Dam!

If you didn't hear about the dams breaking Midland, MI. last week, here's a clip from the news.

Michigan has seen heavy rainfall in May, with areas around Midland logging 3 to 4 inches at the beginning of the week of May 17. The Tittabawassee River in Midland and the Rifle River near Sterling reached flood stage, and on May 20, following immense levels of rain, the Edenford dam was breached, worsening the flood situation in the Midland area. The Sanford dam was also compromised, but did not break.

Communities in Midland, Edenville, and Sanford have been badly hit by the flooding. 10,000 people along the Tittabawassee River in Midland County began evacuating on the night of May 19. 500 people have been displaced and are in shelters. The floods have caused heavy damage to property. Hundreds, if not thousands, of homes have been destroyed. Homes and businesses around downtown Midland are submerged in water.

It was interesting timing. Also, if you watch the news, our governor is running a pretty tight ship around here. She had just extended our stay-at-home order to June 12 from May 28, though we can gather in groups of 10, while social distancing, outside.

On Thursday or Friday last week we got emails and messages on Facebook from our Bishop and Stake President with information from Elder Devries, our Area 70 here, stating that they needed healthy, able bodies, 16 and over to help out with the cleaning up process for the people affected there. They emphasized that it needed to be done quickly before the heat and humidity started to kick in, which it was, and mold and bacteria got out of control.

They even encouraged us to go on Sunday because this service was greater than our worship services and "the ox was in the mire". 

I was privileged to speak at a Zoom baptism on Saturday for a convert who was going to be in our ward, but ended up moving to a different ward. Jason had already started the process of some maintenance on our camper (the heavy rains made it difficult to do anything earlier in the week). He knew he was going to have to finish the camper project on Monday so we could get it off our driveway, so we decided that Sunday was the day to make the two-hour drive to Midland to help out, especially when the Bishop told Jason he would postpone his talk he was supposed to give that Sunday.

We signed up for the 12-5 slot. We held our family sacrament meeting and Come Follow Me earlier than normal, gave the kids some threats and instructions, left the overall charge of everyone on Victoria and the cooking to Karissa. Victoria really wanted to come, and being almost 16, I considered it, but I'm glad she could stay and help at home, though Karissa could have held her own and she made some fantastic chili and blonde brownies for dessert!

When we arrived at the Stake Center in Midland, we could only have one of us check-in (social distancing, remember) and then we were assigned to a group of 10. We had to use the port-a-potties outside, but they did provide snacks, masks, gloves, water, and some equipment. A huge truck had been sent from Salt Lake with the yellow helping hands shirts, generators, and cleaning buckets. It was amazing how quickly everything had come together for this major event! The Church is awesome!

The house we went to was for a single, older man. His house was going to be safe, even with the 30 feet of water from the river nearby, until the dam broke! After that, he had to grab his dogs and put them in buckets so he could wade through the water to evacuate. The water went up to the bottom of the roof of his barn and garage. We had to take out some layers of the kitchen floor. I don't even know what it all was. We took out drywall and plaster. We helped cut up and stack wood from a tree in the yard, and mostly we cleaned hundreds of tools that were submerged in water and mud and had been in his garage. 

It was definitely more hot and humid that day and I was wearing rain boots, gloves, and a face mask lifting very heavy bags of plaster and carrying it through mud. I have never sweated more on my upper lip in my life! The man was very grateful, though, and overwhelmed at the tasks at hand.

About 800 people from the church were there on Saturday and 900 on Sunday, to help out. I'm sure there was more on Monday from the reports of friends around here on Facebook. 

Our house was still standing when got home after being gone 9 1/2 hours. We were happy to eat some homemade chili! Our kids served in their own way by being independent at home. 

As we drove by houses, there were piles of furniture that had been ruined and out for the trash.

You can see some water in the grass, that's the way it was in most of the grassy areas, making for a lot of mud.

Bits of crumbled plaster and some of the bags I carried out

Christmas decor. It was already out to the curb, I don't know why it wasn't in a bag...

The man's barn where the water was up to the bottom of the roof.

Everything was covered in a brown muck color from all the sediment. 

