All week leading up to the 4th of July we were trying to decide what to do. We usually go to Cache Valley to hang out with cousins and grandparents. Plus they have a better parade. But I was just there the weekend before to return cousins and the kids had sorta worn Grandma out. So we reluctantly decided to stay home this 4th of July and go to the parade here. It was short but we had a good time. As we were leaving I was beginning to wish we had made the drive anyway. I said to Bruce, "Why'd ya let me talk us into staying here this weekend?"
Anyway we got some lunch and went to a park and played tag with the kids. It was the park we used to live by and that's what we used to always do when we'd go there. They weren't about to let us nap, it would break tradition. The day before someone had called and asked us to clean the church. Who asks people to clean the church on the 4th of July?!? Can't we be a little more organized than that? I totally let this guy off the hook by telling him we would since we'd be in town anyways. I was a little grumbly about the whole thing but at 2:00 we headed over to the church to clean for a couple hours. The kids were super excited about the fireworks show we planned to attend that night. Especially Benjamin. He kept asking if it was time for the fireworks yet.
But then these nasty clouds decided to roll into town... Bruce took this picture from our back deck. He thought it was fascinating how all these clouds rolled together as if they were going to form a twister. No, not a twister they just decided to DUMP all their contents over our area in a very short period of time...
We've had a very unusual summer so far. It has not been very hot and we've had record amounts of rainfall. Which, ordinarily I would love it, but we've been trying to landscape and it is going much slower than I'd like and the dirt isn't all in it's permanent place so our window wells have been letting water in with each rain dumpage. Thankfully we only finished a family room in our basement and the problem window wells have been in the unfinished part so we haven't really had any major damage to speak of, we just have to watch them everytime it rains. Each time Bruce has thought he solved the problem. Well on this day I was sooooo grateful we were home as not only did we have one window well that water was pouring in but this time the water really began to rise in our walk out basement area. This had never happened before but because there's no lawn yet nor a berm installed yet at the top, water began eroding quickly down toward the house. This was the 'lake' outside our family room window downstairs...
I used towels to dam the water and keep it from getting to the carpet. There was maybe an inch of water sitting in the unfinished hallway. The kids were bringing all the towels in the entire house down to me and they were getting soaked rather quickly.
The worst part was seeing the water rise outside the basement door. It came up so quickly! The girls heard me panicking and started praying it wouldn't start coming in the door. OK, honestly, I was praying too. It was not fun! After bailing out the window well Bruce jumped in the skidsteer and began moving dirt around to stop the streams coming toward the house. I thought about the damage that could have happened had we not been there to prevent it. Water came to within 4-5 inches of the basement door! I took this pic awhile after the rain stopped and the water had receeded quite a bit.
A beautiful rainbow came out and we WERE able to go to our fireworks show. It was chilly but the kids loved it. The next day we learned that all but Sacrament meeting had been canceled for our entire stake so people could get out and help those that had severe damage. MANY basements got flooded. Being at home turned out to be our blessing in disguise. I'll never grumble again about cleaning the church - holiday or not! ;)
All week leading up to the 4th of July we were trying to decide what to do. We usually go to Cache Valley to hang out with cousins and grandparents. Plus they have a better parade. But I was just there the weekend before to return cousins and the kids had sorta worn Grandma out. So we reluctantly decided to stay home this 4th of July and go to the parade here. It was short but we had a good time. As we were leaving I was beginning to wish we had made the drive anyway. I said to Bruce, "Why'd ya let me talk us into staying here this weekend?"
Anyway we got some lunch and went to a park and played tag with the kids. It was the park we used to live by and that's what we used to always do when we'd go there. They weren't about to let us nap, it would break tradition. The day before someone had called and asked us to clean the church. Who asks people to clean the church on the 4th of July?!? Can't we be a little more organized than that? I totally let this guy off the hook by telling him we would since we'd be in town anyways. I was a little grumbly about the whole thing but at 2:00 we headed over to the church to clean for a couple hours. The kids were super excited about the fireworks show we planned to attend that night. Especially Benjamin. He kept asking if it was time for the fireworks yet.
But then these nasty clouds decided to roll into town... Bruce took this picture from our back deck. He thought it was fascinating how all these clouds rolled together as if they were going to form a twister. No, not a twister they just decided to DUMP all their contents over our area in a very short period of time...
We've had a very unusual summer so far. It has not been very hot and we've had record amounts of rainfall. Which, ordinarily I would love it, but we've been trying to landscape and it is going much slower than I'd like and the dirt isn't all in it's permanent place so our window wells have been letting water in with each rain dumpage. Thankfully we only finished a family room in our basement and the problem window wells have been in the unfinished part so we haven't really had any major damage to speak of, we just have to watch them everytime it rains. Each time Bruce has thought he solved the problem. Well on this day I was sooooo grateful we were home as not only did we have one window well that water was pouring in but this time the water really began to rise in our walk out basement area. This had never happened before but because there's no lawn yet nor a berm installed yet at the top, water began eroding quickly down toward the house. This was the 'lake' outside our family room window downstairs...
I used towels to dam the water and keep it from getting to the carpet. There was maybe an inch of water sitting in the unfinished hallway. The kids were bringing all the towels in the entire house down to me and they were getting soaked rather quickly.
The worst part was seeing the water rise outside the basement door. It came up so quickly! The girls heard me panicking and started praying it wouldn't start coming in the door. OK, honestly, I was praying too. It was not fun! After bailing out the window well Bruce jumped in the skidsteer and began moving dirt around to stop the streams coming toward the house. I thought about the damage that could have happened had we not been there to prevent it. Water came to within 4-5 inches of the basement door! I took this pic awhile after the rain stopped and the water had receeded quite a bit.
A beautiful rainbow came out and we WERE able to go to our fireworks show. It was chilly but the kids loved it. The next day we learned that all but Sacrament meeting had been canceled for our entire stake so people could get out and help those that had severe damage. MANY basements got flooded. Being at home turned out to be our blessing in disguise. I'll never grumble again about cleaning the church - holiday or not! ;)
Cute family pictures! Wasn't the storm crazy!! We were out of town with family and Jim's parents got a text message about the storm while in church. There basement had flooded so we headed home and have been helping them ever since. It was terrible!!
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