Ok Ok..It's been forever and a day..I KNOW!!!

I know it has been a long time since I have blogged. Seems like when I got home from Brazil, the month of July was difficult for me. I lived in a bubble and didn't want anyone to know what was going on. We went camping several times and to the Oregon Coast to get away. We had a great time, but it didn't take the problems away. Soon after, I decided it was time to get a job and start doing something so I wouldn't sit and think about things. I started working at Purnell Law Offices in Meridian. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time there. There are never dull moments when you practice so many areas of law. (Family - Divorce, Immigration, Corportate, Guardianship, Civil, Criminal, Estates - planning and probate...and more) Gets intense at times, but overall it has been fun. The end of September, my sister LaNae called and asked if I would be interested in working for them doing all the scheduling, billing, and contract work for their alarm system business. I thought somehow I could juggle 2 full time jobs and still manage to keep afloat. I have done this for the past month and a half. I even recruited a friend in Nyssa to come help me with the security system stuff so it wouldn't too overwhelming. Both jobs have been a blessing in disguise and I'm thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that still cares about me.
Sarah started first grade and continues to love school. She is a great reader and does excellent work. She was recognized at the school assembly in September with the achievement award. She got her ears pierced for her 7th birthday and that has been pure drama!!
Sabrina stays home with grandma and grandpa, who are both retired. She is pretty self sufficient in most things so she is easy to take care of. She enjoys watching cooking shows with grandpa and playing crazy 8's with anyone that will play. She even taught grandpa how to play and beats him quite often!! She does preschool with my mom and is learning her letters and sounds.
Naldo is working in Brazil managing a fishing boat during the fishing season. He enjoys fishing and watching others learn amazon tradition. He caught quite a few big fish. I think his biggest was 18 lbs. It was a monster!! I know have a new record to beat!! :)

I think we are all up to date now!! In my spare time, I still sell hats and bows and do anything crafty. I have a new best friend I call Big Daddy - a 48 inch vinyl cutter. If you need vinyl cut, let me know!! I'm your girl!! :)

I'll let the pictures do the talking!!

Swimming at hotel


swimming at hotel

Hotel we stayed at

More swimming!!

Church dedication

Church dedication


Playing basketball at the church. Kind of funny to watch since they don't know how to play very well...soccer is more their sport!!

Boat festival



Boat festival. They decorate boats and do a parade...shoot off fireworks, etc.

Look at all those people on that boat!! WOW!!


The girls before the boat festival started.

Sunday church before we left for Manaus. So glad to see everyone again!

The girls and my Sogro at church!

This gay guy ALWAYS asks me for money...everytime I go to brazil...One time I told I gave all my money to my husband and he spent it...so he cursed at Naldo...HAHAHA!!

Kelen playing clapping games with the girls! She was the best babysitter ever!! :)

Beto and his wife, Lidiane. She is 9 months pregnant and waited until I left to have the baby :( I kept telling her I was going to steal her baby boy!!

Kelen and Sarah playing the wii!

Sabrina trying to knock Sarah over.

Sabrina coloring!! NICE bunda Brina!! :)

Grating root to make a yummy cake!! :) It was soooo good!! Check out that home made grater. They got a metal can of baby formula..turned it wrong side out and hammered holes in it. That thing was SHARP! If you barely touched it, you would start bleeding! I didn't bleed!! My sogros were shocked when I knew how to do that!!

Breaking a sweat while grating!! :)

Naldo pulled Sarah's 2 front teeth while in Brasil...1st - June 12th 2nd - June 22nd. The toothfairy even found her way to Brasil!!

Girls having fun at the hotel waiting for the rain to pass so we could go to vovo's house!

They grabbed the umbrella and said..lets go NOW!!

Valmir (Cousin), sarah, sabrina, me. Valmir LOVES the girls and wants to steal them!!
Valmir is very indian looking...but stands about 6'4"! SOOO tall for the amazon area.

Sabrina having fun!!

Sarah coloring on the motorcycle so when someone wants to leave, they have to take her too!

Playing frisbee in the rain.

