In Our Hearts

As I sit here alone tonight I've had some time to reflect on what happened to our nation 8 years ago today. Here's my account of what happened. Monday, September 10, 2001, I was at work taking care of people with Alzheimer's. My dad called my cell phone, which was a little unusual. He knew I was at work, so I was surprised he was calling. I thought that maybe something was wrong. I answered the phone and heard my dad calmly tell me that my friend had been cliff jumping, jumped off a cliff and he had not been seen since. Holding onto hope for a small moment, I thought maybe he was joking. There's no way my friend was dead, they just hadn't looked in the right places yet. I called some mutual friends and quickly realized the truth. We had all lost a very good person. My boss let me leave work since I was a complete mess. I couldn't hold it together for longer than 5 minutes. That evening I went up Provo Canyon with friends and celebrated a life we would all miss. We prayed around the campfire that our friend's body would be found. I felt I couldn't drive home that night because I was just too upset. I ended up staying at Jesse and Tina's apartment in Orem. I'm surprised I fell asleep that night. I think I only slept for about 3 hours before I woke up around 6:00 a.m. (maybe later, I can't really remember) and decided to drive home. I was in a complete haze as I drove and I think I just had the radio on to keep me company. I remember very clearly where I was when the radio show started to sound panicked about what was going on in New York. I was right in front of Mt. Loafer Elementary School in Salem. I listened in complete shock. I could not believe what was going on. I remember arriving home to my parents standing on the stairs also in complete shock. How could this be happening? It was my little brother's 6th birthday and although I knew he had no idea what was actually happening, he would soon learn he shared his birthday with a great tragedy. I took a shower and then decided to go to school at UVSC. I knew I wouldn't be able to focus, but I also knew it was better to be doing something to attempt to keep my mind occupied. I remember walking down the halls and seeing just masses of people crowding the halls in front of the TV screens watching what was going on. I believe I started crying at that moment. I have never felt like our nation was as unified as it was that day. We were not different colors or cultures, but we were all Americans. I learned later that day that my friend's body was found in the lake they were diving in. They had actually found it Monday night and planned on flying it home on Tuesday morning (September 11, 2001). Obviously the entire world shut down for a while. No flights in or out of anywhere. Therefore they could not fly his body from Arizona to Utah. It was heartbreaking. That week was very hard for me. I believe on Wednesday night I went to my friend's parent's house with a white rose in hand and dropped it on the doorstep in front of his crying mother. I was so glad I could let her know I was grieving her son and that he was not forgotten in the midst of one the nation's greatest tragedies. It will be a week that will always be remembered and never forgotten. What a huge impact that one week had in my life.

Where were you? What do you remember from that day?

Let the birthday festivities begin!

Today is my 27th birthday. Sigh. I don't love getting older, but I guess that's life right? Last night Ryan surprised me by taking me to dinner at The Foundry Grill up at Sundance and then we rode the lift and enjoyed the beauty of Sundance. We even spotted some wild turkeys and also a mom deer with her baby, who still had some spots so he was just a new guy. It was absolutely wonderful. After we rode the lift we went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some all-time goodness. I ate sweets until I was ready to puke. I still have my mint truffle to enjoy today. Yeah! Thank you Ryan for a most wonderful evening!

Well, there's more to come. Tonight I have a family party to celebrate my birthday and 2 of my brothers birthdays. Yes, 3 of us were born within 9 days of each other. What were my parents thinking?

Country Carousel

Hello friends! It's a big week for the bow business. We have a booth at the Country Carousel Boutique at Provo High School. Come visit us and get all the glorious bows/flowers and headbands your little heart desires. We also have some bracelets and discounted/discontinued headbands for sale. You can also check out my bow blog bellabambina2007.blogspot.com! The boutique runs from today (the 17th) through Friday (the 21st). Tonight the show opens at 4 and goes until 9. Tuesday through Friday it's open all day. Come and enjoy all the vendors and all the fun stuff they have to offer!

