It's that time of year....

This is my first tornado season and let me just tell you I do not like it. This is a picture of a tornado in Oklahoma in 1999. Last night was our third tornado warning probably the most severe storm we've had so far. Unfortunately, the storm didn't even start until 12 o'clock a.m. (by the way we had to be up by 6:30 this morning for work/school) which just so happened to be right as we were getting in bed. It was so loud. Our bedroom is the room closest to the backyard and we have 3 huge trees back there. We had hail the size of golf balls, very bright lightning that would light the whole bedroom up even with the blinds closed and just as we would get to sleep we would hear a roar of thunder that sounded like it hit one of the trees and snapped it. Then a few seconds later the room would light up again. A few times we had to get up and make sure the trees weren't on fire or anything. This went on for a long time. Then at about 2 o'clock the sirens went off because there was a tornado just outside of enid. So we had to stay alert in case we need to run for cover. Unfortunately, there are no basements here so we have to run into the bathroom. And of course the wind was blowing so hard that I thought the tornado was coming a few times. Needless to say it was a long night. I probably got about 4 hours of sleep and ben got about 2 1/2. When we woke up this morning it was bright and sunny outside but now the news is saying there's probably going to be another one tonight. These tornadoes need to get on the "right" schedule. This is the video of this tornado. This is only about 1 hour from my house.

Easter

So for easter momma and papa kearns came to visit us and also Jake came and surprised us. (Sorry Jake I don't have a pic of ya.) It was a short trip but fun. It was nice to have some family out here for the holidays.

And since we don't have a child to dress up for easter we decided to dress Ruby instead. Ü Ok, I decided to dress Ruby to show just how cute she is.

Systems Failure

So in case anybody was wondering Ben's first flight here at Vance went great. He did get a little bit sick but nothing to worry about he just has to get used to the plane. But today was his second ride. Not so great. As I picked him up from work today I asked him the usual questions how was school? Did you learn lots of stuff? and How was your flight? He said everything was great until I had my ride we had an emergency systems failure. So of course I'm like what does that mean? He said they were coming in to land and the plane wasn't indicating whether or not all the landing gear was locked into place so the instructor started freaking out right away asking all these questions (luckily Ben knew the answers to those certain questions) and the instructor immediately made a call into the tower letting them know their landing gear was not showing up as locked into place and he was pulling out and they would be circling waiting for another plane to come check everything out. So a plane comes right up next to them and goes right beside, then the other side, then under and last but not least on top and says everything looks to be okay. So the instructor makes the decision to bring it in to the runway to land. So then the radio tower calls out to all the planes and let them know they are closing down the runway and there would be an emergency landing and they'll have to wait until the coast is clear. So before I tell you how it went keep in mind the way they are seated is, Ben in the front seat (seeing all the action) and the instructor in the back navigating. As ben tells the story they were about 200 feet from the ground and the instructor tells him just so you know there is a good chance is the plane is going down and if it does it is going to hit straight into the concrete (As in the picture) maybe even flip over. As if he wasn't already nervous. Also the tower told them to shut the plane down as soon as they stopped and get out and the ambulance and fire truck would be there right behind them. So LUCKILY the landing gear was locked into place and they landed fine and Ben said maybe 10 seconds had gone by and the instructor was already out on the wing saying come on we got to go. Lol. Which Ben was just in shock at. And as fast as he could he pulled off all his seat belts and oxygen tubes and still had his mask on and was out there a few seconds later.

layers clothing

So I'm contemplating signing up to be a host for www.layersclothing.com This is a couple of pictures from their site. All of their clothes are modest of course. Anyway, they don't have any hosts here in Oklahoma but before I do it I want to see what everyone thinks. Obviously you wouldn't be able to buy it from me since I don't live near any of you. Lol. But if I did would you be interested? That way I can get an idea if I'm the only one who likes the clothing or maybe others would be interested out here.

Day 0

Today Ben has graduated to phase II of pilot training. There are 3 phases. The first one was 6 weeks of all academics and flying in flight simulators. Today is the first day he gets to start flying. It also just so happened to be his earliest day yet which seemed to be so convenient the time just moved 1 hour forward. He had to report at 6:00 a.m. this morning. They call this day 0. Weird I know. Apparently, these next 15 days are supposed to be the toughest through the entire program. Here is what some were saying in a magazine I was reading from the base.

"After that six-week period, students move into Phase II training, referred to as "hitting the flightline," and spend another five months applying their academics and learning how to fly military aircraft.

"It's like trying to take a drink from a fire hose," he said. "The first 15 days into Phase II you get everything coming at you at once at full throttle. Not only do you have the academics, but you have the stand-ups -- scenarios where instructor pilots quiz students on everything from emergency procedures to general knowledge -- to deal with. It is a real emotional roller coaster."

This is a picture at vance of the plane he is training in and I thought this picture was perfect since the sun has just started coming up at 8:30 and he had an early flight. This is how I imagine his first flight. What an awesome view of your dream.

This past Saturday Ben and I finally got the chance to go do a session in the Oklahoma City Temple. We haven't been able to the past couple months so it was a nice experience to be able to go together. You don't realize how much you miss it until you get to go again. The temple is 2 hours away from our house which is not super far but it's quite a change from Utah. Since we don't get down there too much we made a day of it and visited some friends in the city and went out to eat. It was a nice weekend.