the windy, blustery, dark, no-good, very bad days

We have had awful weather the past few days with lots of rain and wind. And more wind. Yesterday there were gusts up to about 70 mph. The power was out for about two hours in the morning. I had to take a shower in the dark. In hindsight, at least I got a shower. Then I took Sarah and Zach to Sarah's soccer game at the community center. Hooray for the generator we were able to take the elevator to the car and leave the garage. While we were walking into the building, however, a huge gust of wind attacked us and blew both of the children away before I could grab their little bodies. Sarah was pushed about 10 feet to my left where she was blown over onto her knees and dragged across the cement. She sustained some nasty bruises on both knees and scrapes on one knee. As you can imagine, she was hysterical. Zach was blown head over heels like a rag doll about 15 feet to my right. I watched him do two complete rotations and could barely keep my own feet solidly on the ground. I staggered over to Zach who was face down and picked him up. He was wailing. We trudged over to Sarah and dragged her up. The wind had subsided a bit at this point but was still very strong. It was really too strong to walk into the wind to the main doors of the building. It was terrifying. Fortunately, there is a side door to the building that was closer to us than the main doors. I was able to hunch down with the kids and slowly push through the wind until we were sheltered by the building. Then we went inside. Both kids were screaming and crying, and both wanted to be carried. Too bad I only have two hands. We were able to make it to the desk where a man helped me bandage up Sarah's knees and gave me an ice pack for Zach's head. We attempted soccer, but since Sarah was still crying uncontrollably 20 minutes later, we went home. In the car on the way home Sarah informed me that she had said a prayer to Heavenly Father to stop the wind so that we would be okay. I thought it was so sweet. Upon arrival at home, the elevators were not working on our side of the building. Pretty sure I couldn't carry both kids up six flights of stairs, we walked up a level in the parking garage and were relieved to find that the elevators were working on the other side of the building. Once home, both kids seemed to calm down quickly, although Zach kept repeating, "too windy, too windy, too windy" for hours. The poor kid is now terrified of wind. He also fell asleep curled up in a little ball on the wooden kitchen chair at 5:46 completely wiped out.

The wind raged outside our windows most of the day. The power flickered on and off several times and finally went off for good about 7:00 pm while Sarah was in the bathtub. Since I was in the kitchen at the time, she was quite alarmed but "told [her]self to just stay still in the tub" as she later reported to me. Thank goodness for cell phones, laptops, portable dvd players, a charged DS, and the flashlights I got the kids for Christmas we survived the evening. Of course, the power came back on at midnight. And of course I hadn't turned off the lights that were on. So I woke up at midnight from the lights blazing in the bedroom and then wandered around the apartment turning all of the lights off.

Sunday morning brought daylight savings time. Thank goodness for my cell phone or I would never have known what time it was or made it to church on time. There was a bit of a flood in the primary room necessitating that primary be held in a different room. On a short drive around the area where many ward members live we discovered huge trees fallen onto power lines and houses every few blocks. Several roads were closed. I feel fortunate that we didn't have to worry about things of that nature. Sunday evening our water pressure steadily decreased until there was no water. We have drinking water, but that is about where our water supply ends.

Monday morning at 5:38 I was jarred out of bed by the ringing of my phone. I raced to answer it before it roused the whole house (who would then be up for the day). Thanks to daylight savings time it was still dark, and I, of course, thought the worst. No school. It turns out that is what happens when the school buildings have no power and no water. Still no water. At 10:00 am you better believe we were at Costco buying ourselves some extra water--just in case. Fortunately, upon our arrival home, the water pressure was increasing, and now the toilets flush. Hallelujah! We may have to boil the water for cooking for the next few days, but it could be much, much, much worse.

And we made rainbow cupcakes to celebrate the impending St. Patrick's Day. And they were divine. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, so things are looking uppier and sunnier. And if it's still raining, we have more cupcakes, so we're good.