Sadness

We got some very sad news yesterday. A good friend of my 12 year old daughter was killed in a car accident on Friday night. The rest of her family survived. They wrecked on slippery roads near Evanston, WY on their way to Utah at the start of the holiday weekend.

Sidney (in blue) with my daughters Kayla and Rilyn behind.

Sidney with Rilyn, Kayla, Tyler and Kyle at our house last year.

Kayla and Sidney were in the same class at school last year and this year, though they didn't have the same home room teacher they still saw each other 6 days a week between school and Church. They have been in Beehives together. Sidney's Mom is the Young Women's President.

Sidney is the oldest of 3 and was so talented and artistic. She won many awards at the school 6th grade Continuation Ceremony on Wednesday. Her Dad was there videotaping it, and I'm sure that video will be a treasure. Also, the girls had their first trip to the temple for Baptisms for the Dead about 3 weeks ago. Sidney's Dad got to be there and baptize her and her Mom was able to be there as well.

It's just so sad! Sidney was vivacious and full of life!! She was so wonderful!! My daughter has been taking this pretty hard, at first she was in denial. But slowly she is realizing it is true. We will miss Sidney and feel great sadness for her wonderful family. I couldn't imagine anything much worse than what they are going through right now.

Tornado!

Tornado

Today a tornado (well, apparently 7 of them) touched down a little too close to home! Thankfully most of the craziness was about an hour North of us but it was just a few miles from my Sister's house. It was crazy! It hailed here and poured rain for about 1/2 hour - 40 minutes.
We did have one tornado touch ground here in my area as well. It turned over a large RV and one person was inside and injured.

My neice took this picture at her house, about an hour North of us, outside the window at her home. Can you spot the tornado?

On the news they showed baseball sized hail closer to the tornado. I could not believe my eyes, I had heard of golf ball size hail, but never heard or seen baseball size hail!! But I did see the news reporter with one in his hand while he reported the story.



There are roofs off buildings, broken gas lines, downed power lines,many people evacuated, debris scattered everywhere!! The pictures being shown on the news right now are devastating! One person who was camped at a KOA Campground near Greeley was killed by the tornado. There was a semi-truck overturned on the highway, it even turned a freight train over!! The major thoroughfare that I take to get from here to Kallie's, my sister, is closed down.


Traffic is deadlocked, many, many people are without electricity and even cell phone service, many people don't have a way to communicate. There is a huge evacuation underway. We have lived here for 6 years and I've never seen anything like this around here. It is the type of tornadic activity you would expect to see in the Midwest! I'm going to go through my 72 hour kits and double check what we have in there!!

Gas

I LOVE this gas price!

What I paid for gas today in my little Colorado suburb.

I never thought I would be saying I love any gas price over $2 per gallon. When we moved here to Colorado just over 6 years ago gas prices were around $1.30 per gallon. Now there are places that are over $4.00 per gallon. I guess that is what they are in Estes Park, CO (a touristy and fun place not too far from here).

We have been planning a road trip to Nauvoo and surrounding areas for our family vacation this summer. Do I dare hope for gas prices to go back down to below $3 per gallon? I keep wondering if $4-$5 per gallon gas prices will ever go away (once they get there). I know in Europe and other places around the world that is what they've been for years. We've had it "cheap" here in the US.



I'm trying to limit my trips in an effort to conserve on gas. I'm trying to plan better with a more comprehensive list when I go to the store and trying to carpool with other Mom's when my kid's go to activities. But really our society is a "driving" society. I hope the gas prices get under control soon!! In the meantime, I'll be grateful for the $3.35 per gallon that I paid for gas this morning - and that was at the closest station to my house. But, it just opened a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure the price there will be sky high before too long as well!

Camping

It seems like so early in the year to think about Camping, especially with all the rain and bad weather we've had here lately. Laren and I have been getting our summer schedule together and were trying to schedule some time for camping.



In the meantime we're running to baseball, scouts, activity days and Young Women's as well as school and piano. Can we just say my kids are d.o.n.e.? They won't do their homework...well they will but not without a battle, it is the same with piano and no different for doing their chores.



I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. I look forward to warm weather and having my kids home from school and not having to keep a schedule like we do during the school year. I love the spontaneous picnics, trips to the lake, time with the cousins and going to Elitch's Amusement Park. But along with the laze and craze of summer we also deal with messes, particularly in the kitchen and bedrooms, 24/7, kids wanting to be entertained or "vacationed" and so on.


As for camping, it's still too cold for my blood to do that but Laren and Kyle have the Father's and Son's coming up. And we did get one of these for the backyard:





With one of these firepits, who needs camping? Isn't the fire half the fun of camping? It is for me! The other night we spontaneously roasted hot dogs and made s'mores! And in doing so we found a use for the extra dark chocolates that Laren had and decided he didn't like, but they weren't too bad in the s'mores!

Kyle's Baptism

Kyle's Baptism

Kyle turned 8 almost an entire month ago. Because of General Conference, we had to wait until the first Saturday in May. I was so proud of him at his Baptism Interview this past week, he was sharp as a tack answering each question correctly and with ease.

As a Mother, I always worry if I've prepared my children well enough for Baptism, if I've taught them everything they need to know to be at this point.

Laren and Kyle practicing for the "big" day! They did this one night this past week right before bed. I had Kyle try on his jumpsuit too, to make sure it fit.

Kyle today, at the Church, right before his Baptism.

Laren and Kyle right after the Baptism, in the changing room soaking wet.

Kyle and Bishop Hammond after the Baptism.

Kyle and his Primary Teacher, Sister Kelley.

Us, finally getting a picture together, tonight after dinner on our front porch.

It was a great occasion! I'm so glad it all turned out! After the baptism, we came home and had Chicken Enchilada's, 7 layer dip and lemon cake and some Reese's cookies. We went with a Mexican theme because it is Cinco de Mayo weekend. My Sister and her family came for the baptism and dinner.

The Scene

This is currently THE SCENE outside our house today:

Snow, Snow, Go AWAY!

It's times like this that we really miss Arizona!