My favorite memories of Em are from our annual Lake Powell trips and the Oakley cabin. Watching the six (Emily, Eliza, Sarah, Katie, Julianne and Ellie) pick right up as if they'd never been apart was magical. Instant best friends all over again. Late-night skinny dipping, hours of poker and scum, dance parties on the top of the houseboat, cabin sledding by the light of the moon...it was all so joyful. As they slowly allowed the boys into their circle, Emily was always at the heart. She'd spar with Andrew, joke with Thomas, have deep, late-night philosophical discussions with all the parents. She was intelligent, honest, serious, passionate about her beliefs, loving, kind, sweet and funny. Her sense of humor and quick wit was unmatched. She was a delight.

Em, I love you. Thank you for giving of yourself so wholly in all that you did. You lifted us and motivated us. You loved unequivocally and I will forever be grateful for your friendship with our children and with us. It is an honor to call you my friend. I truly love you.

Most of my memories of Em are from Lake Powell and the cabin. The six of us girls. Our skinny dipping adventures, singing at the top of our lungs on the boat, the year we scouted out a houseboat full of boys (much to the chagrin of our brothers), Emily's laugh and imitations of her dad and grandpa and other various sitcom characters we all loved. We made so many silly videos with the most outrageous story lines and costumes. Emily always knew the latest clothes to wear, music to listen to, celebrity updates. The first time I heard the song Soulja Boy was from Emily - I distinctly remember her showing me the dance. I can imagine how she held out her arms for a hug when we reunited for that trip after a year apart. Emily and I wrote letters back and forth from Utah to CA during the years as kids and I will cherish those even more now. Emily was always so good to talk to, we all wanted to sleep next to her on the top of the houseboat so we could stare at the stars and talk. She always had wisdom and humor and no judgement. I have so many random and sharp memories with Emily I wish I could share all of them. I've been re-living them endlessly in my head the last few weeks. I admire Emily so much for her goodness and courage and friendship. I wish I had been there for her more in the last few years and I hope she always knew of my love for her. 

I will forever hold tight to the memories of you, Em. I sure love you dear friend. 

I had the blessing of being Emily’s preschool teacher when she moved to Menlo Park at age four. Emily was a very bright and kind child who was eager to learn and try new things. She loved her younger brother Sam who was in the younger class on Tues/ Thurs and she enjoyed dropping him off on those days and helping him get acclimated to preschool. She was so proud of her baby sister Eliza.

It was clear even as a four year old that Emily was a good problem solver, and had a very bright mind. She was a kind friend to the other 15 children in our class and very cooperative.

I was lucky to see Alisyn most days as she had either Emily or Sam to drop off and pick up. I loved watching what an attentive, kind and patient mother she was to her children. She was a great example to me and I know how blessed her children are because of her.

I count it a rich blessing that I had that precious year with Emily and I know she not only blessed our little class but she blessed the world in her short life and now the world is dimmer without her light.

I believe all the sweet love and care I saw little Emily shower on Sam and Eliza she is now showering on all her family as she’s watching over them with deep love and gratitude for all they did for her. Heaven is a healing and beautiful place with Emily there and I look forward to knowing her again one day.

The entire Ball family loves Emily!  Our ties to the Crowders go as far back as high school where Dave, Alisyn and Ben all attended East High together in Salt Lake.  Our first four kids are the exact same ages and were all good friends.  The Crowders are an extension of our family and we celebrated 3 Thanksgivings together.  The photos are from 2016 when three of our boys were on missions so we needed to combine our families for a bigger celebration, more food and the Crowders excellent cooking!

Emily is special.  She has been a sister and daughter to us all.    Emily always had a positive attitude and beautiful smile which made her so fun to be around.  She was wicked smart with knowledge of whatever was being talked about and always had something interesting to share.  I learned something new every time we chatted, sometimes walking the dish and other times at casual get togethers.  Emily always made me feel good when we were together, complimenting me, my family and sharing positive things in her life.  It's incredible that with all the pain she was feeling she was still able to think outside herself and look for the good in others.  

My most recent memory with Emily was when she attended a Stanford Ward family night at our house a few months ago right before Ben and I left for Vanuatu.  She showed up at our house not knowing who was going to be there,  participated in the compliment game with poise and confidence and stayed and socialized graciously with everyone there.  As always, I just loved having her around.

I believe that Emily now feels exceedingly great joy.  She has left her impossible  burdens behind and is experiencing a fullness of joy.  A joy that she so deserves to have.  

Emily is the daughter of my only sister, Alisyn. I have known her my entire life and on behalf of my family, we are heartbroken for Emily and her wonderful, loving family. We are sorry she had to endure so much pain during her life. I know if there was anyone (or anything that) who could have reduced that pain, or even eliminated it, I know there were many who would have done anything in their power to accomplish that. Through my faith, I do know there is one who can.....one who can mend every broken heart, one who succor every grief and most importantly, one who can redeem us so that we can all live together forever again.

I have so many fond memories of Emily and while it’s hard to select just one or two, these two have stood out in my mind for many years. The first memory occurred about 26 years ago when Emily was approximately 4 years of age. At the time, my wife and I were living in a one-bedroom apartment in the Marina neighborhood of San Francisco. We decided to host a “sleepover” with Matthew and Emily. We started by having dinner at Johnny Rockets and sat at the bar. Emily had a burger, fries and a strawberry shake. We then went back to our place and watched a Disney movie in our bed. The kids soon fell asleep and we pumped up our air mattress and put them to bed in our family room.

Sometime around midnight or 1:00am, I heard the soft "pitter / patter" of Emily’s feet and she was soon standing at the side of my bed. I’ll never forget her innocent, big eyes and cute jammies. I pulled her up into our bed and for the remainder of the night, she slept between my wife and me. We will always cherish that night and we loved having her close to us then and throughout her life.

The second memory occurred in the summer of 2012 when Alisyn and Emily traveled to NYC to join us for the baptism of our son, Luke. We were grateful to have a number of family and friends join us for that important event in Luke’s life. Luke wanted some of his cousins to participate in the program and Emily was delighted (and honored) to participate. Emily gave a wonderful talk on the baptismal ordinance. In typical Emily fashion, she was well prepared, poised and funny. She imparted a lovely spirit as she spoke of how she felt when she was baptized. My wife and I were very grateful for her willingness to share her feelings and participate in that program.

Emily was a wonderful woman and we will all miss her dearly. Until then, we will keep her memory alive with all the positive, loving and uplifting experiences we shared together.

With Love,

David & Rebecca Young family