A River Runs Through it!

 

I don't think I like that movie any more.

 

Yesterday morning we had a disaster and this river came running into our house. We have had a lot of rain in the last few days and on Friday night, I don't think it stopped all night. The ditch above the house I think is there to prevent the run off but instead the horses made a little dam  in the ditch and the only way the water could go was down.  The ground is frozen, so, with so much rain it made rivers everywhere. (What is up with rain, it is January!!!)

 

The river ran through the back yard and into the window wells, ( Do you see any windows underneath there?)

The water was about 5 or 6 inches above the window wells.

 

When I came down to exercise yesterday morning, I got to the bottom of the stairs and started screaming."WATER!", "Everywhere WATER"  Ryan just grabbed his coat and shovel and went running outside and started frantically trying to divert the river. I ran into my hobby room. (or I should say sloshed,) to try and save whatever I could.  The water was coming through the windows over the ledge and down onto the counter, then onto the floor. ( if it wasn't such an ugly color it would have looked like one of those beautiful fountains.)  I realized that I was going to freeze to death in my shoes, so I ran and got my water boots and opened the back door in the basement and grabbed a shovel and started shoveling water as fast as I could.

 

This is not a site I wanted to see.

 I realized that Ryan and I were not going to win this war with the water so I called a member of the Bishopric, Nate Winward and told him we were in trouble. I then called Mac, I had held my composure until then but kind of lost it when I looked at the mess we had.  He said, he would be right there and I resumed my shoveling of water.  The river was coming out of my hobby room and Ryan's gun room and I could actually see a ripple of water as it came shooting down the bathroom hallway.  It kind of seemed like forever before someone showed up, because all I could do was shovel like crazy.  Ryan was having the same struggles, because the ground is frozen it was like digging cement to try and make a ditch for the water to run.

 

Here is his gun room, after I tried to save the guns that were on the floor.  Just to let you know as soon as I would take a picture the water would be up another inch, so I was hurrying to get these.

 

Here is the water fall coming down the steps.

 

We also had a river in the front yard.

 

Yep, that is a pretty good stream. Then the help started coming and it was like a gift to watch as they all pitched in and some went up to the barn, some relieved me of shoveling, I started getting things out of the other rooms and everyone started moving whatever needed to be moved..  A sump pump was hooked up in the back and once the dike for the river was made and the window wells emptied the river stopped.

 

Now for the cleanup.

 

I can see the floor now.

 

This is the bathroom after the water was stopped. Mud everywhere.

For Christmas Rainee and Doug gave us tickets to Bryan Regan, I was so excited to go and of course the tickets were for 3 o'clock on this day.  I was sure we would not be able to go but with all of the help we were making significant progress, (after 5 hours)  So, Mac and Jess, and Mary and Isaac, said, "Go, we can finish here."  I felt bad leaving but I didn't want to waste the tickets. Besides, I figured I needed some laughs on this day.. ( There wasn't much laughter going on before this!)

 

So, we made it to the Bryan Regan show.

 

and he did make me laugh.

 

Came home to this, we have 3 blowers going.

 

This looks better!

 

Mac's room minus everything in it! I am not sure the mattress will survive though because it was under the window and pretty much became a big sponge!

 

Exercise room, just need to mop up some of the mud.

 

Storage room.

 

Garage with all of the stuff that needs to be put away.

and a video so you can see the water fall.

 Nope, don't want to repeat this day!

January birthdays!

 

WE celebrated January birthdays, we have 3!!  Tydon's is on the 15th!! Happy 5th birthday Tydon!

Lincoln's is on the 21st, he will be 3! Happy Birthday Lincoln! McKenly's is on the 27th and she will be 2!

 

Caitlin was the maker of these fine cakes.  This is her first try with fondant cakes and I think she did fantastic!  Tydon wanted a spider man cake so here is her creation for his spider man cake! (Don't you love the sippy cup for the accents!)

