Spring Time

Isaac's favorite book

What a good girl.

Do you miss baby goats?  My friend knows a family that has a little farm.  We got to go check it out with her, and of course the favorite of the chickens, goose, rabbits, kittens, horses, llama, dogs, and goats; the goats won easily.

You would have thought this goat was a puppy, Isaac loved that it followed him around.

 

Abbie was dancing in the kitchen the other day and hit her chin on the corner of the chair, which cut her teeth into her lip.  Oh boy was it ugly.  This is just 2 or 3 days after the initial injury and I sure am glad that mouth sores heal so quickly.  

With this cute little adoring face wouldn't you think she was looking at her momma?  Nope, she was looking at her big sister!!!  I remember when Abbie was little and Isaac was born she said to me, "know I have a family."  There is something about siblings that makes a family a family.

Abbie has a special friend, Brielle, and the other day we went to SLC and played at City Creek shopping center and the Book of Mormon history museum.  It was sooo much fun.

Ella is definitely ready to try "real" food.

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Benjamin had military training in Colorado Springs, CO the end of April and he got permission for all of us to go!!!  That is definitely my favorite kind of military training.  We stopped at Curtis and Ch'Ree's on the way down and spent a wonderful day with them.

Zane was by far the fastest on our "walk" around the block.

Zane and Ayva and Abbie and Isaac got to have meals at the kids only table.

Handsome Couple!!!

Cute Miley

Zane had us all go out to see the beautiful sunset, this is on Curtis and Ch'Ree's porch so no sunset. =)

We left Curtis and Ch'ree's house early in the morning so our children would sleep the 7.5 hours we had left to Colorado Springs.  It actually worked pretty well.

 While Benjamin was in training we went exploring.  We went to the zoo, the coolest part was feeding the giraffes.  You could buy a few "crackers" for the giraffes, of course Abbie and Isaac both tried the crackers.  I guess I shouldn't have called them crackers.

Abbie was trying to feed the birds, there was a little dab of food on the end of the stick and the idea was the birds were going to perch on the stick and eat off the stick.  They must have recently fed the birds or the food was yucky because not one bird was interested.

The next day we went to "The Garden of the God's."  It is a state park with all this really neat red rock formation.  Abbie and Isaac LOVED it.  They climbed through a miniature slot canyon, climbed trees, saw a snake (we think it was a bow snake?). 

Abbie said she was afraid of snakes until we saw this one then she could not get close enough, I almost panicked when she tried to climb down off the path.  She said to me, "Mom I need to SEE it."

Tornado on April the 13th

Friday the 13th of April a tornado touched down in Norman, OK

I was visiting a family for work, with the weather channel on in the background.  The rain was coming down pretty good, and behind me I heard the weather guy say "if you're not in your tornado shelter, you need to get there" then the lights started to flicker and the tornado sirens sounded. I say to the family all nonchalant like, "well, time to head to the bathroom," while my inner child was scared out of her pants.  I gathered up the family and their creepy black cat and headed to their bathroom, which had a window.  I should have had them go to the hallway.  The wind and rain got fierce, the animal crate from the front yard whipped into the back yard, a tree fell into the back yard and brought the house power line down about 2 feet from the window.  All the while the family members were in the tub, on the edges of the tub, and on the toilet.  I sat in the corner by the door on a case of toilet paper.  When the sirens had been off for about 5 minutes I told the family we were all best friends now, and bid them adieu.  When I got out to the car I noticed the passenger side mirror was torn up, but no other vehicle damage.  On that block I saw tons of branches and downed trees, some roofing in the road, and a bent over stop sign. The drive home was horrible, the rain was up to the sidewalk in some areas, and there were power lines on the road in other areas, so I has to follow traffic and it literally took half an hour to go 5 miles. 

Anthony was at home in bed as he was not feeling well after chemo the previous Wednesday. The tornado sirens woke him up, and he stumble around for a bit as the power was off.  He grabbed Winston and Hemingway and headed to the bathroom to wait out the storm.  He primarily got rain and some wind, no damage. 

The red line below is the approximate path the tornado took.  

Benjamin was at his apartment, far off the map to the middle right.

 This is what I saw after leaving my visit, heading home directly after the tornado.

The water was super high, all the way up to the sidewalk.

(I was driving and could not get a clear shot, but this is a section of roof)

The next day Anthony & I went back to the same area and took these photos.  

Here are some media photos after the tornado.  This first one is the same area I took photos of the downed power lines.  

 This is the Tornado Intercept Vehicle, it drives into the tornado to record video and collect data.  I want to ride in it SO bad!

There was a second storm coming later in the evening, but it ended up missing us.  The next day Anthony & I sorted through our 72 hour kit to make sure we had everything we need.  The hydrogen peroxide expired in 1987, and the socks would not cover half my foot.  We have added clothes that fit, new batteries for flashlights, a weather radio, and cat food.  A little treasure I found in my kit; a note that was written in elementary school from my mother stating she loved me, and if I was not with them they were on their way to get me, that she knew I was scared and it seemed like a long time, but they were on their way.  The letter included a photo of our family.  I put the letter and photo back in my kit.  I'm never too old to know my mother is looking for me.

I've mentioned food storage and 72 hour kits to a few people, and everyone looks at me like I am crazy.  I honest to goodness did not know this preparedness stuff was primarily an LDS thing.  Believe you me, I've been spreading the word.   This is what the water and flashlight sections of the store looked like the day after the storm when we were replenishing our 72 hour kits.

So, that was our first tornado.  We're better prepared for the next ones now.