Amy's iPhone

You can call us lame or brilliant (I know which Amy would choose), but Amy was finally able to get her first phone.  I told her about a year and a half ago that she could have one once she was in high school.  You can bet she didn't forget.  It took a little longer than the start of the year because of the newest iPhone release.  Amy was willing to wait a little bit longer.

She reluctantly put her iPod up for sale (hoping to make tons of money but knowing she wouldn't likely) and was without a device for about two weeks.  Oh, the agony.  Kristen even offered to let Amy to take her iPod to school.  Sweet sister.  Amy declined and just went without.  It took a couple of weeks and different tries on craigslist and facebook, but finally, she had success.

The phone was scheduled to arrive on the 8th of the month, but lo what excitement?  The delivery date was moved to the 3rd!  Amy hurried home as quickly as possibly.  Is this one happy girl or what?  She was too excited to hold still.

Amy's Nitro Story

When it comes to creativity and homework, Amy's got it down.  I thought this assignment was pretty clever:

Dear Nitrogen Mom and Dad,

 

My journey through the cycle of the life has been very chaotic. I started out in the atmosphere where I was born. You raised me until I was about six weeks old. Then that terrible night of the storm happened. I was the only one struck by lightning that night and, because of that, I was transformed into a solid quickly and traveled into the soil. I made friends and established a new home. Then things got sticky because of the all the bacteria. It got so bad that it turned me into gas once again, and I was heading back into the atmosphere. I thought I was going home, but by that time, I was two years old, and you decided to move on. I was so sad that I went and hid in the clouds. I accidentally mixed with water and together we became rain. I fell into the Atlantic Ocean, and again started a new life. I became very fond of a friend named Oxy. We talked for what seemed like forever and we eventually drifted into groundwater. Luckily, Oxy and I were still together. Then one night we were sleeping and when I woke up I had dissolved into surface water. Oxy was gone. Ahhh! I drifted through rivers and streams looking for him until I reached the Pacific Ocean. It seemed familiar, but much warmer than the last Ocean. By this time, it was my 5^th birthday, and I felt different. Bacteria worked its magic once again, and I was back in the atmosphere. I am writing from the clouds awaiting my next journey. Hope to see you soon.

Love, Nitro Jr.    

Misha

A couple of weeks ago, Misha nonchalantly asked, "Did I tell you that Mrs. Meier asked if I would play percussion with the 8th grade band?"

"What?" I asked in astonishment.  "No, you didn't."

"Yeah, they didn't have enough percussionists so they asked me and two of my friends if we would play in both the 7th grade and 8th grade bands."

"Wow, Misha.  That is fantastic."

I love how she just slipped it in to conversation as though it was no big deal.  It is a big deal.  Way to go Misha.

Crying Fish

Kristen:  "Mom, how do fish cry?  Do they cry bubbles?"

Boots

I have always wanted rain boots.  I've never really had a need for them before.  We bought some for all but Kristen last week and they have come in handy almost every day since.  Love 'em.

Pelican Shores Before, During, and After

It was amazing to note the differences at the property.  This is a collection of pictures before, during, and after.

Before

During

After

The height of the flood

Flood - Wednesday through Saturday

There was plenty of more flood clean-up going throughout the rest of the week.  Amy and Misha helped with collecting food at King Sooper's for the Mead food bank.  Chris helped at the Weld County building for those inquiring about FEMA assistance.  Chris and I went in to Longmont to the Greens.  Oh, that poor street.  Nearly every house was hit.  We were sent to a member's home with 8 to 10 missionaries.  The members had plenty of help and requested that we see if their neighbors needed help.

We arrived at a flooded, mud-filled basement and just started unloading it.  It had been sitting all weekend.  I was sure to wear my n95 face mask.  Again, lunch was delivered to us.  It was humbling to see meals coming from so many groups, help came from many different groups, and the National Guard watched over the entrances to neighborhoods to cut down on unsavory characters making their way in.

