Are We Safe?

While I was at work today I got a call from one of my friends asking me if I was okay? Yes, I am great, why? whats up? She told me that there was a shooting at our apartment complex, and that it was in lock down. And that she could hear gun shots going off. I guess that some guy was out on his balcony shooting at random people. (holy crap!) The police arrived and he started shooting at them. The police shot and killed him. I can't believe it! Not to mention the building is RIGHT NEXT TO US! oh my word! I am stunned! I never thought something like this would ever happen. We love living here (but hate the price of rent)! I guess you never know what can happen. I am so grateful that Joe and I were at work. I pulled this off of KSL. Here is what went down:

MILLCREEK -- A heavily armed man opened fire at an apartment complex Friday afternoon, sending people running for cover before he was shot and killed by police.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's deputies said the man stepped out of his apartment on the third floor and fired a shotgun blast at a maintenance man at the Cottonwood Apartments, located near 1000 East and 4700 South. Others heard the gunfire.

"There was four before police got here," said Layne Hirst, who lives nearby. "There was more after that and I just lost count."

Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder told KSL NewsRadio that deputies responded quickly to the scene to confront the man, whom he described as "heavily armed." Members of the metro SWAT team responded and a negotiator tried to talk to the man.

"He was very specific that this was going to end badly, and that if he had the opportunity he was going to kill people," Winder said.

When the man emerged on his third-floor balcony, he turned what looked like a rifle on them. A SWAT team member shot and killed him. Investigators said another deputy may have also taken a shot, although it is unclear how many officers actually fired upon the man.

Paramedics pronounced the man dead on scene.

The entire thing lasted nearly a half-hour, authorities said. Residents in this apartment complex were evacuated. Some hid inside their homes.

"We just went into the bathroom to hide in the bathtub," said 8-year-old Josh Parker, who was staying at his grandmother's.

"Nobody knew what was going on. I didn't know what was going on until I was looking around and I finally saw somebody come out, and I was like, 'There's definitely something going on here.' It was loud too. I mean, definitely a high-powered gun," Hirst said.

Alex Fullmer's mother told him that he had taken a shot at her. She was too shaken up to speak about it directly. "The guy was out on his balcony shooting," he said, repeating what she was telling him over the phone to a KSL NewsRadio reporter.

"We estimate that during the course of this response, the individual fired a minimum of eight to 12 rounds. We're still in the process of counting them," Winder said.

The man didn't have any hostages. Authorities say he told deputies he wanted to kill people.

Investigators have now cordoned off the crime scene and are collecting evidence. They are letting some residents back in, but we're told it could be a couple of hours before residents who live in the particular area of the complex where this happened are let back in.

Police were releasing few details about the gunman, describing him as a 64-year-old man who was going through divorce. Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Don Hutson said he had only lived in the apartment complex for about a month-and-a-half.

White Water Rafting.

