Remembering 9/11

Today Trent and I were talking about 9/11 and the fact that he doesn't remember it and that it happened before Amberly was even born.  It gave me a chance to tell him my story of that day and how the events have affected my life.  I then realized I haven't really wrote much about those events.  I wrote a little in my journal, but not too much. 

On most school mornings I turn on the tv and have it on the news so I can hear the weather to make sure everyone is dressed right for the day.  On that morning I actually didn't turn the tv on.  Darin had left early to go to a job fair in downtown Houston.  (he had been unemployed for 3 months at this time)  It had been a difficult time for our family.  We had lost my Mom a few weeks before and then came home from her funeral to find out a few days later that a neighbor friend of my children had been killed in a boating accident.  We were just starting to get back into things when it happened. 

Darin called me to ask me if I had seen the news.  I told him I hadn't turned the tv on.  He told me that it was being reported on the radio that a small plane had crashed into the world trade center.  He then told me that the traffic was horrible and he felt like he needed to turn around and come back home.  I turned the tv on and sat and watched as the first building was burning and everyone was wondering what had happened and how a plane could crash into it.  I sat staring at the tv as I saw a small black dot get bigger to where you could see a plane crash into the second tower.  I jumped from my chair in shock at what I had just witnessed along with the rest of the country.  I stood there listening to the shock and disbelieve of the news people.  I turned and saw Darin pulling up and I ran outside to tell him what I just saw.  We quickly ran back inside and watched and cried as all the events of that tragic day took place.  All I wanted to do was go and pick my children up from school and protect them.  All sense of safety and peace were gone.  We worried about family and friends and just felt completely numb as we watched. 

As Trent and I talked about this today we compared it to the tragedy of Pearl Harbor.  I tried to explain to him that a difference between the two was that with the technology we have today we all sat and witnessed these events LIVE and that it felt like we were literally all being attacked that day.  That moment has become a part of us.  We are all different because of the things that transpired that day.  Our world changed that day.  We no longer had that sense of security within our country.  Fear was felt by everyone.

I explained to Trent that those wicked men had accomplished their goal of hurting our country, but something happened to us that I don't think they could have ever imagined.  It is that country that I miss.  During the weeks and months following that day the feeling of unity that was taking place in our country was simply amazing.  The patriotism that was shown by everyone was incredible.  No matter where you went people were friendly and reached out in kindness to you.  I loved how the United States flag became the symbol of unity for our country.  I miss those days.  I miss how it didn't matter what color your skin was, if you were republican or democratic, what school you went to, what religion you were, what clothes you wore.  None of those things mattered.  We were all Americans and we were proud of it and we were a United People.  I look around today and I see the division within our country and it breaks my heart.  Its really sad that it takes tragedy to bring about so much good. 

Over the years we have added new memories to this day and it is now a day filled with good memories.  4 years ago today we were in Utah doing the temple work for my parents.  On this day I actually had one of the most incredible events of my life happen as I was sealed to my parents for eternity.  It is a day/event that I treasure with all my heart.  2 years ago today a wonderful event happened in our family as Amberly was baptized.  It was a happy day that we as a family shared together.  These events on this day just tells me that Life does go on.  These terrible men did damage us, but they didn't stop the work that must move forward.  Life is good - Yes, we have trials and tribulations that are placed before us.  But as we push forward and work through them we discover that we are better because of them and we can overcome them.  Life is good - and its only going to get better!  That is what I learned from that tragic day in history.  I hope that I can teach my children the same. 

Elizabeth's Missionary Website

On August 8th Elizabeth reported to the Missionary Training Center in Provo Utah to serve a mission for 18 months for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  She is serving in the New Mexico Alburquerque Mission.  In an effort to keep all of our family and friends updated on Elizabeth's progress on her mission I began the following website for her.  Feel free to check it out and follow us as we follow her journey.  She also LOVES to get mail!!

Elizabeth's Missionary Website

Happy July 4th!

