{ I'm Really Back Now }...

This week has been spent cleaning, doing laundry, restocking my fridge (we lost just about everything) going through my piles of papers, checking my calender...you know. All that yucky household management stuff that takes FOREVER to get caught up on once you're behind! And then I have to be "Krysta" and add a million other things to my list when I'm so far behind. So, I decided to go through every cupboard, closet and drawer in my house. I organized EVERYTHING and cleaned every corner in my house. Maybe there's something about being away from home for awhile that makes me want to nest once I get home and do all of these little things. We really did leave it in a mess before we left, so I knew I would be doing some of this when I got home, but once I started I just couldn't stop!!! I wanted to share my favorite piece of organizing I did. This is in Kaylee's bathroom and has all of her hair accessories in it.

I had so much fun making a home for every accessory. I couldn't believe how many things she had. It's so easy to find everything now. No more digging at the last minute in the mornings. And we probably won't be buying anything new for awhile now since I can actually SEE it all! Just to prove that Kaylee is my daughter...she was so excited to come home from school and see this in her bathroom. She admired it for a very long time! :)

{ An Impromptu "Vacation" }...

Warning: Lots of pictures...much scrolling!

After we spent a couple of days in Dallas because of loosing electricity from Hurricane Ike, we decided to make a little trip to Arkansas. We were living "day by day" at this point, not having any idea when we were going to get power back, so we decided to make the most of it and have some fun. Casey had been working from his laptop in Dallas and figured he could do that anywhere, so we went to visit the Swensons.

One little side note I forgot to mention in my last post. Casey and I would want to remember this later. On our way out of town when we were headed to Dallas, we could not believe how much traffic was headed into Houston. We assumed there would be traffic headed out because of loss of power, but we could not believe how many vehicles were headed in. We counted at least 100 big trucks. Electrical trucks, trucks with generators, trucks with ladders, trucks with supplies of food and everything else. It really was amazing! It made me feel bad for leaving.

Three out of the five us got sick towards the end of our stay in Dallas. Kaylee had some kind of a virus that I took her to the Dr. for while we were there. Jake was complaining of an earache and my throat was starting to hurt...AGAIN! Andrea was so nice to take us in while we were sick. Dr. Swenson checked us out once we got there and nursed us back to health. Thank you so much Jonathan! Kaylee got better on her own and Jake took antibiotics for his ear infection and I took some for strep throat! After a day of resting we were ready to play. We took a trip about an hour away to a place called Hot Springs. None of us had ever been there before, so we explored it together. We went to a BBQ cook off and car show. It was fun to walk around and check things out...especially the red necks! We should have gotten some pictures of that!

While we were there we had a picnic lunch at a national park. The kids got to run around and Andrea and I played with my camera and took some family snapshots.

We stayed and went to their ward with them on Sunday. We had a late lunch when we got home and were way to lazy to make a "real" dinner for anyone, so we made a treat instead and ate that for dinner. Yes, it's true. We fed our kids brownies for dinner! We earned some wonderful mom points from our kids. They thought we were pretty awesome! :) When the kids weren't inside the house completely destroying it, begging for snacks or dragging toys from one corner of the house to the next, they were content to play outside. This was a great source of hours worth of entertainment. They had many baseball games in the backyard with the dads. The kids would chant "baseball game, baseball game", until Casey and Jonathan would come out and play. Fun memories! They also enjoyed decorating the playhouse. They would take crayons and paper outside, draw pictures and tape them up all over the playhouse. I wonder who they get that from??? Kids can play so well outside when they have each other to keep them company. These moments were a breath of fresh air for the adults!

Casey had to be back at work on Monday morning. We hadn't gotten power yet at our house, so he booked a flight back and the kids and I stayed waiting to hear about power. In the meantime, Andrea and I gathered 5 out of the six kids and made a trip to Hobby Lobby for a little bit of creativity. The trip did not go well (what did we expect from 5 kids under the age of 7?) We all survived and were happy with the things we got. (The lady in the scrapbooking isle was NOT happy with us!!!) We went a little crazy making bows for the girls...more like flowers for the girls. They were so fun! Now we have a great collection.

While we were there, I also got some things to put a fall wreath together. Here it is, hanging on my front door.