 

Here is McKenly's princess cake. Pretty much love everything about this cake.  Great Job Caitlin!

 

Here is his black spider man above the tall buildings!

We didn't have a cake for Lincoln because they want to celebrate his birthday on his birthday.

 

McKenly opening her gift, love those red eyes!

 

Tydon trying to figure out what is in his.

 

Is it something spider man?

 

McKenly is all girl and loves to get clothes!

 

Sporting her new coat.

 

Yep, it was something spider

man and now he is loose on the unsuspecting brother!

 

See, I told you she loves clothes.

 

Watch out there might be a spider man in your neighbor hood!

 

and just ending with a picture of Trevor, "What's the big deal Grandma!"

 I love his cute little face!

 So, Happy Birthday to all of you!

Happy New Years!

 

We started New Years off by ruining the frozen rolls.  So Instead of frozen rolls we made some cheesy, garlic buttered pull apart s. They turned out okay, but I probably should have cooked them a little longer.  But it was better than throwing the rolls out, (the rolls had started to rise int the bag so they were all squished together.)

 

We had a yummy dinner of home made noodle soup, fresh salsa, guacamole, jalapeno poppers, itty bitty dogs in a blanket, (these were the biggest hit with the grand kids.) fruit, and of course shrimp!

 

Bryce loved the little bottles of soda.

 

Tydon and Nate just love it all.

 

Because the Cannons were with us we had a spectacular fireworks show!

 

Nate was the firework holder.

 

and the Statue of Liberty.

We loved the show!

 

There is just something about boys and their fire works.

 

Doing a dance around the fire.

 

Waiting for the next boom!

Hope your New Year is doing great ours sure is!

Christmas Eve

 

I know Christmas is past but I tried to up load these pictures earlier and blogger must have been having problems because I couldn't get them to load! 

To start off our Christmas eve celebration we made a baby quilt that we are donating to a charity.

 

I was glad to see that all my grandsons were interested in learning how to tie a quilt.  They did a great job and will be ready to help the next time we have a quilt to tie.

 

See how good they are concentrating and doing!

 

We had a tamale dinner with fresh salsa, guacamole, rice, beans, and pomegranate salad.  Everything was  delicious and it tasted so yummy!

 

We had a big pot of tamales.

 

I think Lincoln is wishing he had that food!

 

We then played the right and left game and had to have some help with all of the rights and lefts in the story.

 

Okay, by looking at Rainee's face maybe it wasn't too fun for her. (sorry Rainee I couldn't resist)

 

Things are looking up!

 

We then had the Nativity. Some of our props were not quite accurate, but they put on a great production.(Doesn't that horse look like a donkey?)

 

We couldn't get Mary to wear her costume but she loved her donkey.

Some of our shepherds staffs were a little makeshift. (a noodle, star wars sword, carrot bat, etc.)

 

Mary loved her baby Jesus.

 

Oh, another makeshift staff, (the quilting board.)

 

Quite a group of good looking shepherds and wise men.

 

The camel the wise men rode was  looking a lot like a stick horse.

 

Great production for the year 2011, and we even had a Mary this year!

 

I always loved watching this when my own kids were growing up and now on to the next generation.

 

WE also had another use for our carrot bat. Watch for the next activity...

 

Those shepherds walked a long way.

 

Oh, here is another use for our shepherds staff... lets break the pinata!

 

These dainty hits didn't do much damage.

 

Getting ready for the big sluggers!

 

Yep, here they come!

 

Hurry grab as much as you can!

 

Lincoln and McKenly were more interested in the glow lights that were in the pinata.

 

Then onto the presents!

 

McKenly showing off her new slippers.

 

Our gift,  the first letter of the name of our new grandson to be born in May!!

Traegan!

 

Ryan sporting some of his gifts, don't you love that snow shovel!  It could really move some snow if we had any!  It was a great Christmas eve celebration and a great day with the family.