Let's Review

In the past week, quite a bit has happened.

We have some friends that we used to double date with all the time.  They abandoned us last year and moved to Wisconsin.  They were in town for the birth of their first grandchild last week, so we went on a date with them on Friday night.  It was fun to catch up!

Saturday, the kids and I went to a birthday party for a friend.  On my way home, Dennis texted me and surprised me telling me he'd gotten a sitter and we were going out again for our anniversary that night!  I thought since we'd had already gone out that weekend, that was it, but I was very excited to spend the evening with just Dennis.  It was a great anniversary, and my favorite kind of date.  We celebrated eight years together by going to Red Robin and shopping together.  It's nice to go to a store without being distracted by little people!

Sunday was Sunday, so we went to church and had German pancakes for lunch.  After naps, we found a new walking trail where the kids rode their scooters and burned off all their extra Sunday energy.

Monday was uneventful as far as I can remember.

Tuesday was a normal day until I picked up the girls from their schools.  Severe weather was all across the state of Oklahoma, and headed quickly our way.  After making a homemade pizza for dinner, Dennis scooped us up in the car and took us back to the hospital.  The kids and I went down in to the basement while Dennis was upstairs helping the staff get patients to safe places.  A tornado touched down just west of us, less than a mile away.  It destroyed a few homes and businesses and damaged some of the schools in its path.  It also left many trees looking like this:

And even more looking like this:

We lost power that night from about 5:00 pm until just after 11:00.  We were told it could be days until the power was restored, and I was beginning to get worried because we have a water well that only works when we have electricity.  I can go without power, but water is a whole other story!  Luckily, about two minutes after Dennis and I turned off the last flashlight for the night the power came back on.  We were laying there discussing how incredibly dark it was without the street light outside and how quiet everything was, and then it flipped on.
I am so grateful my family was kept safe and our home received no damage.  There are many others who were not as fortunate, and it breaks my heart to hear story after story of children missing, injured, or dead.  I hope those people have the comfort of our Father in Heaven to help them through.

Wednesday was quite the day.  Dennis announced to the administration and staff of the hospital that he has accepted a different position.  After more than 4 1/2 years, our little family will be saying good-bye to Oklahoma.  We are moving to Iowa!  Dennis will be a CEO at a hospital in a great place that I've fallen in love with.  We will be living less than 30 minutes from some of his family, and no further than 2 hours from the rest.  We are very excited, and I am anxious and a little stressed about packing up a house, finding a new home, and moving our family to a new place.  The funny thing about our location is that Dennis and I attended church in this town for about seven months before we had kids.  When we first got married, I was finishing my Bachelor's degree and Dennis was working while completing his dual Master's degree.  We were in a student ward near our university.  After a few months, the stake presidency asked us if we'd be willing to attend church in a branch south of there.  Well... this place is the branch we attended!  I'm sure there will be different people, but it makes me feel like this was in the plan for us from the beginning.

Today, Emma had her very last day at her Mother's Day Out/Preschool.  She had a great time playing with friends and hugged her teachers good-bye multiple times.