Merry Christmas

From our house to yours!!!

Modeling Grandpa & Grandma Hunt's Christmas PJ's  (taken around 1:30 p.m.)

Gone (downhill) skiing in CO

This weekend 4/7 of us took care of that "I live in CO, but I've never been skiing" problem we had.
These 3 plus dad.

The first two Saturdays of the month Copper Mountain hosts a family ski day. Lift tickets are $32, which compared to their Christmas Break price is a bargain. Some of the sporting goods stores offer $10 ski rental, so it's a reasonable time to take care of the above mentioned problem.

Pretty sure I had the easier day since they are beginners.

I attended Tuba Christmas with D & E. My favorite.

Thankful tree 2013

Breaking bread together

If any of my siblings who read this have a better photo--please share.

Last Tuesday (Nov26) was the second installment of the 40th b-day party bashes.

Two years ago my SIL Sarah organized a surprise b-day party for my brother's 40th. We decided it would be fun to meet again in November this year when my sister turned 40. We reserved a room at a Cheyenne restaurant and met tonight for dinner to celebrate 40 years of Jennifer.

It was nice to be together as a family--we don't get it done very often, so it's a big deal when we do. We succeeded in surprising Jennifer and her kids, which was a lot of fun. Our cousin and his wife live in Cheyenne, so they were able to join us as well.

My dad wrote a song for Danny when it was his turn (On Top of Old Danny--sung to the tune of "On Top of Old Smoky" so he was assigned to write one for Jennifer. We enjoyed singing together.

He wrote to the tune of "O Christmas Tree" and the song was titled "O Jennifer."

O Jennifer, athletic Jenifer, the hurdles thou didst fly o’er.

O Jennifer, athletic Jenifer, the hurdles thou didst fly o’er.

Run like the wind, jump like a deer,

Dive with such grace, year after year.

O Jennifer, athletic Jenifer, the hurdles thou didst fly o’er.

O Jennifer, sweet-singing Jennifer, mu-sic be always with thee

O Jennifer, sweet-singing Jennifer, mu-sic be always with thee

From western hills to New York hall,

Play, lead or sing, you do them all

O Jennifer, sweet-singing Jennifer, mu-sic be always with thee

O Jennifer, hard-working Jennifer, for toil none can match thee.

O Jennifer, hard-working Jennifer, for toil none can match thee.

You drive the bus, you taught in school,

You’re always in the labor pool.

O Jennifer, hard-working Jennifer, for toil none can match thee.

(Final – Slower, with emphasis)

O Jennifer, dear Jennifer

This special day we honor thee.

Push back the darkness

Nathan took this one on the last scout camping trip . . . with our little camera. . . amazing detail

Today I heard one of the best high council messages in recent memory. The topic was daily scripture study. Two powerful ideas:

1) Would you think it was a good idea to run a marathon each week and not train any other days? Would it be good to get 30 inches of rain in 24 hours to last a season? Assume each person needs 2000 calories per week, should they get all 14,000 on Sunday and none the rest of the days?

2)We live in a world full of darkness. The scriptures bring light. Push back the darkness! Teach your children to love the light.

This week:
Swimming
Band concert
Gymnastics
YW in Excellence
Went to storytime with a friend
Practiced riding a bike
Walked our favorite dog twice
Fed the sister missionaries salmon (Went out on a limb with fish. When I asked them if there was anything they didn't want, they said "Pasta" so I obliged. I think they were OK with it).
Found a paint color
And a dearth of cute & appropriate 12 year old girl clothes at JCPenney
Talked to our 95 year old grandma (& great-grandma) on her b-day to wish her a special day
Taught deacon's quorum lesson (Andrew)
Had choir
Bought 12 cans of Rotel tomatoes b/c I was out and they were $. 49 per can 
Introduced Bryn to my Barre class (I went 2 times this week)
Bought two books (I know, I said no more cookbooks . . . but then this was written and I changed my mind):The Romney Family Table
and the second one is this: Sunday Morning Quilts
Found a new recipe website, I am sorry: Remedialeating.com
(Wanting to try a couple of her Rhubarb idea & two Indian dishes, as well)
Got home from work early on Friday
Worked on the mudroom wall in the garage . . . .pics to come
Hosted my parents for dinner
Picked out the mistake in my latest sewing project so I can proceed
Took Caitlin to the orthodontist
Went to the temple with all the youth from our stake
Started reading the Secret Garden to Diana (best book ever)
Got the brown bananas off the counter
Raked one bag of leaves

Have a great week!

