Winter Sunset in Snow Canyon

Snow Canyon, Utah

Snow Canyon is a beautiful little state park about 5 minutes away from our winter 'casita', (small vacation home).  The most prominent features in the park are beautiful red rock cliffs intermixed with black lava rock, which makes for a very striking combination.  Then seemingly out of context, white/yellow rock mountains appear.  In spring, the desert floor is often dotted with beautiful cactus blooms and wild flowers, but now in winter, the only color to be found is in the awesome rock formations enhanced to a warm golden hue by the setting sun.

(This shot was taken with my iphone on an evening walk last night.)

Beautiful Evelyn!

My 11th Grandchild!  Isn't she darling!

Winter Dreams!

I do love snow at Christmas time.....pine trees laden with sparkling snow, snowflakes drifting softly into a winter wonderland scene, children with red noses building snowmen, etc.  But after Christmas all I can think of is.....slipping on icy sidewalks, chapped hands and faces from bitter cold winds, shoveling snow off the driveway, and dreary gray landscapes.

Here is how they spend winter in Moorea, a small island near Tahiti.  Moorea is one of the most beautiful tropical paradises I have ever seen.  I see two vacant beach chairs and one has my name on it......anyone want to join me?????

Christus

Christus

(located on Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah)

Christus (also known as Christus Consolator) is a 19th-century Carrara marble statue of the resurrected Jesus by Bertel Thorvaldsen. Since its completion in 1838, the statue has been located in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the 20th century, images and replicas of the statue were adopted by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) to emphasize the centrality of Jesus Christ in church teachings.

Away in a Manger.....

Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him, Christ, the Lord!

The True Meaning of Christmas!

If you are a Christian, I hope you will take time this Christmas season to remember the reason we celebrate at this special time of year.  In addition to the parties and presents and pastries, I hope you will gather your loved ones close, open the holy scriptures, and together read about the birth and mortal life of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and then take a few minutes to ponder upon the gift of salvation and eternal life He has made possible for us!

Christmas Decorations at Karen's House!

I've kind of had a bad attitude about decorating for Christmas this year.  I think it started when I realized that the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was shorter than usual.  Just thinking of dragging all the Christmas decorations out of their hiding places, and the mess that follows as I shuffle through stuff I've accumulated for years, trying to locate the few really meaningful things I love, (like nativities), was discouraging at that moment.  I began to think it all takes so much time and effort, when in a blink of an eye, (or so it seems), it will be time to take it all down.  And like every other year, all the stuff never does fit back into the same boxes they came out of!  (That I don't get!)

But as I started opening boxes, and taking out treasured items that reminded me of wonderful Christmas memories throughout the years, my mood began to change:  a nativity from a special friend when we lived in Missouri, a hand made decoration from my mother-in-law for our first married year, a silly musical, bell ringing Santa that makes us laugh every year that my mom gave our children, ornaments from New Zealand, etc. etc.  My 'bad' mood was no match for these special memories.  So now, finally,  I'm in the mood for Christmas carols, decorations, presents, and yes, EVEN the snow that has been falling all day!  It is the beautiful dry kind of snow with huge delicate flakes that softly float down and cover the ground in a 'mantle of white.'  (A perfect winter scene, made even more perfect because I am sitting by a warm fireplace, enjoying my decorated house and watching my wonderful grandsons out the window as they shovel the snow off our sidewalks.)

This Christmas I want to remember the blessing of a warm, toasty home all decked out and ready to welcome family and friends.  I want to remember that despite all the decorating hassle, I really do love my home at this special time of year.  I especially want to remember that the extra effort to make my home a place of faith and peace that reflects the joy and happiness our family feels as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.......is definitely, positively, worth it all!  I decided to take a few photos of my Christmas home to help remind me of my thoughts today:

 Welcome to our home.  (Front Entrance.)

 Entry and peak into the dining room. 
(Oops...I forgot to remove the small rug and towel my grandsons used to dry off after shoveling snow.)

 Great room.

A different view with a glimpse of the winter wonderland out our back windows.

 A picture of our special angel Grandson, sitting among my angel collection as a reminder that he is truly our beloved Heavenly Angel.  We miss him so much!  (Our other earthly angels are with their parents in the large photo, except we are missing our two newest angels, recently born.)

