Here we go again......

The time has come again for us to move.

I just accepted a job with a small start up company in St. George, Utah. The company has been around for 3 years and is working on developing new methods for DNA testing. I am really excited to get back to technology and product oriented work. I am also excited to see what it takes to put a company together and get it going. While we weren't exactly looking to live in St George the job opportunity was definitely not one to pass up so we are excited.

Everyone is excited about this move. Here are some of the things we are looking forward to.

Girls - They really want us to find a house with grass in the yard (it is hard to play soccer on rocks) and a neighborhood pool. They are also looking forward to being near cousins.

Amy - She is excited to be near family so we can participate more and help out too. She too is hoping for a few more amenities in our next house/ neighborhood or at least neighbors who don't appear to be drug dealers. :) (She will miss several good ones too though) Our current house just doesn't feel like home. Even thought she won't admit it, I think she is excited to be closer to scrap booking stores - make that any stores other than Smiths.

Brent - I am looking forward to my change in job and neighborhood. I am also really looking forward to a very small commute. Perhaps I will even make it home for lunch once in a while. I also find St. George more beautiful than Las Vegas (it has greenery-at least more than LV) which means better hiking.

We are going to move in with Amy's mom for a couple of weeks as we look for a home to rent. My last day of work here in Vegas is Oct. 19th, oddly enough 2 months after our accident. Once again we are reminded how quickly life can change and how the Lord does answer our prayers. We are all feeling better slowly but surely. The physical therapy has been great for Amy and me. Cami is still working things out in her head but she is having fewer nightmares which we are all thankful for.-Next step is to get her to sleep without every light on in the house...

Once we settle down, we will pass along address and phone information. We can always be reached at our email addresses and my phone will stay the same for a while.

I Know that Heavenly Father Watches Over Us

I bear witness that Heavenly Father watches over us. Our family was involved in a serious car accident on the way home. The Lord blessed us with a miracle as each of us was able to walk away from the accident.

We were returning home from our vacation on I-15. It had been hazy all day due to dust from a fire several months ago. Several miles south of Fillmore, we were traveling when visibility suddenly became almost zero due to the dust storm. It was as if we had gone into a blizzard or bank of fog.

I became very nervous very quickly and immediately began to slow down. All of a sudden we could see some taillights in front of us and we knew something was not right because they were too close together and they were not in lanes.

I had a distinct impression that I needed to pull off of the road and stop. I reacted immediately and got out of the left lane and on to the shoulder and came to a stop or near stop. I had just relaxed because I knew we weren't going to run into anyone when we got hit from behind.

I can't even begin to describe the feeling and the sound. When we finally settled, I looked at Amy and she was bleeding from a cut in her head. I then turned and looked at the girls who were screaming. This was the happiest and saddest thing I have ever seen. I didn't want them to go through this but I was glad they were not unconscious or worse.

After a couple of minutes, Amy and I got our bearings and we got the kids out of their seats. I had to shove my door open and we were able to get out of the truck. We borrowed a phone and called Amy's mom and then kind of walked around not knowing what to do.

There were people running around everywhere and lots of smashed cars. We finally decided to go back to the truck due to the dust and wind. As we were trying to get back in, God sent someone to assist us. A man said that we could get in his car.

We took the girls down to his car (they were almost in the accident) and his wife and daughter helped Amy with the girls and got them out of the wind. He then helped me get together some of our stuff and worked to get the EMTs to check out Amy.

When the EMTs did come, they decided to take her to the hospital by ambulance due to her back and neck. The wonderful family watched the girls while I finished working with the police to get permission to leave.

The family then drove the girls and I to the hospital where we were all checked out. Amy was hurt the worse. X-rays showed no breaks but she did have to get stitches on her forehead. I had a sore neck, a sore head, and a sore waist. Miraculously, the girls only had a few marks from their carseats.

Once we had checked out of the hospital, the wonderful family took us to their nearby home while we waited for Amy's mom and sister to come and take us back to St. George.

We have been in St. George since recovering. Amy and I have gotten sorer as the days have passed which is normal. Amy's mom and Mary Esther's family have done a great job taking care of the girls and helping us. We have also realized how blessed we are to have so many friends and family offer us assistance.

