SEPTEMBER 11, 2011 - 10 YEARS LATER...

I think it is important that Jared and I journal our feelings about September 11th so that our kids and grand kids will know what we thought of that day and what we experienced. Emma is 9 years old now and can't quite fully grasp what happened that day. I understand that. It's like all the things I read in history books, its hard to fully understand it unless you lived it.

Sunday night September 9th I finally got Jared talked into selling some of our stock so that we could have the cash we needed sitting in our savings account. We were in the process of building of our first home and had plenty of money in the stock market so we could put the down payment down we needed. I kept asking him to cash it, but he wanted to keep holding on to it and watch it go up. The next day, Monday, I headed to work and he was going to cash out our stock while I was gone, but decided he wanted to watch it go up more so he did not heed the advice of his wife. That night I believe there might have been an arguement about him not listening to me and we went to bed with the promise that he would cash it out first thing in the morning!

The next morning was Tuesday, September 11th. Jared always had Tuesdays off so he would sleep in. I was 4 months pregnant with Emma at the time. We were both laying in bed when our home phone rang. I got up to get it and it was my mom. She is a woman of few words. She basically just said, "go turn on your tv and watch the news!" I asked why? She said, "just do it, you will see." I went over and turned on the TV and they kept replaying the footage of the planes crashing into the towers in NYC. I couldn't really understand what was going on. I didn't really get how everything was about to change at that moment in time.

I woke up Jared and he came out and watched TV with me. I finally got ready for work and then called down to see if we were still working that day. They said yes, but that they were all gathered around a radio listening to reports or watching things on the Internet. I had Jared haul my TV out to the car and I headed off to work. I got into my office and had a guy bring in the TV for us and we all huddled around it and just sat there and watched it. We sold medical software across the country. I remember the NY sales rep crying and being very upset because she didn't know how her dealers and customers were doing. I remember people leaving work and going to donate blood. I remember hearing about flight 93 crashing in Pennsylvania and then another plane also crashing into the Pentagon. I remember watching President Bush in an elementary school class being read to and then the secret service whispering in his ear about what was going on. I remember they shut down all flights across the country. I remember hearing things on the news and no one was sure what was going to happen to the other government buildings around the country. I called my dad to see what he was doing. In typical dad fashion, a man of no non-sense/no drama/and a work-aholic , he said, "working." I remember asking him to leave and just go home. He said, "if there was a problem we would know about it and they would evacuate us."

The day continued to roll on. We were still all gathered around my TV at work watching the same scenes replay over and over. Terrorists in America? Really? Not here, not us. I like to think I live in a Disneyland world, everything is happy and good and bad things don't happen here.

Finally they evacuated my dad's building just to be on the safe side and I felt much better about that. Finally my work around lunch time just decided to send us all home. We weren't working anyways and neither was anyone else around the country.

I took my TV and went home and stayed in my living room glued to the TV the rest of the day. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I couldn't believe this was happening. It didn't seem real. It was sorta like it was a movie or something. These poor people jumping out of the twin towers knowing they would die once they hit the ground, but still choosing that over staying there inside knowing they would be burned alive. The poor people on the planes knowing they were going to die and there wasn't anything they could do about it. The innocent people who just went to work that day not knowing it would be there last. How could this happen.

Despite all this sorrow and hell these people went through, good things did come out of it. People pulled together. They helped each other. They carried each other down the stairs in the towers, they helped day and night clean up the debris, they helped find bodies and bring them back to their loved ones, they risked their lives to save the life of a stranger. The country got a sense of pride back and started displaying it - like how I pictured it in the 1950s when people would have flags hanging in their yards and yellow ribbons tied around trees. People were wearing red, white and blue, they had flag pins on their clothes and bumper stickers saying, "We'll never forget". People were joining the military left and right because they wanted to over and kill al-Queda terrorists and teach them a lesson. People started going back to church and turning to God for peace and comfort. I loved hearing all the amazing stories about how so many more people would have been at work in the towers if it wasn't for a miracle that day like there son missed the bus so they had to drive them to school making them late to work, they had a random doctor's appointment that morning so they were going to work late, things like that. Small things that made a big difference.

