Tender Mercies From The Lord - Near Death Experience

Today I could have lost my life on a way to a session.  It has been a long evening.  I am a ball of nerves still, I’m hoping that as I write I will be able to let go of some of the pent up tension.  I left my house this afternoon at 2:45 with my car loaded up with goodies to head to the snow for a special maternity session.

Tender mercy number one, I thought better of taking Sara (with me and waited until Emily got home from school to care for her).  I am so glad I didn't have her with me.  I had planned for a 45 minute trip.  It wasn't until using my navigation system that I realized the trip would be more like 1 1/2 hours.  So I was making up for lost time trying to get to my appointment on time by speeding a little.  At Eatonville the snow started coming down.  I slowed to about 30 mph as it had become difficult to see.

Tender mercy number two, David had just a month before replaced my headlights with brighter bulbs, polished the plastic on the headlights so that they shown brighter and applied a rain ex coating to my windshield.  Without those two things I don’t know that I would have been able to see.  Right at Alder Lake I lost control of my car and started fishtailing back and forth ALL OVER THE ROAD.

Tender mercy number three, there were no other cars on the road.  I went back and forth between both lanes barely managing not to spin out of control.  If there had been cars behind me or coming the other direction I would have been hit and likely would have gone off the cliff into the frozen lake below.  I STILL feel like I have adrenaline pumping through my veins and it has been several hours.  There is a sickness still in my stomach at the thought at what almost happened.  At that point I wanted to go back home.  I called Dave first, because I needed comfort.  My phone didn't have any reception.  Without being able to reach my clients I felt like I had to go on.  Honestly I didn't know if when the weather hit they had decided to turn around or not.  But just the idea of having to strand my clients without a heads up with a phone call was enough to make me continue on.  I drove on nervously.  At Mineral the snow was coming down so hard and fast that there were already several inches of snow on the ground.  I was driving very slowly and carefully.  Again I wanted to turn around thinking about what the road conditions would be on my return trip home scared me. Right outside the park entrance for Rainier  I was stopped by a huge fallen tree blocking the road.  It took 15 minutes for the crew to clear it.  All the while I kept looking at the clock.  I hate being late, I hate not being dependable.  I was in a fit.  I made it to the park entrance  just a few miles away from my meeting spot with my clients, 15 minutes after our session was supposed to start.  I had used up all of my “prep for the location time” getting there and I was still late.  At the entrance I was met by a ranger who told me I needed to have snow chains to continue.  I told him that I thought I had some in the trunk but did not know how to put them on.  The ranger, bless his helpless cold heart, told me it was against the law for him to help and that I would need to turn around.  I was dumbfounded!  Here I was just 5 minutes away, with no phone reception and I was being turned around!!!  So turn around I did.  Except I had to clear a bank of snow in between the inbound lane and the outbound lane and you guessed it, I got stuck.  I hop out of the car and try pushing and I naturally didn't budge.  The very helpful ranger walked over with an orange vest for me to wear for protection and stood there.  Again, it was against the law for him to help me.  I started shoveling snow out from under the car with my hands as the helpful gentleman stood by to watch me in my misery.

Tender mercy number four, a few minutes later a car stops on their way off the mountain to help me.  It took four of us to get me un stuck.  The kind Samaritan also put my chains on.  So I headed home dejected and feeling like a total failure, after all that hard work and perseverance (not to mention near death experience) I was still standing up my client.  Driving with chains was slow.  I was only going about 10 miles an hour because they were making such a horrible racket.  At one point I even got out to check on them.  One looked loose but I couldn't figure out how to make it any tighter.  Not even a mile after getting out to check I hear a horrendous noise.  I get out once again (in the freezing cold dumping wet yucky snow) and the chains on my left tire had broken and were now wrapped all along the axle, stuck tight.  I wanted to through my hands up in the air instead I cried.  What a crazy unlucky night.  There is no one around and it is dark and cold.   I start thinking that the odds are great that I am about to spend the night freezing to death in my stuck car.  I wonder to myself if at some point Dave will be worried and come to my rescue.  After about 5 minutes of furtively trying to tug and pull on the broken chains a car stops to help.

Tender mercy five.  And you will not believe it…it was the same good Samaritans that helped the first time.  They had stopped for dinner with their family at a diner and had ended up behind me, but because I was driving so slow they weren't too far behind.  I was mortified, but VERY grateful.  The gentle man starts to take my tire off to remove the chains.  I am lighting his work with my cell phone (which by the way when it did start to receive reception again it would not cooperate.  I could make calls but no one could here me).  I am positive that ,my poor abandoned clients had to have passed me at some point on the side of the road, lol!  What rotten luck!  But I am home in one piece and my car still functions and all is well.  Except I did not get to take beautiful portraits of a lovely expecting mommy.  And I wasted 1/2 a day driving around in a blizzard.  ARGH…

Crush

This is Sara in her yellow Hello Kitty wedding dress getting married to Nathan, the man of her dreams.  Notice the heart shaped clouds and fireworks up in the sky.  And the heart the depicts their great love for each other.  She says the thing on the right is her rainbow wedding cake!  Nathan (poor unsuspecting boy) was in her preschool class last year.  She hasn't seen him since June last year.  Distance definitely makes the heart grow fonder!  This little lady is OBSESSED.  She talks about him all the time.  I will have to start writing down all the wedding, dating and loved themed questions she asks me everyday.