I know this post is forever long!!! Last, but not least, we threw these pictures together at the last minute. The boys clothes are borrowed from Jex and Kaylee's dress was a $5.00 find we got for church on Sunday. We came with out Sunday clothes. I have been wanting to take some fun pictures of my kids since I've gotten my new camera. My kids don't like to cooperate for me and it's not Casey's thing...he doesn't have patience for the camera or pictures for that matter. So, thanks to Jonathan and Andrea I finally got the pictures I had been wanting. We took them in about 15 minutes, if that, and I LOVE how they turned out!
Thanks again Andrea and Jonathan for letting us invade your house, food, time, laundry room and everything else. We love you guys so much and had so much fun!!! Casey and I miss our late nights of game playing while the kids were tucked quietly in bed. We can't wait to see you in November and you will definitely be pampered!!!

{ Home Sweet Home }...

We are home! We got home last night. The power came back on in our neighborhood and the kids started school today. We are in chaos here, trying to get things back to normal. I will do another post soon with lots more details. Some of you were wondering where we were, so now you know! :)

{ Counting Our Many Blessings }...

The last couple of days have been crazy and very long. This is the first time that we have had access to the Internet and that is only because we fled the scene and are in Dallas staying at my aunt's house. Thank you so very much Barbara and Terry!

Friday night, before Ike hit and before we lost power, we had everything ready to go, just in case. Our 72-hour kits were in the hallway by the front door. Our shoes and last minute clothing were all lined up in our bathroom and the kids were camped out on our bedroom floor for the night.

We went to bed that night, listening to the heavy winds, waiting for the rain to come and wondering what we were going to wake up to. Casey and I didn't sleep very well, I'm sure that doesn't surprise anyone. That evening and into the night the power kept flickering on and off (we could see our alarm clock flashing off and on) and we would lay there wondering when we would get the official "lights out". It came at 3:16 that night and we were both awake for it. We saw the sky turn bright green, saw 3 explosions, looked over at our clock and didn't see any numbers anymore. We knew we were officially without power. All night long I kept getting up out of bed to look out the window and make sure that these big trees in our neighbors yard were still standing. They were and that made me feel better. (Casey did help the neighbor move their things in their backyard, BTW). Finally I fell asleep. We woke up to heavy winds and rain still, which lasted until about 1:30 in the afternoon. We kept looking out all of our windows in order to get a good look at the neighborhood in every direction. It looked pretty good. No major trees down. Everyone's homes were still standing, fences were still in place. Our family was calling us to check in and we were telling them that nothing really happened in our area. Only debris from trees on the ground. Then Casey got a call from the Elder's Quorum president in our ward to go out and help someone. He came home in awe from what it REALLY looked like out there. There was much more to see than us just peeking out our windows. It was still heavily raining, so we waited until it stopped and then went on a drive around our neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhood.

Here is what we saw: This tree below is what Casey went out to help with. It was blocking the road so they cut it with a chainsaw and moved it to the side. The picture doesn't do justice. He said it was bigger than he could even wrap his arms around.
This is one of the MANY things for which we are counting our blessings for. This is the ONLY thing that happened at our house. One of my favorite trees in our front yard fell down. Casey has already replanted it and it should be just fine.

I am also counting our blessings that my family is safe and doing great. My kids weren't traumatized one bit. As soon as the rain stopped the boys put on their swim suits and headed out side. This is what they did while Casey helped the other neighbors sweep up the debris from the trees. We do have a couple of small leaks in our attic, but definitely nothing to complain about.

Yesterday was the longest day without power. Our cell phones wouldn't work. We had been using our land line for communication until this morning when we woke up and it didn't work either. The feeling of not being able to communicate with anyone besides those within walking distance was awful. All we had to keep us updated on what was going on around us was our little radio. We were prepared to be without power for a couple of days, but not a week+. That is what we've been hearing. Radio reports have varied about restoring power, saying anywhere from one week to four weeks. How can you prepare for that? We needed a generator and we didn't have one. This is likely the only thing we lacked in preparation. That and ASSUMING that we would be with out power for only a couple of days. I remember thinking about it before all of this happened and wondering how in the world we would last for 3 or 4 days without power. Now that seems like a piece of cake. I would welcome it! So, this afternoon we drove to Dallas to get out of Houston for a little bit and to see if we could get our hands on a generator. No. We were too late. They are all gone. We just got word tonight that school is canceled for Kaylee and Jake until Wednesday of this week. Possibly longer. We just have to wait for updates. I don't know if they will have access to a generator for school. No one really knows what is going on. We don't know how long we'll be here in Dallas, or when we'll get to go back home. We might be heading back for school even if we don't have power.

