Thursday, December 15, 2011
Gaby's Christmas Program
It was packed at Gaby's Christmas Program. We were in the way back and this is the best photo we got. Papi took off work today (it's also Isabel's b-day). Gaby did great in her program. I was really proud of her. She sang all the songs and knew all the words. She did great on her little part she got to do as well. She was very excited about her program, she had to wear a dress so she could look beautiful for her special day.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Isabel's Preschool Christmas Program
Isabel had her Christmas program today. She has been so excited for it so she can say her 'big' part. She is the "lead angel" in the "multitude of angels". She did great! Mark, Lili and I went and I videoed so Papi and Gaby could see tonight. I was so proud of her. She wasn't shy and said her parts loud and clear. She also sang all the songs well and you could hear her over most of the other kids. hehe
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Storm- Day 4
We woke up and everyone showered for church (we still have hot water-yipee). While we were at church, they announced it was a shortened sacrament meeting and then a meeting for the adults for 20 minutes and the kids were to go to primary room with the primary presidency. So we had no clue what was going on. I'm the primary secretary so I had to go with all the children and Enrique stayed for the adult meeting. Apparently it was about an emergency clean-up because another big wind storm was to hit our area again that night (with winds between 50-70mph) and there were tree branches and potential dangerous flying objects that needed to be hauled away from everyone's curbs. The storm came but was not bad what so ever. The wind wasn't even strong enough to blow the dust off the ground.
After church was let out, Enrique had to go to the special emergency meeting and then we came home. He got us all situated, with the needed wood to keep the house warm. He changed and was going to be gone the rest of the day. He was in charge of the help in our little area. We had many people stop to ask if we were ok, if we had power, if they could start cutting the trees down..... So finally our house was pretty much the last one in our little area that needed help (to cut the trees). Our friend came and asked to start because there was enough man power, dump trucks, back hoes, and chainsaws. I found Enrique and he agreed it would be better to do it now than wait for the insurance people to do it.
What happened next I did not expect what so ever. We had 5-7 men working on the tree in the back and 3 on the front tree. Then more people from our neighborhood start showing up. Then all of a sudden there were 50+ people in our yard and 5 chainsaws going crazy. It was like ants, very orderly and they just kept working until it was all done. It was the most amazing, most humbling thing ever. We didn't know half the people that were helping us. We had people from different wards, stakes, and cities that just 'felt' like they needed to help and just drove around to find where they could help. Our street had no parking available anywhere. There were trucks with trailers just lining up, filling their trailers and going to the dump. There was a line of trucks just waiting their turn to take the next load.
I've never experienced anything like this. It was truly amazing, such a spiritual experience for me. The Lord will not leave you comfortless for sure. Not that I was that way but the fact that people just showed up, didn't ask what to do, they just did. I had to start sending people to another house we had just found out about that needed help. After 1 1/2 hours all 3 trees were basically done. We were just waiting for the stumps to go. The city worker working the track hoe was trying to convince the dump truck driver to take the stumps if we cut them smaller. He finally agreed. So Enrique ran to get our friends with chainsaws and they spent almost another hour trying to cut the stumps smaller.
The whole time we had people in our yard, I was either videoing it or taking photos. The kids were inside sleeping, it was so funny. We had all those chainsaws and people everywhere and the kids slept through most of it. Gaby woke up towards the end and she was just shocked at what was happening. She started helping too. She hauled small branches to the front then she started raking up the little debris into piles. Lili woke up too but just wanted me to carry her all over because she was scared of all the people. Isabel slept through it all.
Once it was too dark and everyone was gone, we tried going to the church for dinner because we were told to go there if you still didn't have power. Well, no one was there. So we were on our way home and realized our friends had to cut down their huge tree before this storm or it would fall on their house. So Enrique got out to help and I ran the kids home to go potty. When we got home I saw the power guys on our roof trying to hook up the power. So I went out to talk to them and they said it might not work because the pole to the house was so damaged. By the time we went back to our friend's house, the tree was already down. We ended up going in and talking with them and having hot chocolate and hot soup.
We came home and found out that Angel (Enrique's brother) had his baby, well Odette had the baby. :) We talked to them for a while. Later we regained partial power in the house. The furnace and 2 upstairs bedroom lights came one. Nothing else. So we called our neighbor (who is an electrician) to see if it was safe to stay or not, he said it was ok but not to use the stove, washer and dryer and it would be fine. Just as we were about to fall asleep, the rest of the power came on. It was about 10:30 Sunday night we got power back. So we were powerless from about 6:30am Thursday to 10:30 pm Sunday.
