Still in the middle of the storm

Just wanted to post an update for all of our loved ones, being that Nick and I have "fallen off the face of the earth" for the last week and a half.

Last Wednesday, August 19th, Nick flew commercially to Colorado for the purpose of coordinating the return flight of four Nightstalker helicopters and numerous pilots and crew members back to Fort Campbell. When he checked his phone on his layover in Dallas, he learned that one of his company's helicopters had crashed at Mount Massive in Leadville, Colorado, about 90 miles outside of Denver. As soon as he set foot in Colorado, he took off running. Nick, ran the command post on the mountain at the crash site, overseeing the investigation team as well as assisting the team recovering the remains of his four friends. There was also a team of his fellow Nightstalkers running a command center at the base of the mountain. This experience shook them all to the core, and they relied heavily on one another for support as they spent this time doing unimaginable tasks, and being away from their families. They were committed to making sure that their fallen brothers were never left alone and handled with the most care and respect.

On the home front, the 160th (the Special Operations Aviation Regiment that Nick is a member of) went into information lock-down. Fortunately, because I had briefly spoken with Nick after the time of the crash, I knew that he was safe. We were all panic-stricken here, as to who was on that flight--Nick's company is an incredibly tight-knit unit. On Thursday afternoon, the Family Readiness Group was asked to contact the spouses with the little information that we could share (the names had not yet been released as they were finishing the notification of kin process). Being that Nick is one of two Platoon Leaders in the company, I am responsible for calling the wives of all of the pilots in his Platoon. It was at this time that I learned that three of the men, CW4 Rob Johnson, Staff Sgt. Chad Tucker and Staff Sgt. Paul "PJ" Jackson were all a part of Nick's Platoon as these families were not to be called. It was the most heartbreaking moment I have ever experienced. Despite the fact that CW4 Terry Geer was in the other Platoon, Nick had spent countless hours working with and building a friendship with him...I learned of Terry's name when we completed our second call down on Friday night with the release of the names of the dead.

The work that Nick did on the mountain was tedious given the altitude, the terrain and weather conditions. It was a race against the clock to get his fallen soldiers off the mountain before the weather worsened...He tells me that he was humbled to experience the sheer willpower of the recovery crew who must hike up the mountain 1,500 vertical feet carrying heavy equipment to complete the mission, as it was impossible for the helicopters to land any closer to the crash site. Also among the heroes in this effort, was a group of youth who spend their summers living on the mountain and building hiking trails. They were the first responders to the crash, which they heard just minutes after watching the helicopter fly close enough for Chad (one of the crew chiefs) to wave to them. They called for help, administered CPR and held the hands of our fallen soldiers in their last minutes and for hours afterward until the emergency response teams were able to take over. It was a complete act of God that they happened to working at that point on the mountain, at that time, on that day. Because of them, our boys did not die alone.

Nick finished up his work on Mount Massive late Saturday night, and was on a plane homeward bound late Sunday afternoon. I met him at Randy and Carrie Gant's home, after they had finished a toast to their fallen brothers, only to give and receive the tightest hug we've ever shared. Since that point, everyone has been working feverishly to prepare to honor and celebrate the lives of these amazing husbands and fathers who, together, created the "dream team" of a helicopter crew.

Tuesday evening we joined CW4 Terry Geer's loving family and friends at a touching Memorial Service. What an amazing man he was...He and his wife, Gina's faith is truly inspirational and clearly the reason that Gina has remained so strong in coping with losing Terry.

Nick and I have collaborated with Randy and Carrie Gant to host the first response youth hiking team. They arrived early on Wednesday morning, and we honored them with a welcome brunch (and scrambled to gather dress clothes, as a number of them had been shopping at thrift stores looking for appropriate attire.) Andy Sacksteder (who arrived with his mommy, daddy and "Baby Sister" on Tuesday evening) provided comedic entertainment and gratitude kisses to our VIPs. :-) We escorted the first responders to the Memorial Service, where, for the first time, they were able to learn about the lives of the men that they cared for and comforted in their last moments. They also learned about the formality and sentimental symbolism that is a part of military ceremony. It was all so beautiful...At the gathering after the ceremony, everyone wanted to shake their hands--to include many of the high ranking military dignitaries that were in attendance. We capped off our marathon day with a social gathering at a local pub in town--it was exactly what everyone needed, to be able to relax and just spend time with one another remembering the good times.

After getting our first responder angels off to the airport yesterday, we finished up handing over the responsibility of our Operation Serve BBQ (we were committed to feeding 850 of our fellow church members to kick-off a huge community service project this coming Sunday) to our unbelievably supportive church group. We are so blessed to have such amazing friends looking out for us...

Last night we went to the airport for the CW4 Rob Johnson's return ceremony. We joined his widow, Sandie, and her family to honor Rob as he was taken from the plane to the hearse and transported by a long processional to the funeral home in Clarksville. It made everything seem so real...