Naldo and the girls playing in the rain! :)

AHHH...the best way to take a nap on a hot day..in a hammock!

My Sogro when we first got to Brasil. They didn't know we were coming so it was an awesome surprise when we pulled up in the taxi and jumped out. He was sitting outside asleep in his chair. when the car stopped and the girls hopped out and ran over to him, he just about fell off his chair. He couldn't believe his eyes. He thought he was dreaming.... it was AWESOME!! :)

Pure Drama!

Sarah had 2 permanent teeth grow in behind her 2 baby bottom teeth a few months back. They grew and grew but we could never get Sarah to wiggle the baby teeth. I kept telling her I was going to take her to the dentist to get them out and she didn't care much. One of the baby teeth became quite loose, so Naldo pulled it out while I held Sarah down. The permanent tooth moved in to the space perfectly, but the next tooth over still had the baby tooth and permanent tooth behind...until today! I kept telling her it was very ugly to have shark teeth. She didn't care. After 3 hours of PURE DRAMA...and I mean top notch drama, we finally got it out. First, my mom tried to pull it because I hate everything about pulling teeth. She failed...Then she got Sarah to bit down on a carrot. That loosened the tooth quite a bit. Next the laffy taffy sticks. Sarah wasn't very thrilled about that. The tooth was barely hanging there. You could see the hole already and it already. I told Sarah it was time to go see Aunt dentist Trish! We went to their house and Sarah was quite shy at first and didn't even want to show Trish the tooth. She finally did and Trish was surprised it was still in there by how far she could push it down. I gave up on Sarah and told her I had a lot of things to do and that I was going to go sit in the car and wait. I unlocked the door, opened Sarah's door so she just had to jump in, went around the car and sat in the drivers seat. Next thing I know, Sarah comes running down the sidewalk towards the car with the plastic ziplock bag I gave her. I jumped out of my seat and asked if it was out and she said...Yep! Trish bumped it a little bit...and Sarah pulled it the rest of the way off and put it in the bag! I told Sarah she was full of drama and she said..."well if you would have just sat in the car in the first place and waited for me, it wouldn't have taken so long..." OHHHH man....I couldn't believe she said that! Then she went on to say that she pulled a lot of drama all afternoon trying to get her tooth out and now it feels much better!! I'm so glad. She wasn't going to Brasil with her shark teeth! Naldo would have pulled it out in the airport for sure while we have a layover in Atlanta!! Now instead of teeth pulling, we can play games and color while waiting! good thing!! :) She's only lost 2 teeth so far...I am thinking I will take her to the dentist and have him pull the top 4!! I can't take the drama.......

One tough cookie!

