We made a trip up to Washington to see my family. My whole entire family was there! My twin sisters and their husbands, my mom and dad, and my brother. It was so great to see everyone since we all live so far away from each other. We left on a Saturday morning at 5am Utah time and made it to Washington by 5pm Washington time. Last year it took us 14 hours but this time we packed all our meals so we only had to stop for gas twice so we made it in 13 hours. Yay! Pretzels are a great travel snack and a great way to pass some of the time...
As soon as we got to my parent's house we went to their ward BBQ. It was at a park so Memphis and Kayzee had fun running around after sitting all day.
Sunday we went to my parent's ward for church and then we went bowling with my siblings since it was the only day my brother had off work. After bowling we went swimming at my brother's apartment complex.
Cosmic bowling...
Now for the CRAZY part of our vacation...
In April we bought a van. We have had many vehicles and knowing all the vacations we were taking this summer and the extra people we needed to take in our car we decided to buy a van. I never wanted to own a van but when we found one it was perfect! I fell in love with it. We bought a limited edition town and country. Hard to find so we lucked out. The van drove so well we actually got 31 miles to the gallon on the drive up to Washington! So wonderful until it got totaled in a car accident.
YES, A CAR ACCIDENT ON OUR VACATION almost 900 miles away from home!!! And the first full day we were there too! We were driving back to my parent's house for a BBQ from my brother's apartment and we were stopped at a stop light. There were about 5 cars in front of us. Then we got hit. A man in a rental car (yes, a rental! He had been in a car accident before this one) going 30-35 mph wasn't paying attention (Danny looked in the rear-view mirror just before he hit us and he saw that the driver's head was down) hit us without even stopping because he wasn't watching. He hit us going fast enough he pushed us into the car in front of us and that car hit the car in front of them. So 4 vehicles involved. We got the worst of the damage because we were hit first and sandwiched and our frame crumpled from both ends so our car was claimed a total loss!!! SO FRUSTRATING. Our new van on our vacation far away from home. We were all very shocked but thankfully we were not hurt. Yes, we were sore and had headaches (for a few days even) but we were all ok. The paramedics came to check all of us out just in case. My pregnant sister and her husband were sitting in the middle row (so grateful they were not in the very back!) had minor whiplash and a sore back. Danny and I were not hurt at all. Memphis was not hurt, but Kayzee was sitting in the very back where the guy hit us the hardest and her head rest had been pushed up all the way so she hit her head on the metal bars between the seat and the headrest. She complained that her head hurt a lot but the paramedics cleared her of no major head trauma so that was a blessing. To this day we are still so grateful that none of us were hurt worse and that we were all ok. Our van did it's job and protected us!
We pulled off the road into a parking lot and called the police. A lady that owned the building where we pulled over was leaving for work and saw what happened. She reopened her office and took Memphis and Kayzee in to play with some toys she had and passed out water bottles to us all. She was so kind to do that especially since she was leaving work to go home but she stayed with us and watched my kids so we could talk to the police. We had plenty of witnesses so the guy in the rental was at fault. The police couldn't prove cell-phone use or impaired driving from drugs or alcohol so they just ticketed him for inattentive driving. My other sister came and got my kids and my brother came and got my pregnant sister and her husband and Danny and I drove our crushed van over to the store for a minute. I broke down crying in the store and Danny just held me. I was truly so grateful we did not get hurt!!! Then we drove the short distance to my parent's house and had dinner and went to bed. I am so grateful that we also had my parent's through all this. They are so supportive and helpful in every way. Danny's parents were also very helpful and did everything they could for us from so far away. Thank you and we love you all!
The next day we called our insurance and spent way too many hours on the phone dealing with the whole mess. Danny took the car in to get assessed where they did claim it totaled (too much money to fix) and we parked it in my parent's driveway to be towed away and cleaned out all our personal items. Seriously so frustrating especially with it being new. The damage does not look very bad but because we got hit from the back and the front the frame was compromised and we found out that even just one headlight cost $1,000 so obviously the cost of fixing the entire van was too much for the insurance and for what the van was worth.