Tonight we will honor Rob at his viewing and tomorrow we will celebrate his life at his funeral service. We leave tomorrow evening for Titusville, Florida for Chad's viewing and funeral ceremony and Nick will head to Pennsylvania later next week for PJ's viewing and funeral services. Needless to say, this has been an incredibly difficult week, particularly for the families, friends and and the Nightstalker family. Thank you all so much for your support and prayers for peace during this tragic storm that everyone is enduring

Fallen Nightstalkers

It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I write this. This week was one that you wish you could wake up from only to realize it was all a bad dream. On Wednesday, August 19, 2009 four Army Special Operations Aviation soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Leadville, Colorado while conducting mountain and environmental training.

The four soldiers, CW4 Terry Geer, CW4 Rob Johnson, Staff Sgt. Paul Jackson and Staff Sgt. Chad Tucker, had devoted many years to serving our country, their last several as Nightstalkers. They will all be sorely missed.

The close-knit Special Operations Aviation community join their families in grieving at this truly devastating time. Please help me pray for Terry, Rob, Paul, Chad, their loved ones, and the brotherhood of Nightstalkers they have left behind.

Fair Weather Girl

How on earth did the early settlers live without air conditioning?!? Our air conditioner gave out on us last night and I reached a new level of desperation to get it fixed today...Whatever dollar amount we were quoted, I was willing to pay in order to have some refuge from the 90+ degree humid heat that was looming outside our door. The thermostat read 86 degrees!! I found a spot on the furthest-most left corner of the couch that offered me the maximum wind exposure from the ceiling fan, but even that wasn't good enough. And I could tell that Emmy was miserable, too, she was kicking me like a mad woman. Nick, my Iraq war vet, was laughing when I told the service girl at One Hour Heating and Cooling that it was an emergency, but to me, it was no joke. Thankfully, it was a quick fix (and the service charge on Saturday was no different than any other day of the week) and now my house is nice and cool just as it should be this time of year. What a relief...

On a brighter note, Nick and I made our way down to Nashville this afternoon to join up with the Boslers and the Heads for a minor league baseball game. Not long after we arrived, and learned who was playing, I became rather conflicted. The Nashville Sounds vs. the Fresno, CA team...Who was I to root for? My present home team or my childhood home team (sort of)? I chose neither. Instead, I opted for some titillating girl talk with Amber and Lindsay for the duration of the game. :-D I do believe the Nashville Sounds were victorious by a fairly hefty margin (what, I'm not so sure...) The boys enjoyed some well-deserved guy time sitting back watching the game over some cold ones :-). I would say that our Saturday definitely ended better than it started :-).



Nick apparently gets some sick pleasure out of watching me sweat.


Darla also attempting to cool herself in our excessively hot house.


23 weeks pregnant. Please excuse the misty appearance...but I did want to share my "What's Kickin" tank that Kris gave me! :-D


Nick and I and our camera case--what a couple of nerds we've become.


Ryan, Amber and Lindsay (and Baby Dane--making his debut next month!)


Mike and Lindsay

Our humble abode

I never thought that I would develop a green thumb, but I guess the desire to "not have that house" on the street that everyone complains will decrease their property value has instilled a new interest in landscaping. Not to mention I'm obsessed with HGTV. I get such a thrill sitting on our back deck, with an icey pop in hand, admiring the view after having mowed, edged and weeded our yard. There is pretty much a 12 hour window where the yard looks it's best before the weeds start growing again...darn humidity! It works out to about one full day of yard work a week (it goes a little quicker when Nick is around--makes me appreciate his presence even more!) Oh the joys of home ownership! At least I get a break in the wintertime :-P...

Nick actually bought our home when he finished up flight school in 2004 and "bached" it up with roommates until I showed up. As you can imagine, my standards are slightly higher (did I say higher? I meant different :-P) from Nick and his buddies. Needless to say, I called in back-up (Mom and Kris) and we sterilized the house while Nick was deployed in 2005. Since then, we've invested copius amounts of blood, sweat and tears (Ali tears--Nick doesn't have any tear ducts) into making this house our home.

I figured that I would share some pictures of our home for those of you whom we haven't had the pleasure of hosting...That way you have some visual of our Horn family headquarters. :-)


Home Sweet Home (you can kinda see the awesome fence that my rock-star hubby built!


My mom arranged my beautiful planters on her last trip out! I've kept them alive so far!


Our family room (note: Don't be swayed by the beautifully flawless white couches in all of the Pottery Barn adds. In our home, with two very active, and sometimes muddy dogs--we keep ours covered most of the time :-P). Nick reminds me that he told me so regularly.


Our eat-in kitchen, the rest was too small to picture-our next home will for sure have a bigger kitchen!!


The "man" room quickly becoming the "family" room, much to Nick's chagrin.


Our room--also difficult to photograph given the size :-P


Your home away from home ;-D


Emmy's room--still a work in progress!




I have a new-found appreciation for miracle-gro that stuff is amazing!


One of our crab apple trees in the back- I was feeling artistic with our new camera ;-)

Summer Leave

Pretty much we have been going 100 mph for the last several months, so we were elated to get a breather this past week in Oregon and California with our families! Saturday, August 1st, Nick and I placed Molly and Darla in the care of a couple of neighbor girls, with an excessive stash of treats (we already struggle with parents' guilt) and and made our long trek to Sun River, Oregon. Three flights later, we were welcomed by the entire Horn clan at the Redmond airport! Upon arriving at our vacation home in Sun River, we met up with my wonderful parents who made the 8 hour drive to come hang out for a couple of days!

