Tornado in Kirksville...We're Alive!

We had a tornado here in Kirksville on Wednesday night around 6:00 pm. It has been a crazy couple of days. Ben was just about to come home from school when the sirens went off (I hate that sound). He was about to get into his friend's car when he looked up and thought it was going to come down on top of him. The sky was so dark and the rain and wind were unlike anything I have ever seen before. So he ran back inside the school for safety. I was at home and we were talking on the phone through the whole thing. We didn't actually see the tornado, but we sure felt it. I'll be honest, I was scared out of my mind. But nothing like what our friends must have experienced.

Several other med student families that are in our ward were in their homes when the tornado hit them. They were hunkered down in their basements and heard and felt the pressure of the tornado. They told us that there next door neighbor was actually in the tub seeking safety and had a piece of drywall fall on them and cover them when their roof was torn off. A Dean from Ben's school also had his home damaged beyond repair.

We got the call afterward and Ben went out to help the clean up crew until midnight that night. Thousands of people in the neighborhoods nearby the hit were without power so we had a friend's family over for a few days until they repaired the power lines. Ben spent all day Thursday cleaning up and packing the salvageable things for our friends and the Dean. I was able to help round up food for all of them, but really just wanted to go out and help; I was able to do so Thursday night for a while. The work was quick with the enormous turnout of help, considering how long it could have taken. We were blessed with a nice day of sunshine yesterday for salvaging and packing. There were three deaths, none of whom we knew. We feel so blessed to have been protected, and are praying for those who weren't. Unfortunately, the weather is still scary and stormy and we are under tornado watch from now until 8 tonight. We will be praying hard tonight. Here are the crazy pictures. The picture above is actually the picture of the tornado here just as it touched down. I didn't take that one! But the rest below are ones I took while delivering food and cleaning up. I guess it's one more insane thing to chalk up to this experience of living in the Midwest.
The stairs in one of our friend's home.

Outdoor shower anyone?



The master bedroom in the home of the Dean from Ben's school. Great view huh? I guess his tv was on that back wall. Who knows where it is now. Probably in the pond.
Another view in the master bedrooom.
Thank goodness for insurance.

Tulip Festival

Tiff's little boy, Nate. He was wiped out after a long day in the car and sun :)
Isn't that an awesome float!
Reliving the Prudential days! (Tiff used to be a manager for them)

Oh, so pretty!!
Jaime and her daughter, Whitney.
Whitney. Such a cute sour face.
Naters!


Tiffany, Jaime, and I decided to take a day and get out of Kirksville! We went up to Pella, Iowa and attended the Tulip Festival there. They had beautiful tulips everywhere, tractors (which the kids loved), a parade, tons of authentic food and treat, and little shops like at a fair! It was very nice to get out. Here are some of the pics!

And...SOLD!!!

Well, we have some good news here: We sold our house! As much as I am really going to miss this adorable little house when we move and are living in a basement again in Utah, it is a relief to have it sold. We have been trying to sell it since January and have been praying and praying for buyers. There is a possibility that we will be back in Kirksville since the Dermatology residency Ben wants is here, but that is far from definitive yet! Without knowing if we will be back or not, we were beginning to worry about the house not selling. We finally decided that if after the showings we had last week we had no potential buyers, we were going to try and find renters instead; that idea didn't appeal to Ben and I very much since dealing with renters is unpredictable and a pain! But what can you do when there is a mortgage that needs to be paid! We finally took the necessary actions--making a blog for online reference, notifying our realtor of the upcoming change, and deciding on posting possibilities at the school and facebook-- when we had an offer, our only offer! I decided that sometimes Heavenly Father just wants us to move forward in action and faith, trusting it will all work out somehow, and He will make the rest happen! Well, we acted and He answered. I think we are getting more used to waiting for things now :P With the economy the way it is, it is a huge relief to know that we don't have to worry about the house anymore; it is a blessing that we didn't lose any money too. The circumstances and arrangements in the sell really are a miracle for us. We still have the inspections and appraisal to go through, but we think everything will out just fine. We close on June 24th, the day after Ben packs the truck and leaves for Utah. We have definitely learned a lot here! We will miss our house, especially after all the word we did, but moving on means we are that much closer to being done with med school!
Another short update. Ben only has two weeks of this last quarter left; his last two weeks of formal in-class education EVER! He is plum tuckered out of sitting in a classroom and taking hundreds of tests; and he is so excited to be done with this part of med school. It's one step closer right?!! Love you all.

Happy Keister...I mean, Easter!

Pictures are always better late than never right? If not, too bad I am posting them anyway. Sorry no pics of us, just our masterpiece egg coloring. Not too much else to report from our end. Ben is in his last quarter of formal in-class education EVER EVER EVER and he could not be more happy about it. I will be done with all of the lessons for my online classes next week. Then I just have to take two finals and I will be done with these classes that have been hanging over my head for a year!
Other than that, I am sure that Ben would love for you all to know that he got one of these yesterday . . .

