This year Cody and I were lucky to spend Christmas with our families again. When we moved to PA that's the only time we really wanted to go home while we were out here and we were so lucky we got to! We had a great break from school and work and three weeks with our families. It honestly felt like we were there only a few days, but at the same time it seemed like we were there forever.
Cody got out of school on the 12th of December and you bet our plane was taking off on the 14th at 6:45a.m. We didn't even care that it was that early we just couldn't wait to get home! We were actually very lucky to have our flight that early because that day was the start of a winter storm that hit the east coast pretty hard and a lot of flights were cancelled after 10:00 a.m.
My parents met us at the Salt Lake Airport and brought us back home. When we arrived home this is what we saw....
My cute family made us a 'Welcome Home' sign! It was so good to see everyone and how big the kids have gotten since we last saw them. Later that night we went to Cody's parents house and we were so happy to see them again as well! It's crazy just what a couple months away can make you miss.
Our Christmas break in a nutshell....
-Cody went around the Idaho Falls area trying to set up his rotations starting this August
-We spent Christmas day with both families
-Played with nieces and nephews
-We went to the cabin in Island Park
-Got a brand new baby nephew named Carter
-Played outside in the snow
-Celebrated the New Year
-And we stayed up way too late every single night playing games, watching movies, and just having a good time! We had such a good time we both got sick and I lost my voice for a week straight. I guess we partied a little too hard. :)
New Year celebration! The only pictures I got from the break.... I'm terrible.
Winter Storms
Here in Philadelphia we have had some pretty nasty snow storms and this last one took the cake. The first storm we had some storm warnings saying that there would be snow and ice and they have always done this, which is a good thing don't get me wrong, but Philadelphians make it more dramatic than it needs to be. Well, we just thought it would be like another Idaho snow day a few inches, or so. We actually got tons of snow, 12-16inches, and it was perfect for making a snow man. We also got another storm warning the next day saying that there would be rain and some power outage. This time they weren't being dramatic there was a ton of rain and some serious power outage. Cody and I woke up the next morning with no power. We waited it out to see if it would come back on and a couple hours passed by. Cody's school got cancelled and I didn't have to go to work. That was all fun but it was starting to get cold..... the power had been out about seven hours by this point and so we decided to take a drive and see how serious things were. While we were driving we realized why all the power was out. The snow we had and the mix of rain made it too heavy for the trees and branches to handle so trees just started falling everywhere. And I'm not even kidding when I say everywhere. Trees had fallen over power lines, we saw tons of power lines in the street, and trees were in the road blocking streets. We couldn't even get back to our apartment we had to take several roads just to get back. We even saw trees that had fallen into houses and on top of cars it was seriously so crazy! At one point it looked like a tornado had whipped through the Philadelphia area. We finally realized that it was pretty dangerous to be out since there was a ton of branches falling and if you stopped to listen you could even hear some cracking.
We were told that about 700,000 people had lost power and that the power wouldn't come back on for about 4-5 days. At one point the state of Pennsylvania was under the State of Emergency and then a few days later it was under a Federal Emergency. Power companies came from DC, New York, Chicago, New Jersery, and probably other places just to come help get power back up and running again. It was pretty serious out here folks!
This is where the story gets interesting Cody and I were nannying during the week of the storms. It was a pretty stressful time since we were responsible for three kids. Luckily they had family they could stay with so while we were waiting for their power to come back on at their house they were bouncing from house to house. Cody and I on the other had decided to tough it out the first night at our apartment. It wasn't that bad actually we closed our bedroom door and put towels in the windows and under the door, lit some candles, and had some Sparkling Cider while we played games! We actually stayed pretty warm during the night. I don't remember getting cold, but when we woke up it was pretty chilly! Our friends that live down the road were so nice to let us come stay with them for the day and the night. They were some of the only ones that had power so we were so grateful for that.
Just havin us a little Sparkling Cider :)
These pictures don't do justice, but here is a tree with its roots completely out
Almost every main street was blocked off due to all the trees
These trees were covering half the road at one point they just got moved to the side
We look a little homeless we know... We didn't have power give us a break :) And Cody bein a goof like usual!
We had to clean out our ENTIRE fridge :(
Our power finally came back on Saturday afternoon and we were so happy! Three and a half days without it... While we were going through this I couldn't help but think of all the things we have been asked to do. Food storage and being prepared. I have a greater testimony of this and how it is SO important. I got to witness it first hand and it was definitely a wake up call to be better at it and to not take it lightly.
More
Cody and I have been in PA six months! I can't even believe it. Before we moved here we would talk about it constantly and how much time we had left at home but now we talk about how we only have six months left here! It's gone by so fast... Cody is still doing great in school. He has had a busy schedule and with all the power out it made it even more busy. A couple months ago he got called to the scouts so he attends mutual every Tuesday and has to attend all the meets that deal with scouts. He's got some good people to work with so that helps a lot. I'm staying busy as well. A few months ago I was called to the Activities Committee in the Relief Society. I work with some really great girls so it makes it easy to attend meetings and hold out activities. I'm also nannying like crazy. Every weekend I am doing some family. I am currently doing one family full time during the week and five other families on Fridays and Saturdays. I work it out whoever asks me first gets that weekend. It's nice to do different families so I work with different people and see different kids every week. I know I've talked a ton about my full time family but they are seriously THE BEST! I can't tell you what amazing kids they have and how great they are to work with. I love going to their house everyday because the kids are so fun and so nice.
Fun Facts about AJ
AJ is a hoot and one of the happiest babies I have seen! He's 8 months old and is getting two teeth and they are sharp! When I go get him from his nap he is always smiling like the picture above... it melts my heart! He loves to be tickled, laughs very easily, super active little boy, loves when I read him stories before nap time, loves watching Addie run around the house and wishes so bad he could go with her!
Fun Facts about Addie
Addie says something hilarious everday I'm there I wish I had a journal. She likes when we play "Restaurant" for lunch I'm the waiter and she orders something, or she likes to have picnics, she loves to sing Disney Songs, especially from the Disney movie Frozen. She loves to watch Mickey Mouse, Doc McStuffins, and Sheriff Callie. Addie has a name for all of her stuffed animals and she knows when they are missing. This is a true story! She loves to sit by the heater and pretend we are at the beach. We color and make crafts on a daily basis, and I'm pretty good at singing my ABC's :) if she could have Gold Fish (fishy crackers) for every meal she totally would she loves them!
Well thats all I can think of for now. We will keep you updated thanks for stopping by!
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