His garage with all of his ruined motorcycles. The water went up to the clock in the back. You can see where it stopped by where the color is lighter.

One of his toolboxes, after we had emptied some drawers.

These weren't as muddy, but were in water, as you can see.

A big puddle at the church. I didn't end up wearing a yellow shirt because I didn't realize how many they had (I wasn't the one who checked in) and I didn't think I would get as dirty as I did on my shirt!

Jason didn't have another pair os shoes, so he had to walk around in the puddle to clean off his feet when we were done.

Birthday Celebration in Quarantine

We celebrated Jason's 44th birthday on Friday. Actually, it wasn't much different than we normally would have done if we were not in quarantine. We could have gotten take out, as we have on his or my birthdays in the past, but he did mention that he wanted chicken cordon bleu for dinner, so I decided to make him something yummy. Actually, I decided to make him some yummy meals for the whole day, since he was working in the basement.

I made him locs and bagels for breakfast, one of his favorites. A tuna sandwich on an asiago cheese bagel that I had gotten from Panera Bread earlier in the week, with some good veggie and cheese fixings.  I made the chicken cordon bleu for dinner, something I haven't made in a long time! It turned out pretty good. I included the oven-roasted potatoes that he likes and even broccoli with melted cheese, something I never do, but he loves! While at Costco the day before, I noticed that the carrot cake was on sale, another of his favorites. I decided to spoil us all and buy it. I had already broken the news to Karissa that Jason wanted a lemon pound cake (he put the mix in the cart about a month earlier). I gave her the option of making it, but she wouldn't be able to do her usual cake with the fun frosting because that wouldn't work for the pound cake. So I didn't feel bad just buying a cake and negating her of doing one of her most favorite things: baking and decorating a birthday cake.

Down in his "office" with his birthday mug.

The window made it difficult to see his dinner...

We love carrot cake!

Between eating good food and drinking a larger size of Dr. Pepper (another little surprise for him that he actually shared with the kids), Jason went back down to work throughout the day while the rest of us did our homeschool thing. He finished work early so he could open presents, eat an earlier dinner, go for a little bike ride in the neighborhood, and play Cover Your Assets before it was time to watch our Friday night movie Murder on the Orient Express. It was a great movie and we all enjoyed it!

He was super happy to receive this whole milk plain Greek yogurt, as you can see from his genuine smile. He had been watching videos about how to use that as a marinade for chicken for a few nights in a row and had mentioned that the next time I saw it I should pick one up. I didn't think he would be so excited to receive it as a gift!! 

I also gave him some bbq spices that he was pretty happy to receive as well. 

He had already purchased the carry bag (left) and the cover (right) for the dutch oven camping kitchen table that he also purchased (see below). Victoria picked out the shirts (middle).

Luke approved of the table.

I think the birthday turned out pretty good, even better than other birthdays for Jason or me in the past. At least we were able to see him for most of the day, and he was done early so we could fit in a little bit of all of our favorite activities as a family! Happy Birthday to Jason!!

Mother's Day

This was probably the most relaxed Mother's Day I've had in a long time! (Usually, it's dance recital weekend.) It was almost a Mother's Day weekend this year, as far as my productivity went. Last week had some good times, but some real downers with kids fighting and assignment issues with the new online program that everyone, including teachers, are still working to get just right. Don't get me wrong, everyone's doing the best they can, but there were some hiccups with Erik's learning site and some of the communication between Victoria and her teachers. I think it's all resolved now, but I really needed the weekend to unwind, and that's what I did!

I ran for almost an hour on Saturday morning and did my usual pull-up and ab work out, then I decided since the kids were still not ready for Saturday cleaning I may as well do the Zumba class my friend teaches on Saturday mornings. Then, I got my part of the cleaning done, and the kids eventually did theirs, but the rest of the day I talked on the phone and read. Jason made most of the fajita dinner that night because I played Clue with some of the kids. In writing, it looks like I did plenty, but I usually do so much more on a Saturday, even now in quarantine!

