Pigs, Pogo's and Panda's

Pig's, Pogo Stick, and Kung Fu Panda movie. That updates what we have been up to lately for all those who have bugging me to update the blog. On Saturday we took Jared to see Kung Fu Panda. This movie was a hit all around. Plenty for Jared and I to laugh at and parts that Alexia loved. Her favorite part was when the Panda was training with the master and they were fighting over a pot sticker with chopsticks. Jared loved the line "There's no charge for being awesome, or attractive" I liked that line also.

On Sunday Alexia jumped on her Pogo Stick and rode her bike. She loves her Pogo Stick. The record is still thirty something (we debate about the actual number because Alexia gives herself about 5 more then I counted). She also tried new bike tricks. Lets just say that they did not go well.

Last night we went to Kat and Chris's house and saw their pigs and horses. We all got to pet the baby piglet, which I have to say was so cute. Alexia was mad because the horses would not come close enough for us to feed the apples, so she ran off to play with the "hundreds" of cats that Kat and Chris have.

Floods Continued

I wanted to let everyone know that the Iowa River crested yesterday evening at 31.8. The expected crest had been 33.1, so it crested below what they thought. This is great news for the Iowa City and Coralville areas. Engineers expect that the Iowa River will take a lot longer then the Cedar River to fall, not going below flood stages of 19.2 until at least Friday, but the bulk of the worry about it continuing to rise seems to have left the community. I came into the downtown Iowa city area this morning to see if we could get to our office, and it seems to be that only the basement and about an inch on the main floor got flooded. Since we are on an upper floor we should be back to normal sooner then we all thought. Until then we are working out of Sarah's house or a nearby building.

The Marriott got very lucky and had minimal damage in the floods. They even still have 11 rooms occupied during all of this. Crazy I know.

In all of this commotion I forgot to put on the blog that Alexia lost her front tooth. She talks with a little bit of a lisp right now because she can't figure out how to prevent air from going through her front teeth. She has 3 more loose. The tooth fairy brought her 3 dollars (part because the tooth fairy felt bad that she did not know why mom and dad were so edgy and the tooth fairy knows she is saving for another Webkins). Alexi was very excited about all of this. Pictures coming soon, I promise.

Floods

The floods are getting closer to Iowa City and Coralville. This is a picture of downtown Coralville. For those that have been in this area, this is where the Old Chicago Restaurant, Walgreen's, and Heartland Inn are. The Marriott is a few miles up 1st Ave. This is about a 10 minute drive from our house.

The Marriott has not evacuated yet, but they have a bout a 8 foot high sandbag wall around the main tower. It is the biggest concern to save right now. The employee parking lot is completely covered in water and the had to close the parking tower because they are afraid it is not safe. I will try to find a picture that shows the front of the hotel where they have sandbagged. It is amazing to look at what the people in the community are doing to try to save certain areas, like the Marriott and the University. Brian is tired because he has done 2 days straight of over 12 hours of sandbagging. We are all sunburned since we finally had some sunshine today.

Brian and I are making plans on what we may do if we have to leave. I am not going to be able to work for a while because Dean has lost a lot in both offices. He called very upset today that he does not know how he will keep paying myself, Sarah, and Kathleen if he looses the Iowa City office. He has already lost the Cedar Rapids office. This area will certainly take a lot to get the economy back up after this. Brian and I have talked about leaving if Marriott offers that to people (although I don't know how we would sell our house in this area right now) so we may be begging to move in with family for a few months. We will make it work though. Keep praying for all the people who have lost so much in this area. We love all of you.

We are OK

Many of you have voiced concern about the floods and so far we are OK. Dean's (my boss) Cedar Rapids office is completely under water. The Iowa City office sits about 2 blocks from the river just of the Burlington bridge. Right now that is the only bridge open that I could use to get to and from work, so Dean has told me to stay home if it appears that they may close it. Word is that authorities are worried about some of the bridges collapsing, so I will most likely stay away in the morning. Iowa City officials are encouraging people to stay away if they can because if they have to evacuate they want as few people there as possible. Certain areas of Iowa City have been evacuated about 3 blocks from downtown (our office). We are on the border of evacuation.

The Marriott has not had to evacuate yet, but news tonight indicates that water has broken through the railroad embankment, which is about 4 blocks south of the hotel. The water seems to be flowing away from the hotel in Coralville. The Coralville strip (the main road in Coralville) is starting to flood and they may have to close parts of that and 965. For those of you that may ask, 965 is the main road in and out of North Liberty. The water would have a long way to go up 965 before it would reach our house, so we are not in a watch area right now for evacuations. A lot of people in my ward are in evacuation areas in Coralville and Iowa City and may loose their possession and/or homes, please include them in your prayers (whomever you may pray to, we need all the help we can get). Also the lady that works in our Cedar Rapids office has evacuated her home and last word is that her entire street is under water.

Here is a link for the Iowa City newspaper and they have been one of the best updates sights if you want recent news http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage. They also have an update about the Marriott if you want to read that http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/NEWS01/806120335.

Again, we are fine right now and I will probably be home tomorrow, unless I help in sandbag efforts, since I probably wont get into Iowa City. If anything changes I will try to call mom and Shirley to let both sides of the family know. We love all of you!

Jared is Here and Alexia is wearing him out

Jared arrived and Alexia will not give him a moments rest. She follows him around all day long and makes him play games. By the time he goes home he wont want to come back.

We are all alive in the floods. Neither place of work has been flooded yet, but the Marriott only has 6 inches to go before they do. Many of you who have watched the news lately have called and I want to assure you that North Liberty is high enough that it would be one of the last places to flood in the area. Iowa City and Coralville are another story. Dean's office in Cedar Rapids flooded today as they were closing downtown, but we got all the files out and who knows when we will get back in to survey damage. We will keep you update in between all the sandbagging, which I will add is hard work and kills the back.

Last Week of School

Alexia is very excited that this is the last week of school. Thursday is her last day and then she will be a first grader. She is very excited not to be the babies of the school anymore. (Although I don't think anyone would dare treat her like a baby or pick on her) She is confused about when she will officially be a first grader. I told her Friday because as of Thursday she is done with Kindergarten. But her friends mom said in August when they start kindergarten. That seems to have upset her because she does not want to wait until August.

She is excited that Jared gets here in 5 days. We have also had the two cats that we are babysitting come a couple of days ago. Picnic is the boy and Ramona is the girl. Alexia is in heaven. She can't wait to get home and play with them each day. The first two days Picnic was scared of her and Ramona wanted to play all the time. Now Ramona wants to hide and Picnic follows Alexia wherever she goes. She played follow the leader with him for an hour last night. She is also taking care of them and feeding them and cleaning the litter box so that she can earn the money for watching them. I told her is she takes really good care of them she can have the whole $200.00, but she would have to open a saving account and put the money in there. She seems OK with the idea of a saving account now (I am so excited because I have been trying to tell her to put her money in one for a year now and she cries every time I try to take her to open one. I think she thinks that she will never see the money again). Well that is our life. I am almost done reading The Host- I can't wait to see how it ends.