High River Flood 2013- Friday

Friday morning- I was kinda hoping to wake up, magically in my own bed.

Janice and Perry were so generous in letting us park our camper there, but the main problem was no cell service or 3G, wireless was down. So no contact whatsoever with the outside world.

The kids were up at the butt crack of dawn, which is normal- but I was really hoping they would take pitty on me and sleep in. Anyhow- we had talked to Karla the night before and had decided to take the kids to her house for the morning, while Justin and I tried to get back to the house in High River. 

By 10 we had takin the kids to Calgary, watched the news for a bit and heading back to High River with our BIL Cyril to see what we could do.

We had to drive wayyyyy around again. Even further this time- as they were blocking roads like crazy. Pulling into High River, there were tons of cars parked just on the outskirts of town. We pulled up the the RCMP officer and he told us we could only walk in. Ok. Kinda sucked. But better then nothing. AND luckily we only live a block and a half from the edge of town. So we trudged along in our gumboots - noting how eerily quite the town was - and making end of the world zombie jokes.

 House came into sight and it looked perfect. The flowers still blooming, car in the driveway like normal, birthday wreath on the front door. It was a huge relief. Open the front door and right to the basement- lucky for us only about a inch of sewage on the floor. 

Really. That's it!

So Justin and Cryril got to work picking things up off the floor- it took about a hour to get all the wreakable stuff off the floor. We know we lost a bed, dresser, change station and maybe moms hutch that first day. Justin's mission trunk was on the floor so that is drying in the garage as well as a few other things. Note: this was the last time we were in the house- so we are hoping no more sewage got in.

After we worked on the basement Justin worked on getting the meat out the freezers, I watered plants and gathered more clothing for the kids and Grandpa. Then we emptied the garbage and headed out the door. Of course on the way out we ate as many popsicles, freezies and drumsticks we could. No point ALL of them going to waste!

Then we did a naughty. We got into Justin's little commuter car and toured a bit of the town(maybe not town- the roads were mostly blocked by water) errr neighbourhood. We took photos with the camera- but I have no way to post them. So here are a few from the Internet- and a couple from my phone. 

After our tour, the guys luged the massive bin of meat back to the truck and we did a little more touring.... 

Below is a airshot of our side of town. If you look in the right corner, you see a white concrete patch. It's the spray park that is a half a block Northeast of us. So just to the left of that concrete pad, on that corner is our house.

I know.

Serious Criminals.

We headed back to Karla's and spent the rest of the day glued to the news, while the kids happily and normally played with cousins. We did meet grandma, mark and Lindsay for dinner that night- to discuss our plans... Oh and we brought Mr Sir Sir. 

You see while we were engaged in illegal activity, he was busy bawling at Aunt Karla's front door until he cried himself to sleep. Serious. That stink. 

It was actually really nice adult conversation without interruptions. Kinda strange....

Friday ended the same way as Thursday- everyone passing out in the trailer from sheer exhaustion. 

High River Flood 2013- Thursday

I figured I better get this written down before I start forgetting details! 

Forgive my sentence structure, spelling, missing words and garbled thoughts. Blogging  from my iPad is really time consuming- and my pointers now have blisters. 

Wednesday night we got a phone call from our renters in Raymond. A huge rain storm had passed through, and caused flooding in our basement. From the sound of it, our house was getting rather soggy. So Justin ran back into Calgary to get some tools from work, and we got ready to leave super early Thursday to head down to Raymond to asses and fix what we could.

Thursday morning we were up and out the door or 7:30 am. We drove through downtown, filled up with gas right downtown, and dropped my van off to get new tires at Fountain Tire. We discussed options for our Raymond House all the way down and prepared for crappy news.

Below is what the bridge looked like when we drove by @ 7:30 am!

By the time we pulled into Lethbridge all  hell had broken loose in High River. I was getting texts from concerned family members and trying to keep up on information. Just downtown had been hit, and Justin and I were occupied with our house in Raymond. Justin got to work pulling out carpet and using the shot-vac, while I had the kids and watched to news. 

By 11:00, the news was ridiculous. So I kept updating Justin and doing everything I could to help him along faster. Then around noon We got the news they were going to do a evacuation for the whole town- so grandma left work in okotoks and headed home to gather some essentials and try and move things in the basement. Mark headed out to join her, and Justin and I left Raymond at 1:30. 

Lets just say we drove fast.

Really fast.

As we are driving we are both constantly on the phone. We had booked a weekend away for the next day, in CANMORE! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. What are the chances!

