So it has been a while since I wrote so I will do my best to fill everyone in on the recent happenings in my life. Here goes....

Memorial day was great because it was the first time that I actually celebrated it the right way. Mom, Dad, and I went to St. Johns to go visit my grandparents' graves. My Grandpa Heap fought in World War II so we wanted to remember him and his wife and all they sacrificed for our freedom. It took us a while to find their graves and in the process of finding them we ran across about 50 other relatives in the cemetery. I was amazed and really interested to look around as see all these names that I knew. One of the headstones had the names of my great-great grandparents that I had studied last semester in my family history class. It was really cool to see their graves so I just had to take a picture! (yes, I know that my shadow is in the picture too...oops)

After visiting the cemetery we went and visited the LeFevres for a while, shopped at the St. Johns Alco and then returned home. That evening we had a BBQ with all the family around and the weather was great. After dinner we sat down and talked about why we have Memorial Day and all talked about some of our ancestors who fought in American wars. What a good day!

It was the next day that we learned about the wild fire, dubbed the Wallow Fire, that was started over the holiday weekend. I thought that that was quite a bummer but surely it would be like all the other fires we get around here and would shortly be put out. Nope. It grew and grew until it had traveled over thirty miles in our direction. We had had problems with the smoke from the fire in our valley the entire time but it took about a week before we were evacuated from our homes. Scary! I actually left a day early because I went with my sister Holly and her girls to go to Utah. We had already planned the trip but decided to leave early because of all the fire problems. It was hard to evacuate myself and drive away from my home not knowing what would be there when I returned.

Utah was great though! It was a good break from the smoke and distracted us from the constant stress. It was great to see family again. All seven of the kids in my family were all together! That is rare so we had to take pictures, of course! Unfortunately I do not have a copy of them so I can post them. It also really enjoyed spending time with some of my old roommates. I miss those guys!
On Saturday morning Wendi and Karen ran the Utah Half-Marathon while Jake, Clif, Mel and I ran the 5k. It was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be!

Clif was the one who came up with the idea for all of us to run the 5k. He had never run a race before but has recently picked up running. Of course Jake and he were speed demons. hehe. Mel and I just went at our own speed and enjoyed the scenery. In honor of Clif's good idea I decided to post a special picture of him and his family :)

After our race, most of us drove down to Monticello for our cousin, Kelvin's, homecoming. It was great to see him and some of the extended family again and while we were there the evacuation on Round Valley was lifted. Most of us drove to St. Johns that night and stayed with family for a bit before returning home. We are now finally all home! What a June it has been so far!