a day of reflection

The Gunter Family

Amanda, Ansley and Levin

at 2:02 pm on September 18, 2009 I receive a text from Hillary saying:

 Amanda Gunter had been in a car accident and passed away...  

silence. 

tears. 

more tears. 

I text back.  

What?

She is so perfect, she is so sweet, so pure, known for her beautiful smile and amazing kindness and personality.  They are a  wonderful family, full of life and love and happiness.

I decided to call my mom, I needed to talk and cry to someone.  She needed to know so she could call Thelma. 

(Thelma is Levin's mom.  My mom and Thelma roomed together at BYU and have been best friends ever since.  Our families have gone on vacations together growing up.)

I tell her what happened and so she called Thelma to talk with her and see how she was doing.

My mom calls me back and tells me the story:

Levin, Amanda and Ansley had made a surprise visit to see Levin's parents in Greenville, South Carolina.  They had been currently staying with Amanda's parents in Charleston, South Carolina.  Thursday night they headed back to Charleston and for what ever reason Levin had drifted off the road and when he had swerved back onto the road he ended up in the other lane and was T-boned by the on coming vehicle.  Amanda passed away, Levin is in critical condition in the hospital.  He is in and out of consciousness and sweet little Ansley walked away with what looked like a rug burn on her forehead.

Thelma said that one of the times when Levin was conscious and understood what had happened, he made the comment that he didn't think he would be able to love any one again as much as he loved her.  She was just so easy to love.

Those of you who knew Amanda would know that is true, she was so easy to love.  Always happy, always had a smile on her face, so nice and kind to EVERYONE.

Something that came to my mind was a quote one of my best friends Tamara had on her wall at college, (Tamara I need to get the direct quote from you) but it talked about how some people leave this life early because they are so pure and so innocent.

Thoughts that have ran through my head today amongst all the tears and prayers for their family.  

This life is precious.  We wanted so badly to come to earth and to have a body and we are experiencing that right now, but it won't last forever.  Not one of us knows when it will be our time to leave and move on to a better place, leaving behind loves ones, knowing we will be united again, but not knowing exactly when.

a quote that Aaron put on facebook today,

 "The happiness of death is hidden from us so that we may better enjoy life."

This is so true.  I know Amanda is happy, she will be moving on and progressing.  We are the ones left behind that get to struggle and make the best of this life.

She did a amazing job here on earth and set a great example of how it is supposed to be done.  

ENJOY IT! 

LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!

Remember how important family is.  We never really understand the importance of spending quality time with a loved one until they are gone.

Take more pictures, capture more moments.

Hug your husband, wife and children, tell them you love them.  Contact that friend you have wanted to talk to for months or years.

LOVE.

BE FULL OF LOVE.

JUST LIKE AMANDA IS.

Please keep the Gunter family in your prayers.  

I LOVE YOU AMANDA

YOU WILL BE MISSED!!!!!

My Man

My husband once told me all he wants is for me to be happy.

When I am happy, he is happy.

I wish this would just sink into my brain and I would realize, IT IS TRUE!

No wonder he feels like such a failure when I tell him things he could do differently.  

Translation for him, she is not happy, I am a failure.

HE IS AN SUCH AN AMAZING GUY.

He knows how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE lobster.

So the night before I left to go to Kauai he went night diving and brought me home two lobster.

I woke up to him feeding me the most wonderful tasting food to mankind,

LOBSTER.

He has been so good about helping me out around the house and keeping it clean, since he knows how stressed I get when it is dirty.

I woke up to him cleaning the kitchen and vacuuming the other day since he knew I had been up with Krew all night and was so tired.

He helps me with the laundry and dishes and sadly enough I am not the best at having dinner ready for him every night, so there are many nights where he cooks dinner as well.

He knew my new years resolution was to work out again, so he made it possible for me to go to the gym on a regular basis and I have been LOVING IT!!!

He loves spending time with the kids and they get so excited when daddy is home.

He has been so helpful with all of my eye appointments lately he has worked it out so he could take Krew since that little man does NOT know how to sit still.

He always knows how to put a smile on my face.

He has the biggest heart

and I am so lucky to have him as my husband.

I love you and Thank you for being you.

Kauai Day 1

We left for Kauai on Friday morning, September 4th at 5:00 am to catch our 7:00 am flight.

The flight from Oahu to Kauai is like 30 min.  it is crazy how short it is.  By the time you are up and situated it is time to land.  LOVE IT!!  I wish flying was ALWAYS that easy:)

Kaua'i welcomed us.

After getting our rental car we headed out to explore this new beautiful island.  

We headed North to go as far as we could.

First stop was the Light house.  BEAUTIFUL!

We absolutely LOVED the tunnel of trees.

Hanalei was such a fun little town.  

We stopped at Princeville shopping center to eat some breakfast.

We went over several one lane bridges. 

And made it to the Northern point of Kauai, Ke'e Beach where you can drive no further.  

This is the start of the Na Pali hike trail.

We saw a couple caves on the way and wanted to stop and check them out!

There are so many chickens and roosters running all over Kauai, we thought Oahu is bad.  

They have a joke where they ask each person to take two home with them.

more to come for day 1.  tomorrow.

skateboarding

Little Krew man FINALLY will wear shoes, and now he gets mad at me when I try to take them off.

A few things Krew is saying right now that I love:

"hold you."  (when he wants me to hold him:)

It makes me laugh, he gets this because when he reaches for me I say, do you want me to "hold you" :)  So I now say, Krew say hold me and he says it correctly after I remind him.

"two, two, two, jump" (translation -1,2,3, jump, when I have him jump to me)

Aaron just told me the other night while he was putting him to bed he said, "football" so Aaron got him his football to sleep with and he started smiling.  A proud day for Aaron I am sure, he already has plans of making Krew an NFL player.

Kali wanted to take her board out for a ride.

I like this pic because it reminds me of me and Kali,

a tomboy and at the same time girlie :)

I love that my childrens favorite destination for walks is the temple.

and the visitors center

poor little Krew if you look at his pinkie finger, he smashed it in the front door hing side and the finger nail just fell off.  so sad.

while I was taking this picture with Kali

Krew was doing this.

this is what it is supposed to look like undisturbed.

the poor flower didn't stand a chance, Krew got to it.

Kali trying her tricks on the way home.

Aaron Jones Photography

Aaron took a photography class at the school and here is some of his work.

The teacher was surprised when Aaron told him his major was NOT art.

Aaron is a natural artist.  He can draw, paint, he loves designing, he had considered graphic design for a while.  He is a creator.

Good Job Aaron, you are amazing and Thank You for taking the class.

Maybe we can become Jones Photography :)