What we have been up to....

Wow....the past few weeks has been super crazy, but in the middle of the craziness we still have found time to play and just enjoy being home. When Carson & Kaylee were at Grandma Karen's house, she made them playdo. They love it! So they begged me to let them play with it the other day. It is better than normal playdo, it doesn't go crumbly as easily and is safe in case they (mainly Kaylee) decides to eat it!

My two kids are probably like most other siblings....they get along great most of the time, but still have moments of fighting, toy taking, and screaming. On Sunday after church, after I got home from Choir practice, this is what I found them doing....they LOVE playing with the bar stools. I also like it when they ARE getting along and playing with one another! It makes my life not as stressful!

On Monday, we made a yummy chocolate cake and invited some friends over to help us eat it. I think it was a hit with both of my kiddos....what do you think?

Life has continued on since the explosion and repairs are coming along nicely. We should have the painters here on Monday along with the three basement windows. Then we will get NEW carpet installed the next week. In the mean time we are having fun playing with friends, preschool, parties, and of course the Premier of NEW MOON tonight! Yeah!

9 Years

November 10, 2000 was the day it all really began. Our journey together as Husband and Wife. The past nine years have just flown by! It is fun to think back about when we first got married, lived in a small one bedroom apartment and thought that $9 an hour was awesome! Nine years later things have really progressed from where we started! We have two adorable children a nice home and a career. I wish I could say that it has all been a breeze, but anyone else who is married knows it isn't just that easy....it takes work, sacrifice, dedication, and most of all humility. Life is crazy and you never know what kind of things you must face! But I always have to remind myself that whatever doesn't break you just makes you stronger! I still can't believe it is has been nine years, and next year will be ten...a whole decade!!!! So to celebrate we really wanted to get away and do something fun, so we thought Las Vegas would be perfect. We had gone to Vegas for our 2nd anniversary and had fun and it also worked out great since we could drop our kids off at Nick's parents house to stay. It couldn't have been better timing for our trip, since the explosion of the refinery and other real estate issues have been stressing me out. So I was so ready to get away. Nick worked on Saturday, so after he got home we finished packing and headed to Holden. Our plan was to stay there Sat night, and then take off Sunday morning. After we got to Holden that night, I started feeling a little nauseous, and thought it was just because I was working on my computer while driving, but it didn't go away. I spent all night throwing up! I hardly could sleep because I felt so horrible!! I was hoping to feel better Sunday morning, but after getting up I just couldn't get going, and spent the rest of the day sleeping and throwing up! We decided to stay Sunday night and see how I felt in the morning and then try and leave for Vegas. I slept MUCH better Sunday night, so Monday morning we got up and out the door and headed south! Ted & Karen let us borrow their Toyota Prius, which gets like 45 MPG. It was amazing the amount of money we saved on gas! And it was a great comfortable ride! I was impressed! We got to Vegas around 2:00 and checked into our hotel, the Stratosphere. Our room was on the 19th floor (24 floors total in the hotel). I couldn't believe how many elevators they had and how FAST they were. It was a great hotel, and we only paid $25 a night! We got settled and walked around the hotel for a bit and then decided to go sit in the Hot Tub before the pool closed and before dinner. The pool was on the 8th floor outside. It wasn't hot in Vegas, but it was a perfect 72 degrees while we were there! Then we ventured out and about the hotel and did some window shopping.

I love how in Vegas the Hotels are all so inclusive, so you don't have to leave the hotel! There is food, shopping, and entertainment! We also went to the top of the stratosphere and checked out the view. I didn't know it, but the stratosphere is actually taller than the Space Needle and Eiffel Tower! Later that night we went to the show "American Superstars" there at the hotel. It was a show full of impersonators. They had Elvis, Britney Spears, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, and Michael Jackson. It was pretty good! And for being a guest at the hotel we got 2 tickets for the price of 1! After the show, I was SO tired and still didn't feel great so we were in bed pretty early! The next morning we were up pretty early and got a good start on the day. The best thing we did in Vegas was doing a session at the Las Vegas Temple. It is so pretty! It isn't like all the other temples, and I found it so interesting. It was a great way to spend our actually Anniversary! (Tues was the 10th....our actually anniversary day!).


