A long night

Yesterday afternoon (Monday) there was a large fire. Actually it was a huge fire. A propane gas plant caught fire a little before 4:00 pm. Cody was on duty and his truck was called in to help. In fact 80% of the firemen in town were called in. Cody's truck was the first to actually fight the fire. (The first two trucks were called to start evacuating all homes and businesses within a 1/2 mile radius) I am having trouble getting my thoughts together to type this, so be patient as you read in case I jump around. There were a lot of propane tanks there and then several huge tanks. The truck Cody was on had the mission of trying to stop two 18,000 gallon tanks from exploding. If they exploded, the damage would have destroyed a mile radius. There were hundreds of homes in the area and hundreds of cars driving on the interstate (which was about 1/4 mile from the plant) during 5:00 traffic. Numerous 5 gallon propane tanks (like the ones on your grill) were popping like fireworks in the air. Pieces were found up to 3/4 of a mile away from the plant. The nearby businesses caught on fire as well as several cars in parking lots and various other landscape.

Cody was supposed to get off work at 6:00 pm. He borrowed someone's phone to call me at 6:20 and told me that they were not being released because the rest of the city was in danger. If 80% of the firemen and first responders were at the fire, then the city was left open and they needed the ones coming on duty to help run calls in the city. (They go on medical calls as well as fire calls). He couldn't come home until the fires were completely out.

What do you say when your husband says he has to stay on duty to help save hundreds of lives?
Three trucks pumped water on the two tanks 18,000 gallon tanks for about 8 hours. The big tanks never caught on fire although at one point one side was covered in fire and melted all the paint and warped the metal. They got it out in time. Like I said, if it would have gone off, hundreds of homes, cars, and lives would have been lost, including Cody's.

Cody called me a little before midnight. (I hadn't heard from him since 6:20) and told me he was on his way back to the station and that he was safe, the fires were out, and it was all over. They spent 1 1/2 more hours putting the truck back together. Cody finally came home about 2:30. I fell asleep hugging him tighter than I ever had before.

I don't really know what to say or how to finish this. You know I am a drama queen so you may question some of the details about last night. Read the articles. It was on CNN and lots of other news stations. Sadly, I am completely serious about this and the details.

Cody is a hero.

I held Carley the whole time Cody was gone and I spent lots of time thinking about God's faithfulness. Cody does his job because he feels like God has called him to this work. If you know Cody, you know he is so good at helping people. All I can say is that I saw God's faithfulness last night. Noone was seriously injured. Everyone went home. Honestly, if the story ended differently, I hope I would still say I saw God's faithfulness. My faith is weak and I am not sure how I would react. I hope I never find out.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Happy Birthday Amy B! Even though you are much older than me, I still think you look great! Thanks for staying "young at heart" while having young friends like me! :)

A Special Weekend

On Thursday, Carley & I went to Dallas for Alyssa and Camryn's shower. We had such a good time. Lauren was a great big cousin to Carley and Carley loved being entertained by Lauren. My sister made the trip so easy on us. She let Carley borrow all of her girls' stuff so we didn't have to bring much. We got lots of girl family time in together.

I am very thankful for Alyssa's friends. Not only are they great to her, but they are to me as well. They are always so fun, sweet, and thoughtful. I am blessed to consider them my friends too.

This Sunday was Baby Day at church. It was really special to receive a blessing for Carley from our church family. I love our congregation and class so much. There are lots of neat families in our class. They are our dearest friends. Our church is really growing right now which is lots of fun and our class has been blessed with new couples that want to get involved. I love the girls in our class so much. Sunday reminded me of how blessed I am.

A Party For Camryn

Tomorrow, Carley, my mom, and I are flying to Dallas for Alyssa's baby shower for little Camryn. (She will be here April 6th) I am so excited. It will be Carley's first plane ride so that will either be fun or a nightmare. It all depends on my little 8 week old's attitude. I can't wait to see Alyssa in her 8th month of month of pregnancy. I hope I get to feel that little cutie inside give her some good kicks. I also get to hang out with my favorite toddler Lauren who is one of the funniest people on the planet. Yesterday she called me and told me that she had slept all night in her big girl bed. Then she said, "Proud of You" which is really her saying, "tell me how proud you are of me!" I love that kid. Basically I get to spend the weekend (we are coming back on Saturday) with my favorite girls on the planet. I can't wait.

Camryn is going to be such a great addition to our family. I am dying to find out what she looks like and to hold her. I can't wait to see how she is like Lauren, like Alyssa and Clint, like Carley, and most of all like me! Being an aunt is the best.

Your Life's Theme Song

I stole this from Sam's blog...

Wondering what the theme song to your life is??
Go to this website and enter the date that you turned eighteen years old.
Leave a comment with the result.


Sadly, Mine is Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey's "Some Sweet Day".

Cody does it again

I am so lucky...

I had a great last few days of maternity leave. Monday I wore pjs all day and took a nap with Carley in my arms. Tuesday was Valentines Day. Since Cody worked that night, we did our date during the day. Carley went to my Mom's and Cody and I went to Harrigan's (the restaurant where we got engaged) and to a movie. Cody bought me a beautiful necklace and earrings. It was so great. Then came Wednesday.

Wednesday was my last day of maternity leave. Cody was at work so my mom had told me a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to go eat with me for lunch. When I woke up I called Cody and he told me that my mom and I weren't really going to lunch. He had asked her to keep Carley while he had planned for me to go to a SPA! I arrived and he had arranged for me to have an massage and a manicure on my last day of maternity leave! HE PLANNED IN ADVANCE and was so thoughtful. It was awesome and so sweet. For the first time in a long time I felt like me, not a hormone trying to get pregnant, not pregnant, not like a mom or a milk factory, just me. It was the perfect day!

