2005 and 2010 Southern Utah Flood

About five years ago Southern Utah had its "100 year flood" and it wiped out 30 homes and even killed one person. (Side note...100 year flood means that each year there is a 1% chance of having it flood that large. Not that it only happens once every 100 years.) It was devastating. To watch the houses be washed away was so sad. That year we had 9 inches of rain and snow in about 3 days. My house is less than a quarter of a mile from the canyon that holds the river-so about a half of a mile to the river. I remember talking on the phone with my Grandma Hanson that day and she asked what that background noise was-well it was the roar of the river. Usually the river is a low, muddy, slow moving river. But dump in an excessive amount of precipitation, and it becomes a beast.

Here are some pictures that I took from our FIRST 100 year flood.


This is in Toquerville, (about 5 miles from my home) the river split and washed over the road. The road eventually had to be replaced.


In Toquerville looking to the west of where the water washed over the road.




This bridge was eventually washed out and replaced with a much nicer concrete bridge.



My boys, and a friend, standing above the canyon.



This is what they were standing in front of. The river that is usually about 10-15 feet wide and just a few feet deep, split.-Do you see that tree in the middle of the river on the left hand side...usually it was not in water.


December 21, 2010



This was in Santa Clara. After the flood of 2005, the banks were built up....way way way up. Whenever we would drive over the bride, we would almost laugh at the over zealous engenieers who designed such huge wash-ways. They looked completely overdone. However, as you can see in this picture and the one underneath, they are full! These two pictures were taken a day before it was the fullest. The next day, the water was almost touching the bridge.




At the Touquerville park. Because the sides were build up so high, the road was not washed out again.


By the Toquerville park.



At the LaVerkin edge.


For this picture, I was in the same spot as the picture above. The river was noticeably higher this year. I read one report that said that more than 18 inches of rain fell in the four-five days. Much more than the 8 inches in 2005. There were more calls to sandbag this year. However, since southern Utah learned their lesson five years ago and prepared for the worst, the damage was minimal. It could have been so much worse.

I have learned so many lessons from the flood. The need to prepare for the worst, but to expect the best comes to mind. I may never need the several hundred pounds of wheat that is stored under my bed, but if I do....I have it.

Wise man said......If ye are prepared...ye shall not fear.

I pledge response video

In Luke's Key of Liberty class, they discussed a popular video that came out earlier this year that featured many popular actors and Hollywood type people that pledged their lives to different things. Luke's class made a response video and here it is!

If the above video doesn't work, here is a link to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1-W6RUVCOE


I am so impressed with the youth these days. Many of the kids in Luke's Key of Liberty class completed the memorizing of the Declaration of Independence (I still need to post that video...) and in the Shakespeare class almost all of the kids chose to complete 17 or more plays. (And these are the 12-13year olds...you should see the 15 year olds!! )

Not only that, but on Sundays I am always impressed with the depth of the talks given by the youth in our ward. These kids are powerful and are capable of doing great things. I am excited to see what they do next!

A great day!

Lately I feel that my blog has turned into a brag. But nobody reads my blog any way
so OH WELL! :-)
Today my brag is about my husband again. He was honored today for being the Student of the Semester in the Integrated Studies Department. They recognized him for the work he did with RAINN day, his research project, good grades, and all that jazz. This is a huge honor and I am so thrilled for him. He has been blessed with great teachers and fabulous study habits these past five years.

Cory and his professor that presented him with the award.





Well here you can watch for yourself!!


Way to go hun!! You have worked so hard in school! Love ya!

Happy Birthday James!

My James recently turned 11. A few words that would describe James is....sunshine, random, sly, sincere, mischievous, determine, and fun.

I love my James!











James's birthday was recent and we had a lot of fun celebrating!
He was able to spend the night at Grandma Sutton's house and she spoiled him with his favorite breakfast of German Pancakes. MMmmmmm...
Then we traveled to Jumping Jacks and what a fun time! I wasn't to impressed with Jumping Jacks, but the kids loved it. By the time we left they were dripping with sweat.

