2 Weddings, A Baby Shower & A Fire

What started as a weekend of celebrations ended in a local tragedy that everyone is well aware of by now. I'll start with the "good". On Friday we celebrated with our friends Megan and Andy at their wedding which was held at the park down a few streets from our house. Saturday was Alicia and Gary's getting hitched day (Alicia is a friend of mine from high school) so I went to their gorgeous wedding at a private beach down on the lake. Sunday was Danielle's baby shower (my good friend Christine's little sister) which was held at her mom's house just around the corner from mine. Towards the end of the shower someone told us to go look outside and just about the same time I got a call from Josh telling me to look out the window because there was a fire nearby. This would be when I talk about the "bad". The picture below shows what we saw...

This was only about 20 minutes after the fire started so you can imagine what it looked like in the hours to follow as it spread over thousands of acres and destroyed over 200 homes. I don't really know how to describe what you're feeling when you don't know if your house will be standing the next day or not. Anyone who was close to this fire like I was knows what I'm talking about. It's pretty humbling to be forced to realize what's most important to you in your life. While I was in panic mode all I could think of to grab was my photo albums, my lap top, my 2 cats, a couple items of clothing for me and Aubrey, diapers and wipes. Funny how diapers and wipes made it into the mix but I wasn't sure when I would be able to go back home because the roads were already gridlocked and some were being closed. Anyhow, I went to my parent's whose house is a little further away where I have been posted up for the past couple of days until this evening (the smoke has been much thicker at my house so I've been avoiding it with the baby and all). Too many friends have lost their homes and everything they own. It's beyond devastating and a little surreal still. It's strange to see our little community and people we know on national and even world news, unfortunately for such a horrible reason.

Josh has been working hard the past few days, obviously. He was on the fire for over 30 hours the first day working to save homes which of course had me pretty freaked out. How admirable that we have people like him and the other firefighters who risk everything out there. As of now, we're not in the clear since the fire is still burning but it appears to be on the path to containment so let's just pray that no other families lose their homes.

In the midst of this disaster I think it's important to be thankful for what we have and to still be able to laugh. Like when I laughed pretty hard at the news reporter who said on air that "Tahoe is well known and loved for it's wildlife but unfortunately wildlife is one of the reasons why fires like this are started". No seriously, she said that. I don't know about you but I've never seen a bear or a coyote playing with matches. I think she had inhaled too much smoke.

And now for some happy pictures. Here we are before the wedding on Friday and here's Aubrey in her new favorite device. I think that middle finger could get her into trouble some day.