Heather's funeral

Jana Hogenson's sister, Heather was killed in the bus crash in Idaho shortly before we had Irelynn's blessing. Mom got the message from Jana just shortly after it happened, while on her move back to Utah.

Because I'm not a great writer, I cut and paste different things from local articles. I did put where I got them so I'm not plagiarizing.

Heather Christensen, 33, was the only person killed Saturday night when the bus carrying the school's band members swerved off Interstate 15 and crashed just north of the Utah-Idaho border. Students who were on board the bus said the driver blacked out and Christensen jumped up and took the wheel, saving their lives.

Volunteer firefighter Gregg Mix of Inkom, Idaho, sent KSL News pictures, tracing the bus' path. In an e-mail, Mix wrote: "...the bus threaded the needle between the rock pile and the viaduct drop off..."

The bus went right between an outcropping of lava rock, and a 12-foot embankment--a cattle viaduct. According to Mix, hitting either at full speed would have meant greater disaster.

"It is a miracle that this bus took the only path possible to avoid a great tragedy," Mix wrote. (http://www.ksl.com/?sid=8275399&nid=148)

(Leah Hogsten / The Salt Lake Tribune)

The tribute seemed almost knightly -- swords replaced by trumpets, flutes and trombones that rose in royal fashion as the casket of American Fork High School woodwind instructor Heather Christensen was slowly marched to a waiting hearse.(http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13585767)

We sat in the family section at the funeral, which was huge, and following the casket out, we were immediately in the middle of the band playing their tribute to her. Everyone had to walk through the path the band lined to get out, which meant that no one was able to get out of the building without ending up in tears. I thought I'd been doing well at controlling the tears until Eric said the closing prayer, which was amazing and then walking through the beautiful music, it was truly amazing and they both made me cry.