Waiting for Santa

Last Monday the girls were surprised to get a phone call from...S-A-N-T-A!! They each got on a phone (Quentin listened in too!) and Santa talked to all of them - and of course he knew each of them by name! That was such a fun surprise!




Then on Thursday the girls took their letters to Santa and put them in the special "Santa Mailbox" at the post office. We got them in on the very last day, and we were surprised that each of the girls received a letter from Santa in the mailbox the very next day!

Busy-ness - 'Tis the Season!

Boy, it's been a busy week! I love that Christmas time is filled with lots of activities - things to do, places to go, people to see - but it sure can be busy! Throw a birthday in the mix, and it can be exhausting! But that's one of the things that makes this season so exciting and exhilirating - and another reason why the quietness of January is so welcome!

Here's a recap of our week last week (not including Quentin working fixing the roof, preschool, Young Womens, playing, shopping, cooking, wrapping, planning, etc. etc.):

Kiera had a piano recital. She had a Christmas solo and a Christmas duet (which I played with her.) For a month, she really struggled with these pieces - they were pretty tough! At one point she was in tears saying she just couldn't do it. Her teacher encouraged her to keep trying and to practice each piece as much as she could. Her teacher said if she couldn't get it a week before the recital, she had another easier piece Kiera could play. When Kiera told me this, my first reaction was relief. I thought, "Oh, let's just go with the easier piece because this other one is just creating too much stress!" But I am proud of Kiera - instead of taking the easier one, she felt more determined to "conquer" the harder piece. After lots and lots of practice - and a few more tears! - she did it. She was able to play both pieces perfectly! I could tell she was proud of herself and felt like she had accomplished something huge!


Friday night we met Corbin and Nikki and their kids at the Gingerbread House Festival at the Gateway. We had dinner at the food court, saw lots of gingerbread houses, visited Santa, rode Trax to Temple Square, checked out the Deseret Book window, and quickly looked at the lights on Temple Square (it was bitterly cold!) What a fun night!




On Saturday we went to the ward Christmas breakfast. I thought it was really well-done. Good food, good friends, and a great turn-out! After breakfast some of the Primary kids sang some songs - and in walked Santa! The look on the kids' faces was priceless! Then the kids got to visit with Santa, who gave them a small candy cane and a bag of "reindeer food."






Last night we went to Ben and Jen's for our annual Johnson Christmas party. LOTS of good food, nickel bingo (Makenna won over $7!), the cousin gift exchange, and the adult gift exchange. Ben and Jen really know how to host a great get-together! It's always so much fun, and Ben keeps us laughing!



Grandma with her 10 (soon to be 11!) "Greats!"

Happy Birthday Quentin!

I know my last post was about how wonderful my Quentin is, but I just wanted to give another shout-out to this wonderful guy! Today's his 36th birthday! Quentin is so great to always get my birthday and the girls' birthdays and our anniversary off, but for the past 6 years he hasn't been able to get any vacation days scheduled in December. Which really stinks because he can't get any time off around Christmas, but I always feel bad because he always has to go to work on his birthday. Yeah, I know what some of you may be thinking - MOST people have to work on their birthday and it shouldn't be that big of a deal. But like I said, Quentin is sentimental and is always so sweet to make our birthdays special and a day-long celebration. Except that he has to work on his birthdays. Erg.

But I digress.... I was looking so forward to this year because his birthday would be on a Saturday - finally a birthday off! But after working on our roof for 9 hours last Saturday and 8 hours last Monday, he realized he needed a few more hours (like 5!) to finish up the roof job. So after our ward breakfast this morning, he got to work. He finished it (yipee!) but it was too late to do a family activity or even take him out to dinner. So we ended up ordering Cafe Rio and eating at home, and then my mom and his family came over for cake, ice cream and presents. We had thought about watching a Christmas movie later tonight as a family, but he and I have both been sooooo tired!

So even though Quentin had the day off, he still had to work! But I am just so thankful for him - he works so hard and I always feel safe and secure around him. I love how, from the day we met, I could always totally be myself - and he even loves me!

Happy birthday to the best husband and daddy ever!

I Love This Man!

(This pic isn't the greatest, since it's dark and I couldn't use the flash, and our Christmas lights are reflecting and look like tiny UFOs.)

