Manti and Wildfires

Adam and I were wild and crazy and planned a little outing to faraway Manti.  This was the summer that I wanted to go back east to the Hill Cumorah Pageant, but Jameson came along and put that dream on hold for a bit.  We figured if we couldn't take the kids to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant we could at least take them to the Manti Pageant so we packed for overnight trip, got a hotel about an hour from Manti and went to see what we could see.

We checked into the hotel in late afternoon and let the kids swim for a bit.  After baths we went out to eat and then headed to the pageant.

Adam got the girls each a fan and they passed the time asking us to take pictures of them with their fans.

"Ok, now take one with me doing this."

"Ok, now take one of me like this."

Jameson did pretty well.  He fell asleep for the night just as the pageant was starting.

Neither Adam nor I had been to the pageant in over 15 years, but we still remembered strategies on where to park, etc. and I'm proud to say we were out of Manti within 20 min. of the pageant ending.  We made it to our hotel about 12:20 a.m. and were able to sleep until about 8 a.m. this morning when we headed home just in time for church.  It was the perfect mini-vacay and the kids loved every minute of it.

Today in Sacrament meeing they read a letter from the first presidency about praying for the firefighters and for favorable conditions to fight all of the wildfires going on in the state and country. It all hit a little closer to home when coming out of church everyone noticed smoke coming from a canyon near our homes.  I took this picture from our front porch and while the fire is mostly on the other side of the ridge it is moving closer to us and you can actually see the flames.

Right now Adam and the kids are at a park where they can see the fire more clearly.  We don't think it will get to the point where our neighborhood will be evacuated, but just in case I'm ready with boxes for my home movies, pictures, family history originals, journals, and all other irreplaceable items.  This picture is from our neighbors telescope.

They've currently got a helicopter and a plane working on the fire and they just kicked Adam out of the parking lot where he watching because they were setting up a command center.  What started it?  Kids target shooting in the canyon. Double Grrr. 

Fortunately our insurance agent is a good friend of ours and just happened to be driving through the area when he noticed the fire.  He immediately thought of us and called.  When Adam answered all he said was, "So, do you guys need to up your policy?"  Adam responded, "Yeah, like 10 minutes ago."  He laughed, "I'll make it effective yesterday." Awesome. Thanks for that. :-)   I'm sure everything will be fine but the neighborhood has been out watching the fire all afternoon.