Back from the cabin...

We took a winter trip up to the cabin Wednesday - Saturday. We invited my Dad's soon to be family up there with us to get "re-acquainted". Nathan's family and us got up to the cabin on Wednesday night. Dad and Diane's family came up on New Year's. The kids had fun playing their games they got for Christmas up at the cabin. Eric and Aubrey loved to watch Tucker and Thadd play with their Nintendo DS's. (They also got to play, but when it wasn't their turn, they would watch them.) Dad called me at 1:00 pm on New Year's and said they were just leaving Idaho Falls and will be up at the cabin in an hour or two. It had been snowing all day, so I assumed it would be two hours. When it was coming up to three hours and they still weren't here, I called Dad. No answer. That is weird...Dad always answers his phone. I started calling him every five minutes, he never answered. Finally after 3 1/2 hours, I see him pull into the bottom of the hill. Nathan and I jumped on the snowmobiles to go bring up him and Diane's family and their stuff. When I got to the bottom of the hill, Dad was dripping wet, and shivering. They told me he just got out of the Snake river and to take him up. So I rushed him up to the cabin where Zac had the fire going. Here's the story:

1.5 miles past the bridge that goes over the Snake River, a woman and her daughter slid off the road into the Snake River. The van landed upside down. The daughter was thrown from the vehicle into the River, and made it safe to the side. Dad was following them and pulled over and jumped in the river to try to save the woman. Cliff (Diane's son-in-law) jumped into the river also. The woman was completely under water. Cliff had tow ropes in his car and they were trying to flip the van right side over. The tow ropes kept on breaking. They finally got the van flipped over. They were able to cut off the seat belt. Dad was holding her hand, the windows were shattered, but they could not pull her out. By the time they got the seat belt cut off and the van flipped over, it had been 20 minutes since she was under water. The ambulance pulled up right then, and they jumped in and got her out of the van. Dad said she was dead. The daughter was in one of Diane's daughter's vehicles, trying to get warm, and they were just praying. When she saw her Mom, she became unglued.

We found out the next morning, that the paramedics performed CPR and were able to bring her back to life. She is in critical condition, but because the water was so cold (there was actually ice floating in the river) it saved her life. Not the best way to start out the cabin experience for the Breitling family. They will never forget coming up I'm sure. But the mood lightened after they found out that their efforts weren't for nothing. Diane has 5 grand children, and they played so well with our kids. They were having the time of their life sledding. Because we were up there during the U of U bowl game, Dad decided to pay for them to watch it on the Internet on Nathan's laptop. So they paid the money, but they only got sound, and got to watch dots on the screen. Waste of money!

The kids were really good going up to Idaho. Jennifer pretty much slept the entire way. We got to visit with Grandma and Grandpa for a little bit. It's always great to see them. The kids are still asking for some more of Grandpa-Great's ice cream. Coming back was a different story. The kids were up the entire way home. Jennifer cried almost the entire way. LONG ride home! I was grateful when we finally made it here.