Yesterday

... was a little bit interesting... It all started with church. We leisurely strolled into the chapel late, just in time for the second hymn. We sang, and only when everyone stopped singing did I notice that we had been accompanied on the piano rather than the organ. Another ward member was playing the piano. I thought, "Oh, the organist must be out of t-" and then gasped loudly and clapped a hand over my mouth. "What?" Travis asked, but I could only stare at the organ. "You were supposed to play the organ today?" he guessed, sounding mildly amused.

Whoops.

(Looks like our organist's brilliant scheme to plan ahead by asking me to cover for her a full week in advance totally backfired! That was just enough time to allow me to totally forget. All of you: lesson learned. Just call me the night before.)

*****

On the way home, we pulled up to a stoplight beside a fire engine, complete with full-suited Real Live Firemen riding along! Kate called out, "Look! He is waving to me!" And we looked, and sure enough one of the firemen was waving to her through the window. She was so thrilled.

Good thing they were on duty yesterday, because while the girls were napping I heard the master fire alarm go off in the building behind us. I hoped they weren't testing the systems (they always do that only during naptime), but I heard shouting too, so I looked out the window. I said, "The fire alarm is going off in that building." Travis said, "Oh yeah? Are there people running out?" Me: "Yes... and there are firemen running up the stairs..." As soon as we realized it was a real fire, we raced out to the balcony to watch all the action! (We're such good neighbors.) Then I ran back inside to get my camera, and I broke two nails in my haste to open the impossible sliding door. It was worth it.(See the smoke? You might have to make it larger...)

Actually the giant tree behind our apartment served to perfectly obstruct the view, so the pictures weren't so great. It was much more exciting in person. First they broke down the doors of two apartments (which were NOT adjoining, but across the hall from each other, which confused us) and it took an alarmingly long time for them to accomplish this. Those doors are pretty solid - it took them probably longer than 5 minutes to break down each one. Then we could see them inside the apartment with flashlights. They opened the windows and pushed out the screens, and smoke came billowing out. I'm assuming no one was home, and that's how the fire was allowed to burn out of control. We couldn't tell how bad it was, or what exactly was going on, but they hosed down both apartments and much of the yard for good measure.

That's the water spraying out over the lawn.

This morning all I could think about was where our neighbors had spent the night, or what they had done when they'd come home, or possibly the apartments were uninhabited at the time. I do not know what we would do. I've been terrified of house fires ever since I learned [firsthand] that many people (mostly children) don't wake up to fire alarms. I do, and that's why I'm scared to let anyone else watch my kids overnight! Anyway, I'm off to update our insurance policy!!!