Band Concert

Pretty cool you can "go" to this concert from miles away. Hard to see Andrew in this video, but he's in the back row of trombones.

Scoutmaster

Think Nathan's enjoying his new calling?

(He told me how much the boys liked driving through that particular mud puddle).

The end of October

Halloween is growing on me. I really used to dislike it and now it's more fun--a chance to be someone else for the night.

I told Andrew I would spend $5 on his costume, and this is what he came up with . . . not bad for free:

The uniform wasn't free this summer when he played baseball . . . but at least it didn't cost more now.

Bryn got the same $5, but only spent about $3.

Waitress

Her first year trick or treating with friends . . . and she loved it.

Caitlin also went with friends for the first time. Sad for me, but a necessary step.

Diana wanted to wear the family tradition . . . . but only for school.

For church she was a witch again like last year

And here's Ed . . . in the $5 costume I bought the day after Halloween at Target (a million years ago in Chicago when it fit Andrew). This was for the ward party . . . for Halloween he wore the one below:

October was a great month weather-wise. We enjoyed many busy days. Nathan worked two Saturday mornings helping with flood cleanup, our family did the 5K, we went to Cheyenne to watch the BYU Ballroom dancers with my family (and left Nathan and the boys to watch some football on cable TV . . . a novelty because we don't have it). That's on top of the daily things: morning piano lessons & choir, afternoon football, cross country, swimming, and walking the neighbor's dog. Add in tutoring twice a week and I am surprised how many things that are not written down get accomplished anyway.

Days of coming & going, and breakfast, lunch and dinner in shifts. Two leave for middle school together and then an hour and a half later, two more leave for elementary. Someone needs a ride or I have to get more groceries. It's busy and crazy and great & stressful all at once. No better job. 

Without fail, annually sometime close to Oct 20th I want to go sugar free . . . . but it never lasts. 
We are buried under a small mountain of Halloween candy. This year we had dentist appointments on Nov. 1st. So ironic.

The best part of all that Halloween candy? TRADING!!!!

A little planning goes a long way

Last week I didn't meal plan and it was horrible. I went through all of my "emergency" meals and stressed out about dinner every day.

This week I forced myself to plan the meals for the week on Sunday. It's only Tuesday, but it's going so much better. How come I have to learn things the hard way? I still have one night without a plan, but I am sure I can fill it. Perhaps I should plan weeks at a time so I can just grab a weeks' worth on Sunday and go with it. Hmmm..... will have to consider it.

This was dinner last night, and everyone loved it. It's tricky to find a vegetable to go well with it, but it does have pumpkin in it . . . . we had carrot sticks. We served it with whipped cream, no need for syrup here. I am really into food that you can prep early these days, because I am out running kids around most afternoons between 4 and 6. If you have someone who can take a pan out of the oven for you, (while you are gone driving) this one works. And, if you want to try Pumpkin Egg Nog, this is a great excuse to buy some.

Monday we tried this new salad dressing. Easy to cut this recipe in half. It caught my eye because it uses onion powder instead of cutting an onion. I love any recipe that makes that substitution. Worth it in my book, especially for a small amount of onion.

My favorite food storage meal lately? Mac & Cheese with Rotel Tomatoes & Black beans. We cut the butter in half but make everything else like normal, and add one can black beans & one can Rotel. Served with shredded lettuce on the side . . . so good.

(Hoping the Red Sox win the World Series tonight so we the final won't interrupt trick or treating). How can it be almost November?

How many? Fall 2013 canning edition

How many?

Times in the past 3-4 years have I had trouble getting my pressure canner up to pressure?
No idea, but my guess is between 20 and 30

Times have I wondered if I needed a new seal for it?
20-30

$ does it cost to replace?
 $11
(How often are you advised to replace it? Once a year, or more if used heavily . . . ahem).

Stores in Fort Collins carry them?
One that I know of, Ace Hardware.

Times have I canned in the past 10 days?
4

Jars?
14 pint size chicken
16 pints black beans
15 pints Great Northern beans
14 pints garbanzo beans
10 pints light red kidney beans
=69 lovely little jars of food. . . .
-one to my mom, and two to our family (What can I say? Canned chicken recipes are the best)
=66 little jars of food.

