Car Wreck

Yesterday Preston basically finished his semester other than his Stats final next week! All the hard stuff is done though yay! So, he text me and said I could come pick him up early, which was very exciting. I had grand plans of finishing all our Christmas lights outside and making dinner together then watching the new episode of Psych together. But, life happened. I ran into major traffic from a car wreck that must've barely happened so it took about 45 minutes to get to school instead of the normal 20. And the wreck was right on the corner of campus! So, on our way home, we went a different way because the road we usually take was closed by campus. There we were driving in 5 o'clock traffic on a main road. We were just talking away about who knows what at a red light about a mile away from home when BOOM! we were rear-ended while we were stopped at a red light. The lady was going pretty fast (it's a 45 mph zone) and must not have been paying attention because she hit us hard enough to make us hit the car in front of us and bounce back into her. We had the whole family in the car - Me, Preston, Brayden AND Sadie. Totally lame. Brayden started screaming, Sadie must have leaked because the car WREAKS and Preston and I were trying to figure out what just happened. It was one of those crazy, time stands still moments. I know it all happened it the matter of a couple seconds if that, but it seems like I had time to think of all sorts of things and figure out why I wasn't talking anymore and why I was getting thrown around and to brace myself for hitting the car infront of us. I was sure the car would look awful because it felt like a really hard hit.

When I first got out the car didn't look bad at all. The gas door was opened and it looked like the bumper was popped out of place, but nothing major. But I was wrong. On the outside it's not much, but here's all the damages that we've discovered so far:

• The bumper rubs against the tire
• the passenger side back door won't open because the car is too smushed together.
• The Radiator was knocked out of place and vibrates on the engine, which the cop (so super nice, by the way!) informed us would be enough reason not to drive our car even to the shop. 
• The other back door won't shut unless you really slam it.
• The "door ajar" light is always on
• The automatic lock makes noise like it's trying to work, but the doors won't really lock (better than not unlocking, right?)
• Brayden's car seat (which we now need to replace) was totally jammed up into the front seat because the car is literally squished together even though you can't tell from pictures.
• The little storage compartment popped out of it's socket

Doesn't look bad, right?

bumper rubbing tire

the engine. . . I honestly don't know where the radiator is. . . :D

The door is jammed so it won't open

Brayden's car seat pushed up against the front seat. I had to move the seat all the way forward to get the car seat out.

Our lovely storage bin came out yet again. . . :(

Yes, everything is "closed tightly"

the biggest denting that happened. Not too much as far as that goes, but the other things are evidence of the impact.

So, it really doesn't look like much, but the cop said that he wouldn't be surprised if they call it totaled. 

 Good news? Other than being shaken up both literally and figuratively, we all seem to be fine. It's hard to know with Brayden and Sadie because they can't talk to us. But, Brayden didn't have a concussion and has been up to his normal mischief :)

I should also mention how grateful we were that everyone involved was very pleasant to work with. The lady took full responsibility and felt So awful. You could just see her worry all over her. And she apologized over and over and assured us her insurance would take care of everything. The other guy that we hit was very down to earth and made sure we all shared info and was also nice. The cop was probably the most friendly cop I've ever met and was equally nice to everyone involved, including the lady who caused it. He followed us home to make sure our car made it and told us several of his cops live in our neighborhood. We know of at least 4, but he said there were 6-8 in our tiny neighborhood!! He assured us that there's "not a safer place to live in Leon county." That always makes you feel good. Especially when you have a car that won't lock :) Anyway, now I'm kinda babbling, but it's making me feel better, so I hope it's not too boring. 

The main update is that WE are fine. Our car not so fine, but we haven't gotten it in to get an estimate yet. Still waiting on insurance to call us back. . . 

Thanks for your love and prayers! I'm sure they helped protect us yesterday! It was one hard hit!

Thanksgiving

Being so far away from family, we planned on having our own Thanksgiving dinner maybe with some friends. But, then we found out that Preston's parents were planning on driving to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with Dad's parents. If they can drive from Utah, we figured we could drive from Florida and spend the holiday with family. So, Wednesday morning we set out on our journey. It took us about 13.5 hours to get there and we were all glad to get out of the car. Unfortunately we were greeted by a very sick Grandma Brown. Although we didn't realize how sick until Thanksgiving morning when she collapsed a couple of times. Preston and Dad took her into the hospital where she stayed the whole weekend. We put off our big dinner until Saturday in hopes that Grandma could be there, but unfortunately they wanted to keep her a little longer. So, most of the break we spent playing games with Mom and helping out Grandpa (usually Grandma takes care of him) while Dad spent a lot of time at the hospital with Grandma. It wasn't exactly how we had pictured the weekend going, but we still enjoyed our time there and were probably even more grateful that we went.

What a blessing that we were all there when Grandma needed us. What a blessing that Preston and I went so that Mom wasn't left practically alone just making sure Granpa didn't need anything. What a blessing that we could be reminded of some more things we have to be grateful for. . . Grandma's life, our health, etc. Although it wasn't what most would consider a great Thanksgiving, I think it was just how it was meant to be and wouldn't have it any other way. Plus, I had a great time. Other than having to keep an extra close eye on Brayden in a not baby-proofed home, it was very much a vacation. I feel the most sorry for Grandma who was so excited to have family for Thanksgiving and instead spent it recovering in the hospital. The good news is that she was doing MUCH better when we left and is probably home now, although we haven't heard for sure. She seemed so happy and optimistic when we visited her. That's a true example.

We did manage to have our Thanksgiving on Saturday after the BYU vs. Utah football game and it was SO yummy! Here's a few pics from our weekend adventure.

4 generations of Browns

Thanksgiving Day

Cute bib from Grammy & Grandpa Stevens

We looked over once to find this scene. . . he climbed up there himself!

Brayden likes to watch football

A universal walker :)

BYU vs. Utah game

Me and Sadie during the game

Thanksgiving Dinner! Oh, and uncle Stan drove into town from Michigan so he could take care of Mom and Dad until everything got figured out. So, he got there just in time for our dinner :)

The family. . . dogs and all.