You think you know someone.......Warning...Lots of Pictures

So after 19 1/2 years of knowing Shawn you would think that I know him pretty well right?  Most of the time the answer is yes but last weekend he actually surprised me.  He was watching Savannah play her Guitar on Wednesday Evening and he said he had a realization of how fast the kids are growing.  On Friday night after a movie and ice-cream (yeah!!! a date) he told me to pack up some clothes for the kids and I.  He also told me to call Julie and see if she would work for me on Saturday and Monday.  Hmmmmm, I thought.  Maybe a trip to Park City.  Nope.  I was wrong.  It wasn't Park City.  It was...............

DISNEYLAND

Of Course.  Disneyland.  Where else can a kid (and an adult) act like a kid without feeling silly.

  Shawn had booked the flights, the hotel, the car rental and had bought the Disneyland Tickets online.

  What a surprise.  We had a blast.  We did Disneyland the first day and Disneyland California the second day. We did our big turkey legs for dinner one night and ate chocolate covered bananas for a snack.  Savannah and I got henna tattoo's that were the tiger sign for the Chinese zodiac.  Both the kids picked out new hats.  At California we saw the most amazing water/light show ever.  It was called the "World of Color" and it was AWESOME.  I took millions of pictures of it.  The kids favorite rides were pretty much the same as the last time we went.  Nick loved the Tower of Terror and Savannah loved the California Screamin Roller Coaster.  I think that I loved almost every ride I went on.  Even Splash Mountain was fun this time.  I even went on it 2 times in a row.  Shawn loved the Indiana Jones ride. 

We made it home just in time for most of the day of school on Monday to both of the kids dismay.  Disneyland will do that to you.  Nothing else can compare, especially school.  Thanks Shawn for the surprise.  Maybe it will be my turn next to surprise you!!!!!



XC

I learn new things every single day as a mom.  I was never much into sports but my kids did not get my klutzy gene so thankfully they do a lot better than I did at every sport that they try.  This year since Savannah is in Middle School, she gets to try some sports that are new.  XC -stands for Cross Country- that is the new thing I learned.   XC  is one of the new sports that Savannah is trying.  She joined the XC team and so far she is loving it.  They have been running every day after school for about a month and last Thursday they had their first meet.  It was down in Springville, and we only had an hour to get from school, home to change and grab a snack and then down to Springville which is about 40-45 min away.  It was a crazy day.  Fortunately we got there just in time for some warm-up and then off went the boys.  It was a 2 mile course and we cheered on our friend Colton.  He did great for the first meet.  Our school ELA came in 2nd for the boys.

It was then the girls turn.  Savannah, Lacey and Madi stuck together and they did Awesome.  Our school came in 3rd for the girls.  The next meet is on Tuesday and we will do even better since we know what to expect now.  Go Early Light Academy. We want to come in 1st this time.

Warming Up with Coach Herringa.

Getting Instructions about the course.

Ready, Set, GO!!!!

Go Colton!!!

Savannah, Madi, Lacey about half way through.

Lacey at the finish line.

Savannah and Madi at the finish line.  Great Job Girls!!!!

Holy Smokes....

Yesterday when I came out of Church I turned to Shawn and said "Somethings on fire, can you smell it?"  Now a fire smell is nothing to worry about usually because we live close to the mountains and at least once a year you can smell a fire burning but it is usually put out within a couple of hours.  No big deal.   We came home and got potatoes ready to take to my mom's for dinner for Camille's Birthday.  I decided to leave the windows open though because the kids had cooked eggs for breakfast and the house kinda smelled rotten.  We were watching a football game at my mom's house right before we headed home and a Breaking News Report came on and said that the Mountains above Herriman were on fire.  We happen to live on the South Jordan, Riverton, Herriman border and I said to Shawn "see I told you I smelled something after Church."  Again no big deal.  As we were headed home coming down off the hill by my Mom's  I realized that I was wrong, very wrong.  It was a VERY BIG DEAL.  The Mountains were on fire, and it was moving fast.  We watched as the fire kept moving down the Mountains as we headed home.  As we were going west, a lot of cars were headed east.  At one time we hit a big wall of smoke.  We drove past our brand new Herriman High School right by our house and noticed all the police cars and people going into it.  We found out later that they were using it as the evacuation center.  We got home and boy was I so mad at myself for leaving those dang windows open.  The whole house smelled of smoke.  At least I was smart enough to close the bedroom doors so they weren't too bad.  We were at least able to breathe while we slept.  As of today the mountains are still on fire but they are getting it contained.  Four homes were destroyed.  I feel so bad for those families.  Many, many more homes are still evacuated and they are not able to return.  As I have been cleaning ash off of every surface in my family room, I can't help but be grateful that we don't live any closer to the mountains than we do.  I can't imagine what those homes up on the mountain look like.  I'm sure I will get a bunch of new info from the kids when they get home from school since many of their friends live up on the mountain so I will keep you all posted.    Here are some pictures that I stole from the News websites.