This is not what you want to see 2 days after you buy your house!

Holy cow, yes that is a TORNADO!! It touched down literally about 1/2 to 1 mile from our house!!! Can you believe it?? Where did we move to?? I'm a little worried right now, but here's the story...

I was outside with Nina walking around our house, because she loves being outside. Well the sky started to get really black to the East of us and I looked up and saw the clouds swirling together with a needle shaped coming down from the center. I stared at it for probably 10 seconds dumbfounded and then ran to tell Adrian to come and see it. At that point we couldn't see it touching down. Well I went into the house and looked out the back windows and saw it touching down in a big open field in the distance, just stirring up dust. Within minutes though the plum of dust at it's base turned black and it seemed to be getting bigger so I told Adrian we needed to get all the kids in the car and go.... Fast.


During all this we also grabbed the camera because it was just so unbelievable! When Sophie and Ben looked out our back window as the twister started getting closer to us they both got really scared and Ben was saying he didn't like Colorado anymore - poor guy. I tried to reassure him that everything was going to be okay, but both and he and Sophie were pretty shaken. Who am I kidding - we were all pretty shaken. Although Sophie gave us a little comic relief in the car and asked if I was going to blog about it!!:) Once we drove to a safe distance we pulled over like everybody else on the rode and watched it. It had started breaking up by that point and we were just hoping our house would be safe.


And our house is safe. The only damage reported in our area was a fallen tree so everything is completely fine. It's just so crazy isn't it?? Definitely not the kind of thing you want to see out your back window 2 days after you buy your house, but we have found out that damaging twisters are not very common in our area and thankfully that was the case with this one. The tornado that touched down near us was 1 of 3 that touched down as part of a crazy weather front that blew through within about 30 minutes. So we are all safe and sound and grateful that no one was hurt. What a nutty thing!

I See What You Mean

I haven't done an art history pic in a while so I thought today would be a great day to do a piece of art from Colorado.

I See What You Mean, by Lawrence Argent

This huge blue bear peeks in on the Colorado Convention Center in Dever. The artist who created him had this to say about his art,

“My public artworks are part of a larger whole. I am an artist that utilizes assorted mediums and venues to engage the viewer in questioning the assumed and provide a vehicle by which stimulus opens a plethora of responses that defy verbal articulation.”

Nice! I love this bear!! I think it's so visually stunning and fun! I really don't know anything deep about the work at all, but think it is one of the cutest works of installation art I've ever seen. It's not often that you can call of huge work of art "cute", but I think its okay for this one!:) Hope it brings you a smile!

Happy Music

When confronted with a difficult situation in my formative years I would always turn to melancholy music to comfort myself. This included a wide sampling of tunes from Janis Joplin and Patsy Cline to Love and Rockets and of course my ever consistent fave The Cure. I can mark all the hard times in my life with a specific album that I listened to ad nauseum. When I moved in high school it was REM Dead Letter Office ("Pale Blue Eyes" being my very favorite and most likely to be heard on repeat) and The Smiths Best Of Part I. During this time I also made a cheerful (of course not really) mix tape which I named "Still Falls the Rain". I still have this tape and really like it, but it is admittedly a downer. Months later when I had made very few friends at my new school and was a complete loner it was Peter Murphy Deep and other more sinisterly sad music that I turned to. When I broke up with a boyfriend in the first weeks of my sophomore year at BYU I turned to The Cure Wild Mood Swings (mostly the song "Jupiter Crash" listened to a mind-numbing volume which of course drove my long-suffering and country music enthusiast roommates crazy). Okay, enough of that. I'm sure you get the picture... Rough times. Sad music.

Well that was the past... I have turned over a new leaf and I've been listening to happy music!! And what would you know, but it's been really helpful!! Why didn't I think of this before??!! :) I've been focusing on happy music through out our move, even though everyone has been so completely warm and friendly here in Colorado. I guess it's just that new kid on the block feeling that's hard and I know it will pass soon enough. But in the mean time here's a couple of groups that have been helping me with the happy!!

Abba - (We have Abba Gold.) Can you listen to Abba and not be happy?? Especially if you are picturing and almost hearing Pierce Brosnan singing to "SOS"?!! Oh, Abba is awesome! Pierce Brosnan singing Abba is painfully awesome!!:) I still really need to buy the Mama Mia movie soundtrack. I must admit though that I've gotten into trouble with Adrian over Abba lately because I always used to make fun of his love of the Swedish discoers... That was before I went to see Mama Mia. But now I freely admit I'm hooked!! Adrian I am sorry for abusing you when you sang along to "Fernando" those many years ago! I now understand the positive power of Abba and will never make fun of you again!!:) We can both sing along to "Fernando" with gusto!!