So he called to confirm we would not be making our scheduled appearance. I called Fountain Tire about my van. The conversation went something like this: hi. This is heather. Please don't get my van flooded. We are on our way! Fountain tire man: your van is done. We are closing shop to go evacuate our families. I will leave your van on the  hoist and put it all the way into the air- and we will touch base later. 

By the time we were pulling into Nanton part of the NW High River (where we live) was getting flooded. So we stopped at the sand bag station and filled sandbags for 25 minutes. We backed the truck right up- unbuckled the kids so they could watch and got going. I held the bag while Justin shovelled. We looked like quite the pair- Justin looking like he belonged in his work clothing, me 31 weeks pregnant in nicish clothing! Hahaha

Anyways. We filled as many that would fit in the truck with all Justin's tools and the underlay from our basement in Raymond. Got back in the truck and had to drive all the way around high river, to the alderside turnoff and head back south into our part of town. We couldn't go through town, because downtown was gone, and the second bridge had already been washed out.

We got home and spent the next 1/2 hour working in the basement- with no power- trying to move things up and gathering clothing, food, blankets and whatnot. Then the police car starts circling the neighbourhood hollering "this is a mandatory evacuation. You must leave" 

Dang it! 

So the guys finished sandbagging the basement drain and the outside windows- grandma and I tossed everything we had gathered (which was a hilarious assortment of items) into all our cars and trucks. 

This whole time the kids were super-de-duper bored. They spent the morning in the truck driving down to Raymond- only to get shoved back in a could hours later, to head back, hand in the truck while mom and dad sandbagged, and Then we got back home and NO ONE could seem to pay them any attention! How rude! 

Grandma was super stressed at this point- and I just wanted a nap. I was also feeling extremely blessed to be surrounded by family while having our scary little adventure. 

This is the only photo I took ALL DAY. Funny- it didn't even occur to me take photos- it is Justin, Mark and Lindsay hooking up the trailer- really interesting. I know. 

Off to get the trailer and we headed out to DeWinton via caravan. Here's where we really win parents of the year. As we were leaving the house, I grabbed a new box of baby advil and tossed it in the back of the truck. So we are driving along, listening to the news- trying to call Grandpa to tell hi where we are going- then it occurs to me to turn around... Barker had some how managed to open the box- get the plastic OFF and OPEN THE CHILD PROOF CAP! By the time I noticed he had a Advil mustash and was mid swig! Seriously?!?! I figured he drank about 3 or 4 servings. Whoops. Lets just say- he was exteemly well behaved for the rest of the evening! 

We were lucky enough to be offered room at Lindsay's farm to park the trailer with power and water. Lindsay's mom even fed us that night!

Once we got the kids in bed, Justin and I headed into Calgary for cereal and fruit and to watch the news at Karla's house. By the time we laid down in the trailer that night- I was pretty sure I would never wake up.

It wasn't until the next morning we heard about the rest of the towns plight- and realized how ridiculously blessed we are. 

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day!! 

Stake Conference followed by a great rib dinner and some kite flying.

Keeping it low key- but we sure do love you Justin!

Your a fantastic father, and a very supportive husband.

Happy Fathers Day to Grandpa too- who is so good to us.

Okotoks Parade

Saturdays are crazy- in fact the next 6 Saturdays are completely booked! Its ridiculous.

At least we are going to have no shortage of memories!
We headed out early Saturday, picking up some wood for a project- dropping it off, and then headed to the parade.

Trying to find somewhere to park, on a unfamilar parade route takes time…. then when we finally do park- and it turned out the parade route had changed in the last 2 years- we ended up walking 5 large blocks! Luckily we brought the wagon- and still had plenty of time to saunter down the parade route.

After we got settled, we only had about 20 minutes to wait. Barker entertained himself by running on the road. Yes. Great Parenting on our part…. but no cars, just people. And we watched very carefully. In fact the biggest problem was when our other two would bug him!

Any ways the parade finally started and the kids loved it. Barker ate candy after candy and only stopped to yell for us to unwrap it- after he had tried with his teeth and it was all ready covered in slobber. In fact the kids didn't have to move to much to receive candy- the rule was the float people had to HAND it out- not toss it.

After a while some of the floats tossed candy- and the Kalia was all over it- but Barker pretty much just sat in his chair- and yelled when he didn't get a candy tossed right at him.

Annaliesse had quite the time too- Daddy told the kids to cheer and wave to get more candy- Kalia took this seriously and did a great job cheering. Annaliesse, however took it to mean- sit in my chair and make a annoying yelling sound- over and over and over and over and over and over.

After the parade we headed home with sticky kids and a son full of sugar! The girls caught up on their sugar intake on the way home. After lunch and naps we headed into Calgary to cousin Holtons Birthday Cake Dinner!

