Ice Storm

February 19, 2014

It is shorts and a t-shirt weather today, over 80! Of course last week the kids here got out of school 2-3 days due to the ice storm. You may say, school cancelled what?! That is what I said as a Utah girl who remembers school ending early due to weather only one day in my school life. But, I mostly get it now. Here in the South the freezing weather is rear so when it does come around the cities aren't prepared and really save more my not having to buy all the equipment to spread salt and clear the roads (plus SC was #2 worst drivers in the states.) There are 2 reasons to shut the city down here are a few more. Humidity+ freezing temperature =ice, no precipitation needed. Also, since we are in a coastal area we have a lot of islands and bridges that aren't good to drive on and now people can't get to or from work. The Ravenal Bridge, our big suspension bridge had to be closed the day after the freezing weather, because once it warmed up the icicles were falling and hitting cars. And my last reason, much to my surprise many people in the area had no power or water for more then 48 hours! I never new ice storms could do so much damage. I feel very blessed have been able to keep my baby warm and be able to cook and function normally (other then not going outside) last week with the crazy weather. That was a wake up call and a little lesson on preparedness. So, from now on when you hear that the South is shutting down due to freezing temperatures maybe you won't roll your eyes. I am still jealous of the kids though, at least 5 days off school and 3 late start days in the last month because of the weather.

Although we have been blessed through the storms and well everything we did have a few rough days. poor Q was vomiting all night last Tuesday, 7 times in 4 hours, she was so miserable. I was worried it could be from the Amoxacillin I started the day before but we are back on that and no more yuckies. More likely it was from a bug Quincy picked up when we get to get the Amoxacillin- she had a rough night cough for 2 weeks the doctor attributed to sinusitis. It was a suggested even more to be a bug when 2 nights later Scott woke up sicker then Quincy. Poor guy was miserable and it was the day he was supposed to be OOD, 24 hour guy, luckily there Scott has a nice co-workers who took the duty day on more then last minute notice. I was blessed again and able to take care of my family and not get sick. Here is to staying healthy!

Quincy and I today

Holidays and Chaleston with mom and dad

A friendly reminder not to criticize my grammar and spelling, English is not my strong point and if I stress or read and re-read not much writing would happen.

We had a great time with mom and dad Allen who visited us here in Charleston just after Christmas here is what we did, (pictures to come)

Thursday- Welcomed mom and dad to Charleston and our home, plan our week, have fun with Q, Merry Christmas again. 

Friday- Showed Mom and dad the base and visited Charlie the Alligator but he and his family were hiding with the overcast weather. Mom and Dad were good sports about running around town with us to get notaries, sending off our documents, and funding our down payment for closing on the house as well as huge helps with watching Quincy as we sorted everything out. On this day we completed everything in our power with buying our house, Hooray!

Saturday - Patriot’s Point and we visited for our first time Fort Sumter, Where the first shots of the Civil War were fired as well. As Dad Richens, Ken, would say (and will say in about 2 weeks): I thought that was pretty neat…

Sunday -Church, play with Quincy and games at home

Monday- spent the day touring downtown. Walking the old historic roads increased my love and intrigue for Charleston. I want to go back down to walk past the prerevolutionary war houses with the lag lanterns outside their homes, they have so much charm.

Tuesday- Boone Hall Plantation, they had a Gullah Culture talk that I loved. It helped me understand some of my YW better because of understanding that their ancestors were in slavery only a few generations back and learning more of that history.  I don’t think they have learned important skills and family relations because slavery often smothered them. Everything else at Boone Hall Scott and I had done, but it was fun to do again to remember, solidify and hear new tidbits about the plantation, house, and people. Oh we got to see the sample cotton field that wasn’t in bloom last time, cool to see how cotton grows and how soft it is.  The south is beautiful!

               We went back downtown, mom and dad walked through the market, and we met at the Old Slave Mart Museum- a location that sold slaves once it was law to do it behind closed doors. The experience of walking through those walls, reading and listening to stories were heartbreaking, but again enlightening to how broken life was and still can be from the history.

We finished the night at Hominy Grill a famous southern style restaurant headed back home to put Q to bed, and bring in the New Year with party food and games.  

Wednesday- Happy 2014!  Mom and Dad treated us to a little trip up to the famous, Myrtle Beach, 2 hours away. It was Beautiful but not much happens up there in the winter-especially cold rainy days. We watched football, played on the beach for a few minutes. Quincy LOVED the beach (it is outside) but because of the weather she finally learned to keep a hat on her head to protect from the cold. More games and football…I loved having a couple other people around so we could have a few game nights. I would have played every night all night but didn’t want to torture everyone else. We got in at least one game of the following: Ticket to Ride, Rook, Bonanza, and Settlers over the last few nights, yay.

Thursday- we relaxed had a nice breakfast hot buffet from the hotel, and drove all around Myrtle Beach. The only thing we missed on the trip was a round a putt-putt, that was all closed for the season too. We enjoyed out last day with mom and dad before taking them to the airport early Friday.   

