August's End

August was a good month for us, minus the hurricane, mostly being a relaxing month returning from our month long vacation in Utah and getting back into the swing of a Connecticut summer. Here are some snapshots from the month:

 We headed to NYC one Saturday so Thad and I could check out where Dad goes to work everyday.

This is Dad at his desk.

 His office is RIGHT in Times Square and this is the view from the cafeteria on the 22nd floor.

I wouldn't mind eating there everyday!

 What handsome boys.

 We were trying to get the Chrysler Buliding all the way in the background that you can see down 42nd Street, but it  wasn't too successful. The next picture shows it a little better.

 It rained REALLY hard the first Sunday we were back from Utah, so why wouldn't we let him play in it?

 He insisted on the shoes. Just if you were wondering.

Our cute little monster recovering from the summer rain-fest.

Man, we love this kid!

The Wrath of Irene

So never having to prepare for a natural disaster that I know is going to happen has definitely been an experience all on its own. I have missed the "safety" of the Rocky/Wasatch mountains, but this has taught us a lot about the truth of "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

When we first got word of the hurricane and its seriousness on Thursday, a wave of panic swept over me. I called Brian crying and told him I was scared. Being the rational person he is he told me to do the small amount of things I could to prepare (because of course our car is in the shop in need of major repair). The car thing added to my fear of not being mobile in case we needed to leave. From the time I started preparing, the Lord started to pour out the blessings. I talked to Jen, my sister in law, and got her parent's information so we could stay with them in Pennsylvania in case they evacuated our area or we felt we wanted to leave. Nicole called me and asked if she could pick up anything for me while they ran to the store. I had her get us some water and she told us the store was out of size D batteries already. My mom gave me a great idea and told me to have Brian pick up what he could on his way home from work. So I called him right away and he picked up the last D batteries at a Walgreens in the city. My fears were lessened each time I took a step towards preparing.

Friday, Thad and I walked to Rite Aid and got more water and the few other supplies we could. Everyone was calling to check up on us and it was so comforting to know so many cared so much. The call that made my day was when Sally Francia, the Primary president I serve with, called and offered her home and extra car to us during the storm. Gratitude overwhelmed me and I couldn't thank the Lord enough for the blessing of the gospel and the wonderful members who are in tune with the Spirit and in turn bless other people's lives.

As the past couple days have gone by we have gone back and forth about whether to head to higher ground with several ward members who have offered their homes to us, but ultimately decided to stick it out at our home. We are VERY close to the water, but are uphill from the water and our street has never experienced flooding. Our home is in a great location and we felt it better to be with all of our stuff and supplies, but are so grateful to Sally for giving us the peace of mind of being able to leave if needed.

So yesterday was a BUSY day and we spent it preparing mostly for if the power went out.

 Water was obviously first priority. Luckily we have been saving lots of 2-liters filled with water and had about 20 of them in the basement. 

 We brought paper products and a few other things up from the basement in case of a flood down there.

 We had this on most of the day updating us. (Sorry about the sad headline)

 Filled this puppy in case the toilet needs manual flushing.

 Somewhat flood-proofing the basement with plastic containers on bottom.

Laundry, laundry...

 And MORE laundry! We didn't want anything dirty at the end of the day. Every dish was washed also.

 Our possible source of light for a couple days.

We cooked just about every ounce of perishable food we had. All of our frozen, raw meat was cooked and put back in the freezer and we made 5 loaves of bread since the store was out. 

Lots of food and dishes.

Needless to say, Brian and I went to bed pretty exhausted last night, but with no fear so all that prep was worth it. We got Thad out of his crib and put him in the pack-n-play in our room away from all windows and all 6 times I woke up to the wind and rain I was so glad we did. I would have been worried about him if he wasn't in with us, so even though he woke us up nice and early it was great to wake up safe and with electricity.

This is all we woke up to this morning, so nothing exciting. We're not sure what's to come, but we feel so blessed and ready for whatever it is.

Post Irene Update

We are doing fine and well! We were blessed enough that our power didn't even go out. Several of the people that offered to us to head to their homes on higher ground ended up losing power for a week! Being on higher ground a lot of the time means being surrounded by trees which end up taking power lines out. 

Around our home we only experienced heavy rain and wind with a couple limbs that fell down the street. We live near the harbor, but luckily we are up hill from it, because this is what the street looked like when the rain subsided:

Even though nothing happened to our home, being prepared was totally worth the good night's rest we got. It reminded me that I need to work on my emergency preparedness so that I have better peace of mind. 

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers you sent our way, we truly appreciate it.

The Overalls

It is a tradition for the boys in the family to get pictures in Grandpa Kent's overalls he wore as a wee lad.

What a handsome boy, and meaningful pictures. I'm so glad my mom and dad have hung on to these beauties because I will have all my boys get a darling picture like this in them! So fun! 

