Brandon. He was in the ambulance getting checked out. He was fine; they all were. From there, things just seemed to happen fast. Everyone who saw said they where all lucky to be alive. They were alive for one reason and one reason alone, SEAT BELTS. Before they had left the driveway, Brandon told the other 2 boys one thing, "Put on your seat belts or my mom will kill me!" I bet he never knew those words would save his life, his brother's life, and his cousin's life. It takes a lot for a teenager to listen to their mom and also tell their peers to do it. I can't tell you how grateful and proud I am of him. He may have been driving that day, but he saved 3 lives by doing one simple thing. Listening to his mom! We really do know what we are talking about. The accident was not his fault. It was on a road, where in my opinion, the speed limit is too high. He was going under the speed limit from what the by standards had said. There was a curve where the road forks and in the middle of the fork, is gravel. Some of the gravel had made its way onto the road. When he hit the gravel he fish tailed. He over corrected and hit the electrical pole which sent them flipping. It was just an accident. He was not doing anything wrong, his eyes were on the road, and he was paying attention. Brandon had said that once he hit the pole they all kind of blacked out and thought they where dead. The other 2 boys said that, in the truck, Brandon took control when they came to and acted like an adult. Asked if they were ok, and told them they needed to get out because the car was full of smoke. Brandon kicked out the first window got out, helped his brother out, and then York had to kick out his window to get out. They all walked away alive. It was a miracle and I truly believe this was from Brandon telling the boys to wear seat belts and God. There is no other reason for it. I am forever grateful to have them all alive. We are very blessed.

I have not known Brandon and Sebastian long, but I have had an instant love for them. They are my nephews and I would have been devastated to had anything happened to any of them. I am so grateful to have them and their family in our lives. All 3 of them will forever share a bond that will never be forgotten. I will always be grateful for Brandon and his courage to listen to his mother. They are such a wonderful family and I am so happy that we have had a chance to get to know them and I look forward to the wonderful more memories we will create together.