Adam and the Ants/ Adam Ant - Seriously another bunch of hilarious smile inducing songs!! Just this morning in the car I was listening to "Stand and Deliver" (click on this link for the 80's-tacular music video). I was singing along like a crazy person - the kids got a kick out of it. "Apollo 9" is great too and another completely 80's video! If you are unfamiliar, Adam used to dress up in full on pirate-ish costume and make-up during their hay-day in the 80's. "Stand and Deliver" is about a flashy highway-man who goes around trying to steal peoples' stuff, but is upset by how badly all his victims are dressed and the horrible music they are listening to... It's pretty funny if you listen to the words. And I honestly wonder if Johnny Depp took some inspiration for Jack Sparrow from Adam Ant's highway-man. My brother introduced me to Adam Ant in the 80's and I remember he had a poster or an Adam Ant album cover on his bedroom wall. Fun memories...What happy stuff do you like to listen to?? This is a new thing for me so I'd love to hear any joyful recommendations you have!:)

Our Weekly Update

Things are coming along as we move towards the closing on our house this week. We had our walk-thru on Friday and thankfully there wasn't a whole lot of work to do to finish up the house - the builder just needs to do a few dry wall repairs and some touch up paint. We are so excited to get into the house and get settled. There has been some unseasonably cold weather going on so I can't wait to unpack our clothes so I can have a bigger hoodie selection!:)

This week we also registered Sophie for school and Ben for preschool. It's such a relief to have figured all that stuff out. We even finished buying all the school supplies, but still need to get Sophie and Ben some more school clothes. Sophie is so excited for school to start because she has already made some friends through church who will be going to the same school. I am so glad that the transition is going smoothly thus far.

I have some news too - I've already been extended a calling as a CTR 5 teacher, so I will be teaching Ben! I think it's going to be fun! Four and 5 year olds are adorable and it will be fun to get to spend time with my sweet Ben and see him interacting with his class. I'm going to be team teaching with a very nice sister. I am a little worried about not getting to know as many people being in primary, but I'll just have to make sure I attend as many enrichment activities as I can to get my social time in. Really though, already I've been able to have fun going to movies with Jenny, Stacey has had us over for dinner, and Sophie has had a playdate with a church class friend. Our welcome to Colorado has been wonderful!

So right now we are kind of in wait mode and my days have been filled with getting the kids ready for school and looking for the best prices on washers, dryers, and fridges... And of course we have been watching the Olympics!! Michael Phelps is a ROCK STAR!! It has been so exciting to watch all of his swims! I've been watching a lot of volleyball too and am amazed by how good the American women's beach volleyball team is - wow!! I've been really hoping to catch some equestrian coverage, but right now with basic cable in our apartment I've only been able to watch the stuff on NBC. I also love synchronized swimming!! It's kind of weird I know, but I hope they'll show some coverage of it soon! So that's our weekly update. Hope everyone has had a great week!

My Breaking Dawn Review - SPOILER ALERT

So wow, this is kind of a hard book review to do right now with all the controversy surrounding Breaking Dawn going on in our blogosphere. I have very mixed feelings about the book. I am still a Twi-hard and will reread the first 3 A LOT I'm sure! I guess though that I have to admit I did not love the story of Breaking Dawn as much as the other books. It seemed a little random and bizarre. It felt rushed in parts and so slow in others. So I guess what I'm saying is that it did not flow very well to me.

I was so not expecting Nessie (I refuse to write her other name because it is just that horrible!!!). For me it was like throwing a love child into the story of Romeo and Juliet. Who wants that?? I'm far more interested in Edward and Bella so dealing with them as sudden parents was a bit off putting to me. I know, I know, it made it so that Bella could become a vampire as a last resort and helped her not to have to give up having children to be with Edward.... I understand why SM wrote it this way, that doesn't mean I have to love it, right? Maybe if they seemed more like a happy little nuclear family it would have been easier for me, but it seemed like Edward was not as involved as he should have been and that both Edward and Bella kind of pawned off the responsibility of caring for Nessie on the rest of the family and Jacob. I think if SM would have taken more time developing the story of their new little family and less on the truly disturbing pregnancy it would have been loads better. And then the whole imprinting thing is very icky to me. I had problems with the ages of couples in The Host and I continue to think the age thing in SM's books is "out there".

My major beef with the book was that there was just not enough Edward. I don't know why Jacob got an entire section in his point of view and not Edward. What's up with that?? I want to know what Edward was thinking when he offered Bella to Jacob so that they could have a non-monster baby. That just seemed so truly out of character for Edward. I know he will give Bella pretty much anything she wants, but in the other books he stood his moral ground more. I guess in the face of Bella's imminent death things changed, but in Eclipse he was so good... Anyway I still love Edward. He is an amazing character and I'm so glad SM thought him up. I just wish the Breaking Dawn Edward was more of the Edward that I knew from the last 3 books. I really can't wait for her to finish Midnight Sun!! (Seriously though I kind of hope she takes her time with it so that the writing is a bit better.)