Thanks for coming we are excited for you to visit again…a couple of days with us, and then you can go on a cruise and then couple more days with us… I’ll house you; give you a ride to the ship port and back. How’s that about idea for any of ya’ll?   

We added a few more things to do after more touring of Charleston:

Go to a show at Dock Street theater, the first building in America designed for use as a theater.

Tour the Calhoun mansion

Get our 2014 Christmas ornament at from the sweet grass basket weavers on the Mt. Pleasant side (cheaper)

Look into Snee Farm,

 Look into Charles Pickney plantation,

18 months

Dear Quincy,

Here is your life at just under 18 months:

• Smile and smile and smile
• Daddy said today that with you around life is a game of charades. At least now you smile when we guess the right word of what you want.
• You still would never come in from outside if we didn’t make you. (even on the cold days)
• You like to chase the ducks, but when they chase you it makes you nervous.
• You are picking up words left and right. Learning to say food names, people’s names, and everything we walk about in the day.
• “Back” means you want to ride on mine or daddy’s back, or you have something to put away.
• You love nursery again, 1 month was rough but you are back to loving it. As soon as sacrament meeting is over you are pulling our arms to lead whoever will get up fastest to nursery.
• Most mornings now we have an outing where you can play with other kids. Monday-Play group Tuesday- story time Wednesday-Institute with other mommy’s, Thursday-flexible, at home play dates, etc Friday- Zumba with other mommy’s. In January I realized I needed to let you play with more than just me at home or the playgrounds, getting out is hard, but it is good for us.
• You make me cry watching you hold the hymn book and lead music, you are growing up too fast!
• You have such a fun personality and I think how lucky I am to have you multiple times a day.
• You are: sweet, loving, and cuddly with your hugs and kisses, fun with how you realize how smart you are getting, Inquisitive and ready to discover determined to get what or where you want, lovable not only for your family, but everyone adults, kids and teenagers that we interact with love you, silly, with the way you play and giggle all day.
• Little boys give you kisses, one 3 year old boy told him mom you were his Valentine.

Thanks for making like wonderful!

Love mommy

Christmas Photos

Christmas Eve we had the sister missionaries over for dinner, taco soup, and I thought we would have them over longer since it was Christmas Eve, but they left early and so I convinced Scott to make ginger bread houses with me. ta da. Scott wanted to make a house that we liked in Traverse Mountain that had lots of square footage but had zero yard hence the pink fence around the yard. 

Sweet rolls Christmas Morning, Hootenanny's Christmas Eve

Dear Q

January 11, 2014

Dear Quincy,

You are still the sweetest thing. Here are a few things about you from the last couple months:

When the a timer goes off, microwave, oven, whatever you shoot your arm straight up in the air with you pointer finger up and let out a surprised/excited ah!.

When you were probably about 13 months if there were water droplets left on your tray you would try to pick them all up.

You love to play hide in seek. Squealing, and being scared and nervous and getting excited when you think you are turning the corner to where someone is hiding. Fun video to come. 

You are impossible to take pictures and videos of these days, you just want to hold the camera.

When you think something is pretty you say Ooo-oo-oooo, going up an octave for the middle part. The first morning you saw our Christmas tree you did your cutest little ooo-oo-ooo and went right over to it. I didn't even have the lights on because I didn't want to make it more inciting then it already was. The first day I taught you to just look at the tree and not play with it. The first 3 weeks of it up you hardly touched it, then I couldn't keep it decorated so, it stayed un-decorated until Christmas Eve. You loved the lights and always asked for me to turn them on by pointing, grunting, and saying "tree."

If you are holding a phone and it starts to ring you hold out your arm bringing me or dad the phone.

When I sing itsy-bitsy spider you take part in the actions, You wiggle your fingers up your body, down like rain and side to side to wash the spider out out. You will get better but it is the beginning of you catching on and it made me cry when we showed daddy. 

You used to "help" me with laundry but now you walk around me to get to the broom, take it out of the laundry room and sweep the floor. 

You know the health clinic and hate when we go back to one of those rooms where the doctor is or you might get poked. 

Yesterday I showed you a lizard stuck between the screen and the window. You held on to me so tight and although I was holding you you tried to slide around to my back to get a way from it. Today a feather from a pillow was on my bed you pointed it out but when I blew it to make it move it scared you to and you got as close to me as you could. I guess a feather could be mistaken for a creepy bug.  

You have been going to nursery for almost 2 months now. No, you aren't old enough, but the leaders said if we stayed you could come. You did so good, playing and being happy, that the leaders didn't have me or dad stay with you. You just Love kids. I think the ward was grateful for the nice nursery leaders because you were everywhere and very distracting. The last 2 weeks you have had a harder time in nursery, since grandma and grandpa came, but I think that is because we messed up your schedule. Hope you'll be back to your happy kid friendly self again soon. 


Still makes me smile thinking of all these stories. At the end of each one I want to write how adorable you are and how much I love you. 

