The Great Car Wreck

I had listed my Jetta for sale the Monday before we headed to Wyoming for my grandpa's funeral and had 3 people that were going to come look at it the Monday we got back. I coulda saved my energy.

Jason was driving, I was passenger in the front and Rachel was passenger in the back behind the drivers seat. We were on highway 120 30 minutes from Thermopolis and 30 minutes from Meeteetse when a deer jumped on the road in front of us. Jason swerved to miss it and we ended up in the ditch (note: when we tell people this story they say oh your supposed to just hit the deer. My response to that is if we had I'd be dead. There is no way my Jetta was going to just take that deer out without it coming through the windshield and hitting me.) A witness says we rolled front end over trunk 2-3 times before stopping upright. I'm not sure if I believe that because looking at the damage to my car, there is no damage to the front or rear bumpers and that would take an enourmous amount of air and speed.

Anyway, when the car stopped Jason was out immediately to Rachel who was ok except that she hit her face on something and it cut above her eye and left her with a black eye. Jason didn't know until he got to the hospital that he also had a black eye and his shins had gone into the dash scraping them up. I however had broken my right collar bone from my seatbelt keeping me from going through the windshield.

Now I agree that you are always supposed to wear your seat belt, and believe me Jason and Rachel caught hell from the cops, the hospital and every other person we ran into for not wearing theirs. But for me, I'm glad this time that they weren't. Both of their wounds have pretty much healed up but I'm going into surgery and I'm positive if Rachel had her seatbelt on too she would have broken bones instead of just a black eye. (This is my little warning to everyone that if you bring up the seat belt thing to either of them you might be the one with the black eye. I'm just saying.)

Anyway because we were in the middle of nowhere both cities we were close to dispatched ambulances to us, we had 5 show up. When they arrived Rachel was sitting in one of the cops cars with the heater on high all wrapped up in a blanket because she had started to go into shock so Jason had carried her over and put her in there. Jason was running around trying to help and I was sititng in my seat still, not moving. I knew my collar bone had broken, I felt it pop but while I sat there waiting my neck had started to cramp up pulling my head down to my shoulder. That was probably the worst part of the pain at the scene. The EMTs put me in a collar, gave me an IV- which really hurt, and strapped me to a board and drove back to Thermopolis. On the way one of the EMT's got a cell phone call. After he said hello he looked at me and said, "Are you related to the Christophersons?" I laughed, only in Wyoming would my relatives be able to find me in the middle of nowhere after a car accident. I said yes and he held the phone up to my ear. I told Myron Christopherson, who was the one that had called, to find Nolan Dobson and tell him I would be at the Thermopolis hospital in 10 minutes. Jason had called Dad at the scene and told him already but just in case I figured I'd spread the word through the extended family too. I didn't know this at the time but Jason and Rachel had also been put in an ambulance and strapped down and were caravanning behind me.

We get to the hospital and one of the nurses asks me what my moms name is and if she can give out information about me. I said yes, I guess Mom had been calling for 45 minutes and knew more then the nurse did anyway. So I get my xrays and my blood work done and I hear Jason and Rachel come in but I can't see them because I'm still strapped to the board. I hear my Dad's voice, and then see him walk up next to my bed his eyes all red and I said in my mom voice, "Have you been crying?" He shrugged and said, "You know me, I'm a softy." Then my Aunt Louann and Uncle Larry walked up and filled me in on Jason and Rachel.

I am glad Louann and Larry were there, Larry is an OBGYN so they were watching the doctor and nurses making sure they did their job right. The board they had me strapped to started to really hurt because it was causing me to lose circulation to parts of my body but the hospital couldn't take me off it until the radiologist cleared that my neck had no injury to it. I ended up moving my body around underneath the straps anyway to get blood flowing to the parts that hurt.

Anyway, so much happened during all of this I could go into tons of detail.

