Sacramento Train Museum

A visit to the train museum is always a good idea. There are big trains

Little trains
But they save the best for last.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Okay, this may seem rather random, but we have not posted to this blog for a long, long, long time. Not that we lack for things to post about, but we have been distracted by other things. So as I began to look back over the draft posts, I found a bunch that I started but never finished. So I intend to publish a bunch of posts over the next week or so to clean out old drafts and to show briefs on some of what we have been up to.

These pictures are from our trip to AZ last October. We had so much fun, and now that it is cold and dark in most of the rest of the country, I thought it might be nice to show some sunny and warm (and dry!) pictures.

This is a plant in the vacant lot next to the Hogges in AZ. They all said it was not dead, but would get green and bloom . . . . . no, it was dead.

A testimony that cactus can be beautiful. Personally, I think most forms of cactus are very beautiful. We have some Aloe Vera in our yard that grows like a weed and gets gorgeous flowers on it every year.

Isn't this beautiful?

And this one reminds me of a Christmas tree. I can just imagine in all lit up.

Fairy Tale Town

One of our favorite places to go is Fairy Tale Town. The day we went was one of the few dry days we had and it was quite a nice day.

Crooked Mile
All the slides were a hit

The speed we went through Fairy Tale Town

Sherwood Forest

We just had a great time.

Ottley Family Christmas Party

It was so much fun to go and be a part of the Ottley Christmas Party this year. It was wonderful to see everyone. The kids are growing up so fast. We were able to get some family pictures of the ones that were there. We missed Leon and Jan. We are especially grateful to Don and Jana for hosting.

This is a video of the pictures we took throughout the evening. Some of the pictures are a little fuzzy but we got some fun pictures.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It seems that when we left on our little jaunt around the intermountain west we were just getting over Halloween - but when we returned, Christmas was upon us. So we are joyously moving forward to fill our home and time with the Spirit of the Season. We actually kicked off the season in Provo at the 35th Annual Adventsingen where I got to sing in German (while M giggled at my pronunciation).

Here is the first sign of the Holiday Spirit - a nice wreath on our front door.

Poinsettias are always a good sign in our home that Christmastime is here.

And then there is the creche display all over the house - so beautiful and a great reminder everywhere we look of the reason for the season.

Here is the tree we acquired the day of our return last Tuesday. So far only the lights are up, but we're working on it . . . . kinda.

And here, for all of you who may not be in a position to experience it first-hand, is a white Christmas . . . snow! Can you guess where this is? (Hint: it is actually to different locations.)