Technology.....

.... a blessing and, in this case, a curse. 

Killer storm

The flood of muddy water coming down Mama Chu's hill.

The Dastrup's basement window.

Just down the street from us.

The storm rolling in.

Yesterday afternoon was a day that will be remembered for a long time! Kurt was with some of his work crew shooting some things for work up the canyon at Timpanogos Park. I was there helping him. It was about 3:30-4:00 pm and we were just finishing up. From where we were, we had a great view looking straight down the canyon. We all immediately noticed how ominous and other-wordly the clouds looked. And how fast-moving they were. Kurt commented that something big was going to happen because of those clouds. And how right he was! 

We headed straight home and the wind was already starting to howl by the time we arrived. (and it only takes us 2-3 minutes to get home from the canyon....)  Then the rain started. Then it poured, then it hailed, then it poured some more. Within a few minutes, we had a literal swimming pool along the back wall of our backyard. The water was pouring under the east-side fence with such force that it looked like a fire hose was on the other side. 

I ran downstairs to check window wells. Indy's room didn't have any standing water but water was coming in at the top of window and dripping down onto the sill. Finn's window well was filling up fast. Luckily, from all our past water problems, we had a pump that we immediately started.  Then I ran outside to the backyard staircase and the water was starting to pool down there. Once I cleared the drain it started to drain away----thank goodness. 

Within about 15-20 minutes we had our house under control but we looked across the street and there were cars and people headed to the Jones' house. We spent about 30-40 minutes emptying buckets and buckets of water from their window wells. Then, we heard that the Clark's basement was completely flooded so we headed over there for about 20 minutes. Once we saw they had plenty of help we headed home. Then we realized that our next door neighbor's basement was flooded as well. After a couple of hours moving furniture and vacuuming water and clearing tree branches and mud and debris we got their house under control as well.  Once we finally got home we realized that water had seeped into Finn's room behind the wall and under the baseboards. We had to pull back the carpet a couple of feet. But we feel so lucky that's all the damage we had!

All in all, in the 8th ward, there were about 37 homes that had water damage. Some obviously much worse than others. The 9th ward got the brunt of it I think. They cancelled all meetings but sacrament. The whole ward was helping the families that got the worst damage. It was a crazy weekend but nice to know that so many neighbors are willing to help in a time of need!

Double rainbow

Caught at an Orem soccer game.

Montana's First Convert

The golden contact Montana and her companion had from a few weeks ago was baptized last weekend.   You can read Montana's letter all about it here. So happy for Kathryn!

The Nuss Procedure

Post-surgery. NO HOLE!

Indy's last week of summer was spent at Primary Children's Hospital getting a bar put into his chest. Not a fun process! As he has grown, he had developed a sunken chest or a "hole" in the middle of his chest. It must be hereditary because our nephew Camden had the same thing. Cam had the same procedure a couple of years ago. They perform the Nuss procedure to correct it. It involves inserting a metal bar into the chest. Then they flip the bar so it pushes the sternum out and into correct alignment. Simple procedure, not so simple recovery. All the people at the hospital kept telling me that this is one of the most painful surgeries they do. 

These wires were for the constant pain meds that were being pumped into his back. 

He has 2 inch scars on either side of his chest.

Our movie-watching positions.

This was Indy for  most of the 4 days we were in the hospital.

Managing pain after the surgery is the worst part obviously. The second day was by far the worst.  He was constantly nauseous.  Couple that with the pain of throwing up when you chest muscles have just been cut!!! Poor guy. He definitely regretted his decision to have the surgery a few days after. But, now that we are 10 days out, I think he is glad to have the worst part out of the way and happy with his results. 

He was technically supposed to be out of school for 2 full weeks but that didn't happen. After missing 3 days he was determined to get back. He went back last Friday and was there the whole day. I think the worst part was just trying to sit comfortably in the hard chairs! 

So glad he is recovering well and can't wait to have him back to full health!

Thank you Whitney!!

Whitney Ferguson moved up to Issaquah last weekend. I was so happy to get a text and this picture today! The four of them got to go to lunch. Nothing makes me happier than knowing Whitney is there to look after her.

First Day

Our youngest child is a 9th grader! This should be a fun year for Emerson. She's in Student Council at Canyon View and, of course, keeping busy with soccer as well.