Aida

I went to see Aida on Saturday with my family. It was so wonderful! This is the second time this summer I've fallen in love with a musical I haven't seen before. I've always loved old musicals: Singing in the Rain, Kiss Me Kate, Sound of Music....etc, etc. But what fun is it to find new music and shows to love. Especially in this age we live in where so much of what is produced is just "smut and corruption" ;). My favorite newer musicals are Wicked, Secret Garden and now Aida. I guess I'm counting Phantom and Les Mis with my older set of loves because I've loved their music since I was at least in Junior High.

Anyway, I'm kind of getting on a musical kick again, after being a little absent for a few years. What shows do you love? If you don't love musicals I feel for you...

Anyway, if you can go see Aida at Tuachan this next month or so...GO! I've never seen it before, but thought it was so well done and well suited for the setting. Tip of the day: Don't wear long sleeves or pants...it's still over 90 degrees down there right now, even when the sun goes down!

Latest On The Fire

Hey everyone, I just got back from New Harmony at this morning. Here is what I witnessed the past couple of days:

Saturday Night:

I arrived after all the major drama, including a fire wall that was around 200 yards from my parents house. When I got there it was dark. At that time there were over 100 trucks in the town and I could see about 20 of them on the west side of our property. In fact we had a truck and hoses all over our property on 325 n. just north of the main town. The shots Kristy posted were taken as soon as I got to our house. They were taken west and south looking at the mountain. We stayed up until about 1:00 am that night making sure to watch for hot spots.

Sunday

When we woke we saw the smoke settle down and surprisingly all of the houses on the mountain were saved, the fire burned all the vegetation right up to their foundations. You could see damage to the exterior of some of the houses, but the structures looked in tact. We couldn't believe our eyes, from what it looked like through the night we thought those homes were lost for sure. There were a lot of brave firefighters who deserve some recognition for saving those homes. The big tankers flew in as the wind died down in the morning and we sat on our porch and watched them dump thousands of gallons of fire retardant on what was left of the mountain. From our view the massive amounts of water and retardant being poured on the mountain looked like a few drops sprinkled on a camp fire. It made me wonder if it was even worth them doing what they were doing. We watched the fire rise up to the top of the mountain and by the evening the fire had peaked. That night it stared back down the mountain. As we watched the flames consume whole valleys and flames that must have been over 500 feet tall come back down the mountain we became alarmed and started packing up our stuff to be ready if an evacuation was called for.

Monday:

When we woke the fire fighters had held the fire from reaching the town again. The category one team was ready to take over, and the mountain was covered in smoke. I couldn't tell where the fire was, I couldn't see many flames. The smoke in the valley was not too bad, and I am not sure how much of it will remain in the houses due to the perpetual campfire smell both in and out of our house.

I have to many photos to post, so I am going to post them tomorrow on a gallery which at that time I will include a link. Mom and Mel are still there and I am sure Mom will keep us posted when she gets her computer back up. Feel free to call me with any questions.

Thanks,

Joey

The War Zone

Joe took this picture last night. It looks to me like it's the road right off my in laws property. I think it's considerably calmer tonight...that's what they are telling me anyway, but maybe they are just saying that because I haven't seen my hubby for over 24 hours and they don't want me to worry :o)

More pictures probably to come. Joe said he got some really cool ones tonight.

Safe for now

My in laws live in New Harmony. The have had a managed burn on the mountain burning for about a month. Last night it went out of control. At least three, maybe up to 7 or 8 homes have burned to the ground. My in laws are safe for now. This was the image from their home last night. Joe is out there right now with his parents doing what they can. The wind has picked up again today and so we're still praying everyone stays safe. Please keep them in your prayers.

If you are looking for some FUN...

Hey all - just wanted to make you aware of a really FUN event going on in September. It is called the Apple Fest and it will be happening in Fillmore on September 18 and 19th. I took my kids last year and it was such a blast! On top of it all, it's for a really good cause. Any money they make will be donated to Primary Children's Hospital. If you want more information they have a blog at roperapplefest.blogspot.com that outlines all the information. For my Cedar friends Fillmore is only a 90 minute drive from here and it was well worth it!

