Fun in Philly

Just before Thanksgiving I flew to Philadelphia to spend a few days with Clark and Rachel.

As soon as they pick me up from the airport 

we headed downtown to take in a few sights.

 Philadelphia Temple under construction.

 I was a bit surprised how "Urban" this temple site was.

Then we ran up and down the  Rocky steps 

The next day we headed out to the country to 

the Hopewell Furnace Historic site.

An Iron Plantation

 We tried getting some possible Christmas card photos

It's was the perfect location.

 

 

 

 

 

 Hiking around the lake there.

Saturday we headed back to downtown Philly to see the sights in the daylight.

 Clark ordering the "world's best sandwich" at Reading Terminal

 Checking out the window display at Macy's

 

 

 

 We ended the Philly tour at Clark's school.

Thomas Jefferson University

Shooting Cinderella

Monday I got a call from my nephew Lars.   He was putting together a Cinderella photo shoot for his portfolio and his regular photographer had fallen through.  Could I do it?  Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.  He was obviously desperate.   Knowing this was important to him and my skills were limited I called a friend that is a much better photographer and ask her if she would like to do this shoot with me.   YES!   Two cameras are better than one...so the pressure was off and I could just have fun shooting and playing with my camera.

Tuesday, we went out to Lake Las Vegas to shoot.   It was basically deserted there so we didn't have to worry about people getting in our photos or that we were irritating others with our set ups.

It was so fun.  But so cold... it didn't get above 48°... just colder as the sun went down.  The poor models were turning purple.  But they were great sports and despite the cold I think they were having fun too.

Here's a sneak preview of a few of the shots I got.  I'm sure Brandi's will be amazing.

Lars doing a quick wardrobe repair.

 

We know Cinderella lived happily ever after....

just hoping Lars is just as happy.

Christmas Cards

I love Christmas Cards...
It might possible be my favorite thing about Christmas...next to Christmas music.
I love getting the mail during December...hoping for a greeting from friends and family.

A few years ago I couldn't bear the thought of taking my Christmas cards down and...throwing them away.  So I created a collage that I leave up all year.  LOVE IT.   We look at it everyday...really.  It makes us feel loved. 

2014

If one of my favorite people doesn't send us an updated photo, the old photo just gets added to the new year's collage.  Then through the year I add the wedding announcements, graduation photos and birth announcements we get.

Merry Christmas 2015

Today I took down 2014
and put up the new photos from this years cards.

Ahhh...feeling loved.

A most unusual Halloween

 Here in Nevada Halloween Day is also Nevada Day...an official no school holiday.   That combined with a teacher prep day(s) and the weekend gives the kids 4-5 day of no school.  So for years several families in the ward head to Carlsbad Beach State Park in California for these days off.   This year with no family here and not visiting family elsewhere we decided to join in.

What a fun way to spend Halloween!

Friday night dinner...Shrimp boil. 

Nightly jamming around the fire. 

Saturday morning started with a 5k run through the campground.

Eddy Coranado

Lots of relaxing and just snoozing on the beach

Karl cooking is dutch oven potatoes for the BBQ Rib dinner on Saturday.

 

Sunset was just happening as Karl was cooking.

 The teenagers from our group were having a rousing game of something.

Then it turned in to a beach sunset photo shoot.

 

 

Halloween was fun. Campers strung lights and decoration and carved pumpkins. Kids and adults dressed up and went from campsite to campsite trick or treating. It was too dark for good photos so I just enjoyed the festivities.

 

 Sunday morning walk on the beach before church

 The stairs down to the beach were a workout.

It was such a fun weekend.   The only thing that would have been better would have been to have our kids and little people with us...then it would have been perfect!