Yesterday, I took Sabrina to the doctor for her 4 year shots and a wellness check before we go on vacation. I told her upfront that shots hurt, she probably wouldn't feel well afterwards, etc. to prepare her so it wasn't a shock when it happened. She woke up yesterday and wanted to go right then to get her shots, like it was something very exciting that she got to do! I told her that her appointment wasn't until 3:00 pm and she'd just have to wait. We ended up leaving the house a little early and did some shopping first because she couldn't hold her excitement in any longer! She wanted those shots and she wanted them bad!! We got to the doctors office a little early and they took us right back...that usually never happens, especially when the waiting room was packed full of people. (At TVPC) We went back and they started checking her out. First her blood pressure, then her vision and hearing, then they told me they would have to poke her finger to test her sugar and what not. I told them ok thinking it was the test they did to me all the time when I was pregnant..poke..put it in the slide thing and they were done. NOOOOO, she came with a vile thing, poked her finger..squeezed blood for 3-4 minutes until this vile was full. Sabrina was so brave and didn't even cry. She kept saying that it hurt, but she didn't cry. I sat on the chair filling out the paperwork, trying to ignore what was happening because I hate blood, needles, etc. The nurse put the bandaid on, turned around and I saw the vile of blood. I kid you not...instant cold sweats, stomach churning like I was going to throw up right then and there, etc. She left the room and Sabrina got off the table and I was holding her. I had to push my sleeves up because I was sweating and getting dizzy. Also, I pulled my chair over to the vent that was blowing cold air and leaned over. Sabrina decided she was done and wanted to leave. She said over and over that she wanted to go home. I told her she had to get her shots first and then we would. She wasn't very excited about them anymore. To get her out of the room for a bit, I took her to the bathroom to distract her of what was going to happen in a couple of minutes. We returned to the room and the nurses came right in. I told them I coudn't stay in there and they got someone to hold sabrina and keep her distracted while they gave her the 4 shots. I kept hearing them say that she did so well and next thing I know, the door comes flying open and Sabrina come running out with a look of terror on her face! I picked her up and the first thing out of her mouth was...Mom, I'm brave and I didn't even cry. I asked if it hurt bad and she said...yeah..it hurt bad, but I'm brave. The nurses came back with coins for their machine with prizes, stickers, and rings. She was loaded! I told her I'd take her to walmart and let her get a toy afterwards if she felt up to it. Not only did she get a toy, she was convinced she was starving to death and got Subway! She was one happy little camper. She came home and showed everyone her bandaids, ran like a wild child and finally crashed. During the night, I could tell she was in pain as she could barely move her legs. By morning, she was fine, ripped off her bandaids and said she wanted a bath to relax!! She's one tough cookie. I keep telling her I would have cried for sure! She thinks I'm the biggest whimp in the world probably!! Oh well...I am!

Brazil...We are coming soon!!

I can't believe it is May already. We bought our tickets in March and it seemed so far away until our departure date - now it is just around the corner! I'm very excited to surprise everyone there. They know we are coming sometime this year, but don't know the date! Even though I will miss my **cough cough*** 10 year class reunion, I'm excited to be in Brazil during World Cup time. The streets will be painted in green, blue, yellow, and white! Soccer fanatics will sit in front of every tv available cheering on their team. Every goal made means 15-20 bottle rockets will go off within seconds! Very exciting times...very little sleep! We will be gone for 1 full month enjoying family,friends, good food, fishing, and the amazon!

Now we have 3 busy weeks ahead of doctor appointments, Mother tea, field trip, award assemblies, packing, going to Utah, etc. I know they will fly by! I can't wait!!

Happy Birthday Miss Sabrina!

When the new calander for 2010 was hung on the wall, my mom told Sabrina that her birthday was on Easter this year. Sabrina told EVERYONE that her birthday was on Easter and that the Easter bunny would bring her a birthday cake!! That is all she wanted though. A birthday cake. When we would ask her what she would like for her birthday, she would say, "it doesn't matter, I like anything." When we were in Utah, Naldo took her shopping for her birthday and told her she could get anything...well within reason, of course. She picked 2 Hello Kitty plastic figurines that cost $2.89. Naldo kept trying to tell her she could get more. She was content with those kitties. He took her to several stores and still she wasn't crazy about getting more. Finally, he was able to talk her into a movie and a tinker bell book. She is that way in life also. She is content with the smallest things and doesn't care about much. She can be quite stubborn sometimes, but the rest of the time she is so easy going and cares so much about other people. Sabrina is a blessing in our lives!! I love her so much! Happy 4th Birthday Brina B!!

So Innocent..NOT!!

NOTE: I'm writing this mostly as a journal entry to remember and tease Sabrina about it years from now!!

She looks so innocent, but trust me, do I have a great story to tell about this fine little princess. The other day, I was downstairs - busy - doing something. Sarah and Sabrina were upstairs playing the wii. Soon, I hear little pitter patter feet running through the kitchen. I knew it was Sabrina by the way she runs. As soon as I saw her I asked, "What happened to your pants....and your panties??" You need to put them back on or your buns will freeze and it won't be pretty. She looked at me sheepishly and said..."Well, I had a little accident...not big...just a little." I quickly jumped up and went upstairs to find her pants and panties in the bathroom...with a little poop in her panties. I asked her if it was just an accident or if she was being lazy and didn't quit her game in time to make it to the bathroom??!! She said she just didn't make it in time. I grabbed her panties and went downstairs to grab some oxyclean and tide to soak the panties. While I was in the bathroom, she knocked on the door and said..."Now I will tell the truth mom. I told Sarah to put 2 players on the wii and if she didn't, I was going to poop my pants....she didn't put 2 players, so I pooped my pants." I couldn't punish her because I was laughing SOOO hard. She just smiled and knew this time she was lucky and got off easily. She knows better now though! Sarah didn't care if she pooped her pants. She was going to put 1 player no matter what!! Sabrina appears so innocent...NOT!!!

