Hurricane Ike Clean Up

Disclaimer: Let me preface this post by saying that Sheryl is the author and complete contributor to everything on this Blog. This is my first time interjecting myself into the world of blogging. Though I read everyone else's.

Yesterday I had the privilege and blessing of going down to Lake Jackson, Texas to assist in the clean up and recovery after Hurricane Ike. It all began with an email and phone call on Tuesday from the EQ presidency calling everyone available to get equipment and bodies for a trip down on the following Saturday. There was an immediate response from the ward. We were short on chainsaws and we extended our reach beyond the ward to our good neighbors and friends not of our faith and got all the chainsaws and equipment needed. It just goes to show that Texans are in fact some of the kindest people around.

Many of you may not know but I'm a bit of a night owl. So I knew that even though we would be leaving at 3AM Saturday morning there was no way I was going to be getting to bed early. I'm really not into laying for ahhh and hour or so staring at the ceiling. So I packed up that night and hit the sack around 11ish, said a prayer that even though i was going to be asleep for just a few hours that it would be a deep sleep. Well 3AM came upon me and I was bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go. Our ward met up at 3:30AM, we loaded up everyone and headed to Elgin (rural town just east of the Austin area) to meet up with our Stake.

There were about 150 people from our Stake there and we all caravaned down to Lake Jackson. I will have to say there was a feeling that I will describe as the light of Christ in everyone. I looked into the eyes of our Stake President and I could see it, I could see it in everyone's eyes and countenance.

So after a few hours in the car filled with small talk (which I thoroughly enjoy) we arrived in Lake Jackson. Upon arriving, we checked in and got our yellow Mormon Helping Hands t-shirts (along with 500 other's), got our work assignments, had a few words from the mayor and stake presidents in the area and headed off to or assigned work areas.

My group was assigned to an older couple in their 70's. They were the nicest folks. They had 4 acres that had large tree's (40+ feet tall) throughout the property. We worked all day cutting up downed trees and piling up all the branches and wood in large piles 15 ft. high and 15 ft. in diameter for burning. Throughout the day the owners would come up and just say in the most sincere way how appreciative they were and that there was no way they would be able to get to this work. I know that we were all more then happy to be down there helping. Everyday after the hurricane hit I kept telling myself when are we going to go down and help these people out. When the phone call came I was released from this anxiousness to help. I say that humbly and not pridefully. God put's that in us.

We had one incident with the chainsaw but for the sake of the length of this entry (if you've even read this far) I will refrain. Ask me some time. We finished up with the first property around 3ish and moved to the next door neighbors asking them if they needed help which they emphatically said yes. We worked on their property and the next one until about 5PM and then called it a day and headed back to the park were we got our work orders from.

A shower, there is nothing like a good shower. They had showers at a rec center and we took one and hit the road. Another thing that is just great is a good meal after a hard days work. We stoped for a quick bite to eat and got home to our loving families.

I know that this is a bit of a travel log, but there was so much more that was happening yesterday and I just cant put it all down but, I was moved again by the Spirit to remember what I know to be true, that God is a merciful God and his Son Jesus Christ showed us the way to live and payed the ultimate price in His infinite sacrifice. The Kingdom of God is on the earth and I am fortunate to be affiliated with that kingdom. His work is moving forward and we were apart of that work yesterday and each day as we follow Him. -Dallas

I only took a few pictures as I was more focused on working ;)

Ellie does...

My life has been a tad busy lately, like most of your lives are too, but I had to take a minute to recognize the ADORABLE things that Ellie is doing right now. She's a month away from being two and every day she's learning new words and funny habits. Here are some of them.

*For those of you who are familiar with High School Musical 2 you know the song "Fabulous" that the mean girl Sharpay sings. Well, it's quite catchy and enough so that Ellie loves to sing it. She says, "I nee .....you-usss!!" for "I need Fabulous". I know what you're thinking, not really the best thing to be teaching your 2 year old to sing but oh my it's cute! I've been trying so hard to get it on video but it aint happening.

*The benefit of having older siblings is obvious here because of all the "older girl" things she picks up. For instance, she can recognize anything Hannah Montana-ish and points to it and says, "tanna". She'll even go to the CD player and say "tanna" which means she wants to rock out. And rock out she does, that girl gets the scrunched up eyebrows, the dropped jaw and wiggles her tongue up and down to imitate whoever, I'm not sure. What a nut.

*I love the way she says her "S's". Dallas' favorite words that she says right now are "gwathses" (glasses) and "moos" (move). Don't know why move has an "S" on it but I'm sure that what's she's saying because she's usually shoving you away in the process. I guess you have to hear it to really enjoy how she says it, but every time I get the camera out to video her she just says, "I see?" and gets behind the camera to see what you're looking at.

*Her attitude is not super bad yet, but I have to laugh when she adds that voice fluctuation on the end of something to make her point. Like, "Mi-yuhh!" For a while it was "binky-yuh" and "Mommy-yuh". A little demanding, I know. She does say please though, only it comes out "weeze?" Sooo cute!

*This picture is her at Abbey's party. Abbey was sitting on this bench to open presents and Ellie noticed it was obviously a very special spot to be in. At one point, Abbey got up to grab another present and Ellie took her chance, she jumped up there and flashed this smile to enjoy the spot light for a few seconds. Probably in hopes that one of those presents would be for her!

