in honor of our current wind storm and our last wind storm in '11

Many of you know that my adorable, hilarious, mini teenager Helena is terrified of weather.

All kinds of weather, but specifically wind, clouds, and rain. Even a little bit can send her into a panic. It can be perfectly sunny outside, but if she can see leaves moving on the trees, she will flat out refuse to go outside. And if there are clouds and rain, well... that's just not gonna happen.

{The reason she is so afraid of wind is because she thinks that there will be a tornado. We've checked out books about tornadoes, talked about how they form, and why they won't happen here in Utah. We've talked about how a tornado is more than just wind and so she doesn't need to be afraid when it's windy. We've tried singing Primary songs, praying (constantly), and redirecting and distracting. If you have some other coping techniques, please let me know!!}

A few weeks ago, it was overcast and a blustery kind of day, spitting rain here and there with occasional gusts of wind. She didn't want to go to school. I love her and feel bad when she's afraid, but I know I can't keep her home just because it's windy. I really can't do that. So I told her all about tornado sirens and where to go during a tornado so she would feel prepared. That really helped her feel better. I walked her to her classroom and talked to her teacher about how worried she was, and her sweet teacher was so kind to let her stay in during recess. 

But then.... there was a fire drill that her teacher didn't know about. So after all my talk about "tornado sirens", Helena was hearing a siren.

Great timing, right? Her teacher told me that she was hysterical and they had to carry her out to the parking lot, screaming. They got her calmed down, but then when school got out she refused to leave the classroom and so they called me to come get her (I was actually already on my way).

Just a great story about a kindergartner losing her mind during a fire drill.

snowpocalypse

You guys, I'm so sorry.
It's my fault it's been snowing so much here in Utah.
(If you didn't know, we have had such a snowy winter in Utah--and it's only February! People think Utah always has a ton of snow, but the fact is, that's only in the mountains. Down in the valley, we get a couple inches of snow and it lasts for a few days at most. We rarely have snow on the ground for weeks at a time and it's even more rare that we have FEET of snow on the ground! But this year, we've had storm after storm that has dumped snow in the valleys. Right now we have about a foot and a half in the backyard and a foot in the front. Let me tell you, I'm getting mighty tired of shoveling!)
So if you're wondering why it's my fault, I'll show you.

I got these plastic snowflakes at the dollar store way back in November and have been saving them and my little "Let it snow" sign (hanging on the front door) for January. I think they might be imbued with magical snowstorm powers?? I'll be taking them down on Monday to make way for Valentine's Day decor, so we'll see if  that changes anything. 
They are pretty though, aren't they? I love watching them twist and twinkle in the sunlight (which has been pretty rare as well).
Here are some pictures of kids in the snow!!

Tempe and Autumn on the back deck.

This morning we woke up and the SUN WAS SHINING. We haven't had an actual real life clear sunny day in I don't know how long. It was also about 50 degrees! Before we had to leave to run errands this morning, Tempe and Helena spent a long time digging for dinosaur bones in the snow.

Juno doesn't like to go into the snow (it is up to her waist!) but she sat on the front steps and dug in the giant piles by the driveway.  

And I absolutely had to take a picture of that sky. Isn't it gorgeous? Along with a ton of snow, we have had the absolute worst air quality I have EVER seen. I don't know if we had a non red-air day in the whole month of January. It's been so smoggy, you can't see the mountains (we live about half a mile from the base), you can't see the sun in an otherwise clear sky. It's just been nasty out. But today the air is clear, clear, clear and we took advantage of it!

Lemons from lemonade

So we spent most of this weekend cleaning up from our massive wind storm on Thursday. We were even dismissed early from church to finish picking up debris because another storm was forecast for tonight (which hasn't arrived yet)

Now my garage is filled with debris. Good debris, the bad debris was taken to one of the many debris drop points. So far several city park parking lots are completely filled with trees.

I have a section of the wooden fence that used to divide my backyard from my neighbor's. I have the beginnings of a project idea for our master bedroom that kills two birds with one stone: gives us our first headboard and also blocks the weird cutout thing/mirror wall over our bed.

I also have a two foot section of the trunk from our sweet pussywillow tree that fell ;( ;( I think part of it will become bookends and the other part will be another treehouse toadstool.

I also have a disc cut from the pussywill tree that wants to be a clock.

Finally, a neighbor brought us a slide. We already have a slide for our treehouse, but I was thinking just a few days ago that I wish I had another slide so I could attach it to the gaping hole that drops down into our crawlspace. Our crawlspace is like an unfinished basement, only 4 feet high. I would love to quasi-finish it for a playroom for our kids, so now I am on the lookout for old rugs/carpets for the floor. Then I am going to fix the trapdoor so we can suspend it open. Then I am going to build a ladder. Then I am going to mount the slide next to the ladder so my kids can slide down, play, and then climb back up.

It's going to be SWEEEET.

a blustery day

After living in Wyoming for three years, we got used to a lot of wind. One of the best things about living in Utah is that it's not windy all the time!

Not all the time--but Utah can get some very strong east winds, as we learned last night.

Last night in our little corner of Utah, there were sustained gusts of wind from 70-80 mph for over 10 hours. In fact, gusts were even measured at 102 mph right by our house! That's a category 2 hurricane.

Jason and I were up all night long. The wind used to wake us up occasionally in Wyoming, but that was nothing compared to this. It sounded like our roof was about to be ripped off! In the morning, we were surpised to look out the window and see basically the aftermath of a hurricane.

I was so sad when Jason told me we lost our little tree. I loved that little tree right in the middle of our yard! We will definitely plant a new one next summer.
This tree was pressed up against the outside of our fence, and when it went over, it took two sections of fence with it! Our lot is next to a city owned lot and we're not sure exactly where the property line is. We're hoping that the tree was on their side of the line so they have to take care of it!

I was happy to see that the treehouse I built with my own two hands survived the storm. The slide fell off, but wasn't damaged. We didn't lose any of the trees in our backyard, but as you can see, our yard is littered with branches and limbs.

Our poor next door neighbors lost almost their entire fence. I think these sections are all that made it through!

Overall, we got off very easy. Many of our neighbors lost roof shingles and siding, huge mature trees, entire fences. There are even a few houses that were facing into the wind with garage doors that just crumpled up! Our power has been out since about 5 am and the temperature in our house was down to 57 around noon when we came over to Jason's parent's house. They are apparently the only street in their town that still has power. We've heard rumors that power won't be restored for up to 48 hours!