Joe and I went up to Jackson to ride the snake river with my work. Boy, did it take us by surprise! I did not have the best feeling about going, but, thought that I was being lame. We left on Friday evening and got hit with a lovely speeding ticket. 78mph in a 65, out in the middle of no where too. We did arrived safely for the evening.
We started the first run at about 10:00am on Saturday with a crew of three boats. The water was freezing! It went really well. We had a great time once we got used to the cold water. The water was high, and some of the rapids (Big Kahuna) weren't hardly present but, some were huge. We headed down for the second run. The rangers were being really strict and checking every ones permits. Ours had thirty and when they counted all of us we had 32 people! They told us that two people had to get out. I have run the river a lot so, I volunteered to stay back because there were people that hadn't. When I volunteered I was a little mad at myself and could not believe that I was telling them I would stay (terrible, I know). One of our Doc's little boys did not want to go down so I stayed with him. Joe also said he would stay. I said "No just go its fine." ( I really wish he would have stayed with me). I talked with the guides and told them that Jack (the little boy) and I would go to the observation spot at lunch counter (one of the big rapids) to watch them, and then meet them at the bottom of the river. I was driving one of the rep's cars and realized that I didn't have my glasses. I can't hardly see without my glasses, literally. I did not want to wreck the SUV, plus hurt Jack or myself. I said a quick prayer that I would be guided and know where to go. Remarkably, as I started to drive I was able to see everything perfect!, better than with my glasses. I got a little teary eyed and I knew that the Lord was watching out for me and that he heard my prayers (I don't mean to be sappy but, it was neat). We got to lunch counter and waited for what seemed like forever. And we never saw our boats come down. I thought to myself either we missed them, or something went wrong. I had that sick feeling in my stomach that the latter was true and told Jack that we better head down to the end to meet everyone. As Jack and I were waiting for our group to come. Some stranger came over to me and said something to me that gave me chills through my spine. He said "miss, I saw you get out of your group's boat... we saved your family. The boat that you were on flipped in the rapids! It was the one with all the kids. I want you to know that we helped them and I think everyone got out safely." I sat there stunned. Trying to take everything in that I was just told. I immediately started to cry! I said that was my husbands boat. Jack also said that was his Dad's boat. We asked if he knew if everyone was alright. He said as far as he knew. A few minutes later we saw our boats pull up. I ran over to Joe and gave him a huge hug and to find out what had happened. Some of the group was a little shook up. I didn't realize what they had just experienced even though it must had been rough if they needed other boats to help them out. I made Joe tell me everything that happened. I first want to say that everyone on our boat made it out safely. There were so many commercial boats that were around to help. We know that there must have also been guardian angles there. What happened to Joe and Terrilyn is awful. I hate that they had to go through it. They were floating down having a good time as Team Easy (JR, Jack's dad and the boat captain or guide, wears "Team Easy" gear so that's what we call ourself). They were hitting the rapids sideways in order to splash water in the boat, aww good times! Well, they came across a rapid that you never want to hit side ways. The original name of the rapid is 3 ore deal (the first to run it broke 3 ores getting out of it). Some also call it "The Taco." Anyways, come to find out it is one of, if not the most, dangerous spot on the river. It doesn't look like much as you approach it, the wave is about 4 1/2 feet high. However, it is a hydraulic. What that means is that instead of being a rolling wave the water sucks you back into it. The water falls steeply over a boulder with enough force downward that the water on the surface of the river just past the rapid flows backwards into the rapid creating a recycling of water (a motion like a washing machine). If you can't tell yet it is something that you don't want to get caught in. If you hit it head on and paddle hard you can usually power through them, no big deal. However, these knuckle heads weren't paying close attention and didn't realize that's what they were headed into (because it didn't look very big). When they hit the rapid the back current held them in place and the hydraulic began sucking them in. The boat stood up on its side immediately dumping some of the passengers. JR told them many times (before going down the river) to jump onto the high side of the boat, if it ever stood up, to keep it from flipping. JR, Jen, and Joe were the only one that remembered to do this as more and more people fell out of the boat it became light enough that the river flipped it backwards and it slammed onto the rapid upside down. The down current of the rapid pushed the boat back over right side up and Jen, we don't know how, stayed in it the whole time. JR was able to hang on to the boat and the boat pop out of the rapid. That meant the down current nabbed Joe by his life jacket and suck him in. Jr and Jen watched in horror as little kids were sucked in and popped up and were screaming and could her the mothers screaming for their children. Other boats quickly came over to rescue distraught victims and help gather paddles. Meanwhile Joe, and he found out a little later, Terrylynn (we call her "T") were caught in the nasty spin cycle, just going round and round but never making it to the surface. T swam side ways and eventually made it far enough to the side that she was able to get out of the recycling current. Not realizing what he was in Joe kept trying to swim to the surface for air. Bad idea. The top current kept pushing him back to the down current never letting him reach the surface. He said as he was down there it wasn't really scary. He said he was able to remain calm and just tried to remember everything he was taught about what to do when falling into the rapids. After some time he realized that he couldn't hold his breath any longer. He said he became really weak and started to suck in water. The current forced him down again and he couldn't fight it anymore. He actually thought that this could be it for him, he said it was actually kind of peaceful, the water was very bubbly and soft. This turned out to be the trick to getting out. If you sink deep enough into the river the under current has more time to push you further down the river so when you come back up you're past the back current and you can reach the surface. When he finally bobbed to the surface he was still conscious be realized that he couldn't breath. Luckily for him he finds this sort of thing fascinating so he doesn't panic; he also is trained in the military not to panic in stressful situations. So, he realized that he had taken in water. So he rolled onto his stomach and began to try to cough and force the water out. He said it took him about 10 seconds to get the water out to where he could take in a breath. He was then able to swim to the side. All he could hear was one of the mothers screaming for her daughter. He thought that she was still stuck in that mess so he headed back up the river to see if he could find her. He kept seeing shoes pop up giving him that sick feeling that someone was attached. He thought that with the amount of time that had passed they would for sure have to resuscitate her when she popped out. Finally someone yelled that they had her and that she didn't get stuck in the rapid. Apparently if your light enough the rapid spits you out real easy. So, Joe started to head down the river. Jeff (one of the other boat guides) signaled to him that someone was still up there. He turned around and saw someone standing on the side of the river not moving. It was T. She was too traumatized to move. She was so disoriented that she couldn't even tell which way the river was flowing. Joe got back out of the river and hike along the side of the river a few hundred yards to help her. When he got to her she seemed to be in shock. She wouldn't even answer him until he got right in front of her. When she realized it was him she began to cry. She thought that she was going to die. They began to hike down the river. A boat full of nurses from the McKay Dee Hospital O.R. pulled over and offered them a ride. Their river guide told Joe about the history of that rapid and told him that if you fall into one of those rapids (a hydraulic) you should curl into the fetal position and it will push you sink faster into that bottom current that pushes you out of the rapid (a lesson for anyone who reads this). Thanks to the quick help from the other boats on the river they were able to gather everyone safely. They only broke one ore, and lost two more. So again this rapid was a three ore deal. Anyone that knows Joe, knows that he is the toughest strongest person. I can't even imagine how awful this was for him. I hate that he had to go through that. I can't even stand to think what I would do with out him. Joe still floated down the rest of the river. He did admit that the river seemed a little more intimidating after that experience. He said that he will defiantly go back with the crew next year to do it again. He's not afraid because now he knows how to handle a hydraulic; I don't know how he was able to do that. I am sure that angels were there helping him through it.
We got back to camp as it started to thunder and lightning and pour rain. We found a ranger there to give us a big fat fine, $175.00, for leaving a cooler out. Stupid ranger. I understand we should not have done that. But, come on that is a lot of money. Luckily we all split it. We all decided to head home. Nobody really wanted to stay because of the nasty weather. That was kind of a bummer because we love hanging out with those guys and we were looking forward to spending the evening with them. Joe got a sinus infection, probably from the river, and was dripping bright orange fluid from his nose. He also injured his shoulder again trying to swim out of the rapid. He may have to have surgery on it. We are praying that physical therapy will help. Since everyone made it through the weekend are actually grateful that we experienced this. We know that the Lord was with us every step. I am so glad my Joe Joe is okay. And that everyone was okay too. We wanted to use this blog as a journal so our kids will know all about what we experience in life.

