A little accident

Almost two weeks ago now, as my roommate and I, as well as two other people from my ward, were driving down to Manti for a ward temple trip, we got in a little accident. My roommate was driving and we hit a patch of ice on Hwy 89 just out of Spanish Fork canyon, fishtailed a little, spun, rear-ended the mountain, then rolled over. It all happened so quickly, it was hard to believe after that we had actually rolled the car.

I was in the front passenger seat, and as you can see from above, the roof was smashed in from the rolling. You could say that my head stopped it from coming in further. I hit my head as we rolled. The funny thing? My roommate had $10 in quarters in her front consol that all went flying as we rolled...They seemed to be everywhere!

The amazing thing is how many little miracles the Lord performed. Two guys from our ward were following behind us, saw the accident, and pulled over to help us. They had never taken Spanish Fork canyon before and had decided to go that way to see what it was like. Then as we were getting ready to leave to drive to the nearest town - none of us had service where we crashed - a highway patrolman miraculously came driving down the road. After marking the car, the officer suggested we pull down the road about a half-mile to get out of the way in case someone else hit the ice at that bend in the road. Not 10 minutes after driving down the road, another car of 4 from our ward came around that same bend, hit the ice, did a 180 and hit my roommate's car. The car was definitely totalled after the other car hit it. Luckily, we weren't any where near it. Here's the car after:

And after all of that, all 8 of us involved in the two accidents were okay. I had a bit of a headache for a couple days, but there could have been so much more damage done then was. And we still made it to Manti to the session our ward was going to! When we stopped at the towing company to clean out my roommate's car before heading back to Bountiful, the tow guy told us that there had been two fatal accidents already this year on that same stretch of road we crashed on. It hit me then how blessed we really were.

If anyone ever says that miracles don't happen any more, I have a long list to prove them wrong.

A trip back to childhood

So last month for Valentine's Day, I planned a fun night of activities to do with Jerome. These weren't just any activities, but things he did when he was a kid. I would have to say that the overall evening turned out pretty well! My favorite part by far were the jumping balls! Yes, when Jerome was a kid, he and his twin used to love to jump around on hoppity horses. To my EXTREME delight, I found adult-sized jumping balls (or hopping balls or whatever else you like to call them)! I ordered two as soon as I found them. What could be greater than playing around with these?! And, yes, they even have faces on them...

English finale

Here are some final pictures from my fantastic trip to England.

Christmas Eve dinner

me, John, Neal, Tiphphane, Sarah

Castleton, my favorite village in Derbyshire

Morpeth all lit up

again...

and again...

The village of Harbottle in Northumberland

Walking with Lyndall and Debbie (that's Lyndall)

Harbottle Lake

Drakestone with Harbottle in the distance

What an amazing view from the top of the hill! (I don't mean me)

Newbiggin-by-the-sea church

Penshaw Hill and Monument

It was a bit cold and rainy when I climbed the hill

Meols

Meols is where one of my mission companions lives, Mary Boswell. Mary is 74 years-old now. Despite our age difference, we had a GREAT time serving together. I learned so much from her. As she's a very good friend, I always try to squeeze in a day or two to visit her when I'm in England. We always have a good laugh when we're together! Meols is right on the coast of the Irish Sea, so we also always go for a walk along the promenade. I absolutely love walking along the sea (or any body of water for that matter)! This time we nearly had to do it in the hail/rain/snow, but we were lucky enough to have it clear up a bit for our walk. And we got to enjoy a lovely sunset to boot! Here are a few shots...

Oh, how lovely is England...

So, upon coming to my blog to actually write this post, I've realized how pitifully I've been at posting this year. Unbelievable! Well, I arrived in England only 4 days ago and have been having such fun adventures, I couldn't wait to post some pictures. I came over primarily for the baptism of John Atkins, a man I met on my mission who has been investigating the church for 15 years...I know... a LONG time! I was, needless to say, VERY surprised when I learned back in October that he had finally decided to be baptized, but absolutely thrilled! (His wife has been a member for a long time, so I probably wasn't as thrilled as she was...) Anyway, he asked me to speak at his baptism, which I was more than happy to do. His baptism was last Friday.

John Atkins and Ken Jones (Ken was bishop when I served in the ward)

me, John, Sue (John's wife)



Yesterday, I had the great privilege of attending a carol concert in a cave in the village of Castleton, one of my favorite places in the Peak District. The cave, Peak Cavern, is irreverently known as the "Devil's Arse" (a story I'll not explain here... ). Every year, in the mouth of the cave, people gather to sing Christmas carols with the accompaniment of a brass band. It was freeeeezzzzzing cold! But what a fun atmosphere! I've tried to capture it in a few pictures, but this will not do it justice by any means....

Walking up to the cave (it was hard to get a clear picture because of the darkness...)

Some festive people sitting in front of us

Some of the crowd

The cave entrance. You can just see the band in the lower left hand corner here

After the concert

Sarah, Mary, Sue, John

me, Mary, Sue, John

I found this icicle fascinating. It was about 2 feet long and thick!

T-minus 2 weeks...

...until I move back to Bountiful. Yep, I'm moving back to the land of milk and honey...the land of my youth...the land of fresh lime rainbows, yum! I feel like it's something I need to do at this point in my life. Not sure why, but how often does the Man Upstairs gives the reasons in advance? :)

I'm sad to leave Lehi. It's been a great 4 years, and I've had some fantastic roommates. But the future is bright. I'll be living with a good friend from high school. And a new ward will bring new friends and fun. Sooooooooo.......here's to a new chapter in my life!

My evening as a model

A few weeks ago, I went and served as a model for a photographer friend who wanted to build up his portfolio. He's doing a project called "Perspectives" where he's taking pictures in places that most people wouldn't think to have them taken. Check out his blog to see where we went. I felt a little self-conscious as first, but I really had a lot of fun. And my friend is pretty darn talented. I love his style! And I'm really pleased with the pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.