First Day of School 2011

After all the excitement of the last few weeks we finally got Maggie all outfitted and ready for school. Brand spanking new from head to toe!
She's ready to tackle the third grade!

Zoe and Wyatt had to have a picture too. They are going to miss Maggie while she is gone all day.

We have a tradition of taking the kids to McDonald's for breakfast on the first day of school. Glenn couldn't join us this year, but we all had a great breakfast and Maggie is ready to head to school.

Maggie's teacher seems like a great fit for her. She is a super nice Grandma that loves kids and chocolate! I hope they have a great year together.

Since I drove Maggie on the first day she didn't get to ride the bus and I didn't get the official bus picture. This was actually her third day, but the bus didn't change so we will just pretend I was on the ball and got it sooner!

In the rush to get out the door to the bus stop Wyatt didn't quite take a big enough step outside the door and fell on his forehead. Once we got into our little walk to the bus stop he got over the tears and had a good time.

It was a windy day and Zoe was having a hard time keeping her hair under control.

Happy new school year Maggie!!

Sundance in the Fall

We made our annual drive down to Sundance to check out all the fun fall colors. I wasn't comfortable having Wyatt on the lift so we sent the girls with Grandma, Grandpa, Starr and her kids. Wyatt was watching out for them and looking so cute while doing it!

After all the time we spent waiting for them to get back down the mountain I totally missed getting pictures of them at the bottom. Bad mommy!!

Pictures

This photo was taken by a neighbor that lives behind our complex. That's our apartment with all the flames going up through the roof.
The next day...
This is our living room with newly added sky lights everywhere...
What's left of our couch and rocking chair. It's too depressing to explain what those pictures were...

Our two laptops are a melted mess on our burned out desk. Somehow Glenn was able to pry them apart and actually rescue the hard drive from mine that had pictures on it. His didn't fair as well since it was on top...
Sad TV surrounded by insulation that came down with the ceiling...
ALL of Maggie's brand new school clothes were on the couch waiting to be put away. They were melted and shredded to pieces...
Would anyone like to come over for dinner?...
Drippy melty microwave...
The picture on the right was our wedding photo taken at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. The picture on the right was a sketch of Christ with the thorns on his head...
We were finally getting some good food storage set up. It was very funny to us that the plastic was melting around all the napkins and toilet paper, but the contents were not burned. This room just got REALLY hot and smokey...
This is the kids playroom. The window was knocked out and the ceiling collapsed in here too. Everything was such a soggy mess...
All the kids have really loved this kitchen. We have heard from a few different sources that anything plastic that has been through a fire has to been gotten rid of. It changes the chemicals in the plastic and makes it toxic. All the kids toys had to be left behind...
We were able to save this picture of Maggie...
But not this one of Zoe...
We aren't exactly sure what happened in this bathroom. It was the master bath at the back of the apartment, but it has lots more smoke damage and the ceiling caved in as well. The rest of our room doesn't look that bad...

I was very worried about all of my pictures, but they seem to be alright. I still haven't had time to look at them closely or transfer them to new boxes. I'm sure they smell lovely...
My cedar chest was in the girls room which was the least damaged of all the rooms. Just a little smoke damage, but overall okay. The fabric on top of the chest smells a little bit, but the contents smell like cedar. I'm very excited since all the quilts my Grandmother's have made me are in there...
This picture makes me laugh. Not sure why, but it's just funny...
Just before the fire started Glenn had told Maggie that she needed to go read for awhile. She picked a book and climbed up on our bed. When we came back the next day her book was right where she left it and wasn't damaged except for smelling like smoke...
The kids bikes were out on the balcony. This is what's left of them and Glenn's as well. One of Glenn's bikes just totally melted...
This is what the Wii looks like inside...
The firefighters told us that the flames had actually come up the vents into our dryer so it's most likely a total loss. Ya think?...
These were the only toys that we were able to salvage. We washed them up and they got pretty clean. I will save them as keepsakes for the kids...
Overall a very scary and sad experience, but we are all handling it very well. It will be nice to get into our new place with new furniture and get back into a routine. Hopefully our stomachs can get back to normal as well. The stress had definitely taken it's toll!!

And, yes Russell, I'm still smiling!!

Apartment Fire

I'm not sure I'm totally ready to be doing this, but here goes anyway.

Sunday evening around 7:00 the little kids were playing in the playroom with their toys and Maggie had gone into our room to relax on our bed and read a book. I decided to grab my new book and see how much I could get read before someone was at my feet needing something. Glenn had come out of the room after helping Maggie get situated and sat down on the couch to watch some TV.

After he sat down he commented on some smoke coming up from the balcony below ours and how they must not know how to barbecue. After another comment or two I got up to see since my view was blocked by our cabinet sitting next to my chair. By that time the smoke was black and we realized it was not coming from a barbecue.

We both looked over the balcony to see what was happening and we could see a small patch of flames in the corner of her balcony. At this point it could have been put out with a fire extinguisher so Glenn grabbed ours and made his way downstairs. I, as calmly as I could, scooped up Wyatt and ushered Maggie and Zoe out the door. I fished my phone out of my purse and slipped my flip flops on and we got out of our apartment. By the time the kids and I were out to the sidewalk the flames were huge and taking over our apartment. In a few moments time it went from a small flicker of a candle to totally engulfing both our apartment and the one below. The heat was so unbelievably intense that we had to make our way across the parking lot to the grass near another building. In the seconds we had while getting to safety I made the call to 9-1-1.

It was not very many minutes before we could hear the sirens and knew that help was on it's way.

The kids were understandably upset and we could not get them calmed down so when a neighbor and ward member up the hill called to see what was happening I asked if she could come down and take the kids to her house so they could be away from the scene. She came quickly and picked us up. I stayed with them until I knew they were alright and playing with their daughter. During the short time I was there she was receiving phone calls from other ward members asking what we needed and volunteering clothes and diapers for us. My stomach was taking the brunt of my stress so after a few antacid pills and some water I decided I could go back down and see what was happening and how Glenn was doing. He had not had the chance to grab his phone so I had no way of talking with him other than the sporadic use of another friends phone.

I started walking back down the hill and just about the time I was able to see our apartment between the other buildings my phone rang with my Mom on the other end. I could no longer contain my frustration and total fear so the tears started and my heart fell as I stood stunned by the blackness that used to be our home. Mom informed me that they were coming up and they were leaving right away.

I tried to get myself under control so I could maneuver through the maze of firetruck, firefighters, other tenants and hoses. I made a complete circle around the complex before I was able to find Glenn. They were still working on putting out hot spots and it was still over an hour before they were convinced it was all out and safe to leave. It was very difficult for us to have to walk away without even knowing if any of our belongings would be able to be saved.

The apartment owners paid for us to stay at a hotel for 3 days so we picked up the kids, and the clothes neighbors had brought over for them, and headed to Wal Mart to get jammies, toothbrushes and a few other items. Needless to say we did not get much sleep. Zoe and Wyatt were able to crash, but the rest of us had a very difficult time relaxing and closing our eyes.

I will put up pictures in a separate post.