That night we went to the Winterfest and the boys were able to be on a float with some friends. I think the light parade is one of the better things about where we live. It is a unique experience that we love. Having the cars all decked out in Christmas lights is so much fun!

Picture of the day

Mark LOVES his binki. LOVES them. I think we may need to do an inervention soon though because one binki doesn't seem to be enough anymore. Now he has to have a binki in his mouth AND one in his hand as well. If he spies a third binki in the course of the day, he becomes obsessed with that one too. For a while I was confiscating them and putting them on my dresser--trying the whole out of sight out of mind. Well, one day he saw them. He REALLY wanted them. So much ,that he ended up dumping out my garbage can in my room to be able to turn over the can, stand on it, and grab the plethora of binkis taking refuge on the dresser.
Before we knew it, he had three shoved in his mouth and one in his hand. With a little help from Cory, he was able to enjoy-for the first time-four binkis in his mouth at the SAME time.

I know I know...so exciting..

Mark will be 2 in January, so he really does not need a binki anymore and I DREAD the day we decide to wean him off of it. But he's my baby, and I think I am trying to keep him my little baby as long as possible. I love my Mark!

I am thankful for....

There are so many things that I am grateful for. I could never name them all..lol..

This week with my boys, we are doing a thankful jar as described in the Friend magazine this month. It has been a fun blessing for all of us. I love watching the boys come up with all sorts of random things that they are thankful for.

As I have pondered recently about what I am most thankful for I have come up with the usual....family, home, great mentors, friends, blah blah blah... There is so much more that I am thankful for. Deeper stuff ya know. The stuff that lies underneath that layer of your heart that gives meaning to the family, great mentors, friends and all of that blah blah blah.

Like depression. (Did you see that coming? Yeah me neither...)

It isn't a secret that I struggle with depression. As weird as this sounds, I can be thankful for these bouts of depression (within reason..lol..) It helps me really appreciate and love those days that I am happy and love life. The days that I have peace, that I smile easily, and the world is full of opportunities, full of love, full of acceptance. I am thankful for the sunny days. I am thankful that I have many more sunny days then black days.

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Thomas Paine

And faith.

"Faith fuels hope... As it flows freely, our perspective changes; our vision becomes clearer. We begin to look for the best, not the worst, in life and in others. We gain a deeper sense of life's purpose and meaning. Despair gives way to joy." David Baxter

For me, faith is interconnected to hope. I have faith and hope that I will be able to raise my four amazing boys to be men of courage, valor, strength, and character. I have faith and hope that I will be guided to the mentors that we need that will help accomplish our family vision of being an eternal family. Everyone knows that raising children nowadays is difficult. Having faith in the eternal plan and knowing that we can be together forever as a family gets is through the hard times (like my dark days) and even strengthens our relationships.

"Strong moral character results from consistent correct choices in the trials and testing of life. Your faith can guide you to those correct choices." Richard G. Scott

Last year for our family vacation we decided to hike Delicate Arch in Moab. Now, for those that know me, you know that I am NOT an avid hiker. Not at ALL. It was probably the most difficult hike I have ever been on and it was only a couple of miles...with a fairly good incline. But we did it! And we did it as a FAMILY! We pulled and pushed each other (ok really it was just me that needed pushed and pulled..lol..) we constantly gave encouragement and we were all excited together once we arrived at our goal. This difficult experience was a great builder for our family. To work together at something HARD infused a sense of WE CAN DO IT among us. The boys still talk about it and how awesome it was to finish as a family.

That is what faith does for me. When life is painful-whether it is my depression or some other trivial thing- having faith that the difficult times will make me/us stronger. It will.

"when was anything really worthwhile easy?" Richard G. Scott

And I haven't even scratched the dust on the surface of what I am thankful for! I could go on and on about prayer, how it has given me such a beautiful testimony of eternal families, of the realness of my Savior and the personal knowledge that he has of me. But alas, I will expound on that another time. :-)

I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving with those you love. What else is everyone thankful for--that isn't a typical seasonal gratitude

I need picture help!!!

