I went to see a physical therapist yesterday and was told that I have a tendinitis in my right foot. He treated it there once and I am going back tomorrow and then another time or two in the next week. He seems pretty optimistic about everything and even said they wouldn’t have to amputate. That was good news.

He did tell me that he recommends changing up my routine some. Instead of only taking Thursday and Sunday off he told me to take off Wednesday, Friday and Sunday off for the next two to three weeks. Apparently [said in a sarcastic voice] I am too old to drastically change the number of days per week I run AND the length of the runs.

Go figure.

In other news, Camryn loves to run. Is it too soon to teach her good form?

I told her to swing her arms more and keep her head up but she hasn’t quite gotten it.

7 miles tomorrow.

Brandon

With the recent events in Japan and the devastation that has happened there (and throughout the world), I have been thinking about emergency preparedness. I have always been taught growing up that it was important to be prepared in all things. My wife and I have tried throughout our life to have a few things stashed away in case of an emergency. Especially the last month or so as we have seen and heard stories of people being without food or water for several days or, even worse, losing a home and being stranded after a natural disaster.

Most of us will never experience a major disaster during our life. Many people do. Regardless, it is always wise to be prepared. I have heard some experts in the field here locally talk about how we live on a pretty major fault line that could cause a quake at any time. I didn’t get a lot of the details, but I have heard that prediction a number of times. I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.

(Side Note: The book “Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life” by Neil Strauss is a great read on how and why to prepare for an emergency)

Emergency Prep Kit

A couple years ago Cami and I put together an Emergency Preparedness kit as well as a couple 72 hour kits. The “EP” kit was stocked with things like flashlights (with corroded batteries) a propane lantern (which we couldn’t use indoors) and a few books. We added a few other items that we felt were important and felt pretty good about the kit.

It sat in the garage near on a shelf near the car where if we ever needed to make a quick exit, we could throw it into the trunk and be gone. It would provide some helpful and useful items, but left a lot to be desired.

72 Hour Kit

We also prepared a 72 Hour kit which contained enough food for us and our kids for a 72 hour time period. Basic food, nothing fancy that would provide nutrition for a few days. The problem was, those were buried in the back of the storage room downstairs behind a bunch of other boxes. In fact, I am not sure Cami even knew where they were.

So a couple weeks ago, we decided to sit our kids down and talk about being prepared and also to take a look inside the boxes. We opened the first box and most of it was okay. Although all the expirations dates were at least a year and a half out of date, the food was probably edible. Mostly it was crackers or suckers.

However, in the second box there were serious issues. As soon as we cracked the lid we noticed the awful stench of of rotten food. There were two things that were rotten and it spoiled the whole container.

The first issue was juice boxes. First of all they were severely out of date, but they also had leaks and rotted through the cardboard container. This had caused a puddle at the bottom of the container that smelled awful. The second problem was outdated applesauce. It had also leaked through and was pretty wretched. Needless to say, that ruined half of our supply so we threw it out immediately.

It is a good thing we noticed it now and not when we actually needed it.

The Car Packs

The last thing we examined were the backpacks we keep in the trunk of the car. They contain clothing and snacks we can use if we are stuck in the car, unable to get home.

Since originally packing them, we had one stolen that has yet to be replaced (which had my cloths in it), the kids have grown a lot so the cloths don’t fit and we have another baby who had no items in any of them for her.

They would not have done much good.

The Plan

Like I said earlier, we sat the kids down and went through the boxes and packs. We decided that we had better get it together and make the necessary changes to properly prepare. We have a few lists of suggested items to keep in these types of kits, so we went through them and began making shopping lists to take off to the store.

After a couple trips to the store, we had most of the items on the list and were ready to put them back together. So here is how they look today.

The New Emergency Kit

The Items in our Emergency Prep Kit

We took some time to seriously consider which items would be most important to us. In the end it came down to the essentials, and then a few items that would make three or more days from home just a little more comfortable.

For the record, these kits are also available to be used at home in case of emergency. Who knows if the power will go out, or the utilities are shut down temporarily for some reason. The kit is in our garage and easily accessible.

What you don’t see here are the 72 Gallons of water in the garage as well. One container is a 50 Gallon drum and available for use if we are at home without water and then there are 22 gallons in 5 – 7 gallon containers that we can throw into the car or bring in the house pretty easily. A good rule of thumb is to have 1 gallon of water per person per day.

