Charlotte Fire Update

1,089 acres burned

95 structures lost

estimated cost 200K

50% contained (I do not see it growing though)

I got this off the NICC website Here.

At least 7.6 Million in property damage according to the county assessor.

Charlotte Fire Pocatello Idaho

To help the victims, donate to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund which is helping in the area.

I worked at the hospital yesterday, starting about 2 pm. I am on the 5th floor doing some medical chart audits around 3:30 - 4:00 when some nurses tell me that there is a fire raging South of Town. Sure enough, I can see the flames from the top floor window right in the Mink Creek area. Super dry, 90+ weather and wild wind. NOT fun conditions to fight fire. (Logan and I drove up threw there Monday to hike up to the top of Scout Mountain.) They evacuated the surrounding area. 66 homes have been burned down and I am sure there will be a lot of restoration work done to others. Luckily no one was killed during the fire. As of this morning the NICC website states that there are 450 burned acres and an estimated cost of 150K. It also states that 0% contained but as the day has gone on the fire has not burned anymore and has been contained. I will post more from tomorrows NICC report.

Thanks to the Idaho State Journal for these two pictures

I got this picture from Adam Velasquez' facebook account. This is what is left of his parents house. 

This is a picture from Colin Carr's cell from Idaho State University I believe.

I think I will have to drive through the area after they reopen it and get some pictures of the devastation.  Alexis and I wish the best for all the families losses.

Summer Time and the Livin's Easy

This summer has been a fun one. I am not sure where to start....
  VayAnn and her family came to visit and it was so much fun!! I wish we lived closer together. We would have lots of good times. It was fun while it lasted. VayAnn is my sister to those that don't know. We met a few years ago, and I am really glad we did because we love their family!! Her kids are really cute, too. The last time we saw them I was super big and pregnant with V.  Josie was almost 3 and she kept asking me to open my tummy so she could see the baby, haha. Now she is so grown up. It's crazy how fast kids grow! Landon is a little older than Mattix and he took his first steps here! It was really fun. I wish they could have stayed longer, but I am glad they were able to visit.
  We went to the big AZ a few weeks ago. It was rockin!!! The car ride down was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Vella got car sick a lot, though, which was not fun. Puke over everything! She is a tough girl and handled it really well and it only took us 13 hours to get there, which is long, but way better than I imagined. It was soo nice to see my family. I miss them! I wish we were able to visit them more or we lived closer. They haven't really been able to see my kids grow and it is rough at times. I need to be better at blogging! I am really regretting not getting pictures while we were there, but that's what I get! I kept thinking about it, but we were busy so I didn't make it a priority. We stayed overnight at the Arizona Grand Resort and it has a big water park. It was awesome, especially because I love swimming. That is one of the hardest things about living in Idaho. I miss swimming all the time like I used to. I told Greg that if we decide to stay here he has to build me a pool haha. My kids loved the water. Vella was fearless and it was kinda scary. She loves to put her face in the water, but she doesn't hold her breath and she chokes right away. It's almost as if she breathes in the moment her face hits the water. I need to figure out how to teach her to hold her breath. Does anyone have any pointers? My parents took the kids to a super cool aquarium so we could play in the water with no kids. I loved it. We went shooting with my grandpa and it was awesome. Greg has a good aim. My grandpa is quite the  sharp shooter. I need to practice so I can be as good as him! He took us to the desert and he made a cool target out of a hood of a car and clay pigeons. It was awesome.  My siblings and Greg and I would go to the park in the evenings and play night games. It was a lot of fun and we had such a good time!!
  Vella and Mattix have been growing like crazy in the last week! The last week Mattix started pulling himself up and cruising along furniture. I was so excited and clapped for him when he would do it. The next day he was clapping! He is doing SO much better with eating. I have finally been able to stop exclusively nursing him because he is doing really well. It is such a blessing! Vella is super tall and outgrowing all of her shirts. I just got her some last month and they were bigger on her. Now they are too short! It is crazy. She is saying all kinds of things these days. I was worried about her because she wasn't saying much. Talk about word explosion! She is saying more words everyday. It has been really really fun. I am happy for her. She also knows how to unlock the front and side door to go outside. Time for locks at the top of our door. She loves it outside it's hard to keep her in.
   I have been feeling better nausea wise. I feel really tired and moody and just crappy most of the time. I think I am having another girl because this is how I felt with V. I saw our baby during an ultrasound today. It was cool. The baby was really wiggly! Sometimes I feel bad for feeling this way, but I haven't really been excited about this baby. It just feels surreal and when I really think about it I feel a little scared. I am a tough girl and I will make it work, I know. It's just a weird thing. I am not sure how to explain all that I feel. I don't even know if I know exactly how I feel haha. Anyways, after seeing the baby today I feel more excited.
My kids are awake from their naps....earlier than usual. Dangit! ;) Mattix sat up and started clapping and V is knocking on her door letting me know she is really to get up. Adios!

Shooting with Grandpa

Our trip to Arizona was amazing! Unfortunately we were having camera issues so we did not get any pictures until the last day when I reformatted the camera. We spent time seeing family and friends. Thursday night we stayed at the Arizona Grand Resort, thanks to Terry and Charlotte, which had a water park in it. It was a blast to be able to play in the water and fun to see how the kids reacted. I really wish our camera was working so we could have got pictures of the kids, Vella was super brave and would walk out into the water until it was up to her head. We did get pictures shooting with Grandpa John. It was a blast, but the battery died after the first couple of pictures. enjoy.

 Shooting John's AK47

 SAIGA 223

Reblogged from the Griffin's Blog when they visited us

Joey and Vayann and their wonderful children, Josie and Landon, visited us for a couple of days. The first pictures are at Brooklyn's playground with the Taylors and then some more at McKee's petting zoo and at our home. These pictures were stolen from Vayann's blog which can be viewed at http://vayann-and-joeys.blogspot.com/

Thanks, it was a lot of fun!

Brooklyn's Playground at O.K. Ward Park old Greg

 Mattix and Landon 

 Vella and Kenzie

 Mattix chilling in the stroller

 Mattix and Landon loved swinging together

 Alexis and Landon

 You have to love the wide open smiles that boy gives!

 Greg and Vella riding a bucking bronco

 Alexis and Vayann at Brooklyn's Playground

 Momma and Mattix at McKee's petting zoo

 Vella looking for escaped goats

 Vella and Momma

 Vella and Josie having a tea party

Vayann and Alexis in our newly painted kitchen

Moon Walking