Before and After

My sister keeps asking me to post a picture of Sabrina's new haircut. So, this is for you, LaNae!!

Before

After

So, if you have seen Sabrina lately, she is now sporting a cute little bob haircut. She decided to cut her hair herself! She also cut a little piece in Sarah's hair, but you can't tell. They got the scissors and I asked what they were going to do with them. They also had a handful of paper and said they were going to cut that. I was on the phone and about 3 feet away from them (a wall between us) and little did I know - Sabrina was hacking away at her hair on one side. I thought that I would make her keep it like that...very choppy and short on the one side..but I just couldn't do it. I took her to a friends house and she chopped off all of her locks to even it up. Sad, but true!!

Tonight, Sabrina crawled up into my lap and said..."Mom, curl your tongue like a hot dog bun..." So I did. I told her to do the same and she said. "Mom, I can't...I can only make it look like bread.." I laughed so hard! She's a smart little kid!

Earlier, I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and Sarah knocked on the door and said..knock knock..so I said..who's there..she said..alvin and the chipmunks...I said..alvin and the chipmunks who...then opened the door...she said...Hhhhhheeeeeellllllllloooooo gorgeous!!

I am thankful for my kids for making me laugh everyday even when days are rough!

She keeps me laughing!!

Sabrina has been playing the wii lately when Sarah is at school because she usually doesn't get a chance when Sarah is home. Today, she was playing a very intense game of table tennis. Score 5-6...match point...she lost. Afterwards, the wii goes on to congratulate the winner...it said..."congratulations...." she clicked to go on to the next screen knowing she lost....and under her breath in a disgusted voice she said..."what you mean congratulations??" ahhh...I laughed so hard...I don't think she knew I was paying attention and watching her because I was sorting through some papers! Gotta love kids!!!

I have been the biggest slacker on blogging lately! It seems like the days pass so quickly. Seems like December flew by so quickly! Christmas was good this year, although it was very quiet. Keith's family came over and we ate a nice lunch/dinner. Afterwards, we enjoyed each others company, played games, and played the wii. It was fun playing...for a while...until my 6 year old (I won't mention any names) kicked my trash at everything and ended by saying, "if you want to play with me, you'll need to keep practicing to get better." Ouch...Oh well.

New Years was fun. Naldo was able to come for a long weekend and spend time with us. My mom, dad and I were the only ones that survived until midnight. Everyone else crashed a lot earlier. Well, Sabrina fell asleep at 11:40 p.m. so she just barely missed out! It was fun though. We ate a lot of good food over the weekend and just had fun together.

In our family, January is a busy month for birthdays. (3rd - Mom, 7th - Naldo, 11th - Dad, 16th - Holly, 31st - Alex) We will be having parties every Sunday except for 1 this month!

Sarah got her report card yesterday and is doing very well at school. She was excited to go back to school to see her friend Mikayla. Over the long break, they played together 1 day and had a great time. She is taking AR test for reading!! She took her first test and got 100%. She was excited about that! Sarah has been begging for months to take sack lunches to school. I let her pack her own a few times and take it. I made a deal with her now that we will look at the menu for the week and she can choose 2 days to take lunches. She took one on Tuesday last week and decided to take one on Thursday. She packed it herself again although I did make her a pb & j sandwich. Knowing she had already used her 2 days up for the week, she decided not to eat all of the food on Thursday and save some for friday. When she got home from school, I asked where her lunch bag was and she said she forgot it at school. I asked what food was still in there and she said...well....enough for tomorrow!! She decided to "forget" it again over the weekend. Luckily it only has corn pop cereal in it! Funny kid!!

