Yesterday while the kids and I were driving back to Washington from Idaho we had an experience I'd like to share with you. Normally whenever we go on long distance trips Tony does the driving, but with Tony working his new job in Idaho that wasn't the case this time. There is a high mountain pass in Oregon refereed to as the Blues. This stretch of highway often gets snow in the winter months and the roads can get pretty yucky quickly. As I was driving through this mountain pass a snow storm had gone through earlier that day to make the roads a bit slippery. All the truckers were chaining up and the traffic was a bit congested. With all of these factors we weren't going faster than 35 mph. I had the kids turn off their movie so I could concentrate. Of course with us going so slow it was taking us a little longer to get to our next stop. Charlie starting having a stomach ache which meant he needed to use the bathroom. I was trying so hard to pay attention to the road and the traffic around me. The poor little guy had to go poop. He was crying in agony. I was trying to drive and tell him I was going as fast as I could safely go. Then all of the sudden the truck started to fishtail and the next thing I knew we were in the median stuck in deep snow. Alaina is scared and crying. Charlie is in pain and crying. Lincoln didn't really know what the heck was going on and Carson was actually pretty chill through the whole thing. I put the truck in 4 wheel drive but to no avail. We were stuck! I was now shaking and crying. A snow plow stopped to see if we were ok and told us the State Trooper was on their way and that a tow truck was also on their way to pull us out. I called Tony who got a hold of our insurance and was able to calm us down and help me to think clearly through everything. Charlie ended up having to go poop in a bucket. Which was super stinky and gross but what else do you do in that situation? We managed to stay warm and surprisingly the tow truck was there in about 20 minutes. He pulled us out in probably 10 minutes and we were on our way. The State Trooper never showed which is fine with me. As a look back on what happened I distinctly remember a few high points. I had the impression to put the truck in 4 wheel drive a few minutes before the accident happened. I don't have a good reason for why I didn't do it, I just didn't. Even though there was a lot of traffic on the road when I started to fish tail and slide all over, there was no one around me. The only damage to the truck was a little dent on the front bumper where we hit a road marker as we slid off the road. The tow truck had the right equipment and experience to get us out of the snow quickly. Our insurance includes roadside assistance which means the tow truck was covered. And when all was said and done Carson made sure we prayed to thank Heavenly Father for keeping us safe and helping us through it. I'm so thankful and feel very blessed! I've looked back on that moment a dozen times thinking what I should've done differently to avoid the accident but in the end the kids I learned some pretty important lessons. Follow the promptings from the spirit immediately and Heavenly Father watches over us and answers our prayers. We've always made it a habit to pray before we go on long trips and now we all know why.
