A South Dakota Easter

The roads dry! The weather beautiful! Nothing major in the forecast! A sure sign that it was safe to travel back to South Dakota for Easter...RIGHT? Well...The trip to SD was great. Once I arrived...an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STORY!!!

The kids had Spring Break the entire week before Easter. We headed to Timber Lake on Wednesday March 31 and stayed until Monday April 5th. It was a great visit and Break from the "Billings Drama" that is my life!

On Thursday...April 1st...the boys and I headed to the Convenience Store in Isabel, 20 miles away, owned by a good friend of mine, Mandy. The Easter Bunny was there, they got to see Mandy's girls and they got a treat!

(L-R) Ryder, Kannin, Easter Bunny holding Lexi,

Kendyl and I think this little boy is named Treyton.

When we arrived back to my parents house it started to hail!!

Good sized hail!



It was also thundering! Wouldn't be a trip back home without a little weather. Little did I know this was only a start to a huge problem for the community and would start shortly after midnight and leave it's mark around 4:00am with the power going out. The following is a PORTION excerpt from the Timber Lake Topic (newspaper)





MOREAU-GRAND SYSTEM TAKES ANOTHER WALLOP
by Kathy Nelson

Easter weekend plans for Moreau Grand Electric employees and about 800 member-customers changed after a foot or more of heavy snow knocked out power in a wide area last Friday morning.

MGE Manager Melissa Maher said although this storm was not as bad as the one in late January that did an estimated $7 Million in damage, it was bad enough.

Operations manager Kent Larson said that over 600 poles were downed.

"Every storm is different." Maher said "This one started on Friday at 4 a.m. with rain, then heavy, heavy snow and 40 mile-an-hour winds. By 11 a.m. the damage was done."

Fifty extra workers were immediately called in from co-ops around the state, and contractors Keller Construction and Midwest Power were hired. On Monday 30 more men joined the work force after finishing up repairs for Grand Electric at Bison.





We were without power for several hours on Friday April 2nd. I got a SMALL taste of the TWO WEEKS that they were without power in the storm in January. Others were without power for about a week with this storm. This community bands together like no other. I went with my dad late one evening to direct an incoming Power Crew to a rural Lodge which would become their home for an undetermined amount of time. I truly felt for these men who had to leave their families on Good Friday to travel cross state to work. Below are a couple pictures of the storm. I didn't take too many.

Ryder greeting Grandpa at the door. With my dad being Members Service Manager at Moreau Grand Electric...we saw VERY little of him over the Easter holiday. He would leave by 4:30 a.m. every morning and wouldn't come home until almost bedtime! The kids really missed him and greeted him with big hugs every time he would sneak home for a few minutes. Kannin would stand by the window and say..."Where my grampa at?"

Kannin was so excited to see Grandpa every time he came home. What a nice little boy greeting this was for Grandpa!

So April Fools came a day late in TL!!! This was the start of the disastrous snow!!


HEAVY HEAVY WET SNOW!!!

The diaper cake that I whipped up. My mom, sister & I went in on this cake for our cousin Raquel and her newest addition..."Anna Rose Nachatilo." We went to her baby shower-luncheon on Saturday April 3rd at our local Cafe.

Little Baby Anna Rose...making her Timber Lake debut at her Baby Shower.

We brought our bounce house and set it up in my parent's living room! So much fun for the kids!!

My niece Macy had a laugh that was just contagious! She had so much fun jumping. All the kids were just sweaty & exhausted when they were done bouncing! YAY for nap time!!

Birthday Buddies! My niece Haylee & Ryder have the same Birthday...just a year apart. Haylee turned 5 and Ryder turned 6 on March 9th. They are too cute and play together like a little married couple. Haylee is the boss and Ryder follows her around!!! They learn early don't they?!

Grandma Kris even got in and jumped, or BOUNCED around with the kiddos.

Jumping Cousins!!

" The Easter Bunny Came Mom!!!"

Ryder, Haylee & Macy checking out their Easter Loot!!

Kannin found his FAVORITE candy bar in his basket.

The Easter Bunny was smart this year! With all of the snow and mud...Mr. Bunny hid the 100+ eggs INSIDE the house. They were everywhere. The kids had fun finding them all

Kannin looked for eggs out in the Sun Space. He found 2 eggs...realized there were filled with candy...and took a break to EAT!!!

EASTER CHURCH SERVICES

We had a really nice church service Sunday. Girls in their pretty new Easter dresses, children sermon, a wonderful Sermon, communion and beautiful music. Brought back memories of my Easter dresses and Bonnets and Sunrise Services at MY church. So happy my children are a part of that.

My cousin Tracy's girls Whitley & Shaelynn from Rapid City played some special music and did sign language as the Children in the church congregation sang & signed along.

The children in the church came up front for the Children's Sermon. My dad met us at church and was able to join us for this Easter tradition. He put on the Children's Sermon and after church he had to head back to work.

My dad showed a short film/cartoon and gave the kids the "Message" for the Children's Sermon. Us adults really loved it. It was very cute.

After church...Great Grandpa Harold was able to hold his Great Granddaughter Anna Rose. Mom Raquel is off to the left. For those of you who do not know these people... Harold Jackson is my Great Great Uncle. He lives in Mobridge in the apartment at the Hotel that I used to work at. His son Jeff & wife Marie now own the hotel and they were the people I worked for while living in Mobridge.

Kannin, Tysen & Ryder cuddle on the couch to watch a movie. Strange thing is...there were 2 larger tv's in the basement and 2 HUGE beds as well...but for some ODD reason...this was the spot they chose!!

Everyone was in bed early the night of Easter. We had plans to be on the road by 7am Monday morning to head back to Billings. We came close...departing @ 7:30 after stopping by the Electric Company to say good bye to my dad. We were home by 2:30 p.m. with Kannin's Hab Aide Nicki waiting on our front swing for us to arrive home. We had a wonderful Easter Weekend with family and seeing some friends. Wished we could have spent a little more time with my dad! Stinking Storms ALWAYS follow me home!!