Sabrina goes to her imaginary school. She has 2 friends there; Katie and Say. Her teacher's name is Snow Angel. She has quite the imagination! If she does something new, you ask her who taught her to do it and usually she will say Katie did. Pretty funny little kid!! She has 2 more years until she starts school so hopefully by then, she will graduate from her imaginary school and be ready for kindergarten. I hear Snow Angel is a good teacher and is getting her ready for "big school." hahah

Other than that, we are back into the routine of things. I will try to be a better blogger this new year. I should really write the funny things my kids say. I have forgotten a lot of them now. Sad..I know! I will be better!! I will!!

I swear...I'll never go back!!

In our family, some of the kids were blessed with good teeth and others weren't so lucky. I happen to fall into the not so lucky category! No matter how much I brush, floss, waterpick, etc., I am doomed. I have suffered a lot since I was a child with dentist visits and absolutely hate each appointment. I get so worked up over just a simple visit.

Since October, I have been to the dentist a total of 5 times and I have another appointment next week. (last one this year...thank goodness). About 4 years ago, I had a filling fall out of a tooth (wisdom tooth). I was pregnant with Sabrina and didn't think much of it. I neglected getting it refilled and soon the tooth began breaking away in all directions. I would clean it out with the waterpick everyday and it never really hurt or bothered me. In October, the tooth broke off while I was brushing leaving just a little part of the tooth and the entire root system. I have dental insurance so I started looking around so see which dentist in this area are covered on my husbands plan. I found Dr. Eric Dahle in Ontario. He shares and office with Dr. Wettstein. (who I used to go to) I saw he did sedation dentistry and I was sold! Knock me out and get 'er done! He looked at the tooth and said I needed all 4 wisdom teeth out ( I already knew that...) and some cleaning done plus refill 3 fillings that had fallen out. I was scared to death and so I scheduled all of my cleanings first and left the extraction and other work until now....like yesterday! I dreaded seeing December 7 come.

About and hour before my appointment, I took the sedation pill. It took about 15 minutes and I was feeling a little fuzzy and knew it was starting to work. I arrived at the dentist office, signed in and they opened the door and called me back. I was 10 minutes early and had no time to sit down and catch my breath. Before I knew it I was in the death chair with cotton swabs shoved in all directions in my mouth. The nurse handed me headphones, laid me back with the remote control and I was channel surfing in no time. For some reason bull riding caught my attention and I stopped on that channel. Soon enough came the 1st, 2nd, 3rd needle for numbing. The dentist came in and did a couple more needles. I am pretty sure I counted 10 needles shoved in my mouth..NOT COOL. Everything was nice and numb and the dentist was off...drilling away at a filling that had fallen out of the side of my tooth. I was watching the bull riding intently waiting to see if the guy got a re-ride and next thing I know the high speed drill comes flying out of my mouth, over my lip, blood gushing everywhere. The dentist grabbed gauze and squeezed my lip together and said, "This one may need stitches." What the heck?? What just happened?? Then the stupid nurse had the nerve to say..."You can't turn your head like that or accidents like this will happen. If you want him to stop, then just raise your hand up." Me, turn my head?? Are you serious? I was waiting to see if the guy got a reride. Plus, why would I turn my head to look at the dentist while he was drilling in my mouth? I am not that stupid. I couldn't talk and say anything because my mouth was so numb. In my mind, I did a whole lot of talking though. He hurried through the rest of the work, pulled the tooth, handed me a prescription for vicodin and was GONE. Where did he go?? He was out of there. The nurse gave instruction, walked me to the front counter, told me I owed $95.20 for the visit and that they'd bill the rest to insurance and I left. I got in the car so angry, that I closed my eyes so I wouldn't sit there and cry. I ended up falling asleep until we got home. I walked in, changed the gauze in my mouth and went to bed for 4 hours. I woke up to my sister calling on the phone and I was hysterical that I forgot to pick up Sarah at school. My mom did though! The pain was becoming very intense as the numbing was wearing off. I decided it was time to try a vicodin for the very first time. I have problems taking medication so I was a little scared about how my body would react. Usually 1 regular stregth tylenol will knock me out...and this was a vicodin...repeat...vicodin. It helped with the pain for about 3 hours, but the way I felt was horrible. I laid in bed until 4:00 am with my eyes wide open. Not fun. Needless to say, I have some vicodin that will join the collection of pills in the cupboard!

