I'll Have the Non-Smoking House Please.

A couple of days ago, Chris and I drove up to my parent's house and when we got out of the car (which is now back from the shop-yippie!) we could smell smoke in the air.

My parents live in a very fire-prone area at the base of the mountains, right below the forest line. Fire is a very real concern for them. So, when Chris and I smelled smoke, we grabbed Ezra and started looking all around the house to see where the smoke was coming from.

It was coming from behind one of the foothills to the South- just West of Washoe Lake. It wasn't super thick, and there wasn't any major plume of smoke- so we thought it was probably a controlled burn. Still, we kept our eye on the smoke and scanned the news for any word.

I was nervous because it was a really windy day, and, well- fire and wind don't make the best combo.

It turned out to just be a small fire- probably a controlled brush fire- and by the evening the smoke had cleared. I was very relieved. It reminded me of times that fire had come all too close before... We had some very close calls in the house I grew up in. I found some pictures of the fires from the more recent years, and it made me that much more thankful that this particular fire didn't get out of hand.

These are from 2001:

And these are from 2006:

Yowzers. Thank you Jesus for airplanes and red goo.

*****************************************

Chris and I are heading up to the Oregon Coast for Thanksgiving with my mom and dad and brothers and my sister-in-law. We leave on Wednesday. We've rented a beach house up there and I am so so so so thrilled and excited to get to spend some quality time with them. My brother Jared won't be here for Christmas (he'll be taking a much deserved vacation to New Zealand), so I am glad to get to spend this holiday with him and his wife. They are so dang cool.

This trip means so very much to me.

My family is not a large one. Apart from my brothers and parents, I have one aunt and two cousins. That's pretty much all that is left of my directly related relatives. So, family time is very precious and important to me. Also, I can't wait to see the beautiful coast of Oregon again after all of these years. I plan to dig my toes into some sand and eat a whole lot of Turkey with cranberry sauce.

Did I mention I was excited? And this is very important to me? Yes. Okay. Moving on.

*****************************************

In other news, I have been waking up every morning and eating ridiculous things that would have never sounded good before, but suddenly sound wonderful now. AT 9:00 IN THE MORNING. Here's a list of things I've eaten FOR BREAKFAST the last few days:

Enchiladas with Spanish Rice.
Top Ramen. (Beef flavored)
Two corndogs with ketchup.
And, today? A big fat Port Of Subs Sandwich.

WHAT THE HECK? I don't even usually eat breakfast.

I'm going to weigh a billion pounds soon if I keep this up.