But this is Quentin, fixing the shingles on our roof in the dark. Today was the first chance he had to work on it since the big windstorm. - we estimate about 150 shingles were blown off and/or damaged. This morning, he had to wait till the frost melted (thank goodness we didn't have any snow!) and got to work just after noon. After 8:00 this evening he was still at it. His cousin Brian offered to help for a few hours (thanks Brian!) but it's still not quite finished. Quentin quit for the night when he noticed frost forming on the rooftop.

Anyway, the point of this post (and some of you may gag at the cheesiness)... I just love this man! He loves to fix things - anything - and I'm constantly amazed that he can usually always figure something out, even if he's never done it before. He is such a hard worker and will work tirelessly until something is done. He doesn't give up.

I'm just so proud of him for being able and willing to repair our home so that we can feel safe and sound again this winter. The girls and I were talking tonight about how lucky we are to have a husband/daddy that will work so hard for us. I always feel safe around Quentin. If there is ever a problem, I know that he will take care of it - and us. And I just can't thank him - and my Heavenly Father - enough! :)

Clean Up

When I woke up yesterday (Sunday) morning, my first thought was how grateful I was that the Wednesday night/Thursday morning windstorm was over and the mini windstorm Friday night was over too. I was looking forward to a normal day and being able to focus on "normality."

But then Quentin came home from his early bishopric meeting and said this Sunday was going to be very different. The meteorologists predicted another huge windstorm coming in Sunday night. And a big concern was that all of the debris from the first storm would become airborne and cause greater damage. Yikes! So...we went to our sacrament meeting (where another ward joined us) and saw the entire Stake Presidency, our bishopric, the other ward's bishop, and a member of the Stake High Council. Our bishop announced that our services would be abbreviated so that we could get out and work when the meeting was adjourned. They suggested we go home, eat something so we could have strength (even though it was Fast Sunday) and then secure our own homes. After that, the Brethren should check with their home teaching families, and then report to the Bishop's house, where we could be directed to other families in our ward that need help - or even families outside our ward.

In our Church, we are asked to keep the Sabbath Day holy by refraining from "heavy labor" on Sundays. However, our Stake President quoted from the book of James where it says, "Pure religion...is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." He said that in this time of emergency we are asked to practice what we preach by helping and supporting our neighbors and ward family.

So...after returning home around noon, we ate some lunch and got to work. We removed our 6 sections of wooden fencing that came down and put it on the curb. We re-bolted our coach lights that had rattled loose in the first storm, and our neighbors helped us cut down an aspen tree that was mostly dead and would be compromised in another big storm - we didn't want it falling on our house!




After taking care of our house, we checked on neighbors. I was floored by how quickly everything got done! Fallen trees were cut down; tarps were put on roofs that need repairs; hundreds of trucks and trailers had men picking up any debris that was left on curbs. We even saw someone helping that was from our old neighborhood in Farmington! What was most humbling was seeing everyone pitching in and helping - and I saw groups of men saying humble prayers before beginning their work.

Our governor called in the Utah National Guard to help facilitate debris drop-off sites. 3 of Centerville's parks became temporary "dumps" for green waste and other debris. I couldn't believe how much there was!



Anyway, as we braced for yet another storm last night, we were grateful to feel prepared. And you know what? We went to bed around 11:00 with a slight breeze blowing - and didn't wake up till our alarms went off! We had a restful night and the wind wasn't bad! I'm sure a lot of prayers were offered, and the area was protected. Ahhhhh.....

Father Christmas AND Santa

Saturday was a busy and fun day. We met cousins at the Rock Loft/Secret Haven to visit Father Christmas and Mrs. Claus (or as Kasidee says, "The Mom Santa.") The Rock Loft is one of our favorite places, and it's perfect at Christmastime - especially when we get to see Father Christmas! It was so nice - festive decor, yummy scents, and no lines!!






From there, we headed up to the annual Stephens family Christmas party. We had a potluck dinner, watched Quentin's brother Mike's family's "Shadow Presentation" of the Savior's birth and life, the kids got to visit with Santa, and we played games. Best of all, it was nice to visit with family that we sometimes only get to see once a year!




Kiera and Marina hugging Santa/Uncle Mike (Kiera thinks it's pretty cool that her uncle Chris and uncle Mike get to be Santa's special helpers!)