I was spoiled on Sunday. I knew they had plans for my breakfast, so I forced myself to stay in bed and read my scriptures there, instead of downstairs where I can stretch in the living room while I read. When Erik awoke, he kept me company in bed. He brought Luke too.

Luke, cozy in between us.

Karissa made the pancakes, Jason made the eggs, and Victoria made the fruit salad. It was delish!

They know I like jam on my pancakes. They even got out the nice china!

We had a lovely, short and sweet, Mother's Day church meeting on Webex. We followed it with our family sacrament meeting and Come Follow Me lesson, which was also short and sweet.

Victoria and Jason prepared a sandwich bar for lunch. It was simple and perfect!

They included a variety of meats, cheeses, condiments, and veggies!

The rest of the day was full of talking to family, especially our moms. We enjoyed connecting with them and find we're getting really good at these virtual meetings! Since it was raining by the time we were done, we didn't get to go on a walk, but Jason finished up the day with a bang and made a very spectacular meal of Honey Garlic Salmon, Fried Rice (the best I've ever had!), and a salad. Karissa made macarons. I felt very spoiled, indeed!

We looked at the kids' baby books and played "guess who?" with funny moments from the kids' very early years. They enjoyed trying to figure out who did what at certain times in their babyhood. We also played a huge round of Clue. That's the game of the week, I think.

Jason brought me a hanging basket of flowers on Saturday. I couldn't hang them up outside right away because they had wilted with our record lows the night before and needed some warming up.

Erik made me lay down while Jason cleaned up the kitchen. He even put a blanket on me and took this picture!

What a special day to remember our moms and all they sacrificed for us and to be involved in the moment of Motherhood now!

Disney Dinner

Victoria came up with another fun themed dinner. We had to choose a Disney character and dress like them for our dinner on Saturday night. I encouraged Jason to do something easy, so Eric from The Little Mermaid was a no-brainer. Plus, Jason makes such good faces, he can make any character! That man's got talent!!

I chose something easy as well. We already had the Elsa hair-do from when I made it for Karissa for Halloween 5 years ago. Since it was my first time crocheting a hat, it was a little big for her, but it worked great for my big head! A dress that inspired my choice for my bridesmaids at my wedding was the perfect Elsa color. And bonus: my gloves were one of my grandma's. Straight from the original package and never worn! They're very nice and I've been keeping them for this very occasion!!

Victoria had a few ideas, but I convinced her to be Cruella DeVille from 101 Dalmations. I'm all about ease and that dress and boa were mine from college that I wore as costumes. My church coat and Austin's dalmatian made perfect touches!

Karissa decided to be Venellope Von Schweetz from Wreck-it Ralph. I wouldn't have thought of this one, but she does resemble the character and she spent hours making the candy from clay for her hair. She wore my hoodie and socks, striped with masking tape, and it was great!

Austin chose to be Alladin. Good for him! It was easy with his red vest from scouts that displays his random patches on the other side. His old baseball pants that I had saved for Erik, a gravy server, Erik's stuffed monkey, and a construction paper hat completed the look.

Erik chose Peter Pan. He didn't have any plain green shirts, surprisingly, so he wore mine, with the promise that he would be very careful- I actually like that shirt! He wore his army shorts, found an old sword, and decided that Angel bear would make a great Tinkerbell. Austin made the hat for him in about 2 minutes.

Victoria decorated the mantel and table. Karissa made the cake. I put out all the food on the table that the kids like to eat that had some tie to a Disney movie for us. We listened to a song or two from each of our movies and danced and sang. After dinner, we watched Ralph Breaks the Internet, the sequel to Wreck-it Ralph because Jason hadn't seen it yet.

A dalmatian, Olaf, candy car, Genie lamp, a mermaid fishtail, hilt of a sword for Peter, and of course, Mickey!

Most of the food was from Sleeping Beauty when the kings were eating and toasting.

This is the "gray stuff" that's "delicious" from Beauty and the Beast. (It was really sauce for our asparagus).

We realized that we covered the spectrum of movies, from old to new with our choices. It was super fun and memorable!

The sun was starting to set, so our lighting wasn't great here, but we needed different levels to see all of our costumes!