Since the accident, we have tried to piece together what happened. After discussions with the troopers, this is what we know.

The dust storm caused an initial accident in which there was a least 1 fatality. This is the accident we saw when came upon it. We were very lucky that we got off the road because a semi truck was behind us doing 50 - 60 and hit 3 different cars. I believe there was a fatality in one of the first two cars struck.

The second car struck was our truck. They estimated we were hit by a fully loaded semi doing 40 - 50 mph. The impact crumpled the back bed of the truck and almost instantly accelerated us to his speed. It also began spinning us. We spun around and hit the trailer of the truck with our front right side.

During the collision, I was thrust backwards in the seat bending it. I was then catapulted forward and hit the steering wheel with the right side of my head. This explained the half circle bruising from above my right eye and around to my right ear. I was also shoved into the seat belt on my left side which explains the major bruising on my left side.

Amy was less fortunate. While she had her seat belt on, we are not sure if it came undone, stretched, or if she came out of it. While she doesn't remember taking it off, we were all a little dazed. Regardless, she flew into the dash and hit her head on the window. She felt like she was spinning and bouncing around and couldn't stop. She had major muscle strains in her lower back and bruising all over her head, shoulders and arms. She also received a cut on her head.

We were very blessed. If I had not gotten over, we would have been shoved into other cars ahead of us. If I had stopped just a little sooner, we would have been hit from the side and the impact would have killed one or all of us for sure.

The Lord watched over us and prompted me with the reactions needed to save our lives. Of this I testify.



This is the final resting spot of the truck. You can see the trailer of the truck that hit us 2 feet behind us. We are blessed that it didn't roll on top of us as it was carrying giant rolls of paper. As you can see, we ended up in the median off the road. This is because I had pulled off the road and we were thrown clear of the other vehicles. It saved our lives.

Here are more pictures taken 2 days after the accident. You can see that the back of the truck saved our lives. It did exactly what is was suppose to do, crumple in a manner to absorb energy and not penetrate the cab of the truck. If we had been in any other type of vehicle, I am not sure the girls would have survived.

View of the back. You can see how the bed folded up on itself.

The damage in the front is due to us spinning around and smacking the trailer. The airbags did not go off since it was not a true front impact. If we had been smashed into other cars, there would have been more fatalities and more serious injuries.

Another view of the back.

Shows some of the damage and chaos in the back seat. The DVD player was destroyed. We are thankful that it didn't seriously hurt anyone in the vehicle. It was even strapped down.

If you look close, you can see where Amy hit the windshield (center of the picture)

The back seat was broken and the bed started to penetrate the cab. The car seats really saved the girls.

You can see where I hit the steering wheel and bent it. I honestly don't even remember it. It happened too quickly.

You can see how I bent the seat during the initial impact. We were hit on the back right which shoved me into back into the right side of the seat twisting it. We are very thankful we had full headrests set to the correct height. It minimized our whip lash.

Below are pictures of other vehicles in the accident. In all, there were 10 cars involved and 4 semis. As I have said, it is a miracle we survived.

This picture doesn't do justice for the lack of visibility right before the accident. Even thought it was 3:30 in the afternoon, I couldn't see more than 15 - 20 feet.

They had to cut the driver out of this car. We would have been directly behind him if we had not moved over. We would have been crushed into him killing him and us.

I need a vacation from our vacation

We had a wonderful time with the Weight family in August. The only problem is we need a vacation from our vacation. We spent4.5 days playing. The girls really enjoyed being with their cousins.


The first day there, we went out on the boat. Brent worked hard to earn the title of funnest driver, trying to bounce the tubers off of their tube. The girls enjoyed the day at the beach and had fun riding in the boat.

The girls liked the boat, but Taryn wasn't so sure at first.

The girls really liked lunch on the boats. Perhaps is was the bottomless bag of Cheetos.

The girls had fun with their cousins.

Amy did a great job skiing. She got up right away and was across the wake in no time. She looked like a pro.

The girls with their Aunt Carolyn while Amy was getting back in the boat.

On Thursday, a large group of people climbed Mt. Timpanogos. Many of the adults (including Brent) wished they hadn't gone skiing the day before.

See Brent's 2007 Hikes Blog for more pictures of the hike.

