Stowellzone

Well, Mason fall soccer season is over!  They start up again the in spring and we think on the same team and everything.  Which would be good because Mason really liked his coach.  While he’s not the most aggressive kid, he loves running around and kicking the ball when it comes right to him!   He barely made the cut off this year to play, so he was one of the youngest, so we are hoping he gets a little more aggressive as he gets older!  But here are some cute shots of him playing.

Go Black Tigers!

Mason’s class took a field trip to the pumpkin patch last week.  He loves pumpkin patches and was really excited to go!

His Class

Going through the corn maze.  Mason loves to follow paths so he loved this.

Picking a pumpkin.  They all picked the littlest ones because they are sad because everyone always wants the big ones and they always get left behind!

Then they went into a barn, read a story and got some doughnuts and hot chocolate!

Playing on the tractors

It was a great field trip!

Back when we were searching for our home, we looked at sooo many houses, we got to know our agent, Jared, pretty good.  He took us to a BYU game and we had a few chances to meet his little girl and his wife.  Then a few months later, I was actually working when they came in the have their second little girl!  Anyway, he was doing hot air balloon rides in the ReMax balloon and asked if we wanted to come and get a ride and have Jeremy take pictures of everyone during their rides.  It would be good advertisement for Jeremy, so we went and did it.  We had to get up pretty early, but the kids didn’t care.  Mason was pretty scared of the balloon…or I should say the fire in the balloon.  He is still scared of fire, it’s pretty sad.  Jeremy’s mom and dad and Ethan were coming up that day, so we told them to come on over and once Ethan was there, Mason was excited to ride the balloon…until it was our turn.  Then he started crying and refused to get on.  Then McKinley started crying cause she could see him crying, the man in the balloon scared her, and the noise from the fire scared her!  So she cried the while time we were riding.  Oh well, it was fun!

Mason’s preschool goes a few field trips throughout the year. His first was to Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake. He was pretty confused about why we were going there and not to school, but he had a really good time looking at all the birds. McKinley got to come along and she really enjoyed it too.

His Class

Some Birds

Being a Flamingo

Feeding the Ducks

Having a Picnic After

I really love his school, they are always doing fun things, Mason loves his teachers and is making some new friends.  His teachers are constantly telling me how much they love him and how is so happy all the time!

Even before the fire, Jeremy and I were thinking we needed a good vacation, just the two of us, to relax and get away.  Well, after the fire….we REALLY needed it!  I flew out Thursday night to meet Jer (who had been there since Sunday for work).  I flew to Oakland cause it was quite a bit cheaper and I made sure my flight came in late enough that Jeremy would be done with his conference and could meet me there because I really didn’t want to try and find my way to our hotel by myself!  I was excited when we got there, even though it was pretty late, so we dropped my stuff off at the hotel and went for a little walk, then stopped and a fun little diner and split a meal and had a shake!  We stayed at the Parc 55 hotel and I think it was in the best spot, kind of in the middle of everything.  The next day we walked down the piers and met some friends from Jeremy’s work and went to Alcatraz together.  Jeremy took a million pictures, but here’s just a few.

These are our friends, Chris and Ali.

In Jail (LOL)

Alcatraz is a photographers dream, everywhere we looked, we kept pointing out places that would make a good place for pictures!

After Alcatraz, we walked up to a Little Italy for dinner and both Chris and I and spotted a restaurant while walking around earlier called The Stinking Rose that we wanted to try so we went there.  And let me tell you, if you don’t like garlic, this is NOT the place for you!  Everyone’s dinner was delicious, but our appetizer was what we all loved the most.  All it was, was garlic cloves that were roasted until they like butter and we put that on some bread….yum!!  I’m sure we all smelled like garlic until the next day but it was well worth it!

We meet Chris and Ali for lunch the next day to say good-bye since they were leaving that day and then Jer and I headed down the Fisherman’s wharf.  We walked to Pier 1 and then all along the piers, to Fisherman’s Wharf and then up  to Ghirardelli Square where we got the most delicious ice cream.

Then we walked up to Lombard street.

