Someone Needs You

Always remember this. 

Embrace Life

I would give anything to have been there to hold Bobby, to keep him safe that night. I know we all would. Wear your seat belts, think of your loved ones. Cherish the beautiful life you live.

Thinking of You

Missing you little one. There is so much I wish I could tell you and so many little things I wish we could talk about. I miss your sense of humor and getting your silly text messages... Being home for the holidays is going to be so weird without you. I love you Bobby. Thinking about you every day, always.  

Two Months Too Many

I can hardly believe two months have passed without you... 

we miss you buddy.  

(video quality seems best left minimized)

Amazing Love

The love shown for Bobby throughout Idaho and specifically the Treasure Valley, has been truly amazing. It immediately became obvious that he had impacted many lives and had created relationships with everyone he knew. On September 9th around 7 PM, a large group of students, friends, family members, and Mountain View staff gathered in the football field to comfort one another.

I had just gotten into town from Moscow after the longest five hour drive of my life. Once I heard that everyone was at the school, I headed straight there. I didn't hear anyone when I first got there, I wasn't sure where to go until I finally saw a big group of people on the football field. I ran to the field and a few seconds later I was in the middle of a group hug between my parents and Tiffany's mom. I finally found Luke after repeatedly searching through the crowd of teenagers. For a long time nothing was said, everyone just sat in silence... crying and unsure what to do.

There was a prayer circle with family members in the middle, surrounded by the students. Everyone held hands and Luke's friends were right beside him with hands on his shoulder. Losing Bobby and Tiffany has been very hard for Mountain View high school along with Centennial and a few others. They have come together and shown such tremendous love and support for our two angels. 

Bobby's candle lighting ceremony 

Bobby's Memorial Service-- during a song honoring he & Tiffany 

Thank you to Centennial High for this special tribute to Bobby 

The day we first saw the accident site was such an emotional experience. I sat between my brothers Luke and Matt as we drove to the foothills, higher and higher. They each held one of my hands as we continued driving. We joined Tiffany's family where we prayed together and tried to understand what had happened at that very spot. 

We released pink and blue balloons as we said our goodbyes. Where we stood was holy ground. Two very beautiful souls were taken to heaven from exactly where we were.

Tiffany's mom & our mom sharing their moment

After Tiffany's memorial service, we had a special moment honoring Bobby from home. Our family joined one another in our backyard under the stars where we released 16 floating lanterns. We had 16 years with Bobby that we will never forget. This will be a family tradition as the years go on, we will honor him, love him and always remember the wonderful person he was. 

Big sis loves you Bobby 

The week of Bobby's service had filled our house with flowers. I have never seen so many beautiful flowers in one place before. After they were admired and enjoyed by everyone at the funeral, we displayed them in the living room for a day or two until we were overtaken. We took them to Bobby's grave and gave him a blanket of flowers and love. We shared the many flowers with our Uncle Wayne who passed away last December. As the rest of the flowers began to fade, my family took them and laid them around the two crosses in the foothills. They were so beautiful, if only they lasted forever. 

This arrangement stood taller than me-- for my parents 

Bobby was so very loved, he always will be. 

Thank you for loving him and for being apart of his life. 

A Perfect Day

There are so many memories bouncing around my mind at all times, I'm constantly looking for moments with Bobby to hold onto. There's a specific day that stands out, a perfect day from this past summer.

It was late June in McCall, a handful of family members were spending a couple of weeks at the lake house to celebrate the 4th of July. I had finally gotten a day off and was very excited to have my family in town. We spent the day in the lake; laying around on tubes, enjoying the sun, and just hangin' out.

Our uncle loaded everyone into the boat and we headed to Shore Lodge until the sun went down. They have one of those huge water trampolines which was instantly calling our names. King of the trampoline began almost immediately. We took turns launching our little cousin off the 'blob' and pushed each other into the water... laughing uncontrollably the entire afternoon. On the side of the trampoline there is this long inflated arm type thing, it was plastic, flimsy and extremely slippery. We took turns seeing who could run and make it the furthest before falling off into the water. We laughed so hard that day, it was a blast. We were all exhausted so we hit the pool and played with my waterproof camera, trying to take pictures of each other underwater was way too entertaining.

That night we roasted marshmallows and stayed up late watching movies. It was the perfect summer day. I remember Bobby smiling, laughing, goofing off and having fun. I'm so thankful for that day, and for McCall where we had so many fun times with him. Our grandparents bought the lake house 16 years ago,when Bobby was just a baby. Every year since then, we have grown up spending lots of time together there.

I will always picture Bobby in McCall. If there was snow on the ground he was out back building jumps with Luke or flying down the driveway on a flimsy orange sled. If the lake wasn't frozen, he'd be in the water or persistently asking grandpa to take us tubing behind the boat. I can practically hear his laugh when I picture him trying to stay on the tiny green tube, or trying to jump onto Luke's tube without falling in.  Numerous times he'd be passed out in the t.v. room after a long night of channel surfing with the guys or hiding under the blankets when mom came around for the wake-up call. I'll think of him on the 4th of July, setting off an impressive display of illegal fireworks with Luke and Jake... one year they tossed the used fireworks into the fire pit-- and as we were all gathered around making s'mores, one of them came back to life and popped off right next to Bobby. It burnt off some of his leg hair and melted part of his basketball shorts. Boys will be boys.

McCall has always been a special part of my life, even more so now. I'm so thankful for all of the fun weekends and many memories made there. Bobby loved spending time in McCall, I'm so happy for the times I had with him this summer and throughout the past 16 years. If they go boating in heaven, that will be at the top of my list with Bobby.