From that point on, we packed in the fun (and the food) with a group bike ride and playing at the pool (note: do not attempt to go down a water slide while dry-you will not slide easily and will hold up the line as you shuffle your way down, especially avoid this activity when your preggers because you look even more lame). We went tubing down the Deschutes River, golfed (well, the boys did) and had a spa day (that would be us girls), and scoped out Mount Bachelor. We had a very productive family meeting (Kris participated via telephone) to help Nick and I agree on a name for our daughter, we enjoyed a laugh-filled dinner with the Horn's family friend, Kara Magee, and, of course, cherished the serenity of our surroundings. Mom outdid herself preparing an Italian feast on Sunday night as well as some gourmet cookout cuisine on Monday before she and Dad had to get back home. Such a treat!

On Thursday, the remainder of us packed into the suburban and headed home. Nick and Grant got us home in record time with the sleepy direction of our navigator, Ben, but not without a stop off at Crater Lake, OR. It is so unbelieveably beautiful, not to mention positively frigid for being the beginning of August! Definitely a stop worth making should you ever be in that part of the country.

We rolled into the Horn's driveway and did our best to pack in the fun to the last two days of our trip. Friday was Nick's 29th Birthday!! Between deployments, military training, and sorority commitments, we realized this was the first birthday of his we've spent together in 9 years! What the heck?!?! To make up for lost time, we celebrated over lunch with our fellow Horns and then ran around savoring all of the shopping venues that we are deprived of in northern Tennessee...Nick and I enjoyed a delectable dinner at Postino's in Lafayette before meeting up with a few of our great friends at Blackhawk Plaza for a Journey cover-band concert over the pond. So fun!!! From there we made our way over to a random bar in San Ramon so that the boys could throw back some libations and Annie and I could chat, people watch, and avoid dancing with them (note: there is NOTHING sexy about a pregnant woman dancing). Friends don't let friends dance pregnant...Anyways, I digress...

Saturday, our last day, Nick and I took off in opposite directions...I got to spend some much-needed time hanging out with my Grandma Odell and Grandpa Hagg while Nick met up with his boys to play frisbee golf in Moraga and then tune in to some big UFC fight that apparently was a big deal (to some people).

We took off from San Francisco before daybreak on Sunday headed for home (by way of Chicago). We arrived home, lugagge-less, only to turn around and head out to a yummy Mexican Restaurant to meet up with our wonderful church group! They had banded together to shower three of us preggers with adorable baby gifts! What a fantastic group of friends we have...and what a wonderful way to cap off our "summer leave".

P.S. While we were in Oregon, Nick and I took full advantage of the lack of sales tax and purchased an obnoxious "parent camera"...It's way cool. Anyways, that explains the absence of photo documentation for most of the trip :-P.













Ben awake :-)













Grant trying to stay warm













Two Nick Horns and me!














Windblown lakeside














The majestic view


















22 weeks down 18 to go!



The Bruthus at Nick's Birthday Lunch

She will be called Emily Elizabeth!

Thanks so much for caring enough to stop by our blog! I have fought the family blogging trend for some time now, but seeing as how our family is on the verge of expanding, I figured that there might be a little too much pressure placed on our annual Christmas letter :-P. Here's a quick update on what has been going on in our home:

Nick is currently stateside, thankfully, after two deployments in the first five months of this year...We took full advantage of the all-to-brief window of time between deployments to create our very own little peanut, which, as you hopefully picked up by this blog post title, will be called Emily Elizabeth! :-P Nick has been home for the last two months and has been working like a dog keeping up with his platoon leader position in his special operations aviation regiment and completing lots of pilot training. To be honest, there isn't much I can share about Nick's work on our blog--I'd hate to be responsible for compromising our national security if any bad guys were to read this :-P. Not that Nick tells me anything cool about what he does, he knows all too well my affinity for sharing hot gossip. :-D As of December, Nick will be leaving his current position for a 15 month stint in the 101st Airborne Division as a commander of an aviation company. The good news is that he will still be stationed here at Fort Campbell, however, the unfortunate news is that he will have to deploy overseas for another year come next spring.

I am presently working as an RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Well Baby Nursery at Gateway Medical Center. Up until recently I had been working about two nights (ugg!) a week but will soon (as of AUGUST 26th YAHOOO!!!!) be a stay at home mommy! I can't wait to spend some quality time with my hubby and catch up on some sleep for a couple of months before our little Miss Emily arrives :-D.

Molly and Darla, our first-born, four-legged babies, are totally and completely oblivious that their status in our family is in jeopardy. I have to remind Molly that my ever-growing belly is not a trampoline. Darla, our kind-hearted puppy, will appreciate a new sleeping buddy, but Molly, the self-proclaimed alpha, well, it remains to be seen... :-P

Life's about to get a whole lot crazier than it's been...So stay tuned...:-D