I was scared. I do remember being scared. What if this was going to start another world war. What if they were planning other attacks. Everything changed in our country because of that day. Airport security was a big one, even though they changed it completely I was still scared to fly for the first time after September 11th. I didn't want to be a racial profiler, but I was. I checked out everyone on the plane to make sure they didn't look like terrorists (whatever that is).

September 11th is a day I will never forget. It is a very important day in history which changed our country forever. It is a day in which my kids will read about in school. I want them to know my simple thoughts on it. I am proud to be an American. I am proud of the police officers, firefighters, military and every day people who helped out on that day and gave their lives to save others. (I also like to remind Jared that we lost our money in the stock market that day and that he should have listened to his wife and cashed out a long time ago so we didn't have to borrow our down payment from my parents, ha ha!)
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Memories of 9/11 - by Jared

I remember waking up that morning to Carol turning on the tv to the news and showing me what was happening. The first thing I saw was images of one of the towers burning. Reporters were trying to make sense of what was going on and speculating what could have happened. It was as I was sitting there in bed watching the first tower burning that a second plane hit the other tower. I was so captivated that I couldn't even get out of bed.

After the second plane hit the second tower I wondered how in the world it could be possible that another plane could accidentally hit the other tower, then reports started coming out that this could be a terrorist attack. I couldn't fathom this and didn't want to believe it but then reports came out that at least 2 other planes had been hijacked and were flying off course.

I remember seeing one of the towers collapse and couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. It seemed like a movie. It couldn't be happening. I remember feeling such a sense of hopelessness and so helpless. It sickened me to think that someone could do this and that Heavenly Father could let something like this happen. I remember seeing images of people jumping out of windows from the World Trade Centers before they collapsed. They were faint but distinguishable black outlines of people falling through the air. I remember seeing an amateur video of someone in one of the building lobbies and hearing the loud thuds all around them. Those sounds were people falling from the floors above
and landing on the ground.

After I began to grasp what had happened and the media and the government knew what had happened I felt like most of the rest of the nation and wanted justice. Whoever plotted this and did this terrible deed had to be caught and stopped from doing it again. I wanted our President to act and I wanted something to happen. Those feelings then slowly changed over time to wishing we could instead cure the world of such hate that would drive someone to commit such despicable acts.

I'm grateful to hear about the many stories of heroism, from the public officials to the ordinary citizens that gave of themselves to help those around them. I'm grateful to hear about the stories of those that survived and how the attribute their survival to the help of those around them and to the help of God. I believe there were many miracles that day. Each life saved was a miracle. The passengers being able to stop Flight 93 that crashed into an empty field in Pennsylvania was a miracle and a great act of love and heroism.

9/11 was a terrible day in our country's history in terms of the lives lost; but it was a growing period for the world to see the Lord's hand and witness miracles. The US had always been known as one of the great nations to lead the way in worldwide humanitarian efforts, but this time it was the rest of the world that stepped up to help a wounded nation. The outpouring of sympathy was incredible to witness as the rest of the world did what it could to help the US heal.

SIMPLE PLEASURES!

Sometimes its just the small things in life that make me happy.

The other day Tyson had a little fever and couldn't sleep at all. He was up and down a million times which is not like him at all. He is our sleeper, just like his daddy. After taking him back to his bed for the hundredth time he finally stayed in bed, or so we thought. We kept hearing the sound of his door opening but yet he would never appear from around the corner. Finally when Jared and I were getting ready to go to bed I asked him to check on the boys one last time and make sure they were all safe and sound. Jared went into the twins room and found them snuggled together in Tyler's crib...seriously love these two! This next little story might be a bit gross but I think its a necessity for me to blog it, mostly because I think it will gross the boys out when they get older :) The boys are working on potty training, they basically have it, but we still wipe their bums when they go poop. The other day Tyson pooped in the toilet and he got down by himself leaving a poopy trail on the seat. Like a good brother though, Tyler stepped right in and wiped his bum off and then proceeded to clean the toilet seat all around! Thanks Tyler for cleaning up your brother's poop :)