Ok so they release all three of us and give us all painkillers, which save my life because I can't hardly move my body before I take one it hurts too much even today. But there was one big problem for me, they didn't have a figure 8 brace to hold my shoulders back to keep my collarbone aligned. They did give me a sling though. (According to the orthopedic surgeon there is no literature out there that says a brace is better then a sling which is why it wasn't a big deal to the hospital that I didn't have a brace.)

The next morning we were troopers and showed up for Grandpas funeral service but had to leave early as Jason, Rach and I were hurting and really needed more sleep. After everyone else got home from the services I called the Cody Hosptial Emergency Room, because we were staying in Cody not Thermopolis, and asked if they had a brace. They did and we went in and got it. However, the girl that put the brace on me I think wasn't really a nurse because she didn't pull my shoulders back or anything so I ended up wearing the brace kind of loose and incorrectly the rest of the week. None of us knew any better at the time.

The plan originally was for Rach, Jason and I to come home Sunday night so we didn't miss work or school but because neither Jason or I was in any shape to drive we stayed in Wyoming until Wednesday and then rode home with Dad and Chan.

Thursday morning I go in to my doctor here in Utah for a follow up and I tell him I'm a little concerned about the medical treatment I got in Wyoming because, bless their hearts they were really nice, but something about my body just didn't feel right. My shoulder had like a sunken in feeling to it. He had my shoulder xrayed and guess what. The bone pieces are seperated by like and inch and hadn't been doing any healing while I was in Wyoming.

My doctor sent me to an orthopedic surgeon who said yep you need surgery or that will never heal. So I go in for surgery next Wednesday to get my shoulder cut open so they can put a metal plate and screws in to hold my bones together and then in four months I get to go back and have the plate and screws removed.

That is it so far. It's such a big event that this is only really a summary of everything that went on which is why it's kind of impersonal.

I'm grateful for the way the whole situation played out, being in Wyoming where I'm related to everyone, having my doctor uncle with me, only being an hour from Cody, not rolling on the sides of the car, having full coverage on the car and good health insurance.

Birthdays and funerals

This is my first weekend in 6 weeks I get to be at home with nothing happening. Can I get a hallelujah?

It started with Valentines, Jason and I went to the Melting Pot for dinner. It gets a thumbs down from us, the quality of food was not worth the money we spent. We actually were really dissapointed. But then we went to the Hampton in downtown and stayed the night. That was fun.

The next weekend I had to go to Vegas for work. One of our big leaders in the MLM I work for had a meeting so we went to take photo and video of the event. That was kind of cool getting to hang out with my supervisor Melanee, we talked a ton on the way down there and found out we are really similar.

Me with Melanee my supervisor at the hotel in Vegas.

The next weekend was Jasons birthday. We went up to speed street go cart racing with some of his friends and raced around on the track and the two of us went to Red Robin, his favorite restaurant and also Clark Plantearium and watched the laser light show.

PHOTO -I can't find it right now ha.

The next weekend was my birthday. We went to dinner at PF Changs and then stayed in a really fantastic Hyatt because the next morning we went up to Park City and did outlet shopping all day.

The next weekend we went to Wendover with a bunch of friends. Jason had been practicing his poker for this trip to make some money. I still don't really love Wendover but I was excited for Jason to try his hand at the poker table. He did really well but lost it at the end. He went all in with a pretty much clutch hand but the last card that flipped over gave the win to the other guy. Just the nature of the game, it's called betting for a reason. But now we know he is a really good poker player haha.

I thought that was going to be the last of the trips but then my grandpa, my dad's dad, died on the 14th. He had been sick in the hospital for a long time so this wasnt a huge surprise but later that week I did end up having a good cry in bed with Jason about it. Last weekend we went to his funeral. Well, sort of. I loved seeing my cousins and being in my grandparents house. It was all so comforting and safe. It was a nice safe place to hide away with my family for a little while. I am really going to miss that part of my life- we used to go up to Wyoming and stay at my grandparents house and then drive out to the ranch every day to take care of cows. Especially branding over Memorial weekend.