. . . and hasn't been able to put the thing down since. This thing is incredible. Seriously, even for a technology illiterate such as myself!
We were given a budget for him to get a PDA for his rotations (so he can look up a bunch of medical info) and luckily for him the ipod touch has the PDA capability AND way more. We figured, might as well get the whole package if we are going to spend the money :) He is in heaven. Love you all!

I Love Being With Family!

So Ben and I were so lucky to have family come visit us out here in Missouri last week! My Mom, Dad, my sister Jess and her hubby Matt, my brother Jared, and his friend Lucas all came out! It was wonderful to see them all and spend time with them. I miss being near them so much. We can't wait to at least be a little bit closer to them in a few months when we move to Utah. Poor Ben, he had to study most of the time they were here, but he is a trooper and made time to go to the Nauvoo temple with us and play games with us throughout the week. It was not very nice spring weather for my family; in fact it got down to about 30 degrees one day! Great March and April weather eh? We made the best of it and had a blast though. We went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Jamesport (an Amish community), spent a day in the Nauvoo temple, spent another day touring old historic Nauvoo and Carthage Jail, and spent a couple of days around Kirksville enjoying each others' company. Jared was able to do baptisms for the dead with me and I got to go through a session with him and the fam (It was such a neat experience since I wasn't there when Jared went through for the first time). It was great to see my awesome little brother performing the ordinances of the Priesthood and to be able to participate with him. That was the last time I will see Jared before he leaves on his mission to Argentina, Buenos Aires North Mission for two years! It was a difficult parting. I will miss you bud! Unfortunately, we had quite a few of the group get sick while they were here, but we took care of it the best we could. Jess has a cute little pregnant belly now and it was so fun to see how adorable she is pregnant! Thank you so much for coming to visit us you guys! We love you and we love all of you reading this! The pics are in reverse chronilogical order, ooops!

The girls went to get pedicures while the guys browsed at a motorcycle shop! We all chose fun bright colors! It was so nice to have my Mom and sister to do girly things with! No worries, us girls joined the boys at another motorcycle shop because let's be honest, we love that stuff too!
Jared with the statue of Joseph Smith Jr. and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail.
What a fun guy!
The clan inside the jail.
The fam taking an oxen ride in Nauvoo.
Photo op with the massive oxen.
Jess and Matt. Hold on tight to the ox Matt!
Mom and Dad with the chill little guy.
View of the temple of the Trail of Hope, the trail leading away from Nauvoo that the Pioneers took before they left their city.
Beautiful Nauvoo Temple at night. We ventured into the freezing cold to get these shots.

Jared and Mom in front of the temple after our session. What a good lookin' future missionary!

Below: The clan at Adam-Odni-Ahman: Mom, Jared, Dad, and Matt
Jared found this little bugger on our hike down into the valley at Adam-Ondi-Ahman.
Jamesport, the Amish community.

February Formal

The girls...Tiffany, April, Me, Jaime

These pictures are from a a month and a half ago or so, but I thought I'd put them up anyway. We had a fun formal dinner with other students at KCOM where we received some hints for dining with important "doctor people" in the future (When I found out about this I was thinkin' "WHat?! I didn't know I had to know all the extremely formal dining etiquette and that I would actally have to use it in the future! We are talking like learning to scoop your soup the direction and how to eat salad kind of stuff. I like my normal casual style! :P) It was fun night of gettin' all dressed up and being with all our buddies though. And the tips will come in handy. I guess I'm not the most graceful person, so I listened up!

April Fools

I thought I should share this story. Ben was so proud. My family was here in Missouri visiting this week and we were out of town in Nauvoo on April Fools. So while we were gone and Ben was supposed to be studying he was concocting how to pull a fast one on us. We got home around 7 pm and after a two hour car ride we all had to pee like we were pregnant (well i guess Jess is preggers :) When my brother Jared went to flush the toilet it wouldn't flush which subesequently started my frenzy. Ben immediately tried the faucet and then told me to check the water in the kitchen. Yep, you guessed it, no water at all. I should have noticed the subtle smirk and calm demeanor of Ben and suspected foul play, but no, I was too freaked out about having eight people in my home and absolutely no water; not to mention the line forming for those who needed to use the out-of-commission toilet. I had my problem solving action game face on and everything. We speculated a broken water line and even the ever embarrassing "Did we pay the bill this month?" I found the emergency number for the water company, because let's be honest, it was an emergency, physically for my family, and mentally for my emotional embarrassment. Just when I was about to call the number, Ben came up to me laughing so hard he could barely tell me "April Fools." I was so relieved at first and then proceeded to assault Ben. That same triumphant laugh re-appeared when my sister went to get a drink and was tagged with water from the taped handle of the sprayer in the kitchen sink.
Turns out I was the gullible fool and scapegoat for this holiday. About half way back from Nauvoo my dad said he forgot his backpack at the restaurant we ate at before leaving. I had my phone out ready to call and was prepared to ask for shipping possibilities. Yes, I am the lamo sucker who was duped ALL day long. Happy April Fools to me. Thank heaven that holiday is over.