I am thankful to have the work done, but I will never go back to that dentist again. While I was in the room getting my work done, he was paged with 3 other patients waiting for him. Because he was hurried, I got the blunt end of the deal and of course he isn't going to admit he did anything wrong.

The picture is from today. Yesterday it looked alot worse!! The cut starts inside my mouth and finishes at the bottom of my lip..as you can see. I am so afraid to split it open again. The cut is alot deeper than you can see in the picture.
Nice swollen lips...want a kiss??? Well, you don't get one anyways!

Sarah chosen again??!!!

Sarah has been awarded Student of the Month for November. We went to the school board meeting and this is the letter her teacher, Mrs. Forrest wrote about her.

I am happy to introduce Sarah Esteves as Student of the Month at Nyssa Elementary School. Sarah is an outstanding student who is a perfect representative of the kind of student that teachers love to teach, other students love to call their friend, and I am sure that family is proud to say, "She's our girl!"
Sarah is an eager learner. She was so eager to learn that her grandma needed to teach her to read before she even came to kindergarten. Sometimes that puts a student at a disadvantage because they do not have a peer in what they can achieve. But that does not put Sarah at any disadvantage. She is happy to read to others, share her knowledge about letters and sounds, help others learn and work along side of all of her friends. She is able to practice her skills, and continue to grow in her understanding of reading and writitng. She has inspired a whole table of children to spend their Free Choice time writing words, sounding out words, and reading other's words while being their teacher and usually keeping some kind of score for them. As I have watched this learning time in my class, some how the score at the end of their time around the teacher table is almost always even, and Sarah congratulates each student on their work and achievement! How's that for a super little Kindergartener! She is just as natural a learner as she is a teacher! She loves to be challenged with new sounds, new words, new concepts, and new information. She shines in math when the questions get hard. She has the greatest look of "I won't give up" if she doesn not get an answer right the first time. She keeps thinking until she has applied a concept or broken a code. Sarah is a delight to have in class, a joy to teach and a student you will be proud to recognize tonight.
It is easy to see why Sarah is our student of the month! She is an awesome girl, an extraordinary student and a wonderful person. I am proud to be her teacher. I know Sarah will continue to make her teachers proud and her parents and family even prouder. Congratulations, Sarah. I know you will be a wonderful Student of the Month in Nyssa.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Forrest

Trunk or Treat

We spent Halloween night at the church at trunk or treat. We had a great time and came home with a lot of candy. Sarah was a nice witch and Sabrina was a fairy godmother! haha. I wore the USA national soccer jersey that I bought for Naldo for Christmas. I had it personalized with our last name and Naldo's favorite number....7. Now I have to wrap it up!!! :)

Sarah's Achievement Award...

Today was a day off from school and Sarah was so bummed. She didn't know what to do with herself all day at home. She slept in 30 minutes longer than normal, which I was expecting her to sleep in a lot longer. That's what I get for dreaming... She loves school to say the least. She loves her teacher so much and can't wait to get to school each day to learn something new.

The other day her teacher called and told me Sarah had a good day. (I thought she was calling because the week before I talked to her teacher about a little boy that has been saying mean things to Sarah. It had been going on for a while and I kept telling Sarah to toughen up and quit being a tattle tale. When the little boy told her he was going to bury her in the water...that was enough. I had to talk to her teacher.) She also said she was very quiet and asked if she was ok. I assured her that I thought she was fine. The real reason she was calling was to tell me Sarah was getting the achievement award for the month.

