The world's best babysitters

No, not for Elizabeth. For me. Picture it. Adam is gone on high adventure. Teri's husband is also gone on high adventure. Elizabeth and I were going to go across the street to watch the coolest show ever with Teri and the kids on Wednesday night. I knew a storm was coming but I wasn't paying much attention to it. I saw something on the news that said there were tornadoes touching down outside of my immediate area and that the storm was headed our way but I've seen those warnings millions of times and nothing's happened.

I called my brothers and told them just to get out their candles and stuff so they could be ready in case the power went out and I got my candles out and ready but I didn't do much else to get ready. All the sudden the phone rang. It was Teri.

"Tamara, can you hear the tornado sirens?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, they're going off right now. So, I totally understand if you would rather stay home but you're welcome to ride out the storm at our house if you want some company."

Short pause. "Uh...I guess I'll come over. Why not." (You can see I'm not feeling very perturbed about the storm at this point.)

I start getting Elizabeth's stuff together to go across the street (e.g. pack up her food/ diapers/ etc.) and I have this feeling I should pack a flashligh. Who puts a flashlight in their diaper bag?!? So, I ran to the back of the house to get Elizabeth's blanket and from the back of the house, I hear Elizabeth crying. Not a regular cry. A very unusual cry. So I ran to the front of the house to see what was going on.

I will never, as long as I live, forget what I saw. There, in my entry way, was my little baby crawling toward the front door. Here's where it gets weird. The front door which was closed and locked when I went to get her blanket had blown open and when i looked beyond my baby and out the open door, I saw the sky which was the most erie shade of yellow (yes, the sky was yellow) I have ever seen. In one fell swoop, I looked at her, said "we're out of here", slung on my diaper bag, picked up the baby, closed and locked the door, and sprinted across the street to Teri's house.

By the time I got there, I was pretty well soaked and so was Elizabeth. I knocked on the door and poor Jenna screamed at the sound of the door knocking. Sam opened the door almost before I could finish knocking and before I knew it, Teri, Jenna, Sam, Elizabeth, Cupcake (Jenna's hamster) and I were all cozy in the laundry room which was lit (once the power went out) by the coolest candle I've ever seen. Sam and Jenna told us stories and kept us entertained until the storm passed.

The power was out so we got to hang out at Teri's until the rain, thunder and lightening subsided a bit and we could cross the street and, thanks to my trusty flashlight, see where I was going once I found my way back inside. I'm telling you, Sam and Jenna were the greatest entertainment during the storm. They played games with her, sang her songs, got out toys for her and generally just kept her happy. They even insisted on walking Elizabeth and I home after the fiasco. So thanks to Teri, Jenna and Sam for being such good baby sitters. I would have completely freaked out if it weren't for them. I'm so lucky to have such great neighbors and Elizabeth just adores them too. Our awesome home teacher, Brother Causey, promptly checked in on us as did my brothers so we were well taken care of, but it sure was nice to not have to sit by myself with Elizabeth in our own laundry room. How boring would that have been?