On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at In & Out burger for lunch and some tshirts. That is Nick's little weird hobby...collecting In & Out Shirts! So he was glad we found one!

It has probably been at least a year since I have had a hamburger...(I do turkeyburgers normally). So it was pretty yummy, but since my stomach was still trying to repair itself I didn't quite enjoy all the food I wanted too! But it was good!

A view of our hotel on the way back from the temple.

After we got back to the hotel, we decided to go to the top again, since the day before we didn't bring the camera. We both wanted to ride the rides at the top, but since I wasn't feeling to hot, we decided it wasn't worth making me feel worse! Maybe next time!

On our way back to our room we decided to spend a few dollars on the Nickle slots for fun. And I had no luck what so ever, but after only playing like $2, Nick won $23.15!! Then turned around and used $1 from that, and won another $15.05. We cashed out the tickets and stopped while we were ahead!

We got back to our room and decided to rest up a bit. We ordered the movie "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and watched it in our room. It was actually kind of fun to just relax and watch tv! For dinner we decided to head down to the strip and find a restaurant to eat at. So we got ready and headed out. We walked through Treasure Island and the Mirage, but all the restaurants were SUPER expensive, and since I knew I wouldn't be able to eat a ton, we kept going until we found an Outback Steakhouse. It was a great little place and was a very romantic environment. We weren't super impressed with the menu, but it was still good food. I was really hoping we would have found a Texas Road House! We had our own little quiet booth and ate a yummy greasy Bloomin' Onion! Nick enjoyed his Baby Back Ribs, while I tried to eat some of my Chicken Ceasar Salad. I mainly ordered it so I could have the chicken, which was the only thing that sounded good to me at the time.

I am getting pretty good at taking pictures of ourselves with one hand! Good thing I have long arms!

However, when we were walking through the Venetian, an nice man offered to take our picture once he saw us trying to take pictures of ourselves! So alas, a picture of the two of us, that isn't a close up!

We walked around a few hotels and shops and just enjoyed the beautiful evening.

When we got back to our hotel, on the way back up to the room we stopped and watched people play all the different Casino Games. It was so amazing how much people would bet! I found it just as entertaining to watch them play then maybe playing myself! I think we will just stick to the Nickle Slots!

We got up early on Wednesday and got all packed up to head home. We got checked out of the hotel and on the road by 9:30 AM. We pulled into Holden around 2:30. It was so good to see the kids. We knew they were in good hands while we were gone. In fact while we were enjoying ourselves in Vegas....the kids were having a ball in Holden! They did everything from riding fourwheelers, playing in the dirt, watching deer, going up to the field and cabin, to this....

The had a ball with the leaves! I asked Carson if he missed me and he said "no". I asked Kaylee if she wanted to go home, and she said "no". Again, I know that they were in good hands! I just felt so bad, because Carson was sick during the nights while we were gone, and I felt bad that I wasn't there to be with him. But Grandma Karen took good care of both of the kids!

I can't wait to go back to Vegas someday when I feel 100% and can really enjoy the food and the sights a bit better! But honestly, it was kinda nice taking it so slow and easy! We didn't have to spend a lot of money and it was SO enjoyable to just do what we wanted and not have a list of things to get done! I recommend the Stratosphere Hotel if you ever stay in Vegas. It is a bit off the strip, but isn't too far to still enjoy the experience!

Thanks again to Nicholas for the past 9 years! For putting up with me and my craziness! Can't wait to do something AMAZING for our 10 year!!! I better start saving now....I have always wanted to go on a cruise!!! Love ya!!!!

A first......