Cute pic of Quentin's dad and grandma

Wicked Wind

Wow. I've never been in a hurricane or a tornado before, but what we endured Wednesday night into Thursday must be (I imagine) what it feels like. I have never seen anything like it. We were awakened just before 2:00 a.m. from scary, house-shaking winds. Normally, even during extremely windy or rainy times, we don't hear a thing. Our house is solid and sturdy and I feel so safe and protected in it. And as the winds were howling, I was so grateful to be in our home. But it was scary!

After the winds began around 2:00, each of the girls came traipsing into our bedroom, about 20 minutes apart. Quentin and I scooted over and let them into our bed - until all 3 of them were there, so I offered to let them stay with Quentin and I would sleep in Kiera's bed. But it was so noisy and my heart was pounding so I couldn't sleep.

After tossing and turning, I got up at 4:00 and watched the news. Pretty soon every one else was up and we watched it together. Then at 6:00 the power went out.

I thought the storm wouldn't seem so scary once the sun came up, but I almost think it was worse because we could see all the damage that was going on. We would go from the east side of the house to the south side to the west side and it seemed like every time we looked out the window we could see more damage to our neighbor's homes. Across the street, 3 huge trees that have been there for 30 years toppled over. Shingles were flying everywhere, and we could see them peeling and flying off our neighbor's roof. It was horrible. At one point, we were pretty sure all the rocking of one of our flowering pear trees would cause it to topple. Looking at the grass surrounding the tree, it looked like ocean waves. It was so weird, but our tree survived. In fact, we didn't lose any trees - thank goodness.

Needless to say, Quentin didn't go to work (he was afraid if we opened the door from the house into the garage it would change the air pressure and our garage door would be sucked in) and the girls stayed home from school - we later found out that all schools in Centerville were closed. I even cancelled my preschool class for the day.

So the storm started just before 2:00 a.m and the winds didn't die down till after 12:30 p.m. It was just constant, horrible wind - with gusts up to 102 (that's Category 2 wind for hurricanes!) I guess Centerville got hit the worst.

After the wind started to die down (finally), we ventured out to assess the damage to our home, walk around the block to see our neighbors' homes, and chat with neighbors.

We were pretty lucky and our home fared pretty well compared to most of our neighbors. 6 sections of our ugly wood fence came down, our downspout and a few pieces of fascia and soffit disappeared, lots of shingles came off (but luckily there is another layer underneath, so our roof is still protected until we can replace the shingles), something hit the side of our stucco and made a big hole in it, a power line came down in our backyard and wrapped around our peach tree, and perhaps the worst damage was that our garage door was bowed in about a foot. Check it out:


(SHINGLES ALL OVER OUR GRASS)






Our tent trailer, which weighs a beastly amount, was actually pushed about 3 feet to the edge of the retaining wall that it sits on. The thing we bought to hold the wheel tight scraped along the driveway as it blew.




As we checked out our block and neighboring streets, I thought it was weird how huge trees could be blown over like they were toothpicks, but small Christmas decorations (like plastic candy canes lining the driveway) were left untouched. It was just weird what the storm did and where it hit the hardest.

Here are some of our neighbors' homes:





And here's a few pics of homes on streets near our house:





This is my grandma's neighbor's house, a mobile home. It was unbelievable that Grandma's house was just fine, except for an awning that came off - but then right next to her was this:



It was a freaky storm! Our power was off beginning at 6:00 a.m. and we were told to be prepared to be without power for up to 48 hours. We have a gas fireplace and would have been fine to sleep in front of it, but my mom tempted us with a warm dinner at her house and offered to let us stay overnight. We had only slept about 3 hours the night before and I really didn't want another sleepless night in a cold home, so we went over to Mom's. Around 7:30 we talked to some of our neighbors and they let us know the power was back on. It would have made sense for us to go back home, but the girls were so excited to stay at Granny's house overnight, so we did. At least we had a soft place to land after such a crazy day!



Today (Friday) we spent the day picking up shingles and twigs and debris out of our yard, straightening our porch lights, and contacting our insurance company. I'm amazed how something like this can make us be so aware of things we take for granted (electricity, a warm home, a good night's sleep, etc.) and be grateful for safety and security!

Oh, and check out these cute little birds that were holding on for dear life during the storm. There was no break at all in the wind so they couldn't fly - they just had to stay where they were!