As always it was great visiting, playing with cousins and some awesome rock coloring!

Spitzee Sports Day!

Friday was Daddy Day at Preschool and Sports day for Spitzee AND a family picnic!

Crazy talk

Divide and concur

Snapshots

I am sure these kids would live at the park if I let them!

This is Barker holding Bob. His little construction worker figureine. He calls him by name and will say Uh-Oh Bob!! He sleeps with him, and always know where he is!

Sissy got stuck on the tire swing at school- I picked her up from preschool and she burst into tears. Pale as a ghost and sick to her stomach somethings are just to hard to handle when your four!

I remember when I would buy 1 slurppee- BUT needing 4 is so much better!

See the round circle on his forehead? He fell off the couch- right onto his toy truck wheel! It was a perfect circle all day!

Cardston

We had a GREAT Saturday.

JJ has been helping keep our van in tip top shape! So we headed down to Cardston Saturday morning to get the van fixed AND a temple session. Jen watched the kids- JJ fixed the van and Justin and I headed to the temple.

As we were walking in we saw 3 couples from our old Raymond Ward. Turns out it was their ward temple day! We chatted for a few minutes at the temple and they invited us over to the ward luncheon after.

The kids had a great time at Aunt Jen's playing with her puppies, outside on bikes and what not. After lunch with 5th warders, we stopped at the temple grounds with the kids and then had a relaxing drive home with the kids sleeping!

Girls Quilts

In 2 1/2 weeks I sewed- a lot.

4 receiving blankets, finished 1 baby quilt, 1 crib quilt, 1 throw quilt (which I planned on doing into a twin, but read the pattern wrong) and 1 twin.

I started off sewing some blankets up for a couple baby presents and our new baby sister… then it morphed into finishing Barkers Baby Blanket AND then the girls begged and pleaded for a blanket too.

I figured- Why Not? Naptime is a great time to sew, and its not like I am going to have a lot of time come the fall! Poor Justin is sure sick of the fabric store- and every time I pull up to it Annaliesse whines "I hate this store, it is sooooo boring"

Kalia blanket all laid out- ready to sew!

Kalia's took me a day and a half start to finish. Of course with large breaks, all through the day for my little stinkers! :)

Annaliesse's quilt took WAY longer to cut out!

The house consistantly got crazier and the girls consistantly got grumpier.

AND Barker needed some attention…

Her quilt took me 4 days… and I made a massive mistake. But I don't want to talk about it. I am still mad about it.

Here they are side by side- same fabric (except 1 different pink on each) and I am open for suggestions for the backing!

Maybe the next sewing post I will have both backings on and Barkers quilt done…. maybe… or maybe new swim dresses for the girls. I can't decided what I want to do next!! 

Snapshots

To Mommy love Kalia

To Mommy Love Annaliesse

Kids playing- mommy doing laundry

Barker at the dr office- we are trying to get his blood work figured out. He loves loves loves his baby.

Mommy's been sewing up a storm- the plan is to get a blanket done for each child before baby sister is born!

4H

4H on Parade! Lindsay (Marks fiance) has been involved in 4H her whole life, and before she ages out-retires (not sure the correct term), she invited us to see her in her one of her final shows.

So Saturday we headed into the Stampeed Grounds early for the Pancake Breakfast and right after to watch Lindsay show her horse Allegro.

Pancake Breakfasts are usually hit and miss, but this one was rather tasty. Barker sure thought it was great too.

A quick breakfast then over to the horse showing. We had a few to watch before Lindsay came out, so by the time we saw her, we knew what to look for!

Lindsay and Allegro did great and got 4th! In fact, for the next week Kalia and Annaliesse played "Lindsay and Allegro"!

The girls were so excited to get their picture with Allegro, but the horse turned her head and the girls became really jumpy for the pic.

Best thing! The kids took turns leading Allegro- and Allegro is such a good horse that any turn the girls would make, Allegro would follow. So the girls would keep turning away from Allegro holding the rains and Allegro would follow.. making the girls keep trying to get away. It was hilarious!

Then Barker wanted a turn, so I put him down by Allegro and he grabbed the rains and Allegro went right up to him and sniffed right in his face! Barker was not impressed, we are all just laughing! As mad as Barker was he still wouldnt' let go of the rains.

Then the girls wanted to feed Allegro…. ya they just ended up dropping the food and backing quickly away.

After Lindsay let the kids ride Allegro and we wondered around the grounds looking at the other 4H animals.

Annaliesse was so excited, her face got that perma-grin going on!

Barker even had a go, which suprised us all.

Kalia was like a pro- all look at me mom!

Thanks for inviting us Lindsay! It was a great Saturday!