Cody ROCKS! :) I love him so much!

P.S. I survived my first day of work. It was hard to leave her this morning, but the day went by quickly.

Back to Work

Man, maternity leave flew by. I go back on Thursday. I can't believe it. Carley will be 7 weeks old tomorrow. I am going to ease back into work. I go for 2 days this week, 3 next week, 4 the following week, then 4 1/2 days. I will have one full week then Spring Break. Cody is going to keep Carley on his days off ( I refuse to say baby sit when she is his too!:) ) He works for 24 hours then has 48 off so every 3rd day she will go to my mom's to be loved by Nana. I am really having a hard time thinking about going back.

• Carley is AWESOME! I love her so much. I never knew I could feel this way. I have really enjoyed being around her 24-7 and being there for every special moment.
• I love sleep. Carley is doing much better. She usually gives me one 5-7 hour stint of sleep at night. However, I have gotten used to going back to sleep for 2 more 2 hour stints and not getting up till 8:30 or 9. How on earth am I going to wake up and get there?
• Carley takes a bottle well. She has taken one a day since she was 2 weeks old in preparation for me going back to work. How am I supposed to feel professional at work while taking pumping breaks? UGH!
• Cody and I have gotten to spend a ton of time together. We have taken naps, gone to the movies, gone on walks, and just hung out for his time off. I will miss him too.
• Carley smells so good. I love her baby smell and I will miss it when I am dealing with stinky teenagers.
• I have no desire to wear clothes that aren't elastic which is all I have worn since my 4th month of pregnancy.
• I will miss my baby.
• Who will style Carley's wacked out hair? I smile everytime I see it!

Here is the kicker though:

• I love my job. It is perfect for me and I used to be really good at it. I am afraid I will not be good at it anymore and feel like I am letting my colleagues down.
• I feel guilty for wanting to go back in many ways because I do love my job and I enjoy the adult conversation, the interaction with kids, and the break from diapers.
• I feel guilty for wanting the financial stability that 2 jobs provide even though we could make it on Cody's alone.
• I feel torn. When I am home, I find myself missing work and missing my job. When I think about going back, I cry and think about missing one minute with my little girl.

MAN!

Any thoughts out there?

Thanks Allyson

This morning Allyson took a few pictures of our family for Baby Day at the end of the month. Allyson did a great job. If you need a photographer, give her a call or check out her site. Anyway, here are 3 of my favorites.

Chick Flick in book form

One of my favorite people at my job at the junior high is the librarian. Mrs. Hall is awesome and has a love for chick flicks like I do. She has 2 daughters that are in college and they are always seeing the latest films. One day I was in an 8th grade reading class where the teacher was reading to the class from a book called Flipped. I realized it has been a long time since I read a book for sheer pleasure and fun. I went in one day asked for a good book. Just a good entertaining book that was a great read. She recommended a book that she called, "A perfect chick flick in book form" and she was right. She introduced me to Meg Cabot. (some of you may know her because she wrote the book The Princess Diaries. Mrs. Hall recommended The Boy Next Door and I was hooked. It is a great book that is a fast read. The whole book is in the form of emails, recipes, faxes, receipts, answering messages and other various forms of communication. She then gave me Boy Meets Girl which is just as awesome and written in the same form. I bought them for my sister and she got hooked as well. Alyssa bought a couple of others and let me borrow them. This past week, she lent me Size 12 Is Not Fat. It is so good. It is the story of a former teen pop star who ends up as an assistant dorm director and tries to solve a murder that happens in her building. She is the kind of character we can all relate to in so many ways. She is hilarious and has a crush on her exboyfriend's older brother. It is a fast and entertaining read. (It is in the normal prose form.)
You need to get one of these books. It would be perfect reading for a cruise, a plane trip, a relaxation tool at the end of the day, or just any time. You must read them! Any of the 3 are wonderful.

Catching Up

I don't have too much to say. Here is the news in the Nelson world.

• I changed the title of my blog and my screen name and a few details in my profile to make it less easy to find me. I have been hearing of random people checking blogs in neighborhoods so I thought I would try to make it a little less obvious for our family details. However, it is still so easy to find people because of the internet. If you are a creepy person, please stop reading my blog and blogs of my friends. You know, Oprah now pays people to turn in sex offenders and I am always up for a little cash! Beware...
• Shanta and Ken came to visit this weekend. I want to be Shanta when I grow up. She is so gracious, thoughtful, and fun. We are so blessed to have friends like them.
• Carley's hair is getting so long and wild her mohawk is getting to heavy to stay up. We are investigating new styles. Stay tuned for pictures. I may do some type of online poll to pick her new hair style.
• Grey's Anatomy--AWESOME episode. How am I going to wait another week for the conclusion?? Oh the drama. It was a really creative and well written episode. And Dr. Mc Dreamy, I love you more each day.
• This weekend we played a game of charades with some friends from church. I love game nights and getting people to perform. Fun was had by all. Thanks Dustin and Allyson for opening your home.
• Carley went over to Charlie Bowman's and hung out in his crib. He is a cute with some serious toots. I love Carley's new friend. Too bad he slept through it all and her eyes don't focus well enough yet to see him. Oh well, his mom and I will make sure they stay in touch.
• How come when you borrow a recipe from your mom and follow it step by step it never turns out as good as hers?

That pretty much picks my brain. I hope you are having a great week!

Funny story

If you want to hear 2 really funny stories, check out my sister's blog and read the entry from today and from yesterday. They are hilarious, especailly if you know Alyssa or Lauren. I do not know why people say I am the wacked out one... :) These last two entries are hilarious.