Merry Christmas!

We had Chad’s mom and brother over to celebrate the holiday.

Future Me is thankful

Way back in July, as part of an art prompt exchange with Kean, I made a bunch of starry night prints.  My thinking was that Future Me would be thankful when it came time to do Christmas cards.

And yes, I am thankful.  I still managed to not get the cards addressed and put in the mailbox until Dec 22, but that is a separate problem...

Happy Holidays to all!

Forgot

I forgot how many candies a double batch of coconut bonbons makes…  Five bags of chocolate chips later, I am finally done.  Using the induction hot plate to keep the chocolate at the right temperature is a game-changer :)

Singing!

 The group I sing with has been busy this holiday season.  Go here to see a nice article about the group.

Tree hunt

 Despite the snow, or perhaps because of it, we headed up into the hills over the weekend to find our Christmas tree.  Once again, we accidentally got one that just barely fits in the house…

Consequence of snow

 Chad got to play with the tractor!  He was kind enough to clear the neighbor’s driveway too, with the result that he was out well after dark.

Snow!

 We got two big snow dumps in the last week, and could ski from the house :)

Odd things one finds in the desert

 The International Car Forest of the Last Church, near Goldfield, NV.

Berlin Ichthyosaur

We finally took the long route across Nevada to stop at Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park.  With a name like that, how can you not?  Fossils AND an old mining ghost town!  They had a nice campground, to boot.

Anniversary trip

 For our anniversary, we poked around Utah in the van.  It was cold, but gorgeous; this trip felt like it was just scouting for future expeditions in and around Bears Ears and Canyonlands.

The Philosopher

 We have adopted the Philosopher.

Aspens

The aspens seemed extra colorful this year.  We went up to the ski area to check them out when my parents visited. 

Sunset

 We never get tired of the sunsets here.

Visitors!

 Fall was full of visitors.  It’s a great time of year to be out here!

Canyons

 Found an interesting little canyon on the Jemez.

Valle

We hiked up Sulfur Canyon into Alamo Canyon and it was wide and green and pretty!

Zozobra

We burned away the year’s gloom with 60,000 of our friends on Friday night’s 99th annual burning of Zozobra!