Scary!

Last Thursday, Tracy and I knelt down to say our nightly prayers together. Tracy said, "We're thankful we've been protected from the fires..." After the prayer I got up to brush my teeth and thought I heard something. Now, I don't have great ears and they ring all the time, so I'm not always sure about what I'm hearing, but it sounded like a siren. Not a normal noise in our little community. I opened the bathroom door and said, "Did you hear the siren?" Tracy said no, so I figured I had heard wrong and went back to getting ready for bed. A minute later Tracy stuck his head in the bathroom door and said, "There's a fire up the canyon. Get some things packed." Yes, our little Loafer Canyon was on fire! The air was full of smoke and we could see the orange glow of flames on the top of the canyon wall, surrounded by policemen and firefighters.

We threw a bunch of important stuff into storage boxes and loaded them up in the trailer. We got our photo albums and important documents, all the musical instruments (except the pianos): an upright bass, an electric bass, a ukulele, a guitar, a tenor sax, a trombone, and a flute. I quickly packed up some clothes, toiletries and medications. Tracy got our server from the basement with all our files on it. We still had time (and room), since we planned on taking all three vehicles, so the kids started loading up their precious stuffed animals. I got my Cabbage Patch dolls. Also all the copies of my book that I had on hand to sell at Elk Ridge City Days on Saturday. We filled up all our water jugs. The police said we were on voluntary evacuation and could go up to the stake center. By the time we were all packed, though, they said we didn't have to leave quite yet, so we waited. About 1am, Camary broke down in tears, so we turned on Phineas and Ferb to cheer her up. We got word (via Facebook) that the fire was out and we were no longer in danger.

Thank heavens! Our volunteer fire dept., plus Payson's and Spanish Fork's responded so quickly that the fire only burned five acres and no homes were destroyed. I was so very grateful. I know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, and I am so heartbroken for people all over Utah (all over the west) that have lost their homes. I am so sad thinking of all the beautiful canyons destroyed. I am so thankful that ours wasn't one of them and we are all safe!

This was taken by our neighbor, across the street from his house, about a half mile from ours.

Everybody pray for rain!