Gratitude

My parents went to Indiana for Thanksgiving this year, which meant that Grandma was left home alone. We volunteered to celebrate with her, and Lark was the only other one left without anywhere to go so she joined us as well. I thought we could just go up to Grandma's house and keep things simple, but she wanted to be difficult. We fought for a little bit, but I declared myself the winner. I told Lark to just plan on going to Grandma's and all would be well. But Grandma still had to call me to make sure that was what I really wanted. Yes, it was. Then a couple more days passed and she called me again! This time I told her if that's what she really wanted then she could make the call. So... I didn't have to go anywhere. We stayed home, and Lark got to do all the work going to get her and bringing her to my house. I guess Grandma does like me better :)

The girls had a great time having their aunt here. Sophie had just gotten a new shirt and she was really excited to wear it when Lark came.

Dinner was very simple. Lark brought some rolls, I made a vegan cornbread stuffing and a not-too-sweet potato casserole, Brandon made some garlic mashed potatoes and I put together a simple relish tray. I put Lark in charge of the dessert because I really wanted a pumpkin roll, and the only time I ever tried making one it turned out not so pretty so I had faith Lark could pull it off. She had no experience with it, and I believe she even discovered how frustrating they can be, but she did a beautiful job. It looked wonderful, but tasted divine. That's what I was hoping for! I had made an apple pie, but we ate that the night before.

One week after Thanksgiving we were given the opportunity to focus on the things we are truly grateful for. I woke up at 1:40 AM yesterday morning to the wind howling -- and unfortunately never could get back to sleep. Living in Wyoming we have experienced enough wind to know we don't like it. This storm in fact surpassed all the windstorms we had in Cheyenne. Wind was a pretty constant 60-70 miles per hour for something like 10 hours, and they recorded gusts in Centerville up to 102 MPH! That is crazy! We lost power around 5:00 AM. A power line came down and caused a big explosion just the street south of us. Firetrucks and emergency vehicles showed up. After seeing all the leaves and dirt blowing into our living room we realized how poorly our door is sealed, so we sealed it up to try to keep some heat in. The girls were quite excited about the whole ordeal. I don't think they were able to comprehend the amount of destruction that was taking place. They just thought it was cool to see trees falling on homes and things being torn apart.

Sometime in the afternoon the winds started to die down and everyone came out of their homes to inspect the damage and compare notes. We lost our only big tree left in the front yard, some facia and a soffit, and the spring broke on our garage door. We only lost 2 shingles which was minor compared to everyone else, so I'm glad our new roof held up to its promise. We lit a fire in the fireplace and invited our neighbors to come warm up with us. We cooked dinner over our camping stove, and power was finally restored around 7:00 PM.

We couldn't get to work on our tree like everyone else was because our chainsaw is electric so we had to wait for power to come back on. But we had some kind neighbors who came over and just started hacking away on it. I was so grateful for their help, but Chloe was pretty nervous. And as soon as they brought a trailer to start hauling it away for us she about lost it. She wanted that tree for firewood and was not going to let anyone take it! So, Brandon politely explained why we didn't want their help and all was well.

Chloe was really upset that we wouldn't let her go outside in the morning. Like I said, they really couldn't grasp how dangerous it was out there. But after the really nasty wind was gone Brandon took her out to survey the damage and I had him take my camera so he could shoot some video of what it was like. He was talking through the whole thing, but the wind was so loud you can hardly hear a thing.



So, when all is said and done this is what I am thankful for:

• A bishopric who were some of the first people I saw out inspecting every home to make sure everyone was ok
• As well as a Relief Society Presidency
• Parents who send their teen-agers out to help
• Neighbors with trailers
• A fallen tree that will provide firewood for the winter
• A wood burning fireplace
• A chain-link fence. Note this is probably the only time I will be thankful for that ugly thing!
• Food Storage -- along with a reminder of what we still need to work on!
• Family -- grateful that no one was harmed