Crazy Texas Weather!

Wednesday night and into early Thursday morning we weathered through our first really scary storm here in Texas. I know this comes with the territory as do earthquakes in California and blizzards in Utah, but this was crazy! First, we knew it was coming which is the same with Utah snow storms, but this packed a much bigger sense of urgency because there were TORNADOES and LARGE hail headed our way. It's strange to see cars driving 80 mph down your street hurrying to get home and have everything go silent...until it reaches you, and then it's very loud! During the silent time it was beautiful and neighbors were outside with me watching the sky put on the most beautiful light show I've ever seen. I felt like I was inside one of those electricity balls you see in novelty shops that produce little lightening bolts from your fingers when you touch it...it was amazing. The clouds only added to the beauty, but as the shape of the clouds changed, it wasn't so pretty anymore, it was frightening.

They say that in a tornado you want to be on the lowest level and away from windows, preferably in the middle of your house. For us, that is our downstairs guest bathroom, since the closet under our stairs (another good spot) is full of stuff I'm too lazy to put away. So, I put what I thought was important for the situation in the bathroom and we all waited in the bedroom next door. The satellite was out, so when we had power, the computer in that room was useful, we also had a good view of outside through the french doors. Jacklyn cried and blamed her fear of storms on her Grandma Price - "I can't help that I'm crying, I get it from my grandma!", Reily texted his friends non-stop, Ron sang Aerosmith, Ozzy and ACDC while watching the storm on-line knowing that his way of hitting the high notes would make Jacklyn giggle and I kept going to the window wanting to see it all. Eventually, the hail was too loud against the window for anyone to go near it and the winds and rain killed all visibility so I just waited and helped Ron distract Jacklyn. The worst had finally passed and Jacklyn was able to fall asleep, Reily fell asleep texting (literally) and Ron and I went to bed. There were two more storms that followed early in the morning, but the only one to be awakened by it was me. It was a long, eventful night!

We were lucky, only a few small dents to the house, although we haven't checked the roof yet, and broken tree limbs. There are places around town that still don't have power and their homes sustained much more damage. What's really crazy, is 24 hours later our kids had friends over swimming in the pool! Reily and his friend actually ate their dinner outside. I guess it's just the "crazy Texas weather" I've been told about.

I was too frazzled to take my own pictures so luckily I found good ones on-line. Knowing the outcome, I can now safely say that I wish you all were here to see it, because even these pictures don't do the sights of that night justice!

Saying Goodbye To Hockey

When we first moved to Austin Reily joined the Round Rock Knights in-line hockey league. It has been a blast for the whole family and a sport Reily has come to really love. The owner of the rink has decided to close it down and fill the space with storage units. All the hockey families are sad about this and are trying to come up with a solution but nothing has worked out yet. So, with great sadness, I think it's safe to say that Reily had his LAST hockey game Sunday night.

What's really neat about the Knight's program is all the players have played on the same team with each other at least once, so there's really good sportsmanship between all the teams. There's also a really neat sense of community and friendship among all the families. Reily's first coach lost his home in a fire and watching all the hockey families come together to raise money, donate clothing and provide housing for his family was amazing. Seeing all the boys express their concern and friendship for their teammate who was involved in the horrible accident in our neighborhood last month has really impressed me. I've loved this group of people and this fun sport and I'm sad that it's ended. Reily has grown so much from his time playing hockey and I know he will take it with him into his next sport...lacrosse.

Jacklyn Sings!

Is it rude to brag about your child or to tell the world how incredibly proud you are of them? Maybe it's not quite rude, but probably annoying. Prepare yourselves to be annoyed!

