As I'm writing this letter, there are several fires burning around the area. Steiner Ranch (where about half our ward lives) is on fire, and is under mandatory evacuation. 25 homes have been destroyed so far, and there is no containment. In Bastrop, not far from here, another fire is raging-- 300 homes have been burnt so far with no containment. There are 6 major fires in the area, maxing out all the fire-fighting resources in central Texas. It's so sad, it just makes me sick. We need rain. The irony is that these fires have become so bad because of the winds from tropical storm Lee that is hitting Louisiana. Texas needs a tropical storm! We'd take a hurricane at this point, anything!!
Well, fires notwithstanding, here's how the past couple of weeks have gone for us:
08/22: The twins turned 10! They had a good day, made even better when we got to piano lessons and realized that this was their teacher's no-lesson week! So, no lessons! We had cake and ice cream and cheesecake, and we revealed to the boys that their present was a trip to California, leaving the next morning! There was a lot of excitement, I can tell you.
08/23: Our trip to CA!! We had a non-eventful non-stop flight, got picked up by Abraham at the airport, went home and ate banana bread, the boys went swimming, in the evening we had an impromptu concert with the boys, Abraham, and Eva all playing pieces which Abraham recorded for Christian. Abraham and Eva are SO good, it was inspiring for my boys to hear them.
08/24: Oh, my memory is so bad. What did we do that day? Was that the day Eva's babysitting kids came over? I know I went to see "The Help" with Mama and Eva that evening. Great movie! I think I liked it better than the book, to be honest.
08/25: Getty Museum. This was such a great place. The boys loved it, and I can't wait to go back. Then camping at night! We drove up to Chilao. So sad to see so much of the mountains blackened and burned, but also so great to see little pockets that didn't get touched-- like our Chilao camping spot. The boys immediately got busy clambering up and down the giant granite boulders strewn all around the camp site. The boys discovered TANG! It's their new favorite drink. I'm shocked Mosey wasn't up several times that night needing to go to the bathroom after all the tang he drank. :-)
08/26: Came home, showered, started laundry, had a restful day, and then went to the Hollywood Bowl. This was probably the highlight of the trip for me, and probably for the boys as well. We had to go really early in order to get the handicapped parking spaces, so it was about an hour and a half before the show actually started. But mama packed a good dinner, and then she took the boys walking all around the amphitheater, even taking the boys up to touch the stage. And boy, was the concert ever worth the wait. John Williams conducted the L.A. Phil and they played a whole bunch of his famous movie themes, as well as a tribute to western movies, complete with movie clips. One cool thing he did was play a film clip from the opening of one of the Indiana Jones movies without the music-- just what he is given when he writes a score. He commented during the clip about his thought process for how he would score the scene. And then they replayed the same clip with the orchestra accompanying with the music. Wow, the music totally makes the movie! It's amazing to me how many hundreds of people it takes to make a movie-- directors, producers, actors, camera men, etc., etc., etc., and the music, such a huge part of the movie, comes down to one person. They played all the John Williams themes that the boys have played over the past few years-- Hedwig's Theme, Imperial March, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T. So fun!
08/27: In the morning, Daddy took the boys kayaking. I think they had a great time, although it was starting to get pretty hot by the time they came home. Mosey and Brigham both tried their hand with the kayaks, although Joseph preferred the canoe with Daddy. My boys have the very best grandparents. Mama and I went to the temple in the afternoon and the boys stayed home and had a great afternoon with Daddy. It was such a busy day for Mama-- she had Seminary meetings all morning, but it was a nice, relaxing day for me. :-) I had been going through boxes of all my old papers and artwork and it was so fun. Some of my siblings things got mixed in with my stuff (some of Naomi's especially), and it was really funny to read everything.
08/28: Sunday! I love going back to our old ward building and seeing so many people from my childhood. Mama and Daddy and Eva had a busy afternoon-- Mama had to go speak in the singles ward, and they they all went to a scout court of honor and then to a seminary meeting. Quiet day for the Turners, though! The boys watched a LOT of movies while we were in CA. One last hurrah before school starts. :-)
08/29: In the morning we went to the California Science Center. A great place I've never been to before! Afterward, we went to the beach, just adjacent to the Santa Monica pier. It was crowded, but the weather was beautiful and the boys had a great time. They love the beach and really miss being able to go. It was Eva's first day of school, so when we got home she debriefed us on how everything went, and I gave her a whole lot of unsolicited advice. :-)
08/30: Time to go home. :-( We packed up and made it to the airport in plenty of time. Just how I like it. It gave us time enough to be interviewed on-camera for a Fox Good Day L.A. segment on airport security. The boys got a kick out of that. Flight home was just fine, but always a little disconcerting to lose those 2 hours and get home at nearly 6 PM!
08/31: My birthday! The boys were good boys. We did practicing, went to piano lessons in the afternoon, and then went out to eat Chinese food, and stopped by a shaved ice (my new favorite treat) stand on the way home.
09/01: Thursday. What did we do? Practicing, getting ready for school next week, shopping at Walmart.
09/02: Friday. More of the same. Mosey had a stomach bug and threw up several times in the early morning, fell back asleep and slept for about 5 more hours, then woke up perfectly fine. My boys do this all the time. Why??
09/03: We didn't do too much yesterday. I got ready for my Relief Society lesson, went shopping with Ben in the afternoon, took the boys to the church to go to a baptism which we then realized, too late, was actually SUNDAY night, not Saturday night, stopped by Sonic for dinner, and then went back home where the boys watched the rest of the BYU game with Ben.
09/04: Today! Ben realized at about 10:45 this morning that he had to give the lesson in Elders Quorum. Oops. However, as luck would have it, he was assigned the very topic that I was teaching on! So I basically printed out another set of my notes and handouts for him. Then we went to church and I found out that I actually WASN'T giving the lesson today. Another oops. So, basically, I'm expecting Ben to write MY lesson the next time it comes around. :-) We went home and frantically picked up and made dinner before a friend from church came over for dinner (afternoon church always makes dinner preparation on Sunday tricky). Then the boys and I went back to the church for the baptism that did actually take place. Right after the baptism, Ben called me with the news that Steiner Ranch was on fire and under mandatory evacuation. Ben spent the evening making calls, making sure everyone had somewhere to go, and even having to break the news to a few unfortunate families who are out of town for the holiday weekend that their neighborhood was on fire. :-( Our whole stake fasted for rain today (maybe the whole region?), and boy, do we ever need it. It's so bad down here. The trees are so stressed, they are starting to lose their leaves, and not because fall is around the corner. We've now had over 80 days of 100+ degree weather. Normal is 10. This drought is so bad.
Well, that's the news for tonight. I love you all!
Love,
Gabrielle
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