We did A LOT of walking that day, which was ok, because if you know me, you know I am a foodie and I was looking forward to eating a good restaurants as much as I was the entire vacation!  We ended up splitting a lot of meals because  I wanted to try so many different places, which was good, we didn’t spend as much money and didn’t get stuffed after every meal.  After all that walking though, I really wanted to ride the trolley back to our hotel!

Sunday was our adventure day.  Jeremy really wanted a cool picture of the Golden Gate Bridge and since who knows if we’d ever be there again without our kids, we got up at 4:30 am, got a cab and went out to the bridge.  We had him drive across it and then we were planning on hiking up a hill to get “the perfect shot”.  The cabbie thought we were crazy for going there so early and even more crazy because we were in short sleeved shirts, NO JACKETS, and I was in flip flops.  We figured it would be cold in the morning and we would just tough it out because we didn’t want to carry around jackets all day.  Ha!  We walked down the freeway a bit then went under this scary bridge to get to the other side (little did we know there’s a nice little walkway under the bridge that have been much easier, faster, and less scary), then up a hill quite a ways to “the perfect spot”.  An lo and behold there it was…FOG!!!  We sat up for almost 3 hours in the freezing cold, no jackets, flip flops, soaking wet from the fog, laughing because, well it was funny and this was best shot we got.  If you look real close you can kind of see the top of one tower!

LOL! After we walked down a little ways we did a few more decent ones, but the sun was up quite a ways by then.

And here’s some pictures of how wet and cold we were.  There was a random guy up there taking pictures too…he was in a parka!

Oh well, we didn’t get the perfect shot, but it was funny and a great memory!  We just went back to the hotel after that, went to a movie, and then took a nap, before heading to China Town to get some stuff for the kids.

Here’s a few random pictures.  There was Mason stuff everywhere, we were really close to Mason St. and knew Mason would love seeing his name everywhere…which he did!

This restaurant rocked!  So good!

This picture was just for Mason! LOL

It was a great vacation, we had no schedule really, so we were never in a hurry, never rushed, we just took our time and did what we wanted.  It was great!  I loved the old feel of the city and there are some amazing buildings, but it was pretty dirty, so after 4 days, we were glad to get home!

Most people who are reading this have either heard this story from me or on facebook, but I’m telling it again in a lot of detail so I can have it written down for our own records.  It’s pretty long and pretty detailed. 

We woke up Sunday morning (9/19/10) and started it like any other Sunday.  We did notice that morning (we had slept with our windows open) that there was a smoke smell outside.  Which we are not really sure what that was because they say the fire didn’t start until around 12:00 or 1:00 but this was at 8am.  Jeremy was leaving later that day to go to San Francisco for a work conference until Thursday, then I was going to fly out and meet him and we’d stay until Monday and have a nice little vacation, just the two of us.  We had to leave to take Jeremy to the airport as soon as we got out of Church, so Jeremy stayed home with Kinley to make sure everything was ready to go so we just had to change my clothes then head out the door.  On the way home, I noticed a huge billow of smoke coming from the direction of our house, so I called Jeremy and told him that I knew what the smoke smell had been this morning, there was a fire near us, but I thought it was further north.  As I got closer to home, I called him back said it was actually our mountain that was on fire, I couldn’t see any flames but it was back behind the mountain behind our house.  At this point he was sitting on the plane and it was around 4:30.  I watched it for an hour then called my parents to tell them about it and told them I was going to put  a few things together, just in case and told Jeremy the same when I could talk to him again.  Around 6pm the smoke was back behind our house which was better for us because of the way the wind was blowing (not so good for the poor people who’s houses burned though).

Then suddenly the wind shifted and it went back to where it was before…back to where it was making me nervous.

I gathered up important papers and put them in the car and finished packing a few clothes, Jeremy’s camera stuff that was still here, my rings my Grandma had given me, and the kid’s “important” toys.  I knew if it started getting worse, I would unplug the computers and our EHD that has ALL our pictures on it and put them in the car as well.   Over the next half hour, I watched it get redder and redder.

This one was taken in the front of our house, all the rest were from the back.  It was about 7:40 pm.