I had kids home on TH, so they helped.

My family canned & grew a garden. Nathan's family really canned and really had a garden. (What I mean is that their temperate climate and large lot made it possible for them to grow a giant garden--and then they had to store that food).
We hope to pass those skills on.
If my kids are home, I try to include them as I can. Although not shown in the picture above, I try to have one child help me at a time. (A lesson I learned in the Neuffer kitchen). It makes it much more manageable for me. This time they each did 3 jars of beans for me. So helpful.


Dried beans are a good place to start with helping kids learn to can. The prep and cleanup are easy. They can pour them in without my worrying about sticky everything. Love eating home canned beans, too.

What time did my last canning session end?
1:15 am . . . . should have started earlier in the day!

Flood Update (Saturday Oct 19)

This morning Nathan took Andrew and the other 12-13 year olds to dig in the mud in Berthoud. They went to help a family whose property had been buried under feet of mucky mud.

The owner boards horses . . . well, used to until the flood. His corral was buried under tree branches, weeds, and mud that were swept along. He was able to get all of his animals out successfully, but lost a pair of chickens to the neighbor's dog who was keeping them for him.

The boys worked on clearing out 2-3 feet of mud from this shed. (Nathan estimated it was 15 by 20 feet).

Before--see the waterline?

Outside . . . see all the debris in the mud?

Part of the pile of mud they removed from the shed

It would have taken the family a LONG time to get it done, but the boys and parents who accompanied them were able to clear it out in 3 hours. The owner has been using a front end loader to clean up his property, but because of the small doors to the shed, the only way to clean it out was by hand, with shovels & wheelbarrows. The owner offered them lunch, but they'd brought it with them, so they worked and then came home. He thanked them many times.

Our nephew was visiting our family this weekend, and since he's in that age group he got to go along as well. It was a good experience for them, I think they'll sleep really well tonight.

They've made mention about keeping the cleanup efforts going until the really cold weather is here . . . we had a little snow (only an inch or so) this week, so we'll see. Several people we know have spent their Saturday mornings each week involved in the cleanup efforts.

Nathan said the property was beautiful, even with all the mud. The basement of the house was flooded, with three feet of water, but the main damage was to the barn, corral, and shed closer to the river.


Update: Sunday evening
Today at church they read some numbers about service hours. They said that over 2400 people from our stake have given over 8000 hours of service. 33 unique projects have been undertaken, 18 of them in Berthoud (one of the hardest hit in our stake). Quite a thing.

Fall is here

Probably the worst photo ever shared on the internet, but it gives you the idea

Family home evening apple tasting (Found online, not my own creativity)
We tested 8 apples  . . . and I would have picked some different ones, but this is what they had where I shopped that Monday:
Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Jazz, Pink Lady, Gala, Honeycrisp, Sweet Tango.

We voted on Sweet, Juicy, Tart & Favorite.

Here are the Favorite winners:
Gala: Ed & Diana
Sweet Tango: Andrew & Caitlin
Honeycrisp: Beth & Nathan

When it was over, we cut up what was left and put in on the stove to bowl. We got a small bowl of applesauce, they each got one spoonful in the morning to add to their oatmeal.

I think this activity would work with lots of ages. I feel bad for the checker who has to check you out at the store, but he'll get over it.


Giant Pumpkin contest
Between morning and afternoon sessions of Saturday conference, we went to a nearby nursery to see their giant pumpkin contest. It was a great break to get outside. There were not very many pumpkins there, but the ones that showed up were impressive.

Quite a thing to move a pumpkin that big--this is the winner

Officially this is a "squash," not a pumpkin, so its 900lb weight didn't win . . . it was the biggest

2nd or 3rd place?

I can update weights in the morning after the kids remind me how much they were. Nathan was digging in the Berthoud Mud, so not pictured here. He earned his Mormon Helping Hands T-shirt for slogging in the mud that day.

CSU Homecoming 5K

It's kind of tradition for our family to participate in the Homecoming 5K. We've done it (at least one of us), every year since moving here, except last year when N & A were in UT for conference. It was a big group this year. Every one of our family members entered. It's sponsored by the department that Nathan works with for research, so it's giving back to them a bit. A lot of people, 2000+. Chip timing is a lovely thing. Everyone had someone to run with. Nathan stayed with Diana, Edwin stayed with me (mostly in a stroller, though I made him run over the finish line), Bryn, Cait & Andrew started together but Bryn finished ahead of them thanks to her many hours of cross country practice this fall. She finished first for our family.
We took a starting line pic, but I've been asked not to share it. (boo!)