A closer look.  On the shelf are two nativities collected from our travels.  The dish shows a pohutukawa blossom.  They grow on large trees in New Zealand and Kiwis call this their Christmas tree because they are in full bloom at Christmas.

My happy little collection of snowmen in the kitchen.

 A favorite piece of artwork depicting Jesus Christ.  This is not a Christmas decoration, as it stays year round.

P.S.  Do you notice anything missing???  Where is the Christmas tree you ask!  We have a lovely family room / recreation room on the lower level where our Christmas tree usually resides.  It is decorated with children's toys and ornaments and includes the ornament we bought for our first Christmas 43 years ago, all the ornaments our children made while they were growing up, as well as special ornaments from the countries we have visited.  

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Hello and Merry Christmas to my Dear Blogger Buddies!

This year has been good to me and our family.  Despite a few more pounds, a little less hair, and a lot more wrinkles, Jeff and I have been blessed with a wonderful family, two new adorable grandchildren, fabulous friends, the opportunity to continue with our missionary work and the energy and health to keep up with it all.

I have missed blogging on a regular basis this year and I especially miss keeping up with all of you who have enriched and inspired my life with your kindness, humor, goodness and amazing photography.  I have made a resolution to spend more time with my camera and with my

blogging buddies in 2014!

I hope this year has been kind to you and your families as well.  Our family, like everyone's families, has challenges and set backs.  But we try to focus on our many blessings and remember that our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, is here to buoy us up during our struggles, mend our broken hearts when disappointments come, and give us hope for a glorious future.  We hope you join
with our family in celebrating His birth this Christmas!

Meet Crew Lavoy

We have been so blessed this month.  Here is our Number 12 grandchild, born about a week ago.  He was in the hospital over Halloween, so here his is in his Batman costume.  Isn't he adorable!!

Happy Halloween!

 My Scariest Halloween Creatures

These photos were taken of bigger than life sized creatures created at the Weta Workshop in New Zealand.  This company is responsible for the design and production of the creatures in the movies Lord of the Rings, King Kong and Avatar, to name just a few.  Happy Halloween!! 

With Child

My daughter-in-law - beautiful and modest

(She is due this week!!!)

 With her husband who happens to be my handsome son.

 This will be their first child and our 12th grandchild.

Scrub Oak in Autumn

Here in northern Utah many of our hills and mountains are covered with what we call scrub oak bushes.  I'm sure that is not the 'official' name, but that name fits them well. The leaves are definitely oak shaped but other than that, these scrubby bushes do not much resemble their more beautiful relatives, the tall and majestic mighty oak trees.  Most of the year, scrub oak is not very impressive, although it does green up our desert mountains in the summer.  But come fall, these bushes are in their brilliant glory, arrayed in shades of gold, rust, yellow, red, orange, bronze, and every other color of fall.  

I read somewhere just recently that we should take a lesson from how leaves end their life cycle.  They don't fade away quietly, they end their lives with a colorful and brilliant blaze of glory.  I like that thought!!  

Arches Nat'l Park, UT

I took this photo in early summer on a trip to Moab and Arches National Park.    I should be posting photos of our annual Lake Powell trip, but we had to cancel because our planned vacation week was during the time the national parks were closed.  How disappointing, but not nearly the hardship many people are dealing with due to the shameful antics of our self serving elected government officials from BOTH parties!!  The 'children' in Washington don't understand concepts like 'reasonable compromise', 'playing fair', 'working together for the best interest of the American people',  'integrity', etc. 

Mt. Timpanogos, Utah

One afternoon last week I drove up a dirt road that I've been on many times, but drove farther (further?) than ever before.  I found this beautiful vista of Mt. Timpanogos.  I think the next time I have a request to take a family portrait with Timp in the background, I've found just the right location!

Our Newest Angel - Evelyn May

 Sent From Heaven with His Love

".....Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:...."

                                                                                                         --William Wordsworth

(Excerpt from 'Ode Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood')

Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15926#sthash.YrgThSIK.dpuf

Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15926#sthash.YrgThSIK.dpuf

Meet our newest grandchild, so sweet, so innocent.  Isn't she the most adorable little bundle of cuteness?  This makes number 11 for us.  Our children and grandchildren bring us such joy and are our greatest blessings! They give us hope and faith.  They remind us that God is in His heavens, we are not here by chance, we are His children, and He has a magnificent future planned for each of us in our heavenly home!

