the wind storm of the century

November 30th I stayed up late blogging and reading because Nate was out of town. 

I finally went to bed about 1a.m.

 At 2 a.m. I was awakened by my daughter Emmaline whimpering with fright.

 She is 12 and doesn't usually wake us in the night. It was soooooooo windy and she couldn't sleep

. I told her it was just wind and to go back to bed. An hour later she was back whimpering.

 I told her to get in bed with me since Nate was gone. 

We laid there and felt the air pressure in my room go in and out like the house was breathing.

 It was weird and LOUD. I was tired and didn't care so I fell back to sleep. 

Then Emmaline woke me up saying our tree out front blew down. 

Then I was mad at this mean wind that blew down my pretty flowering tree! 

I tried to go back to sleep but then our big window upstairs started thumping and thudding because it wasn't locked and was fixing to get ripped off the house! 

Then we were both up holding onto the turning handle that closes the window so it wouldn't rip off. 

We sat there in amazement as we watched big dumpsters go flying down the road almost hitting cars driving by. 

Who the heck was out driving in that wind?

We watched power lines snap and fantastic sparks fly over our neighbors roof! 

We sat there in the window seat holding the window shut and watched a man walk up the street.

 When I say walk I mean lean into the wind and almost get blown away! 

It was all so amazing. 

We tried to turn on the news but the power wouldn't stay on. 

Now it's about 6:30 a.m. and all the kids are awake and standing on the window seat, watching the wind.

 We are getting more and more worried about our window getting ripped off. 

I didn't know how we were going to get this window locked.

 To lock it we would have to open it and then finagle the broken lock handle into place to get the latch in the right position. 

The window, when swung open catches the east wind. 

 To open it would really allow the wind to pull it off.

I told the kids to pray hard that Em and I could open the window and get the lock in the right position.

 I imagined my angels helping us hold the window.  

I quickly turned the handle  and opened the window just enough for Emmaline to get the broken lock handle back on and in the right position and then I shut that window and Em locked it!

Whew!

Thank  Heaven and all her Angels, our house stayed in one piece and we were warm and toasty!

I told my kids there was no way I was sending them to school. We had no power so I didn't know if they'd canceled school or not.
 At first they were mad to miss field trips and mad because they couldn't watch TV.
I sat on the couch in shock because the wind just kept blowing!
My father in law came over to see if we were OK.
 He was out driving around making sure people were all right. He is the Stake president so he has a lot of responsibilities to watch out and care for several congregations.
A few of my kids best friends came running across the street to our house almost getting blown away in the process.
 Then I went with the twins and Em across the street to friends.
We were holding their hands but the wind still knocked Sarah off her feet.
If I would have known that my friends trees would blow over soon after we went in their house I wouldn't have stepped foot outside.
I don't think any of us were fully realizing how dangerous and destructive this storm was.

After spending time at our friend's house across the street I ran back home to check on AnnaKate and her best friend Erin. 

They were in the back yard screaming with delight, leaning into the wind.

Then I looked out front and saw that Erin's huge old tree had blown down and was laying on the power lines. I yelled over the howling wind for them to come out front and see. 

We were thrilled and scared and went inside. 

We spent most of the day at neighbors watching the wind show out their big window. 

Their daddy was home and went and bought a generator and hooked it up so their house had power. 

All the kids watched Tangled. 

Clint also bought food and fed all the kids.

It was very fun....in a scary sort of way.

Finally by late afternoon things calmed down. 

My brain started working again and I went to Walmart to buy some non perishable pantry food.

 I sort of went into panic mode and filled the cart with 15 loaves of bread, plus granola bars and fruit snacks and pantry type stuff. I don't know what I thought I was going to do with all that bread. 

Without the power on it's not like I could freeze it yet. 

We drove around the neighbor hood and couldn't believe it. 

Every house had a tree down or siding ripped off or roofing ripped off. 

Trampolines were mangled. Power lines were down. Power poles were snapped.

 Huge pine trees laid across the roads.

Fences were blown apart.

It was incredible. It looked like a tornado hit.

I texted Nate and told him to buy a generator in Vernal where he was on business because the Lowe's  and Home Depot were sold out.

I thought it would take a week for the power to come back on. There were lines down everywhere.

That night we went to Nate's parents where they had their generator hooked up and we had Dad's homemade chili. 

Then we went home and lit candles and lit the fire. 

It was all very cozy and adventurous for our family.

I was so bummed that Nate had been in Vernal that day and wasn't there with us during the day.   

The last time he went out of town the mountain that you can see in this picture above caught  fire. See the spot that is green? Back in September that whole big spot was a blazing fire. People were evacuated and we were on alert to leave if needed. Nate has missed both of our recent natural disasters. 

He better not make a habit of that. 

The next 2-3 days the whole county was in clean up mode. Everyone was helping every one. 

There was so much work to be done. 

The scent of pine in the air was invigorating. It was cold out but the next day was so sunny and beautiful.

The feeling of brotherly love was nourishing. Could I have said that any sappier?  I don't care if it sounds sappy, all the volunteer service felt so good and we were all feeling it. It was wonderful. 

Emmaline tended the twins plus my friend's little kids so I could join in the clean up. 

Driving the Bishop's pick up truck. 

Loading and unloading branches. 

It felt good, like I was tough and strong.  

If I had more opportunities to do outdoor labor I know I'd be less moody and crazy.

  Working out in the sun like that felt so good.

Sunday morning we met as a family with the bishop for tithing settlement. 

He asked Nate to go get his work clothes and help with the clean up while we went to shortened church. 

You should have seen Nate's face light up.

When Nate was a little boy he remembers when his dad put on work clothes on a Sunday and helped with the big floods of 1989. He remembers being in awe of his big strong dad going out to do heroic work. 

In that moment the little boy in Nate got to live out that hope to one day be as heroic as his dad. 

It made me smile. 

We didn't get to use our generator but we did use our camping stove for oat meal.  The kids all slept out in the living room by the gas log. Our house stayed warm. 

When the power came back on the kids were so disappointed.

Nate was too since he was itching to hook up his new generator. 

Our power was out for almost 2 days. 

I can't believe how hard and fast the power company worked.

My friend Kristy and I watched them put in new poles with all their cool trucks and equipment.

t  made us both wish we were big strong men that worked for the power company, It looked so cool. 

Well that was a long story. Hope you didn't get too bored. I want to print my blog out and make a book for our family. These are memories my kids will never forget. They thought it was awesome and fun. They missed 2 days of school and loved being out working and helping.

Tomorrow I'm off to the nursing home to sing. Last week was so fun. I'll post about it soon. Thursday night I get to sing Oh Holy Night at the Relief Society Christmas dinner. I feel really happy to have the chance.