We spent a quiet 4th of July with just our family this year. We spent all
day playing games and eating yummy food and then went and watched the
fireworks at La Centera. It was strange having a fireworks ban for
our area. We are use to fireworks going off every where until all
hours of the night and our dogs barking like crazy. The night was
quiet and peaceful. We enjoyed our day together.
A few weeks ago I went out and bought all of us patriotic shirts. I
even sent one to Elizabeth in Idaho! I had forgotten that
Darin has said he would never wear an Old Navy shirt considering he
was in the Air Force. But, he gave in and wore it just to make me
happy! :) (I guess we can say its in honor of our Dad's who both served in the Navy)

I was surprised no one complained about wearing them. I need
to get better at getting the right size for everyone...

Happy July 4th Everyone!

We couldn't leave Macy out!

Eyn and Prancer - We have had Prancer for nearly 12 years now. These two have always been great buddies!

Amberly and my hairy Macy

Waiting for the Fireworks to start

Me and my Honey

This past week Amberly and I have enjoyed making a few patriotic crafts together including these flip flops.

Ice Skating at the Galleria

Saturday we needed to get out and decided to head over to the Galleria and do a little ice skating.  Darin wasn't feeling good so we both decided to sit out and watch Trent and Amberly enjoy themselves.  It was nice doing something cold considering it was over 100 degrees outside!  I think they both enjoyed themselves!

This was Amberly's first time to ice skate and she did great!  She didn't fall down nearly as much as we expected and seemed to really enjoy it.  She scraped her hand up good, but I think she enjoyed it!

 

 Trent was a really good skater.  The place was packed with people!  I guess everyone wanted out of the heat!

Darin said that was the best he could do on smiling.  He was kind of bummed because he had a nice 4 day weekend and ended up feeling lousy for most of it.  

 For some reason Trent enjoys goofing off during pictures...

 Mom and her precious Amberly!

Like I say, Never serious!

Happy 8th Birthday Amberly!

Today is Amberly's 8th Birthday. I have had a mixture of emotions today.
First, it's really hard to believe that my baby is 8! Wow, how the years have flown by. Second, it's really hard to believe my baby is 8! :) It seems like just yesterday that she was placed in my arms for the first time. She came into our family at a time when we needed her sweet presence with us. We had had an incredibly hard year before her birth and her arrival was truly a miracle in our lives. The sweet spirit she brought with her healed our hearts and brought such joy into our home. From day one I do believe she has had everyone wrapped around her pinkie! She has always had a determined strong willed spirit, yet a gentle sweetness that everyone just loves. Amberly can appear to be quiet and shy, but at home I do believe she is one of the loudest! Recently she has become very cuddly and wants to be held and loved on all the time. If she's in the family room with her daddy it is usually on his lap. If she's sitting by me she wants my arm around her and holding her close. Amberly loves girly things yet at the same time is slightly tomboyish. She loves to get dirty outside in the mud, climb trees, not afraid to kill a bug, play basketball, ride bikes, wrestle, have tickle fights, read books, color, play with barbies (finally!), play with cars, play school and house, scrapbook, play games, dance, sing, play the piano, and be with her family having fun. She is a bundle of energy and likes to be busy. She gets grumpy if she's bored.

She is so excited to be baptized this Saturday. I have been truly amazed with her as she has been preparing for her baptism. She wants to do what is right and says that is why she wants to be baptized. We love our Amberly Kate so much and are so happy she is a part of our family.

Amberly's 1st white dress on her blessing day

Happy Birthday Amberly

Our Baby Girl is growing up!

This past Saturday Amberly and I went on a mini-photo shoot. We had a great time as we discovered some new places to take some pictures. Amberly will be getting baptized this Saturday and I needed some pictures for her announcements. She was in such a happy, fun mood!

This first picture is actually the picture we decided to use for her announcements.

1st Day of School

Another new School year has begun!

Not everyone in our house was thrilled with the beginning of school, but everyone survived the first day and even seemed a little excited when it was over.

