Get ready for the biggest post ever...

Wow! This past week has definately been a huge new experience for all of us Alabamians living here in Tulsa. On the news we had been hearing that there was going to be a huge ice storm coming in on Sunday night, and there was a possibility of no school (which means no work for me.) Well, I didn't get my hopes up that school was going to be cancelled, because any time I would do that back in Alabama the ice storm would never happen and, sure enough, we would always end up having school. I guess since I didn't get my hopes up too high, the ice storm decided to come and hit us here in Tulsa. I remember waking up around 3 in the morning and just hearing things cracking and falling and thinking that it was just thunder and lightning, but when I woke up that morning I found out it was branches to all 4 of our huge oak trees crashing to the ground. I woke up at about 615 that morning like I usually do, and went to turn the lights on and they didn't work. I started getting worried because we didn't have any power. I finally got a hold of a radio station on my phone and found out that school was closed. I was happy...I got to go back to bed!! When I went to lay back down to go back to sleep I wasn't too concerned about the power turning back on, I figured that it would be back on by the time I woke back up. Well, come about 10 dad came and got X up to help clear the driveway because It was COVERED in branches from our trees. I decided to get out of bed and make breakfast and what not and discovered that we STILL did not have power. I have never lived without power for more than a few hours, but this time we lived without power AND heat for 3 days. From what I understand a huge generator blew and there were around 200,000 people without power. Some people still don't have any! It was the weirdest thing because people 2 blocks from where we live would have power, but no one around them would. The ice storm came and every leaf, branch, piece of grass was covered in at least a 1/2 inch think of ice! From our bedroom window you can get onto the roof and I almost stepped out onto the it so I could get some pictures of the trees, but then I realized that there was at least an inch of ice on it, and I am glad I didn't step on it because I would have gone sliding off the roof!

We spent Monday at home freezing and trying to find things to do because we had no TV, computer, NOTHING! Sam and Lexi enjoyed making up songs on the piano. X and I got pretty good at Bop It Extreme. Abby and Chase drove everyone absolutely crazy because Abby didn't have the phone that worked to talk to her friends, and Chase didn't have TV to watch Diego. We were all trying to spare our cell phones since we had no power to charge them with. Dad had to go to work (can you believe that?) His building had power though. He got off of work early to run to Sam's to get some stuff for us. He was talking to one of the workers and she had said that when they showed up to open up there was a line of people outside waiting to get into Sam's. She also told Dad that in one hour alone they sold $180,000 worth of chain saws, fire logs, and generators!!! Dad didn't make it in time to get any firewood, but he picked up some snacks and flashlights and firestarters. We burned firestarters for heat. We went out that evening to McDonalds to get dinner, and it was packed. After we ate we ran to Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and Walgreens trying to find firewood and every single place was sold out! We then ran over to Wal Mart and of ALL places IT was CLOSED!!!! Can you believe that? Then, we just decided to go home and burn our lonely firestarters and we roasted marshmallows over the fire and made smores to pass the time. Sam ended up going over to a friends house, who had power. He stayed there until Wednesday evening. Abby went over there on Tuesday and also stayed until Wednesday evening. Lexi went over to her friend Rachel's house until Friday.

On Tuesday we spent the day at the mall, because it was warm and they had power and cooked food. Dad was able to run to Sutherland's and purchase a generator that he would get to pick up on Wednesday afternoon. The generator was supposed to be able to power most of the house, and give us heat. We were all looking forward to having a little power and heat! Dad took us to Golden Corral for dinner and we came home and hung around the fire and then finally decided to go to bed because there was nothing to do, because we couldn't see.

Wednesday, we hung out at the mall again. Dad worked a half day and around 4 was able to pick up our generator. X, Chase, and I met him at Home Depot so we could pick up all the switches and what not that we needed to hook it up. All in all, Dad spent about $1,000 on the generator. We came back to the house and Dad and X worked hard for about 2 hours out in the freezing cold to get the thing hooked up. Chase and I sat in the van and watched, and occasionally got out to help. The van was the warmest spot around! Dad and X finally got the generator ready to hook up to the house. They hauled the darn thing to the back yard, took the meter off, and...just...as...they...were...hooking...it...up...the...neighbors...LIGHTS...turned...ON!!! So, we started to laugh and we were all like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!? So instead of hooking the generator up dad put the meter back on and sure enough, the LIGHTS TURNED ON!!!!! Can you believe it?! After all the money and working out in the freezing cold, the power WORKS! Dad says..."I'm so pissed, I can't help but laugh."

We didn't have school on Thursday, but we did on Friday. Half of the students weren't even there. It was a CRAZY day.

Today we had to clean the yard and clear all the branches and twigs out of the yard. It was a MESS. As we were out there cleaning, it starts to snow! How lovely.

So, this has been our first wonderful winter experience here in Tulsa, OK. Enjoy the pictures, I took tons! Oh, and all through this my mom wasn't here, she has been in Utah loving on Avery!