Tonight is the first night we have been able to see the devastation to the Houston area. We spent a lot of time listening to it all unfold on the radio, with pictures in our mind. But now that we can actually see it, I have so many more reasons to count my blessings. Thank you to all of you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. I know they helped. We, personally, have a long couple of weeks ahead of us, but we are the lucky ones. We are so grateful for that. Please keep all of the Houston area in your prayers. We need it! I probably won't be able to keep up with all of you very well for the next little bit, but know that I am thinking of you and I will blog again when I can! :)

{ Hunkering Down }...

We are in the midst of preparing for hurricane Ike. Actually, we are completely prepared. Now we are just using the advice from our political leaders here in Houston to "hunker down".

Note: this post is not intended to make anyone worry about us or freak out our family and friends anymore than they already are. This is a way for me to relieve a little bit of stress and record this happening in our lives.

We have decided to stay, obviously, that's why we are "hunkering down", but that was a hard decision to make. We aren't in a mandatory evacuation area. Our political officials have told us to stay put if we aren't in the evacuation areas. They know much more about the situation than we do, so I will listen to them. Plus our bishopric is all staying put. In fact, I went to visit a family in our ward last night and they had a family staying with them for the weekend from one of the mandatory evacuation areas. That made me feel much better, that people were evacuating to our part of the Houston area. My husband is not freaking out at all, only me. I can't help but worry and wonder "what if" constantly. I spent my ENTIRE day yesterday pacing around my house getting absolutely nothing done. We have prepared all that we can. When I was at Y/W the other night I sent Casey on a "honey do" that consisted of filling the cars up with gas and a last minute Walmart run. This trip was insane he said. Everyone panicking. I didn't need anything major at the store just the normal weekly items, bread, milk, fresh fruit and of course my Coke. I have to have something to calm my nerves, especially now! He said there was nothing left on the shelves. No bread, no canned goods, toilet paper...you name it - gone. It made me so grateful that I have listened to the council from church authorities to be prepared. We have our supply of food, water, candles, matches, toilet paper, batteries, flashlights...the list goes on and on. I did have to run to the bank to get some extra cash. I'm always bad at carrying cash, but we have what we need now. Casey worked in the yard last night putting away our trampoline, BBQ and lawn furniture. I'm a little mad that our neighbor behind us hasn't put away their things. I'm working on having Casey go ask very nicely if he can help him put their things in the garage. He says I'm overreacting, but I don't want anything flying into my windows. I don't think that's too much to ask!!! We'll see what happens with this debate. It might be me, the mother hen, marching over to politely offer my husband's help. :)

This morning consisted of me sleeping in until 9:00 because I had to take a sleeping pill last night. It knocked me out - relief to my husband and myself! Casey has been very good with trying to keep the day normal. I'm really trying! School was canceled for the kids and work for Casey. I would have had them all stay home anyway. He took the kids to the park this morning to get some energy out before we are confined to our house, maybe even a closet in our house. He went out with Kaylee to try and take advantage of a little bit of the wind and fly a kite. It was really cute. I took a picture, but I'm not in the picturey mood, so I'll post it later. I on the other hand, kept myself busy making beds, cleaning the kitchen and vacuming the house. Can you believe I VACUMED??? Like I said, I'm trying to keep things normal. This is my obnoxious way of calming my nerves and keeping myself busy.

We are expecting to have a power outage for a couple of days. If that's the worst, than I can definately deal with that. Anyway, I really feel like things are going to be just fine. We are at the point where we have made the decision to stay, we have prepared ourselves, so now we just have to be faithful. Anyway, I will keep everyone posted. Hopefully my next post will be a VERY boring post!!! :) Just remember that we live an hour north of where it's really hitting. So no reason to worry. Thank you to all of our family and freinds who have called to check on us. Don't let the news on T.V. scare you! Remember: it's their job to make news! Love you all!

I changed my mind about the picture. Here's one to lighten the mood! :)

Anyone want to fly a kite??? I think I'm going to start reading the Twilight series today. That'll keep me busy!