Eyn does not like his picture taken, so I was surprised Darin was able to get one of him at least looking at the camera! Eyn began his Junior year at Seven Lakes High School. Seminary started on the first day of school so he was up and gone quite early. He gets to drive to school this year which is really nice. He is on the JV football team and is also still working part time at HEB. Busy boy! Trent began his 7th grade year at Beckendorff Junior High. He was trying hard not to be excited for school to start, but I think he was. He is still in Orchestra where he plays the cello (what an amazing musical talent he has!) He has also decided to try football. (Why do my boys have to put me through this??) He is also taking all pre-AP classes and loves it all!

Our sweet little Amberly is now in 2nd grade. How quickly time flies! She is attending Bonnie Holland Elementary. She was quite excited for school to start, but if you asked her she would deny it! She loves to be busy and I think summer just got too long for her.
Amberly is still young enough that she will let us take her to school and take her into her class. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Williams and she is wonderful! We are looking forward to a great year with her!

Amberly sitting at her desk ready to get to work!

As soon as we dropped Amberly at school we had to rush home for Darin's Limo to pick him up. Once again he was gone for the first week of school on a business trip to California. I had to get a picture of him leaving also! As he said, it wasn't a "fun" trip this time, it was meetings, meetings, and more meetings.

It's kind of strange having Elizabeth home when everyone is off to school/work. We got to spend a little bit over 2 weeks together during the days. What did we do? Lots of shopping and Lots of hanging out. It was nice to have her company!

What do you do when your bored in the van?

I was going through the pictures on Elizabeth's camera and discovered these pictures that she and Trent took on our way to Galveston for a quick over night trip. I guess they were bored and needed something to do!

It put a smile on my face!

Quick Trip to Galveston

We decided we needed to take a last minute summer break and headed to Galveston. We spent the first day at Schlitterbaun and had a blast! We loved it there! My favorite part of the entire park was the lazy river which isn't all a lazy river! It has rapids and waves and is quite enjoyable! Right after we got there Eyn and Trent disappeared and we only saw them a few times throughout the day. Darin was stuck with all the girls, but I think he enjoyed it! Towards the end of the day Amberly took off with the boys and had a great time! We discovered that she is our fearless child. She would go down the tallest, steepest rides and get off and want to do it again! I had a few mishaps and luckily they had great lifeguards that saved me! Not fun. (My inner tube flipped going down one of the falls and I was being swept away and couldn't

get my footing.)

Yes, Amberly got sunburned, but mostly just her nose and cheeks. She always gets burned there! We put sunscreen on all day, but she is always wiping her eyes. Darin was burnt badly. He probably put more sunscreen on than anyone and was burnt the worst. He could hardly move that night and the next day without being in pain.

Eyn hiding his face as usual!

Group picture taken by one of my favorite lifeguards right before we left.

The next day was spent going on the ferry ride and driving around and then at the beach for a few hours. (waterproof camera needs to get developed for some fun pictures!)
This is one of the ferries used to go from Galveston to Bolivers Penisula. It was hot and windy but enjoyable. We were able to see Dolphins and lots of beautiful birds.

Elizabeth on the Ferry

Darin and Tricia (it was just a little windy!)Trent enjoying the view

Amberly

We went to the beach for a few hours that afternoon. Darin stayed in the van in the shade considering he was so burnt. The rest of us were able to enjoy the waves and the sand for a while, until Eyn got attacked by a group of jelly fish. He said he saw at least 5 around him. He started yelling and came running to me. I didn't know what was going on! He was in so much pain! He ran to the van to get help and they came back to me. A lifeguard came over and confirmed that it was a jelly fish and that he had never seen it as bad is it was on Eyn. He had a mixture of vinegar and meat tenderizer that he applied to the bites all over Eyn's neck, chest and back. We then had some Motrin that he took. It seemed to help. Trent was also stung a little bit but was far enough away that he didn't get it bad like Eyn.

So, we had a great quick trip to Galveston and were exhausted when we got home. We had a great summer, probably didn't do too much, but it was a nice break from the busyness of school.