The twins are in a little play group once a week. I switch off with 3 other moms who all have kids the exact same age and so once a month I have all the kids over to my house to play for 3 hours and then the next 3 weeks they are off to someone else's house. I really love it. While they are gone that is me and Eli's special time. It sounds like it would be really exciting and some day we will do something super fun, but for now I love that my buddy just enjoys the one on one time with me. We usually drop the boys off, head over to circle K for a drink and then he comes with me to volunteer in Emma's class (he just sits in the corner and plays my iPad) or we go home and I clean the house and he plays the computer, etc. But it is our time together and no one bothers him and we get to laugh and giggle just the two of us. Last week we even went out for an ice cream cone together before we picked up the twins and as soon as we got home he put his arm around the twins and said, "sorry boys, I only had one ice cream cone, I don't have any for you, sorry!" He cracks me up! This week Tyson was sick so I dropped off Eli instead and kept Tyson with me, but at first Eli didn't want to go because he didn't want Tyson to get the special drink, ha ha! I love me some Eli.

BACK TO SCHOOL I GO!

I went back to school today for the first time in 11 years. Some might think I am off to get a Md, or PhD or even a BA but no, I just need to get an AA (which currently stands for Associates of Arts, but by the time I am finished it will probably be Alcoholics Anonymous!) I want my kids to know how important a college education is, but I don't want them to not go because I didn't go, or rather because I did go but dropped my classes many many times because it interfered with my social life so I never actually got a degree.

Last April I prayed to Heavenly Father and basically broke it down like this, if you want me to go to school then I need help, I can't retake the classes I have already taken and I cant have a whole bunch of new ones that are now required, I went to the advisor and it was meant to be, I only needed 4 classes and they were even a tad bit easier than I thought I needed. There were a few hic-ups in the process between registering and actually starting school, but not a big deal.

The day finally came and I got on my new outfit, backpack from way back in the day and my mom came over to watch my boys as I headed off to school, but not before taking my first day of school picture, ha ha!I got to school, circled in the parking lot for a few minutes and watched as some people looked at me, they probably thought I borrowed my mom's SUV to come to school, little did they know I was the mom, ha ha! We had to get in groups and meet each other and introduce each other. In the front of the classroom was all the old people - you know the parents, then scattered throughout the room was the nerds, the cool skater boys, the boy with his laptop who was playing video games on it and some dirty girls, then there was me. My partner who graduated in 2007 (after I had given birth a couple of times) introduced me and told them I had 4 kids, there was a gasp and then heads moving around trying to catch a glimpse of me, then I am sure the skater boys were thinking, "hey old lady, get out of our section and go up with the old parents over there!"

Class proceeded and what I thought was going to be an easy breezy class turns out not so much. I signed up for a lecture and lab in GEOGRAPHY...what does that sound like to you? A class that you will learn about the 7 continents and perhaps where Columbia and Rome are located? Ya, I thought so too. It's not. Its about weather, how rocks were formed, how volcanoes are on certain continents and fault lines and crap like that oh yes and if I hear the word HABOOB one more time in there, yikes! Oh and it gets better. I hate math, can't stand it, can't do it, don't use it (other than the basics) and can't pass it (dropped it 4 times already). Um, I had to use MATH in GEOGRAPHY?!?!?! Does anyone else see a problem with this besides me?