One thing that I am still looking for but have not found yet is a good portable power generator. I have looked a a couple but need to find one that is both portable and a good price. If anyone has any suggestions on certain models or recommendations, I would be happy to hear them.

Items In The New Kit

Books / Guides

Here is a list of the current items in our emergency kit:

• Emergency / First Aid Checklist
• 72 Hour Checklist
• Family Disaster Plan Booklet
• Food & Water in an Emergency
• Automobile 72 Hour Checklist
• Basic Life Support for Adult Victims
• A Falcon Guide: Route Finding
• A Falcon Guide: Wilderness 1st Aid

Personal Care / Hygiene

• Hand Sanitizer – 6, 2  fl. oz. Bottles
• Hypoallergenic Bar Soap – 3 Bars
• Plastic Soap Container
• Curad 1st Aid Kit
• Lubriderm Lotion – 3 oz.
• Degree Men Deodorant
• Dove for Women Deodorant
• Tampax Pearl – 20
• Package of Size 6 Diapers
• Crest Toothpaste – 3
• Toothbrushes with Container – 6
• Sea Land Dry Deodorant for Holding Tanks
• Toilet Paper Rolls – 2
• Chap Stick
• Wash Clothes – 2

Plastic Ware

• Plastic Plates – 75
• 48 Piece Spoon, Fork & Knife Set – 2
• Plastic Bowls – 30
• Styrofoam Cups – 45
• Paper Towel Roll – 1
• Can Opener – 1 Full Size, 2 Compact

Lighting / Power

• Emergency Candles – 20
• Ozark Trail Battery Powered Indoor / Outdoor Lanterns – 2
• Ozark Trail Mini LED Trail Lamp Lantern – 1
• Candle Lantern – 1
• Garrity Hand Crank Flashlight – 1
• Duracell AA Battery – 12
• Duracell Size D Battery – 8
• Tube Candles – 12
• Matches – 12 (2 Waterproof Boxes, 10 Regular Boxes)

Extra

• Little Hotties Hand Warmers – 6
• Work Gloves – 1
• WD40 – 1 Can
• Utility Duct Tape – 1 Roll
• Snap ‘n Tap Grommets – 16
• Heavy Duty Nylon Rope – 50 Ft.
• Heavy Duty Clear Plastic Sheeting – 150 Sq Ft
• N95 Approved Dust Masks – 6
• Bug Spray – 2 Bottles
• Compact Sewing Kit – 1
• 12 in 1 Scissors – 1
• Multi Function Army Knife – 1
• Delux Bow Saw – 1
• Stansport GI Style Double Folding Shovel – 1
• 22 Gallon Rubber Maid Storage Box – 1

Not Shown

We have a few things that are part of the list that are not in the box They include our list of prescription medication and glasses / contact lenses. That list is taped to the top of the box and I hope I see it if we are in a rush out.

I also have a bag of tools on my workbench in a canvas tool bag that I can grab.

New 72 Hour Kit

The Food in out 72 Hour Kit

We made a quick list of some items that our kids would actually eat if we had to live out of the kit for a few days. We tried to think in terms of meals with a few extras for snacks.

For the meals, it was important for us to get things that our kids would actually eat if they were living on it for a few days. We made sure that all the items would fit into a 20 gallon Rubbermaid bin that now sites next to the Emergency kit in the garage.

Easy to lift, easily accessible and ready to go.

The biggest problem from before was the fact that we left the food go bad before we started using it. This time we have scheduled a time every April on our calendars to go through the bin and rotate out the food. Most of the small packs of snacks are good until the summer of 2012 so there is a little extra time to make sure nothing goes bad.

We were thinking about getting a food grade bin to store it in and still may, but for now they are in the garage. Hopefully the heat in the summertime doesn’t ruin anything. I have a plan to at least open it once in a while to check on it and make sure none of the boys have been sneaking snacks from the bin.

New Car Kits

We updated the kits in our car as well to include clothing for everyone, activities such as coloring books and cards and snacks. We also have included some extra water that we will cycle every so often. They now are in the car and will stay there in our day to day driving.

Conclusion

This is a little off topic of the regular posts, but I hope you take some time to think about how you can protect yourself and your family. Use my list as a starting point and modify it from there to fit you and your family.

Let me know if you have any additions or resources I should check out. I am always interested in learning more about how emergency protection.

Brandon

As a family, we love to get away and travel throughout they year as often as we can. Sometimes it is a trip to the beach, maybe to Colorado or even to a hotel here in our own town.

