Kaylyn is 4!

Kaylyn turned four on Sunday. Her birthday party was on Saturday. Granny and Papa came from the farm. Aunt Robbie, Uncle Matt, Ian and Regan traveled from Archie and picked up Nana to join us for the party. We also had the Kennings and Hannah over for cake and ice cream. Kaylyn had a great time playing with Ian and Hannah. Here's she preparing to blow out the candles on her Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake (it's Strawberry Shortcake on a scooter in the middle of her cake).

For her birthday, Kaylyn got a digital camera (yes, we spoiled her), Finding Nemo and a Tinker Bell nightlight from us. She loved everything that she got. Her favorites are paints from Granny and Papa (she used them before the party was over), "makeup" from Uncle Sandy and Aunt Jo and her Strawberry Shortcake puzzle from Aunt Robbie and Uncle Matt. She also got a living room ballerina suite from Hannah but we haven't set it up yet - as soon as we do, I'm sure that'll become her focus. Actually, we should do that tomorrow as it's snowing again and our trip to the Temple has been canceled.

Ice Storm

The Ice Storm hit Friday, Jan 12th. Our power went out at 10:30 pm, but thankfully returned at 3:30 am. Except for a few quick outages (a few seconds), we kept power. Unfortunately, many others were not as lucky. My parents lost power earlier on Friday night than we did. When the temperature in their house dropped below 50 degrees on Saturday morning, they packed up their gear and three cats and headed in to town to stay with us - even if we lost power, we have the fireplace for heat. Church was canceled on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, we couldn't reach Nana. After being unable to reach the managers at The Cambridge (where she lives), we headed over to check on her. They had lost power on Saturday night and she had been unable to reach us on the phone (lots of phone problems too). So we packed up Nana and she moved in with us too. Kaylyn loved having everyone here. It was not bad having everyone here. The hardest part was keeping all the kitties happy.

This picture is as you turn in the driveway to the farm. These trees used to stand up straight and you could see the house behind them.

This is Mom and Dad's backyard. Before the storm, there weren't any branches on the ground. The big "branch" you see in the background is actually a huge old oak tree that came down. There's another old oak tree down in the field, off to your right (not visible).

Nana moved home on Tuesday afternoon. Mom and Dad moved home on Saturday night after getting a generator set up at their house. Their power finally was restored Friday night, almost 2 weeks to the hour without power.