We Will NEVER Forget

On September 11th, 2001 the world changed. People looked within themselves and figured out what was really important. We were a unified and selfless country for that brief moment. Out of the horror and anguish came brotherhood, compassion and a renewed sense of patriotism. Life went on, we healed (are healing) and went to war. I stand behind our soldiers and support the men and women defending our freedom. I will be forever grateful and forever proud to be an American.
That dreadful morning started as a typical Tuesday for me. Woke up with my husband of 5 months and got ready for work. He was stilled a little bummed that his business trip to NYC was canceled because the trainer of his week-long management class was sick. I drove him into work that morning so we didn't have to pay for downtown parking. I worked as the accounts payable clerk for a plastic surgeon and he as a mortgage loan processor for JP Morgan Chase. As I was preparing the morning bank deposits I remember writing the date on the deposit slip and thinking to myself "hmm...911...hope that's not an omen". Right then I got a call from Jeremy. He said a plane just struck the World Trade Center. I just thought some inexperienced pilot in a prop plane was having a very bad day. He said, "NO! Go turn on the news!" We turned on the radio and after hearing what had happened, the entire office raced to the basement where the only TV in the building was. Luckily a phone was down there and I think every single patient that had an appointment that day called to cancel. We watched in horror as the second plane hit. The OR director just sank to the floor. Her son was getting married in 2 weeks. His best man worked on the 102 floor of building 2. He didn't make it. We stared in silence with tears streaming down our cheeks unable to move from shock. As we watched the towers fall everyone seemed to dissipate. We'd had enough for the time being.
When I went back to my desk, Jeremy called again. Even though we lived in Rochester, some 8 hours away from NYC, his office was being evacuated. All of downtown was being evacuated. There was an order to evacuate every high-rise building in NY state.
I have no idea how I was able to drive downtown, against traffic, to pick Jeremy up. I was shaking so violently I was sure I was going to cause an accident. When I reached his office, he drove us home where we sat on the couch the rest of the afternoon in each others arms, knowing that he was supposed to be there, in the middle of it all. As other buildings started to fall I got nauseated when they announce building 5 had collapsed. My newlywed husband was scheduled to fly to NYC and be in that very building at this very moment. I have never been so grateful that a total stranger came down with pneumonia the day before and called everyone in her training class to reschedule.
The rest of the week was basically spent going through the motions of everyday life in a zombie like state. Nothing seemed real. We donated blood and friends were driving to NY to provide any help they could. No one was flying. I honestly do not remember much from that week other than going home everyday and holding Jeremy all night long.
The following Sunday, our tiny branch of about 30 members or so gathered in our little chapel beneath the dance studio on Atlantic Avenue. We didn't have Sunday School or Relief Society that day. Our little ward family stayed in the chapel and cried and prayed together.
Today as I await Jeremy to come home from work and hold my children, those same prayers are being repeated in my heart. That we can protect our nation from tyranny, that our loved ones will be safe from harm, that we will remember the truly important things in life, that we can move forward and forgive, but NEVER forget.

I'm NOT Dead

Ok, so a 9 month break from blogging was really just me being lazy. I will have to get caught up with the individual activities/expeiernces we have done/had (Lagoon, camping/canoeing, hiking, moving, car accident, Dinosaur Museum, etc) but I just wanted to put a quick up date on here.
The biggest change to our family came in January. We now have our niece, Briget, living with us. She is my oldest brothers daughter. After a few months of the "honeymoon phase" she has been adjusting pretty well and is doing much better in school. We aren't sure how long she will be with us. Could be a few more months, could be a few more years. Who knows? In the mean time she gets to see what is like having annoying younger kids living with her.
Jay is soon turning 8 and will be baptized in the beginning of November. He started 2nd grade a few weeks ago and is loving being back in school, just not the homework that comes along with it. He played baseball again last summer and Jeremy and I were his coaches. (NEVER gonna do that again. Don't mind being the team-mom, just not up to coaching) He still adores Iron Man and most other superheros.
After months and months of testing Jay was diagnosed with ADHD this summer. I insisted on all of the testing since it is so over-diagnosed these days. Needed to make sure that the Dr. wasn't just throwing meds at him for being an active, normal kid. So in addition to baseball, he spend his summer going to about 3-4 different specialists and all tests came back showing that he really does have ADHD. The thing with Jay is that he isn't really off-the-wall hyper all the time. He just can't seem to focus on the teacher because he is so distracted by anything and everything else around him. He is still excelling in Math and his reading is improving but we want to get him help so he can catch up in the rest of his subjects.
Alyssa turned 3 shortly after my last post, meaning she will be 4 very soon. (January) She is going to preschool 2 days/week and LOVING it. I just love that little girl. She is SO independent and insists on doing everything for herself, however, she will still come and snuggle up on my lap or give me unexpected hugs. This girl loves to sing, and love all the funny things she makes up. Her favorite primary song is "I love to see the temple" and she sings the WHOLE thing. I was impressed that she knows all the words. I know that I shouldn't encourage her when she mispronounces a word since it will just hold her speech back, but I can't help but laugh when she sings about Eeyord, Pliget and Winnie-A-Poo. Her sense of humor is going non-stop. She is starting to understand knock-knock jokes and loves to make some up of her own. Most don't make any sense but a few are cute. An example would be:
Knock-knock
Who's there?
Duck
Duck who?
Quack Quack.
Like I said, more cute than funny. But I think she has big aspirations of being a comedian since she loves being the center of attention and making people laugh.
Jeremy is still at the same job doing tech support for Macintosh. It's ok, but he really is over-qualified. Hopefully he will find something more worth-while soon. In the mean time he is starting to get his Macintosh certifications. Hopefully he will be going back to finish his bachelors next semester. Now that we have residency here in Utah we can actually afford it. (Well, at least the grants would cover it)
As for me, since Jeremy isn't going to school this semester, I took the opportunity to go. I quit my job at Harmon's last month and am going to UVU full time. I am majoring in secondary education in deaf studies. When I am done (hopefully in Spring of 2014) want to teach ASL in high school. I am contemplating getting a minor in Geology so I can teach science if there isn't a need for ASL teachers when I graduate.
Looks like my quick update wasn't so quick. I will try to better about posting but no promises. Until next time...