I unfortunately will not be able to attend as we have a prior reservation to attend Melon Days in Green River and all the family will be there this year :) But I did want to let my blog readers know just in case any of you have the chance to attend. I think it's well worth supporting!

My little Florence Nightengale

So Monday I don't know what happened...but I got SICK! We went to Joey's office after daycare to pick him up for FHE. He recently got a new office so we went up to see it. Joe asked if I was OK and I kept saying I just didn't feel good. I thought it was because I just hadn't eaten enough for lunch (pork ribs weren't sounding good so I stuck to the veggie and bread route...) I thought I'd be fine as soon as we got something to eat. Couldn't wait that long as I lost it just outside the building. I felt better for a bit and we went to the Pastry Pub for dinner. I had half a veggie sandwich and a sprite, but it still wasn't sitting well. We went to the park and sure enough....lost my dinner right next to the playground. My apologies to the lady that was sitting there with her baby...I tried to make it to the bathroom, but it wasn't happening. Then I couldn't stop sneezing (I think the veggies irritated my allergies...). We dropped Joe back off (he had some more work to do) and I headed home. I don't know what the deal was, but I didn't get two blocks down the road before I had to pull over AGAIN! I got home, put a movie on for the kids, took half a unisom, a zrytec and some water. Couldn't keep that down either. I took a bath and was fine, but as soon as I stood up I was sick again. I finally gave up and just layed down.

Kelley was the sweetest little thing all night. She kept coming to check on me, asking if she could get anything and was the best little nurse I could ask for. I couldn't get a hold of Joey at work because his phone hasn't been moved since he has. So she was it. She told me "Momma...if in the morning you aren't feeling good and just want to lay down, just let me know and I can handle the daycare kids until Misty gets here." She also put Tyler to bed for me (story and all!) and picked up the living room for me. She got me water, a hair band, a cold washcloth, the thermometer, tissues and tums. Then this morning about 6:30 AM she came in to see how I was feeling (much better thanks!) I couldn't have got better care if I had paid for it!

Big thanks also to my brother, who ran to the store to get some noodle soup and tylenol for me. Also to my dear hubby who didn't get home until LATE and then had to put away laundry and make the bed as I had been totally unable to do so. You are the best!

So we let Kelley come with us to the ultrasound yesterday and she told the tech "I'm tired because I didn't get to bed until really late last night. I had to take care of my mommy and clean the living room." That sounds a little strange not knowing the backstory ;)

The saddest part of the story is this...I think I must have been "sick" sick (as opposed to baby sick) because Kelley did the same thing all night tonight. Poor thing! She had been invited to a "late night fancy nancy" party and everything. I felt so bad for her! Hopefully she recovers quickly and is fine in the morning.

And it's a....

Baby! Whew! No we didn't find out what it was...true to our plans! I was a little worried Joey would sabatage it and change his mind last minute. I decided a long time ago it would be fun to be surprised in the delivery room. Never wanted to do that before, but now we have one of each...what fun! Joey didn't want to do it that way, but he had agreed to do it because I wanted to. A few weeks ago though he said he wanted to talk to the ultrasound tech "alone" after we were done. Well that didn't fly...he can't know if I don't! So I thought he might pressure me into it in the room, but he didn't. However we both came out of there thinking it was the same thing (which we won't disclose at this time). So won't it be funny if we are both wrong in December! What is funny is yesterday I started to have second thoughts....if Joey would have tried to change my mind today, he probably could have. Oh well!

While we are talking baby news...I just have to say I am SO happy...I haven't gained any weight in at least four months! I gained like 5 pounds the first month and then have stayed steady at just 2 pounds less than that since then. Thanks heavens! I know you are supposed to gain weight during pregnancy, but I gained enough BEFORE I got pregnant to last me for a little while! Don't get me wrong, my belly is growing, but apparently nothing else is for now ;)