Love you my little angel,

Mommy

Early December Photos

Christmas Sunday

Yes, I went to a 7:30 am meeting and didn't need a jacket or leggings or anything

If Q can get her hands on her new Christmas Sunday shoes she makes us put them on her and doesn't want to take them off. Plus look at her with the technology

Buying a House!

Yes, we did it! We bought a house and I can’t wait to live in it. We are accepted, financed, on the title and official home owners. I am super excited about moving in but that may very likely not be for about 17 years. We’ll see. Until the big move in day we will be renting, gaining equity, and have locked in an interest rate on our house before they rise up and up and up along with inflation. We bought it being as a long term home 5 bed, 3.5 baths, and an amazing park in our backyard allowing for a view of many wonderful sunsets to be enjoyed from my kitchen or family room.  Anyone need a house to rent?

Scott and I had been pondering the idea of buying a house in Utah for a few months because we weren’t sure what to do with the money we saved for a house when we decided against buying in Charleston. We talked to my cousin Lewis, a realtor in Utah, got some info on the process and started looking at houses online. We thought that we’d fly to Utah in January or February to look at houses, but when our house came along we didn’t want to miss it. We sent our parents and my sister Ashley who lives near the house over to look at the house with Lewis and got more videos, pictures, and good reports on the house details. Over the next few days I fell in love with the house I have never been in and we put in an offer. I continued to fall in love with the home and started imaging myself living there, cooking, cleaning, and relaxing.

Here's the ad if you know anyone interested. http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=17403849&nid=651&ad=654667

When we do end up living there I hope to do a bunch of updates to really make it my own, but for now it’ll work great for renting. 

There was a lot more I wanted to write, but Quincy woke up from her nap and now that I get back to writing I can't remember. More on the house later?

Cold Weather

January 6, 2014

Here is what is happening in SC, 

""Low Country School Districts say their schools will observe a three-hour delay. The district is asking parents to dress their children in layers and in warm clothing."

"With student safety as our highest priority, all Berkeley County School District schools and before-school programs will operate according to a three-hour delay on Tuesday, January 7 due to forecasts of extremely cold weather,"

Lows were 20 degrees, no precipitation or anything...but  our schools get a delay start. Don't worry we might hit the 70's by the weekend.  Makes me smile thinking of y'all in Utah and even more so the freezing Midwest. The South just isn't supposed to get cold. 

Looking a Lot Like Christmas

On November 23^rd, we went to the Festival of Lights on James Island with Brady and Jackie Hammond. Yes I know we are crazy to go to a Christmas event the Monday before Thanksgiving, but we wanted to get in last year when we tried we waited for probably an hour in a our car bumper to bumper before realizing we were still a couple of miles away from the entrance of the park where the Festival of Lights is held. At that time last year we decided to get ice cream, go home and come before the Christmas chaos began next year. So that is what we did. The lights were lots of fun, however a little more of the Santa, commercialized Christmas lights then I have seen in the past (like at Temple Square).

The best was the first thing we saw as we drove into the park, a light Ravenel Bridge over a pond. All in Christmas lights there were nursery rhymes, dolphins jumping into ponds, and Santas, and a Christmas tree light show to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra song.  I thought the 50 ton sand sculpture was pretty neat too.  It was Christmassy and Charleston-y all in one.

We enjoyed going to The Festival of Lights for a Christmas activity that we hadn't done before and we experienced Charleston and Christmas in a new way. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving with Brady and Jackie Hammond hosted an amazing and delicious day. They are another Utah/Idaho transplant couple who are here in SC with Him being a power school instructor also.  We also shared the day with Jackie’s  sister and brother in-law who are studying here at Clemson, a single instructor, and 4 enlisted nuke students (via the adopt a sailor program at the command for Thanksgiving.) We paid our way again with pies. I am always worried about how my baking is going to turn out, but I think I feel more comfortable and enjoy baking more than cooking.  We brought a raspberry, chocolate pudding, and 2 pumpkin pies and accidently made a third. With so much extra pie even after leaving some with our hosts I went against the pumpkin pie puree can instruction and did freeze some pumpkin and raspberry pie and they both were delicious after the fact. We ate up the pumpkin here the day after Christmas.

But onto the day, Scott joined Brady for a turkey bowl with his ward and enjoyed playing despite the chilly weather. After Scott cleaned up we went back up to Moncks Corner and enjoyed the multiple platters of appetizers and I helped with the list of last minute items for the big feast. We enjoyed a fabulous feast and Scott loved sitting and watching football the rest of the afternoon mixed in with a little cleaning and a lot of baby duty so I could do the dishes. Q did fabulously with the long day and she loved the food as well, especially the rolls.

We were sent home with bags of leftovers which was awesome for a more relaxing long weekend (not having to cook). Although they live 2 wards away (which is a good distance for Charleston terms) we enjoy getting together with the Hammond's and I look forward to becoming better friends with them.