We had quite the adventure. I am so grateful that we followed the prophets council and we were prepared. We used our wood storage, food storage and the other things in place and made due. However, I did learn what we weren't prepared enough for and need to adjust some things to make them better. I am also grateful for prayer and a loving father in heaven who answers our prayers, even little girls prayers. I am so grateful for those who came and gave us so much service. Most of all, I am so grateful that my precious little family is safe and healthy.
After church was let out, Enrique had to go to the special emergency meeting and then we came home. He got us all situated, with the needed wood to keep the house warm. He changed and was going to be gone the rest of the day. He was in charge of the help in our little area. We had many people stop to ask if we were ok, if we had power, if they could start cutting the trees down..... So finally our house was pretty much the last one in our little area that needed help (to cut the trees). Our friend came and asked to start because there was enough man power, dump trucks, back hoes, and chainsaws. I found Enrique and he agreed it would be better to do it now than wait for the insurance people to do it.
What happened next I did not expect what so ever. We had 5-7 men working on the tree in the back and 3 on the front tree. Then more people from our neighborhood start showing up. Then all of a sudden there were 50+ people in our yard and 5 chainsaws going crazy. It was like ants, very orderly and they just kept working until it was all done. It was the most amazing, most humbling thing ever. We didn't know half the people that were helping us. We had people from different wards, stakes, and cities that just 'felt' like they needed to help and just drove around to find where they could help. Our street had no parking available anywhere. There were trucks with trailers just lining up, filling their trailers and going to the dump. There was a line of trucks just waiting their turn to take the next load.
I've never experienced anything like this. It was truly amazing, such a spiritual experience for me. The Lord will not leave you comfortless for sure. Not that I was that way but the fact that people just showed up, didn't ask what to do, they just did. I had to start sending people to another house we had just found out about that needed help. After 1 1/2 hours all 3 trees were basically done. We were just waiting for the stumps to go. The city worker working the track hoe was trying to convince the dump truck driver to take the stumps if we cut them smaller. He finally agreed. So Enrique ran to get our friends with chainsaws and they spent almost another hour trying to cut the stumps smaller.
The whole time we had people in our yard, I was either videoing it or taking photos. The kids were inside sleeping, it was so funny. We had all those chainsaws and people everywhere and the kids slept through most of it. Gaby woke up towards the end and she was just shocked at what was happening. She started helping too. She hauled small branches to the front then she started raking up the little debris into piles. Lili woke up too but just wanted me to carry her all over because she was scared of all the people. Isabel slept through it all.
Once it was too dark and everyone was gone, we tried going to the church for dinner because we were told to go there if you still didn't have power. Well, no one was there. So we were on our way home and realized our friends had to cut down their huge tree before this storm or it would fall on their house. So Enrique got out to help and I ran the kids home to go potty. When we got home I saw the power guys on our roof trying to hook up the power. So I went out to talk to them and they said it might not work because the pole to the house was so damaged. By the time we went back to our friend's house, the tree was already down. We ended up going in and talking with them and having hot chocolate and hot soup.
We came home and found out that Angel (Enrique's brother) had his baby, well Odette had the baby. :) We talked to them for a while. Later we regained partial power in the house. The furnace and 2 upstairs bedroom lights came one. Nothing else. So we called our neighbor (who is an electrician) to see if it was safe to stay or not, he said it was ok but not to use the stove, washer and dryer and it would be fine. Just as we were about to fall asleep, the rest of the power came on. It was about 10:30 Sunday night we got power back. So we were powerless from about 6:30am Thursday to 10:30 pm Sunday.
We had quite the adventure. I am so grateful that we followed the prophets council and we were prepared. We used our wood storage, food storage and the other things in place and made due. However, I did learn what we weren't prepared enough for and need to adjust some things to make them better. I am also grateful for prayer and a loving father in heaven who answers our prayers, even little girls prayers. I am so grateful for those who came and gave us so much service. Most of all, I am so grateful that my precious little family is safe and healthy.
Storm- Day 3
We woke up and were slow going. Then we came home and started getting the house situated for however long we wouldn't have power. We (Enrique and the kids) got wood from the pile and stacked on either side of the back steps. I got out the flashlights and extra christmas lights out we were going to use as light after dark. Oh, our neighbors have a generator so they let us use an extension cord to plug in the deep freezer in the garage and our fridge. So we ran another extension cord from that to inside the house so we could plug the Christmas lights in and charge our phones. Enrique got extra blankets to hang up in the doorways to keep all the heat in the living room and dining room and we just kept the other doors closed. He pulled our mattress out and Lili's mattress out while the kids brought up their pillows and jamies. Then Enrique had left to go help others that needed help. We got all ready for the evening and then it was time to go to the ward Christmas party.
We went and had a nice warm time there. They had dinner and activities planned. It was nice.