This whole thing brought up that feeling of enjoy every moment now because who knows how long it, or they, will be there for.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Sheesh time to catch up.


The last 4 months have been a bit of a nightmare, every time I went to post something I sounded so depressed I scrapped the post, but now I've got good news.


I have been on the corporate yoyo about a job promotion from the call center into the marketing department since June 09. I'd get all excited about being moved and then crushed when finance decided it isn't worth the cost or Bill, the owner, didn't see a need for it. I was really pushing hard to get put into marketing as the Event Coordinator. I'd been bugging the marketing VP everyday about it but one day after a meeting with the CEO I realized the marketing VP was not going to be able to help me because he is in hot water himself.
So I went to the sales director and explained how I've been working a job in the call center and a job in marketing for 6 months without a pay raise but for a promise of a promotion that wasn't being fulfilled and that I had started looking for another job because I felt taken advantage of by Zrii and asked if there is anything he could do. He said yes he could but that it might be more of me being moved into the sales department but sitting over in marketing so that I could be a connecting point between the two departments (Sales and Marketing though they have almost the same job responsibilities do not get along and therefore don't communicate). I sort of threw my hands up and said whatever you think is best I'll just follow your lead.
A week later I was promoted into Sales as the Recognition Coordinator! My responsibilites are ensuring that our distributors receive their recognition items such as pins and certificates at certain sales levels, creating a retention program by recognizing field leaders and doing the recognition bit on stage at events. And then as a sub helping with events since I've got experience. I was told to keep my place in Marketing since my job is so entwined between the two departments and act as liasion. My job rocks. I'm very happy with the career part of my life right now.

Next.


Jasons business is now OUR business. I've always felt like it was his thing because I didn't do much with it- until recently when we realized Jason can't run an office. I don't mean can't like isn't smart enough, I mean can't like he sees a pile of paperwork and melts down. It would be like me looking at an engine and being told to take it apart- melt down. So I've taken over. I do the taxes, the bill processing, the budgeting and misc stuff like filing a lien against cars we never receive payment on. And I'm damn good at it if I say so myself.
Me taking on this part of the business seems to have had a ripple effect, Jasons sales are going through the roof. ( Ok ok, maybe I'm giving myself too much credit, I don't control the spending habits of others.) But really the debt hole in the business is getting smaller and even our personal finances are improving, it's looking like I will be able to pay off all my debt except my car loan when I get my tax return. We are being very careful right now though because this is about the part we usually crash and burn because we start spending. :S


Next.


The parents are getting the divorce again. Wait, before you start feeling sorry for me let me tell you something. It bugs me to no end when I say yeah my parents are getting divorced and the response I get is, 'Oh I'm so sorry.' You shouldn't be. I'm not.* I have great parents but when they were together it caused this dark energy in the house because they want different things. Dad moved out to his own cute apartment about 1 minute drive from home and Mom is giving up the house- which made Rachel sad but I agree with because this house is much too big for just Mom and Rachel.


*For my family that reads my blog I want you to be assured that Chan, Rach and I are ok. We aren't much for talking about all of it to anyone, though we appreciate the reaching out you have done.



Next.

Have I told you about Nina the worlds cutest dog? Jason and I bought her (against Moms wishes ;) on Dads birthday for Dad. She is a teacup chihuaha mixed with something. I'm glad we got her though, she hangs out with Dad and Jason at work and keeps Dad company at night. Here is a picture of her.






















Next.

Holiday update. For Thanksgiving Jason and I drove down to Phoenix with the Harward girls and played with his family. It was a lot of fun, we did our first black friday shopping ever and got tons of stuff and I bought Jason an RC plane called a Trojan P 21 or D 21? I can't remember. I don't know if I've mentioned yet Jasons new obsession with RC planes. He flies almost every day at lunch.
For Christmas we stayed in Utah. We went opened presents in the morning with my family and then went to Susans where we met Brett and the boys and did breakfast and presents and then came back to my parents to play and have dinner. Jason, being the sneaky bugger he is, bought me all of the accessories imaginable for the Nintendo Wii and a ton of games and wrapped them individually so it took me like 15 minutes to open everything that morning at my parents but then he told me he didn't get the actual Wii console because he spent so much money on the accessories but when we went to Susans the Wii console was there. I really believed he had bought everything for the Wii but not the console. The rest of our Christmas break we were glued to the TV playing Wii sports and MarioKart.

