A comment on the weather...

Snow in Utah, wild fires in Southern California.... What in the world is going on with the wacky weather!!!!
I can't believe the weather we've received over the last couple of days. Sunday I woke up to find everything blanketed in 4 or 5 inches of snow and Monday I woke up to read on the CNN New Headlines that San Diego along with other Southern California counties are engulfed by wildfires!

As many of you know, despite the fact I don't live in San Diego any longer, most of my family does along with many of my friends. I appreciate that many of you have been concerned and have asked how they all are. For what I've been told, my family is all safe- (those who still live in San Diego live in the city away from most of the fire damage- North Clairmont and Pacific Beach- it's about 10- 15 minutes aways from where the major fires are). It's kinda scary though, because two of the locations where the fires have destroyed homes and businesses- Poway and Escondido- are both places two of my sisters had homes in. My sister Tricia used to live in Poway where the Witch Fire is- they sold their home and moved here 3 years ago- and my oldest sister Celeste and her family own a home in Northern Escondido. They moved to Utah earlier over this last summer- but they still own their home in Escondido, so I've been hoping nothing happens to it during the fires. She told me that residents just a few blocks away from her home were asked to evacuate, and that neighbors on her street are prepared to leave if the fire changes course. Drought, low humidity, high Santa Anna Winds, heat, and dry overgrown brush all have contributed to the cause of this disaster.
My parents haven't been working- both my sister Janna and my mom have been home most of the week since they teach and all of the San Diego City Schools have been closed. My dad hasn't had to go into work either, because they've made his work building into a shelter for some of the fire victims who also happen to be employees there. There's quite a few people he works with who have lost their homes in the fires.
Santa Anna Winds are very common for this time of the year in San Diego- while I was in high school, hot, blustery days in October were often welcomed by me and other friends because it gave us an excuse to hit the beach. But with present circumstances San Diego is experiencing now, where fires have ignited and spread quickly across the county, most of the residents are concerned and worried about the heat and winds. Not only are people afraid for the sake of their homes, but they also have to be concerned about the air quality- this gets pretty ashy and dark all over the "Sunny" skys of San Diego.
It was only four years ago that San Diego was on the news for fires that were destroying homes in Scripps Ranch and Valley Parkway/Escondido. I remember those fires quite well. I'd just returned from Portugal three weeks before the fires began and I was living with my parents. I believe it was right around the 16Th of October when the fires began. We stayed inside for a few days because we were warned not to go outside- the skys were dark during the day and ashy. I remember one of the days, on a Sunday, we'd just gotten to our church parking lot, when I got out of the car, looked up towards the sun, and the sun was completely blood red! It was startling, and actually unnerving. Isn't that one of the signs for the Last Days??? My entire family had come to church with me that day- I was supposed to give my Mission Homecoming talk in sacrament. I never had that chance though- 10 minutes into the services, our Fire Marshall arrived and asked the congregation to evacuate the church and go home. The winds had carried the fire over behind the church! We all went to my parents house and waited. It was a little scary because the fire that started behind our church was only a mile away from our home! The fire fighters were on top of their job and they managed to control that fire- thank heavens.
I feel for all of the residents of San Diego who have had to evacuate this year and four years ago- what a scare! My brother in-laws parents have had to evacuate their home in Poway both times. I feel for those people who have lost their homes. It's a tragedy. But as I watch what is happening in San Diego from a far off distance via newscasts, I'm relieved to see that for the most part, the residents and city officials have managed to remain optimistic and calm in the wake of disaster.

Okay, so I mentioned that is snowed in Utah. That's right, we had snow!!! It rained during the day on Saturday, then it began to snow! I'd been running errands all day with the boys while it was raining- not more than 30 minutes after I got home it began to snow!!! It started to come down real lightly- but within 10 minutes, it was coming down hard! I was a bit worried for Spencer; he'd gone with his Uncle and cousin to the BYU football game. He'd only taken with him a light jacket- obviously he wasn't expecting it to snow. Lucky for him though- it didn't start to snow until the last quarter of the game, so he didn't have to sit in it for too long. I had hot chocolate ready for him when he got home- I hoped it would help warm him up.
(By the way- I copied the picture below off of my friend Janae's blog page- I hope she doesn't mind- it was the only snowy picture of the game I could find- thanks Janae).

I let Noah play outside in the snow some. He's been in snow before, but this is the first time it's really impressed him; he's just at that age. What a chore dressing a kid up in snow gear!!! He didn't know what to do with the snow at first. He attempted to brush it off of his slide- he's a bit of a clean freak like myself- but it was falling faster than he could sweep it off- so after a few minutes he gave in and started eating it. He ate snow balls for nearly 10 minutes! It was funny- because he became tired of scooping it up, so he just started licking it directly off of the slide. Whatever works right?!

We have early morning church on Sundays- so imagine our surprise when we went out to our car and found it along with everything else blanketed in 5 inches of snow!


Noah really wanted to play in the snow but we had to get to church. I wanted to let him play in the snow after his nap- which usually ends around 5pm, but by the time he awoke, most of the snow already melted!
I call this weird and wacky weather! We welcome it for now- snows always fun when we can spare hanging around the house for the day. ;)
P.S. This was Ian's first time seeing snow too- he opted to stay inside where it was warm and watch from the window.