Regardless of where it is, we always try and get outdoors and either hike, camp or something in nature.

This year for UEA, we went to Kanab, Utah and spent some time together going through various caves, slot canyons and Indian Petroglyph’s. As we were leaving, Spencer mentioned to me that he wants to move to Kanab. Maybe one day when he gets older and grows up he will head south to K-Town.

(BTW: About the video below. Cami told me that she wants to put our pictures each month together into a short video so this was a little bit of a test. I found a program called Animoto that is super easy to use and make videos. I would recommend checking it out. Also, because it was thrown together very quickly, I didn’t think much of the music and just grabbed a track that is included in the Animoto software. I don’t care for it much.

Claybaugh Family Takes Over Kanab, UT from brandon hansen on Vimeo.

On March 22, we welcomed Camryn Ivy Hansen to our family. It has been a busy couple weeks with family coming to visit and life in general, but we feel extremely blessed to have her in our life. The boys of course love her.

The family is growing and we are all excited to welcome our new princess.

]]> http://www.brandonhansen.com/blog/camryn-ivy-hansen/feed/ 0 http://www.brandonhansen.com/blog/merry-christmas-from-the-hansens/ http://www.brandonhansen.com/blog/merry-christmas-from-the-hansens/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:20:53 +0000 Brandon http://www.brandonhansen.com/?p=936

So, it has been a while since I had a personal type of post, and I feel like now, because of the holidays it would be a good time.

We have a lot of fun traditions around our house and most of them are related to this time of the year. There are things that we do that stem from both side of the family and things that we have come up with on our own. The kids are growing up so much and we are trying desperately to teach them what they need to know in life so that when they are out there, on their own, the decisions they need to make will (hopefully) be second nature. We try and have fun with them and believe that we are learning as much (or more) then they are.

One of the fun traditions that we have together (that came from the

Claybaugh side) is going to see “A Christmas Carol” every year. We have seen it is various locations, some better then others. But the one that is “ours” is at the Hale Center Theater. Clay was too little still, but Koby and Spencer love seeing it and it is a good way to start of the Christmas season.

Another tradition that comes from the Hansen side is the story “Santa Mouse“. As I read it to the boys this year, the memories came flooding back of when I was younger and the times that we read and re-read the book. It was a hit around here this year as we read it several times.

The tradition that Cami and I started (or modified) is the opening of “Christmas” PJ’s the night the tree goes up. My family used to open these on Christmas Eve, but we thought it would be fun to have a present under the tree right away and it also gives the kids a chance to wear their Christmas PJ’s all season long.

Today in church I was noticing how much the boys love to draw. We have been buying them drawing pads for church and they have gone through 3 or 4 of them already. I though that it would be fun to start uploading them to flickr, so I sent some time this afternoon doing just that. Here are some drawings of Koby‘s and Spencer‘s Christmas drawings. Hope they get you in the Christmas Spirit.

Jacob Marley (by Koby)

Scrooge (by Koby)

Santa Mouse (by Koby)

Santa (by Koby)

Santa and the Tree (by Spencer)

Santa and the Sleigh (by Spencer)

Carolers Singing Rudolph the “Red Nose Reindeer” (by Spencer)

Snowmen (by Santa)

Merry Christmas from our family.

]]> http://www.brandonhansen.com/blog/merry-christmas-from-the-hansens/feed/ 4 http://www.brandonhansen.com/blog/california-vacation/ http://www.brandonhansen.com/blog/california-vacation/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:40:25 +0000 brandon http://www.brandonhansen.com/?p=452

Well, as you may have read from Cami’s blog, we had a great family vacation this year to California. We tend to make it out there once a year or so and all love the beach more than anything else, although Disneyland is always a huge hit.

I won’t go into a lot of detail here because of Cami’s post. It pretty much sums it up for us all. But I do have a bunch of photos that I have uploaded to flickr that you can check out if you want to spend a few minutes.

Here are some of my favorites:

Even though it’s not the beach, the boys still loved the water at the pools and were there in the mornings (before the beach) and in the evenings (after the beach):

This is one of my favorite pictures of Koby and Spencer. They were on the boogie boards a lot and had a great time. Are they cool?

Here is one at Newport Beach of Cami and Clay. They were made for this.

Clay can never be left out of the action. He saw the older boys standing up on their boogie boards and skim boards and had to have one for himself. Finally he got up close enough to the water and it shifted under the wave a little and he thought he was pretty cool on his surf board.

