So much to tell so little time, and a fire

We got up today with heavy hearts that we were having to leave our little cabin in the woods. Although, we were so thankful for the wonderful time away with family. We waited until about 11:45 to hit the road again, because the rain was so heavy. Mike was tracking the weather, and instructed us when it would be a good time to leave. We then said our farewells, and after packing everything tightly in the truck we cruised down the road. My cousin had left about twenty minutes before us, and about the time we were leaving her husband texted that we needed to keep an eye open for the town afflicted by the tornado's. He said that it was only ten miles west of us, and we were very lucky! We kept our eyes open, and as we drove through staring at the huge trees snapped in two, a barn in the river, and devastation we discussed how that little cement bathroom made us feel pretty safe.

Jude did so well in the car, but ended up getting very aggravated near the end of our trip. Jude is still rear facing in his car seat, and even though Emily was with him he strained to see me. He would push himself up towards my voice with his neck bent in my direction. I thought this was a great sign that Jude is beginning to recognize certain people. He spent the better part of the night wanting me to hold him once we got home.

I have so much more to talk about regarding our trip, but I am so tired I cannot even think straight. I do have a little story to share before I leave. My aunt sent us home with some amazing steaks, and I decided to grill them for a great end to our vacation. I put the steaks on, and then went back inside to bake some potato's. When I went back out to turn the steaks, to my surprise my entire grill was engulfed in flames. I panicked, but tried to think of the next steps to extinguish the fire before the propane blew up, and the patio caught on fire. I ran and got a pitcher of water to put out the area by my water hose so I could get to it. I then started the water hose, and put the majority of the fire out on the grill only for it to start up again. I had turned off all the knobs on the grill turning the propane off. I was yelling at the top of my lungs for Mike, and smoke was everywhere. Emily was in hysterics, and I yelled at her to quickly take Jude and go to the front of the house. I then realized that I needed to shut the actual valve off to the propane itself. About that time Mike rounded the corner, and came to my rescue. He grabbed the water hose extinguishing the fire long enough to turn the propane off. He burned the bottom of his foot on some melted plastic, but it wasn't that bad. Turns out somehow our outside grill fork had rolled into a crevice without us knowing, and slowly caught on fire thus engulfing the entire grill. Why the company that manufactured an outside grill fork would make their handles flammable BEATS ME! Anyway, Mike commented on how high my adrenaline was pumping. It took me a long time to feel back to normal, and relax. All I could think about was getting my kids away from the possible danger. You had to be hear, but trust me that the entire large grill was engulfed!!! YIKES!

My grill is destroyed, my patio has smoke damage, and we are minus one grill fork, but everyone is OKAY. So that makes me realize we are a very lucky family!! So all I have to say is Welcome Home Ortiz family! lol