Happy Easter!

Hail of a Storm

 Last Wednesday night we had the worst storm I have ever seen. I hope I never get closer to a tornado than this. I had actually been complaining about all the panic and the canceled church activities Wednesday evening. It seemed like a nice calm evening. It started to rain around 7 ish. No big deal. I thought we still could have had our activities.

 These first two pics are of the day after. Notice how our driveway can't even be seen. This pic to the right is how the siding looks all over our house. It will all need to be replaced. We also have one broken kitchen window and some ripped up screens. The pics below show what made all of the damage.

 Here is Ben walking in our debris and hail covered driveway. There was steam all around because of the cold, and large hail on the ground. The hail began to fall around 8 p.m. If we would have been at the church, we would have been stuck there for a while. I take all of my complaining back. It's a good thing activities were canceled.

 I've never seen hail this big EVER! When it started hitting our house we couldn't even hear eachother talk. It was so loud as it hit our garage. I know the safe thing to do is stay inside and camp out in a windowless room...but we really wanted to see. It was amazing to watch the storm from our front porch.

Every once in a while we get out the snow shovel. Here is Mr. Stoner scooping up all the hail in our driveway. Speaking of our driveway...I pulled in last night to discover that it had been completely cleared of all leaves, limbs, and debris. Some very kind person did this for us. Thank you whoever you are!

Seventeen!

Happy Birthday Jessica! 

 

Jessica was born on a Tuesday afternoon. She was the perfect delivery. Seriously! My contractions were like clockwork and I got my epidural early. I could have taken a nap if the nurses would have let me. I remember Dr. Judd's son was waiting in the hallway because he had a soccer game at 5:30 p.m. Jessica was delivered at 5:10 p.m. Dr. Judd smiled and said "you did great" then took his son to his game.

Jessica is a peacemaker...always seeing the good in everyone. She loves to make others feel special. Sewing homemade gifts for friends is one of her favorite things to do. She has ambition, ideas, and creativity. Jessica knows who she is and what she wants. I feel so blessed to be her mother. She is an example to me.

Our family has many inside jokes about Jess. She once made sugar cookies with wheat flour. Gross. She also made pancakes with powdered sugar instead of flour. She took hours cleaning her bathroom one time. When I checked on her, I saw that she was labeling where everything should go in the bathroom cabinet and drawers. There were labels that said "brush," "lotion," "contacts," etc. Jessica is very efficient! She makes me smile. I especially smile when I catch Jessica reading her scriptures, or writing in her journal. Like I said, she's a really good example and leader to the rest of my children. What more could I want from my oldest child! I love her. Just in case you think Jessica sounds perfect....let me tell you her greatest challenge. She's always LATE. She cannot be rushed. We often joke with her and say "you will be late to your own funeral!"

Hope you all like the pictures. They were taken last Saturday by Brianna Fisher! She's an awesome photographer! Go visit her website at http://bfisherfotography.blogspot.com/

Thunder and Lightning!

When we have storms here it can be really scary! The rain comes down in sheets and the thunder makes me want to hide. Last night we had one of these storms. It poured for about 5 hours.

My kids are just plain crazy! They love to play in the rain. Here they are... soaked to the bone. Rather than make them come inside, I just took some pictures. They had a great time.