Mormon Helping Hands

Cory and a group from a ward went to Galveston today to help with cleanup. They said that there was about 300 people from our church and about 30 from our ward. He said that there were boats all over the roads and piles of debris everywhere. The people down in Galveston and surrounding areas really need help cleaning up. Some lost everything. I have attached some pictures of his trip today.

This was a full building before now it resembles a pier.

Boats lining the highway.


A House that Cory and his crew worked on.


This is a boat on the side of the road.

Pictures of IKE

We are fine, and thanks to all our family and friends that have called. It's really hard for us to get service, so when we do get a call through we are very greatful. We don't have any power and probably won't for a couple of days. As of right now there are 1.84 Million people without power in the Houston area. We are hoping that power will be up by wed. but they say that it could be anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Cory and I decided today that we would drive to San Antonio until we found out when his school would resume. It's only three hours away and it's better than sitting around in the heat with nothing to do. We finally were able to see the pictures of the damage from the hurricane and just are blown away (no pun intended). It's so weird how much of technology we rely on. Here are some pictures that we took around our neighborhood yesterday. Some of the pictures are hard to see because I took them inside the car and it was raining ourside. I hope that you can get the jist of it. I have to say, it's so weird being on this side of the disaster. Usually you are the one watching the news during a disaster watching those people, and this time we are the ones on the news. It's crazy here. There are no stores open, no gas, no food, no power. We will update as much as we can. Again, thanks to all the people that called and to those that called and couldn't get through. WE love all of you!

IKE Update

The storm is headed straight for us here in Spring. We are expecting 75-110miles/hr sustained winds. The good news is that it is a fast moving storm so we won't be sitting here with the wind and rain for days. Our biggest concern are the trees in our yard. We have 15 trees larger than our house. We are all sleeping downstairs in the living room tonight just in case we have a tree fall on our house. We also have a closet under the stairs cleaned out and have placed blankets there, so if need be, we can stay in there until the storm passes. We feel prepared and will try to contact our families Sat after the storm passes if we are able. There is a good chance that the cell phone towers will be down and we won't have a way to contact anyone. If you want to see the path of the storm there is a great website... http://www.ibiseye.com/. This is great because is shows Spring on the map, so those of you that don't live here in Texas can have an idea of where we are.

Hurricane IKE

We just wanted to let our family and friends know that we are not in an evacuation zone and are planning to stay here during the storm. We have plenty of food storage to get us through the weekend and have all the necessities to sustain us as well. We are expecting a lot of rain along with strong wind, but have not been asked to leave. There are evacuations taking place closer to Galveston Bay where flooding is an issue. We are not in a flood zone. Both Cory and Aurora do not have school tomorrow so our family will all be together and we are not planning to go out anywhere..(people get crazy panicked out there). We'll give more updates when we can.

You know you're a real mom when...

I can't claim this as my own, I got it from my friend Kim's blog and it was too funny I just had to share....here's to all the moms
So, here you go...You know you're a real mom if...

• You have ever closed and locked the bathroom door (just to pee) for 3 minutes of silence (which usually never works because you still have a toddler banging on the door)
• Rice Krispie treats are a great breakfast- it's cereal! And fruit snacks are considered a serving of fruit
• You can barely keep your eyes open after 10pm, but you force yourself to stay awake because there's nothing more appealing to you than a quiet house.
• Four letter words that make you flinch are now: FART, BUTT, MINE, HATE
• Your favorite recording artists are The Backyardagains and The Wiggles
• You can't remember the last time you slept through the night
• You think at least once a day "I am so my mom"
• A baby has to cry for at least 5 minutes before you actually hear it
• Your toddler eating off the floor is great for two reasons: She's building immunities and there's less sweeping for you
• You've ever tried to figure out a way to keep hot dogs and chicken nuggets in your food storage. Oh wait! Mac and cheese stores well and is the same difference.
• A date with your husband consists of dinner under $15 and walking around Home Depot (and that's exciting!)
• You are on a first name basis with the greeters at Wal-mart, the cashiers at Target and the receipt checkers at Costco
• You truly don't find Barney annoying
• The only way you stay up on pop culture is by scanning the magazine covers while standing in line at the grocery store
• Your own mom is no longer embarrassing and weird. She's actually the most amazing woman you've ever known
• Inventions that have changed your life include DVR (Dora 24 hours a day!), hand sanitizer, the drive-thru window, and $5 hot and ready pizza (if only they had a drive-thru window)
• You drive a mini van AND you love it
• You have crawled to the top of a grimy playplace to rescue a "lost" child (man, those places are gross. That's where the hand sanitizer comes in)
• You're planning your next pregnancy around your high school reunion (that's for you, Michelle)
  
• Your idea of romantic is putting on a little Bath and Body Works lotion before climbing into bed (and your husband may or may not say "What's that funky smell?")
• You can do almost anything one handed (with a baby in the other one)
• The time it takes you to get out of the house is always longer than the time you are actually out of the house

Just the two of us....

Now that Aurora is in school all day, Noah and I have more time to spend together. Today we made edible play dough out of peanut butter, honey and powdered sugar. He had so much fun cutting out shapes and making snakes. We used raisins as eyes. It was a good snack too.

A Preview

We started painting our house this last weekend and will finish this coming weekend. I can't wait until it's finished. I think that it looks so much better!

The Before Picture



















The After picture