surprise! my new blog design

Sooo...what do you think? I've been working with Kate at 17th Avenue Design on a new blog design.

I told her I wanted something simple, fresh and clean (lots of white).

Then I sent her these  color boards I created.

I'm a very visual person, so they were as much for my benefit as Kate's.

I researched the affects of different colors, their use in logos, etc. etc. etc., and finally just went with the colors I gravitate to most often. I know, super scientific. :) I love color. And I love happy colors. I would have normally chosen lighter versions of both the green and the pink, but wanted them to show up well, and  Kate assured me that with lots of white, they would tone down a bit.

I may be simple, but I can also be a little picky. Seriously, stop laughing Marci and Jen (and L and P and K and T and D and S and...) Moving on. So here's what I think contributed to this being a successful experience for me:

1. I started with a designer who already had my style down, so there was no "getting on the same page."
2. Kate is a very busy girl, so I had a couple of months to look around and really decide what I wanted and also didn't want. It was well worth the wait.
3. I played show and tell--like with my color boards--to show Kate what I was thinking.
4. You know I'm going to say it--keeping it simple, left me with very few decisions to make in the end.

Thanks, Kate. I love it all. It's definitely me.

I have a bit of work left to do on my end--like updating pages, adding a photo of moi and a couple of other things I want to play with.

quail fire in utah

It's raining, it's pouring...

And we couldn't be more thrilled!

Tuesday afternoon, after Ella and some neighborhood friends had settled in to watch a Disney movie after a full day of water play, I grabbed a tall glass of lemon water and snuck out on the front porch to enjoy a few minutes of quiet.

I was shocked to see this:

Which quickly turned to this:

I couldn't believe how quickly the fire grew and how fast it was moving! I kept praying it wouldn't make it over that little ridge. The flames started crawling up the mountain, away from homes, instead of towards us.

About the time the fire reached this level, Lynn called me from Salt Lake. He'd just finished a meeting and was walking to another building. He could see the smoke and called to ask if Utah County was on fire. I told him, "Pretty much!" All of Utah is on fire right now. The number of fires and damage they have done is astounding--hundreds of thousands of acres and hundreds of homes and structures burned.

The entire neighborhood was out watching and discussing what they'd heard and giving updates. There were evacuations in Alpine, which is right down the road from us. Other communities north of them were on standby. There was major concern about a 3000 gallon(?) tank of propane gas that was very close to the fire. I was down the street at my neighbor Natalie's home and Ally was there too. Ally's husband, Wes, drove up and asked, "What's everybody looking at?" What a dork! I tried not to laugh, but it was pretty funny.

Kate called from Salt Lake to make sure we were okay. Then Patrick called and had been inside at work so he had no idea what was going on. He walked outside and said, "Whoa, Mom! We were just there a few hours ago! Ashlee and I camped in the canyon last night and then hiked to Timpanogos Cave." The canyon was evacuated and is still closed.

The fire has been named Quail Fire and is still only 5% contained. We're praying for the firefighters and pilots working the fire and those who have homes in the fire's path. So far, only a barn was burned to the ground and some homes have fire damage.

A huge thank you to all those involved in keeping us safe! I'm off to make some goodies for a care package our neighbor, Helen, is delivering to the command station.

Stay safe!

Kim