Adventures in Idaho, Murphy Style

White Water Rafting... Who stayed in the Boat, who didn't.

Tow please!

Hailey's Blessing dress.

The weekend of Aug 2-6, was Hailey's baby blessing combined with the Smith Family Reunion. As much fun as it was, things were pretty rough at times. I've posted many of the good things, now time for Murphy's blunders. The reunion was a blast. The blessing was great. The people were wonderful. We enjoyed the reunion and reuniting with family Joel hadn't seen in a while. It was all the stuff around that that fell apart...literally.  Events starting backwards:

Tuesday, a white water rafting trip ended up with Joel getting tipped over the edge of the raft, dragged under the boat and floating downstream a ways... maybe floating isn't the right word. They were rapids after all. It took half an hour to rescue him. We climbed the lava rock upstream to where he was because he wasn't coming to us and we could tell he was in pain. Once we got to him, we discussed how to get him back. Walking was out of the question. We decided our only choice was to float him down the river to the raft. He couldn't walk on his foot and we didn't know if it was broken. My dad eventually came over and asked if we needed his belt. Genius! We used my dad's belt and Joel's belt and tied them together. Then we tied Joel to Chad, my cousin's husband. Chad was in back and led Joel downstream. Realize that this was frigged water. We all didn't worry about the cold though and honestly the cold water was probably the best thing for Joel's foot. We made it back to the raft soon enough, but the kicker... when Joel fell out three oars fell out as well. We now had 5 people left to row but only 3 oars. Two rowers in front and one in back steering. We eventually found all the other oars but getting them was just as eventful as getting Joel. We got Joel back to Boise soon enough and went to the ER just in case his foot was broken and we needed to get it set. We also needed to make sure he didn't have a lasting concussion from hitting his head. Expensive trip. This was my first trip white water rafting. It was a blast. My whole body hurts though. It won't be soon forgotten.

Hailey making the best of the wait in the ER

Sunday night... we got to the last family event only to find that the van my parents had brought up was dying out. We had no idea why because it had just been overhauled. We waited a little bit, enjoyed the last family dinner and when we came back it eventually kicked over. We were hopeful. Unfortunately, it died a couple miles after we took off. The alternator was dead and thus drained the battery. Joel towed us the 15 miles back into Rexburg. Monday we got the alternator fixed at a local shop and thought we were good to head out. After coming home from the shop the gas peddle was jammed and wouldn't disengaged. We wanted to go and hoped it was just a little stuck and would loosen up as we drove. Nope! The car revved all the way back to Boise because the gas peddle was still constantly being "pressed". Thus, in order to stop, we had to press the brake knowing full well we were working against the gas peddle. Gotta love the smell of hot brake pads. On the up side, Joel pretty much had cruise control the whole way home!

Saturday night. Hailey's Blessing... This is one murphy event that I really was sad about but I didn't find out until Sunday after church. Hailey's blessing was wonderful and many people commented that they felt Joel's dad and my Grandma were there, both of whom have passed away. Hailey had been fussy most of the night and to top it off the banquet room was getting hot. To help cool her down I took her out of her blessing dress and put the dress on my mom's chair. Tables were getting cleared up to make ready of the dance so my mom took the dress out to the car so it wouldn't get lost. Sunday I asked where her dress was because I couldn't find it in the car. She came out to check and realized there were some minor differences in the car vs the car she put the dress in. Come to find out, my mom put the dress in the wrong Red Chevy Blazer. Someone, somewhere in Idaho Falls has Hailey's blessing dress in the back seat of their car... My mom wanted to break down and cry because of the mistake she had made. She felt horrible. I said it's okay, it's only a dress, it was an honest mistake. Joel was bummed and upset because "he would never make a mistake like that." I asked him to be kind because my mom was already beating herself up about the whole thing. I sat there sad but saying, it's just a dress... But it somehow is more than just a dress. I realized I don't have pictures of Hailey in her blessing dress... just her. There are pictures where people are holding her, but i wasn't the formal photos. And she never got to wear it to church. My first thought after the drama cleared was, well maybe someone needed that dress more than Hailey. When I told Paula Burgess, the one who has made it, I'm sure she was more saddened then she let on, but she too responded that maybe someone else needed it and Hailey was just sharing.

These are just a few of the things that Murphy decided to play with on our weekend adventure. I asked Joel if it was because Hailey was given such a wonderful blessing that "the black dog" decided to step in and make life miserable just because he could. He just shrugged his shoulders.  I don't know if things could have gotten worse. I didn't know why everything fell apart. Joel didn't understand how I could be so calm with everything when he was frustrated to the point of irritation. I shrugged my shoulders. What can really be done about any of it? I know that things can get worse but it's honestly how we look at the situation that matters. I could have gotten made or frustrated, angry or bitter... I've done that before and it didn't turn out well. So this time I just cried when I got home and let it go saying we'll figure things out. Things will turn out, no matter how bad things have been in the past, it usually gets better. We've had the three bad things, now time for three good things!