Fall Leaf Drive

This afternoon we had commitments until after dinner, so after our meetings we went on a fall color drive. Most of the leaves here turn yellow, so we were on the hunt for orange, red, and brown leaves. It was pleasant. We drove up to Lory State Park, turned around because we didn't want to pay, and headed up the Reservoir road from the North. We've never been from that direction, so it was fun to approach it from a different way. We came down and checked out some of the city park area, finishing off with a stop at the flower gardens across from CSU. They have planted an annual garden to show how different types of annuals weather in the Rocky Mountains. It is a lovely place that will not look so lovely in a few weeks. Nathan had the camera, so perhaps I will get photos from him in the next couple of days.

Caitlin's Harvest

Each of the 3rd graders were given a plant in the spring from Bonnie Plants, a national company. They sponsor a cabbage contest. Caitlin was the only one who contacted her teacher about it, so her teacher said she "won." That meant we got to enter. All the Colorado entries will be place in a hat and someone from the Colorado Dept. of Agriculture will choose a winner in December. The prize is a $1000 scholarship.

I know I am partial, but I guarantee no one loved their cabbage plant like Caitlin. She wanted to check on it in the morning both before and after breakfast. She watered it, cried over it (bugs or bunnies eating the leaves), worried about it, planted a pinwheel next to it, and nurtured it. If she had any water left over at mealtime, she would go out and give it to her plant to drink.

In the end it weighed 8 lbs, 14 ozs. If it's based on size, she will probably not win. If they could only measure her heart.

So far we've eaten coleslaw & won ton soup with cabbage from its leaves. We still have half a cabbage left. My favorite is stuffed cabbage rolls, but pretty much only one other person in the fam agrees with me.

Life changing salad dressing

It's been awhile since I've written about veggies at lunch, so here goes:

I pretty much do it every day . . . I don't keep track but I would say that 9 out of 10 or more times I do eat veggies with my lunch. Two Saturdays ago when lunch was pancakes & eggs I did not eat veggies. . . and I could have but didn't.
I have to say it's been a good change.

My favorite lunch veggie is spinach. I buy a one lb. box every time I'm at Sam's. (Unless they are out--then I growl under my breath and have to buy it at another store).  Nathan and I are the ones who eat it most, but if I give my kids an option they will usually eat some kind of veggie. Today one of the older children tried it on a turkey sandwich and enjoyed it, so there is hope.

I found this recipe my Aunt had given me several years ago that I'd never tried. It is a winner because it tastes good, goes well with Spinach and you can keep all the ingredients easily in your house. Drop me a line if you try it and like it, too.

Spinach Salad dressing:

1/3 C oil
1/4 C Lemon juice
2 T. Soy sauce
1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce

I call it awesome. Just fresh enough, b/c of the lemon, just spicy enough b/c of the tabasco. It feels a touch oily . . . but pretty close . . . and it's possible I put in 1/2 C? Can't remember. I confess many times I make it on the fly in my bowl, and it's probably a little heavy on the Lemon juice that way. 

Consciously eating veggies at lunch this year has not made me lose a ton of weight, but I feel better and it's led to other positive changes. Like seeing someone about my back, joining a gym, seeing people I haven't in many years, and taking Barre class. I love it. 

p.s. For my mom & Dad, this recipe is from Aunt Maxine. It's delicious & from family, you should try it.

Flood Update (Fri Sept 27)

Last night I received a call asking if I could help clean up houses in Berthoud, a community about 40 minutes southwest of where we live. I said yes and she promised she could find someone to watch Ed, offering to watch him herself.

I ended up making my own arrangements for Ed and drove two other sisters in my ward. We met at the chapel there .. . . such a pretty little town. (My friend Helen's sister lives in Berthoud).

There were about 10 ladies who gathered to help clean two homes. One of the families cancelled, so we all went to one house. The lady in charge, we'll call her "Sister H" is the Relief Society President in the Berthoud Ward. She seemed a little worn out . . . admitted that herself when she asked someone else to say the prayer. She gave a brief introduction to our efforts.

