More updates from fb. (It's just easier that way!)

Monday at 1:30 pm: Update 3: Evac has been lifted! Home confirmed burned to ground 3 streets over. That is a little too close for comfort...hopefully that will be all of the updates for now.

Today at 1:30 pm: Final update (I'll be putting pictures up later I'm sure): S says home is livable, it just smells like a campfire. Waiting patiently for our home to be assessed to be cleaned--sure it will take awhile. So if I smell like smoke for the next few weeks... :) Going home tonight and so excited. I'm not only overwhelmed by the sense of comradre amongst our community, but on a personal level for also for all of the offers to help us out with material things and a roof overhead. I am so touched, thank you. S said they had people cheering for them as they drove by in their firetruck in an adjacent neighborhood yesterday. I got chills. He stopped by our house in his bunkers, neighbors came out to talk to him. What a great way to meet neighbors! haha Amazing to see that we can all rise from the ashes. Literally :) And the cats are okay :)

We're okay. We're lucky.

Just wanted to give a quick shoutout--here are my facebook updates:

• Around 7 p.m. Sunday night: Guess who could possibly be going to fight the fire that has evacuated us? Crazy Sunday!
  
  ksl.com - Large fire burning near Camp Williams
  www.ksl.com
  Crews are working to contain a large fire burning near Camp Williams and Herriman Sunday afternoon.

• Just after midnight: The latest: sounds like the fire is pretty close to our street but I am optimistic our home will be okay. Still, I wish I had been home for the evac so I could have gathered some important things (including the kitties.) We've only been in our new home for 3 weeks; S pointed out we haven't even made our first payment yet! We both admitted that we looked at the mountain when we moved in and thought, hmmm, if that ever catches on fire that could be bad...I'm sure I'll be bloggin about this one!

• 11 o'clock this morning: Update 2: Just heard from S. He snuck up to our house at 4 this morning (being in a firetruck helps! No one questioned him!) It's still there but there is a lot of smoke damage. We are going to have to do some major cleaning. Just hoping our pets are okay. He is headed up to fight the fire right now. This is all so surreal...Evacuation still not lifted for our area so I don't know when I'll be going home. And even when I can go home, it's still uninhabitable for the time being. Taking some time off work to go shopping to get through the next couple of days. Good thing I like to shop! Thanks everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. Prayers are what made the winds shift from the north last night.

I probably shouldn't be working right now. My mind isn't exactly all here :) We are all affected by it some how. Lulu opened of the Red Cross shelter last night. KK's sister lives a block west of me and was also evacuated. Moreno lives down the road from me but was far enough away to have it not be a problem.

I can officially call myself an evacuee.

Starting her young...

S and I would agree that our mutual favorite vacation spot is San Diego. This last week we had the opportunity to go with our friends, the W's, and take our little kiddos on their first Southern California trip. I think our little Bean had a really good time.


Here are some highlights from our trip:

We opted to rent a car and drive down. At first I was thinking a minivan would be just fine. Thankfully this is what we ended up with instead.

We totally looked like a goober-mobile driving down the interstate at 90mph+, with the luggage and stroller strapped to the roof and all. The only thing missing was a sign in the back window saying Disneyland or bust! It was such a nice ride, though. I'm sold on Yukons. I asked S if we could get one. He said no. Four adults and three kids in carseats and it still felt roomy. The drive itself was a little tough with three anxious kids, but I think they did as well as we could have expected them to. Ironically, one would start to fall asleep just as another one would be waking up. There weren't a lot of naps taken. The brains of the trip decided to leave at 2 a.m. on our drive back, so the kids slept half of the time. It was much easier that way. Either way, I'm flying next time.

We got to go to the zoo again. San Diego Zoo is such an awesome place. We had taken Bean to the zoo on her birthday and were rained out so this was sort of a make-up trip. My favorite animal was the Koala. I think his sleeping position is awesome.

Bean seemed to like everything. Look at how close they let you get to the animals at this zoo...

By far one of the biggest surprises for me this trip was how much I enjoyed SeaWorld. I've been before but I usually get bored. I don't know if it was having Bean around or if it had just been awhile since I had gone, but I felt totally excited to be there.

Our friends wanted to sit in the splash zone at the Shamu show so we figured "what the heck?!" C aka "Astroboy", the four-year-old, totally got soaked. We got mildly soaked. It was a riot.

Here is an awesome picture I got of Astroboy petting a sting-ray. This ray totally just camped out for a couple of minutes and let Astroboy play with him. It was pretty cool.

This exhibit was new since I had been there last. Here is my favorite animal at SeaWorld, the balooga whale. They almost look unreal with how they glow under the water. Also pretty cool.

We spent quite a bit of time at the beach this trip. Here is Bean and her dad on Sunday after we ate at our favorite restaurant, Gringos. Astroboy totally took off and ran into the ocean. S barely caught up with him in time. They both got drenched and that water was cold! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

We were able to spend an entire day at the beach on Tuesday. I think Bean wasn't sure what to think of sitting in the sand at first but by the end of the day she was shoveling in it like a pro. A sad thing happened that day, too. We left her favorite dinosaur toy at the beach. Luckily I don't think she has noticed yet. Her Grandma H. bought her this swimsuit for her birthday and she looked so stinkin' cute!! Here she is sitting with J aka "new bff" . They are 16 months apart. And they wear the same size clothing. Awesome!