We had to convert meters to centimeters, to feet to inches to Celsius to Fahrenheit, etc. The boys in my group who I totally prejudged as being dumb boys were super smart and sailed right through it and I did what I do best, I just sat there and smiled and copied. My group was the first group done and left early. I went up to the teacher afterwards and asked if she had an extra packet I could take home (we had to turn ours in) so I could practice at home with my husband, she said no. Then I asked if we were going to use this all year and she quickly informed me that yes, we would be using it all year and that's why we are learning it now. So like a butt kisser or nerd or whatever it is she is thinking I am, I stayed after and had to learn it. I still don't understand it but I can only hang out with the teacher for so long. The old man in the classroom with the long fingernails and gray hair who wants to be a musician, told me I could join his group because they move at a much slower pace :/

Oh wait, school gets even better. My family vacation is next week and I need to miss 2 days of school and my class final is on Dec 7th and I need to miss that day as well (no biggie though, I can take the test with her other class the following week) but that is already 3 days missed. She has a rule and if you miss more than 4 days, she fails you. Since when did college classes start caring when you attend or not and keep track of your attendance?! That means I am left with 1 random day to miss between now and Dec 7th. Wow. School blows.

I did just find out that a Dairy Queen opened up across the street from CGCC so I took my defeated self over there for a blizzard while I thought about what to do now...

NO PUNISHMENT AT HOME NEEDED!

I was sitting here at my computer getting ready to blog about the boys when I got an email from Emma's teacher. I stopped what I was doing to read the letter and got the world's biggest smile on my face. Emma is having drama and it's taking place at school and I don't really have to deal with it! Ha! I am sorry for her sweet teacher who has to, but man, what a relief it is her and not me :)

Here is the following email from her teacher :

Hi,

So, you have a very upset daughter right now... She has been sitting by Brenna since the beginning of the year when they got to choose their desks. A few times in the past week or so, I have had to talk to them about getting right to work in the mornings on their morning work. I told them last time that if I had to speak to them again that they would be separated. Well, today it happened. Now Emma is in hysterics because she is worried that when you find out she had to move desks she will be "pulled from dance". I tried my best to reassure her that all people make mistakes, and the most important thing is that she learned from her mistake. She cannot stop crying about this, so I told her I would email you so you are prepared and hopefully can send her a calming message. Helllllppppp!!!!! :)

Here is my response:
Is it rude that I am laughing? Ok please send Emma the following message:

Emma,
I am very sad that you made the mistake of talking after being asked to stop over and over again. I will NOT be pulling you from dance. I do, however, need you to listen to Miss Landorf and do what is asked of you. Please stop crying, dry the tears, and apologize to Miss L for not making good choices. Learn to enjoy your new seat girlfriend, that was the choice you made by talking over and over again.

See you at home!
Love you!
Mom

For those of you wondering, No, I will not be punishing her at home either. The mistake was made at school and she paid the price and I will no longer speak of it (I will get sweet satisfaction though, knowing that I have made a permanent record of it on here, our family journal, muhahaha!)

FIRST DAY OF THE 2ND ROUND OF PRESCHOOL

Yesterday was Eli's first day of his 2nd round of preschool. He was soooo super excited to start school. When we got in the car after Meet the Teacher, he asked if we could go home and do his homework :) (to bad that excitement wont last forever).

I was sorta what you call a "lazy mom" on the first day, I had every intention on driving him, but when it came right down to it, our carpool friends volunteered to take him and heck ya, I will jump right on that. He was not nervous or scared, he has been there before and loves his teacher, he doesn't need me! So a couple of pictures later and he was out the door!

When he came home he said, "mom, is today the first day of school?" "Yes, why buddy?" "so I get to go forever now?" After I answered him with a yes he proceeded to jump up and down!

He is very excited to be the only returning student in his class this year so he gets to be Ms. Nikkii's helper :) It's going to be a great year!

VEGAS PHOTO SHOOT!

Here are some of the pictures that Hailey took of the girls while we were in Vegas - they all look so beautiful!

Emma, Ella, Bella, Rylee and Peyton

SUMMER RE-CAP!