.....Ok I think thats everything for now.

My career choice

I have found what I want to do with my life. I want to be an Event Planner. Or rather a CSEP. Certified Special Events Planner. In June I helped at work with our yearly convention, I ran the registration desk, worked on the sales floor. Played bouncer for the VIP events. It was all chaos and noise and long hours. I loved it. Three months ago I got to help again with one of our regional coventions in Anaheim. It was smaller but I'd say way more fun then the big event and I realized on the flight home that I could that over and over. There is something supremely satisfying in watching an event go from ideas on paper to an experience for other people. Since then I have been harassing the Marketing department to let me on as an assistant to the Events Team and finally this week I really got somewhere. My involuntary mentor Carly pulled some strings and did a little political maneuvering and got me part time in the department training for an actual promotion that is meant to happen after 30 days of training. Ironically the event we are working on right now is in a month. That will be kind of like a job interview I imagine. To even start to get certified I need to have been in the industry for at least 3 years so the sooner I can get an events title the better.

Jason let his mechanic at the shop go and started focusing again on his sales and then taking smaller jobs in the shop and has been turning quite a profit thankfully. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for the business debt.
I might as well mention this here. Last weekend we took a trip to Idaho and picked up a Dodge Stealth Jason bought online that he is going to part out and use to get his car running. He is really excited to turn the $500 he spent in getting the car into the projected $3100 he should get for parts. My lesson learned in that weekend excursion was that we need a truck before we do anymore trailer towing. Time to get rid of the Jetta and get me 4 wheel drive I think.















August Anaheim Convention
Amber, Christian, Mickey, (world of warcraft character), Carly, Me, Chase

*While we were at the Anaheim Convention Center there was another Convention for the makers of World of Warcraft. We snuck in and ran around taking pictures with people in costumes and going to the Ozzy concert.

A wedding and funeral

3 weeks ago my aunt shot and killed her two sons and herself in a murder suicide.
The shock you are feeling after reading that sentence is a small portion of the shock I felt when my parents sat us siblings down and told us. Surreal is the best word to describe it. We found out Sunday, and by Wednesday everyone including Jason was loaded into the minivan headed to Phoenix. There was a memorial at the boys junior highschool that night. It was weird sitting in the auditorium listening to these little people talk about the grief they are feeling and how much they loved my 2 cousins. It made me realize how little I actually knew them. The grief and regret I felt in that hour was pretty horrendous. Unbearable actually, as I was in denial until..actually I might still be in denial.
That Friday morning September 25th was the funeral at 11 am. At home my best friend Brittany got married in the temple at 11 am Utah time. I was supposed to be there celebrating with friends and family on the temple grounds getting my picture taken in my bridesmaid dress, not staring at caskets. Life felt really unfair. Sometimes I get angry that my aunt took my cousins but I know that she loved those boys more then anything so I think in her temporary insanity she must have thought she was doing the right thing. Protecting them maybe. She had found out the night before my uncle wanted a divorce, the sheer mental pressure of that and other life challenges must have made her snap. I think everyone has hit that point at some time where they would rather sleep forever then face another day.
Jason and I went to the funeral service at the mortuary and then Dad hustled us over to the airport to catch a plane so I could go to Brittany's reception that night. A funeral and a wedding in one day. It was sort of an ultimate low for me.
Brittanys reception was awesome. Wadley Farms is a cute outside reception center with a garden and gazebo right by my parents home. Brittany did lollipop center pieces with pictures of her and Jeremy glued to them and a candy table, cotton candy and ice cream center. Sugar Sugar. She had a cupcake cake. I had to stand guard to make sure no one took any of the gourmet cupcakes from the wedding cake stand. When they cut the cake they chased each other around the garden trying to smear each other with a cupcake. It was cute. A happy ending to a hard week. She went to New York the next day for the honeymoon. :)

The Wyoming... adventure -Pictures

Here are the pictures in follow up to my last post. Enjoy.