The day after Timp, we went back to the lake for more boating. All of the adults were too tired to try skiing and Brent spent more time on the beach relaxing. Cami really enjoyed flying a kite with her dad.

On Saturday, we got a great tour of the Heber Valley camp with Papa as guide. It looks like a great place for the girls. We then headed off to Thanksgiving point where the girls had fun.

Taryn enjoyed playing in the water and sand.

The girls always enjoy posing with the dinosaurs.

After lunch at Fazolies, we went swimming at the Lehi community pool. What a great place. Everyone had a load of fun and Brent (or should I say Brent's muscles) really enjoyed the hot tub.

After swimming, we headed to the Millers for a backyard picnic and the girls had fun playing on the swing set and jumping (for the first time) on a full size trampoline.

Catching Up

Since it has been months and months since we have written, and months since we intended to update our blog, we are glad to now finally be writing. I don't know what we have been so busy doing...We have been hiking some but lately it is way too hot for that. If we go outside our faces melt off like the guy in Indiana Jones. The girls have had a blast swimming in the pool all summer. Cami is content to splash around but dare devil Taryn goes for the whole head submersion even though she has not mastered holding breath or closing her mouth. I have been refinishing chairs and repainting the picnic table. Brent has been busy working a lot.



The most important part of hiking with the girls is snack time. Mommy likes the M&M trail mix too.

My Daddy is sooo strong. He could kick your daddy's bum.


If you look closely you will notice Taryn's whole wet head and face and she is not at all unhappy about it.
Cami prefers the lighter side of swimming.


We went camping with the Weight family in April and despite the freezing weather it was really fun. It is great to live close enough to family that the girls can get to know and enjoy their cousins.


Hiking Emerald Pools at Zion National Park with the cousins.


I thought the older one was supposed to teach the younger one how to get into mischief. Not so.
Cami's happy tired face. The past month every week during family calendar time she asks if we can go camping this week.


We went to the county fair in May and Cami had a close run in with an escaped pig. Good thing she doesn't know ham comes from pigs or we would have a vegetarian 3 year old....She also had a run in with a mirror in the hall of mirrors...Poor kid. But she did have fun on the carousel several times. Taryn had fun just playing with her buddy Chase.


Cami loving life and Daddy getting a little sick.


Taryn and her buddy. They hug and then they usually tackle each other.


Cami got her first real injury involving a cousin, a baseball bat, and lots of tears on every one's part. When in question, a metal bat will always beat a 3 year old's skin...She was incredibly brave about the stitches. She even fell asleep during the stitching which is remarkable since we could in fact see her skull through her gash. At first the doctor's wanted to sedate her but some good numbing gel, Curious George stories, and holding Daddy's hand was all she really needed.

She also got her first "real" hair cut in March. For the past year I have been trimming her hair every couple months to get it to grow thicker/more even. Well let's just say it is not a good idea to try this at bedtime when mommy and Cami are a little grouchy...then expect dad to be able to fix it after a half an hour of "trimming." So she ended up with a very cute chin length bob after a trip to the hair salon. She felt better after it was fixed and got used to it.

"I don't want to look like a boy mommy!" (In response to hearing hold still or you'll end up looking like a boy-a little too close for comfort:) )

Cami is into counting and numbers. She can count to about 30 but gets a little messed up with the teens...She recognized letters and their sounds and can spell her own name. She is constantly playing dress ups and pretending. She went with us to see Cinderella as a play and has been dancing around ever since. I'm kind of worried she'll want to take ballet lessons now.

Both Girls really got into Easter this year. Cami is getting old enough to ask when the next holiday is and anticipates it. Taryn is old enough to eat the candy...


Easter at Grandma's with the cousins. (Melissa, Taryn, Camilla, Marceli, and Luke) Thanks to Madison, Melissa, and Uncle Glen they got to find eggs all morning (over and over again).

Taryn has learned some new tricks like self induced vomiting but only in Wal-mart. I had to take her shirt off the mop of the groceries so I could hand them to the check out girl. Actually mommy gagged her to barfing the other day too after she downed some medicines from the bathroom cabinet. She is fast and yes she is fine...She also has managed to get the royal blue toenail polish and bright pink with sparkles toenail polish out of the same cabinet. Yes she got them both open and the damage was done....The down side of renting is not being able to drill holes for child proof locks. Good thing she has an angelic face to minimize the pain of the clean up.