Berthoud lies along the Little Thompson River. There are areas in Berthoud that are unaffected, but those close to the river had a lot of damage. (6 feet of water in the first home Nathan was asked to clean out). Sister H said that FEMA came through but did not stay to offer help in the clean up process. Members of the Berthoud ward went to the lowest lying areas to ask what help was needed. Essentially they told each of these families that if they would choose a day, our stake would supply extra help.

We followed her in our cars so that she could stay longer--because she knew we would probably have varying levels of time availability. She said we also needed to follow her to get to the home, because putting it into a GPS would take us over bridges that were closed. I was sure she was right about that little fact, especially when we went past a "Road Closed" sign.

The family whose home we went to this morning was expecting 3-4 people. But remember, one household cancelled, so all of us showed up. We were more than a little overwhelming. In about two hours, we mopped the main living areas of the home and cleaned everything that touched the floors with a bleach solution. The carpet had been removed earlier we were cleaning tile and cement. They had already mopped before--our purpose was to disinfect with bleach. You would not believe how quickly the mop bucket would be brown & cloudy. It was nice to work together and in a short time we got a lot of work done. It would not have been possible without as many helpers. Laundry was folded, toys were wiped down, dishes washed, and hope renewed.

There were three children there . . . close to the ages of some of my own. I wonder what they've thought & felt the past couple of weeks. They still had their smiles.

I took time to talk to the family. The owner said that his house is normally 17 to 17.5 feet above the river. He said it rose 18 feet & crested 4 times. The crests came when reservoirs were failing. One of the crests was a 2 and 1/2 foot rise that came and went in under an hour. He's owned that property for 30 years . . . so he wasn't there for the 1976 flooding. As we were leaving he was talking about lots of equipment he owned which was now gone.. . . and said, "It's all just stuff."
"The important things, the ones on two legs," he said, gesturing to his grandson nearby, "Are still here and walking, and that's all that matters."

I would have liked to stay a little longer, but we had to get back to get Ed. It was a great experience to be invited into their home to help them for a little while.

There are projects the next 3 weekends helping families in this same area. Saturday morning at 9 am. 

Flood Update (Thurs, Sept 26)

I was asked to serve again at the Loveland Flood Relief Distribution Center. At first I said no, then I went to church, taught this lesson on rescuing the handcart pioneers, and felt like I should say yes. They called me later to say they had enough people, but I still felt I had to go.

Because it was during the week, I took Eddie with me. In some ways, it was great to bring him, (He's cute and there were no other children there--so he's a great conversation starter), and in other ways not so great. He drank a LARGE gatorade in about 45 min. The next 45 min we went to the bathroom 4 times!!

But, what most impressed me about this period of service (He lasted about an hour and a half), were the people I met. I ran into a FEMA agent (in the bathroom, of course), and I asked where she lives. She's from Maryland but will stay here until November. Ten people are on her team--all from Maryland. CRAZY!!!!! She's young, of course, but that's a long time. I was impressed. She was in charge of entering data about what was coming in and going out of the center--she said about 100 people per day were being served.




Then, in the break room, I struck up Ed struck up a conversation with two Red Cross workers. They actually struck it up, Ed did not want to say a single word.
I asked where they were from, one was from Missouri & the other California. Probably men my dad's age, they were volunteering on 2 week shifts--the Red Cross pays for their lodging but they are unpaid volunteers. I did not ask who paid for their travel, but I'd like to know. . . .They were very kind and wished me the best. That is selfless service. The assignment was to deliver supplies from Denver to outlying relief centers. They had a Penske moving truck full of donated items: flat shovels, tarps, coolers, etc. for flood victims. They said there were locations they were supposed to deliver to which are still inaccessible.

I saw an acquaintance from church in the "store" section. She was holding a baby while a mother used two hands to shop. She also had another child in the cart. I can't imagine the stress . . . .

I set my keys down in the bathroom (where else?) and someone found them and kept them in a safe place until I remembered them (which was right before I left).

One of the volunteers we had seen on Sunday was there again. She said she'd been every day except Tuesday, when she had to go to work. (Tidbit for my veterinarian family members: she works in the Lab at CSU doing CBC's, etc.) She knew where everything was and where it needed to get to.

The distribution center will not be accepting donations after this Sunday, Sept 29th. I am not sure what their plan is, but it seems that they will be scaling back. I haven't heard of other opportunities to help since Sunday. While I was there, I saw at least 20 people from my stake.

