Escaping the Wind

Yes, we are safe, our house is safe, we suffered almost no damages in the ginormous windstorms on Thursday. Thanks everyone for all your concern! I got lots of texts wondering how we were.

Matt and I don't have TV, so we had no idea that big windstorms were expected all day Thursday. We went to sleep Wednesday night, thinking it was just like any other day. I first noticed something was up when I got woken up Thursday morning by Sobaka laying down right beside my face. Sobaka never does this! He does not sleep on our bed and only feels the need to snuggle when he is scared. So I knew something was up. Then I heard it. Then I felt it. The wind was blowing so hard and was so loud, I couldn't believe I'd slept through it thus far. And the entire house was shaking. That's saying something when our house is connected to 9 others! Pretty soon Magdalyn and Kalianna were both awake from the noise too. I woke up Matt, wondering why he was still home so late. He said he woke up and saw the wind and decided it wasn't worth the risk to drive on I-15 all the way to Salt Lake for school.

When I went in the girls' room, Kalianna was sitting on her windowsill looking out the window. I sat beside her and we just stared for awhile. I have never seen anything like it before in my life! I felt like we were in the movie Twister. Every time a gust blew, we saw huge trees blow over like they were nothing more than a couple of toothpicks. Shingles flew off roofs as though they weren't attached at all, and fences were being blown over left and right. Or pieces of fences, like in our case.

We began our morning routine and while Kalianna and I were in the bathroom, the lights flickered several times. We kept having to open the door so we could see. Then they finally went out. And then they stayed out. Matt checked the news and called the power company (thank goodness for cell phones!) and we decided it would be best to hit the road when the storm calmed and head to my parent's. Matt had to be to work at 4:00, and there was no guarantee we would have power back that night. Plus we were headed there Friday anyway, so we just packed the girls up and went a day early.

We left our house in the early afternoon, after the brunt of the storm was over. But we still had to run a few errands before leaving Layton. It was crazy!! Driving down the road, there were huge trees all over the place, ripped up right from their roots! There was garbage everywhere! Debris from all over the place now lay in piles around people's yards and in the road. Branches, wood, roof shingles, lawn furniture, Christmas decorations, anything and everything that was out in people's yards when the storm hit. It was such a weird feeling driving past all the people cleaning up, moving trees, repairing fences, etc. I seriously felt like we had driven straight into the scene of a scary movie! Or maybe an action movie...either way it was very surreal. I wish now that I had my camera with me, just to remember what everything looked like.

None of the streetlights worked and there were people from the power company all over the place trying to repair power lines, so it took awhile to get out. The freeway wasn't any better. Every few feet there was an overturned semi on the side of the road or trucks pulled over. We went about 5 mph until Centerville. I even ended up nursing Maggie in the car while we drove because it was taking so long to get anywhere, and she woke up hungry. But after Centerville everything opened up and we were able to make it to my parent's house.

We ended up having a really fun weekend with my parents! And the girls were spoiled rotten! (Matt has been working every Saturday lately to get a big upgrade done at work, so the girls and I have been spending a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa.) Thursday night my dad took Kalianna to the store to get cookies and after being gone for an hour, my mom and I began wondering where they were. Awhile later they came back and Kalianna had an ice cream cone, a bag of Oreos and another bag with several Muppet movies in it. (After seeing the new Muppet movie last weekend, we discovered Kalianna Loves them!) My mom just laughed. We had been making bets on where he took her and what she would arrive home with. My mom called it spot on, with the exception of which store they bought the movies at.

Friday we played all day. My sister dropped Hayden and Ian off for a little while so for about 30 minutes I had the 4 kids alone. Kalianna and Ian had a ball together! She sure loves her cousins! Then that night was Matt's work Christmas party so my brother, Brent, and his cute new girlfriend watched the girls for a couple hours.

Saturday we went to the mall to help my mom pick out a new shirt for her concert that night and Grandpa spoiled Kalianna again. She wanted to ride the carousel, so he bought her 4 rides and she was in heaven! Kalianna Loves the carousel! Then he took all of us out to Olive Garden for lunch. I had Magdalyn on my lap while I was eating a breadstick and she grabbed it right out of my hand and started chowing down on it. She loved it! It was so funny! Maggie has not been interested in solids at all, but I guess I just wasn't giving her the right flavor. Forget the cardboard tasting cheerios and Gerber snacks, she wanted butter and garlic! We played some more at my parent's house that afternoon and then we all went to watch my mom's bell choir perform that night. Really fun!

Biggest grin ever!

Yummy!

What started out as a scary experience turned into a really fun weekend!