summer of fire

this year can certainly be classified as the summer of fires.

and i am NOT talking about the olympic torch.

this one started sunday with a lightening strike.

near camp williams/herriman again.

but it's blazing more today than it has all week.

the fire retardant planes were flying past our house,

the smoke clouds made 100* feel like 75*,

and ashes fell on us while the kids rode bikes in the front yard.

the air smells thick with smoke,

i'm thirstier than a camel in the desert,

and my eyes are burning.

brennan kept asking me if the smoke was going up to jesus.

i told him heaven was a lot further away than up there.

but closer too.

he looked confused.

i told him i know, me too.

and that we'd worry about all of that later.

but that it's there,

jesus is there,

and the smoke is not.

and then he went back to riding his bike.

{it looks close, but it's not.}

 check out those fire retardant planes.

we could see their bellies that open up to drop the red retardant from our driveway.

it made me want to smile and cry all at the same time.

.............

here is another fire that started the day before the 4th of july by sean's parent's house in alpine.

the smoke billowed up over the mountains to where we could see it from our house in sandy.

brooke said it was raining ashes at her house in park city.

it burned the mountainside and a barn thanks to the firefighters working overtime.

amazing to look at when your home is not the one in the fire's way.

{view from our house below}

{view from sean's parent's house in highland next}

alpine is right up through the middle of the canyon.

as the sun started to set we could see the flames illuminate the mountains.

60 foot flames look small from where we were,

but being able to see flames from where we were meant they were pretty big.

the lights on the mountain in the last picture are not lights from houses.

they are the flames from trees burning.

no houses lost.

amazing.

i hope today is the last time i post pictures about fires in utah this summer.