We survived IKE!

Today we are very thankful in our home. We have been greatly blessed and we know it. So many people have been affected really bad with this hurricane and we have only had minimal damage done to our home. How grateful we are! We only had to go about 4 hours without power while so many others continue to be without power and will be for quite sometime. Darin and I went around our neighborhood this morning and saw many trees snapped in half, lots of limbs down, many fences down, and some damage to roofs. We have many limbs down in our yard and one corner of our house a little damaged, but Darin says it will be easy to fix. Darin's parents home also survived so they are very happy also. Over half of our Ward remains without power including our church building so all meetings tomorrow have been canceled. If you have watched any news coverage and seen pictures of downtown Houston, well, it only takes me about 30 minutes to get down there. That's how close we are!! It was definitely a long night. I think the worst hit our area between 3 and 5 am. It was loud and we saw numerous transformers blow. I will admit that we went and stood in the middle of the road at 3 am. just to experience the hurricane. It was creepy watching the trees and being blown so hard by the winds. I'm so glad that it wasn't worse for our area, but worried about the other areas. Our county has a curfew along with the whole Houston area. Please continue to pray for those that have suffered so much.

The picture above is about 8:00 last evening. The sky was so incredibly beautiful! The colors were so bright and and clouds circling where a sight to see!

This is what it looked like when we opened our front door this morning. Our side walk was covered completely. Walking into the road and looking down all you could see was leaves, pine needles, and limbs covering the road.

Clean up time! No one was very happy to be outside in the heat cleaning up. These pictures don't do justice to how much was in the yard!

One stick at a time gets the job done!

Update - 11:00 PM.

I'll hurry and give an update since Darin just told me our cable TV just went out and we have cable Internet so it will possibly be out soon.

The gusts are slowly picking up. We have been standing outside enjoying the wind. I think we are now getting between 40-50 mph gusts. We have only seen a few drops of rain. The rain is coming we are told.

It's hard to watch all that is happening just south of us. The destruction and flooding happening is really sobering. I'm thankful that we are not in that area. My in-laws are really worried about what their home will be like when they return to it. I think Sharon is so worried that she has gotten ill.

The monopoly game finally ended a while ago. Eyn won. They seemed to be having lots of fun. Amberly fell asleep on the couch exhausted. Bruce and Sharon went to bed and everyone else is outside. We are under a curfew until 10am. tomorrow. It's interesting to sit here and here the wind beating against the house.

Update on Ike

It is now 8:30 pm. and we have been feeling gusts of wind up to 35 miles per hour so far. We saw a big orange glow in the sky awhile ago and found out that lightening had hit a cable box not far from here. We also found out that an area not far from here is already out of power. We have our flashlights and candles ready if necessary. We went outside at sunset and watched the beautiful clouds glowing orange, purple and red. It was beautiful! The boys are all still deep into their game of monopoly. That's better than having the news coverage constantly on! We are ready for a long night!

Still Waiting for Ike

This morning before the winds picked up very much Darin and his Dad got to work trimming some of the limbs on our trees. If you haven't seen our yard we have LOTS of trees. There were just a few big ones hanging too close to the house that I wanted down if the wind gets bad. Darin had trimmed a few yesterday but was glad to have his Dads help today for the big ones.

I think Darin likes the power behind the chainsaw!

Amberly just had to climb the ladder and get in on the action! She's such a cute helper!

Let me just say that when they were outside doing this it was very hot and the humidity was high. As soon as they finished they both came inside and instantly took showers!

It is now 6:30 pm. The winds have started picking up more and we're expecting some feeder bands to be here in the next few hours. Darin, his Dad, and Eyn are in the middle of Monopoly, Amberly is watching, and Trent and Elizabeth are hiding out in her room doing something. Everyone is anxiously waiting for the storm to hit here. Galveston is already getting flooded really badly. We live about 70 miles Northeast of Galveston and are still expecting Hurricane strength winds here. I've decided that the worst part of the storm is waiting. Waiting to see what will happen and if it will. Waiting, Waiting, Waiting.

Waiting for Hurricane Ike

Our family is currently waiting for Hurricane Ike. It has been a long week watching and wondering exactly where it is going to make landfall. Now that the cone has shrunk our area of Texas has been put into high gear making sure everything is prepared. I feel like we are in pretty good shape. I completely filled the van with gas yesterday morning before the lines got long. Darin tried to get gas last night and the gas station closest to our house was out of gas. So, he went back early this morning after taking Elizabeth and Eyn to seminary and was able to get some without any problems. The lines today are really bad. Chevron closed their Houston offices early today so Darin has been home most of the day and the schools and all extracurricular act ivies have been canceled through the weekend. (Including Elizabeth's ACT test) Businesses will be closing up early tomorrow. Where we are located we are expected to get winds of up to 80 - 100 mph. Scary! But, we have been told to "hunker down" and shelter at home. Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Sharon will be coming up to stay with us during the storm. It should be an interesting weekend. I'm so thankful that we have prophets that have told us to have our food storage and be prepared. I've been told that the stores are horrible today and I'm just glad we don't have to deal with them. It will be interesting if we have to go without power and water for awhile, I can't stand the heat! As for now, I'm just trying to get all the laundry done and make sure things are in order in the house. Darin was outside this morning trimming a few of our trees to help protect our house.

Have a great weekend!

Front Yard Visitor

This morning when Trent and I went outside we came upon this cute little armadillo in our yard. This is not a typical thing for us! We were quite surprised by the guest and had fun following him around the yard for a few minutes. (I've never seen one so close up before! I usually see them dead by the side of the road!)

Amberly's Party

Last night we had fun celebrating Amberly's Birthday. Grandpa and Grandma came over to celebrate with us. Amberly wanted lasagna for her special dinner and she wanted an ice cream cake. I think it all came out quite yummy! She was really hyper most of the evening! She couldn't wait to open her presents she was so excited. What a jump!
Make a wish Amberly!
Blowing out the candles.
We had a great evening! It ended too quickly.

We much prefer weekend birthdays over school night birthdays!

Happy 6th Birthday Amberly!!

Today is my precious Amberly's 6th Birthday! Where has the time gone?! She is such a bright shiny part of our family. Amberly has always been easy to please and a joy to have in our home. You can definitely tell she is the youngest because she can stick up for herself. She has a strong will and is determined to do things her way. She loves everything girl yet has that tomboy in her also. She thinks that the world should and does revolve around her. She's easy to get a long with. She makes friends easily and is loved by everyone. She can be quiet and shy at times, but once she gets comfortable watch out!! We are so lucky to have her in our family!

Happy Birthday sweetie!

Fresh from Heaven

Blessing Day Age 1 1/2 - 2yrs.At age 3 with her best buddy "Puppy" Having lunch with Mom, Ms. Nola, and Best Friend Katie - Age 4
Preschool fun - age 56 years old and loving Kindergarten and life in general!!Happy Birthday Amberly!!

Sisters Forever

Today Elizabeth wanted me to take her and Amberly to get their pictures taken together for a special birthday present she is making for Amberly. (Birthday is Tuesday) We had a lot of fun as we went to a few different locations in our neighborhood to take the pictures. They were all so good she is having a hard time choosing which one she wants to use. Their both growing up on me too quickly! I'm so thankful that even with the age difference they "usually" get a long great and enjoy spending time together. It's kind of become their "thing" to spend time together Sunday afternoons doing nails. I'm sure Amberly has the most beautifully painted nails in kindergarten!

We found this great bulldozer by the golf course and Amberly was so excited when I said go jump on!

I loved these next pictures because it showed their playful side.