No pictures for this post, I know it is a first! But I had to blog this so I can remember this very funny and interesting moment that involved Kaylee! Last night, after a long drive home from Vegas and Holden, we had gotten home and unpacked. I bathed the kids and we were in our PJ's relaxing until bedtime. I had given Kaylee a small bowl of Marshmallow Mateys to snack on and headed out of the room. After I came back out to the family room, I sat down at the table to go through receipts from the week, and Kaylee walked over to me with green all over her finger, mouth and nose. She wasn't crying but seemed concerned about her green finger. It took me a second to figure out why she had green all over, but then realized it must have been a marshmallow, and then I was like "why is in all over your nose?". So I picked her up and looked up her nose, and sure enough there was something in it. So I was able to get out a piece of cereal and tried to wipe out the green stuff with a qtip, but then realized there was still something else in there. So I got out my favorite nose sucker and was able to get a green marshmallow out of her nose too! It just made me laugh. I had always heard of kids sticking things up their nose, but Carson never did anything like this. So it made me laugh! This was a first for us, and I am sure not the last! But I hope that it was uncomfortable enough for Kaylee that she won't even think about doing that again!

An "Explosive" event!

On Wed, November 4th, I had gotten up early that morning. I worked out, got Carson ready for school, took him across the street to Kristi to take to school, showered, and had just finished eating Ham & Eggs for breakfast. I told Kaylee to keep eating in the kitchen at the table and I headed back to my room to dry my hair. About 2 minutes into drying my hair I heard a loud boom and my whole house started moving, and I lost my balance and turned to towards the bathroom door and watched a picture fall of the wall. Once I realized it wasn't an earthquake, I new instantly it was the refinery blowing up! I didn't know how small or big the explosion was at the moment, but I knew it was bigger than any previous fires since my house was still moving! So as soon as it stopped I ran out of my bathroom as fast as I could! My heart was pounding and all I could hear was Kaylee screaming at the top of her lungs. I wasn't sure what I would find....and a ton of thoughts flew through my head of her being hurt, under something that fell, burns all over her face....just anything and everything that could have happened to her! She was sitting up right on the floor between the bar and the green chair in our tv room. She had her hands out like they were hurt, but once I grabbed her and held her close I realized she was not hurt and just really scared! After examining her quickly to make sure there was no bleeding or anything, I turned around to see the mess.....my front door was blown open and my front window shattered! Then I heard a humming sound, so I went back into my room and realized it was my blow dryer still running. Then as I ran back into the kitchen to grab the phone, I saw my microwave door blown open and one of my cupboard doors open with some glasses on the floor that fell out. I couldn't believe what had just happened. As I ran toward the front door again I tried calling 911, but the call didn't seem to connect, so I hung up and called Nick's phone. While doing so I went outside to look across the street to see what had happend...I really thought I wasn't going to see the houses standing across from me....but they were, but I noticed Lind's fence was blown apart, there was dust and debri in the air and the Horne's house was missing siding....and I saw Kristi in front of her garage and yelled at her to see if she was okay. She answered she was and then Nick answered his phone. I don't remember exactly what I said to him, but I told him that we are okay but please get home NOW!!!! The refinery just exploded...get home NOW!! I need you to come home now!! Of course you can imagine I was a little emotional, so he had to tell me to calm down since he couldn't understand me. So once I was able to tell him what happened he said he would be there asap. I walked back into my house to get my shoes on and get Kaylee's diaper bag, since my thought was to get out of there fast. As I was walking back to my room, a friend in the ward, Andy called my cell phone and asked if I was okay, and I said yes, but was still quite emotional. He said he was right outside my house and asked if I needed him to come help, and I told him yes, so as soon as he came in the house I gave him a big hug! I was so relieved to have someone there with me because I just didn't know what I was supposed to do! Right away he went outside and started to find a way to get the garage door off and get the van out, since it had been crumpled in the explosion and the garage door wouldn't open. With the help of another guy, they were able to get the bottom 2 rows of the door peeled off and the top of the garage up enough to pull the van out. Then Andy found a drill and was able to use the broken molding from the door to screw the front door shut. The door had been deadbolted, so when it flew open it ripped the door right through the frame. He also put a piece of sheet rock up in the window so we could at least leave and the house would be somewhat closed up. But by the time we got that all taken care of the police where there and almost the whole neighborhood had started to gather at the bottom of the street. No one told us to leave, so I decided to wait for Nick to get home before doing anything. During all of this, I was constantly on my phone calling my friends to make sure they were okay, and other family to let them know what was going on. I called Carson's preschool teacher to make sure they were okay, and they were fine, they had felt it and the power went out, but they were good. She offered to keep the kids, Carson and Brooklynn, until we could come and get them. I was calling people and people were calling me. It was non stop, and I just was holding Kaylee for the first part of this until my neighbor offered to hold her. She only cried after it happened, and once I got her calmed down she stayed so calm. She was SO cooperative with everyone and I think she was just watching everyone and didn't know what else to do. That morning was so crazy that five hours passed before I realized what time it was and that it was already 2 PM. I couldn't believed all that had happened. The neighbors had moved Linda's stuff completely out of her house within 2 hours, since the house in the back was quite ruined and unstable, so they told her to get everything out. It was amazing to see our neighborhood and ward pull together so fast and get her taken care of. In fact, when Nick got home he found me and made sure I was okay, and then I didn't really get to see and talk to him again until about 5 PM since he was busy getting things taken care of for Linda and our other neighbors. Nick's parents, Ted & Karen, were actually planning on coming up that day and were in Provo when I called them to tell them what happened. So they were also there shortly after it happened, and Karen took both kids to lunch and kept them busy and away from everything for several hours. It was such a blessing!!! Finally around 5, after calling and talking to our insurance, and taking tons of pictures, we finally started to clean up our house. There was glass, dust, and insulation everywhere....so it was nice that there was a cleaning crew that came and helped clean up the glass in our house. Then some men came and boarded up all 5 broken windows, and the garage door. We also got our front door screwed in with a 2x4 and even were able to get the gas turned back on once questar gas verified our lines were okay. So we were able to stay at our house that night, and not have to go to a hotel. It would take me all day to write about all the neat things our neighbors did that day to help us out....but I want to thank them all! Tiffany for picking up Carson for us, Andy for being such a great first responder, Kim & Fiona for taking care of Kaylee and getting the gas and water shut off for us right away! All of the RS Sisters for the hugs, support, and friendship and concern. It made me feel so loved! I walked into Linda's house and saw a lot of the women in our ward packing up her house....even Kristi who's own house was in shambles! It was amazing! Even our friend Camille, who used to live across the street from us drove down from Kaysville to see if she could help! Seriously, everyone is amazing and that is why we don't ever want to leave this place.....we have the best friends and neighbors ever!!! I think they will agree!!!

