Pinned Between Two Cars

I know I am way far behind in my regular posts, and I will catch up on those soon, but I thought I would finally tell the story of how I got pinned between two cars. So here it goes:
Two Saturdays ago, on January 28 I did what every Mormon mom does with an empty fridge on a Saturday night, I headed to the grocery store without kids and a husband. It was only about 8 when I left, which meant I was going to take my time going up and down every row, just so I didn't miss anything on my list, or so that I could extend my alone time as long as possible, take your pick. By the time I got out of the grocery store it was almost 9. When I had gotten to the grocery store I pulled through the parking space in front of me, so the car behind me was facing the back of my car. As I was loading my groceries into the back of my car I noticed the guy behind me get out of the drivers seat and start to walk towards me. I felt a little uneasy, and then I saw that he was lifting up the hood of his car. For some reason I still felt uncomfortable until I saw two men walking to their car close to mine. I forgot about the guy behind me and continued to load my groceries into my car. I could hear the guy behind me working on his car trying to get it to start. Just as I finished putting all my groceries away and was about to put my cart away I heard the car start and a screech, which was the car jumping forward, and then I was in instant pain. My left leg was pinned between the back of my car and the front of his car. The guy was out of his car when it started and his car was still in drive. I felt sudden panic. I couldn't move and I had no way of moving the cars. My leg was on fire. I was literally trapped and it was an awful feeling. You remember that seen from Signs when the women is pinned between the two cars and they can't move the cars or she will die? Well, that exact scene flashed through my mind. I knew I wasn't going to die, or at least was pretty sure it wasn't that bad, since in my case it was only my leg and not my body. The guy runs over to where I am and is franticly trying to push his car back so I can get out. All the while he is telling me how sorry he is. After what had to have been less than ten second, he is able to push his car back far enough and I am able to slide out. I try walking it off. You know when you twist your ankle and you walk it off for a bit until the pain goes away and it's just a little tender. That's what I was hoping for, but this pain was much more intense. Let's just say I would rather go through the pain of having a baby then that again. So, I get to just about the front of my car when I can't walk any farther and I sit right in the middle of the parking lot, directly on the nasty street. The whole time I am doing a lamaze type breathing to work through the pain and the guy that hit me keeps saying, "I'm so sorry are you okay?" Finally I turn to him and say, "Dude, just stop talking to me." I wasn't mad at him, at that moment at least, I just needed him-everyone around me to not talk to me so I could work through the pain. As I'm grabbing my leg and continuing the breathing, I pull my phone out of my pocket and find Dan's number. The Albertson's cart boy is standing right in front of me so I hand him my phone and say, "Please....call...my husband." I could barely get it out, but I knew I needed to get a hold of Dan as soon as possible.
This part is from Dan's perspective, he says that he gets a call and hears, "Hi this is Jason from Albertson's and your wife is pinned between two cars, but she is going to be okay." (Dan does the best Jason voice) Dan then asks to talk to me, and I shake my head at Jason and tell him I can't. Dan is thinking at this point that my leg is severed.
By this time there are at least six people around me and several of them are pulling out their phones to call the police when I hear, "He's leaving!" The guy that hit me is fleeing the scene. I understand he was scared, we all were, but to leave the scene, I just don't get that, well I didn't until later. Apparently one of the guys got in his car and followed him until he got his license plate. I found out later that it was a Mexico license plate which explains why he left and why they haven't found him yet.
The first police officer gets there pretty quickly, but he looks more like a security guard then a police officer, then the ambulance arrives. If I wasn't in so much pain I probably would have been pretty embarrassed. I even forgot to mention the best part, when I put Hollyn to bed she looked at my pants, which were baby blue fleece pajama pants and says, "Mom you're not going to wear those to the grocery store are you?" After I tell her yes and ask why she said, "Mom that's embarrassing. It sure was. I will not be wearing pajama pants to the grocery store again, that actually is a lie I'm sure I will.