The award assembly came and they called Sarah up to get her award. I went to stand behind her and left the camera with my mom. She came over...stood there for a long time trying to figure out the camera and then went and sat down. When I went to sit down, I turned the camera on to look at the pictures she had taken...NONE. Needless to say I was a little bummed, but oh well. We took a couple pictures when she got home.

Congrats Sarah. I'm very proud of you!! Her teacher had some nice things to say about Sarah. You can read them on the award below!

Happy Birthday Sarah!!

I can't believe how time flies. Six years ago today, I was anxiously waiting for Naldo's arrival to the USA. His visa interview was scheduled for September 3 and he arrived September 4. Too bad Sarah had other plans and came into this world on September 2!! She came amazing fast and has been my princess ever since. When she was first born, she didn't cry and was very blue. A while later, she finally cried and my heart finally began beating normal again. She was the perfect baby. She hardly ever cried except when I put her down. She loved to be held even to sleep at night. She walked at 13 months old and finally stopped nursing at 22 months old! I know, I know - I was beginning to think I would have to go to school to nurse her...She wouldn't eat so that was practically my only option. Sarah has a great love for books and learning. At a very young age, she had quite the vocabulary and it never ceases to amaze me what she comes up with. I am constantly asking where she learns things and her reply is always the same - "I just know..." I love her a lot and can't imagine life without her. It seems like she has always been there as long as I can remember.

Happy Birthday Princess!

No way...are you serious??

Last Saturday while I was traveling home, I came around a corner in North SLC and came to a quick stop as traffic had stopped. I knew there was construction and that we had to get into 2 lanes from 4 or 5. I was at a complete stand still and thought..no...this can't be happening! We slowly moved through the traffic to find out that in the construction area, there was a 4 car accident that looked nasty. Although I didn't want to rubberneck too much, I could see kids involved and was pretty concerned. I thought, when I get home, I'll get on the computer and see if everyone was ok. I was pretty tired before I got home so the searching on the computer waited until Sunday early evening. I went to ksl.com and started going through the headlines. "Woman found shot to death in Cedar City," "Two shot, One killed in Taylorsville," Police searching for suspects following car chase, Dedicatory services for Oquirrah Mountain temple wrap up, 5 Bicyclist crash; 3 sent to the hospital, etc. etc. etc. When I read all of the headlines trying to find the car accident, I went on to the next page when all of a sudden I had a feeling to go back to that article involving the bicyclist. I started reading....

UTAH COUNTY -- Five bicyclists were injured
during a race when the driver of an SUV in front of them slammed on the brakes
to avoid another vehicle.
The accident happened around 9:30 a.m. Saturday on
State Road 92 near Timpanogos Cave in American Fork Canyon during the annual
1,000 Warriors charity bike race.
Three riders were sent to the hospital.
One, Dave Collins, was in very critical condition. As of late Saturday night,
friends tell us Collins had been through two surgeries and was doing a little
better. He was cut from his jugular to his sternum and lost a lot of blood at
the scene.
"It was a very traumatic scene for those who went by." - John
Beck
The other two injured bikers, Steve Beck and Mike Skousen, are expected
to be OK. Friends say Skousen has been released from the hospital and Beck
should be released Sunday. Two others received only minor injuries.
The five riders had been looking forward to Saturday's race. They're all part of Red
Mountain Brumby's, a cycling club based in Mesa, Ariz. Forty five of them made
the trip to Utah, including Collins.
"He's strong and he leads the pack often. He's cycled thousands of miles," said a friend, John Beck, whose son was
injured in the race.
Collins took the brunt of the impact in the crash.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, the driver of an SUV slammed on its brakes
to avoid hitting a vehicle pulling a trailer in the opposite lane. Collins and
Steven Beck had no time to slow down and crashed into the SUV. Three other
riders wrecked while trying to avoid the vehicle.
Trooper Nathan Powell said, "Coming down the hill in this type of event they can reach speeds of
anywhere from 35 to 55 miles per hour."
Collins went through the back window
of the SUV, cutting his jugular, breaking his jaw and damaging a nerve in his
shoulder. Friends credit several first responders, including two EMT-trained
racers, and a former military nurse for keeping him alive at the scene.
John Beck said, "It's going to be a long haul for Dave, and we're praying for him to
pull through."

