The storm rolling in on Saturday night.
The wildlife that crept up on our campsite.
The fishing pond close to where we camped.
The storm again.
During the storm.
Our tent.
We had a really bad fire last year, and this is what the beginning of the canyon looks like.
The river.
The Burn site warning.
So we went camping this weekend, we went with a bunch of friends up to the Uintas. I realized that I am so not a camper. We forgot a ton of stuff, plates, silverware, accesories of all kinds. We only had enough food to last us the first night. Thank heaven for good friends or we would have starved to death. Oh also, we only camped about 30 minutes from home, so you better believe we went home Saturday and stocked up. The first night we put our tent in a terrible spot- we ended up being right where everyone parked there cars and camp trailers. There was people walking back and forth around my tent all night, and the campers had generators running all night. The tent was terribly uneven , so when I first laid down for the night, I think my body contorted in 3 different directions, needless to say I ended up sleeping in the backseat of my Tahoe. Neither of which were very comfortable. On saturday we played a few games of Paintball, my first time ever, and I can say that I still luckily have never been pegged by a paintball. My husband however not so fortunate, he has 3 mega welts. That part of the day was fun. That night we moved the tent, but it rained for like 3 hours solid so our stuff was damp, and it was so cold, again I ended up sleeping in the Tahoe again... And don't even get me started on the no toilet thing... I am way to spoiled apparently because that was the absolute worst part of my days in the middle of nowhere. I am just a wimp I guess but for some reason, I have no interest in camping again for awhile. The scenery however was beautiful. On sunday morning we actually had a deer come dang near right into the campground. All in all , it was a good weekend with friends, a small break from the kids (even though I was having kid withdrawls the first night)(and panic because my phone had no service at all, and my phone is my lifeline), and beautiful scenery.
We had a quick like 15 minute rain storm- but it is pretty much all I took pictures of today. So here are some pics....
This is the rain hitting the street.
I was trying to capture a picture of the wind blowing the trees.
Saturday, about 11:00pm we had what appears to be a dry microburst! At first it was just really bad lightning, followed by a warm breeze.
This was a crazy night. My husband and I were outside trying to pick things up cause we saw how massive the wind was, at the same time my daughter started screaming in the bedroom because the wind had somehow knocked our attic door open and it scared her. So we went to help her and calm her and the power went out , which scared the kids even more. We had to search the house for flashlights and get them settled etc...Mean while outside my husbands bar b q grill had been picked up and knocked over- propane tank and all. We have a rocking horse thing outside that blew around the side yard and into the street. We had 2 childrens toy kitchens outside , one blew into the street and the other one , we could not find until morning, was across the street in the neighbors back yard. Luckily nothing severe happened but it was definitely a creepy night. The lights were out for 4 or 5 hours, the kids went to bed about an hour before they came on. My husband did the drive around because he had heard something about a mini tornado. He said he saw alot of branches scattered everywhere, and alot of cop cars and such, but no sign of an actual tornado. So we still think that it was just a microburst. We spent alot of time outside trying to listen to the news in the car and talking to the neighbors. There was alot of downed trees, and branches. Cops and fire sirens flailing in the distance.
Just a few minutes before it all happened I was outside taking pictures of the moon, the sky was really dark and black. After the wind storm , everything stopped completely. No wind, rain, lightning or thunder but the air was very warm , almost hot.
Unfortunately I have no pictures of the storm.
So here we are , it is my family plus a few extra, you see I had my cousins out here staying with us for a week or so. The oldest being sixteen (16) and the youngest being eight (8). Now I can tell you that they live about 150 miles away from me and I do not see them often so as you can imagine I learned alot of new things within the week. I learned that the older of the two puts peanut butter on her pancakes, now I confess, this is a habit I have acquired over the years. It tastes so good, but my husband thinks I am a Looney! Now I can prove that I am not the only one with this crazy habit. I learned so many things that I can't even remember at the moment but many eye openers. The cousins have come and gone, and one has come again.
I now again have my little eight (8) year old cousin staying with us. He has a mohawk. Not a little one but a big one and at first sight I also realized it was blue. I just knew that I have my week cut out for me. All in all so far so good.
Now the one thing that I want to tell you that I truly learned, a life altering realization, a mind shattering numbing truth actually occurred when he was here for his first visit. Our whole family plus the cousins decided to venture out to the lake. Oh Happy Day! The kids are outside and in water , a win win situation. The water is freezing - oh yes- perhaps we ventured a little to soon, nonetheless we swam. The subject came up about drowning , I started telling my daughter that she needs to learn to float, so that if she gets in a situation where she is tired she can flip over on her back and usually will prevent such a tragedy as drowning. Everyone there proceeded to show her about floating and trying to get her to float. I too, was floating. Here it comes....My cousin (8) blurted out these words....... "FAT PEOPLE CAN FLOAT!"
This is what i have learned...