We came home and had a fun campout in the living room. The fireplace worked great. We had it running around the clock. During the night the temp got up to 70 degrees in the living room (the rest of the house was still in the high 30's low 40's).
We went and had a nice warm time there. They had dinner and activities planned. It was nice.
We came home and had a fun campout in the living room. The fireplace worked great. We had it running around the clock. During the night the temp got up to 70 degrees in the living room (the rest of the house was still in the high 30's low 40's).
Storm- Day 2
The next morning we came home briefly and then we decided to go to Antelope Island. We had never been there before and Mark had a pass to go, so we did. The van was a lot warmer than the house by far. We got out at the old farm they have there. Walked around for sometime, exploring everything. It was really neat. Nobody was there and everything is opened. The kids tried hammering horseshoes and trying out the sheep sheers, riding fake bulls, getting to walk through the houses there and other fun things as well. It was pretty neat. Then we went over the bison corrals and we saw 2 Great Horned Owls. They were pretty cool.
Then we had to come home and wait for the insurance people to come. We started a fire as soon as we got here but it was still too cold (44 degrees) for the kids to be at home. They had gloves, hats, scarves, coats, thick clothes on, and shoes on. So Holly said she'd keep them while I was dealing with the insurance people when they came. I asked Dave to come as well because Enrique couldn't make it home in time for the insurance people. So Mark and Dave where here while all the insurance people were because I just was nervous about it. They were here for some time and before the last people left Enrique got home. So he finished up - thank goodness!
We packed back up for another night away and went back to Dave's house. We ate dinner and the kids played while we talked about the stuff with our house and their house and other stuff. Once again, the kids were excited to sleep over with their cousins.
Then we had to come home and wait for the insurance people to come. We started a fire as soon as we got here but it was still too cold (44 degrees) for the kids to be at home. They had gloves, hats, scarves, coats, thick clothes on, and shoes on. So Holly said she'd keep them while I was dealing with the insurance people when they came. I asked Dave to come as well because Enrique couldn't make it home in time for the insurance people. So Mark and Dave where here while all the insurance people were because I just was nervous about it. They were here for some time and before the last people left Enrique got home. So he finished up - thank goodness!
We packed back up for another night away and went back to Dave's house. We ate dinner and the kids played while we talked about the stuff with our house and their house and other stuff. Once again, the kids were excited to sleep over with their cousins.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Storm- Day 1
Last week we had a hurricane like storm come through. It was called a class 2 hurricane, because of the 93 mph wind we had. We didn't know it was coming. It started in the middle of the night. I hardly slept because it sounded so terrible. Around 6:30am or so, Enrique's boss text him and said to stay home and not go in to work since it was so dangerous (some of the highways were closed). Well, you know him, he was going anyway.
Then all of a sudden we heard this awful crash outside of our bedroom. We looked out the windows and couldn't see anything out of the norm. So we just thought the wind was making our neighbor's trash cans blow into our fence super hard. The kids all came in our room and we were all in our bed. Then Enrique was going to get in the shower and the kids and I went to look out the big window in the living room. It was still dark but we saw our huge tree fell over into our neighbor's yard. That's what that big noise was. We couldn't believe it! This tree was 60+ years old. It was super huge.
Needless to say, Enrique stayed home that day. I ran out to take photos, the wind was so bad. I was kind of scared because large objects were flying around everywhere. I came back in quick and then Enrique went out to take better photos, mine were yukie. While he was out there, our other tree started to lean over. Then we watched the earth start to bubble up around it. Then all of a sudden it fell over too. It was the most amazing thing to watch. We ran to the front of the house to look at the tree in the front. It was ok, or so we thought.
The wind was howling through the windows and sounded really bad. Anytime we opened the front door, you had to put all your weight into it to get it to close, the wind was so strong. We looked out the window a few minutes later and the front tree was starting to lean. Enrique ran downstairs to ask Mark for his keys to move his car out of the driveway just to be safe. Then he hurried and got the car and the van out of the garage.
While he was doing that the kids were about ready to cry. They were really scared. They all had gone into my room and sat on the bed. Isabel started saying "this is just like when Jesus was sleeping on the boat and there was a bad storm and the men were scared, Jesus woke up and said a prayer without closing his eyes and folding his arms and then the storm stopped. So I think we should say a prayer and the storm will stop." So we came out to the living room, Enrique came in and I had Isabel tell him the very same thing. We all knelt down, Isabel said a prayer, some of which she asked for the wind to stop, the tree not to fall on our house, for us to be safe, and our neighbors to be safe and not get hurt.
As soon as she said amen, the wind got worse. She climb on the couch looking outside and said, "my prayer didn't work" and we said sometimes it just needs a bit more time. Well within minutes we see the tree in the front start to bubble up around the trunk. It was going to smash the garage for sure. I ran and got the video camera and got outside just in time.