She also has mastered how to get naked quick as a flash. She repeats this during nap times especially, but it unnerves her to wake up naked and peeing in her crib. Even though Taryn is still tiny she packs a some serious energy and coordination for her size. She did finally hit a milestone of 20#'s this week now that she is almost two.

It is probably safe to attribute a large portion of the 20#s to chocolate pudding, yogurt covered raisins, and broccoli.

This is what we do to burn off the pudding. It is really hard to ride a bike across rocks so she takes the push it around the yard route.

She is finally getting "enough" hair for two ponys. Yes we use the term "enough" very loosely in this house.

Taryn has also discovered babies lately. Another one of her favorite tricks is taking the panties/bloomers off her baby dolls and trying them on herself. To me this says potty training time!

She is talking more but most of the time we have no clue what she is saying. She can say "backpack, backpack" so she is officially a Dora the Explorer and Diego fan now. She is very into books and reading lately-especially if they are Dora or Diego books. She likes to stand at the book case and hum until she finds just the right one.

She loves animals too, particularly the neighbors dog Russel and the goldfish at the library. It has been fun the last few months to really get to know her quirky happy go lucky self now that she actually is fun and happy go lucky...

And that is pretty much what we have been up to the last several months. We hope you all are happy and healthy. We'd love updates and pictures from all of you!

Is it really only February

I have a goal this summer to hike 200 miles. The weather in Las Vegas has been very helpful with getting an early start.

We have already hiked about 15 miles on 5 different hikes. I am keeping a record, along with descriptions and pictures on another blog. You can link to it here or look for the link in the side bar.

I am excited about this goal, but I have to admit having kids slows you down. You have to either hike at their pace or carry an extra 30 pounds on your back.

The success of this goal will depend on whether or not Cami gains a lot of weight this summer or my back gives out!

If anyone is interested in tagging along, just let us know.

Christmas 2006

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas this year. We spent a good portion of it with Brent's family. The best part was watching Cami and Taryn enjoy their cousins.

Cami took part in the traditional Christmas story. She got to play the Angel (she was born for the part).



Also, for the first time, she agreed to sit on Santa's lap. She is getting braver every day.

Brent and Amy are very thankful for their portable DVD player. Sure helps everyone be a little less stressed during long drives. Cami particularly likes it.



The kids were very excited to get up on Christmas morning. Too bad their parents were slow in getting up.



We couldn't determine if Taryn liked her gifts or the wrapping paper better. It was fun to watch her try and help everyone open their gifts.






While in Utah, we did get a chance to enjoy the snow. Papa let us ride the snowmobiles around the yard, pulling sleds. All of the kids had a blast. Cami was sure she wanted to go, so Mom got talked into going with her. Dad went really slow at first until he stopped and heard Cami say "Let's go again"




Taryn even got in on the fun by riding with dad on the snowmobile. She didn't scream or cry (which is unusual for her).


The snow finally got wet enough to make a snow man. Cami was super excited to finally get a chance. She has always sung songs about snow men, but last year she was too afraid of the snow and there isn't snow in Vegas.


We also got to spend a great day at Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum and animal park. Cami really loved all the hands on activities. Here, they got to dress up as dinosaurs. They are giving us their meanest roars.....


Taryn found a wall full of puzzles. She was so excited and spent a lot of time playing with them.



The cousins couldn't resist this photo op. Who wouldn't want to sit on a dinosaur!


The entire family had a close encounter with a shark. Luckily Cami let out a great shout and scared it away!



We couldn't figure out why there were no crowds at the animal park until we went out to ride the ponies. BURRRRR!!! Both girls seemed to love the ponies and did really well.


Cami was so excited that once back in the barn (gift store) she went riding again!!

After warming up, we went back out to feed the animals. Cami did a great job feeding the goats. She got a kick out of their tongues licking her hands.



We spend the last portion of our vacation and New Years with Amy's family. It was a fun and relaxing few days.


We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you all have a wonderful 2007. We would love to see anyone who is passing through Vegas.