3 Brothers (and fire update)

It has been a rough week. Mine and Jeremiah's hometowns are being threatened by the second biggest wildfire in Arizona history.  So many memories are tied to those beautiful mountains,

from our first date (Homecoming 2000), to our mini honeymoon in Greer.

 I have spent many many hours this week stalking facebook and glued to the news, waiting for updates on the fire.

Springerville and Eager are evacuated but my dad, Jeremiah's dad, and my Grandparents stayed behind to protect their homes and property from spot fires and looters.

So far everyone is ok, and I just found out that Greer made it out of the fire almost unscathed. They only lost a handful of houses. This is fantastic news because last night we were all convinced that Greer would be a total loss.

Did I mention that Greer is probably my favorite place in the world?

Anyways,  to try and keep my mind off of the fire I got my boys together to get some pictures of all 3 of them. Melesa has been teaching me some photo editing tricks with Photoshop and I have really been enjoying playing around with new pictures.

And I couldn't help but snap some shots of little tiny Mason by himself.

My favorite shot of the day.

 Simon really loves his new brother. He has already started "teaching" him things like how to wave and alphabet sounds. He is such a loving brother. Ryan still can't understand why Mason won"t talk to him or play with him. But I have found him giving Mason kisses and rubbing his soft hair. I think they will be best friends someday.

Someone told me this week that having 3 boys is "nirvana". 

I completely agree.  

Wallow Fire - day 9

I hate reporting bad news on my blog. I would much rather fill it with happy smiling pictures of my family and friends.

The Wallow Fire is uncontrollably burning up the White Mountains. As of this morning the estimated damage is over 300,000 acres and growing rapidly due to dry, windy conditions. 

Details: (updated on 6/7/11)

Date Started: 5/29/2011

Location: south and west of Alpine, Arizona
Number of Personnel: Approximately 2,515 personnel, Including 31 hotshot crews and 25 handcrews
Cause: Human - under investigation
Equipment: 12 dozers, 138 engines, 31 watertenders
Aircraft: 22 helicopters
Percent Contained: 0%
Injuries to Date: none

 Website for new information: http://www.wesmcb.com/

Here is a map from this morning to show the extent of the damage. 

The fire is currently about 5 miles from Eagar and 3 miles from Greer.

Greer was evacuated yesterday and Springerville and Eagar are on pre-evacuation notice. Evacuations for RV are likely expected within the next day or two.

Here are some pictures my dad took in the last couple days of the heavy smoke plaguing RV.

We are all praying for rain, as well as the safety of the fire fighters, evacuees, and area residents. This fire is in God's hands right now. I pray he will spare our small town home.