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.

Elizabeth's New Job

Yesterday Darin came home from work and informed Elizabeth that the new Hobby Lobby had a sign up saying they were NOW HIRING. So, they immediately jumped in his car and went over there. A little about Hobby Lobby... It's only my FAVORITE store and it is now going to be the closest store to our home! Yea!!! Well, an hour later Elizabeth walks in the door with a huge grin on her face announcing that they had hired her! She was interviewed and had to take a quick math test and they hired her! YEA!! She is sooo excited! She will start next Monday. She could have started this weekend but we had just signed her up for a weekend Choir camp at the University of Houston and had paid for it so she gets to wait till Monday. She was also told that they will be closed on Sundays. The manager doesn't like to work on Sundays either! What a great blessing! I think it will be great!

(Not just for me, for her too! :) )

HOBBY LOBBY

Senior Picture Photo Shoot

Saturday I had the privilege of going with Elizabeth to take her Senior pictures. I was able to snap a few pictures with her phone camera while they were taking pictures of her. She looked so beautiful! It was one of those moments that time stops for a few seconds and you just want to curl into a ball and cry! So many thoughts were going through my head as I observed all that was happening. First, um.. I felt like saying "excuse me, that much shoulder doesn't need to be seen!". (I did readjust the top after the one lady had put it on! No one noticed and it wasn't changed! :) ) Second, where have all the years gone?! It seems not long ago that she was in elementary school and now... WOW! Time flies. Last week our Bishop gave a talk in church and talked about enjoy each moment and not always looking towards tomorrow. I know I haven't always done the greatest at this, but I really have enjoyed each of my children every step of the way. I feel it an honor to be their Mom. I'm definitely not that great of a mom and being blessed with such incredible children is definitely a blessing.

While we were at the studio one of the men asked me if I was ready for her to leave and hed off to college. I said No, I don't look forward to that day. He seemed surprised and said that she must be a good girl then. Yes, she is a very good girl. How lucky we are to have a daughter who is good, who is indepentant and strong willed, but so good. She knows who she is and makes good choices in her life. She is smart and fun and so beautiful.
When they put the cap and gown on I think that is when it really got to me. I know I still have this last year with her at home, but time is just going too quickly! I'm so excited and happy for her and this time of life for her. She is absolutely loving being a senior and is really looking forward to this last year of high school.
(Sorry the pictures aren't that great! It was actually kind of dark in the room and I was trying to take the pictures without them really noticeing me!)

Mom's Homework and 1st Day of School updates

Each year it is the same thing and each year it seems to get worse and worse. The first day of school each of my children walk in the door and hand me a HUGE envelope with homework to be completed by me. Trent loved letting me know that the only homework he had last night was making sure I completed mine. UGH!! You would think they could get their act together better and only make us do "one" paper per family and just let all the children sign their name on it. But NO! 4 children, 4 papers exactly the same over and over and over again!! It's not quite as bad for the elementary ones, but the high school ones... now that's another story! Each class wants the parents to read and sign each class syllabus for their class. I actually had to stop last night for a little while because I started getting loopy and misspelling my own name! Then it was time to pull out the checkbook. Two PTA's wanting my money, Athletic fee's, directory fee, SOS fee, (Spartans out Serving) basketball shoe order money, (they require everyone on the team to have the same shoes) Elizabeth's choir fee's, Trent's 5th grade choir fee's, time trackers, etc. etc.... It just keeps going on and on!!

This picture doesn't do justice to how bad it is! A few of the papers are actually stapled pamphlets.

While I was busy working on the paperwork, Elizabeth and Eyn were busy putting together their supplies for each of their classes. They came home with their lists of what supplies they had to have for each individual class. Luckily, I had stocked up on tons of supplies I knew they would end up needing. We get a list before school starts, but each teacher always wants their individual items. We went to the store last night to try and pick up a few things we hadn't gotten and it was crazy in there! We ended up walking out with nothing I planned on getting. I need to go attempt a different store today to pick up a few things. Elizabeth and Eyn both had homework last night and of course Elizabeth was up too late working on it. She came in and asked me for help with some of her English homework and I had never even heard of it before! That's not a good sign!
Just a quick first day of school update:

Amberly: She "had to" ride the bus home from school. She has watched her siblings ride the bus her entire life and couldn't wait to do it. So, we're letting her for now. She came off the bus and declared that she had had the BEST day of her life! She absolutely loved school and had made 2 new friends. She loved absolutely everything about it and loves her teacher! I am so happy for her! I just want that feeling to continue! She came and woke me up this morning wondering ready to get up and get going! Now if only we can keep that feeling for the next 12 years!

Trent's first day: He thought it was great! He really likes his teacher and thinks she will be super. (So do I!) They didn't change classes yesterday so hopefully he'll like all the other teachers today. He will have all 5 of the 5th grade teaches plus PE, Art, and music teachers as well. He absolutely loved riding his bike to school. He got home really fast!

Eyn: He said high school was okay. He didn't like that the bus was so crowded, but that should thin out once all the extra curricular activities get going. He seemed to like his classes okay and was excited for basketball. The doctor has put him at 100% as of yesterday so he can play again. They start today so we'll see how it goes. He has an extremely early lunch and hated that. He said he wasn't hungry. Seminary starts today so that will add another hour before he eats lunch so hopefully he will be hungrier then.

Elizabeth said school was okay. She said being a senior is great. She said the teachers aren't as strict with them and don't treat them like babies and she loves that. She is still trying to figure out if she wants to keep her schedule the same or not so that has been stressful. She just wants to enjoy her year. She loved lunch again because they have a big group of kids from church that all sit together and that's great for them. She's looking forward to Friday night because the seniors in our ward are going to start getting together and having their own parties. It was initiated by one of the parents in our ward and I think it's great!

Great first day all around I must say!

New Glasses for Trent

We were finally able to pick up Trent's new glasses last night. We had ordered them so he would have them for the first day of school, but one of the lens came in wrong so they had to reorder them. So, he spent the first day of school "trying" to make it look like he wasn't struggling to see the board. He was amazed at how clear everything looked when he put them on.

Doesn't he look cute!Trent and Katy have always had a special friendship. She actually doesn't like to be held but she puts up with it better with him than anyone else. She sleeps at the end of his bed the majority of the time.