HAIL!

The craziest hail storm hit us Thursday night (the 26th).  I have never experienced anything like it before and hope that I never will again!  Lennard was out helping a family in our ward move, so I was home alone with the kids.  I was downstairs and when I heard a loud crash, I raced upstairs to see what was going on.  Within minutes the front lawn was white with HUGE hail stones.  The noise was deafening and more than a little scary.  When I got back downstairs, Emma was sitting on the couch with her lip quivering and, as soon as she saw me, she started to cry.  I gathered her up onto my lap and got her calmed down, while Ben continued to play with his toys.  He wasn’t bothered with the storm at all!  I talked to Lennard a number of times on the phone while I watched the hail stones explode as they hit the ground.  Once the hail stopped, Lennard was able to get home, change and then head out again to assess the damage to the power lines.  Since he was out, I went out to assess the damage to our belongings.  We have major damage to the roof of our tent trailer (that we’ve been trying to sell).  The roof vent is completely broken out and the battery box has holes in it.  There is also damage to our roof, roof vents, eavestrophing, siding, barbeque, garden, and a bunch of the kid’s toys.  Both vehicles are dented all over and the windshields smashed.  I think it’s going to be an interesting year for insurance companies.  I hope we can get enough to replace everything that’s been wrecked.

 Our backyard.  Amazingly, the glass patio furniture survived the onslaught!

Just one of the hail stones.

 Our 'new' roof...

Lovely eavestrophing... that will now need replacing...

 Both vehicles are totalled.

The vent on the tent trailer.



Here's a video of the damage around town:

Southern Alberta pounded by hail | Calgary

Not so HOT

Sunday was such a gong show that I figured I'd better document it so that I can look back someday and laugh at it... Earlier in the week, I had been asked to substitute in Nursery on Sunday.  Emma had started to cough on Friday, and I'm sure camping didn't help the situation, so when we got up Sunday morning we discovered that both kids were sick with colds. We couldn't take them to Nursery with runny noses, so Lennard stayed home with them, while I went to church.  There ended up being three little ones that were not happy to be left by their parents, so it was a challenge to get them happy and settled.  One of the other ladies had three of her older grandchildren come in to help with the kids, so when it was time for Sunday School, I left so that I could go to class.  I thoroughly enjoyed Sunday School and was looking forward to actually hearing the speakers in Sacrament Meeting.  I made it through the opening hymn and the sacrament and then I got told that Lennard had to go to work!  I hurried home and managed to beat Lennard there.  Apparently he'd been at the chapel to get me, but we missed each other in the hallways.  Anyways... long story short... Lennard ended up working until about 7:00 that night (It didn't help that he had to drive to Fort MacLeod to get another transformer!).  In the meantime - The kids and I headed out to my parents for dinner with them and some of my siblings.   I didn't end up staying long as both of them were not feeling well and both needed naps. What a day!

As for today... we got air conditioning installed!!!  While Lennard's dad was here visiting it was ridiculously hot.  We practically lived in the basement with the fan on, and it was still too hot!  One night it was still 32°C IN the house at 10:00pm.  We would have been better off sleeping outside if it weren't for all the mosquitoes!  We are VERY thankful that Dad Nichols decided to take pity on us and pay for the system to be installed.  What a blessing!  The kids (and parents) are already happier and so much more comfortable!  THANK YOU!

Family Campout

This weekend was the '2nd Annual Murray Family Campout' (sounds so official...).  Lennard's dad left to head home early yesterday morning, and then I spent most of the day getting stuff gathered up and ready to head out to the airport.  As soon as Lennard was home, we headed out!

There were severe thunderstorm warnings out for the evening, but most of the evening was beautiful.  We ended up with a really wild thunder/lighting storm come through - enough to soak Mindy & Dan's sleeping bags and collapse their tent!  Thankfully, we had the hangar to hide out in until the sun came out!  It was such a fun evening (though getting the kids to sleep wasn't as much fun).  We had lots of yummy food, time to visit with everyone and room for the kids to run and make as much noise as they wanted to! 