Although we weren't able to stay very long, it was nice to be with these individuals who are giving of their time and energy to help.

Two more things:

There's a great article from the Loveland news about this disaster relief center. Link HERE.
I like that the FEMA representative, John McGowan said, "This is the best-organized, most efficient recovery center I've ever been in."

Marc Udall, Senator, came to tour the center on Sunday. He was not there when we were, but if you are interested this video shows a little more about what it's like. The lady in yellow in the video is in charge and every so often she interrupts everyone's work to shout out a thank you.

Flood Update (Sun Sept 22)

This week we were asked to help with two projects: cleaning up the yard of a business and volunteering at the Loveland Flood Relief Disaster Center. We were unable to help with the business cleanup because of a prior commitment, but I am scheduled to go to the Disaster Center in a few days.

The stakes surrounding the hardest hit areas are assigned a neighboring stake to help, which I believe I already mentioned. Cheyenne is helping us . . . 75 men from my dad's stake were down yesterday helping in Berthoud . . . . Denver is helping Boulder--it's all very organized. 

Today we had no meetings or commitments and decided to go as a family to see if we could be helpful at the Loveland Flood Disaster Relief Center. It was delightful. We invited a bunch of friends to come and two of our children's friends were able to come with us, and one of the moms.

We worked from around 2 pm until 4:30 pm. Individuals and groups have donated items and the volunteers are working on sorting them to set up a "store" for flood victims who need help. I am not sure what the qualifications process is, but they are invited to take clothing, shoes, hygiene, baby care, and food.

It was impressive. We saw individuals representing FEMA, American Red Cross, Americorps, and individuals and families who wanted to help. I did not take any photos of the "store," but I will say that it is well organized. We did not see many there shopping, but there were a few. One man, who said he's volunteered every day last week said yesterday there were approximately 400 who came through, but he wasn't sure if that was individuals or families.

See those yellow vests? Left from those people is the "receiving dock" where families dropped off donations.

After the volunteer crowd died down a bit . . . the "store" is on the other side of the curtains

Labeling boxes to sort clothing donations

Transporting sorted clothing to another area for temporary storage until the "store" needs re-stocked

I teach Sunday School and today the lesson was on rescuing the Martin & Willie handcart companies. We had lots of talk about reaching out in service--to the handcart pioneers & flood victims. One lady, who'd been to the disaster center earlier in the week said, "Not all the people wearing 'Mormon Helping Hands' vests are members, so it gives you a great opportunity to talk about that if they aren't."
I tried that trick, I approached a man who'd been working near us and asked if he was Mormon. He said he was not, but did not seem bothered to wear it . . . . which is great. We welcome visitors.

During our regular church meetings today, we were told that the LDS church sent 3 semi's full of supplies to this disaster relief center. Our stake president worked as a liaison with the City of Loveland and the Church to find out what was needed. And then, it came.

Being close to those flood waters but not affected by them will give our family many opportunities to serve. It will bring us closer to our neighbors and help us remember what's truly important.
Today's service will be a happy memory for our family--there are many days ahead to serve & we are grateful to be a part of it.

Flood Update (Tuesday, Sept 17th)

Took this from the Gateway Baptist Church's Website so you could see the water . . . which has receded even more than this photo shows

 Nathan works with the young men at church and wanted to use the weeknight activity for flood recovery. He used a link from Just Serve to contact the pastor at Gateway Baptist Church, Loveland, CO
to see if they could come help.
(Just Serve has different daytime shifts available for serving there, but the young men & leaders needed an evening shift).

Click on the link above to see some of the photos of their church building and the flooding.
They had at least 2 feet of water inside. Also, their church website found HERE: has a flooding update. They seem to be making steady progress--over 125 people showed up to help on Monday, and more today.

Tonight the deacons from our ward, and the entire young men's group from a neighboring ward, went to help. Other volunteers had brought the muddy, upholstered chairs, outside for cleaning. They were clean and drying outside in the sun when Nathan called, so the pastor said that the boys could help carry them in. He estimated there were 35 or so from our church who formed a fire line and brought them in and then hauled them upstairs. He said the ruined carpet is out, the subfloor is showing, and they've made a lot of headway, as you will read about on their flood update.

