The Fire - Pictures and Story

If you haven't already heard about the fire, well here's the short version of what happened.

On Sunday afternoon we were driving up to Montana in Jill's Ford Explorer. Just outside of Kallispell, in a town called Somers, we noticed the air conditioning stopped blowing cold air. As we pulled to the side of the road the car just shut down. Smoke started coming out of the hood. As Luke opened the door to go check what was wrong with the car flames suddenly burst from underneath the hood. I immediately felt the heat and jumped out of the car. We got the girls out fast and began running down the side of the road away from the car.

Several people pulled over and someone called 911. A couple men grabbed Luke and ran back to the car to grab whatever they could before the whole thing went up in flames. They were able to salvage most of our stuff but we did lose some things. While our things went up in flames I sat in a women's car with the girls and watched fearfully, crying but trying to hold it together.

The guys only had about 2 minutes to get things out of the car when there were some pops and small explosions. The tires melted and a huge cloud of black smoke was clogging up the blue sky. It took almost 15 minutes for the fire truck to arrive and by then everything had been destroyed. They put out the fire and while they were there Luke started taking pictures. Thank goodness we saved his camera! These are some of the pictures he took.

I feel very blessed that we were able to escape tragedy and we are all safe. We still don't know what happened to the vehicle or what was wrong.

I can't say enough about how wonderful people were to us. A complete stranger drove us all the way to Ashley Lake, about 40 minutes from the site of the fire. There were several people who stayed with us the entire time, helping entertain the girls and bringing us water and food.

I thank the Lord that my girls and Luke are ok. They are the most important thing in my life and this experience really showed me that. We haven't figured out quite yet what we are going to do exactly, but somehow we'll make it through. I've got what's truly important.

San Diego Day Four

La Jolla Beach - July 17, 2010

Luke was busy shooting a wedding today, but Jana took us to La Jolla beach for the day. The pictures are lower quality in this post because I didn't have my handy photographer around. I had to be the photographer this time and I used my little Cannon point and shoot.

Tess and Ava both loved the sand and the ocean. We had so much fun and I'm so glad they didn't cry or whine at all!

Tess and Sam. They could be twins! They're only about 6 weeks apart.

Tess in the car watching Nacho Libre, her favorite movie! Ohhhhh......Chancho!

The Mormon Battalion - July 16, 2010

I didn't know there was so much LDS history in San Diego but after visiting the Mormon Battalion I learned a lot! Ava was a volunteer and got to be dressed up like one of the soldiers. It was such a neat experience hearing the stories and watching videos about the pioneers. Brigham Young promised the soldiers and their families that if they kept their covenants and stayed true and faithful they would not see battle but would be protected. They were blessed for their faith and with the money they earned were able to bring many more saints out west.

The Whaley House - July 16, 2010

The Whaley house is in old town and is a historic house because it was the first brick house built in California. It is also haunted....oooohhhhh.....

San Diego Day Three

Coronado - July 16, 2010

A famous, old, haunted hotel on the island of Coronado.

Shells from the beach at Coronado.

This park had the most beautiful view I've ever seen!

I wish I could take my girls there to play everyday!

Tess and Ava both loved the swings.

The view down to the beach.

The lobby inside the hotel.

The old fashioned phone room, which I thought was really neat. No one needs a phone room anymore with cell phones now. It just goes to show how old the hotel really is.

I really loved exploring Coronado and thought it was such a cute little town. So clean and beautiful. I'd love to go vacation there again, and stay for longer than just a day.

San Diego Day Two

Sea World - July 15, 2010

The Shamu Show. Good, but not as impressive as the dolphin show that we saw later.

Star Fish

The kid rides! Even Tess went on these rides!

This is not a real star fish.

We sat in the splash zone for the dolphin show. Hannah was pretty nervous about getting wet so she wore the poncho. We didn't get splashed but we did get wet from the rain!

Luke, Phil and I also took Ava on the other rides. She was just barely tall enough to go by one inch! I don't have any pictures of the other rides because we didn't bring a camera. We got totally soaked and Ava loved it! The river ride was on a circular raft. I think there's a similar ride at Lagoon. The second ride we went on was a big roller coaster called Journey to Atlantis. It was similar to Splash Mountain. There were two big drops in it and I was worried that it would scare Ava but she loved it!

San Diego Day One

Old Town - Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Me, Tess, Jane, Jana, Sam, Hannah, and Ava.

Here are a few pics from the trip! We're home now but wishing we were back in California! Great trip but too short! I need to give a big shout out and thanks to Luke's cousin Jana who let us stay at her house and showed us around San Diego. THANKS! Look tomorrow for more pictures from San Diego Day 2!