We had such a great trip to Whistler, BC. Here is a quick video montage of just some of the fun times that were had We did plenty of outdoor activites despite the temps being in the 20s most of the time. It was quite a shock to the desert dwellers and to some more than others (me!)!! We hope these pictures get you in the mood for winter and the Holidays ahead. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to everyone.
We hope you are enjoying your own summer adventures and activities and keeping busy but cool!
Here in the AZ Smith house we are constantly on the go and I sometimes feel like I am doing something EVERY waking minute of the day. I’m sure many of you know the feeling right? I have been trying to capture some of our activities and adventures on film and camera so that I can share them with all of you Since Braelyn is the social butterfly and busybody, she has the MOST things going on and I thought instead of writing about them, I would post some short videos of what she has been up to in the past couple of months! So without further delay, here are the many happenings of Braelyn!
#1 -- Swim Class -- I received a progress report for her and she has only 1 stroke left to master before moving up to the top level at her swim school. The stroke? The breast stroke. She can do arms and legs seperately but can’t quite put them together. This video is her best stroke, the butterfly.
#2 -- Gymnastics -- She participates in a dance/gym class that is 1/2 hour gymnastics and 1/2 hour ballet and tap (alternating each week). I should have filmed her on the 2nd go around for her gym class because she seemed to catch on to the skills a bit better in that round!
#3 -- Dance -- Her class has a recital coming up that we weren’t signed up in time to participate in. They are dancing to music from the Disney Rapunzel movie Tangled. Here are their ballet routine and the finale.
#4 -- Agility -- She has started to show an interest in doing agility just like mom I have been helping her with basic things while my teacher is on vacation for a bit this summer. At first Casie didn’t want to do anything that Braelyn asked but now you can see they are quite good together!
#5 -- Reading -- Well, she is reading and has been for several months. She has actually progressed a TON since this video was taken in early June and she can fly through these online stories. She had never read this one before I filmed it but I think she is doing great for being 5!
#6 -- Traveling -- We had a very nice family trip to SD and to the cabin in the last few weeks and we got to spend time with some of our favorite people Braelyn had a blast in SD with her cousins Emma and Kyleigh and asks me many times each week when she can go back. When we were in SD, Sheri took the girls and have their pictures done together and they are both so photogenic, the pics turned out great!
At the cabin, my dad found an area where there were several bones lying on the forest floor. Our little explorer wanted to go and check them out and it was a good anatomy lesson for her as they tried to construct a skeleton to see what kind of animal it used to be
Now onto Matt and I (I hope you are not expecting such amazing feats from us -- LOL!)
I have been busy taking B to all of her lessons and helping her to finish up her summer camp. I have also worked with her on her agility and when my instructor returns in mid-July, I am going to help teach a class for kiddos at the same place I take my lessons. It will be a good break for Casie as she HATES doing agility in the summer because of the heat and it has been HOT here so far this summer. We will work in the indoor building where it is much cooler and they will do short beginner activities instead of the longer courses I was running with her the rest of the year. We have also made the decision that we are going to homeschool Braelyn for Kindergarten and so I have been busy preparing lessons and teaching and finding fun things to do to supplement our online curriculum. This was a difficult decision but because Kindergarten isn’t required in AZ, and next year we could just enroll her with no placement testing required, we felt like it was the best fit, seeing as how we couldn’t find a school that really had what we needed for her. It is going well so far and I am using a 1st grade curriculum for some things and just filling in what she is interested in as we go. She has really been into Harry Potter lately (she is crazy about HP like her mom!) and so we did a measuring lesson using candy and pretending we worked for the wizarding candy store! She did this for over an hour and told me that she wished it would never end! We also did a big patriotic unit on July 4th that ended with making a flag dessert while talking about the meaning of the stars and stripes. That’s fun stuff
I have also been working hard to get our business ready to launch at Sam’s Club in a special event format where we go into the clubs and sell our customized artwork to members and then create it and ship it directly to them. It is looking like we are going to start here in AZ in September and this has been almost a YEAR in the planning stages. Keep your fingers crossed. We have also been picked up by a couple of internet stores and are offering ‘groupon’ like deals on a couple others. We have expanded our business to include graphic design and are assisting some of my parents’ vendors with projects that have helped keep us busy while waiting for the Sam’s business to materialize. We are also busy creating 2 more exciting ‘toy’ like art products that kids can play with and are hoping to be able to sell these for the upcoming holiday season
I have also had a couple of recent ‘cultural’ experiences that have been fun! First, my parents took my whole family to see the Broadway show, Les Miserables which is one of my favorite shows. It was a Christmas gift and we finally got to go last month. We took Braelyn too, unsure of how she would do with a complex story and nothing really ‘kid-like’ to watch. I played music from the show for her and sang some of the songs during our nightly bedtime routine and she actually did really great; sat still for most all of it and seemed to enjoy it. She was the youngest person there that I saw and Matt and I got some strange looks from other patrons wondering why we brough such a young child to a performance like that! My mom also surprised me by getting me tickets to the NKOTBSB (New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys) concert that came last week to AZ. My brother and one of my best friends who went with me to my very first concert, New Kids, when I was 11 -- went with me again! I was totally surprised which doesn’t happen often to me and we had SUCH a fun time dancing and singing to all of the songs that we had grown up with! It was a guilty pleasure and very nostalgic
Matt finished up (for the most part) with his amateur scouting in June when the draft was completed but of course, he has still been busy most everyday doing anything from watching high school kids in tournaments to watching major league teams to rookie league ball. There is never a shortage of kids to see and when you live in a city that has baseball year round and has so many spring training complexes, there are always things to do. We are hoping that his schedule calms down in the next few weeks and he can truly enjoy some down time for the first time in over a year. He was able to sneak away for a couple of days to the cabin which he hadn’t been able to visit for about a year. He enjoyed relaxing on the porch and reading and having fun with B painting some old tree stumps in the front garden.