I asked Andrew about it and he said, "Their chairs are heavier than ours and they don't fold up." I asked if he had fun, and he said yes.

My brush with jury duty

I was summoned to jury duty on Sept. 16, 2013, a day when my kids were scheduled to be out for teacher collaboration. I asked my mom to come be with my kids, hoping I would only be gone a couple of hours. This was the first time I'd ever been asked to report, so I went in knowing very little.

I left our house around 7:15 am. When I arrived at jury duty, I found out that an acquaintance of mine was also there. We sat and waited together--it was helpful to have something with whom to chat. Our group was too large to all fit into the courtroom at once. This was clue #1 that things were not going to be smooth. My friend was called up to the courtroom in the first group, and I stayedClue #2 was that they told us our group was much larger than normal. . Clue #3 came close to noon when the judge announced it would be a criminal case, lasting 4-5 weeks.

After that announcement, we were released for lunch and told to report to one courtroom if we wanted to discuss a hardship with the judge, and a different one if we had no hardship. Earlier in the day, the clerk alerted us that if we thought we had a good reason, we should discuss it with him, because once the jury was chosen, it would be too late.

I decided at that point that I had to talk to him. I went on my lunch break (nearly 2 hours), ate a sandwich, fabric shopped at my favorite Old Town store, and explored Old Town by myself. (I forgot the piece of advice to brings something to read. Those who had something to read were much more content waiting).

At 2:30pm we reported and found that there were a large number claiming hardship. It got a little ugly waiting . . . people upset about who would be called next, etc. At 4:00pm I counted close to 70 of us still waiting to speak to the judge. At 4:40 he came into the courtroom, said there would be 10 more called and the rest should report Tuesday, the 17th. My name was the last one on the list.

As the 50-60 others left, the tension in the room decreased dramatically.

I went in and said that my main concern was the length of the trial. "I have five children, one who is home full time with me."
"You are a stay at home mom?" the judge asked.
" Have you thought about bringing in help?" one of the lawyers asked.
"Yes, but I haven't  . . . , " I replied.
She pressed on, "Are there people who you could ask to help . . . they could drop your children off and you could bring them home?"
I said, "Yes, I have done that. But the length of the trial . . . "
The judge interrupted and said, "It would be possible for you to be here, but I am not going to go any further with this." Then, he thanked me for my time and dismissed me.  I liked him a lot, and even more when he told me I was done. It was 5:15 p.m.

I thanked them for consideration of my circumstances and hopped, skipped and jumped out of the room.

Jury duty is serious business. I know a lot more about what to expect and hope I'm not called for a criminal case anytime in the near future. I have no idea how my name got on the list of the last few to speak to the judge, but I am so grateful it was only one day.

Flood update (Sun Sept 15th)

This morning we had church at 9:00am. One of the speakers who'd been invited did not come, because it was raining this morning and she would have to cross the Big Thompson River and did not feel comfortable not knowing if she'd be safe. (It was raining pretty hard that early, too).

Our high councilman spoke about the proceedings at Stake Council this morning. He said the flooding was the only topic addresses. Our stake has been divided in two groups: wards that flooded and those who would be asked to make donations. My ward had very minimal damage. . . . I mentioned in my last post that we are on a hill, but what I really meant was a plateau. Most of my ward is on this plateau & sustained minimal damage.

He delivered a message about the General Conference in Salt Lake City when the residents were asked to go get the handcart pioneers in Wyoming and bring them in. He likened our situation to that, and asked that we give donations of baby supplies (formula, food, diapers, clothing), non-perishable foods, and basic hygiene items (soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, washcloths, etc).

He advised us that we could use the time after meetings were over to go shopping for these items or bring what we had at home. We only contributed things from around our home. It felt great to have these things around in case of our own emergency, but even better to give them away to people who are in dire need.

Shopping in our basement and closets . . . pretty good haul

Nathan went to deliver our things and said that the tables they had set up to collect were quickly filled--a constant stream of people pouring in and out delivering needed supplies. Later, he spoke to a member who said that the combined contributions filled two trailers.

The items will be delivered to a distribution center in Loveland to be used in the coming days and weeks.