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Shooting Into the Sun

What to do when the sun is still high enough to wash out colors and to cast harsh shadows and, when I'm not very patient at waiting until the sun sets so I can take some 'golden hour' shots at the beach?  Well, I found a composition I liked where the tidal waters had receded to form a leading 'S' curve line to the sea stacks that were silhouetted in front of the sun.  I had a polarizer on my lens and set my camera to -2 stops exposure to compensate for the harsh light.  In post processing I cropped half of the sun out to bring attention to the interesting rays and sun flare and then boosted the colors that were washed out in the original image.  (Another case of 'making do' and 'rethinking possibilities' as I talked about in the last post.)

Mt. Rainier Waterfall - Living with Disappointment

A month or so ago my sister-in-law sent me some beautiful photographs she had taken on a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park.  The sky was a lovely shade of blue, the wildflowers were gorgeous, the shades of green in the forests were vivid.  So when Jeff & I were in Washington a few weeks ago and had one day for sightseeing, we headed there, hoping I could also find some beautiful scenes to photograph.

But by the time we arrived at the park entrance, the sky became overcast, and within a few minutes of driving, the weather turned drizzly, windy, foggy and cold.  So much for my anticipated beautiful photo ops!  Below is a photo taken out the car window showing how most of our drive looked:

Lessons Learned in Disappointment, Acceptance and Making Do!

I've learned that in order to be a 'serious' hobbyist photographer, one must accept and deal with a certain amount of disappointment, acceptance and making do.  Professional photographers working on assignment for a client, may have the financial means and time to be able to wait for ideal conditions, but most hobbyists have only limited amounts of time and money, and are usually reduced to a weekend here or there, or a set number of vacation days a year to feed their landscape and travel photography passion.  And often the weather or other factors pop up to thwart photography efforts during the time of the trip, that has probably been planned for months in advance.  Maybe it's not even the weather.  I just thought of the Chevy Chase movie, National Lampoon's 'Vacation' where the Griswold family struggles through all sorts of hilarious (and sometimes irreverent) situations to drive across the country to Walley World, only to find out it's closed!  Another lesson, make sure to do your homework in advance.  (And a little closer to home, this Friday starts our annual family vacation on our houseboat timeshare at Lake Powell.  I always look forward to photographing that beautiful area.  Who would have thought the government would shut down and all the national parks would close!  Major disappointment!  Sigh!)  But back to our day at Mt. Rainier:

 Unknown Waterfall in Mt. Rainier National Park

This is a 'making do' photo.  For a brief period, the fog lifted long enough for me to get out of the car along side the road to take the above shot.  It was cold and windy and I had to put my telephoto lens on a tripod and hold it from being blown over.  The original photo was dull and soft because of the moving trees and moving camera.  In post editing, I decided to boost the saturation, sharpen and add a bit more 'magic'.  This shot doesn't look anything like the original, but in my mind, it looks like the photo I could have taken if I'd have had the time to come back on a day when the weather conditions were perfect.  

And who knows, I may be able to salvage one of my foggy, rainy shots and create something dark and moody, just right for Halloween.

When considering outdoor, travel, and landscape photography, if we learn to accept and make do with disappointments and changes we didn't anticipate, and force ourselves to rethink the possibilities, we may actually be increasing our photography skills and our ability to be more creative!

Phun Phriday!

Recycled Iron Yard Art

I haven't posted a 'Phun Phriday' photo in quite some time!  On our travels in Washington last week, we stopped at this yard and enjoyed looking at a ton, (probably was literally a ton!), of iron artwork on display.  I had 'phun' doing some pretty heavy editing on this one!

Cannon Beach Sunset

This little guy walked right into my photo and posed for the perfect foreground subject.  I had my camera on a tripod for a slow shutter speed which made the water soft and dreamy.

Starfish on Cannon Beach, Oregon

We took a quick trip to Washington to visit our dentist (Jeff's bro).  They live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by many beautiful places, so we took several extra days before heading home.  Unfortunately it was raining most of the week.  We had one beautiful day, and that happened to be the day we headed over to the coast and spent the day at Canon Beach, Oregon.  The tide was out and I've never seen such HUGE and COLORFUL starfish!   They were everywhere.

Yes, they were really this big.  I was not using a macro lens and didn't do any editing to make them look bigger or more amazing.  To see some perspective on their size, check out the next photo.

I included my own shadow in this shot to show you the size of these beauties!