Yesterday, by 8 AM there were already tons of people, insurance adjusters, and contractors looking at houses and getting things back in order. I met up with our insurance adjuster and contractor in the morning, and by the afternoon the window and door people were at my house seeing what needed to be done to get it fixed. On Friday, we got a new front door, and the 2 other doors were repaired. We also got the 2 windows upstairs fixed. We get our garage door on Monday. I have been so pleased with our insurance and the fast work that Josh with ServePro is doing! Our insurance will be fixing everything, and then they will work with the Refinery's insurance to get reimbursed. The refinery said they will pay for everything, including our deductible.

I am so amazed that no one got hurt and that it was only damages to houses. I am sad though, because all 5 neighbors around me are having to leave their home until they can fix or rebuild them. They have to much structural damage to stay. So they are temporarily staying in apartments and rental houses for the next 6 to 8 months. I am sad they have to move all their stuff and rebuild, but all of them said they are coming back! It is just unreal when I think about all that has happened in the past 3 days. The news interviews, the meetings, the millions of phone calls, and people willing to help! We are truly blessed and I know that our Heavenly Father was watching over us that day!

Here are some pictures of our house from the explosion....

It blew out the front three basement windows, and all of our windows in the back of our house aren't broken, but they blew out the seal so all of them will have to be fixed.

My pantry...it looks like we had an earthquake!

The explosion went through the house and blew out the back......blowing out the soffit and insulation....

There are cracks and lines like this in quite a few places inside the house.

This is the back door.....

The cleaning crew....

Again...thank you to everyone that was there that day! I don't think I will forget that day for quite a while! But I will always remember the service and love that was shown to everyone that day!

More Family Pictures...

I finally edited the rest of our family pictures, and just wanted to share!

This is my favorite of all....in fact, I just ordered my debit card with this picture on it!!

I am so glad we have them done and I can get started on my Christmas Cards!!!!