On the one hand I think it is so cute.  And on the other it stresses me out that she is so into "Girl" stuff.  I don't know how we will survive the teenage years.  She is definitely going to be a handful and a lot harder to raise than her sisters!

Here is another rendition of her wedding scene   Same as above but without the Hello Kitty wedding dress.  Apparently she has refined her taste and settled on the Hello Kitty dress.  I kind of like the rainbow dress;-)

Dave Is 39!!!!

Happy birthday to Dave.  He is one year away from that great big dreaded 40!!!!  I can't believe we are getting so old!  We had a "dental celebration" for his birthday this year seeing as he just started at his own practice;-)  The girls and I had a bunch of fun making this cake.  And no it did not take 3 hours and cost more than it should (why is fondant so expensive???).  Turns out that Emily is quite the sculptor!  She did a really good job sculpting teeth for me.  We re-wardrobe Dad for his birthday this year.  I want him to feel super spiffy starting at his new practice.

Next years cake will have to be something like a car driving up a road and not quite making it over the hill...

Sara's Birthday wish for Dad - "I wish that he could be a good dentist."
Kate's Birthday wish for Dad - "That he will have a fun time at his new job in Gig Harbor."
Emily's Birthday wish for Dad - "I hope that you will have more time to spend with us now that you are only working at one place."
Chase's Birthday wish for Dad - "I hope your new business goes well."
My Birthday wish for Dave - "That this year, with all of it's changes will be a good and happy one."

Happy Birthday Dave;-)

The Gift Of Friendship And Sore Ankles

Grandma Dewitt decided upon a fun theme this year for Christmas.  She wanted to give all of us a fun experiences to enjoy during 2013.  She kept her eye on the Groupon site until she found perfect "adventures" for each of the kids.  Emily got to use her's first.

Emma got to take 3 friends roller skating with her.  She picked three friends from school that she really bonded with this summer at girl's camp.  Jessie has been a friend since 4rth grade, Rachel moved into our ward this summer and she and Emily were immediate friends and Fawnee became a friend this year at camp when all four girls dormed together.

Rachel, Jessie, Emily and Fawnee

The girls had a blast.  I can not belive that they skated for 5 hours!!!  There was a lot of this:

And this:

And a little bit of this:

The girls are all really into music and so they spent a few quarters at the desk requesting songs and then eagerly awaiting for them to be played;-)

I am so glad that Emily has such wonderful young ladies to grow up with!  They were sure sore after 5 hours in skates.  Poor Emily still has bruises on her ankles.  There was a fair amount of falling going on too;-)

I sat there, listening to 80's music, watching my daughter enjoy good company and an excellent gift and prepared for my taxes.  I know life is not fair.  Oh to be a kid again....

Sara Celebrates 5 Majestically

Officially this her birthday was last year of course.  But since we celebrated it with her party on the 29th it gets to be the first event I get to blog about in 2012;-)  Ever since we moved to Puyallup and I found out about A Simple Wish ( a girls party boutique) I knew that I HAD to have a party for Sara there.  I waited until she was full swing into her princess obsession and old enough to hopefully remember every magical moment.  Turning 5 is such a big mile stone, I thought this year would be perfect.

One of the things that I love about Sara is her love for make believe.  She has been taught well by her big sisters.  But unlike Emily and Kate, Sara LOVES princesses.  She loves dolls, babies and any Disney movie with a beautifully dressed heroine;-)  I knew a party centered around dress up, tea parties and dancing would be perfect.

Sara is so much fun to do special things for because she is so expressive.  It is such a treat to see her busting into huge smiles, her smiley eyes twinkling.  I love watching her enjoy herself.  Watching her at her party and taking pictures was so much fun because I knew EVERY moment was magical to her.  From the moment Cinderella made her surprise appearance, to getting to dance with her favorite princess and then dance with her Dad, every little part of this perfect party was MAGICAL!

This is one of my favorites.  She had no idea.  I love that she gasped with excitement!  And Cinderella was a perfectly charming, everything little girls dream of, party guest!

Cinderella took Sara back into the dressing room and pick out a beautiful gown for her to wear.  Then she did Sara's hair complete with a dusting of pixie dust and finished her look off with some very fancy accessories.

Another of my favorite moments from the evening.  The girls were all dancing with Cinderella and Sara looked over her shoulder at me with a look of pure happiness.  I started to cry.  Right then and there.  Every girl should be able to feel like they are a princess caught up in an enchanting moment!

Dancing with her Dad.  This girl was in pure bliss!

If you want to see the rest of the pictures from her birthday including pictures of her with all of her wonderful friends, check out the slide show here!

Happy birthday to my little princess!

A Fresh Start

One of my goals this year is to get back into the habit of updating our family blog.  I really do treasure it, especially once it is all printed out.  And I have the time.  I just need to re-prioritize a bit.  The plan is to post at least one a week.  It makes me so sad to think of all the fun and important things I have neglected to document these last few years.  No more slacker Mom!!!!  Here is to a new beginning!