Today's post is being written with a lot of different emotions.  I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should start by saying we are still okay, our house is still standing and after an approximately 27 hour evacuation, we are finally back home.  What a crazy weekend this has been for us.

It feels like the fire has burned everything around us for miles.  There are still hot spots all over the hill and the river bed but the fire has come and gone for the most part.  I would never have imagined the damage that it has done.  It is one of those times when you see it on the TV and you're just grateful that it isn't your neighborhood; but then when it is your neighborhood,  you realize the TV doesn't come close to capturing the magnitude of the situation and the devastation that it has caused.  I have so much more sympathy now for fire victims.  Approximately 160 homes have burned in our surrounding area.  Two of those happen to be homes of close friends of ours.  One lives about a half mile east of us and the other less than a mile north west of us. They lost everything. 

Every time there is some sort of natural disaster you always hear about the importance of being prepared.  For the most part I feel like Ricky and I were prepared.  We were able to grab everything we needed in about 30 minutes.  I think we could have done it fast if we had to.  We were good about having things strategically placed around the house.   I will tell you though that it's a pretty surreal feeling, waking up on a Saturday morning, thinking you are going to the beach and end up having to decide in 30 minutes what's most important to you.  We only took things that couldn't be replaced (scrapbooks, pictures, heirlooms) and important electronics like our hard drive and Rick's court reporting machine.  We took sweatshirts and a few things for Lincoln but that was it.  There were a lot of things that we left that we thought would be really sad if they burned but if we had to start over without them, it would be okay.  Luckily, we don't have to worry about that now. 

We went to church this morning and it was the most humble church meeting I think I've ever been to.  There were about 100 people there, which is really small compared to normal.  Some were dressed in Sunday best and others were there in jeans, shorts or dirty t-shirts that they were wearing all night fighting the fires in.  Our Bishop's house is one of 3 in our ward that burnt to the ground.  I couldn't believe how positive he tried to be but we were just reduced to tears at the thought of how many people were impacted.  We were reminded that when it rains, it rains on everyone.  The good and the bad.  We just have to dry ourselves and each other off and keep going.  I have witnessed such sweet acts of kindness from strangers, neighbors and friends over the last 48 hours.  

I'm sure I could go on and on about the last couple of days but I'm at this point the weekend is gone and we are exhausted.  Ricky is trying to sleep but tells me he just keeps seeing fire and trees burning when he closes his eyes.   I hope that this is one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences because I would never want to have to go through this again.  It was an adrenaline pumping, scary, emotional,  and all together unforgettable experience.  Tonight, we are just counting our blessings. 

This is just outside of our house.  That is the Santa Ana River bed burning.

More fire. More smoke.

This is when I was trying to get down La Palma to leave the area.  You can normally see for miles but yesterday that was my view.

There were a number of helicopters and planes that were dropping water.

This was taken this morning on our way back home.  There are still hot spots along the roads.