Our year in review...

Well a lot has happened with us in the past year--and much of it was weather related. As a start, we both lost a grandmother in the early part of the year. Rachel's Grandmother Lillie died in February and Nathan's Grandma Ruth died in March. We each got to go to the respective funerals in Utah and see family and loved ones while there.

As far as weather is concerned, we got to enjoy more ice storms in the early months of the year and there was a lot of snowfall as well. Temperatures were abnormally low for that part of the country as well. It was, according to local weather sources, the worst winter in 25 years. As an illustration, many cities in the area ran out of salt for the roads. Iowa City ran out sometime in January. I remember having to get out of the bus on our way to work with a number of fellow riders and helping to push the bus because it got caught in the snow when it slipped to the side of the road. While it was a challenging winter, it seems strange to look back on it now with a small smile...perhaps I enjoy a good story and like to be in it once in a while.

With the record winter that we had (and it's concomitant precipitation), it's no surprise that the water table was a little high this past spring. Add to that heavy rains in the spring (in which there were also a couple tornadoes in the general area) and early summer and the fact that most cities in the area are built around rivers, and you have a recipe for disaster--which is exactly what happened. Rachel and I were fortunate enough (by providence, if nothing else) to have moved to the highest area of Iowa City when we came here. We learned this after the fact, of course. But many were not. We had a number of friends that were displaced because of the flooding and the damage around the city is still readily evident. Cedar Rapids, a larger city about a half-hour north of us, was hit harder than Iowa City was and more damage was done there, though this is not to minimize the damage in Iowa City (the links provided here have a lot of good photos of each area, respectively). This is because when the floods happened in 1993, Iowa City was one of the hardest hit cities and the people here made more preparations because of that. Cedar Rapids did not do so at the time and therefore had less infrastructure in place to deal with it. Plus, the banks of the Cedar River are not quite as steep as those of the Iowa River. At any rate, Rachel and I felt the need to go help with many others (including members of our stake) and we tended to focus on a couple neighborhoods that were in the most danger.

Before the flood peaked, we helped build build a levy around this neighborhood that was around 5-6 feet high and higher in some areas. This wall of sandbags surrounded an entire neighborhood. It was a thing to behold as it weaved through yards and between buildings. There were many who did more than we did as well and we have a great deal of respect for people like our friend Morgan Lasley, who seemed tireless in his service of others in this regard.

Despite our efforts, however, the levy was breached and the neighborhood was flooded, as were many others. No one could have anticipated the largest flood in recorded history exceeding the previous record levels by as much as they actually did (approximately 9 feet higher than the previous record in 1993, if memory serves). All that we could do was help people find a place to stay in the meantime and wait for the water to subside, which it finally did. Fortunately, no bridges in Iowa City were lost, though this did happen in Cedar Rapids. Most were closed, however, and we did the best we could under the circumstances.

Once the water subsided, the cleanup work began. While there was only so much we could do because we weren't trained in disaster cleanup, we did what we could. Our ward had a contact with the Red Cross or an organization like that and they arranged who we would go help and when. Rachel and I were able to help with some houses and it was sad to see the amount of loss these people incurred. Many houses (that weren't condemned, that is) had to be gutted down to the timber and allowed to completely dry. Fortunately, a number of them did not have to have everything gutted (commonly around 4 or 5 feet high and above was considered safe and did not have to be torn out.

Near the tail end of this, Rachel and I were working on a house in Coralville which was badly damaged and her finger was accidently cut in a way that we took her to the hospital to get a couple of stitches. She needed the stitches, to be sure, but it was further cause for concern that this type of cleanup is very dirty. We had to be very careful in what we wore and to cover our faces as we worked. Our new friend Lisa (who owned the house we were working on) felt so badly about this that she also began to cry. She was a real sweetheart. I imagine that was just one more thing for her to be concerned about. We visited her again later to show here that Rachel was alright and it was good to see her in better spirits despite her situation.

Once we couldn't help with cleanup anymore and professional crews were needed, Rachel and I decided to take a quick breather and took an extended weekend to St. Louis, which is a few hours south of us. We saw a lot of the touristy things like the Arch, a Cardinal's game (Rachel wanted to go to a baseball game, and we aren't big fans of either of the Chicago teams--especially the Sox), a couple of the museums, and the St. Louis Zoo. We enjoyed our visit very much--Rachel really loved the animals at the zoo (they had a litter of five tiger cubs there at the time and we got to talk to the head keeper for quite a while about them--I think this was a highlight for Rachel).

When fall came and school set in, things seemed like they were largely back to normal. Nathan went back to school and Rachel kept going to work, and though there were (thankfully) no natural disasters in the last third of the year, we did manage to keep busy. In October, Rachel contracted an acute kidney infection called pyelonephritis. This gave us a bit of a scare, because pyelonephritis can be very dangerous (our doctor told us that it is to the kidney what pheumonia is to the lungs), but she responded well to the medication and has fully recovered. We are very happy about that.

In early December, our Accord decided that it wanted a new on-board computer, transmission, and oxygen sensor, not to mention that the brakes were ready for a change and a new timing belt was also on the horizon. We decided that instead of spending two times more than the car was worth for repairs with only the anticipation of more repairs down the road, we would look into getting a new one. So we got one. On the last day of the year, we got a new car, a Honda Civic. We like it very much so far. One of the things we like most about it is the color--dark metallic blue.

For Christmas this year, Rachel was able to get some time off around the holidays, which is a busy time for orthodontists. We were able to go to California and spend some time with family. It was nice to see both family and friends. We miss them very much and it was good to see them. On our way there, we drove through an ice storm (we made it just fine) and on the way back, the airports were busy because of all the weather-related cancellations, so we got to stay in a hotel courtesy of American Airlines. We made it home safely the next day and were very glad to not have to be travelling any more.

In addition to all this, we have our cat Kronk to keep us company and keep us entertained. We also have some wonderful friends here and a wonderful church to go to here in Iowa City.

All in all, it was a very eventful year and we have enjoyed the ups and downs together. We love each other and enjoy our time together. They say time flies when you're having fun, and it has really flown. One of the best parts of marriage is to be able to spend both with your best friend.