Series of Unfortunate Events

It seems that lately, things have been pretty darn crazy for my family.... I am warning you... I did not make this up. Before I tell the story, let me introduce you to a few people in my family....

**Jeff (aka Dad). About 52 years old. Owns a 1995 red Jeep Cherokee that he loves. My dad is somewhat of a rogue. He is rebellious and CRAZY! But you gotta love him.
**Jeanene (aka Mom). She is 50 years old and is a lovely lady. She is EXTREMELY patient and loving. She is always calm when there is chaos surrounding her. A few months back, she purchased a 2003 Jaguar that was a repo from the credit union. It has always been her dream car, and she got a WICKED deal for that Jag. :)
** ME... well, you pretty much know about me.
**Dan... just got back from Afghanistan. He is my brother and is 24 years old. He's pretty crazy too.
**Collin.... one of my other brothers. He is 21 years old and owns a 2009 Jeep Wrangler and a 1969 Mustang. He was recently in Virginia installing security systems.
**Ben.... NOT one of my brothers but he's Collin's best friend. Ben was also in Virginia installing security systems.
**Nelson.... my youngest brother. He is 17 and really doesn't like adventure.
**Braxdon.... He's Nelson's friend. I don't really know much about him other than he hangs out at my parents house a lot.

So, now that we have some of the main characters set up, let me unfold the Series of Unfortunate Events........ *insert mystery music... DUN DUN DUN!!!!!*

2008~
We have a cousin graduating from high school. The graduation is taking place at Weber State. Collin had just purchased his Mustang and wanted to show it off to the family. I told him he should ride up to Weber with me and my family, but he insisted on taking the Mustang. Oh, by the way, it's not registered.
About 5 miles from Weber, I see a cop. I don't really like to speed, so I wasn't worried about the cop. Collin was behind me and the cop starts following Collin. He runs Collin's plates and realizes the car isn't registered. He pulls Collin over..... Collin has NO proof in the car that he bought the car. No bill of sale, no papers, nothing. The car gets impounded. Collin has a court date set up.... he fails to appear.....

Fast forward to 2010........

March 2010~
Collin and my dad decide to go "Jeeping". This is where the go into some strange wilderness and see whose Jeep is better at 4-wheeling. Collin's Jeep gets stuck, and my dad tries to pull it out with his Jeep and RIPS his front bumper off. Collin's Jeep is stuck overnight. They call Nate the next day to take our Explorer out and get Collin's Jeep. It takes my dad a good 3 weeks to clean out all the mud and guck that's in his Jeep. One adventure down.... many more to go.

April 2010~
The first week of April, my dad's beloved Jeep is stolen while he's at the Priesthood session. YES, it was stolen out of our church parking lot. Boo.

One week later, Nelson needs a car to go take the ACT test. Collin graciously lets Nelson borrow his nice Jeep. My mom is going to work and Nelson was following her. Somehow, he rear ended her nice black Jaguar with Collin's Jeep. Boo. Boo. The trunk and rear bumper need to be replaced.

Two weeks later.... My dad's Jeep is found, but whoever stole it did some pretty nice damage. Collin and Ben leave for Virginia.

June 2010~
Dan is now home from Afghanistan. Collin and Ben found out that there is no more work out in Virginia, so they come home.

Tuesday (the 15th) is the first day that all my brothers and dad are home together. They decided to go shooting out in Skull Valley and took Ben and Braxdon with them. Nelson didn't really want to go, but he ended up going anyway. They finish shooting and have a couple of hours to kill and decide to go across the desert without taking any roads. Collin was driving his Jeep, which gets 2 flat tires. So, my dad piles everyone into his Jeep, and under the weight of the Jeep, it overheats and essentially causes a fire. This fire burns my dad's Jeep to a CRISP. They call the fire department and the firetrucks arrive. They try to put out the fire, but get stuck in the mud because of recent rain. The cops are called in and while they are checking everyone's ID's, they discover that Collin has not one, but TWO warrants out for his arrest. (Remember the Mustang incident? Both warrants were because Collin failed to appear in court. TWICE.) Needless to say, Collin gets arrested and is taken to the Tooele county jail.
Meanwhile, I had just gotten off of work. Nate was out in Magna with our girls because we were all going to watch the Celtics/Lakers game. (Collin is a HUGE Lakers fan) and we wanted to see the family. After deciding that the boys aren't coming home, we decided to head back up to the U. We stop at the gas station to fill up, and head to the freeway. We get a call from Dan asking Nate to come get them. We turn around and head back to my parents house. Thankfully, we were just leaving Magna, but we were worried on how we were going to fit everyone in to our little Chevy Malibu. So, Nate heads off to the desert.
It is now about 9:00 p.m. Nate calls me and says that it's pitch black and he can't see anyone. He is in the middle of nowhere. Somehow, the group of guys find Nate and they make it back home around 2 a.m.
The jail calls my mom to come get Collin. Somehow, the $1300 bail was waived and Collin got out.
We read on the news that firefighters are fighting a 350 ACRE FIRE IN SKULL VALLEY..... hmmmm..... I wonder who caused that fire? Collin's Jeep is still out there. ( Oh, by the way.... it's not registered either, so if it's not all ready burned up, it'll probably get impounded. Does Collin ever learn?)
I mean, what kind of a family manages to burn a vehicle, start a 350 acre fire, and have one of the brother's get arrested?

I would like to say that these incidents don't happen very often, but they do. Life is never dull around my brothers and my dad. They are always up to something and have plans to go out and do more Jeeping. It was really neat to see Dan's survival skills kick in. Nelson was really cold, so Dan gave Nels his shirt to wear. Dan jacked Gatorade and water from the firetrucks to keep Nels hydrated. Nelson started to get really tired from walking (they walked about 10 miles) and Dan had Nelson hop onto his back and he carried Nelson. When Dan first text Nate, I asked Dan how we're going to fit everyone in the car (Nate, my Dad, Dan, and Collin are all over 6 ft. 2 inches). Do you know Dan's response? He told me that everyone else can go and he'll stay the night. I wondered if he would get scared out in the desert, all by himself. But he said, "At least nobody's shooting at me." When they got back to the house, there was a little tension in the air, and Dan easily made it go away. He often told me that after Nigel died, he was the one to keep everyone's head in the game. It was really amazing to see his survival skills.

Although there are going to be some major issues to deal with from this incident, these are the moments that memories are made.