We woke up to more rain . . . which was not predicted to fall until 9 am but started early. It's done now, at 5 p.m. My mood is significantly altered by the presence of a sunny sky. It was so nice to have the sun all afternoon FR and most of yesterday. This morning was harder with the rain. No rain

Our stake, the Loveland, Colorado Stake, has been assigned to ask for help from the Cheyenne East Stake if we need manpower to meet needs that our stake cannot handle. Each of the other stakes in our area, Boulder, Longmont, Greeley, Fort Collins, have similarly been partnered with another stake. I love knowing that there help has already been assigned. 

We will make it--it will be interesting to see which roads are worked on, and which ones will not be repaired.

My parents had some more flooding (BOO!) and I am supposed to appear for jury duty tomorrow. Never a dull moment.

"Biblical" flooding

This is what scares me the most . . . . erosion, makes that road look like a cracker

Our basement is dry and we are in no danger of flooding at this point. (We live on a hill).
My parents had a small amount of water damage in their basement. We've experienced emotions of guilt at not experiencing more personal loss . . . the damage this flood has caused throughout our state will be felt for a long time. It spread hundreds of miles and affects millions of people. We will have opportunities to serve.

The Coloradoan, our local paper, posted an aerial view of many areas in our county. If you click on THIS LINK, you will arrive at the Coloradoan homepage. About one third of the way down, there are some videos . . . one of them is titled "Aerial tour of Fort Collins, Loveland flooding."

Nathan's office is the green roof at 1:24 in the video. . . . the parking lot that's almost completely submerged. There was water on the east and the north. Around 50 people bagged 7 tons of dirt yesterday morning to prevent penetration. So far, it looks like the water has stayed out, and it has receded today to leave the parking lot dry.

We were not the hardest hit, by any means, but seeing this video brought home the damage a little more.

School was cancelled on FR. The kids were elated to stay home. I don't think they understood the magnitude, so we watched the news together last night--then they knew a little more.

The photos tell the story really well . . . destruction everywhere. I was in Lafayette, CO this morning. One of the Boulder residents told me that of 50 bridges in Boulder County, 30 were gone. Washed away. I crossed both the St. Vrain and Big Thompson rivers on I-25 and was surprised to see with my own eyes how high the water is. Lots of people out taking pictures and a big slow down in traffic as everyone slowed down to see.

If you want to see more . . . there are thousands. I grabbed the one above from the link below. You might laugh, you will be shocked, you might cry. Take time for the captions.
9 News Photo Gallery

A couple more facts . . . the average rainfall in our area is 12-15 inches. Many communities got nearly that much in 24-48 hours. The other interesting tidbit is that one inch of rain is comparable to 10 inches of snow . . . for example Red Feather Lakes, who had 14 inches in these storms, had the equivalent moisture of 140 inches of snow--well over 10 feet.

It's going to be an interesting school year. . . day before Labor Day weekend was cancelled due to excessive heat in UN-airconditioned buildings, this Friday for excessive rain . . . guess what's coming next???
SNOW!

More to come as Colorado re-builds.

 

Labor Day Adventure

During the summer of 1995, I worked at a camp in New Hampshire. The story of choosing that camp is a long one, but a good one if you talk to me in person. It is called Camp Calumet Lutheran, and if you want to know more about it, click on the name earlier in this sentence.

Every three years they hold a reunion for the staff members who worked there in the 1990's. I was invited to attend and we decided it would be fun to take Andrew & Bryn there. The price of plane tickets and distance did not make it an attractive option to bring everyone. We enlisted my mom to help and made our reservations.

We left on Friday and came back Monday. It's a short time to go so far, but it was worth going.

Looking away from our tent

Road on the property

Family by the lake

Approaching Camp from the lake

Camp road

Memorial garden

Random granite or marble on our hike

Jackman's Ridge (a 10 min hike from Camp, owned by camp)

Hike

Bryn's footprint photo

Frisbee rescue attempt

Frisbee rescue success

Playing on the beach

It was nice to see people I haven't for a long time. We are all older, many with children, all with daily work, many with spouses. The site is beautiful. It rained about 5 inches while we were there--which illustrates why it's so green. We were very unprepared for that kind of moisture. Next time.

We enjoyed tying a quilt, playing frisbee, riding in a canoe, on a pontoon boat, playing basketball, attending a Lutheran service in the outdoor chapel, a gong meditation session [more than one member of our family may have fallen asleep during this], singing camp songs, and visiting with friends. Nathan won the 5 K race.

There were lots more photos, if you are interested, click HERE.

The view

We may or may not have surprised our babysitter.