Christmas

I love Christmas lights.  Every year I have to get out and see Christmas lights.  This year we were able to go to Temple Square with the Cravens and Zoo Lights with the Olsens.  I thought they were so beautiful and fun. 

 

 

Ginger Shed

Every year the Olsens make Graham Cracker “Gingerbread” houses.  We wanted to be creative so we built a gingerbread version of the shed that Dad Olsen spent the whole summer building.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is full of tradition for the Cravens and the Olsens.  We spent most of the day with my family.  It is tradition to go to a movie, have a big Christmas Eve dinner and open family presents. Oh, and I must not forget our Christmas Eve talent show. 

This year Daniel played the piano and I played the guitar.   My parents made a Christmas video of Christmases of the past, then they read us a Christmas story.   

 

Later that night we went over to the Olsen’s.  We sang some Christmas hymns and read the story of the Savior’s birth from Luke 2.   We all received our Christmas PJ’s and opened family gifts.

 

I Love Christmas Eve.  You truly feel the spirit of Christmas.  It is a time to ponder and reflect on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  He is truly the reason for the season.

 

Christmas Morning!

We were spoiled rotten this year.  We were able to have a nice relaxing morning.  We slept in, opened presents and had a wonderful morning just the two of us.

 

We went to Grandma Sugden’s for Christmas breakfast.  We spent the rest of the day with family. It was a wonderful Christmas.  Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas brighter. 

Giving Thanks for Wind and Water

This past Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to take advantage of a couple extra days off of work and go for a quick little adventure down south.

We thought it fitting for the holiday to visit Arches National Park where we could stand in awe, marvel, and wonder as we gave thanks for the beautiful natural creations carved by brush of erosion in the masterful hands of wind and water…

Of course, it also provided an opportunity to get some great photos! Ashley had a fun time playing around with her new camera and got some nice shots while she was at it. (Some of the photos seen below were taken by me, some by her. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which are which. Good luck!)

Of course, we had to visit the magnificent Delicate Arch. I’ve seen it before, but coming around the last curve of the trail and seeing the arch emerge around the corner is still as impressive as ever.

There were a lot of people there enjoying the sunset.

We stuck around to take some night photos after the crowd left. The moon was bright, so they turned out pretty cool.

Saturday morning, we hiked up to Landscape Arch and around the “Primitive Loop” of the Devil’s Garden.

It was a fun hike, but they call it the primitive loop for a reason. If you don’t pay attention you can easily lose the “trail” and get yourself really lost, really quick!

Ya, I know it’s not the exactly the same arch, but it’s close enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balancing by Balancing Rock

That’s my wife!    

And that’s it for our trip. A lot of fun and a great little getaway from the routine of everything!