President Obama Visits the Waldo Canyon Fire

Appreciative of his visit and the support of the community. I pray that as the days pass, this fire continues to be contained, and that the community is able to come together and rebuild our beautiful home. For the nearly 350 homes lost, and the fatalities, my heart aches. This will forever change us, in some way shape or form.

Colorado Wildfires

So the last few weeks my state has been battling wildfires.  In the past few days, that battle has gotten even greater.  With record high temps, and being very dry, fires have been popping up left and right.  It is so sad to see my beautiful state burning from north to south.  The following I took from a USA Today article in regards to the fires, for those of you who may not be up to date on the situation here in Colorado...


"The total number of homes destroyed by a two-week old wildfire in northern Colorado was raised to 248 on Sunday as residents of a subdivision near Fort Collins learned that 57 more homes in their neighborhood had been lost, authorities said.

Fire officials had previously said that 191 homes had burned, the most in state history. The High Park Fire is the second-largest wildfire and among the most expensive in Colorado's history. It has scorched more than 130 square miles and was just 45 percent contained on Sunday, The Denver Post reported.

With a total of eight fires burning, Colorado is having its worst wildfire season in a decade.

A fire near Colorado Springs erupted Saturday and grew out of control to more than 3 square miles early Sunday, prompting the evacuation of more than 11,000 residents and an unknown number of tourists. Authorities said Sunday that they were allowing about 5,000 of those residents to return.

Also on Saturday, a blaze destroyed structures near the mountain community of Estes Park, where many visitors stay while visiting Rocky Mountain National Park. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office said Sunday that 22 homes and 2 outbuildings had been burned.

"We're used to flooding and tornadoes, nothing like this," said Amanda Rice, who recently moved to the area from Rock Falls, Ill. Rice, her husband, four children and dog left a Manitou Springs hotel late Saturday.

Rice, scared when she saw flames, took her family to the evacuation center before she was told to go.

"It was just this God-awful orange glow. It was surreal. It honestly looked like hell was opening up," Rice said Sunday.

With Colorado midway through its worst wildfire season in a decade, travelers have seen some of their favorite sites closed to the public, obscured by smoke and haze. Some travelers were awoken with evacuation orders.

Plumes of gray and white smoke poured from the mountains Sunday, obscuring at times Pikes Peak, the most-summited high-elevation mountain in the nation and inspiration for the song "America The Beautiful." Winds were pushing smoke away from Colorado Springs, but residents and tourists watched nervously as haze wrapped around the peak.

Also Sunday, a brushfire that began near Elbert, about 50 miles southwest of Denver, quickly spread to about 60 acres, forcing the evacuation of about 100 residents.

Half the nation's firefighting fleet is now battling fires in Colorado, said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. He said C-130 military transport planes from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs would begin assisting on Monday.

"People recognize this is going to take a big push" to extinguish, Hickenlooper said Sunday from a Colorado Springs grocery store, where volunteers were passing out burritos, sandwiches and drinks to 350 firefighters working near Pikes Peak.

The wildfire near Rocky Mountain National Park destroyed vacation cabins and closed the most commonly used entrance to the park. Clouds of smoke blew toward the 102-year-old Stanley Hotel that inspired Stephen King to write "The Shining."

I saw first hand as the Waldo Canyon fire had just began on Saturday.  As I was driving into Colorado Springs (from Denver) I could see the cloud of smoke rising up as I came over Monument Hill.  Then as I got closer (about I25 and Woodmen) I could see the actual flames across the top of the mountain.  It was surreal.  My heart goes out to all the those acrossed the state who have been affected, and to all the firefighters working around the clock to try and put all these fires out.

Day 1 of Waldo fire...

Day 2 of the Waldo fire...

Lastly, for anyone who is interested in helping our state battle these fires, here is a list of  a few ways you can...

-Donate to evacuees through HelpColoradoNow.org

-Donate to the Red Cross

-Donate to Colorado Professional Firefighters Foundation

-Also this is a good Facebook page, Waldo Canyon Fire assistance

So I came acrossed this giveaway today from Groopdealz.  They are giving away a DSLR camera..and I have been wanting a new camera like this for awhile now! I hope to win, and if you want a shot at it too, go ahead and enter to win here! :)

a'>http://www.rafflecopter.com">a Rafflecopter giveaway

MREs

So there is a series on youtube that I follow called My Drunk Kitchen...it is absolutely hilarious.  I will share some of my favorites with you all who follow my blog.  In honor of yesterday being flag day and the Army's birthday I thought I would share the episode on MREs.  For those of you who have ever had one/seen one, you could find a good laugh from this. Enjoy!

Wanted

Absolutely love this song!  Because at the end of the day, all a girl wants is to be wanted...



If you have a special someone, always make sure they know they are wanted*

Cinco de Mayo

So this was the first time I have ever really gone out on cinco de mayo.  Some friends and I decided weeks ago what we were going to do.  There is a Mexican restuarant here in Denver that has amazing food and amazing margaritas.  They have 60oz margaritas!  Which are very strong might I add.  So this is where we decided to begin our night.  We had fresh made guacamole, delicious food, and every one of us ordered one of the 60oz drinks (which cost $16.95...twice as much as our meals).

Needless to say...it was more then enough tequila for a night!  We then headed downtown to get some dancing in.  It was such a great night and I had so much fun with amazing friends.  We laughed, we danced, and made memories to last.  I hope everyone's weekend was as great as mine!

♥ Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. ♥

President Obama at Bagram Air Base

This popped up on my facebook news feed from one of the pages I get updates from. The portion of the speech at around 9 minutes especially struck a note with me. Everyone who reads my blog is entitled to their own opinions, regardless of what yours may be I wanted to share :)