So much has happened since I wrote in this blog that I'm not quite sure where to start. My sweet wife had planned for us to go up to the Idaho Falls temple to help her family do a big bunch of work for their progenitors who had been having their genealogy done for them.  They had requested help to perform the needed work on their behalf and we were more than happy to help.  Also, we had missed several of the yearly family reunions for her family and we looked forward to the social fun we could have.  One more thing that we were eager to see, was how hard this would be for my wife to make this big of a trip.  Its been a long time since her health has let her go very far from home, and she thought that this would be a good test to see if she could stand up to the rigors of an even longer trip that she had pretty well committed us to by going to San Jose, California to another family reunion they were holding there.  All in all, we had some big plans for June and they could be a lot of fun.

The day came for the Idaho trip and of all of the family down here in Utah that had planned to go, only my wife and I and my son Kjell and my daughter Heather were able to make the trip.  We did go up to Idaho Falls and had a great time.  Everything went better than we had expected and after a wonderful time we returned home to recoup and to prepare for the California trip.  While in Idaho, we had renewed contact with about 150 or more of her kinfolk there and although we knew that the number of relatives in San Jose would not be as many, we were still really looking forward to this get together also.

By the time we were ready to go, the drop out rate again took its toll and this time, besides my wife and I, my son Donald, again my daughter Heather, another daughter Ginger and her husband Marcio together with their two children were the only ones going from our branch of the family.  After all preparations we were ready to go and were car pooling with two vehicles. We left at about three in the morning and kept in contact with each other not only by cell phone, but also by using a pair of walkie talkies.  It worked out quite well this way.  All went well at first. We traded off drivers about every other stop along the way in order to keep fresh and rested.  I was driving the lead car as we entered California, and everything seemed to be going great, but just past the summit of Donner's Pass, we went off of the road and rolled the car onto the passenger's side. I've had a lot of people ask exactly what happened, and I honestly can't tell them.  A large part of my memory has blanked out most of the details of the crash and in my memory, I don't know what happened between driving along normally with everything going great, until I remember feeling the wheel pulling to my right and off of the road....trees and rocks and dust flying...about a four inch diameter tree coming up at us...the air bags going off, and the car coming to rest laying on its side. Too much happened in the next half hour to an hour to put down in this blog, but many things happened wherein we can see the intervening of the Lord in our behalf.  By rights, we (at least someone) should have been killed in the wreck. I'm sure that Donald, after crawling out of the busted rear window of our car, and Marcio, who came running down to the wrecked car as soon as his car could pull over working together saved Annette's life.  No doubt about that.  They broke out the windshield, and then Marcio was able to get to my wife who had stopped breathing due to the position of her body, the pressure of the seat belt on her neck and chest,and so forth.  I had been able to crawl off of her (which is where I ended up after we had stopped moving) and had crawled into the back seat area where I at least was no longer in the way of rescuers helping her. I was finally able with help, to get out of the car and then taken up to the road and put in an ambulance. By using the "jaws of life" to cut off the car's roof and then prying her out from under the dash board and a few other little stunts, they were finally able to get Annette out of the car, strapped onto a back board and up to the road.  They Life Flighted her to the main hospital in Reno, Nevada because it has a world famous trauma center , and the California Highway Patrol drove Donald, Heather and I to the same hospital in his patrol car, with Ginger and the rest following in her car.

Long story short, when all was checked out and done,  we could almost not believe how blessed we have been though this whole thing.  Other than a few bruises and a couple of scratches, Donald and I received no injuries.
Annette had received a slight concussion and was confused and a bit disoriented at fist.  But most of her memory has come back to her and she is in pretty fair shape for all she's been through. she did chip a small piece of bone on one ankle and she got a lot of bruises. They kept her in the hospital for the better part of a week mostly for observation and as a precaution due to the concussion and the fact that her blood oxygen level was low (they didn't know it had been low before the wreck). 


We were finally all released and returned home (my brothers Dan and Tom came to Reno to help drive us back). We now are getting back into our regular (kind of) routine again.  My kids all came through for us in many ways while we were waiting to get Annette released from the hospital.  We tried to keep them informed of our conditions and all, and they went to town here at the house to make it easier for Annette when she got home. They turned her "school room" into a nice care room for her as she still needs help for a while due to her arthritis and all of the banging around she received. We already had a hospital bed that we had received from our sister-in-law, Nancy and they rearranged things to make it nice for her.  They also installed some very sturdy hand rails by the stairs to the family room and then organized themselves into shifts to make sure that someone is here at all times 24/7 to help her in any way she needs until she is back to 100%.  Bless their loving hearts.

The accident happened on the 21st of June and it is now just turning to the 5th of July.  Most of our bruises are fading away and Donald and I are no longer on pain medication.  I believe Annette may be off of her pain pills too.
It's gratifying to see the almost daily progress we are making.  We have been blessed.

Count your own blessings.  It's a humbling experience.  May the Lord continue to bless us all.  Remember, we are not here to go through life without any trials.  What happens to us is of little import. It's what we do with and how we handle what happens to us that is important.

Sooner,

Badger Bill