Sunday, August 3, 2008

Wild Fire

We have just had a very exciting and scary weekend. On Friday a wild fire was started about 3 miles south of us in Spring Lake by a fallen power line. Sadie and I heard the sirens and saw the smoke around 3pm. Then at around 8pm we started for a walk along the route we always take but the road was closed because the firefighters were using the elementary school along that route as refueling base. At that point we saw the fire up on the mountain but it looked like it was contained. By the time we got home from our walk, the flames had grown higher and the wind had picked up and was blowing the fire toward our house. I was starting to panic and Mike was not home from work yet to calm me down. By the time Mike got home around 10pm we could hear the police on a loud speaker telling us to evacuate. The fire was at the edge of the orchard and was less than a mile away. We threw our pictures and clothes in the car and went to Mike's sisters house in Midvale because we were going to help her on Saturday anyway. There aren't words to express my feelings as we drove away from our home knowing that all our earthly possessions could be gone in the morning.
We got back late Saturday night from Mike's sisters so it wasn't until this morning that we saw the damage of the fire. No homes were burnt but the fire came within 200 yards of our house and burnt all along the edge of the orchards behind our house. I guess they turned the water on the orchards so they acted as a barrier between the fire and all our homes. Everyone evacuated is within our ward boundaries so we had a very thankful fast and testimony meeting at church today. I think that the fire is mostly out now. It was burning on the other side of the mountain but we can no longer see it. We did see a huge helicopter sucking up water from the irrigation pond right across the street from us all day today. Sadie enjoyed watching the helicopter. We watched it suck up water than ran to the window in back of our house and watched in spray the water on the mountain. At first it was exciting to see all the action but it quickly got old because the helicopter was so loud.
Needless to say, we are very grateful that we still have a home to live in and grateful that everyone in our ward is safe.

Sliding at the Park

Sliding at the Park
This is Sadie's Cheesy Smile

Playing Outside

Playing Outside

Learning to ride a scooter

Learning to ride a scooter
Sadie loves riding bikes and scooters but still needs dads help to do it.

Playing in the snow

Playing in the snow
This is the first main snowfall this winter and Sadie is trying out her early Christmas present.

Sadie's no no

Sadie's no no
Sadie doing 2 things she knows gets her in trouble: getting into moms books and pulling ordiments off the tree.

Sadie's Glare

Sadie's Glare
Sadie likes to glare at everyone. She is experimenting with the different looks she can make with her face.

Fire Photos

Fire Photos
This was taken from the canal road right next to our townhouse, to the west

Helicopter

Helicopter
this was taken Sunday from our 2nd story balcony. We call it the big bumble bee.

Getting Closer

Getting Closer
taken from our backyard right before we had to evacuate

"Helping" make the birthday cake

"Helping" make the birthday cake

Birthday Cake

Birthday Cake
Sadie loves sugar so she had a blast digging into her very own cake. She only sampled the half closest to her.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!
Sadie eating and playing on her birthday.

At the Playground

At the Playground
Sadie loves going to the playground.She is a brave little girl and has just started to gor down the slide by herself.

Swinging

Swinging
Sadie loves swinging. She laughs and laughs when we push her. She is not afraid to be pushed really high