Here are two more pictures of us. Cami and I together and then one of the family together. I love them all and seeing us in this setting is the best!

If you are interested in seeing about 380 more pictures of us in California, you can always look at my flickr set.

My last post was related to the motorcycle wave that I get from time to time, so I thought I would share the picture of the scooter that I got recently. It is nothing special and does its job of getting me to work (most of the time). It is not a Honda scooter, so therefore is not as reliable as it should be, but I only paid $200 for it, so I am not complaining. It is also in the shop now because the drive belt broke when Koby and I were on a ride one day. It should be fixed and back on the streets this week, so keep your fingers crossed. Anyway’s here it is:

In the Claybaugh family, we have 5 scooters between us. The kids love to get Scooter rides around town and we usually head off on Sunday afternoon rides. One of these days when we get them all together, we will have a serious scooter gang and go cause some trouble, so if you see us all around, just watch out. You certainly don’t want to mess with the scooter club.

Well, I will also post shortly about some fun things that we have done this summer. Things such as California (the beach and Disneyland), various camping trips and trips to the lake with ski boats and jet ski’s, and the boys starting school. Lots going on and lots to catch up on.

It is amazing to me how slow time seems to move on a day by day basis, but how fast it really passes by. It seems like not too long ago we were sitting in the hospital and getting ready to go into the delivery room wondering if we were going to have a little girl or another boy. Either one would have been awesome and we are so grateful that he was healthy, strong and perfect. I remember that moment when I found out it was a boy right before I told Cami and thinking about how excited I was. Another boy! How lucky we felt.

Well, that was two years ago and Clay is growing way too fast. We had his second birthday this last Sunday, so I thought that I would post a few thoughts about Clay. (By the way, I haven’t read Cami’s post yet – she is working on it right now also – so if this is somewhat repetitive I apologize).

One of the things that I love about Clay, and the reason I titled this entry the way I did, is that he is obsessed with basketball. If anyone knows Spencer and how crazy he was about basketball then you will find it funny that I think Clay is as crazy, but probably more so then Spencer. He is constantly shooting the ball in the hoop here at our house. And it is not just a small ball. He has to use the full size one that doesn’t even fit inside the basket. He is getting much better too as we constantly find ourselves helping him get it out so he can shoot it again.

When ever we are outside or in the car he is always wanting to find basketball hoops. He loves to count them and see how many we pass and gets so excited when we pass one. I am sure that it doesn’t help the matter any that we completely nurture his excitement for the sport. After all, Cami made a basketball cake for his birthday and we also got him a basketball pinata. We also let him wear his basketball shorts and shirt basically wherever we go.

Anyways here are a few things that I love about my boy:

1. Obviously he loves sports (mostly basketball)
2. He is a boy and so he loves to be outside (I guess girls at this age also love this?)
3. He absolutely loves Koby and Spencer and follows them around everywhere and copies whatever they do – he has to be just like them
4. He is generally obedient – If we ask him to pick up something, he usually does, he helps the boys with their chores most of the time
5. He is not very obedient – I know this is contradicting what I just said for #4, but there are times when he, as with all kids, where they are blatantly disobeying to test their limit, or get away with things to test out Cami and I
6. He is very healthy. With the exception of his tubes in his ears and the infections leading up to that, he has been very healthy and has been growing as he should. Cami took him to his 2 year check up yesterday and he is in the 98th % for his height and 85th% (I think) for his weight. Maybe he will be our 6’6″ child and can play center?
7. He is constantly going 110%. He never seems to slow down. Cami always jokes about him being all the way on and running full steam ahead or all the way off, but this is only when he sleeps. I am not sure the other kids had energy like he does.
8. He always laughs. With Koby and Spencer, there is mostly always something to laugh about, but even when he get hurt it is pretty easy to get him laughing and over whatever it is that is bothering him
9. He likes bugs, but then again, what little boy doesn’t
10. He has blue eyes – Until he came along, I was the lone blue eye in our family. Now Clay and I have that in common and this is great!

There are many more things that I could write about Clay. He is a complete joy to have in our home. As with the rest of the family, I love him so much and am grateful to have him in our family.

I have been slacking on my blog lately , but it is mostly because I go to work, come home, play with the boys, go to bed and then do it all over again. Not a lot to write about.

Sure there have been times that are blog worthy, but I either just haven’t gotten around to the, or Cami has written about them. And quite honestly does a much better job keeping track of our life.

But, this summer we have lots of intentions to have fun on days off from work. So I will try and post a little more regularily.