While Danny dealt with everything Kayzee and I went on a walk through my parent's neighborhood. So beautiful with all the trees and very relaxing...
On Tuesday my dad had planned a beach get-away to the coast for two days and we were supposed to take one of my sister's and her husband in our van and my parent's were going to take my other sister and her husband in their car but now we didn't have a van. We found out the guy who hit us that his insurance was going to pay for a rental for us. But of course the paperwork was going to take a few days so we paid for a rental out of pocket (to be reimbursed later) found one big enough for us and off we went!
First a ferry ride! My kids love ferry rides especially ones that we take our cars on:)
Then we drove to Cresent Lake for lunch. So beautiful!
After lunch we drove to La Push and Forks. So fun to see the vampire and werewolf memorabilia from the movie Twilight filmed there. We stopped at a beach in La Push. Very rocky but very cool!
Then we drove to Ocean Shores for dinner and ice cream (yummy restaurants) and to our hotel on the beach!!! This is our view from our hotel room...
The next morning we had a yummy continental breakfast and then went swimming in the hotel pool. After we went and played in the ocean!
Friday my sister and her husband that live in California left to go home and Danny and I spent hours on the phone still trying to figure out all the insurance and payoffs and getting a rental car to make it back home to Utah. The paperwork finally went through and the insurance paid for our rental to get home. The only car they had was a very small SUV. Half the size of our van and we had a full van of luggage when we arrived so we squeezed in. The kids didn't have movies to watch but they are seriously the best little travelers and did not complain the whole way home. We slept through our alarms and didn't leave my parent's house as early as we wanted but we made it home safely at 8pm and went straight to bed!
When we got home we immediately started looking for a new van. We only had the rental car for 5 more days so we had to get started. We looked from Salt Lake to Provo but were having a hard time finding the exact same van we had. The limited edition with Leather and DVD players (hard to find!). Everyone kept telling me to not be picky but I was going to be picky because we had only had that other van for 4 months and we had all fell in love with it. I was not going to settle and I was willing to wait till we found one that was the same!
A lot of dealerships kept showing us other vans and said we could add leather and dvd players for like $2,000 more. Ummm no! Another dealership said the only way to get what we had was to buy brand new but we definitely don't have $30,000 for a new van. Late one night we were at a dealership walking back to our car because we couldn't find anything, Danny looked in a corner of the lot and saw a van. We asked what it was and the salesman said he didn't know about it because it had just come in. IT WAS OUR VAN!!! The same exact van with all the same features with leather only white. It was also not a Chrysler Town and Country but a Dodge Grand Caravan SXT but basically the same thing. YAY! And it was also two years newer and cheaper than our other van. BONUS!!!
Our other van was stow and go, this van is swivel and go. The middle row is your typical captain seats except by touching a button the seats swivel around to face backward and the van comes with a table! So cool! Perfect for tent camping so we can eat and play games. The TV screens also swivel around so you can play video games or watch movies from anywhere in the van. We lucked out!
ANOTHER BLESSING
Along with no one getting hurt we were also blessed with the outcome of buying a new van. We joke around that we are glad that we got in a car accident only because of the money we are going to save in the long run. The car accident was hard, stressful, frustrating, and a mess to deal with but in the end we will come out on top! We give prayers of gratitude every night for all the blessings that have come out of this trial!
When we bought the first van we had traded in our SUV and they didn't give us very much for it so we had to roll-over $8,000 into our loan for the van. Our payment was a little higher but manageable. When we called our insurance after the accident and they told us they would only payoff what the van was worth we still had the $8,000 in negative equity and that was scary to think about. Then we found out we had purchased gap insurance to payoff the rest of our loan just in case we got in a situation like this and they said our entire loan would be paid off in full. SUCH A BLESSING! Because our new van was cheaper then our first van and we don't have the negative equity from trading in a previous vehicle, we will save over $10,000 because our monthly payment is $50 cheaper every month and our loan is 5 years instead of 7 so we will pay it off 2 years sooner! We are truly blessed!
This was definitely a CRAZY VACATION!
So glad you are all safe, and I've been so curious about the swivel chairs and table!! Thanks for showing pictures :) how fun!!
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