Chaos and Mayhem!

We survived the wind storm yesterday! There is destruction everywhere! I think we were probably one of the luckier ones. As our trees started to come down, we hooked them to a tow rope and pulled them down away from the house to prevent broken windows, that was our worst fear. We never really lost power, it just flickered all day. There are still some people without power and last estimate it could be 48 hrs before it is all completely restored. I have been brought to tears so many times yesterday and today. First because of the sheer destruction the 100+ mph winds we had made. It is just heartbreaking to see all of these enormous, beautiful trees down everywhere, and the damage to so many peoples property! And second because of the overwhelming help and generosity of others. Everyone helping everyone. It just amazes me how much destruction I saw yesterday driving through town, and how much clean up has been done already. I am so grateful to live in such a wonderful community and have so many wonderful neighbors!

OK now for some pictures. Our huge cherry tree sadly didn't survive the storm :( . Here is the video of it falling. You can hear my 2 year old begging the tree not to fall. We actually lost all the trees in our yard, the cherry tree in the back, a cluster of 4 trees near the property line, and two right in front of the house.

 I took these 2 pictures through the window yesterday after the trees came down. They aren't very good, but you get the idea.

 This is all that is left of my cherry tree. So sad!

 Jacob and our cute neighbor Kate helping take the tree trunks to the pile of firewood in the back yard.

 This is where the cluster of 4 trees was.

This is where the 2 trees were right in front of the house. There used to be 3 but one was lost before we moved in.

 Ahhh FIREWOOD! One good thing about losing the trees.

 The mass amount of branches that were hauled off this morning. The top picture is only about 1/8th of what was there. They came back for these after they emptied the truck and trailer from the bottom picture. O and our mailbox was found in the neighbors backyard to the west of us.                   

 Our neighbors to the east of us (bottom picture) lost their garage door. They parked their car on it to prevent it from flying away.

Our fence was damaged a little when the trees came down, but again with our van we pulled the trees to the front yard so they wouldn't take out the whole fence. 



 All my boys helped haul the tree trunks to the back for firewood. Such good helpers they are!

 Just a few of the many, many helping hands around the neighborhood helping everyone and anyone who needed it!

 If you compare these 2 pictures you can see the loss of the 6 trees in front. The only trees still standing in our yard are the 2 on the property line.

It's going to take some getting used to. Seeing my house without trees in front. And I am really going to miss the cherry tree! At lest no one was hurt and we only had minimal property damage! 

Maybe later I will get around to posting about Thanksgiving. We had an awesome Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Morgyn 2011

 Yesterday was Morgyn's 15th birthday. She was surprised to come home to the house decorated for her birthday. Her brothers shot off some confetti poppers over her head. She really liked that!

 She didn't want a cake for her birthday. She wanted brownies with ice cream and hot fudge sauce instead.

The hot fudge sauce was homemade from a friend's recipe. It was way yummy, but I think I cooked it a little to long because it was a little too thick. For her recipe click here.                             

 She was so happy to get a water bottle like mine. It keeps water cold all day. Even in the summer :)

 She also got a new pair of pants.

 Because she is 15 and needs to get her learners permit, we felt that it was fitting to get her a Drivers Handbook. She has to pass a written test before she can get her learners permit!

 She has wanted the Hymns on CD for a long time. Now she has them!

Her dad even burned all the songs she downloaded onto CD's for her.

All in all I think she had a fun day. She even went to young womens and made carmel apples! FUN!

Halloween 2011

We carved pumpkins in the afternoon.

I was so happy Halloween was so warm this year. We didn't even need to wear jackets! I think the 2 little ones even got to warm.

 Jacob was a Knight. He was trying to have the attitude of a Knight fighting a battle. He was in a really good mood, not cranky like these pictures portray!

 Jared was Goodnight Bear. He had to have his face painted blue like Isaac's.

 Isaac was Sully from Monsters Inc.

John was a Ninja Turtle.

Morgyn was Anubis. Anubis is a character from the TV show Stargate SG1, her favorite show. It even added to the costume when the flash reflected off her glasses and made here eyes glow.

The whole gang ready to go!

Kaysville City Fire Station

For pack meeting on Thursday we got to go to the Kaysville City Fire Station. I only took Jacob because he is the only scout right now and the other kids had already had a long day. It was pretty awesome!

 This fire truck is the largest one Kaysville has and it cost the city 1 million dollars last year. OUCH. The kids guessed at about $100 dollars. It comes equipped with 4 hoses and a 75 foot ladder! It also has a little hose on top that has enough power to put a hole right through the side of a house!

 They each got to walk through an ambulance.

 Jacob doesn't remember his trip in an ambulance 5 years ago. Probably a good thing.

They also got to walk through a fire truck.

This was probably his favorite pack meeting yet!

Black Island Farms



The whole gang that went (except my mother-in-law who was taking the picture)

 I had the opportunity to take the two little ones to Black Island Farms last Thursday with my in-laws. They had so much fun! First we went on a tractor ride.



  Jared was a little unsure about riding in the trailer of the tractor. Isaac LOVED the idea.

 Jacqulyn was excited.

Jared got scared and I had to put him on my lap. D'artagnan just didn't want me to take his picture. He always tells me Grandma can but not me.

We got to see some awesome carrots. Some of them were HUGE!

 Then we got to get off the trailer in the pumpkin patch and all the kids got to pick a pumpkin.

 Jared really liked this part!

 Cute little Jacqulyn had to search all over for one without any dirt on it.

Jared was finally smiling  now!

All the kiddo's after the tractor ride. (back row Layla, Jacqulyn, Isaac, Kayla. front row Merrick, Jared, D'artagnan)

 Here's the pumpkin heads.

Then off for more fun!

Isaac HATED the big slide, but the rest of the kids LOVED it! Especially Jared and Jacqulyn. We had a hard time getting them to do anything else.                                        

 They went on a little tractor train ride. Jared HATED it and cried the whole time.

 Then we went through the corn maze. They all had fun there.

 They played in the corn box and tunnel.

All in all a very successful 2 1/2 hours of fun! Well worth the trip. And to think I didn't want to go because the kids had been fighting all morning.