Our first tornado!

I was enjoying the beautiful 72 degree weather in Oklahoma. I was running errands with Tyler and Lincoln. My grandma Risto called me in a panic to see if I was alright. I thought to myself, "how did she know that I was struggling with some problems in my life". No, she was concerned about the tornadoes in Oklahoma. I honestly had no clue. It was a bit windy, but it was beautiful and sunny. After assuring her that everything was just fine here, I went home a turned on the news. Sure enough, a large tornado had just stuck OK City. Well, that's OK, I live over two hours from there.
Later that night, I put the boys in the bath tub and turned on the TV to watch American Idol. Except for the only thing on every station was a big tornado warning with a map showing how it was headed right toward us! That's about the time the lights started flicking on and off. Well, I've been told that a bath tub was one of the safest places to be in a tornado, (because the pipes are anchored into the ground). Even so, I pulled my kids out of the bath and got them dressed in record time. I think that it was about then that the storm sirens started going off around town. We sat glued to the television and watched as the worst part of the storm passed right by us, about 3 miles to the west. We got some really angry rain and hail with a major lightning show and strong winds but there was no damage done here. Unfortunately, it hit the next town over. It touched down just 6 miles from our house in the town of Lone Grove. I was so worried. I have a lot of friends that live in that area. The news said that the tornado was 1/2 mile wide. The biggest and worst ever to hit in this area. Luckily no one that I care about was injured. But it made a big mess!

White and Red Christmas

We had a great time going to Utah for Christmas. The first two weeks, we spent in the Salt Lake area enjoying the snow.

Then we went to St George to see my mom and dad.

And to enjoy the red rocks.

Lincoln decided that he liked the snow.

Until it got in his boots.

My little snow angel, Andrew.

It was great to be back home in Huntsville.

Where it snows in October and sticks around until April.

Justin loved flying off the hill down to the river bottoms of Pineview reservoir. Just like I used to do, when I was his age.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, my kids didn't think that they were getting any presents from mom and dad. It was really fun to lay in bed and listen to them as they woke up and discovered the gifts under the tree. It went something like this. Andrew: "Justin, hurry, look, there are stockings under the tree!" Justin: "They're probably just decorations." Andrew: "But look! They have our names on them!" Andrew and Justin: Yeahhhhhhhhhh! Lincoln: "Candy!"

Wow, it's crazy how much the temperature and the
scenery changes when you drive South for 5 hours in Utah.
Snow Canyon in St. George.
Not much snow though.

Merry Christmas!