I am so proud of my daughter! Jacklyn's been taking singing lesson for about a year and a half and last night was her first recital. She was FANTASTIC! There were seven kids who sang and one guitar solo. Jacklyn was so scared to get up on the stage and sing that I thought she was going to either cry or pass out. When it was her turn to sing she couldn't hide her fear from the audience so they gave her a very generous pre-performance applause. She started the song off a little shaky, but sang it beautifully! All the kids who sang were in high school except for Jacklyn and one other girl who are both eleven. So many people told us how great they thought she was which I appreciate because it will help give her the confidence to continue. To me, there's nothing more frightening than getting up if front of a crowd and singing by yourself and my daughter did just that! I've listened to her performance so many times. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Jacklyn singing "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones

What I Know For Sure

Oprah writes and talks about "What I know for sure". She's covered all different subjects from her certainties about love to growing old. One thing I know for sure is the people in Texas are the nicest people! I know.....all the places I haven't been and all the people I haven't met... Okay, I guess it reads better if I say "In my life, so far, I know for sure that the people in Texas, that I've met, are the nicest people there are... in my experience." But seriously, I love the people here! Whether it's the corky "Keep Austin weird" people, the people you can tell were raised in the south because they're so polite, or all the people who have moved here from other states and countries and have brought part of those places with them. I love all the friends I've made here and am so grateful to have them in my life. We've had our trials here and my new friends have always been there for me and my family. The first friend I made here was Robin. She is a great representation of "Texas niceness". She and her daughter, Shelby, started a mother/daughter book club and invited Jacklyn and I to join. I've included a photo of all but one of the moms in the club. Jacklyn took the picture in "nightshot" so it looks like we have a spotlight on us. Anyway, I have other great new friends that aren't in this group that I don't have a photo of, but they are just as wonderful. And all my old friends, that are just as nice as people from Texas, are always in my heart. I just love the people here and had to share! I'm also thinking the title of this post will be a recurring one.....

Trina, Me, Kim, Ana and Robin

Tragedy Close To Home

Because this blog is now my journal, I feel like I have to post about the recent tragedy we're facing. I'm worried that I won't have the right words for Reily. I can see his confusion and sorrow and I want to not only help him through that, but help him to learn from all of it. He's growing up so fast and this whole thing has made it seem even faster...

This weekend there was a car accident here in our neighborhood. Four teenagers were in a speeding car that lost control and crashed into a rock wall. Two died instantly, one is in critical condition and the driver is okay. The driver is a boy Reily plays hockey with. He's only 15. After the accident, he ran away so he's been arrested on three counts of failure to stop and render aid. I'm sure more charges will come. There is so much talk and speculation of what happened even to the point of fighting. Why did this boy run away? Did he leave his friends to die? Was he just scared and didn't know what else to do? People want to place blame and can't agree where it should lie. The adults, kids or just the kid driving? It's gotten kind of ugly! (Our homeowners association is even arguing over how to fix the wall and how long mourners should be able to write on the part of the wall still standing!) Needless to say, Reily is pretty freaked out. He sees everything wrong that happened that night, but he isn't sure how he should feel or does feel. I've told Reily that all the boys made bad choices that night, parents made bad choices that night, and the neighbor who gave the boys his car keys made a bad choice that night. We've talked a lot about how dangerous driving is and that it needs to always be taken seriously. I've told him that if I don't let him do things with friends sometimes it's because of my fear that something like this could happen. I've explained to him that by the time your teenage years are over you've lived such a tiny portion of your life that it isn't worth ruining the rest of it for a bad choice. I've also told him that I hope Mikey's family and friends will love him and be there for him. He's going to live with this the rest of his life and I'm sure he will be haunted by it. Reily's home from school today with a hurt ankle and a cold. It's come at a good time. He's needing to talk about all of this and I'd rather it be here at home with me than at school. In less than six months, Reily gets his learner's permit and we'll start teaching him how to drive. I feel such a huge responsibility in teaching a child to drive! I think this horrible accident has already started to teach him. I hope he learns not only the laws of driving, but his responsibility being a driver and a passenger. The accident happened very close to our house so we drive by it at least four times a day. The news is there, police are there and people are there placing flowers, notes and religious items. It's hard to not think about it constantly. I hope I handle this with Reily the best way possible...wish me luck!