Flood 2008~ Historic Flooding

Hi~ I just wanted to blog quick to let those of you know, we are all alright here. As I believe most of the country knows, and as many of you have called us~ THANK YOU for all your thoughts & prayers! Here in Eastern Iowa, we are being hit hard by major, major flooding. It really is truly unbelievable, we are not only breaking flood records, but we are shattering them! It is a historic & catastrophic event. Unbelievable to say the least. The Cedar River (in Cedar Rapids) flood stage is set at 12 feet...it crested yesterday at 31.12 feet! The good news for CR is....it has been falling today.
This tragedy is hitting too close to home. Not only is it hitting cities we grew up in or close to, but it hit D.J.'s mom's (Sharon / Nanna) house. We are not sure of the damage yet, but we know it filled her basement & is on the main floor~ we are just hoping only a couple feet onto the main floor. Sharon received a phone call Wednesday morning at 4:00am that she needed to evacuate her home. She did as she was told & grabbed necessities. Her legal documents, valuables, pictures, medicines & clothing for a few days. She has been here with us for the past few days, watching the news~ that is all that is on, it's depressing, but also very hard to shut it off. Being here with us she does have some relief~ the kiddos that can make her smile & see the bright side of life. She is hoping to get to her house tomorrow to assess the damages & then we'll head in to begin clean up, which we know is going to be a very long & hard process, but we are all ok & everything else is material & can be replaced. Sharon has lived in her home for over 40 years & our blood, sweat & tears will put it back together once again. It'll be better than before!

Here are some photos DJ & Sharon got today. It was this morning they decided to drive as close to Sharon's house as they could & see things for themselves. They could only get pictures of the garage & one corner where you can see a couple of evergreen trees she has planted. You can see on the garage doors that the water is going down.

Here are some photos, most aerial views that I got off the internet. Like I said it is just truly unbelievable!

Here is an aerial view of Cedar Rapids.

Here is the Czech Slovak Museum, which is near Sharon's home.

Downtown Cedar Rapids

The Linn County Courthouse and May's Island are under water

Floodwater of the Cedar River surrounds the Quaker Oats plant

Here is a photo of Mercy Hospital, 8 blocks from the river. On Thursday night/Friday morning Mercy Hospital had to be evacuated. How do you evacuate a hospital~ unbelievable!!

I believe this is a photo of Interstate 80 that is closed due to flooding.

As for Iowa City, they are bracing for the worst. The Iowa River is expected to crest Tuesday. It looks like the University of Iowa, its residents, and businesses in the area will be hit hard!
The Coralville strip is under water yesterday, after a levee was breached Thursday night.

Water pours over the Coralville Reservoir spillway yesterday.

Just trying to sit down & write about it is very hard, sad, unbelievable! My thoughts & prayers go out to everyone touched by this horrific event. If you can, please get out and volunteer or donate. Many people are in need. Thank you!

You can go to KCRG for information to donate or volunteer.

Hi~

I know, I know & all I can say is.... Sorry! I'm a bad blogger =( I'll try to do better. Sometimes I just fall off the wagon, but I'm getting back up & trying to catch everyone up to speed with what we have been up to the past month or so.
THANKS for still stopping by & checking our blog.

Happy 10th Anniversary to us!
Today is our 10 year anniversary- WOW, 10 years.... that is a long time! I can say I don't think it feels like it's been 10 years, but then when I look back at all we have done, accomplished & enjoyed, we've done pretty good the past 10 years & I'm looking forward to 10+ many more.
Looking back, we have lived in 2 states, 6 cities, bought 5 houses (sold 4). We purchased a Harley & went on wonderful rides up through the Rocky Mountains. We took trips to Las Vegas, went to Lake Powell many times (some of our best memories!), went to Denver sporting events, went to many, many live concerts. Got to go on 2 super fun vacations with friends- one to Cancun and then a cruise to the Western Caribbean. We then decided to moved back closer to family & we had our 3 wonderful & oh, so precious children. I wouldn't change a thing!
I love you sweetie~ Forever!
Here is a picture of us on our wedding day & a picture today... I don't think we've changed a bit. (HA HA HA.....I really think DJ looks pretty much the same, but I look just a little older =)

We are celebrating with a weekend getaway to Wisconsin. I know it's not far or extravagant, we wanted to go on another cruise (we went on a cruise for our 5th anniversary & said we'd do it again in another 5 years) but times & money are tight, so we just headed up the road a few hours & spent the weekend with some good friends. We went out for dinner, did some shopping & just relax. Thank you very much Josh & Betsy for a GREAT weekend! We hope to see you again in a couple months.
This was our first time leaving the kiddos overnight- BIG, BIG step!!! My mom is watching the kiddos tonight & Sharon is watching them tomorrow. Both the mom's will be coming to our house to help keep the kiddos on schedule. A huge THANK YOU to the mom's for babysitting so we could have a weekend getaway.

