a night of epic adventures

My ward had an awesome activity on Thursday night where we went to Soldier's Hollow in Midway, UT for some tubing. The resort has a tow cable that pulls you up the hill on your tube, which was amazing and relaxing. Climbing the hill is the worst part of tubing. The line was way long at one point for the towing so a few of us actually walked up... I do not recommend it! We were so tired when we finally reached the top, plus they kindly asked us to wait for the tow rope next time, oops.

We had a great time forming groups to ride down together and trying to go as fast as possible. We had some great runs and had an awesome time overall. It even started snowing while we were there, which was so pretty!


Afterward, I drove with Karina to this place my friend Steven showed me a few weeks ago that was really close by. Some friends followed us in their car to see it too and so we caravan-ed to the resort where the ice castles are. They are so amazing!

These are the ice castles when I went with Steven

They were gorgeous covered in snow too!

We took some fun pictures and wandered around before starting to head home to Provo. By this time it was still snowing pretty steadily and I was following behind Tyler's car. We were driving through the Provo Canyon when the night truly hit epic proportions. I was a little behind Tyler and all of a sudden I notice he is going towards the side of the road like he is going to pull over, but then I saw his car bounce off the side of the road where the snow/ice has piled up around the guard rail.
By the time I fully realized what was going on I had hit the ice too and was heading right for the wall myself. The brakes did nothing and steering made no difference. It was like everything was in slow motion and I had no control. I braced myself to either get stuck in the snow or to hear a crunch. After the right front part of my car hit the ice/snow my car bounced back and I ended up sideways across a few lanes in the canyon.

I was frozen there for a minute as my roommate suggested we go out to look at my car. I then composed myself to move my car to the side of the road in case a car came from behind me. Karina was closer to the part that hit so she saw it before me and as I crossed the front of my car this is what I heard her say, "Holls, your car is totalled." I freaked out before I realized that what she really said was, "Holls, your car is totally fine." BIG difference. And a horrible choice of words if I do say so myself.

I was SO BLESSED!!
1. There is not a single scratch or dent on my car.
2. We were far enough behind Tyler's car that we did not come close to hitting his car as well.
3. Following Tyler kept me at a good speed so that the impact wasn't much worse than it could have been.
4. No car came up behind me and side-swiped me.
5. We hit the side of the road that had a wall of snow/ice instead of an exposed rail or worse yet an open drop.
6. We were not on the part of the road that was a 2-lane highway.
7. Karina was there to comfort me as shock settled in.
and the list can go on....

Karina told me that she had the thought that maybe we could get in an accident so she said a silent prayer literally seconds before we hit the ice. I am so grateful for that. And for the tender mercies of the Lord who protected us all that night.

I was in shock for a few hours after that. It was such a scary experience! The only things wrong with our cars is a tiny scratch above Tyler's tire and my alignment got a little bit tweaked; but I can accept that!

It was definitely an epic night.