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we all changed into white t-shirts and my sis-in-law attempted to take some family pictures.  With 19 grandkids and 14 adults (a couple brothers-in-law couldn't make it) - it was a bit of a gong show!  I borrowed this picture off Nysha's facebook page until I can get a copy from her (thanks, Nysha!).

 Here's the best picture she could get with that many little ones and my parents!  It was definitely 'entertaining'!

Drinking Man?

Last week we ordered a new recliner for our family room (thanks Dad Nichols!).  Our other one was falling apart (quite literally) and it was definitely time for a change.  When Sears called to say it was in, we were excited to head in to Lethbridge and pick it up.  It was a very rushed trip, as we had to be back in time for our home teachers to come.  On the way in to Lethbridge, Lennard got a work phone call saying that there was a reconnect that needed to be done, so that put a little more pressure on us to get in and back!  We got it loaded, grabbed some KFC for dinner and raced home.  Lennard went and did the reconnect and got home about five minutes after our home teachers had arrived.  As soon as they left, he got changed and headed up to the church for an Elders Quorum meeting!  When he got home, we were all ready to take a break and slow down, so we decided to play a game of crib with my father-in-law.  I had to laugh at this picture - Dad is smiling away and Lennard looks like he's been run over and driven to drinking (Root Beer).  Dad is a card wizard!  (Although I did manage to skunk him in ONE game! - Love you, Dad!)

Calgary Stampede

Yesterday afternoon we headed to Calgary to go to the Stampede.  We hadn't been since Lennard's parents had taken us when we lived in Strathmore, so we were really looking forward to see the chuckwagon races and the Grandstand Show. 

We had fun on the drive up (or at least I did!).  We stopped at IKEA and got some curtains and birthday gifts for both kids.  We grabbed a bit of dinner there and then headed to the Stampede grounds.  Unfortunately, we were there on a Friday night and it was extremely busy!  We had a hard time finding a place to park, so Lennard dropped Dad and me off at the front gates and went searching!  Thankfully, he was able to find a spot in the handicapped parking right across the street! 

The first stop we made was to check out the tanks.  There have been a 'few' changes since my father-in-law drove them!  We walked through some of the stables and took some pictures of the horses (mostly so dad could bug Meissa (his oldest granddaughter) about being there with the horses!

 We didn't have to wait very long for things to get going.  There were only a few drawbacks to the evening.  One was the seats... we were in very tight quarters!  The other thing was the beer guzzling people that sat in front of us... and behind us!  When you can't hold a beer without spilling it... you've had too much!  I'm sure the one guy had a dozen glasses of beer.

The chuckwagons were great to watch and the grandstand show was fun.  VERY loud and a bit out there for me, but fun none the less!  We didn't get home until 3:00 am and then the kids were up at just before 6:00!  Definitely made for a very long day!

Happy 74th Birthday!

It is my father-in-law's 74th birthday today!  I was glad that everyone was feeling good and able to enjoy the day.  We got a babysitter for the evening and took him out to dinner at the Keg in Lethbridge.  It was such a nice evening to sit (in an air conditioned building) and have a great meal.

I think the best present of all was that Ben kept coming to Grandpa to have stories read to him.  I love this picture!

Hospital Stay

Last night I started feeling 'off'.  I quickly recognized the signs of a kidney stone and took some fairly 'good' drugs immediately to see if I could head off the inevitable pain.  Unfortunately, as the night wore on, the pain increased to the point where I couldn't handle it anymore.  Thankfully, Lennard's dad was here, so he was able to listen for the kids while we headed to the ER. 

They got me in right away and after Toradol, Buscopan, Demerol, Gravol and finally Morphine... I was relatively pain free!  It was decided that I needed to be admitted and by that time I really didn't care.  Lennard went home to be with the kids and I layed in the ER waiting to be brought upstairs.  Finally, at 2:00 in the morning, I was admitted.  I was so tired and drugged up that I didn't even bother to change out of my clothes!  Of course, I was up early, but I kept dozing in and out most of the morning.  By that time I was on Tylenol 3 and feeling exhausted, but not in pain.  I was able to go home just after lunch and ended up sleeping most of the afternoon too.  So not fun!