*She's starting to say phrases now and putting words together which is so cute. This morning when she spilled her oatmeal on her jammas, I reached over to clean her up and when I was done she said, "eee-ya-go" ("There you go", which is obviously what I usually say to her). Other cute words are "at-side" "stai-ohs" and the way she says "heh-woh" in a really deep funny voice when she's being silly. She'll put something on her head and lean over and say "heh-woh" (for Hello).

After a friend here in Texas lost her daughter who was Ellie's age in a drowning accident, I've been a little more aware of how lucky and blessed I am to enjoy Ellie's little smiles and hugs. When she grabs my pinkie and pulls me away from the computer, I realize my time is so much better spent following her to go have tickle time on my bed, or play "pe-po" in her room (Little People), than it would have been trying to finish that one email. Her laughter is so fulfilling, her simpleness so necessary. Heavenly Father was so kind to send me this bundle of sunshine. I love my Ellz.

Abbey's Baptism

Abbey's been looking forward to this day for so long and it finally came! Here she is dressed in white and ready to make covenants with her Heavenly Father. She was so beautiful!

Abbey and Mom

Thanks for coming Nana!

The whole fam.

Daddy and Abbey, all dressed in white.

Best buddies. I love that they love each other!

Abbey with her "Baptism towel".

All clean and pure, right out of the water. She was so happy and beautiful. We're so proud of you Abbey!

Happy Birthday Abbey!

Abbey turned 8 yesterday and she had a huge rockin' party with all her friends. Just so you know, fourteen 8 year old girls scream really loud when they watch Hannah Montana 3-D. And even louder when the Jonas Brothers come on, whoa!

Here's Ab opening some presents, note the jammas she's wearing. It was a pajama party but not a sleep over, but we even had a pillow fight!

Here's the fun. They loved the inflatable microphones, who wouldn't?
Happy Birthday Abbey, love you!!

I did a pee pee!

With the house all quiet and the kids gone at school, Ellie and I had a moment to sit and work on some potty training. She has sat here many times before, actually she asks for "po-ie" every time I change her diaper, but she's never actually gone until today! Horray for Ellie!! Maybe the diaper-free stage of life is close after all.

1st day of school

Here they are, all ready for their first day of school. Future Valedictorians for sure.

Is she about the cutest Kindergartener you've ever seen?

Mom saying goodbye, so sad.

I shed a littl tear because I'll miss her so much, but she was soooo excited to leave me behind!

My friends

For the last year or so I've been serving as the Primary President at church. Last week they split our ward and I'm so sad because that has changed my presidency. Here are the ladies that I've been serving with, Diana Christa, Debra, and Cassie. They have all become such good friends and I'm sad to see some of them go. Change is good and it's neat to see the church growing but I just want to say thanks ladies for the good times.

The Circus!

We took the kids to the Circus last night, one last round of fun before Summer ends. It was actually my first time at the Circus and so I kind of felt like a kid again. Except that I was the Mom who wouldn't pay 12$ for a bag of cotton candy this time, 12$ for sugar fluff! If you look closely you can see Miah and Abbey's cute new hair cuts. Abbey also just got her ears pierced so now we're all ready for school!

It was really hard to get any good pictures, but here and the Elephants wearing dresses. Poor things.

Ethan's Birthday Party

We celebrated Ethan's birthday today out on the boat. We had 8 boys knee boarding, wake boarding and tubing their hearts out. They had a blast! His real Birthday isn't until Tuesday but that's also the first day of school so we had to do it early.

Ethan is getting really good on this board!

Pizza and cup cakes

Back row: Matthew, Jaden, Ethan, Josh, Nick Front row: Tanner, Micah, Jared.
Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Trip to Utah!

This is how our vacation to Utah began, in the car. We got up at 4am and carried the kids to the car half asleep hoping that sleep would take up the first 3 hours of our 14 hour drive to Colorado. It didn't take long for the excitement to begin though because of Sister Jackson's goodie bag! Sister Jackson is my visiting teacher and a surrogate Grandma to my kids. She had wrapped presents, color coded and numbered them for certain milestones along the way that the kids could take turns opening. These silly glasses were one of the surprises and the other prizes and goodies were so much fun. Sister Jackson is an angle because this helped so much with the long drive!

Colorado friends

Our first stop, Colorado Springs!! It was so good to be back and to visit our old ward. My good friend Laurissa invited us and the Lindorfs over for lunch and we had so much fun catching up and remembering the good old days.

Me, Laurissa and Danielle with the yummy spread. Miss you guys!

I was really bad and didn't get any pictures while we were staying at Jason and Natalei's house so I stole this one from her blog. Here our buddies Dylan, Landon and Aaron who were so much fun to play with! Thanks guys for letting us stay with you!

Nana's house

We made it to Utah after another 10 drive the next day, and we went straight to Nana and Papa's new house in Sandy (new to the kids at least, Brent and Mary have been there for a year now). Here are the girls enjoying some bubbles in the back yard with Nana.

Temple Square

We went to downtown Salt Lake City to seen the Temple and the Joseph Smith building. Right after we saw the Joseph Smith movie, we were waiting for the elevator to come down and guess who steps out? Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorom of the 12 Apostles! We shook his hand and then I realized that I also knew the man that he was with but I couldn't remember his name. I asked him his name and realized that it was Brother Eaton from the Starlake ward in Federal Way Washington where I served my mission. I knew him well because he was the ward mission leader then, it was great to see him again.