We all celebrate or anniversaries, and we all mourn certain anniversaries. So in my opinion some are good and some are bad, but I also believe that it is what we make it. Some anniversaries might include: weddings, first times..., deaths, etc... Well for me today is the 1st anniversary of a house fire. I am choosing to make this a good anniversary, I am choosing to celebrate the lives the were not lost, luckily none were lost, so you see I have alot to celebrate. A brief recap: At the beginning of June we moved about 150 miles away to a small town, we moved in with my parents, planning to stay for a few months and find us a place. It was crowded- 9 people in a 3 bedroom house. My brother gave my husband and i his room. He slept in the main living room. My 3 children slept in the smaller living room , that sits right off the front porch. One slept in a crib, one in a playpen, one on a mattress.
July 10th around 4:30 in the morning, the fire had enveloped the front porch and moved into the living room. Somehow we were alerted. The fire was a flower pot away from my daughters play pen and flames were raging above her head. All of my children were absolutely unharmed. Life was hard for a few months after that - the house deemed unlivable- my parents insurance company rented camp trailers for us to live in. Imagine 3 kids , 3 adults , 1 29 foot camp trailer. It worked. Stresses high, money at an all time low, we trudged on.
After 3 months we all moved into a rental home. This house was a black widow haven. Scary. Again we trudged on. Finally in October after only a month or so in this house, my family got approved and an offer was accepted on a house. My parents remained living in the rental home for a few more months- all the way thru february i believe. They had there own trials obviously. My dad hurt his leg really bad when running around fighting the fire. It took about a month or two to heal. We all had to clean out the house-list all items in the house, how old they were and how much they were worth. During the winter time, my parents pump house magically burned to the ground as well. Now they had to rebuild that too.
We are all where we are meant to be now, but i learned alot of things.
1. My kids are the best in the world.
2. My family means alot to me.
3. Little things really don't matter.
4. Life is what you make it.
5. When reality hits, it hits hard.
Enough of that-here are things that i have changed after the fire.
6. I always sleep fully clothed, as in, whatever i am wearing is tolerable to the naked eye.
7. I love candles , but i will never burn one in my house again.
8. Every night i check the entire house to make sure all is well.
9. I definitely have fire alarms and make sure they work. (Although with our fire the alarm went off about 5 minutes after we got out of the house)
10. I sleep very lightly, when I sleep. Some nights are better than others, and getting better every day.
11. Every smell that is weird must be investigated completely.
12. I made sure that my insurance company covers all things fire related that could happen in my home.
13. I do not like too, and try not to, leave my house if the dishwasher, washer, or dryer is going. You never know.
14. I also own a fire extinguisher and a CO2 Detector and plan to get more.
15. Most importantly I spend as much time as I can with my family and friends and I no longer worry about how my house looks all the time. Sorry if you come to visit and it is messy, this is why!
All things aside. My family is doing great. We love our new house. Thank you to an awesome real estate agent and an awesome mortgage guy. My husband has a great job that let me become a stay at home mom. My kids are doing great. Very little trauma left from the fire (screams of terror if they hear a fire alarm, but other than that. good). I am definitely working on an escape plan.
I know that this is not the worst thing that ever could have happened to us. This is a Good Anniversary!
You might think that this post is about my kids or even something great in my life, but on the contrary this is my VENTING post about the dreaded MIGRAINE.... Ughh.. For me this starts with a sparkle in my eye- i am fine one minute and then all of a sudden without any warning at all, i start seeing sparkles. I am not really sure what causes them but usually they start at the most inopertune(not sure if that is a word or how to spell the word)moments in time. After the sparkle i start feeling the pain in my head, horrible pain. Next the dreaded upset stomach and severe nausea. The only option i have now is to pop a pain killer-usually Excedrine Migraine- shut out the lights and take a nap. I wish- usually i am home alone with my 3 kids and it is not easy to ignore 3 kids so a nap is usually not an option, however my oldest daughter is awesome and helps out alot. I suffer for usually four or five hours and then finally the pain has subsided enough that i can start moving around and getting things done. I always just hope that i don't cough because i would probably cry. The worst part of it is when i have something scheduled with my kids and i have to cancel. For example: I recently had my little brother staying with us, so i told all the kids i would take them to free lunch at the park, and then they could play at the park. They all got dressed, I got sun block spread over all of them, and then my mom called and as i was talking to her, it hit me, the sparkles. I explained to my oldest that i just had to cancel and that i just could not take them. She really tried to act grown up. She said "thats ok mom, I guess i will go wipe the sunblock off everyone." Now how sweet and innocent is that? My kids are awesome.
I guess i have a question; are there any other migraine sufferers out there?
If so , are you on any medications?
Do you know what causes them?
How bad are they ( I understand that some people suffer for days)?
Thanks for letting me vent!
I think that for now i am just going to post my favorite pictures from today's events. Everybody was just kind of hanging out and doing the things that they love to do. What a fun day!
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