"Like a fire is burning!"

Landon and Mason!  

Happy week #62 and #63!   Hope this blog post finds you doing well.  Here are a few things going on back at home.  (warning lots of pics of Gracie this week)

Gracie started preschool and she loves it!   She has now gone 2 times and can't wait for the next.  She is learning numbers, how to draw straight lines, how to follow directions and most importantly for her she gets to be with friends.  She loves being around other kids and she loves going places so preschool is perfect for her.  (Seems not that long ago I dropped two cute boys off at Miss Peggy's preschool:)

 The pumpkins came from our garden and had already fallen off the vines so we put them on the porch.  Gracie really wanted them to be in the picture. (We grew some big ones this year, we will post pictures of those around October)

Gracie is kind of hard to get pictures of.  She can be really cute, but also very distracted.  On the morning of her first day, she kept doing this look on purpose with her eyes when I went to take a picture.  Oh boy she's a character! 

On Wednesday Jacob had a flag football game.  There are only 4 teams in the Mapleton League this year.  This was their fourth game and against the toughest team (coached by Brother Perriton).  It was close game but they won!  So they have beat every team in the league already.  They will play them each one more time, hopefully they can beat them all again!  (Jacob's the one in the gray shorts with the black stripe)

 Right before the game started I noticed a fire up on a mountain above Salam.  It looked rather small but as the game went on you can see how the smoke filled the air.   We weren't too worried, cause there have been lots of fires this summer due to such a dry winter and summer. 

The next morning though it smelled like a camp fire at our house.  I tried to run in it but it was terrible.   Dad went to work and took this picture from his office.  

The next day the fire spread so much and became very large.  It is right now the #1 fire in the country.  Because of how large the fire got the cities of Elk Ridge and Woodland hills have been evacuated since last Thursday.  This is a picture I took on the way to school with Lydia the next morning.  That is Maple Mountain/Whiting Canyon. 

This picture someone posted online of the temple. 

This was Saturday coming down from Point of the Mountain where you would usually see all the mountains. 

The fire has spread 80,000 acres and it's said to have burnt down the Grotto (where we hiked before Landon left).  This fire as affected a lot of things around here but no need to worry.  As of today, not one structure (even a cabin in the mountain) has burned.  Also the air seems to get better and then get bad again.  The people in the area are fasting and praying for some control of the fire and even though 6,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, no one has had to stay in a shelter.  The people of Utah have taken them in their homes.  So if you want to add something to your prayers,  pray for Utah to get some relief from this fire. 


The xcountry team had a meet planned on Saturday at BYU. Because the air was bad in Utah County they moved the meet to Logan.  It was so nice to get out of the smoke.  Lydia wasn't thrilled about leaving at 5:30am but she was glad they were still having a meet.  The course was the same that you two ran two different times.  We enjoyed getting out of the smoke and visiting Logan for a day. 

Lydia did great and felt great after the race.  And Gracie became a sack of potatoes over Dad's shoulders. 

We wanted to feed the ducks at first dam, but when we got there they had several signs saying not to feed the ducks.  Gracie was disappointed so on our way home we stopped in Springville and found lots of ducks to feed.  First picture is Gracie at first dam disappointed, second is Gracie feeding ducks in Springville.

 Gracie loved her cute Sunday dress.  She still likes Peppa Pig!

We got a new doorbell!  It's a camera!  Gracie loves to "Ring" it and talk to us on our phones.  Dad also likes to see what's going on while he's at work (seeing the kids coming and going).
 Oh the things you can do with technology nowadays..........

Hope you are doing well!  Excited to hear from you!  You are constantly in our hearts and minds. 
We love you both very much!