Playing Catch-up! - part 1

I'm really behind...I know! So...I'll try to catch up on what we have been up to over the past month!

So...this is the morning Donny came home from Afghanistan...we were so tired...but had a lot of fun totally goofing off with each other!
Since we were in Utah, and we have never taken our kids there...well, not since we moved when Mason was a year old, we decided to give them the walk down memory lane in good old Provo! Here Mason and I are outside of the hospital where he was born! We both look a lot different than we did the last time we were outside of this building almost 11 years ago!
Here we are at BYU. It is a very strange thing to take your kids to the place where you met each other! We just kept laughing as we showed them all of the places we used to go together...and we felt very old when we saw how much has changed over the past 17 years since we were freshman!

This was Shane's favorite spot on Campus (ok...other than the baseball field and my apartment!)...the Earth Science Museum! The kids had fun running around in there for a few minutes!

Getting some lunch at the Cougar Eat...it definitely has evolved since we were students there! Here the kids are at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. They thought this place was very cool!

So, that was our first day in Utah...I'll add more soon!

In Memory

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with their passing of a whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our hearts for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same."

In our family, March 15 is known as "Katie Day". This year marks the 10th anniversary of the day my little sister passed away, due to a head injury she sustained while skiing. Our family is traveling to Utah to spend this day together. It will be the first time we have been together on "Katie Day" in 9 years.

For those of you who knew her, I thought it would be fun to remember her this weekend...the way she was and always will be in our memories! For those of you who didn't know her...let me introduce you to my little sister Katie...who will eternally be 19 years old and who is our special angel!

Again

Sometimes I wonder if it is ever really worth it
to make friends or to go to new places.
You always end up leaving them behind,
to only hear from every now and then.
You end up wondering if you ever did anything significant
to make them remember you.
Or if you were just another face
that was there and now is gone.
Did I ever really mean as much to them as they did to me?
Do they miss me as much as I do them?
Or have they just forgotten me like a shadow of the past,
a friend they used to have but now is gone.
Did I ever do anything meaningful that helped them in some small way?
Something simple that would make them remember and miss me?
I don’t know and I guess I never will
because now they are gone.
Once again, I’ve left to start all over again.

This was written by Katie Bills in the Fall of 1997,
after moving to Littleton, Colorado from San Antonio, Texas
just before her Senior year in High School.

FOR GOOD (from Wicked)

I'VE HEARD IT SAID THAT PEOPLE COME INTO OUR LIVES FOR A REASON BRINGING SOMETHING WE MUST LEARN AND WE ARE LED TO THOSE WHO HELP US MOST TO GROW IF WE LET THEM AND WE HELP THEM IN RETURN

WELL, I DON'T KNOW IF I BELIEVE THAT'S TRUE BUT I KNOW I'M WHO I AM TODAY BECAUSE I KNEW YOU...
LIKE A COMET PULLED FROM ORBIT AS IT PASSES A SUN
LIKE A STREAM THAT MEETS A BOULDER HALFWAY THROUGH THE WOOD WHO CAN SAY IF I'VE BEEN CHANGED FOR THE BETTER? BUT BECAUSE I KNEW YOU I HAVE BEEN CHANGED FOR GOOD …
IT WELL MAY BE THAT WE WILL NEVER MEET AGAIN IN THIS LIFETIME SO LET ME SAY BEFORE WE PART SO MUCH OF ME IS MADE OF WHAT I LEARNED FROM YOU YOU'LL BE WITH ME LIKE A HANDPRINT ON MY HEART

AND NOW WHATEVER WAY OUR STORIES END I KNOW YOU HAVE RE-WRITTEN MINE BY BEING MY FRIEND...
LIKE A SHIP BLOWN FROM ITS MOORING BY A WIND OFF THE SEA LIKE A SEED DROPPED BY A SKY BIRD IN A DISTANT WOOD WHO CAN SAY IF I'VE BEEN CHANGED FOR THE BETTER? BUT BECAUSE I KNEW YOU...
I HAVE BEEN CHANGED FOR GOOD...

Katie Merlene Bills

September 17, 1979 - March 15, 1999

"I loved you too much to just be your friend - so God let me be your sister!"
I miss you and I love you Katie!

The 142nd is HOME!!!

My brother Donny returned from Afghanistan last Friday morning!!!
Going to his homecoming was honestly the coolest thing I have ever done! Shane, the kids, and I drove up to Utah to welcome him home! We got up at 4 a.m. Friday morning and got the the National Guard Airfield about 5:15 a.m. Donny's plane was supposed to land at 5:45...but shocking enough...the Army was early! I got a text from him saying he was on the ground just after we arrived!
So...just to set the scene for you all, we were in this huge hanger. There was the big American Flag hanging (in this picture) and there was a band. They started playing, God Bless the USA, and then the hanger doors opened and there was their plane! Now...it was absolutely FREEZING...and it was even snowing a little bit, but I don't think anyone cared at that moment! They had caution tape which made an isle for all of the soldiers to walk down between their families and friends, which was really cool. They also had a tunnel of flags being held by other soldiers for them to walk through just as they got off the plane.

As each soldier got off the plane, they were given a yellow rose. I was so excited when I saw Donny walking down the isle!!! Of course I ran under the tape to give him the biggest hug ever! As you can see, my kids were pretty excited to see him too!

I'm so proud of him and of the sacrifices he has made to serve our country! I am also SO glad that he is home! We have missed him!!!