Witnesses expressed concern that the canyon wasn't closed for the race and that there wasn't signage warning drivers.
Race organizer Rick Bennett says they tried to do just that.
"We asked UDOT to close the canyon and they declined," he said.
The Utah Department of Transportation confirms that, adding race officials approached them only days
ago and with conflicting dates for the race.
UDOT's Scott Thompson said, "We did not want to take away the activity for all the recreational users trying to
get through the canyon."
The 1,000 Warriors bike ride is an annual event that raises money for scholarships for wounded war
veterans and the children of veterans killed in action. It is held in conjunction with but is not related to the Tour of Utah.
Participants began Saturday's event at 6 a.m. in Park City. The race was briefly stopped to allow a
medical helicopter to land. It resumed with riders crossing the finish line at Snowbird.
An investigation is ongoing and UHP doesn't know if any charges will be filed.

I could not believe my eyes. I know a John Beck..he's my dads best friend from growing up and his son's name is Steve. Plus, Steve lives in Mesa right now. It all seemed to real and I started feeling sick to my stomach. I ran downstairs, read the article to my mom and she called Lucy and Richard Beck (John and Richard are brothers.) to see if it was really them. They hadn't heard anything, but said they'd call and find out. A while later, they called and confirmed it was him. NOOO way. How could it be? Steve punctured his lungs and had terrible road rash and bruises as he also slammed into the back of the SUV along with Dave Collins at 45 mph. The Beck's thanked me for being intune with the Spirit and going back to read that article and letting them know. I had already passed the article and though..man, that sucks. I still don't know why I went back to that article because I really wasn't interested in it, except the Spirit prompted me to do it. I hope all 3 of these riders have speedy recoveries. Steven has been quite instrumental in our family in recent years as well as his father John. We love this family A LOT and hate to see things like this happen to good people.

This is another article that came out later about the incident.

AMERICAN FORK -- The biker who slammed into the back of an SUV during a charity ride down American Fork Canyon was still in surgery Sunday night; he's expected to be out of surgery around midnight.
Dave Collins, a rider from Mesa, Ariz., cut his jugular, broke his jaw and damaged a nerve in his shoulder when he hit the SUV. He's being treated at University Hospital.
He has been in a medically induced coma since the wreck Saturday morning.

Collins is tough. You'd have to be to survive hitting the back windshield of a Ford Explorer, going 45 miles an hour, face first. Friends tell us the tri-athlete is already showing signs of improving.
Sterling Baer, with Red Mountain Brumby's, Collins' team, told KSL, "Virtually every bone in his face broken--eye socket, cheekbone, nose, his jaw bone."

There's good news, too, though. Baer says Collins suffered no brain damage and no vertebrae damage.
Collins and the four other riders hurt were riding in the annual 1,000 Warriors charity bike race when an SUV in front of them slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting another vehicle. Riders in the race complained there were no signs warning drivers to watch for bikers and they were upset the canyon was not closed.
Scott Thompson, with UDOT, said, "We didn't feel it was necessary to close the road for the race."
UDOT didn't want to restrict other recreationists from using the canyon that day.
But Thompson does have one suggestion for race organizers to learn from organizers of the Tour of Utah.

"I can tell you with the professional bike race going on, they contacted the Highway Patrol and had what we call a rolling closure in place," he said. "It might have kept everyone a little safer."
And it might have kept Collins out of the hospital.
But don't expect this wreck to keep Collins off his bike. "Knowing Dave, he will ride again, yeah, for sure," Bauer said.
Bauer says the family would love to meet and thank all the racers who jumped into action to save Collins immediately after the wreck. They are working with race organizers to get the names of those who helped.
Doctors plan to start brining Collins out of the coma on Tuesday.
An interesting note, Collins has strong Utah ties. Though he currently calls Mesa, Ariz. Home, Utah is where he's from. He grew up in Provo and attended BYU.