Last weekend........Bear Lake at the Jenkins' cabin. Food, Beach, lots of fun!

This weekend......3rd Annual Green Family Reunion in Alpine, Wyoming. Rafting the Snake River, Beach, and of course more food.

We love spending time with our families! Especially now since we don't live close to any parents or siblings.

My mom used to always say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." And she was totally right. It's way easier to miss people when they are gone.....the only problem is then they're gone. But it sure makes visiting more fun.

Imagine my surprise....."Wildfire in Eagle foothills destroys homes, hundreds evacuated"

This morning I woke up surprised to see rain with a little bit of a thunderstorm going on. I love a good thunderstorm though, and thought nothing of it. Later on in the afternoon I looked out our kitchen sliding glass door and was super surprised to see a lot of smoke. I went outside on the porch and could immediately smell the smoke. It looked like it was coming from the north east and I figured a brush fire had started up in the mountains or something, and went about my day.

When Austin got home from work I asked him if he had heard about a fire. He told me he had, and that was really the end of our conversation. Later on we went to the gym. I was watching the ten o'clock news says there was a major fire.....it was in eagle.....then they showed this map....I about fell of the treadmill.

My aunt Mari and uncle Kenny live in the evacuation area. Their house is on Linder about three quarters up from Beacon Light. I was freaking out, they were right in the middle of the evacuation zone. I hurried to find Austin and then asked him how much longer he was planning on staying. I really wanted to go home and call Mari. I knew they were okay since everyone who had been evacuated to the High School had gone home.....but I still wanted to talk to someone. As soon as we got home I called her. She told me that they had seen the fire come up over the hill behind their house and that they actually hadn't left because they wouldn't have been able to get back in....once you left you left until the fire department said you could go back. They just watched it really carefully, but felt pretty safe.

I am so glad they are safe, and so embarrassed and baffled I didn't even think to turn the news on earlier in the day to see where the fire was. The total acreage the fire covered was a little over 4,800. It burned three homes and a barn to the ground, but no one was injured including everyone's horses and livestock.

The house below is a couple hundred yard's from Ken and Mari's house. The fire burned everything around it. This was the case for a lot of homes.

Mari told me that around one o'clock this afternoon two of these helicopters were coming to their backyard to get water from their ponds.....and by seven o'clock there were three helicopters.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost their homes, but also so grateful no homeowners or firefighters were hurt.

Called to Serve.....(in the 80s)

While at my parent's house over the fourth of July I found some pictures I hadn't seen in quite a while. I thought these couple I found were definitely worth talking about.

The picture below is of my uncle Rick (mom's older brother-striped tie), uncle Kenny (mom's younger brother-red tie) and my dad. Notice they all are dressed up and all have their badges on.....

YES this picture was taken in the MTC,

but

NO they did not all serve their missions' at the same time.

Rick is a year younger than my dad, my mom is a year younger than Rick, and Ken is a year younger than my mom. Useless trivia? You decide, but it helps the story along.

So after my parents and Rick and Sheri were married Ken was called to serve in the Paris, France mission. While he was in the MTC Rick and my dad decided they would pay him a visit. They put on their suits and their missionary badges......and walked right into the MTC. No one tried to stop them or anything.....they must have looked like Elders coming back from the temple or something. Anyways, they found Ken in the cafeteria with his companion and sat down. My dad said Ken's reaction was priceless....and also said that Ken's companion was a nervous wreck the entire time they were there.

They hung out for a little while and then walked back out the front doors.

I'm not telling this story because I think it should be replicated or that I'm condoning anyone visiting the MTC of their own accord.....I just think it's awesome. But I also would advise no one to try this in the future. Plus, it is one of those things that was only cool the first time.

All the guys pointing to their missions:

Rick-Kentucky (a foreign mission for sure if you get into the back woods)

Ken-Paris, France

Dad-Geneva Switzerland

The Church is definitely True!

P.S. I must also add that I think at least Rick and Ken's boys look A LOT like them. I think Cole looks a ton like Rick, and Benson and Shaw look so much like Ken it's crazy.....I guess not super crazy seeing how they are closely related.

There is nothing like laying in bed listening to a good thunderstorm.......I love, love, love it!

New Job......Again

I have a new job.....again. I recently saw a job posting and thought,"What the heck....why not?" So I applied for a full time preschool teacher position at Challenger School.

I am very excited. It is an amazing school with awesome teachers and staff. The school is very patriotic and based on fundamental core principles our amazing country was founded on. They teach and instill the importance of individual rights and freedoms to their students from the very beginning. The curriculum is so great and I was so surprised during my teaching observation when the preschoolers I was working with were adding numbers super quick. It will be such a great opportunity. I can't wait to start.

(Double) What the........?

All right so I was driving down the freeway and was surprised to see a motorcycle in front of me. Not because it was a motorcycle but because I couldn't tell what kind of shirt the man had on. It was very skin colorish. The closer I got the more surprised I became.

......because the man didn't have a shirt on. Also, the man was only wearing small short shorts. I couldn't believe someone was riding 80 miles per hour down the freeway only in tennis shoes, helmet, and short gym shorts.

At least he had a helmet on......right?

What the........?

Last month Austin and I were in Utah. We drove down to Salt Lake and met this fellow driver....

I wish the picture was bigger, but I took it with my phone. Notice the following....

1. The light is red
2. Austin and I are stopped at the proper position behind the cross walk
3. The car is acutally stopped right in front of the light in the middle of the intersection.

As we stopped at the light the car acutally slowed down next to us however, they slowly pulled into the intersection. After a minute I think they realized they were in the wrong spot because they shifted into reverse, but ended up staying put in the middle of all the action. I guess everyone is lucky it was just a three-way intersection. Austin and I couldn't believe it, and got a good laugh out of it.

One day.....

One day I will have my own little girls' hair to do.....but for now my nieces will have to endure my obsession. Hallie was so busy I had to distract her with lots of things, but her pigtails turned out so cute.

"There is a destiny that makes us all brothers; none goes his way alone.....
All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own."

Edwin Markham

Now it's summer...

It's official.....I got my first mosquito bite. Now it finally feels like summer has begun.