Storm, Cows, Cookies and Valentines

Wednesday afternoon a storm blew through and soon after Emily came home the power went out. Two hours later I was starting to imagine what would happen if all the power in Lafayette went out and they didn't get the outlying areas fixed for a day or two. I resolved to do my dishes regularly (all the dishes were dirty), keep at least one bottle of our water upstairs (I hate going in the creepy basement with a candle), to fill up the bathtub with flushing water when I knew a bad wind storm was on the way and to always replace the butane can after camping trips. Fortunately the power came on an hour later. Can I just say how much I love having Brian at home so he can worry/fix all these things and I can be the calm one?

The 40 to 80 mph winds stopped by morning and when I went out to check on things the tarps on the chicken coop were all blown down (compare with last blog's picture) and the barn door had blown open and the cows and pig were gone.



I called Maren to say I wouldn't make our Primary Presidency meeting, loaded the girls in the car and went searching for the cows. After 20 minutes of driving I found them on a "hidden" side of our neighbors place (they like hanging with his cows). I poured some grain into a sled in the trunk of our car and after they got the idea there was grain back there they followed the car really well. The only nerve racking part happened when we hit the bit of road between our places and the cows galloped past and cut in front of the car. Did I mention cows are really BIG? Anyway, I got them and the pig, who had followed, in just fine. Here are some photos of our adventure.

Note cows in the back window.

The rest of the day went better. Aleah and I made frosting for our Valentine's Day cookies. We were going to make them on Monday for FHE but the girls didn't help clean like they needed to, so we made the dough Tuesday evening. Aleah and I baked them on Wednesday morning, then the power went out so we ended up frosting them Thursday afternoon when Emily got home. The girls did a great job and we are going to give some to our neighbors this afternoon. We ate their plated Christmas cookies so I figure we owe them :).





Emily also finished her Valentines last night. I got down our box of Valentine stuff on Sunday. I buy Valentines on clearance every year and just save them so we have a good collection, but Emily just started making her own. I thought they all turned out great. There are dragons, aliens and all sorts of things. I was really proud of all the work she did to make something special for her classmates.




I especially like the dragon one (you are a dragon-licious friend) and the Love Proof pharmacy with love fever medicine. All Emily's own ideas!