FIRE!

We have had some excitement over here lately. On Thursday 6/21/2012, a fire was started up on Lake Mountain in between Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs. We saw it as we were driving home that day. It was pretty small at that point, but we could see it growing fast. By 4:00 that afternoon it had gone up the mountain and down the other side into the city center of Eagle Mountain. This picture (from Lyndsey Fagerlund) was take one street over from our old house. This picture was taken last night (Friday) in city center as well (Cindi Braby) There is a dirt road on the bench of the mountain that has about 15 homes or so. One of my friends (Marci Taylor) snapped this shot from her house of the fire retardant being dropped. Friday afternoon the winds changed and the fire raced around the north side of the mountain into Saratoga Springs, resulting in the evacuation of about 8,000 people in Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs. This was the view on Friday morning from my back porch. As the day went on the smoke became more and more thick. By last night I couldn't see any mountain. And here are our brave firefighters resting in-between fighting the fire. As I look out my window right now the smoke has cleared quite a bit. I don't know that it is all the way out, but it looks pretty good. And a positive is that right now winds are calm out here. Here's to hoping the worst is over and done.

Grandma Hortenses Funeral and meeting the Prophet

Our wonderful great (great-great to the kids) grandma passes away after 93 amazing years. She served so faithfully in the church. She was in the Young Women general board, served as First Counselor in the General Young Women's Presidency, and served on the Adult Correlation Committee. She was a WAVE in the Navy during WWII. She Married my Great- Grandaddy in May of 1978, so she has been the only Great Grandma I have know. I will miss her dearly. She was such a great example to me of righteous living. I love you Grandma Hortense and will miss you. Because of her church service, she was good friends with President Thomas S Monson, so it was no surprise to have him preside and give remarks at the funeral. He even came to the graveside. Here are just a few pictures of that amazing time with all those incredible people.

Dance Pictures 2012

My girls had their dance pictures taken last week, but being the cheap person that I am I decided to take my own (like I did last year). These are just a few of the pictures I took that turned out pretty well. Of course I does help that I had some gorgeous models to work with. Abby is a complete HAM!! She loves to pose and have her picture taken. I have probably about 100 pictures of them! Abby kept telling McKenzie how to pose, where to look, where to place her hands. It was really quite funny!

The End and Start of Soccer

Well, the last soccer season officially ended on May 18th with our team party. It was so much fun to get together and celebrate a wonderful season. Here are just a few pictures of the crazy night of soccer. Then the tryouts for the next season started. We have another great team set up for next year. I can't wait to get to know them better. Our first soccer practice starts tonight. It was a nice two week break while it lasted!

Abby's Preschool Graduation

It is official, Abby is no longer a preschooler. I don't know if I am ready for the next stage... kindergarten! Okay I am sure I am ready, I KNOW she is ready. It is just kind of hard to watch your baby grow up so fast. Abby is so ready for kindergarten. She was ready last year, but unfortunately was born a week too late to start. Lets just hope that kindergarten is ready for her!! Jenny is such a wonderful teacher to all those little kids! And Abby just loved being with her!Thanks for the amazing three years teaching Abby! She is really going to miss you!

Dancing at Lagoon

Abby had her first dance competition on Saturday at Lagoon. It was a MADHOUSE there! One of the guys working there said that it was the second busiest day they have all year. How fun for us (dripping with sarcasm)! Those of you who know me know how much I hate crowds and will do anything in my power to avoid them. BUT we still had a great time. Abby danced so good and they took home 2nd place in their division. Way to go Abby!! Isn't she so cute?!

If you noticed her tongue sticking out, that is what she does when she is concentrating.

Abby "Soccer Star"

Abby started playing soccer this year. The night before her first game she was up all night crying that she was scared to play in her game. I figured out that it was probably Cameron trying to teach her the finer art of slide tackling, and how to beat out the opponent that did her in. After I explained to her that she didn't need to worry about any of that she finally settled down enough to fall asleep. The next day at her game she was very quiet and volunteered to sit out first. When she finally was put in it took her all of about 30 seconds to realize just how much fun soccer is. Here are a few pictures of her on her first soccer game.

I think she ended up liking it!