For the last couple weeks, Koby and Spencer have been asking if we could go hike to the “Y” on the mountain. It overlooks Provo and Orem and everytime we drive up through there, they find the Y on the mountain. Well, this week as they have been asking again, so we took off and headed up there today.

I also found an app for my iPhone called Trail Guru that tracks where I am, how fast I am travelling and what my elevation is (among other things). I can start it when I leave and stop it when I get back and it tells me everything that I need to know.

I am sure we will be going more hike and fun outdoor stuff this year and I will try my best to keep this blog updated.

If any one comes out to visit us and you are up for a challenge, the BYU hike is well worth the time.

Last week (when Cami was gone) the Koby and Spencer wanted to do some “science experiments” on our kitcher counter. One of them included getting water into a cup. Rather than simply filling it up, they built a contraption that let them spit the water into a row of straws and then into a cup.

There were a couple variations that they came up with, but what was really runny was that they were the ones that thought it up and how to do it. Then they were the ones that built the whole thing. I only helped show them how to put some tape on to hold the straws to the cups. Everything else they did themselves.

It reminds me of the old Rube Goldberg books from school. Does anyone else remember them?

A week or so ago, I had an opportunity to go to Koby’s school for the annual Dad’s Day. Every year the kindergartener’s have a day where they present a little program and only the dad’s are invited to attend. They spend time learning a couple songs and a little presentation. We also got to write and color with them in their journals, sit at their desks and also see the different stations that they play with during their day.

We were able to spend about an hour there playing with them and seeing the classroom. It was a lot of fun and I was excited to go and see him with his friends from school. He likes school a lot and does really well in his class. I am really proud of him and how smart he is (I think he gets that from me).

These were part of Koby’s kite that he made at school. I love how much he likes BYU. Every time he has a project that he works on he makes it blue and white, and if possible, includes the letters BYU somewhere.

This part of the presentation that the kids did for the dad’s.

Over the last couple weeks, we have done a few fun things as a family. I have been a slacker in updating my blog recently, but I wanted to write about a few things we have done in the last couple weeks.

A couple weeks before the break, our priests quorum had a planning meeting where we talked about what we wanted to do over the next 6 months. One of the things that was suggested was a winter campout. We planned it for the Friday night before Valentines day. I admit that I was not too excited to go, but eventually agreed that I would attend. A week or so before we went, I went to Sportsman’s Warehouse and got a bunch of cold weather gear. Things like wool socks, hand warmers, new gloves and a poncho. I felt like I was pretty prepared and got layered and went.

We decided to go to Lehi to some hot springs out there. We went and set up camp for about a half hour, then headed off to the hot springs. The parking lot was about a quarter of a mile from the hot springs and walked down to them. It actually was really warm and quite nice. I was pleasantly surprised.

We spent an hour or so there and then headed back to the camp where we had a little fireside presentation and we hung out and tried to stay warm. That night it snowed a couple inches and was very cold. I was not too excited to set up a tent to sleep in, so I offered to drive, then slept in the back of the van. While it wasn’t super warm, it was certainly better then being out in a tent. We got up, cleaned up and then headed home. Overall it was a lot of fun and I would do it again if asked.

That Saturday, was Valentines Day. Cami always does such a good job with Holidays and getting the boys excited about the little things. We always make little heart pizza’s and have fun together. This year was no different.

On Sunday of that week, we went up towards Park City, Utah and spent time with my Aunt and Uncle at their cabin. There were other family members that I haven’t seen in a while and it was a lot of fun to spend time with them. Koby and Spencer met some cousins that they had a lot of fun with.

We got there Sunday afternoon and stayed up eating and playing games well past midnight. Then we got up early and played on the snowmobiles, played more games, went out sledding with the boys and played more games. Then we stayed there and helped clean up and play more games then eventually headed home at about 5:30 that night. It is only a hour and fifteen minutes away, so it was close enough to get to very easily.

It was a lot of fun to catch up with family and spend time with them. We are looking forward to more chances to see them  and play some more games.

The next weekend, Tim and I took the boys to the UVU basketball game. This is one of the very fun things that we love to do together. There is a big practice gym behind the stands that we sit in that they go mess around in while they are not watching the game. Every once in a while they come watch a bit with me and eat popcorn and treats, then it is off to play some more and pretend to be college basketball players themselves.

Then tonight, the boys decided to make a tent in their bedroom that they are sleeping in tonight. They were pretty creative and excited about their tent. They wanted to get bathed and brush their teeth at about 7:15 tonight so they could lay in their tent and read books.

