When the lights went out!

On mile 14 out of the 22 we walked on Saturday, dad called me up and told me that all of the power went out in the greater metropolitan Phoenix area (including Surprise) and would remain out until Tuesday morning!

Let me back up a bit. Last Sunday our Bishop told us that we would be having a drill on being prepared. So after the first 7 plus miles on Saturday, dad met at the church to give all of the families he was in charge of the envelope that told of the "disaster". So for three days we were all to live without using any power(Bishop did say we could use the air if it got too hot)no lights, music, t.v., computers, hair driers, oven, stove, microwaves etc. You get the idea.

When we got back to Donna's house after our walk, we told Waylon what the drill was about. He was watching Donna's boys so she could walk. Anyway, Waylon said that it was gay and he's not going to do it. Well I'm here to say that he participated 100%. The first night we had cold sandwiches and stayed up talking...yeah! talking, imagine that! When it got darker we lit some candles, and then I got our battery powered lantern. I was a little concerned about what my hair would look like on Sunday not to mention if my clothes were wrinkled. When we got to church it was so good to see so many of the women with their hair pulled up in a pony tail or still wet from the shower =) It was nice to see so many of the members participating.

After we got home from church dad made us some eggs and sausage burros using our grill out back. We took a nap and we all did a lot of reading. Later that night we got out the game of life and played that. When we were done with that game we played several games of Yahtzee. It was so much fun! I really enjoyed not having all of those distractions(t.v. computer, video games)and just being with each other. We stayed up talking until about 8:30 and then I went to bed. Dad and Waylon stayed up talking for quite a while after I went to bed. I can't remember the last time that happened. We all get so busy in our own lives and forget the important things. Last night we played more games...Phase 10 and Boggle.

I was getting ready for work this morning and dad asked me why I was using the lantern...I forgot that the drill was over.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to participate in this. Not only did it help us to see what things we needed that we didn't have, but it brought us closer to each other and I will always treasure "when the lights went out"!