I almost cried when they told me that they wanted to put in an IV.  I have had some very bad experiences in the past with IVs, so I wasn't excited to say the least.  Thankfully, the nurse got it on the first try with very little pain.  Totally a miracle from my point of view!

Lennard brought the kids in to see me in the morning.  Emma was quite concerned that I wasn't getting up.  At least I could smile by then!

It's Always Fun When Grandpa Comes

Lennard's dad arrived today for a visit.  In the past, the kids have taken quite a while to warm up to him, so it was exciting to see how quickly they went to him!  Ben came right to him and sat with him for quite a while!  Such a huge difference from the other visits.  Emma came to him too, but she never sat still long enough to actually get a picture!

Yogurt!

Ben loves yogurt.  Normally he eats it nicely and doesn't make much of a mess... but not today!  What a little goof!

Emma's 'Beach'

After the sod was all done, Lennard decided to get some top soil hauled in to the backyard where the lawn had been ripped up from all the construction. 

Emma was thrilled at the sight of all the dirt!  She got right in the middle of the pile and played just like it was her own personal beach!

I love this picture... even with her very dirty face... just look at those eyelashes!

It wasn't good enough to just play in the dirt... she had to cart it around and spread it everywhere she went!  We had little piles of dirt/mud everywhere!

 The finished product (once we could keep Emma off it)!  Now to put seed to it and grow some grass!

Front Lawn

This is what the front yard looked like this morning.  I took this picture while Lennard was on his way in to Coaldale to get the sod.  We were both really worried that it was going to take us all day to get the sod layed and that we wouldn't get anything else accomplished.  Thankfully we were wrong!

Lennard arrived home at about 9:50 and we started laying sod at 10:10.  My mom came to help us out and then we had my nephew, Brendan, our neighbor's three kids (Thanks Ash kids!), and my friend Debbie with a couple of her kids. 

We were done by 11:20!  So amazing!  The nice thing is is that we had the sprinkler system installed earlier in the week and so we didn't even have to worry about pulling out hoses and sprinklers to make sure the sod was watered enough!

While all this was going on, I had Shauna's six kids here while she was at the temple with her friends.  The youngest five had a blast playing in the backyard, while Brendan got to help us with the sod!

We barbequed hot dogs for lunch and got nice and sticky with purple popsicles!  It was such a nice day, though a few of the kids got a little crispy!  Oops! 

It's so nice to look out and see grass now instead of a dirt/mud pit!  It's also nice to be able check one more thing off the 'to-do' list!

Playhouse!

When we built the addition onto our kitchen, we built a small deck with stairs to access the backyard.  We had to close in the back side under the deck as a safety precaution as we have stairs going to an storage room under the addition.  As we finished closing in the one side, we decided to keep going and close in the entire thing and make a playhouse for the kids!  It turned out so cute (no bias here)!  Lennard even framed out the window and we're hoping to put some outdoor carpeting in it soon.  I'm going to make curtains for the window and we finished the door this afternoon while the kids were sleeping!  This evening, after dinner, they were in and out of the playhouse all night!  It was so cute to watch them.  I love when you can make something that doesn't cost a lot, but that they will get tons of playtime out of!!!

 This is what it looked like a couple days ago without the door.

Emma and Ben looking out the window!

Benny playing with the door (his pants were wet from playing in the pool).

Happy Canada Day!

We didn't do much on Canada Day itself.  We went to church, had nice long naps afterwards and then drove to Waterton for the evening.  We had planned on taking a picnic dinner, but we got rained out, so we called my mom and dad and ended up having our 'picnic' at their dining room table!  It all worked out though, as it was still quite chilly in Waterton.

This morning we headed to Raymond for the parade there.  It was a beautiful day to sit out, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed gathering the candy thrown to them!

Ben and Daddy waiting for the parade to start!

Mommy and Emma - trying to get a picture with a very wiggly little girl!

We didn't take many pictures of the actual parade, as most of our time was keeping the kids out of the way of the floats!  They quickly figured out that people were throwing candy and were quite content to run and grab what they could!  Definitely a fun day.