Saturday was spent helping a family pull out their lovely garden along with all of the mulch surrounding it.  Such a loss.  But they should have some great compost next year.  We served with the Morgan family who pulled out leftovers from a recent wedding reception to feed us lunch.

After lunch, we planned to head back to our property to work on clean up around the pool.  The grandchildren of the family we were helping arrived and were so cute.  The son, who had two children, brought his girlfriend and her daughter, Kennedy.  We were talking to Kennedy and loved her explanation of their "family" dynamics.  "Those two are siblings and I am single."  Kristen quickly hit it off with Kennedy and the family offered to let Kristen stay and play for the afternoon while we changed locations.

We were able to drink tap water again on Wednesday afternoon. 

Kristen's Crash

So, I got a call Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 17) from a number I didn't recognize. So glad I answered.

"Hi, your daughter just crashed on her bike...do you want to talk to her? Hi Mom." Tears.

I started walking out the front door to find her and realized she wasn't on our street, but one street over. I was on the house phone. I quickly hung up the phone and left it on the back of the car and started running. As I turned the corner, this young "hero" stood by my daughter waiting for me to arrive. He was so kind to put her bike in the back of his car and follow me home. As I looked down at Kristen there were lots of splotches of blood on the ground next to her. I couldn't see that she was visibly bleeding until she lifted her head and I got my first look at the blood running from her eyebrow down the side of her face. I looked up at the young man, and he seemed to read my thoughts, "I don't have any tissues." I helped Kristen up and started walking home with her. Another young lady drove by and asked, "Do you need anything?" I asked, "Do you have kleenex?" She quickly pulled out her box and handed me a handful. I said a quick thank you and rushed back to Kristen. I didn't know how steady she would be. We walked home the rest of the way with the young man following with Kristen's bike. I scooted her in to the house, retrieved her bike, said another quick thank you, and dumped the bike on the lawn.

"Chris!!" I called and he came running down the stairs. We got the cut above her eye cleaned up, and it looked pretty deep. I tried not to be too crazy about it, remembering that eye wounds bleed a lot. Another hero to the rescue-Haley Lindhardt--stopped by on her way home to take a peek. Fortunately she didn't think the cut was deep enough to require stitches and applied some wound superglue--Dermabond--to the cut as I pinched it closed. Sadly, my finger got glued to her head as well! Thanks to all who stopped to help. There is so much goodness in this world.  

I've taken pictures every day to show the progression of the bruising.  Kristen came home Thursday from school and announced, "I was so popular today!  Everyone wanted to see my eye."

Flood - Tuesday

All youth activities were cancelled for Tuesday evening.  Instead many of the youth and leaders participated in a day of service.  My friend Maria offered to watch Kristen for the day.  Some of our group were sent to an address in Frederick but the work there took only a few people about a half an hour.  As others cars filled with youth pulled up, I sent them along to an address close to Niwot to begin working there--Brigadoon Drive.  When Chris and I finally arrived with our car full of 10 to 12-year old boys, bucket brigades were in full swing at the first location we were sent to.

Before I continue on about the flooding, let me just say that I had to write down some of the comments coming from the backseat as we drove to Niwot.  These words coming from my young friend, J:

"Me and Zac always seem to be getting in trouble...[pause]...We'll be like on the roof throwing rocks..."

More from J concerning friends who come over to hang out with him and end up hanging out with his older sister, "That's why I want A to move out..."  Back to the flood.
 
Chris and Shawn Boushele headed down the street looking for additional places we could start helping to spread out the work.

They scouted out two more homes at the end of the street where we were sent.  Chris and I ended up at a house that was about two feet deep in mud inside and out.  Can't even imagine how the homeowners must have been feeling.  It looked like such a lovely home with beautiful gardens.  We set to work digging out the mud around the garage.

A short time later, someone came by passing out lunch sacks and water.  People were helping everywhere in a myriad of ways.  We were so grateful for the food and water.

