Blessed

So, this post is a little different.  It's not about Josh.  It's about me.  Weird, I know, but this is a story that I need to share.  So, here goes.

Mike and I went out of town on a 'vacation' of sorts this past Wed, Thurs, and Fri.  Mike would argue about the 'vacation' part since he had meetings all day, but I was definitely on vacation.  Kat and Misty were kind enough to take care of Josh and get him to and from school and all that jazz.  Friday I had agreed to do a research MRI in SLC and so the plan was that I would leave at 6:30 Fri morning and Mike would come home with a coworker after his morning meetings.  Friday morning I was up and ready to go by 6:15 and stopped to get gas and fill up the tires with air.  I also said a prayer of safety, mostly thinking of Josh and Gideon, never dreaming it would end up being for me.  I was on the road by 6:38 and my BFF (aka my GPS) predicted that I would arrive at my destination  40 min before I needed to be there.  I had plenty of time.

The weather was not great.  I drove through pockets of rain and snow and even stretches of dry, mostly clear skies.  I had been driving for about 3 1/2 hrs and it wasn't raining or snowing at this point but there were some wet spots on the road, when something terrible happened.  I had just passed some people so I was in the left lane, not speeding, but definitely going faster than I probably should have been, when I hit a huge patch of standing water.  My car started hydroplaning and heading straight for the center divider.  I tried to straighten out but it didn't seem to do any good so I finally over corrected and my car responded by sailing across the lanes and spinning around.  I was going backwards for a bit until I did another full turn, hit one of those metal mile post markers (but without the mile marker on it) and came to a stop on the right shoulder, perpendicular to the freeway.

I was freaked out.  I couldn't believe what had just happened.  I got out of the car to see what damage that metal pole had done to the car and to see if I would be able to get off the shoulder.  I could smell something, but couldn't tell if it was just burned rubber or antifreeze.  As I walked around the car, I couldn't see any obvious damage but I knew that I had hit the pole and so I figured there must be damage underneath.  A nice guy had stopped to see if I was ok, and he helped me push my car out of the soft shoulder.  Mike called at that exact moment and I tried to hold it together as I talked with him and told him what had happened.  He suggested that I take the car to a mechanic and have them check out the bottom to see the damage.  I was close to an exit and since the car seemed to be running ok I decided to take that exit and see if I could find a mechanic.  Before I drove off, I looked at my tire tracks and saw how they went straight into the metal pole that was now bent almost to the ground.

I found a mechanic and they were super kind about getting my car in so that they could look at it.  After what felt like forever, the mechanic came out to talk to me and said that my back right tire was way bad and that two out of the other three really needed to be replaced too but that he didn't carry those size tires and I would need to go somewhere else to get them.  But besides that, he could find nothing wrong with the car.  There was no damage to the underside and there was nothing leaking or punctured.  I couldn't believe it.

I canceled my appointment in SLC and headed home.  I had kept my composure until I arrived safely home and knelt down to say a prayer.  Then everything came out and I started bawling.  It was a very scary experience but I was also overwhelmed with the protection I had been blessed with.  Even with all the other cars on the road, at the time I was out of control, there was not a single car anywhere close to me.  I KNOW I hit that metal pole.  I felt the hit and I saw my tire marks run straight into it.  But neither I nor Mike can find any body damage to the car and the mechanic wasn't able to find anything wrong underneath it.  There's no luck about any of it.  I know that I was protected and blessed.  I'm so grateful for the power of prayer and I know that Heavenly Father was watching over me.

