A quick trip to Utah...

We weren't planning a trip to Utah this summer. My parent's were coming out in October for Coleson's baptism, so we were planning something fun for then. But on July 3, my dad was out riding his horse, Belle, and she got spooked and threw him off. He was out riding in the heat of the summer, in the dessert, without his cell phone, and he was knocked unconscious. The following is one of those amazing, faith-building stories. Kelly, dad's friend out at the stables, talked to him that morning before dad rode out. Dad was planning a long ride for that day. Kelly had some other work to do out away from the stables and off they went their separate ways. After dad had been gone for several hours, Kelly suddenly had this impression to go check on dad back at the stables. About the time Kelly got there, Belle showed up without dad. Then Kelly knew something was wrong. It may seem like a small thing, but this story could've ended way differently if that small impression hadn't been given or hadn't been received. It took Kelly a while to find dad, and at that point he'd been laying out in the dessert for about 3 hours. The doctors said he wouldn't have lasted another 3. How grateful I am for the spirit and it's amazing presence in our lives.

Dad's recovery was touch and go for awhile. His lung collapsed and there were other complications. Finally, he got so bad, I had to go. I packed up Katie and Ethan and off to Utah we went. Thankfully, he did recover after about 2 weeks in the hospital and came home just a few days before we flew back home. It was one of the scariest things in my life to walk into my dad's hospital room and see him as bad as he was. Terrifying really. We've been wanting to live closer to each other for years now, but it made me really want to close that 30+ hour gap. The 8 hours it took to fly there were way too long.

On a brighter side, once dad was home from the hospital, we were all together and got to have a few days of fun enjoying time together before I flew home. Katie got to have a girl's night with me and Becca. Becca did her hair all curled up. Katie loved it!! Ethan started crawling. And Ethan fell in love with grandma Bricker.