I started videoing and then passed it to Enrique. Just then, Mark is blown across the yard as the tree is falling over. It barely got the side of the garage. So Isabel said,"my prayer worked. The tree didn't fall on the house."
After the tree fell over, I ran out and took photos. While I was out there, someone's roof of a metal shed was flying down the street and every time it hit the road it would spark. Then it hit a few cars and ended up under our tree that was in the front. It wasn't a small piece of metal roof either. It was as long as our garage door is wide, it was very big. Then I turned around to look at our neighbors damage and they have a Bronco stuck on a trunk of a tree up in the air, off the ground, mixed in with all the broken trees and power poles that came down.
The strong winds lasted about 10 hours or so, from start to finish. Around 2pm we got in the van to go look at all the damage around. It was shocking. Hundreds of trees were down all over. Homes had their roofs ripped apart, siding ripped off, and lots of shingles ripped off too. A lot of power poles either fell over or broke in half or in three's. It was just insane.
It was too cold in our house and it was too dangerous to start a fire with those winds, so we went to Sean's house because he still had power. We were there for a while and then decided to just sleep there, so I ran home and packed up, using a flashlight. The kids absolutely loved the sleepover with their cousins.
Then all of a sudden we heard this awful crash outside of our bedroom. We looked out the windows and couldn't see anything out of the norm. So we just thought the wind was making our neighbor's trash cans blow into our fence super hard. The kids all came in our room and we were all in our bed. Then Enrique was going to get in the shower and the kids and I went to look out the big window in the living room. It was still dark but we saw our huge tree fell over into our neighbor's yard. That's what that big noise was. We couldn't believe it! This tree was 60+ years old. It was super huge.
Needless to say, Enrique stayed home that day. I ran out to take photos, the wind was so bad. I was kind of scared because large objects were flying around everywhere. I came back in quick and then Enrique went out to take better photos, mine were yukie. While he was out there, our other tree started to lean over. Then we watched the earth start to bubble up around it. Then all of a sudden it fell over too. It was the most amazing thing to watch. We ran to the front of the house to look at the tree in the front. It was ok, or so we thought.
The wind was howling through the windows and sounded really bad. Anytime we opened the front door, you had to put all your weight into it to get it to close, the wind was so strong. We looked out the window a few minutes later and the front tree was starting to lean. Enrique ran downstairs to ask Mark for his keys to move his car out of the driveway just to be safe. Then he hurried and got the car and the van out of the garage.
While he was doing that the kids were about ready to cry. They were really scared. They all had gone into my room and sat on the bed. Isabel started saying "this is just like when Jesus was sleeping on the boat and there was a bad storm and the men were scared, Jesus woke up and said a prayer without closing his eyes and folding his arms and then the storm stopped. So I think we should say a prayer and the storm will stop." So we came out to the living room, Enrique came in and I had Isabel tell him the very same thing. We all knelt down, Isabel said a prayer, some of which she asked for the wind to stop, the tree not to fall on our house, for us to be safe, and our neighbors to be safe and not get hurt.
As soon as she said amen, the wind got worse. She climb on the couch looking outside and said, "my prayer didn't work" and we said sometimes it just needs a bit more time. Well within minutes we see the tree in the front start to bubble up around the trunk. It was going to smash the garage for sure. I ran and got the video camera and got outside just in time.
I started videoing and then passed it to Enrique. Just then, Mark is blown across the yard as the tree is falling over. It barely got the side of the garage. So Isabel said,"my prayer worked. The tree didn't fall on the house."
After the tree fell over, I ran out and took photos. While I was out there, someone's roof of a metal shed was flying down the street and every time it hit the road it would spark. Then it hit a few cars and ended up under our tree that was in the front. It wasn't a small piece of metal roof either. It was as long as our garage door is wide, it was very big. Then I turned around to look at our neighbors damage and they have a Bronco stuck on a trunk of a tree up in the air, off the ground, mixed in with all the broken trees and power poles that came down.
The strong winds lasted about 10 hours or so, from start to finish. Around 2pm we got in the van to go look at all the damage around. It was shocking. Hundreds of trees were down all over. Homes had their roofs ripped apart, siding ripped off, and lots of shingles ripped off too. A lot of power poles either fell over or broke in half or in three's. It was just insane.
It was too cold in our house and it was too dangerous to start a fire with those winds, so we went to Sean's house because he still had power. We were there for a while and then decided to just sleep there, so I ran home and packed up, using a flashlight. The kids absolutely loved the sleepover with their cousins.
First tree to go down about 6:30am.
Second tree to go down about 7:00am.
Third tree to go down about 7:30am.
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