Hallelujah for electricity!

After roughing it like the Amish these past 18 hours, I'm pleased to say electricity has been restored! The storm came up very quickly yesterday afternoon. There were high winds, rain and hail, knocking down power lines, uprooting trees and in general sending us all into a tizzy. My two sisters and the two older boys were with me at Wal-Mart (getting cupcake supplies, natch) when it hit. Over the loud speaker they announced that we were "going to get some rain" so people should roll up their windows. Then they quickly added, "and associates should have flashlights ready." Hmmmmm. You'd think that would have gotten us running out of the store, but no, we still had some shopping to do. A few minutes later we left, cart loaded to the brim, only to be hit by extremly high winds. Rocks and debris were pelting us and loose shopping carts were flying of their own accord across the parking lot. We literally threw our groceries into the car and piled in, but not before Ashford (12) was slammed by a careening shopping cart. By the time we got home five minutes later, trees were down everywhere and the power was out. The little boys were all still sleeping with Granny and missed the whole thing. To show you how hard the wind was blowing, later that night we were still digging sand and even little rocks out of our ears. The storm ended as quickly as it began, so we wandered the neighborhod taking pictures of the debris.