I have loved everyone's beautiful fall pictures with their kids. I just love the fall leaves. So, being greatly inspired, I took the kids out to try to take some pictures.


















It started out semi-bad....


















and just progressively got worse.....




































And I gave up.























































Maybe we will try again....someday.

Happy Halloween...and stuff

Happy Halloween everyone! I am a couple of days late but here are a few pictures from halloween and such.
To start our Halloween fun we always go to the corn maze. The kids and Cory love going and getting lost. I, however, like it for the first 1o minutes and then I don't like being lost! I really like knowing where I am all the time. We went with the homeschool group and had a great time!


I was made for the farm life. :-) Well, in my dreams anyway. I love the atmosphere of the georgic lifestyle. The open spaces...the animals...the gardens.....in my dreams I can do it all! Not so much in reality, but I like to think that someday I will have the self mastery to do all of that.

For Halloween we partied with the ward trunk or treat and then came back and watched Ghostbusters. The kids had never seen it before and thought it was a hoot. It scared the bageebees out of me when I was younger, but I found it mostly amusing now.

Luke dressed up like a Jedi again, his costume I think has finally been outgrown. James was King Arthor, Ben was a horsee (not a horse, but a horsee, I guess there is a big difference.) Mark was a giraffe but I forgot to get a picture of him. -so here is one just as fun.


All in all, I love fall! It gets me excited to start on Christmas. I know Thanksgiving is in the middle, but really, Christmas is the season that I LOVE. I am already making gifts and trying to find new Christmas music for my ipod(any suggestions for some great Christmas music??)

Beauty and the Beast

I wasn't going to blog about this, but I am feeling particularly grateful for Cory. He has been so patient with me lately. RAINN day really did a wringer on me, and the recovery has been intense at moments. But he has been nothing but great for me.

Earlier this month he asked me to homecoming at the college. He is a senior at Dixie and is getting to graduate in a few weeks (WOO HOO!!)

Remember way way WAY back in high school when you asked someone to a dance and you would do it in a silly way. Well, for one of the dances back in High school he asked me to homecoming. He filled up my bedroom with a bunch of balloons with puzzle pieces in them. Then I had to pop the balloons and put the puzzle together. (and yes...I STILL have that puzzle..) When I came home from Shakespeare class earlier this month and walked into my bathroom imagine the squeal I gave as balloons came toppling on me. He had once again filled the balloons with puzzle pieces for me to put together. And he asked me to go to the homecoming ball. Ahhh sweet I know!!!

And of course I said YES!!


We had such a good time! We went to the Gala and had a lovely dinner of chicken cordon bleu. Then we danced the night away! The theme for the dance was "Tale as old as Time" from the movie Beauty and the Beast. The first part of the dance was for the dance majors. --well it seemed like it anyway. It was 50's music and big band music. Everyone there knew how to do the jitterbug and the swing. They looked great! I felt just slightly intimidated. At one time in my life I knew how to do the fun dances, but those days were a LONG time ago. My feet got a little tangled up..lol...but it was great! After the first hour they had a DJ come and provide the music --of which I recognized NONE of the songs. But it was still fun!
We doubled with Cory's sister and Ken-they were so fun!

After we were done dancing, (like at about 10) we decided that we were beat and were going to head home. I know, big time partiers. we went out to the fountain and became true REBELS and kissed in the pond. -The water was really really cold.


It was a night to remember! My hubby spoiled me and pampered me. I loved it!
Thank you Cory for such a memorable evening!
I love ya!

Yeah James!!

This last week in scouts James recieved his Webelos badge and his Arrow of Light. He has worked so hard for these awards. He has alwasys loved scouts, andthankfully he has had some great scout leaders that have been very patient with him. His leaders wanted to do something very special for him so that he would always remember his arrow of light, so they flipped him upside down and congratulated him. He laughed so hard! He loved it! It fitted James just perfectly. He is such a physical kid that doing something physical to help is right on his level.

Way to go James! We love you!