ICE-ICE-BABY!

Do you remember the song by Vanilla Ice called "Ice, Ice, Baby?" When Bryce was little, we used to sing that to him with his name inserted - "Bryce, Bryce, Baby!" He would smile and bounce to the beat!

On a more serious note, our area has been hit HARD by crippling ice storms. We have been without power for 3 days.

Around midnight on Monday, the baby monitor starting beeping, a sign that the power had gone off. We could hear the ice pelting down on the house. Jimmy retrieved the flashlights so he could turn our propane-powered fireplace on so we wouldn't freeze in the 20 something degree temps. Not long after, he got hit with the flu bug that all 3 of us had. There's nothing like puking by flashlight!

We had heard on the news that night that it only takes about 1/4 inch of ice to take down power lines. We had over 1 1/2 inches! We also heard that it could take several days to get our power back on. As we sat and watched as dozens of trees and branches snapped and fell from the weight of the ice, we decided it would be safest for us to vacate. We packed up a few bags and headed to a hotel in our town. This was the view of our trees in our backyard.

We had a fun few hours swimming in the pool and relaxing in our room, until 9pm when the power went off! It was time for bed anyway so we just went to sleep and thankfully stayed warm. At 8am we were awakened by several fire alarms going off - supposedly candles had been left burning. So, we packed up again and headed home.

In order to drive into our driveway, Jimmy had to cut down a huge tree that had fallen in the middle of the street. While he worked outside a few of our neighbors came over to warm up in front of our fireplace. The had run out of propane!

Then we heard that it could be several more days or even weeks before everyone's power was restored. I was exhausted from dealing with all of us having the flu. I had not slept for more than a few hours each night for over a week and I just didn't feel like "roughin it!" So, we packed up again and headed to the condos that we like to stay at in Branson.

We are so thankful for electricity. Hot water. Washer and dryer. COFFEE! TV. The internet. An oven and refrigerator!

Thank you God for protecting our family!

We will be here indefinitely...I'll keep y'all posted!

Pics from our neighborhood.