Pinewood Derby and My Birthday

Even though Josh is old enough to be in scouts,  because of our ward  being split, he has only been to one meeting.  So when another ward offered to have our scouts participate in the pinewood derby with them, Josh was thrilled.  He and Mike made the car and Josh decided to stain it instead of paint it.  He also found some karate stickers that he wanted to decorate his car with.  The day of the race came and Josh was so excited.  We got to the church and they told us that there were 33 kids and that they were all going to get to race 4 times.  It....took....for....ever.  They also announced that they had cupcakes and hot chocolate to snack on and as soon as they said that, Josh couldn't have cared less about racing.  So Mike and I watched all the races while Josh watched a handful if that.  From his 4 races he got 2nd place in 2 of them and 3rd place in the other 2.  He didn't really care so neither did I.  When the races were FINALLY over, they started handing out awards.  Everyone got an award for something or another and Josh was no exception.  He was repeating this moment to me when it was over so I'll tell you how it went down in his eyes.
"They were saying all the awards and I thought there is no way that I'm getting an award.  And then they say 'most artistic' and I'm thinking it's not me and then I hear 'Josh Levie' and I'm like, that's me!  I couldn't believe it.  I got the most artistic!"
He was so excited to be given that award and bragged about it for the rest of the week.  He talked about how he was thinking about keeping this car for next year since it had won the most artistic.  He's such a goof.  Overall it was a good experience for him and he had fun.

My birthday came and went again.  Mike reminded Josh that it was my birthday and so he wished me happy birthday before he left for school.  When he got home I had him start on his homework.  He wanted to do his reading on my bed so we both went and laid down.  After he was done, I told him to go and finish the rest of his homework.  He jumped up and ran out of the room only to return again a few minutes later with his other homework.  I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm going to come and do my homework by you.  I didn't have time to get you a birthday present so I thought 'I'll sit by her while I do my homework and spend time with you'."
I said "Oh bud!  That is so sweet.  I love it when you spend time with me.  That's a perfect birthday present!"  Then he gave me a kiss on the check.  I love that kid.

Halloween

So Josh decided that he wanted to be the green ninja from Ninjago for Halloween.  In case you don't know, his name is Lloyd.  I searched the internet like crazy looking for a costume that would work and I couldn't find anything.  That left me with little choice but to make it myself.  So Josh and I spent a day searching patterns and material until we finally found one that Josh mostly approved of.  I made the main jumpsuit of the costume and he was not impressed when he tried it on.  He said that he didn't like the zipper in the front because then people knew that it was a costume.
"As opposed to what?  Thinking you were really a green ninja?" I asked. 
"Yep" he responded.
He also didn't like the fact that the suit was so loose fitting.  So I had to go back and take everything in so that it was more form fitting.  After that, he tried it on again and I got the approval to move ahead with the rest of the costume.  He specifically requested the boot covers and arm cuffs to be this black shiny material and was very pleased with the way they turned out.  No complaints there. Phew.  Next,  the mask.  I made it like the directions said and when he tried it on with his jumpsuit, there was a space between that and his mask where you could see part of his neck.  He looks in the mirror and says "Mom, this is a BIG problem."
Oh brother.  I told him it wasn't a big deal and then I just sewed on some extra fabric to cover his neck.  This worked fine for him and we were down to the last detail of the costume...the dragon on the front.  We headed to the store to buy some fabric paint so I could paint it on but couldn't find any.  I was elated though when I spotted this iron on transfer and after some blackmailing, I convinced Josh that he would rather have this iron on even though it was smaller than it should have been, than to have to go to countless other stores looking for fabric paint that we might never find. (I might have exaggerated a little bit, but can you blame me?)

At last, he was able to try on his full costume and he was thrilled.  He did multiple ninja moves and he said that it made him feel like a real ninja.  Great.  

I told him to take off his mask so we could see who was really inside his costume but this is as far as he would go.

Here's a picture of him and Mike and Lynds when we went trick or treating at Mike's office.

Mike grew a mustache just for this costume.  It was a big hit with his coworkers....not so much with his wife.  To make sure he didn't offend anyone, he had me dress up as a mexican too so that we matched.  It was not as romantic as it sounds.  Hudson was also there but had just woken up so isn't in costume, although he did love the sombrero.  Props to Josh for taking this pic.