Chris had a phone demonstration to be home for by 2 pm so we gathered up the boys, who by the way worked diligently the whole time, and headed out.  Misha was with another group and Amy was off somewhere else.  Since we took home the kids we brought, we figured we'd see our girls later.  I dropped Chris off for his meeting, deposited all of the kids off at their homes, and retrieved Kristen from Maria.  Service in so many ways.

Bishop John brought Misha home after an exhausting day of lifting buckets of stuff out of a basement all day long.

Flood - Monday

In the midst of all this craziness, a Facebook page was set up called 2013 Flood Service Crew.  People began listing service opportunities and it was amazing the amount of people who "liked" this page.  Monday morning we all met together because of the information on this page to begin helping different families in the Tri-town area.

Amy went to homes on Hawthorne.  Chris, Misha, Kristen, and I ended up at a home on McClure.  Screens were pulled from the basement windows and brigades were formed to begin emptying all of the contents.  All items were to be taken away.  Let me just say, this basement was dis.gus.ting.  The smell of cat urine and feces was overpowering.  I was proud of my husband for jumping right in to the mix to help but sorry that he was breathing the horrid smell.  People were sent out and returned in no time with face masks and gloves.  This basement was covered in soda cans and cat food that had been strewn about the room--and it was moldy.  We spent a couple of hours working and piling flood-soaked items, furniture, clothing, carpeting...  All of sudden, as another man and I walked back from dumping a load of drywall on the road, everyone started leaving.  I knew we weren't finished; I wasn't sure why we were all of a sudden in full retreat.  Black mold.  Apparently this house had been flooded before without any clean up taking place.

The unfortunate moment came later in the day when we found out that others from the Flood Service Crew returned to the house to help with the clean up and were not told about the black mold.

Chris had to work, so the black mold incident was a good ending point.  We were home for a couple of hours and then returned to Hawthorne to help with the clean up there.  It was lined with huge dumpster rollaways.  They were mostly full.  All of the young men and young women who had gone with Amy earlier in the day had been working hard all day long to empty out basements and fill these dumpsters.

Sunday or Monday, I can't remember which, we received word from the town of Firestone that we would have to boil water.  Not my favorite thing.

Flood - Sunday

All church meetings for the LDS church were shortened to Sacrament only on Sunday.  Our normal road in to the Stake Center in Longmont was blocked off due to a destroyed road so we headed up the freeway to highway 66.  It was pouring.  Not just a regular downpour--P.O.U.R.I.N.G.  As we drove across a bridge over the St. Vrain River, Chris made an executive decision and exited at 66 only to get back on the freeway and head back to Firestone.  We weren't sure that the road would still be open later in the day when we hoped to return.  We went to the Saddleback ward instead at the Frederick building.

Following church, Chris decided to take a quick look at the drainage around the rental and noticed that there were no downspouts leading away from the house in the rear.  Our basement would be leaking in no time if that wasn't remedied.  He took off to Home Depot to buy some downspouts while Amy and Misha and I created pathways away from the house for the water to drain.  It worked.  Chris returned with all that he could find at Home Depot to fix the drainage issue.

Once our house was okay, we headed off to Frederick to a neighborhood that was experiencing intense basement flooding.  It was still pouring, but we joined in a bucket brigade to empty the mud-filled basement.  It was impressive to see so many people I knew helping out.

Our service was cut short when someone announced that all of the surrounding roads were being closed.  Sadly, we had to leave the family's home in complete disarray.  We drove some of the back roads only to find them closed.  We made our way back to CR 13 only to wait in a line as the water rose across the road.  We were third to the last car to be allowed through.

Later on Facebook, I read about an amazing moment in the Rinn Valley Ward.  It was announced during the meeting that a single sister's basement was flooding.  Fathers and sons stood up and left the meeting and went directly to this sister's home with no thought to changing out of suits and white shirts.  Very inspiring.

Flood - Saturday

If you can imagine, a new family moved in to our ward on Saturday.  We were fortunate that the rain gave us a short reprieve.  I was most impressed that a family who had to walk out of their neighborhood because of the high flood waters, showed up to help.