And what's a trip to SoCal without going to Disneyland?!?! The last 3 times I've done Disney (2 in florida, this trip to Cali) it has been Halloween time. I love how they decorate the park this time of year. It is so festive. I can't wait to get home and pull out my Mickey pumpkin.

Disney rides are the entire reason I love Disney parks. Astroboy was just barely tall enough to go on most of the big rides with the guys while we mommas took our daughters on less adventerous rides. We were actually able to do several rides with Bean. I took her on King Triton's carousel at California Adventures several times while we took turns going on California Screamin'. At first I don't think she got it but by the end, she was picking out the exact creature she wanted to sit on and laughing the whole way. (Astroboy is in the background of this picture--just a little too short for California Screamin' which is, by the way, my favorite roller coaster. Ever.)

All of us went on the Zephyr together at California Adventures. I thought it was pretty intense for a 13-month old, but she seemed to like it!

And the ride I've dreamed about taking my little girl on. Dumbo's Flying Elephants. This was actually the first motion ride we did. She was, like, WHOA! This is awesome!

I would have to say the moment that made this trip was when Bean met Mickey. New bff and her mom and Bean and I decided to make a quick trip into Mickey's house (thank goodness there were no lines) while we were waiting for the guys to do the roller coaster in Toon Town. New bff had been very timid around all of the Disney characters. I wasn't sure how Bean would react but when she saw the big mouse she went crazy!! She started smacking him (literally) on the cheek and grabbing his nose to which he took his nose and started tickling her. To which she started shrieking in delight. I will never forget it. I made sure to buy her a Mickey doll before we left. Like I said, I'm starting her young.

At the end of the day we are still all trying to recover a little bit. I told S I really need a vacation now. But it was honestly one of the craziest and funnest trips I've ever been on. I can't wait to go again.

So Proud!

S officially became a paramedic a few weeks ago. He graduated the end of July and took the registry the next day. It was a tense few days until we found out for sure that he had passed. When I took my registry I found out immediately that I had passed. I couldn't imagine having to wait 4 days! He handled the waiting better than I did, but it sure was a relief the morning he came downstairs with a huge grin on his face saying he had passed! And then he had to wait a few more weeks for the licensing to go through. But his little red patch came in the mail right before we moved.

He's had to start using all of his PTO so he has had a lot of time off since he finished school which has been AWEsome. I am so spoiled. He makes dinner, does laundry, cleans, and oh yeah, takes care of Bean. He's such a good dad. He goes back to work tomorrow for the first time in, like, 3 weeks? I told him last night that I almost forgot he has a job!

We're Home!

So, it's been hard not to blog about what is one of the biggest changes in our family this summer and that is moving into this...

I wanted to wait until things were all said and done. And they have been. For a week. So let me tell you the story of our new home! (I'm keeping it extremely condensed.)

June 23--listed our old home for sale.

July 2--found new home above. Planned to close July 29th. Decided to put our old home on the renter's market to see what we could get.

July 5--found potential new renter. They didn't work out.

Between July 5 and July 17--same story as July 5 with multiple prospects.

July 17--S and I started feeling sick about the whole decision. Decided to back out of renting our old home, even if it meant losing our new home.

July 19--relisted our old home for sale.

July 23--received full offer on our own home. Moved closing date on new home to Sept. 2.

August 27th--closed on the sale of our old home. Closed on the purchase of our new home. Moved into new home in under 3 hours that evening thanks to S's extreme efficiency of packing everything into our garage the week before and 7 very strong people (plus a very helpful 4 year old.)

All of these pictures are from our first walkthrough early in July. The house was a spec home and had been finished just around the date that we first listed our old home for sale. So everything is brand new. The crazy thing (and just one of the dozen reasons I feel this home was built for us) was that every single thing, from the carpet to the lighting fixtures, was exactly what we would have chosen if we had been involved in the design process ourselves.

It's hard to name a top three, but here are my favorite things about this house.

(1) The kitchen, particularly the countertop. Just imagining cookies and cupcakes spread over it...

(2) The grand entryway. It's beautiful at night from the outside, too. Imagining Bean walking down the stairs to greet her date for prom.... *sniffle*

(3) His and her sinks. We thought we were getting them in our old house until we discovered that they were an optional upgrade. I guess I'd never quite gotten over it.

We've been there for just over a week and it is already starting to feel like our home. The first few days follwing a move are always a struggle, trying to build up a routine and such. But I'm surprised at how, a week later, we have adapted pretty well. The only thing left to unpack is my craft room (it's going to be like Christmas...I've been buying this and that and then packing it away. I'm sooo excited!)

Bean had some rough nights this week, both I'm sure with adjusting to the new place and because I gave her my cold. But she seem to be okay now!

And the whole reason we moved. To get some land.

I faithfully read Better Homes & Garden. We have some major plans. I feel an idea coming on for a new blog...