Thanks again to Brigitte for sharing her wonderful talents.

The Henrie Visit

Brigitte is the best visitor there is. We have lived in Connecticut for 13 short months and she has already been out to visit 3 times!! Each time has been so different and fun and this time she was able to bring Caden along with her to experience the beach.

They planned their trip for a whole week and were luckily able to make it on time after Leah broke her toe a few days before coming and it ended up getting infected. On Tuesday, a few hours before their red-eye flight took off they found out it wasn't serious enough to admit her, but she had a fever and would be on antibiotics the whole trip. 

The first couple mornings were spent doing this. It is so fun to have them come for so long because there is a lot of relaxing that goes on. (Notice Leah's little booty on her foot)

There was also lots of this going on. Brig did Hanna's hair, the Monsen's hair and half of the Handy family's hair. Luckily she loves doing it and gets to meet so many of my friends because of her talents. We also had another Glitter Toe party that went really smoothly with tons of cute gals.

We headed to Newport, RI to check out the big waves and gorgeous landscape. We were lucky enough to have our good friends Nicole and Peter come with us and it allowed all of us to go together since the 3 kids took up our back seat, there wasn't enough room for the remaining 3 adults. 

 It took Thad some convincing by Dad, but he finally got in the waves and couldn't get enough!

 Caden had no fear and would head out into the waves as far as he could.

(Notice our fancy foot work on Leah. Band-aids, produce sacks, water proof tape and socks will keep a wound clean at the beach.)

 What a fun bunch!

 These waves were really so much fun and a good change from the tiny ones on our beaches.

 The debris on the children is red algae that was in the water. They didn't care.

 After our long search we finally found an umbrella to buy at the beach...who would have thought!? 

 Thad copying the big kids.

 Sweet Nicole and her awesome baby, Bo.

Our fun travel buddies.
Nicole and Peter are so easy going and Bo was such a good boy. They were the perfect people to go on a relaxing road trip with.

The rest of the weekend was spent worrying about the car and if it was going to be able to be driven to the Hamptons on Monday. The car over heated on the way home from the airport when picking Brig up, but we thought it was taken care of until we were on our way home from Newport. Brian replaced the battery and thermostat Sunday morning, we drove to church and thought all as taken care of. 

Little did we know that we would be spending all of Monday afternoon and evening consumed with car problems. 

We packed up and headed to the Hamptons for our long awaited overnight stay that got cancelled last summer due to car problems. Things were going perfect until we were crossing the bridge into Queens...the car started over heating again! We were so sad, but between coasting and revving the engine, we were able to make it to a car shop to get it looked at. We were certainly bummed, but walked down the street to get pizza and entertain the children. EVERYONE was so nice to us! Even the barber who let me use the bathroom gave the kids suckers while they were waiting for me. We got bad news that the head gasket needed to be replaced and that they couldn't fix it then and there. We decided we would rent a car and still head out. After spending an hour at the rental place and paying for the car, we decided to back out for several reasons and reluctantly headed back to CT to make big plans for the next day. Brig was super bummed, but such a good sport about the whole thing. For some reason our car does not like her and it has just not been meant for us to make it to the Hamptons. We will make it there someday, Brig, I swear!

We decided to rent a car and head to Jones Beach on Long Island and it sure didn't disappoint. 

 The kids ran wild as soon as we got there!

 They barely slowed down enough for me to get these couple shots.

 How fun to be with cousins!

 I love this gal.

 The happy Henries.

 The kids spent a lot of time in the sand because these waves were a bit intimidating.

Brig and I were even a little nervous in these ones.

 Drying off and warming up after playing in the water and getting ready to go. 

Brig and I didn't play in the water with the kids until the very end because it finally warmed up outside. We were so glad we did, because the kids loved running from the big waves with us.

Caden HATED having a damp swim suit on so we had to get him out of it ASAP before he turned ugly. :)

 It was Dad's birthday, so we definitely thought of him all day while we were at the beach wishing he could be there with us. 

Brig and I made his favorite cake, German chocolate, before leaving and it was nice treat to come home to after eating our Chinese take out. 

Their last day was spent taking pictures at the beach (which will come as soon as Brig gets them to me), playing at the park, eating at McDonald's, some more hair and packing up.

 Getting all the last minute cousin time they could!

 Obviously Thad's new favorite trick.

To say the least, their visit was AWESOME! We had such a fun time and lots of other things in between all these pictures. We weren't great about taking pictures, but spent time at some local beaches, were able to go to a movie together, trips to Stew Leonard's and have lots of relaxing time. It's always hard to document everything, but we just had a great time.

Thanks to the Henries for being such fun visitors and dealing with all the car shenanigans. We love you guys so much and can't wait for your next visit.