Sesame Street LIVE~ Elmo Makes Music

We took the kiddos to see their first Live show; Sesame Street Live~ Elmo Makes Music & they just LOVED it!!! They love Sesame Street (started watching it sometime in January) & they love music. Oh, it was so much fun. Most of the show I just watched the kiddos faces. They just lit up seeing their favorite characters up on stage, so big & right there! It was great. We invited both our moms to go, Grandma & Nanna, which they did & they also enjoyed watching the kiddos faces. Special thank you to Nanna for the Elmo outfits, the kiddos looked too cute!

Here's a few photos of them before we left for the show.

Austen chillin in Daddy's chairCaitlen with Honey BearBrooklen with Dobby (favorite buddy)
Got to the show just a little early, so we enjoyed some juice & teddy grahams, to try to keep us in our seats until the show started. Snapped a few photos during intermission.
Photos from the show

Happy Mother's Day

Sending out a very Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my mother-in-law, my sisters, my sister-in-law & all my friends & relatives that are Mom's. I hope everyone has a special day & maybe gets sometime to relax. I know us mother's don't get much time to relax & spend some time on ourselves.
Enjoy your day!

March of Dimes / March for Babies

A BIG Thank you again to everyone who donated!! We collected $830! I think that is absolutely awesome! Next year our goal will be $1000!!

Unfortunately, we were unable to make it to either of our walks this year- bummer! The CR walk was April 27th at 7:00am & it's a 8 1/2 mile walk. We woke up to a pretty chilly morning & we didn't think it was a good idea to take the kiddos out in the cold. I know they say you don't catch a cold from being cold, but we've had our share of colds for the winter & I'm ready to be done with colds! D.J. & I thought about just us walking, but we didn't have a babysitter at such a late notice. We didn't think too much of having to miss since we were planning on walking the following weekend in DM on May 3rd. On Tuesday, April 29th my Grandma W. passed away and her funeral was held on May 3, so we didn't make that walk either. It was also a windy & chilly morning in DM on May 3, but most of our group made it for the walk. Here is a picture of our group minus us & one other family.

The march for babies is coming up quickly. We'll be hitting the streets for little feet!
If you would like to donate, please click on the video below or the badge to the right. A big THANK YOU to everyone who has already donated, we really appreciate it!
Click here to help me reach my goal!

Eclipse ~by Stephanie Meyer

Preview to book 3...... I hope to start soon! But then what will I do until August when book 4 finally comes out?

"BELLA?"
Edward's soft voice came from behind me. I turned to see him spring lightly up the porch steps, his hair windblown from running. He pulled me into his arms at once, just like he had in the parking lot, and kissed me again.
This kiss frightened me. There was too much tension, too strong an edge to the way his lips crushed mine—like he was afraid we had only so much time left to us.
* * *
As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob—knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

New Moon ~by Stephenie Meyer

Here is a preview, "taste" of book 2.....

"Shoot," I muttered when the paper sliced my finger; I pulled it out to examine the damage. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut.
It all happened very quickly then.
Edward threw himself at me, flinging me back across the table...
I tumbled down to the floor by the piano, with my arms thrown out instinctively to catch my fall, into the jagged shards of glass. I felt the searing, stinging pain that ran from my wrist to the crease inside my elbow.
Dazed and disoriented, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm—into the fevered eyes of the six suddenly ravenous vampires.
****
For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning...
Legions of readers entranced by the New York Times bestseller Twilight are hungry for the continuing story of star-crossed lovers, Bella and Edward. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.

Twilight ~by Stephenie Meyer
As most of you know, I am not a book reader. Every now and again, I'll try to read a book or book series & usually I don't get too far. Sometimes, I may finish a book or two, but sometimes stop midway thru a book, never to finish it again. Magazines are more my style.
Well, it's been quite a few months that my sister, Kim, was telling me about this book / book series she was reading in her book club about vampires, called Twilight Series ~ humm... sounds, kind of interesting & maybe like a book I'd like to read. She'd continue to tell me as she read the next 2 books in the series & I said maybe I should give them a try.... she said I'd love them.
Well, long story short~ I do!!

It was in February that I started Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. I set a goal for myself to read a chapter a day & to finish the book in a month. I know to some of you that is reading slow, but I don't always have time to read, nor do I read fast & that gave me some extra time if I got off track. Well, I did finish Twilight in February & was quite excited to start book 2- New Moon when I got the worst cold that held on for 3 weeks~ every extra moment during the day I wasn't watching kiddos I was trying to catch some sleep. I finally got over my cold, but I hesitated to pick up book 2, not sure why. Well, I think it was sometime last week I finally decided to pick up New Moon & I haven't wanted to put it down since! These books are quite addicting! It's almost all I do while the kiddos nap & I try to read a bit before bed. I have book 3, Eclipse, that I will be starting before weeks end, but book 4 (Breaking Dawn) doesn't come out until August.... can I wait that long. WOW~ I have never been excited for a book to come out.
In short~ these are GREAT books, even to a "non-reader". Check them out & Enjoy!
Also, there is a movie on the horizon for Twilight~ not sure when that is scheduled out.