Fourteen Years

It’s amazing how time flies. One minute you graduated high school the next you’re almost done with college. And some things seem like a life time ago…

It’s also amazing how everyone reacts differently to the surprise loss of a loved one. Some cling to their memory, some never seem to move on, others push it to the side to forget the pain. 

 

Fourteen years.

It was fourteen years today (September 10) that Troy lost is mother. She and Troy were out looking at property. Next thing they knew they were sharing the same space as a pickup truck. 

She died on impact. 

My favorite picture of Kelli

 

Troy was airlifted to a hospital, and for a minute there was a question if he was going to join his mother. But he pulled through. Few know the full story of what Troy went through to be where he is today. 

Troy loving his horse

Kelli was loved by many. She was a passionate and determined woman. She had a great love for animals, she showed dogs and horses. These are things she instilled in Troy.

This is where our Kelli gets her name. I wanted to wait till she was born to name her, but part of me knew it was going to be Kelli. Sure enough, as soon as I held her, I told Troy.

“Her name is Kelli.”

It’s amazing how our little Kelli has developed some of these same loves and characteristics as her grandmother so early in life. She walks up to every dog she sees and has to tell them hi and pet them. She walks around horses like she’s the boss, despite the fact that these animals could step on her without even realizing it. We've gotten many comments on how they look very much alike.

"It's an animal. It. Must. Be. Touched"

Kelli is pretty determined. Despite having a small vocabulary, she gets her wants across loud and clear. She pushes, shoves, and screams, till she gets what she wants. Despite this she can (when she feels so inclined) be very caring. She’s very aware when people are sad or upset. 

No doubt the two Kelli’s have spent these past 14 years getting to know each other. They probably sat up there with their bowls of popcorn watching Troy and I. Laughing as we stumble to prepare for each other. 

Before we left for Montana I promised myself I wasn’t going to bring her up. I didn’t want to open up any wounds that had finally started to heal. But here and there she would come up, and I’d get to know a new part of her. And I’d ask a few questions, then leave it. 

I never met her, but I feel like I know her. I’ve heard so many stories, seen so many pictures. And over the next fourteen years I hope I get to know her a little bit better.

The Bouleys Meet the Wild West!

This last week the Bouleys took a trip to Butte, Montana! It was an adventure to say the least. I was finally going to get to know some in- laws. We stayed with Eric and his wife Stacy (I had met them previously, but never got to really know them) and their 2 year old Evan. Grandma Bobbi and her husband Miles were coming to meet us. I was excited to get to know them. But I was also nervous! What if they didn’t like me? What if I said the wrong thing?  Kelli and Evan had a ball playing together. Evan was so excited to have someone his age to play with and Kelli was thrilled to have someone who was interested in playing with her. 

Eric, Stacy, and Evan

Love

I’ll brake it up day by day so you can follow.

Tuesday- We headed to Regan airport. Our first flight took us to Denver, CO where we would connect to the Bozeman, MT airport. We got on our booked flight (this means Kelli was on our lap) and things were moving along well. Until we were stuck on the tarmac for 2hours due to storms in Denver. Because we were in “an active taxi” the seatbelt sign was on. Meaning Kelli was supposed to be sitting in our lap this entire time. Those of you with toddlers can imagine our thrill (sarcasm). The flight got rerouted to take a longer route. It was 4 hours in the air, remember we are still on a packed flight. We finally made it to Denver and were rebooked on a later flight to Bozeman. Luckily this flight was shorter (hour and a half) and less booked. Kelli and I sat in the front and the stewardess enjoyed playing with her when she could. There was also a service dog on this flight, for those of you who don’t know, Kelli has a dog obsession. The guy was kind enough to let Kelli play with the dog during the flight, she was in heaven. We finally made it to Bozeman at 2am (4am East coast time). Kelli had been up for 12hours. Luckily we had a hotel reservation so we didn’t have to make the hour and half drive to Butte. But the hotel didn’t have a shuttle, $40 later (for 8 miles, they charge per person and per mile). We made it to the hotel, and they had a pack n play. We slept and had breakfast in the room, Kelli got to eat on the bed in front of the TV. Talk about a dream come true. Eric came and got us and we made the trip to Butte. We just took it easy the rest of the day.

On the flight I got a Diet Coke from Mexico!

Breakfast in bed!

Wednesday- A lazy day. I got to read!

Thursday- I finally got to meet Grandma Bobbi (Troy’s mom’s mom) and her husband Miles. It was Troy’s birthday, we had cake and Eric made pizza! It was better than any store bought pizza. We went to the pool in Bobbi’s and Mile’s hotel. Kelli of course jumped in, Evan was hesitant. He hasn’t gone to the pool as often, Kelli showed him how it’s done. He eventually jumped into Troy’s arms!

Happy Family

Friday- Another lazy day. These days we took the kids outside to run around and explored. 

Saturday- Philipsburg was having a fair kind of thing. We drove there to check it out. We walked around and looked at some stores and listened to the live band. Kelli had a ball showing Evan how to dance. Then we went to Rock Creek. It was beautiful. Eric got to go fly fishing (a passion of his), Evan got to show Kelli how to have fun at the river. They threw rocks and went exploring. I got to roast my own hot dog for dinner! I’ve never done that before, yes I’m 24 and have never roasted my own hot dog over a camp fire.

Fair Food!

Rock Creek River

All ready to go fly fishing

Stacy has mad skills. Walked up the ledge without spilling her beer.

Checking out all the rocks.

Roasting my hot dog!

Sunday- We went back to Philipsburg so we could go to The World’s Greatest Candy Store. They had all kinds of candy and handmade chocolates. I was in heaven!

Monday- We went up in some of the mountains. We looked around and took some family photos. It was beautiful. Later that night Eric took me for a ride on his motorcycle! All I know is it was a Harley, other than that I’m clueless what it was.  I had only ridden a motorcycle once previously, it was so much fun and so pretty since we went during the sunset. 

Proud Grandparents

Tuesday- Time to go home. We got to Bozeman airport, the plane was on time, we got on the plane. Things seemed to being going great. Then the captain got on the speaker. Due to storms in Chicago (where our connecting flight was) the flight was delayed 2 hours. This captain was kind enough to let us off the plane. I spent an hour on the phone with United about rebooking. I got some idiot who for a 20minutes was saying she was confirming our new flight that was going to get us home the following day. The flight was reboarding and I was still on the phone. I hung up on her planning on taking the flight the next day. I asked the front desk lady if there was anything they could do about my baggage. I described our baggage (luckily mine is pretty distinct) to an agent he ran out there put a new tag on it so I could pick it up in Chicago. I got on the plane (the plane was waiting for lil old me). I was so grateful. We got to Chicago and went to the customer service about getting rebooked. The line was about 3-4 hours long. We decided rather than waiting we would just get our baggage. We got our baggage and went to the Premier (we felt like premier quality that day) check in desk. She got us on another flight to Dulles airport (closer to our house) that night. The crew was late getting to the plane so it was delayed 45 minutes, but this time Kelli had her own seat. She fell asleep on this flight! We got in at 1am, my mom picked us up and we just went to bed. 

It was a great trip. I got to learn and experience new things. Some of these things just can’t be done where we live.  I got to escape the constant hussle and bussle and just take it easy. I only watched 2 movies, left my phone alone during the day, and spent quality time with my family. But now I’m back to reality. Doctor’s appointments, work, classes starting, and that dreaded cleaning. I can’t wait to go back!!