Finally at about 8:00 we read scriptures and said prayers, then they settled down and are sleeping right now. They are a blast and I love hanging out with them. I wish that I could spend more time with them, but love the time I do have at home with everyone and look forward to coming home after work and seeing them all.

We went to bed n Friday night with a full day already planned for Saturday. We got up and got going and didn’t seem to slow down until the kids were in bed for the night.

Here is what we did:
Because I coach the young men basketball team here in our stake I have games this time of the year. I usually take Koby and Spencer with me and let them run around. Koby is getting where he can throw a normal size ball up and make it most of the time. He is getting strong and likes to shoot when there is a break in the game or at halftime. The kids on the church team are nice enough to let them be there in the middle of the action, so that is nice. A couple of them even chase him around and pretend to try and block his shots. It is fun for them.

After that, we got ready and went to a really fun swimming pool here in Lehi called the Legacy Center. There are all the standard fun things like a lazy river, kids area and a really big water slide that the boys can go down all by themselves. There are two really nice things about it:

1. The deep end of the pool is in a seperate part that you have to get out and walk a little bit to get to.
2. The water is really, really warm. It almost feels like a spa. I think it was the warmest water in a pool I have been in in a while.

I forgot my camera, but will take it next time we go. They have a rock wall that Spencer saw some kids trying to climb. He said he wants to check it out so we will go next time.

After we got done swimming, we got showered off and headed to the BYU basketball game. One of the good things about being here in Provo is there are two University’s with pretty good sports teams. We have been to two BYU basketball games and two UVU basketball games. The boys love it, mostly because we get treats and they can wear their BYU or UVU t-shirts. BYU played Wyoming and beat them pretty badly.

After that we went and met Cami at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and had dinner and dessert. By the time we got home, it was after 9:00 and ready for bed.
It was a lot of fun and I love hanging out with my boys.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas Season. Ours was mostly good. We got to go to Colorado and spend time with my family, which was awesome. We had a great time and are forever thankful to everyone there that put up with us for that week.

The drove over there was a nightmare. What should have been an 8 hour drive turned into over 10 hours. There was wind and snow the whole way. The boys did great though and we took it easy and got there safe.

Here is what the roads looked like most of the way:

We did have about 15 minutes of sunshine on the trip. It was mostly spread out over 2-3 minute intervals.

One of the things we decided on doing this year was a white elephant gift exchange. Here are some pictures of that:

Dad got hair styling stuff like curlers and rollers.

It was a fun trip and we are glad we went. The drive home was great and the roads were clear and it was sunny the whole way so it was much better than the way there. We were nervous because the weather report said there was a 70% chance of snow the whole way, but it ended up being pretty clear. Of course it was still bitterly cold and windy, but at least there was not snow or ice on the road.

The worst part of the whole trip was when we got home and were unpacking the car and Koby told me there was a funny noise coming from the basement. We went to check it out and found out that the whole basement was flooding. There was water everywhere. The previous owner installed a water softener and the seal on it broke. Water was spraying all over our furnace room and soaking every thing in there. We have a drain in the room, but there was no way it could handle that much water coming into it.

I quickly found the shut off valve and got it stopped, but the damage had already been done. There was water on all our storage boxes in that room, but luckily we use rubbermaid boxes so there was not any water in most of the boxes. The only problem was one of the boxes had cracked when we moved here from Colorado and water was in the bottom of that one. It was my mission box. It had a bunch of things from my mission and it was mostly ruined. I lost a bunch of books, pictures and some binders, so I was not happy about that. Luckily my journal didn’t get wet, nor did some of the souvenirs so I was able to save those. I did have to dry out my release letter, some of my certificates and a couple pictures that I wasn’t going to throw away.

It was a real bummer, but I am glad it was the only box that got water in it.

We got to work ripping all the carpet up and using the shop vac to clean up the water. We had to take everything up to the garage and out of the basement. Then we went to work on the carpet. We took the carpet back and then got the pad out and outside. It is completely ruined and will need to be replaced.   What should have been a half hour to an hour of unloading the car and getting straightened up turned into three hours of working in the basement, plus our car has to park outside and we do not have room in the basement for anything.

We think that with the amount of water all over the place that it must have been going off for at least 2 days. What a bummer! the insurance people are coming out on Wednesday to take a look at it so we know how much it will cost to fix. I hope that it can get taken care of quickly so that we can get things put back together.