UTAH COUNTY — Their story started with four brothers growing up on a cattle ranch in Vernal, Utah.
“Spencer was the oldest, so he was always leading the way,” said Casey Long.
"He and I were closest in age, and so we butt heads a lot,” added Weston Long.
Both brothers agree that if there’s one place they could find their brother Spencer, it was outside.
SOUTHERN UTAH
Provo firefighter, his wife, and 3 sons killed by flash flood in southern Utah
“If we go hiking with him, he was the one that, 'Let's just go up and over the mountain,'” Casey said.
“We’re always like, 'Dude, are we there yet?'” Weston added.
Even when Spencer met his wife Katrina, a co-founder of Summit Medical Spa, the adventures didn’t stop there.
“I feel like the only person that has the gumption or strength or patience to put up with our brother would be her,” Weston joked. "He was the yin to her yang.”
The adventures went even further, with the kids they shared: 13-year-old Thayne and 12-year-old Gage, who were big hockey players. This, alongside their step-siblings, 21-year-old Reid, who recently returned from his LDS mission, and Lydia, a registered nurse living in Kentucky.
However, their world came crashing down on Friday after the family took a trip to Sunglow Campground in Wayne County.
"I woke up to a bunch of missed calls from my mom and dad, and that doesn't happen. So that was scary, and then to hear my mom's voice and the terror was hard,” Weston said.
Spencer, Katrina, Reid, Thayne and Gage all got caught in an unexpected flash flood while canyoneering and never made it out.
“I can't even begin to comprehend what they went through, and how hard that must have been,” Weston said.
Spencer was a captain for Provo Fire & Rescue, and Weston said the family knew the area well.
“He would never put his family in harm's way. And Katrina — she was the master planner, and she would never do something out of character,” Weston said. "This tragedy goes to show that…. some things just happen.”
However, there was only one sibling who wasn’t on the trip at the time: Lydia.
“It's an unimaginable tragedy and nobody can be prepared for it, but we are a close family,” Casey said. "On Lydia's side, too. She's got other family members with her still, and we'll all be here to help her out, whatever she needs.”
While nothing can replace the now gaping hole in their family, their legacy lives on.
“I have a 10-year-old son who really looked up to them, who started playing hockey this last year because of them, and it's just devastating to us, to not have his cousins to keep playing hockey with,” Casey said.
“They truly lived life to the fullest,” Weston said. "We live in this beautiful state, and it's not going to stop us from still getting out and enjoying it, and a lot of it will be done in their honor.”
A family friend has set up a GoFundMe for Lydia.
