Tulips and Tornados

I love tulips {Seriously, who doesn't love tulips? And snapdragons...how can you not love snapdragons? But this isn't about snapdragons. It's about tulips.} By accident, while reading a blog by a fellow Portlander, I stumbled upon some information about Tulip Fest at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, about 40 minutes south of Portland {sometimes blog stalking really pays off}. Such luck! Mark and I headed there this afternoon and it was crazy. I've never seen so many flowers in my life! If you have an aversion to tulips, look away. This post is not for you. But if not, enjoy.

While I have a need to jump in every photo, Mark has a need to always stick his tongue out. It's probably time we got some new moves.

This particular collection of people made me giggle...a couple enjoying the wooden shoes while a half-naked girl got her picture taken professionally. She might as well just lay down in the flower bed.

And in complete contrast, and on a much more somber note, the picture below showed up in my inbox today. My dad sent it from his phone. While Mark and I ran around tulip fields, my parent's and brother were surrounded by this:

My heart breaks for Alabama and the South; no matter where I end up living in this life, I will always be a southern girl {and if the long "i" sound ever comes out of my mouth in less than two syllables, i will be forced to move back home and get my accent back}.

My family is extremely lucky {I say this with a great deal of thanksgiving and relief}. A tornado {one of several} ripped through their community in northern Alabama, destroying a church barely a half-mile from my parent's house, along with many other homes and buildings. For a little while, they were completely off the grid. No electricity will do that. But thankfully they are all okay; just without internet or lights. This means my brother had to take the hundreds of pounds of beef and chicken out of his fridge today and start grilling. I'm sure that was interesting.