Premature Graduation

(Stupid blogger turned this picture sideways. I don't know why it does that or how to fix it. It looks like that says '89, but it's really '09).

This weekend has been a very exciting weekend for us here in the Hone home. Ryan got to walk for graduation on Friday. I feel like we have been waiting for this day to come for years. Well, we have been waiting for years. It was so worth it. It has been a lot of hard work, mostly Ryan doing the hard work, but worth it. Ryan actually has just one more semester and then he will actually be done with the nursing program at BYU. We were very surprised to see the pharmacist Ryan used to work with at Allen's, Jeff and his wife Jo. We are so glad they were able to make it to the graduation. It meant the world for us to have them there. After graduation we went to Carabba's for lunch. It was nice to have my entire Dunn side of the family there and then Ryan's mom, sister Kacy, brother Garrett, dad, and grandpa. Ryan gave me his stole of gratitude and of course I cried. After lunch I "kidnapped" Ryan. He had no idea where we were headed to. I made arrangements for Bella to go to the Mayor's house for the night. I tried really hard not to tell Ryan where we were going. He eventually figured it out once we hit Dear Creek that we were going to Park City for the night. Park City was cold and rainy. Not what I had hoped for, but still beautiful no less. Good job Ryan! I couldn't be more proud of you. Here's Ryan's best friend in the program, Jacob. I don't think Ryan could have done it without him. That's also Jacob's wife, Amber, making that ultra awesome face! Love you guys! And of course, I have to put one of Chloe on here. I couldn't believe she actually let me take her picture!

Thank you!

Dear Aunt Katie and Uncle Jesse,

It's Bella! I love, love, love my new nametag! Not only is it really super cute, mom and dad can now find me when I run away because they can hear my jingle. The purple color matches my collar just perfect. Thank you! Tell Lily we're totally BFF's now for life. I can't wait to play with her.

Lick lick,

Bella

Did you cherish today?

How fragile life, how certain death. We do not know when we will be required to leave this mortal existence. And so I ask, “What are we doing with today?” If we live only for tomorrow, we’ll eventually have a lot of empty yesterdays. Have we been guilty of declaring, “I’ve been thinking about making some course corrections in my life. I plan to take the first step—tomorrow”? With such thinking, tomorrow is forever. Such tomorrows rarely come unless we do something about them today. --President Thomas S. Monson

I love this quote by President Monson. I think about it probably every single day. Every morning, after I have typed a few reports for work, I jump on the internet and go to the obituaries. Why, you ask? I absolutely love to read the tributes to a loved one, a remembrance of their life, a celebration of their journey. There's just something so inspiring about a life well-lived. I never become desensitized to it. I oftentimes see the lives that are cut too short and shed a tear for the family as though I can feel a little bit of their grief. Sounds depressing, but really, it is inspiring. It makes me ponder my life and think "what have I done to make the world a better place? What would my loved ones write in my obituary if I were to die today? Did I do my best? Have I done enough? What more can I do? Did I love enough? Did I cherish my relationships?" I am oftentimes reminded just how fragile our lives are. It happens all too often I see somebody I knew in the past that has moved on from this earthly existence.

I also like to read the obituaries because these are the people in my community. I work for some of the hospitals in our community and sometimes I will get the reports on these people. I get to hear about the last moments of their life. I love to put a face with the name, the story, the trauma, whatever it is they went through. I love to hear about their life, their family, their stories. I get a little glimpse into this human that was once just a name on a screen being dictated on by Dr. So-and-So. It makes my job real.

"And so I ask, “What are we doing with today?” If we live only for tomorrow, we’ll eventually have a lot of empty yesterdays."

Baby Kyla

We finally got to see one of the most beautiful little girls alive! Thanks Jacob and Amber for letting us hold her and ooooo and ahhhhh. Little baby Kyla was born on July 13 and we have been so busy we haven't been to see her until last night. We were getting a kick out of her trying to eat Ryan's arm and then getting REALLY angry when she realized there was no milk in his biceps. Congrats Nibarger family! She's very cute!