The Wyoming...adventure

Last weekend we went to Cody, Wyoming for vacation and to see family. My Dads side is from Wyoming and so it is kind of my childhood playground. However, the trip turned into....an adventure.
We were meeting with my cousins the Smiths in Idaho because they were coming from Washington but they only had one driver and their trip is about 13 hours, ours is only 8. We decided to meet in Pocatello and have one of our 4 drivers (our car held me, Jason, Chandler, Rachel and my Dad) hop in their car to give my aunt a break. Unfortunately our journey didn't start til about 8:30 that night so when we met it was like 1 am. Everyone except Chan and Jason were really tired by the time we got to Rexburg. My Dad and Aunt decided they wanted to look for a hotel room for the night so that we didn't show up in Cody wiped out. But fate had other plans.
All the hotel rooms in Rexburg were full because it was graduation weekend. So we decide to carry on and have Chan and Jason drive the next 6 hours there.
Now if you know the area you know that to get to Cody from Idaho the shortest trip is through Yellowstone Park (I think I've been to Yellowstone at least 50 times, honestly.) A couple of miles outside West Yellowstone (that is a city and the gate entrance to the park) Dads van bent a rod. Something about it being on cruise control hitting a steep hill trying to accelerate too much or something. Dad decides to drive into the city and see if we can get a hotel room for the night and figure out what to do with the car in the morning as it is about 4 am now. No luck again, every hotel, and note there are 75 in the city, is full. My poor aunt went everywhere looking while Dad called triple A to see about getting a tow.
Triple A tells us that our towing range is 100 miles and we were at 120 miles from Cody so we would need to get closer or pay the extra fees for the tow. We decide to sleep on it. So from about 5 am to 8 am everyone (so thats 5 in our car and 5 in my Aunts car) sleeps in their seats. No fun. At 8 am my Aunt wakes up our car, she couldn't sleep) and we drive into Yellowstone praying the car will make it at least 20 miles. It makes it about 50 and then the engine quits. So Dad waited for a tow truck and the rest of us pile in my Aunts car and go to Cody.
While we are there we go to a canal that is at the ranch with some of my cousins that live on the ranch in Cody. This canal is a fun place because it has what is called a weir. That is where the water goes under a bridge over a cement bottom and then drops like a water slide. Jason has never done this before and I forget to give him the run down on how he is supposed to go down. I'm out of the water on the side taking pictures. He decides to go down this little water slide standing up! Any sane person in my opinion would have sat down to go through. As Jason hits the bottom of the slide he hits a part of the cement that has been beaten away by the water and is now rough and broken. He completely eats it tumbling through the rest of the 'ride'. Poor kid when he gets out he has gashed his hand and seriously scraped his knee, down to bone. Good thing he was last to go, my little cousins have never heard the words that came out of his mouth.
Now the trip is over it's time to leave and we have to figure out how to get the van home. Let me explain the van. It is an Astro which is a equipped with a V8 and truck frame. It's a truck with a van body really. Dad calls up Uhual to rent a truck and a flatbed to take the van home. But it's Wyoming and the only truck large enough to move the flatbed in 100 miles is a moving van. Which only has 3 seats in the cab. Instead of renting another car Jason and I just sit in the back of the van, up on the flatbed, with the windows open because we can't get A/C in a broken car, for 8 hours. Not so bad except when we went through construction, which blew dust and gravel into the car and in the rain. That felt good at first but then combined with the construction dust and no real ventilation it became miserable. By then end of the 8 hours I felt like I had been in a box hauled around by UPS.
I'll post pictures up later.