Sgt. Daniel Gurr USMC

I am so behind on my posts but while I was home this past weekend, my mother informed me that she never gets to see my work because I always put it on Fb and I'm not the best at keeping up my blog and she doesn't have a FB account.  So I am going to TRY and be better for those who don't have FB ;)  

This past weekend I was able to drive to Vernal and be able to be apart of the most amazing, humbling and uniting experience that I have been apart of.  Sgt. Daniel Gurr was killed in Afghanistan while fighting for our freedom.  When I heard of this event, my immediate thoughts went to a 4 year old boy who had glasses and a smile that would melt your heart.  I babysat him and his siblings for years.  I personally think I got in more trouble as their babysitter then I did good.  We were always out digging in the back yard for treasure, I had bubbles everywhere but the most memorable is when we decided to do gymnastics in the front room and well...that huge chandelier just happened to get in my way of me doing a kart well which resulted in shattered glass everywhere....;)  Yes, I am telling all of my bad babysitting stories on here but honestly, that is what I thought of.  For some reason I remembered the shock look on his face when that happened and then his little boy laugh came out and we all kind of chuckled, I think it was more of a nervous chuckle as we all started to pick up all the glass (I mean, I picked it all up...;)).  But at night the kids would snuggle up with me as we watched TV.  Daniel was the one that snuggled me the most.  I seriously loved that kid. He was the kind that grabbed your heart and you wanted it to stay that way. 

It has been a little over 15 years since I had seen Daniel and what an amazing man he turned out to be.  I have read the articles, seen the pictures and my heart was full of gratitude for this young boy who had such a love for our country and knew what he wanted to do.  I wanted to be able to give something back and so I contacted the family and asked if I could shoot some of the events for them as a thank you for what he did.  I was amazed at the love that my small town of Vernal gave to the Gurr family.  My heart swelled with pride for such an amazing town that was so supportive and I was so grateful to be apart of it all.  

Unfortunately I wasn't able to be in all the places at once, and I didn't want to get in the way too much so I tried to stay back and capture what I could.  Thank you to the Gurr family for letting me share these and be apart of such an amazing experience.  As I was at the different events, I kept seeing flower arrangements or ornaments that would say, Grandson, Son. Brother and it had such a huge impact on me of not only did we lose a solider that day, but the Gurr family and the town of Vernal lost so much more.  Thank you Sgt. Daniel Gurr for the sacrifice that you gave to me and to all of us so that we are able to live our dreams while you gave your life living yours.  Rest in peace....