Their mom says they were both good students before the crash. With all the missed school, troubles and complicated emotional factors, they are both struggling this year.

Desi, an articulate, soft-spoken young man, shyly admits he still doesn't know all of his multiplication tables.

"People think it's over, that everything is over and done with and we should be fine," Desi said last week. "I'd give anything to be normal and just go to school like that."

He would like to be healed. He would like to be on the road to recovery, but Desi says the horror of that night is very much alive. There are brief, poignant moments that stop him in his tracks — such as when brother Dominic comes out of his bedroom wearing some of Buddha's old clothes.

"To see his little legs in Buddha's pants ... it makes me think it's him for a second," he said, shaking his head. "Then I'm like, 'Never mind. He's gone.'"

Sometimes normal day-to-day activities are marred by residue from events of Oct. 25, 2003. Magna is a small town, and Jacques' large extended family live only blocks from Earl Smith.

Not too long ago, Desi says, he was with his dad in the neighborhood Albertsons when one of Jacques' relatives approached them. Desi remembers the woman confronting his dad. "If you wouldn't have been out with the kids so late at night," she said, "this never would have happened."

"It turned into this big fight in the middle of Albertsons," Desi said. "We ended up just leaving. We didn't even get to buy our stuff."

The children's mother, Liza Smith, held up well in the days after the crash. She held a news conference to give updates on her children's condition. She thanked the public.

But Liza Smith — who was divorced from Earl Smith when the crash occurred — has been pushed to the brink in the past two years.

She juggles appointments with seven doctors, including a pediatrician, psychologist, endocrinologist, orthopedist and nephrologist. Desi and Autumn missed nearly a year of school after the crash, and their school attendance still suffers because of medical concerns.

She has battled Granite School District over tutors and accommodations for Desi and Autumn.

She lost her job, her car and her home. Today, she is hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

She was working full time for a wireless service provider at the time of the crash. She told her supervisors about the tragedy. They asked if two weeks would be enough time off to deal with the aftermath.

In reality, two years would not have been enough time off.