Rain, Rain, Go Away - Friday

So much to catch up on with the 500-year flood events of the past two weeks.

It started raining almost two weeks ago.  Hard rain that came as a downpour.  Since we were living in this rental, I was concerned with its ability to keep out water.  I would wake up every morning and gingerly open the door to the basement, hoping the rain wasn't inches deep.  That was a small mercy that I was so grateful for.  Add to that, Chris was working in Chicago.  I went to sleep each night listening to the constant rain wishing he was sleeping next to me.

I was startled awake on Thursday, Sept 12, with a call from the school district announcing the cancellation of school.  It was hard to imagine the devastation that had hit over night as our street simply looked rain-soaked.  Friends began posting on Facebook about flooded basements and washed away roads.  In fact, school was cancelled on Thursday and Friday due to those washed out roads.  It was pretty surreal.  Flooding doesn't happen here!

Chris was scheduled to come home on Friday morning.  After numerous delays, his plane was finally allowed to depart from Chicago, and he arrived home about three hours late.  I was so grateful to have him home.  He brought with him a short break in the rain as well, and we took that opportunity to drive over to our property.  Or at least try to.  The road (Colorado Blvd or CR 13) was completely out past the bridge by our entrance.  We had to drive out to the freeway, up to 66, and down to CR 28 where we stopped and had to walk in.

The devastation was amazing.  We walked in six-inch water along the road towards the washed away portion of the road.  As we were walking, we suddenly heard pinging of the electric lines and one of the poles started to go down.  Chris yelled, "Run."  We raced out of the water on to dry ground as the pole now leaned at 45 degrees.  Chris called the electric company to report the downed power line.  We were reassured when we found out the line had already been de-energized.

Pictures say so much more in this instance.  Pelican Shores North:

Main road:

Take note that you can see rushing water right along the top of the road above during the flood.

After the flood.  Still rushing water, but many feet lower.

We received word that school would be closed until Thursday. 

Collecting Worms

Kristen saved us from the myriad of worms that collected during the storm.  I don't think she counted on them not surviving however.

Bus

After three weeks of picking Amy up after school, I called the busing people for the School District and finally got their approved for Amy to ride the bus.  Amy wasn't terribly thrilled.  She was kind of liking the quick ride home from school every day in air conditioned comfort.  I, however, was not enjoying all of the back and forth driving with her and Kristen.

The bus dropped Amy off about a mile and a half from home.  I had this epiphany though that since Amy was dropped off at the last stop before the bus then went to the middle school to start its next route, perhaps Amy could ride to the middle school, meet up with Misha, and walk home from there.  It required another phone call, but approval was granted.  Yay!  Amy was happy to not have to walk home quite so far, and I'm just happy to not have to chauffeur kids around so much.

Who is Taller?

There has been some ongoing teasing in the recent months about who is taller--Amy or Misha.  I have always felt that Misha would be taller than Amy simply because she has measured taller than Amy throughout the years at different milestones.  It finally happened in real life.  Amy and Misha had some quick checks at the doctor's office yesterday.  Amy measured 5 feet 5.2 inches.  Misha was 5 feet 5.3 inches.  There was much rejoicing and pouting.  I think they should both just be grateful.  I have never gotten past 5'2"!

Labor Day Fun

Labor Day seems to be the unofficial end to summer with school in full swing and routines being set.  We decided to take full advantage of the Pelican Shores North pool and host a swimming party for a few friends.  The weather was quite cooperative as we have been well in to the 90s for some time now.

Someday we will have more lake toys, but for now there was just a bunch of swimming, talking, mudding, and having fun.  Everybody grabbed pizza or sandwiches to share and enjoyed an afternoon of fun.

The line to be tossed in the pool was rather tentative in forming at first, but once it was determined to be safe and fun at the same time, Craig and Nolan were kept busy tossing kids.  With some of the older kids, the dads switched from 1-2-3, to "Okay, on two."  They were getting a little tired.