Oh and far outweighing any adversion I had to the sex (which I was not that offended by as a 30 year old woman) or violence was Jasper's new nickname!!! Jazz??? Now that bothered me!!!:)

So here's what I loved:

Absolutely my favorite part was Bella's first hunt as a vampire! I am a fanpire in general, so I've read my fair share of "newborn vampire" scenes in different books. My all time favorite new vampire scene is from Interview with a Vampire were Louis cannot stop looking at the brass button on Lestat's waistcoat because it is more beautiful through the eyes of a vampire than he could have imagined possible. Anne Rice's imagery was down right stunning in that scene. So like that I was all into Bella figuring out just how powerful and cool she was and seeing things through her new uber-vampire eyes. I thought the way that she saw Jasper for the first time through vampire eyes was very interesting and creative on the part of Stephenie Meyer. I never thought of Jasper as a thoroughly chewed up vampire (even though it was mentioned in the last book) so seeing him like that made me appreciate all the newborn vampire stuff from Eclipse more. I loved the way everyone was afraid of Bella for no reason and her amazing self-control as a newborn (of course it was convenient for SM to write it like that since we experience everything through Bella's eyes and it would have been too bizarre to see everything through a crazed newborn psycho vampire's eyes).

Another thing I loved about the book.... Stefan and Vlad! Oh those Romanian vampires!!! I just thought that was awesome even though it was a bit cliche. I just imagined them as twin Draculas and appreciated SM throwing them in at the end for a bit of comic relief for us Dracula fans out there!

The last favorite part I will mention is a part that many out there loved, the way that Bella allowed Edward to read her mind in that last scene. I thought that was beautiful and found it a lovely way to end the saga.

So that was my mixed and muddled review. I hope you were able to follow me through that. I am still a Twi-hard and a Fanpire through and through. I will always love Twilight the best just because of how I related to Bella in that book - I moved half way through my junior year of high school and reading that was like a blast from the past. Well without the whole uber-vampire falling in love with me part. My goodness how in heaven I would have been if Edward showed up at PGHS!!! I seriously can't wait for the Twilight movie to come out!! It's sure to be awesome!!

What I've Been Up To

Wow, has it really only been 2 weeks since my last post?? It seems like it's been at least a month or 2! We've had a whirl wind sort of summer and now thankfully some things are starting to calm down... a bit... But here's what's been going on:

Moving - After saying very hard good-byes to our wonderful wonderful friends in Maryland we headed to Colorado. We had a few hiccups with our house closing the day that we left, we ended up having to pay for a couple more repairs noticed at the walk through which was a bit of a bummer, but we made it through and headed out on our cross-country road trip around 5pm on July28th. I really think the move hit me in Kansas, the lack of trees and sagebrush was a sure signal we weren't in Maryland any more Toto.:) I have been struggling with teary moments a plenty, but have also felt a lot of comfort during this move. I love my Maryland friends so much and feel a huge hole without them, but I know we will all be able to keep in touch through good old blogging and I'm definitely going to be a Savage Mill Ward "super-senior" as much as possible (is that what you called kids that kept hanging around your HS after they graduated??).

Colorado - As soon as we got to Colorado we were struck by the big skies and beautiful mountains! This truly is a beautiful place! My parents flew into town last Friday and stayed till Monday to help us in our house-hunt. It was SO nice to be able to leave the kids with my mom and head out house hunting with Adrian and my Dad sans children. We looked at so many houses!! And many of them were great! It was so weird to realize just how much more house we can get out here. We looked all day Friday, most of the day Saturday, and then some more on Monday. We put an offer in on a house yesterday, but with the counter offer that we got back we decided to move on to another house... They just couldn't come down in their price. So after that we put in an offer on a new build (that's nearly completed) and it was accepted by the builder tonight!! We got an awesome deal on it and we are super excited!! We love the inside and outside and it has a great kitchen!! As many of you know, my last kitchen left a lot to be desired!:) And a huge bonus is that it's right near a brand new elementary school that is going to have a later start date for the new school year. That is such a relief to know Sophie will be able to start school with all her classmates after we get in the house! Yay!

Breaking Dawn - now this was by far my most teary moment of the whole move so far!! I completely forgot what day it was on Saturday during all the house-hunting and completely forgot to get Breaking Dawn!! So late on Saturday night we left the kids with my parents and went to try and find a copy. Well, of course they were all sold out every where we went. Serious tears and saddness. It all caught up with me then knowing that if I was in MD I would have totally been at the midnight Borders party with fellow Twi-hard friends, but no I was with my non-Twi-hard hubby looking in vain for the book. It all turned out okay, I later got the book and have since read it all - staying up very very late each night... I'll write my review later... I am super interested in what everyone thought about it!! I do have one word to say about it now and that is "Jazz"!!! What was that???? Can we please not rename a main character with a stupid nickname that calls to mind a Transformer every time someone says it!! When did that nickname happen? And um... wow, I wasn't quite expecting Meyers to go THERE! Nuff said. I will save the rest for a proper post about it, because really Edward deserves no less!:) (I still think Edward is dreamy!)

So there you go. Things are crazy, but we're doing good and I'm so glad the kids are adjusting to the move as well as they are. Oh and I lost my email address in the move, so I'll be sending out an email very soon to as many friends as I can dig up email addresses on to let you know what my new one is.