I don't have a whole lot to re-cap, summer truly came and went way too fast this year. We had a lot of fun things planned, but then they had to keep getting cancelled due to Emma's dance and Jared's work.We did celebrate 4th of July at Grandma Joyce's house (or as Eli calls her, "Pa's boy" - Grandma calls Eli, "Pa's boy" because Eli reminds her of my dad and he always lights up and waits for her to say that to him, it's really cute!) with a BBQ and swimming party with my family, Kristen's family, Jason's family and that was about it. It was slim pickins this year. Afterwards we went back home and rested for a bit and then ate dinner and grabbed milkshakes for everyone and headed out to watch the fireworks. The kids loved it and we found the perfect place to do it (but if you think I am going to share that info on here, you are crazy, I got to keep the good spots secret, muhahaha).Eli played flag football this summer. This was probably my favorite sport he has played so far. He would practice Wednesday nights at 6pm, then practice Thursday nights at 6:45pm and then have his games at 7:30pm that same night. The weather was perfect, the sun had gone down by then and it was just nice to sit out under the lights and cheer our little buddy on! As usual he was the smallest one on the team and had a ways to go to catch up to the rest of the group (that is the problem when you play your child up with the older kids, but it is so beneficial for him because he fights really hard to get to their level and by the end of the season he is amazing and playing right along side of them!!).

He got really good towards the end of the season about ripping off the opposing team's flags. Sometimes he would rip them off with such force that the other boy would go down too! I went to every game except for one, the game I missed I was in Vegas with Emma. I kept getting play by play texts from Jared. Finally I got 2 texts and they made me get teary eyed, my little man had scored 2 touchdowns, that's right, 2! I was soooo sad that I missed it, I felt bad all night. I did proudly tell all the moms that was with me that night at dinner what he had done.

Every week on the drive home from the games we would give him 3 "hip hip hoorays!". The kids loved cheering for him and he loved hearing it :) The night of the last game his team was playing for the championship, they had only lost 1 game all season and that's who we had to battle it out for 1st place with. We lost. We kinda figured we would. It was a rough way to end the season but the exciting part was they each got the 2nd place trophy. As we were all done and walking back to the car, Eli said to me, "Mom, I'm so happy I did so good at football and I'm so happy I got a shiny blue trophy. I'm so happy!" And that is why we do what we do. Love you buddy!

Elias' first pre-game practice
Grandma and Grandpa Rodgers came to a couple of games and so did the Slys, it was great to have people come out and support him!Getting his trophyListening to the coach tell them how great they were and then after that we headed out for some ice cream to celebrate his great football season! Eli frequently played with his mouth guard. We actually had to buy 3 of them during the season. I won't even tell you how we bought his 2nd one and moments after putting it in his mouth for the first time he dropped it in the toilet right after he peed, yum!Pure intimidation

During the summer we tried to go on a few family walks on Sunday nights, but after our first 2 attempts, we quit. The first time, Emma and Eli decided to ride their bikes and just a few minutes into the walk Jared and Emma decide to race and out of no where Emma crashes hard. Road rash all over her face, arm, legs, shirt, hole in her shirt and oh yes, many many loud cries and tears (she is not nearly as tough as her brothers). I took her home and got her cleaned up and Jared finished the walk with the boys.

The second attempt was even more annoying. We just put the garage door down and then Tyler decided he wanted his scooter so we went to open up the garage and the outside key pad had died. We ran next door to see if they had a spare battery we could use just long enough to get into our house and they didn't. We walked around to a few neighbors to check to see if they had a key pad and they didn't either. We were trapped outside with no keys, no phones, nothing. We walked over to Heather and Dabrielle's house who welcomed us in with open arms. They were pretty surprised to see us there unannounced and then to top it all off, we wanted the keys to their car to go to the store and oh yes, money to buy a battery :) Eric and Jared headed off to the store right away, the girls fed my kids desserts and then while the boys were still gone they decided to paint Tyson and Eli's toes and nails, Tyler would not have anything to do with that :) It was a fun night, but Jared was a little disappointed in the boys with the nails polished but quite proud that Tyler said no! Ha Ha.We went out a eat several times this summer and oh yes! Eli learned to swim without floaties!! We hired "Bells" to come out and give him some private lessons and he LOVED it!!! He is a little fish and swims all over the place now. Tyson isn't to far behind him and next year I have no doubts he will be without floaties, Tyler, well...if he can swim on the step then forget it, so he has a long ways to go :) It was a short summer, but we did have some fun times in there!