When the paramedics get there they start taking my vitals and cut my left pant leg to look at my leg all the way past my thigh, so my garments are showing. I guess I am glad it was those pants because if they were my nice jeans I probably would have been mad about it. Thankfully they don't need to cut my garments. As they are looking over me I call Dan and tell him that I'm going to be fine but to meet me at the grocery store so he can take me to the hospital. He has been trying to call all of our friends and family to have someone come over and watch the girls but no one is home or answering their phone. I tell him to keep calling and not to wake or bring the girls. I'm in too much pain to hold it together and pretend I'm not hurt for the girls sake. The paramedics tell me that they need to take me to the hospital. I tell them that I don't want to ride in the ambulance because my husband should be there shortly. In my mind I am really thinking that I don't want to get in the ambulance for two reasons, 1. it's embarrassing and 2. I'm not sure my insurance covers it and I know I'm not going to die. The guy finally tells me again that I should let them take me to the hospital. I call Dan again and he tells me that he got a hold of my sister in law Lisa but he's not sure how long it's going to take her to get there and then he tells me to ride in the ambulance and he'll meet me at the hospital. So, I give in and tell the paramedics that I'm going to ride with them. They lift me up and put me on the gurney, strap me down and put me in the ambulance. By this time there are double the amount of people and I am just happy to be going to the hospital to hopefully get some pain meds. The ambulance ride seemed to take forever and was so uncomfortable. I finally break down and cry.
I'll speed through this part, they get me to the hospital and put me in a room and Dan comes in shortly after. Dan's Dad, aunt Nancy and sister came and Dan's Dad and he give me a blessing. It was such a comfort to have the blessing and the pain actually subsided a bit. My parents come and get my keys to pick up my car and of course save my groceries from spoiling and to go back to our home and relieve Lisa from watching the girls. We know it's going to be a long night. They won't give me any pain medication until they do the x-ray, which takes at least an hour before they take me back. After the x-ray our friends Andrea and Travis come by to check on me. It was so nice to have visitors to take my mind off of the pain. Finally a nurse comes in and gives me a muscle relaxer for the pain, and I am instantly drowsy. The doctor comes in and tells me that it's not broken and that I have a severe muscle contusions, i.e. a massive bruise. She tells me to heat it and stay off of it for a week and then in two weeks I should be able to do normal activities like running. They weren't even going to give me crutches until Dan insisted, asking them how they thought I was going to get around. Probably one of the most painful parts was being measured for the crutches, which I think was from just putting my leg down, and getting in the car. I was crying as Dan had to bend my leg to get it into the car. I could see from the look on his face how bad he felt. By the time we got home it was 1:30am and we both were exhausted. My parents were so great, the kids were asleep and all of the groceries were unloaded and put away. I really am lucky to have amazing family and friends. The next few days I was in constant pain. Dan took off Monday to take care of me and the kids and my mom took over on Tuesday and Wednesday. By Thursday I ditched the crutches, but was quickly back on them again.
I was supposed to run Ragnar at the end of the month and really thought I could do it, until I talked to my cousin who is a physical therapist. He told me that I could severely damage my leg if I pushed it too soon. So as of today I am in physical therapy and hopefully will be back to normal activity in another week. Just with one week of physical therapy I have finally gained back some rotation in my leg and I can bend it more than a 90 degree angle, and I got the okay yesterday to ride a stationary bike as long as it's not painful. Good news because I am going crazy! My patience has been very thin lately without the release exercise gives me. I am never taking exercise for granted again. I am also grateful that it was only my leg and that I walked away with minor injuries. I am also thankful to the women who stayed by my side the whole time rubbing my back and helping me keep my cool and stay relaxed. I am also grateful to the guy who found the guys license plate. It turned out that he was actually a cousin to a guy in our ward. News travels fast when a bizarre story like that happens. So there it is, the whole story. I may post pictures later, but I must warn you they are pretty gross.