I walked over to neighbors who were also outside watching this (most of the neighborhood was) and started talking to them when another neighbor came over and informed us that 3-4 houses had already burned over the hill.  We started getting more nervous and then looked up to see the flames come over the ridge.

At this point everyone who was outside, turned and ran inside and started packing.  I went and called Jeremy to give him another update (all this time sending picture him and my parents pictures on my phone) and started packing up the computers and EHD.  I started looking all around my house wondering what else I should grab, what couldn’t be replaced, and trying to keep the kids calm.  McKinley didn’t really understand what was happening, but Mason could see the fire and could see my stress and all the neighbors stress.  Once my neighbors across the street from me and next me realized I was alone, they were incredibly great and kept stopping by to see if they could help me.  Because I had started packing so much earlier, I was ahead of them, so I just told them no.  Everyone turned their sprinklers on, I had to call Jer to get a crash course on how to do it!  I sat Mason down and told him that the fire was getting close to our house and that we may have to leave to go to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s and that I needed him to be a big helper and to listen to me and when I said to get in the car, to do what I asked.  He said ok, but if the fire got to our house then it would break it.  I gave him a hug and said, I know, that is why we need to go if it gets too close. He then kept following me around asking me what he could do to help (so sweet!).  I asked him to go pack their toothbrushes because I hadn’t gotten there yet and he ran up there and put every single tooth brush he could find in the bag.  No toothpaste, but all the toothbrushes!  He kept looking out the window and telling me that the fire was getting too close and that we needed to go! As I was looking around my house, I called Jeremy and asked him if he was here what would he take.  He wasn’t too much help because not only was he trying to figure out the public transportation in San Francisco while dragging all this bags behind him, he was worrying about us and the house at home, so he couldn’t really even picture the house!  Poor guy!  I started to cry while I was talking to him and having a small melt down, he started to calm me down when someone knocked on our door.  I got off the phone and went to answer it, it was my neighbor telling me that it was official, they were announcing that we needed to leave.  He could see that I was crying and grabbed my shoulders and said that everything was going to be ok, to just get my family in the car and go, that was all that really mattered.  So I shook it off, did one last look around the house and told the kids it was time and to get in the car.  Mason grabbed his little pile he was in charge of, said Ok, Mom, I got my cars, I’m ready!  Then tried to get McKinley to get in the car with him.  I loaded the kids and Bogee in the car.  Meanwhile I’m getting phone calls and texts like crazy from family members and friends concerned and wondering what was going on.  My Grandma Johnson called just after I got the kids in the car and told her we were being evacuated, I was heading to Delta, I’d call her on the way.  She then got on the phone, told my Aunt Denise what was going on, who called my parents and informed them I was on my way since I hadn’t had a chance to call them yet!  Since I lost my phone at Lagoon I had been using Jeremy’s old phone and the battery life was awful.  I hardly had any battery left, but I needed to let my parent’s know I was coming and I thought I’d better let Jeremy’s parents know what was going on.  This was the last picture I took and it was taken about 40 minutes before I left the house.  I left around 9:00 pm.

The fire was really amazing to watch, it looked like lava pouring down the mountain and it was moving so quickly, the wind was blowing so hard.  I made the long drive to Delta, all the while praying for our home and praying I wouldn’t hit a deer since they were all over the place.  Since so many people were being evacuated, it took forever to get out of town.  When I pulled up to my parents, they came out to help me get the kids and everything inside and commented on how awful we all and car smelled!  I stopped in Lehi to get gas and when I got back in the car, I almost passed out because it smelled so bad.  I feel bad for the people in the gas station!  We got the kids in bed and asleep and I started calling family members to let them know we were in Delta and safe.  Jeremy was back in San Francisco listening to the police scanner over the internet, trying to get some sort of information.  My neighbor sent me a text around midnight saying that the fire was 300 yards from our houses and it wasn’t looking good.  I figured at that point the house was gone.

