Kelsey's 17th Birthday Surprise!

 The Friday before Kelsey's birthday, I kidnapped her out of school and we went to lunch at Brio's and did some birthday shopping!  It was an amazing day----any day I get to spend with Kelsey is AMAZING!

 The Sunday night before her birthday, her friends came and ATTACKED our house with balloons, streamers, forks and tortillas (yes, tortillas) in the lawn!  There were streamers in the trees---everywhere!  It was pretty fun, actually!

 Since the truck was totaled in the accident a few weeks ago, Kelsey needed a car to drive to school.  She has DREAMED of having a VW Bug.  Tom and I were a little unsure and wanted to make sure it was a safe car, etc. So, smart Kelsey texted her Grandpa Marshall and asked him what HE thought.  Cars are one of Grandpa Marshall's favorite things so he got right on it and was looking it up on Consumer Report and giving her the crash test ratings, etc.  It was awesome!  He was also a wise grandfather in that he told her to "support whatever her parents decided because they love her and only want what is best for her."  (I was grateful to him for saying that!)  Anyway, after a fun weekend of shopping around, we kept coming back to this cute little black bug right here in a used car lot in Gilbert.  She fell in love and now calls it, "Her Baby!"  It's an honor to reward a good kid. She hasn't caused us one day's worry.  Truly, she is an angel daughter and we were happy to give her that!

 My sweet mother was able to come and be with her for her 17th Birthday!  What a treat that was!  We again kidnapped her from school took her to a fun Mexican restaurant on her birthday.  Then, after that, of course, we headed to San Tan Mall for some more bday shopping! ha ha!

 Here is the photo I posted on her birthday back when she was just a little baby.  Look at those adorable cheeks!!

 That night, Kelsey told us she wanted to go to Top Golf for her fun Family Party.  So, before we got to Top Golf, I told her I needed to run in quickly to Cafe Rio to grab some tortillas for a Relief Society Dinner (ha ha!).  She totally believed me and as we were walking up there, she noticed one of her friend's cars!!  Then, it was seconds before she saw everyone in the restaurant!   I had arranged for some friends as well as MaryKay's family to meet us there for dinner!  They all yelled, "Surprise!!" It was a total party!!!  She was really surprised!!!

 (Spencer photo-bombing the picture! ha ha)

 We came home and opened some present and had a yummy ice-cream cake!!!

I will forever be grateful that Kelsey is our daughter.  I can hardly believe she is 17 years old.  We have loved every minute being her parents.  What a gift she is to our family!

Anniversary Weekend (a little early :)

 We decided to take an early anniversary ski trip this year since we will be in the thick of Easter Pageant Rehearsals in February.  We chose a beautiful day to go skiing up at Deer Valley.  The sun was shining which means I was one happy girl!!  We found some Adirondack chairs and soaked in the mountain air at the end of the day and honestly, we didn't want to leave!

 One of my most favorite things to do is to go skiing with my best friend and hubby, Tom!

 When we got back to our hotel, this was waiting for me!  Can you believe it?  For our anniversary he ordered a chocolate grand piano to be sent up to the room.  I felt so loved!!

 We went to one of our favorite restaurants, The Roof, in the JS Memorial Building.  It overlooks the SLC Temple which is where we were married.  Something crazy happened, the pianist played "Beauty and the Beast!"  That was the song that was sung at our wedding because it won movie of the year and the song won the best song award.  It's pretty special to us and I just couldn't believe that the pianist would play it right as we were walking in!

 Then on Sunday morning, we went to Music and the Spoken Word which is always fabulous!

We stopped and spoke with Mack Wilberg for a quick minute afterwards and he is always so sweet to ask how Tom's mother is doing.  She worked with Mack in the music dept. at BYU for years and was Tom's director for the BYU Men's Chorus.  What a talented and kind man he is.  It was the perfect ending to the perfect weekend with my perfectly wonderful husband, Tom!

GO COUGZ TRUCK ACCIDENT

This is when I went to a scout camp.  It was a lot of fun.  Every camp is fun because all of my friends are their and AI love to hang out with them.  We always tell stories and stay up late.

On the picture above, Brother Thatcher is on the far left.  He is the master cook!  He always makes all of our meals for every campout.  He is also very prepared for anything that happens.

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise.

Such fun night out with the scouts.  We went to Peppersauce caverns and explored the caves.  This is my truck in the morning sunrise.  I remember looking at the sunrise and the truck and just thinking, "Man, I love the truck.  Even being 12 years old, it looks so good."  We took 4 boys with us down the road to the caverns.  As we got back in the car to drive home,  I told the boys that one would have to find another vehicle because we didn't have enough seatbelts for 4 in the back.  Apparently, each thought they would be the one boy to find another ride because we ended up with no boys in the back seat.  Little did I know what a blessing that would be...

That's me, Spencer...

The Peppersauce caves were a blast.  This part was the entrance to the cave.  It is a very tight and narrow hole that you can only go through on your belly.  It's probably the hardest part to go through in the cave.  After the hole, it's a giant cave filled with darkness.

 

On the way home, I was driving down Hunt Highway travelling about 65 mph.  A small Ford Focus pulled right in front of me.   I swerved to avoid killing him, which I surely would have done going 65 with that big metal grate on the front of my truck.  I couldn't believe we had avoided the car, but then we hit the soft gravel and I started to spin out on the right, so I corrected.  I veered back onto the road and the back end swerved back and swung us to the oncoming traffic.  I believe the back left tire then failed and came off.  That launched us into the air.  A witness said our whole car was in the air on our first flip.  It landed us on the front corner of the truck.  Our car took two additional rolls later into oncoming traffic and we stopped.  I looked at Spencer and he looked at me.  We both checked ourselves that we were still alive. Then Spencer says, "That was gnarls!"  Spencer had scraped up his hand from dragging it on the pavement through the sunroof.  The right hand was clutching the door handle.  My hands were held firmly onto the steering wheel.  Miraculously,  no one was in our direct way in the oncoming traffic.  Also, we didn't have any scouts in the back seat.  Spencer was asleep until just before the accident, but he had his seatbelt on, as did I.  So many miracles.  I know the Lord and Angels were watching out for us.

My injuries were biting through my tongue in a couple of places.   I also had some bruising on the ribs and shoulder from the seat belt.  Other that that, I walked away from the accident unharmed.  The truck definitely sacrificed itself for Spencer and I.  This is Tamara writing now:  I sat next to Tom and Spencer in the Emergency Room and was still in absolute awe that the two of them were still alive.  Tom was so calm and so was Spencer.  But, as the nurses came and checked on Spencer I could see Tom's face and his eyes rolled back in his head and he absolutely passed out right there on the hospital bed.  The nurses rushed over to him and gave him some smelling salts to wake him up but I was freaking out!

While we were flipping, my left hand flew through the sunroof above me and I scraped it on the road.  I look at it now and it looks like nothing even happened.

These boys came over to help clean up the leaves in our yard to do some service for Brother Chamberlain.  It really touched our hearts.  But honestly, in the end, our entire family believes that Tom and Spencer were saved because first, it was the will of God that they remain here on earth and second, because we have a faithful missionary son serving in Argentina who is putting the Lord before himself and we are receiving those blessings right here, right now.