Water Damage

So as everyone has heard by now we had a very big storm Fri night with rain, hail, and winds up to 70 mph. The hail in some places was the size of tennis balls, but I don't think we got anything bigger than quarter size. It was a very scary night, or I guess I should say morning because it was at 1:15 am when Joe woke me up screaming to take Everett and get in the tub while he went to get the rest of the kids. We were both very groggy and just heard this insane loud pounding noise all around us. I don't think I could ever decribe it to you, it was just so loud. And us being new to the area and new to tornadoes, we can only go off the signs that everyone else says and the one thing they say is that it is really loud. I am sure the mom and dad are thinking, "well did the siren go off because it is right behind your house?" I have found out that the person in charge of doing the siren doesn't always have to set if off. He can choose whether or not it is necessary. So anyways, we were sitting in the tub for about five minutes. When Joe decided to turn on the TV so we could keep up with the storm. Joe and I put the kids back in bed when we found out it wasn't a tornado and went out to the front room to find our tile by the front door covered in water. We went to put some towels on it only to put our foot onto soaked carpet. We had to move our couch out of the way so that it didn't get soaked. We went to check the garage and when we opened the door we saw the water rushing in . We felt so completely helpless, there was a small section that the water hadn't gotten to yet so Joe went over and got a couple things up off the ground. We closed the door and put a few more towels in front of that hoping the water would stay out. A little water did get into the kitchen, we think it seeped in from the living room and then from the garage. Luckily we got away with very minimal damage. I can not explain the feeling of helplessness you get when you see that you have no control of your surroundings. YOu have no control as to what happens to your things. I am greatful that we didn't receive more damage then what we did, I know that a lot worse could have happened. And of course we learned that we need a whole different policy for flood damage. As crazy as it seems I do think the Lord had his hand in this and protected our little family, because with how our house sits we really could have gotten a lot worse. We have learned from this experience and hopefully it will be enough to prepare us for the next storm. The damage we did get was soggy carpet with a soaked pad that will need to be replaced, a gargage filled with mud, and dented siding from the hail.

These are just two of the pictures that we were able to take. We took some of the garage and others of the front room before we discovered that our memory stick was still in the gadget we use to upload them on our computer. I just uploaded the pictures of our camp rock party Fri night, so we had to quickly snap a couple more and these are what we got.

Camp Rock Party

Tonight was the premiere of Camp Rock on the Disney Channel, so we decided to do a "camp" party. On the menu was hot dogs, roasted over warm coals. We didn't have a place for a fire so it was either this or a scented candles. We also had beans, watermelon and chips. To top things off we had smores for dessert and again roasted the mallows over the coals.

The kids really liked doing the roasting. The mallows didn't get as crisp as we like them since there was no flame, but they still tasted sooo good. I can't remember the last time that I had a smore, and this was the first time for the kids and they loved them.

We all had a great time and the "camp" party was great. Of course I can't say as much for the movie. I do have to say that it is not a favorite of mine. Macayla liked it, Elijah and Austyn lost interest in it after about 30 mins and I have to say that I only finished it because I kept hoping it would get better. The songs were ok, the best one I think was the one the Jonas Brothers sing together. My favorite character was the uncle with the british accent. Of course there wasn't enough of him though. So, I would have to only give it like 2 stars and that is being generous. But it did give us an excuse to make a special evening with our family and I have to give that 5 stars. Corny, I know, but I really do mean it.

Safe Haven

Well, today was a first for me, it was my first tornando warning. Me and the kids were at home and they were watching, what else, the Disney channel when the emergency system broke into their programming. They were annoyed because they couldn't hear their show anymore, I was a little freaked out. I will admit I was not as calm as I could have been in the beginning, but trying to herd the kids into my closet was not so easy, they kept going to every room except mine. Once we were inside the closet it was a little easier to distract the kids from why we were in there. We played a couple games, when I wasn't on the phone, and we just talked. Elijah kept wanting to know when the "volcanoe" was over. We had to sit in this closet for 20 mins. While we were in there I called Brooke and had her check the weather online for me, so thanks for that Brooke. I wanted to give you a picture of our little safe haven from this afternoon. I could have straightened it up before I took the picture, but I really wanted to give the full effect. It was sooo hot and crowded in there with the 5 of us. I guess I am a tiny bit grateful that Joe wasn't home because I just don't know where he would have fit. I am going to have to see about maybe another location for next time. But here's hoping there won't be a next time anytime soon.

For Ahlana

I know that Ahlana loves to look at the blog and see pictures of the kids because she misses them. Well, I wanted to let her know that they miss her too and I wanted to take a picture just for her. So Ahlana, this is a picture of the kids saying hi to you. They are so excited to see you in just a couple weeks. See you soon, and we love you!!

The Infamous Father's Day Article

Ok, well all of you knew that Joe and the kids were going to be featured in a Father's Day article in the local newspaper...as stated in the earlier post "Paparazzi." Well, what non of us knew was how big the picture of Joe and the kids was actually going to be. We opened up the paper to this!!

Joe was really nervouse about going to church because he didn't want to get crap for the article so I spent all morning reassuring him it would be ok. We get to church and BAM there's the article on the ward bulletin board. This embarassed Joe, but only a few people said anything about it and of course it was all nice. So we go and sit in the chapel and Sacrament meeting starts. Nothing is said and so he takes a big sigh of relief and settles down to listen to the talks. After the first talk and after the primary children sing Bro Work gets up to annouce the 2nd speaker, nothing unsual, except that he starts to talk about Bro Hunt and his article that is hanging up and then he invites Joe up to bear his testimony. I was laughing....Joe really doesn't like to be put on the spot like that and after all my coaxing him into going because noone would say a thing. And of course to end the day another man in our ward that works out where Joe does tells him to just wait for tomorrow at work. But in my opinion, whether Joe gets bugged about the article or not, I think it was a great experience and I love the picture. I am going to call the paper and ask them for a copy of it. Oh, and you should have seen the kids, they were so excited that they were in the paper it made them feel really good. Macayla just kept saying, I am in the newspaper.

Look Who's Sitting Up!!!!

We were playing around with Everett this evening and I decided to see what would happen if I sat him up. To our surprise he stayed up, even long enough for me to take some pictures. Of course he did fall a few times, but then when we sat him back up he would sit that way for awhile again. What amazes me is that it doesn't matter that he is our fourth child who has passed this milestone, I still got just as excited as if he was the first. I thought this was such a momentous occasion that I put a couple more pictures of his great accomplishment. Enjoy!!

He seems a little shocked to see the world from a different point of view :)

Austyn's Bubbles

Joe and I were working on our talks the other night when suddenly I realized that there was a child missing. So, I started my exploration of the house and didn't have to go very far. I was walking past the "monkey" bathroom and noticed that what once was a dull noice in the background turned into a loud rushing of water. So I stopped right before the doorway to brace myself for what mess ultimately laid before me and mixed with the sound of the waterfall was a little voice saying, "Bubbles, bubbles...." I went into the bathroom and this is what I found, Santa in our bathroom in the middle of June. Austyn had gotten into the hand soap and filled the sink with bubbles and then proceeded to cover her face with them.

I think she is just about the cutest Santa that I have ever seen :) And lucky for me the mess was not near what I thought it was going to be.