Portland, Oregon

My brother Jon, has been in dental school for about three years now, in Portland, Oregon. Dan and I have talked about visiting him, but with law school, the bar exam, and moving, we haven't been able to visit. This year for my birthday my mom gave me a great gift, a trip to Oregon with my two girls. Unfortunately, Dan had to stay and work, so my mom and the girls and I headed to Oregon. The girls were great on the plane. Hollyn has always been a good traveler, Paige has her moments, but she was great. These girls are becoming such good friends.
Our first stop in Portland was lunch with my brother and his family to the food carts. Can I just start out by saying I am a hug fan of food carts. Anything you can imagine you will find at the food carts. WE got the most incredible wood fired pizza and some french fries with feta cheese and gravy. I know it sounds nasty, but don't knock it until you try it. I was sceptical at first, but I am now a fan. After lunch we headed over to the children's museum. The theme couldn't be more perfect, legos. Hollyn loves legos and building, so she was in love with the building center and looking at the amazing cities that some professional lego builders had built. I wish I had some pictures because they really were amazing. I love taking the kids to museums and watching them explore and learn from hands on activities. I wish we had better museums close to us. I need to make the drive to Phoenix more often so my kids can have the enriching experiences of museums more often.



I'm pretty sure the theme of our trip was where are we going to eat next. Portland has so many great places to eat. Their farmer's markets and pretty spectacular too. The colors were so vivid and I have never seen so many different kids of fruits and vegetables in my life. There was one stand that had over 20 different kids of mushrooms. My girls loved sampling all the fruits especially the apples. I love that my kids get excited about fruit and vegetables.




My favorite place to eat was a place called The Pine State, at least that's what I think it's called. These two dishes were oh so fattening, but oh so delicious. Their biscuits and gravy were divine, and usually I don't like biscuits and gravy. The hash brown dish we got was just as amazing.
Beside the food we loved spending time with my brother, his wife and their little boy Theo. Portland is so green and usually overcast, so the lighting was perfect for taking pictures. And I definitely took my share of pictures. The girls didn't at all mind.






Could my nephew be any cuter?
Thanks Grandma for an incredible trip. It was a great birthday surprise. Thanks Grandpa and Dan for letting us go have some fun girl time. Thanks Jon and Mal for showing us around Portland and introducing me to incredible food. Thanks Theo for being so cute and for letting my girls love on you.



I couldn't resist posting these, they are the perfect example of Paige, always on the go and always with a smile on her face.

Soccer Time!!

One of my favorite things about having my kids get older is watching them do activities, especially sports. I was definitely a tom boy when I was a kid, I LOVED sports. I loved pushing myself, I loved competing, I loved winning, I loved the friends I made. Although I had great experiences playing sports, I wanted my girls to be more well rounded, more girly. Hollyn is definitely that, she is a complete girly girl, but she is also a pretty good soccer player. At first she was really timid and not very aggressive, but she has really improved and is learning to be competitive and assertive, which I think are two important things for her to learn. I love cheering for her on the sidelines and watching her face light up. I love watching her dribble the ball down the field to score a goal and as she hears us cheering for her watching a huge smile appear on her face, then when she scores seeing her trying to repress her smile, until it becomes too difficult. That smile is my favorite part of watching Hollyn play sports.


I love that Hollyn lives so close to family and gets to play on the same soccer team as her cousin Kate.

First Day of First Grade

Hollyn was so excited to start school. She is officially a big first grader! We were so lucky to get the best first grade teacher Ms. Liddy. She makes learning so much fun for the kids, and I feel that is so important in elementary school. I mean really once you leave elementary school, school is no longer fun, why not let them enjoy learning for as long as possible. I am of the philosophy that kids learn best through experience. So far they have learned about geography and maps through making a treasure map of their own island and going on a treasure hunt around the neighborhood with compasses. Every week they are doing something with food for math and graphing. I am amazed at how Hollyn's teacher has the time to plan everything she does. Hollyn loves going to school every day and has already learned so much. Her reading has taken off and I love that she can read books to herself and Paige.

Hollyn keeps busy with soccer and tumbling and she will be starting dance in a few weeks. I'm not sure what Hollyn will end up loving, but right now I want her to try everything. Hollyn also lost her first tooth a month ago and another one two weeks ago, so she no longer has her two lower teeth. I am not looking forward to her loosing her two front teeth.

Broadbent Family Trip to CA

Before school started we took a week vacation with Dan's family to Mission Beach California. Dan's mom found the most amazing beach house right on the beach. The view from our place was fantastic! Every morning we ate breakfast looking out on the ocean and every evening we ate dinner watching the sun go down into the ocean. It was breath taking. We didn't ever leave the beach, who would when you have such a prime location. We did take time off of the beach to have a killer baseball game and home run derby.