Two Months!!

This baby is perfect.  

She is so patient and always willing to flash a smile.  

She sleeps a 7-8 hour stretch at night.

And as soon as she hears her daddy's voice, she desperately seeks him out.

But she still loves me most.

Perfect.

Grandparents!!

First off: I have exceeded my storage limit on Blogger.  This is highly obnoxious.

Onto more exciting matters- Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and meet Miss Eden.

We decided to spend our Saturday of play at the Liberty Science Center.

We built bridges that were rewarded for design and stability (or by luck didn't fall apart in transport from the building table to the judging table).

Used robotic arms to perform cutting edge surgeries (or put jacks in a bucket)

Felt our way through 80 feet of twists and turns in pitch black darkness (that was legit).

Were mesmerized by turtles (tortoises?? dinosaurs??).

Got in on some live Angry Birds action (he obviously has had far too much practice).

Climbed on some walls (regular life, just without me yelling at him)

Animated ourselves.

And for good measure, Eden took a bath.  And she was adorable doing it.

Not pictured, but also celebrated (or at least acknowledged):

11 years of wedded blissishness

The Mister growing one year wiser and grayer 

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for coming to play with us!!!

And then Came November...

 ...bringing with it, a Nor-Easter.

 And leaving us with a thick blanket of snow.

 10 inches to be exact.

 A beautiful insult to the ugly injury of Sandy still crippling the coast.

It was all gone 2 days later. 

 As was Mitt Romney's hopes of become the President of the USA.  

Quite the tumultuous week was had here at 44 Harvey.

While I'm Away...

...the daddy and kids will play.

 

 The Saturday before Sandy slammed, the kids were able to enjoy a taste of Halloween at the ward Trunk-or-Treat followed by a little Trick-or-Treating downtown.  If only they had known this would be the limit of Halloween they would experience.  For the second year in a row.

 After Sandy, the trees that were left standing found themselves naked.  The children took full advantage.

 Ryder spent as much time possible with his favorite furry friend, the neighbors dog, Cali.

 And the girls spent their days coloring, painting, and play-dohing.

There may have been a lack of electricity, but playtime smiles were still plentiful.  

Daddy did good.

Unprecedented

Live in Texas, Florida or the Northeast long enough, and you are bound to experience a hurricane.
Or in our case, several.

The high winds and falling limbs are frightening and the loss of power and air conditioning uncomfortable.

But these hurricanes, the ones you and I have lived through, are most simply stated:
 inconvenient.

When Irene hit last year, it brought with it extensive rains to an already over saturated August.  And there was flooding.  Lots and lots of flooding.

Water destroying basements and sweltering temperatures disturbing sleep.
Irene was an inconvenient frustration.

But then came Sandy, a storm too intense to settle as an inconvenience and far more furious than a frustration.  

 I was in Atlanta showing off Eden to the family when Sandy engulfed the East in her rage.  I may have missed the howling winds, but the carnage she left in her wake, that is inescapable.

 To put her into perspective, an excerpt from CNN:

It broke records, and it broke hearts.

More than 8 million people lost power, the result of wind, flooding and heavy snow. New York City's intricate subway system suffered the most extensive damage in its 108-year history. The New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days, the first time that had happened because of weather since 1888. The surf in New York Harbor reached a record 32.5 feet -- 6.5 feet taller than a wave spawned by Hurricane Irene. A record high water level also was set at Battery Park in Manhattan, where the surge peaked at 13.88 feet.

Damage estimates put the cost of the storm around $50 billion, the second costliest storm in history, behind Hurricane Katrina.

At least 23 states felt the effects of Sandy, which morphed from a hurricane into a wintry superstorm stretching nearly 600 miles. Sandy was so big, forecasters said, that if it had been a country it would have ranked as the 20th-largest in the world.

It killed at least 111 people in the United States.

The destruction came in all forms: Wind, water, snow and fire.

 Sandy was the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, and the second largest in recorded history.  Recovery will be long, and for so many, impossible.

 On a local scale, we were spared the most horrific sites.  But downed trees, crushed homes and vehicles, and lack of power are rampant.  We are on day 7 without electricity.  Gas stations are powerless, and those able to pump are rationing to lines over 3 hours long.  

 I went to the grocery store to find some food we could cook on the grill last night.  I left with the last two potatoes, a gallon of milk and a loaf of stale bread.  The shelves were sparse, and nearly all refrigerated/frozen goods had spoiled.  

 Mass transportation experienced catastrophic damage.
The train Allen takes into work will most likely not be back in working order for several months.  MONTHS.  Only the Lincoln Tunnel is open for travel into New York, and cars must be carrying at least three passengers to enter.  And commuters are still spending over 4 hours to cross the border.  

Monday he will need to find a way to work.  To find a semblance of normalcy.
The children, however, will remain home, tallying the sixth day of canceled school.

Our nights are falling below freezing and our days barely warming, adding a new level of fear and fragility.

Due to the storm, my 48 hour jaunt to Atlanta turned into a week long vacation. Thursday I was finally able to fly.  The drive home from the airport was eerily dark, but when I walked in my front door, I felt light: my home was happy.  I have been so impressed by Allen and the children and their ability to cope without an oven, without electricity, without routine.  They have all been troopers.  Smiling, happy, patient troopers.

The generator has provided warmth and light, and so, we have little room to complain.  We are simply suffering the inconveniences of a hurricane.
And I am so grateful.

Allen and Ryder, along with our ward, have spent nearly every waking hour hoisting chainsaws and helping our neighbors chop.  Their service has truly been a beautiful thing in the wake of such ugly terror.  Amidst the dark streets, these Happy-to Help Mormon hands have provided light and warmth in the hearts of so many.  What an amazing gospel we are apart of.  A gospel of preparedness.  A gospel of love.  A gospel of confidence and endurance.  A gospel of hope in spite of tragedy.

Without gas and without power and with an icy chill, there is a thick level of tension. 

When will this be over?  When will things start looking normal?  Feeling normal?

Likely the answer is not anytime soon.  

And so, we will continue to endure the discomfort of Sandy.  

We will find creative ways to fill our bellies and spend our days.  And we won't complain.  

Because while Sandy has inconvenienced and disrupted us, she did not damage or destroy us. 

And that is a sentiment far too many are unable to share.

We Are Family

 The ladies.

 The gents.

 Missing: 4 of my most preciouses.

I love these people.  

We all will definitely make eternity more colorful! 

A Family That Watches Football Together..

 This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to fly to Georgia to watch BYU crush Georgia Tech (thanks Allen for being a rockstar husband and indulging your wife in a habit you cannot wrap your head around).

 The best part: every one of my siblings was in town.  Which hasn't happened in a pathetically long time.

 The man behind it all.

 The other best part: our seats.  They were beyond perfect.  Father Bill did us right.  Front row (well, 3rd, but no one was in front of us, so...) and BYU sideline.  Perfect.

 It was so fun cheering on our boys in blue and having them look up at us in recognition.  And they looked up at us a lot.  

 It was also really, really fun to win.

 At the end, every single player ran by and gave us high-fives and thanked us for our support.  Athletic and adorable.  What's not to love about those Cougs??

 Cosmo pretty much was our biggest fan.

 The night before the big game we attended a Fireside featuring the football team.  The Sorenson cousins and Bronco spoke.  Then we got to do a little Meet-and-Greet.  It was a packaged-up ball of rad.

 I told Ogletree to look tough.  Umm......

The game, the win, the seats, the people: It was one of those ultimate experiences.  A dreamy day of memory making.  Thanks dad for making it happen.