I spent the night on my parent’s couch, not sleeping, but watching Fox news since they were giving updates every hour.  At the 4:00 am update, no new houses had burned, so I finally fell asleep.  My dad got up at 5 to go to work and I woke up then and was glued to the TV.  Still no new houses had burned.  My neighbor sent me a text around 7 and said that it looked like our circle was spared, but just barely.  At 8, they started showing overhead views on the news and I finally saw our house, but also saw that it had burned right up to our rock wall in our back yard.  I was filled with relief and feeling so grateful.  It wasn’t over yet, the fire wasn’t even 90% contained and the weather for the next few days meant more high winds.  I don’t think I’ve ever talked and text on the phone as much as I did that Monday.  It was humbling to see and hear from so many people who were concerned and worried about us.  Sunday night I had several text and phone calls from friends inviting me stay with them.  It was really very sweet.  Here was the first really good picture we got of our house.  Ours in the 3rd one in with the white fence on one side.

This is another one that I got off of facebook, it’s of the entire mountain.  We are on the very left side the photo, at the top of the first street heading to the mountain, one street away from the reservoir.

Tuesday was the big wind day and the big worry day for the fire fighters.  After waiting all day for any reports, finally at 7:00 they announced that all the lines had held, the fire was now 50% contained and they were lifting the evacuation on the east bench (us)!  I was so happy, but sad because since it was so late, I wouldn’t be able to go back home until Wednesday.  Luckily, Jeremy’s dad had taken the entire week off of work and so on Wednesday I left the kids with him, so I could go see the damage without them for the first time.  I wanted to see if could stay in the house or not that night before my mom brought them up after she got off work.  Amazingly there was no smoke damage and house hardly smelled.  I had left the air conditioner on the entire time so I figured our house was covered in soot.  I walked out the backyard to see our hose strung out (the fire fighters must have used it lol) and the grass in the back yard was a puddle from the water from the fire hose.

This was on our door, they tied these to doors once they knew the house was empty.  I also had a sign on our door saying we had evacuated with our contact info on it, but my neighbor took it down for me, so everyone didn’t know no one was home.

Yay, the scrub oak survived!  We think they really tried to keep it away from this so it wouldn’t spread to our neighbors unfinished backyard that’s full of flammable weeds.

I sat down and cried for a minute when I saw these and realized just how blessed we were.  My mom brought the kids ups a few hours later.  Mason just starred out the window for a long time looking really sad.  When I asked him what was wrong, he said he was really sad because his mountain was black.  I sat him down again and told it was ok, because the house, all his toys, his bed, everything was safe and didn’t burn, just the mountain did.  But he was pretty quiet and just kept looking out the window.

The firefighters were camped out in our circle for a few days.  Mason loves any kind of truck, so we went out to get some pictures of the truck and the firefighters.  Sadly, Mason was scared of the truck.  One of the fire fighters gave all the kids a tour of the truck and told them all what everything did (some things in a little too much detail lol).  Every time he opened a compartment, Mason would jump.  He told me he was afraid that fire was going to come out of the truck.

But we finally talked him into sitting on the truck!

On Thursday, my mom and I cleaned up the house (well really she cleaned it while I packed for San Francisco and a few more things for the kids to go back down the Delta).  We noticed the truck trying to make it’s way across the hill and we all just sat and watched in fascination because the hill is pretty steep and it kept putting the arm down the prevent it from tipping over!

During the fire, a bulldozer and come up and bull dozed a huge line behind all the houses to stop the fire.  It only made it the back corner of our house (not behind our house) and the tractor was going up there to kind of fill in the line.  We were guessing to prevent it from being a pathway for water to run into the yards of the people below us.

Mason of course thought this was really cool and ran inside to get his own tractors and then the kids sat out on the deck and watched and played.

Although he was pretty sad when the tractor left and the mountain was still black…he thought they were fixing it!  Poor kid!

I still am in awe of how lucky we were.  I honestly left my house that night thinking that we wouldn’t have home in the morning.  I’m so grateful to the fire fighters and town of Herriman.  They really pulled it together and were really prepared for the emergency.  They opened up the High School for evacuations and restaurants and stores all over the valley provided food for the evacuees and everyone fighting the fire.  They also quickly got people out there to start reseeding all the burned areas, putting up barriers to prevent mud slides from rain, and fixing any damage that was caused by the fire.  We are so blessed!

Here’s a cool video of the whole process.  It’s kind of long but pretty cool.  They were in our yard and circle for several pictures.