Frost Bite

Joe got frost bite on his ear. It was so swollen on the top and purple

Notice how far his right ear is sticking out?

Heeeey yooooou guuuuys! I told joe his ear reminded me of Slaugh from the movie Goonies.
You are probably wondering how on earth you get frost bite on your ear in the summertime. Well, Joe works for a Plasma service center and is trained in all of the areas. His boss has Joe do all sorts of things. Joe mostly volunteers to do these things. When people donate the plasma is goes through quite a process of screening. (Which is good.) When they get results back that some people have diseases or other problems it has to be destroyed. The plasma is stored in a huge refrigerator that is -42 degrees. Joe had to go in a pull some of the plasma bottles so they could be destroyed. You are supposed to put on this huge outfit to prevent this. Well, Joey thought he would be in an out, and did not put the gear on. He got the plasma out and started to organize somethings and after a few minutes (seven minutes to be exact) He felt a sharp pain in his right ear, and hurried and left. Throughout the day he said that it turned dark purple and that it burned all day. Joe came home and I was looking at him and asked him what is wrong with your ear? He told me his story and I about died. His ear was so much worse than it looks in the pictures. I hope that he did not do any permanent damage. Is is very sore and still swollen. Hopefully next time Joe will be a little smarter and put the Eskimo gear on.

