Night of Terror!!!!

Okay so it wasn't that bad, but I thought the title sounded good.

Here is the burglarized story for those of you who haven't heard it yet.

Back in 2002 we lived in Nampa, ID. (Not the cream of the crop city in Idaho, but our neighborhood was actually really nice.) Anyway, at about 2 AM Halle woke up crying, so I crossed the hall to get her and heard a rumbling down the stairs on my main floor of the house. I thought it was just the ice maker in the fridge, but when I heard another noise coming from the basement I knew something was up. I thought that maybe my dog was in the laundry room eating or something.

I ran to Alyssa's room to make sure she was okay (as this was still the time when the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart was fresh in my mind) and there I noticed my GREAT watch dog sound asleep on the bed with Alyssa. That's when I knew in my gut that someone was in my house. I woke Jarom up (which is a miracle in itself, because he is the HEAVIEST sleeper in the world) and told him I thought someone was in our house.

At this time we had no means of self defense in our home. The only thing he could think of to use was the curling iron. So off he went curling iron in hand to defend his family. (It's a great joke now and now we keep a baseball bat handy. We're not gun people.) He noticed that the basement door was wide open, so he threw on the closest coat (which happened to be mine) and headed outside to see if he could see anyone.

I grabbed Halle, and called 911. They asked me if I was positive that the intruder was out of the house. I wasn't, so I then made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife. They also said that they were sending K-9 units and to stay in the house. Well.....Jarom was outside!! So I went out and tried to yell for him, but he didn't answer. I was so afraid they were going to see him and think he was the burglar. But finally he came around the corner carrying my guitar and his laptop.

Inside my coat pocket, (which he had on) was my set of keys. About 2 years earlier I had gone to a church activity where they taught us about self defense and they gave each of us an emergency whistle to put on our key chains. (It's still on mine to this day.)

Jarom said that he saw a guy on a bike stopped in the middle of the road, digging through a bag. Jarom blew my whistle at the guy and it scared him, so he dropped the big heavy stuff (guitar and laptop) and took off. Jarom was able to give a description to the police and by the time they got to our house they already had the creep in custody.

He had another big duffel bag on him full of stuff from our garage and cars and also from other people's garages. He just must have been cruising all the unlocked garages in the neighborhood. Unfortunately that was the first and ONLY time we had ever left our garage unlocked and we learned our lesson the hard way.

This guy had a warrant out for his arrest and had been in trouble many times before for drugs. The police call him "Satan Boy" because he has "Satan" tattooed on his knuckles. (I'm so glad I didn't know that until a long while after he had been in my house.) This guy is STILL in jail because he keep breaking his probation and we still get notices about him.

Thankfully all he was after was things to sell for drug money and he wasn't out to hurt anyone. Six cop cars later and after the police finger printed our house (which was horrifying because the house was a DISASTER, how the guy didn't kill himself in the mess of the basement in the dark is still a mystery to me) and took a bunch of photos, the event was over and we went to bed. And do you know what? Not ONE of our neighbors even noticed the trauma had gone down. So if you're ever up on the middle of the night, just take a quick peek out your window to make sure your neighbors are okay.
Oh, and get a whistle on your keychain! It just might save your life one day.

Oh What a Night!

Tonight as I was putting my kids to bed, my phone rang. (Miraculously I beat Carter to it.) It was the 911 dispatch. I instantly thought, "Which kid dialed 911 this time?!" But the phone call was a warning to all residents in my area to stay inside, lock all doors and windows, and not let anyone in our homes because armed suspects were on the loose. Ay-yi-yi, NOT what a wife likes to hear when the hubby is gone.

Not wanting to scare my kids, I nonchalantly made sure all my windows and doors were locked, and closed my curtains and blinds. Several people called to make sure we were okay and that we knew about it. (Thanks for the concern everyone.) My mom asked if I had a baseball bat or anything near by that I could use if needed. I told her I had my curling iron and whistle ready. LOL! (These worked when we were burglarized last time.)

Then I got on the phone with my parents and peaked out my windows to see if I could see anything going down. (That's the red neck in me coming out. I love a good police chase, and I was really wishing I had my dad's old police scanner to listen too.) Sure enough, cop cars and news vehicles were everywhere. The cops circled my block about 6 different times. And the news reports said that shots had been fired and someone was dead. This kind of thing does NOT happen in my town, let alone in my neighborhood. It was a little frightening.

Anyway, when all was said and done, just about 2 blocks from my house, a high speed chase in a stolen vehicle (which the suspects had demanded keys from a family) ended with a bad wreck. A suspect was killed in that, another suspect was injured, and a third was still on the loose. The last suspect held a woman hostage in her home, but the police were able to come in and no one was harmed. SOOOO scary. We have several friends from my kids' classes that live right in the area where it all came to an end and I can't wait to hear their versions of the story. I really hope they weren't involved at all other than witnessing the events. The whole thing took about 2 1/2 hours. In fact, I just barely got the call from the 911 dispatch saying that it was over. Here's a news video about the mess.

Makes for a pretty crazy night and makes me appreciate having Jarom home a whole lot more!

Dreams

If you know me at all, you know that I dream some pretty incredible things at night. I dream VIVIDLY every night. In Jr. High I had a teacher that made my class journal every day. I decided I would keep a log of my previous night's dream. And I was able to enter something everyday that year. I really should do it again, because I have some amazing dreams. (Although no one but myself cares to hear about them. Except maybe my sister-in-law Natalie Manwaring who dreams like a freak too.)

Last night's dream was just too good not to write down and keep forever though. Are you ready????

I dreamed that I was Hannah Montana!!!!

Apparently I have been hanging around my 7 & 9 year old daughters WAY too much! (Or maybe just the right amount.) Yes, it's true, I was a 15 year old girl in my dream, preparing for a concert, warding off all sorts of 12 and 13 year old wanna-be boyfriends.

Is there something wrong with me???

Bitter Sweet

I can't end today, without posting about the loss of our dear Prophet Gordon B Hinckley. (Which I am sure will be on every LDS blog in the morning.) I am so sad about his death because I loved and admired him so much. But I am grateful that his old and ailing body no longer cumbers him, and that he has been reunited with his beloved wife.

My mom called tonight to tell us that he had passed away, and I announced it to my family. There was an audible gasp from my kids and then Halle immediately started sobbing. I asked her if she was crying because she was sad or because she was scared. (I've never seen her react like this before.) And she said, "Because I really liked him." It was so sweet and precious.

He was definitely a soul who left a lasting impression on everyone, even the little children. We will miss him dearly in our home.

Some Things Never Get Old

Tonight I was going through Kate's drawers and the old boxes of hand-me-downs from her sisters, when I ran into this little blue dress. I got SOOO sad when I saw it. There are just some clothes that are meant for certain kids and this dress was for Halle. As soon as I saw it I couldn't help but remember her wearing it. It brought out the pretty blue color of her eyes so well. I almost couldn't bear giving it to Kate.

Well, Halle came around the corner and saw me looking at it, so I told her that it used to be one of my favorite little dresses on her. She BEGGED me to let her have it as a shirt now. I told her to try it on (thinking that it would be way too small and that she'd let me give it to Kate). And you know what, it worked for her. It looks like a cute little baby doll shirt and it fits her perfectly. So, I am letting her keep it for a shirt and am going to enjoy seeing my little Halle wearing it again for another year or so.