Being prepared

Last night we had a little tornado scare, in the wee hours of the night our county and others surrounding us were put under a tornado watch, which eventually turned into a severe thunderstorm warning.

Some friends heard the siren, but either ours did not go off, or we could not hear it over the screaching wind and pounding rain. As I laid in bed after checking the weather, it dawned on me that although we have a safe place to go, and most everything you would need for a 72 hour kit, the contents are scattered throughout the house. I mentally found everything we would need, pulling out the flashlights and candles before heading to bed, but if it were a real emergncy, would we have time to gather all of the supplies and make it to the safe room in time?

 

Needless to say, the array of recent storms has shaken me a little. After Sandy I went and bought some extra things, and made a few arrangments just in case, but having this one so close to home, although unlikely, it could happen any day.

 So, I have made it my mission this month while Nick is gone, to get together four 72 hour kits as well as organize the space under the stairs for easier access if an emergency does come up. The church has warned us that we need to be prepared, and I thought we were doing okay, at least on the right track but I have realized that we are not nearly as prepared as we would need to be.

I have givin myself till March 1st to accomplish this, so cross your fingers that I can! Even if nothing ever happens, my mind will be at ease knowing that we are prepared.

The icing on the cake

The best part of the whole weekend was having the opportunity to be sealed to Nick, William and all of our future children forever. Nothing says "I love you" more than choosing to be with that person for all of time. This was the best present anyone could ever ask for.

Birthday weekend

This weekend all of my sisters came into town for our sealing, and celebrated my birthday with me.

William felt a little bombarded at first, but soon he was loving all of the attention.

 My sister Kim brought here three kids, and they all had such a blast rough housing and playing together.

 It was so nice to have all the girls together again, even though it was a crazy weekend.

 

 William loved having all of the attention, from Grandma, all of his Aunts and cousins.

 Saturday night we had some cake and William was more than happy to help me open my presents!

We all had so much fun, being silly together, laughing and getting to know each other better.



Our Christmas gift

This year our Christmas gift came a little late. We decided that instead of buying eachother presents, we would spend a little money, and a lot of time, and put some work into the house.

We tore down the hideous textured wallpaper they had on one of the kitchen walls, to find about a dozen holes behind it. So, we patched them all up and painted the wall white.

 

I turned an old couch cover into curtains for the living room

 

and did a little art project in our bedroom.

We are slowly turning this house into our own, we have lots of plans, and one by one they are getting crossed off of the list. My goal is to have both bathrooms painted and three of the four walls in William's new room finished by the time Nick gets back from his deployment training in March. Cross your fingers I can work quickly!