Way to go T-Bug

The Whole gang.
Is she not adorable?
Cute Tia and her best friend Joe.
Joe, Tia and Tai.
Brandon, Tia and Bridget.
Mom, Tia and Dad.
Tia and her brothers.

Our cute little niece Tia got baptized on Saturday! It blows my mind that she is already eight. We sure are glad we have a few girls in our family. As you can see she has all brothers too. She loves to dance, do gymnastics. She also loves sports. And loves to be included in everything that the big boys are doing. She is the sweetest girl. We are so proud of you "T" way to go.

Nashville, Tennessee!

Everywhere we went in Nashville they had something hung with Joe's name on it.

Jennifer and Rubie.
Joe, Eric and I in front of a Nashville City sign.
Jessica and Joe and the Ole Opry.
Love this little girl.
These stained glass windows were from the great Johnny Cash!
Jared at the Ole Opry
Joe, Joe in front of the Grand ole Opry.


Joe and I trying to make it big.
Chantel and Jared.
Again, another sign.


We stopped by these cool little cabins. Jared, Joe and Eric climbed all through them.

Rick and Jessica.
Joe and Minnie me (Eric) these two are inseparable.
Aww, Joe and I.


This was so neat. Joe and I in front of the Carnton Plantation home.
Emmanuel (our brother in law- Jessica's husband) Joe and I at the Carnton Plantation.
Carnton Plantation.
Graveyard from the Civil war.

Jeppson Men!

Jeannette and Rick.
Cute little Koen our newest nephew.
Joe and I. Me and Humidity hate each other.
Jessica and Eman.



Brotherly Love.
The Newlyweds.

Jeppsons', and Coleman's
Does this picture not melt your heart. I want a little girl so bad.
Rubie loves her thumb.
Jessica and Jennifer.
Jessica. Jeannette and Jen.
The happy couple.
We were able to go to Nashville, Tennessee this past week for Joe's brother Ben's wedding. We had a wonderful time. Tennessee is such a beautiful state. It is so green and the trees are huge, and everywhere. We were able to go to some tourist sites. We went to Nashville the first day and toured the Original Opry house. It was such a cool place. They had stained glass windows that Johnny Cash paid to have put in. He did that to apologize for his bad behavior which got him band from returning to play there. The next day we went to the Carnton Plantation. This is where a battle of the Civil War was fought. The family that lived in the plantation home allowed it to be turned into a temporary field hospital for the wounded soldiers. The wood floors are still stained with blood from the surgeries performed by the doctors. Our last night was the beautiful wedding for Ben and Cassie. The wedding was done at a beautiful ranch house. We are so excited to have Cassie and Koen in our family. It was a great time. However, I am not a fan of the humidity!

We had quite the adventure at the Nashville Airport. I was ready to start screaming at some people. We arrived at the airport with adequate time, normally. But the ticket man couldn't figure out how to get us all our tickets. I still don't know what the problem was. We were at the ticket counter for 45 min to an hour. When we finally got our tickets sorted out we were running late and still had to get through security. Conveniently the airport security thought that Joe's sister Jennifer and her sleeping two year old looked like a threat. So they took little Eric from her to body search him and her separately. I can only imagine being two years old and being woken up by strangers ripping you from your mother's arms and taking you to a separate area to check your diaper and whatever and wave sticks at you. Needless to say, he freaked out. Then Jennifer was upset to see them do that to her child. I thought Joe's dad was going to break through security and pound those idiots. He kept yelling at them, "that's child abuse, cut it out." Jared and Chantel were able to run ahead and tell the flight that we were coming so they waited for us. We barely made it to our flight! (It still departed on time though.) We did get home safely. But, we had no Luggage. It never got onto our flight. The same ticket man put the wrong tags on all our bags so the airport had no idea where our bags were until this morning. Nice huh? They delivered them to each one of our homes this afternoon. Good times!