He is happy because this year he has been able to play golf a lot more -- being able to take his clubs with him on the road a few times since he drives everywhere instead of flying. He has played in Colorado, California and he has even been able to sneak in a round or two here locally. It’s nice when he can play on the road because it is so much cooler and it gives him a bit of a break from the monotony that can sometimes come from traveling so much.
We hope you have enjoyed our multimedia update and that you are enjoying the summer days.
We hope that everyone is enjoying the NICE weather that Spring always brings. Its been picture perfect here but we know that when Spring is over, the HOT weather is here to stay
I just wanted to write a quick note and share some new pictures with everyone. We have been busy (as always) with activities and fun trips.
Braelyn is still participating in her weekly swim classes as a ‘lobster’ and learning the breast stroke and butterfly stroke. She is really quite the little fish, as she should be since she’s been taking lessons since she was a year old. I finally feel confident that if she fell in and no one was around (not that that would EVER happen!), that she could safely swim across, and get out of, any pool. She is also taking a theater class which incorporates acting, singing and choreography and she really enjoys the singing part. I think she takes after her aunt and uncle and not her parents in that regard! They are performing some songs and dances from Lion King in April so that should be fun! She is in preschool 2 days a week for 3 hours each day and she really enjoys the crafts and the social part of that time. We have her on the waiting list for a charter school that we would LOVE for her to attend but we are #16 and aren’t sure we will get in this year. If not, I think that we’ve agreed we are going to homeschool her for Kindergarten. She is basically at a late-K level already and so I don’t think it would be very difficult to keep her home for the next year and see how it goes.
Matt is traveling a lot and working even more trying to cover all of his territory and see all of his players in time for the draft in early June. This year has been an adjustment for all of us in that his schedule can change by the minute, whereas in the past, it was very predictable which made for easier planning. He is putting tons of miles on his goold ole’ 4Runner and seeing lots of the 4 corners area – for better or worse! After the draft is over, he has some tournament coverages in Florida and New Mexico and then hopefully, some off time in the Fall.
I am just trying to keep my head above water and manage this crazy household all the while trying to work my own business and get it up and running. We have been approved to sell our children’s artwork to Sam’s Club and are waiting on final paperwork. We are REALLY excited to have a large venue to showcase our products and are hoping for some good sales and feedback. I am still doing agility with Casie and finding more and more each time out that agility is MUCH more about training the human than the dog! LOL! She learned the obstacles in about 6 months and here I am a year later, trying to figure out where I need to be and how to get there before her
My parents and I made a quick trip to Carlsbad, CA a few weeks ago to enjoy the beach and the pool and to see Tom, Sheri, Devyn and Kyleigh. We had a nice dinner at Tom and Sheri’s house and Braelyn and I ran on the beach for some exercise and she played in the waves and sand. She also enjoyed the heated pool since she has been begging to get into my parent’s pool since this winter. AZ is warm but not THAT warm!
We are trying to enjoy being outside before we are banished to the indoors by mother nature in a few months. Braelyn, Casie and I do weekly hikes at the mountain park near our house and it has been gorgeous weather and the wildflowers are starting to bloom. We are nearly always outside on the trampoline or in the playhouse or playing hide and seek in the backyard.
We miss everyone and hope that we can see you all soon when things calm down a bit, whenever that will be – LOL!
Can you believe that it is SEPTEMBER already?!? We are coming into fall, my favorite time of the year. We are excited for pumpkin patches and Thanksgiving and Christmas and all of those fun family holidays that are just around the corner. Most of all we are excited for the fact that Matt will be done traveling by the 20th of September – YAHOO!
This year has been very challenging because of the amount of time he has spent traveling – 25 days out of each month on average. Braelyn and I have done as well as can be expected between her activities and mine & keeping busy. We have spent LOTS of time up at the cabin this summer staying cool, spending time with Grammy and Grampy and being outdoors. Braelyn loves visiting the pond to see the tadpoles and frogs and eating breakfast in the fifth wheel each morning. The dogs love it too and they are always running and jumping around the logs and plants. Braelyn spends lots of time with Nana in the garden and Uncle Chris helped her make some pine cone birdseed feeders when he and Justin made a trip up one weekend.
Between trips to the cabin and our travel-filled August, we haven’t been home much this summer BUT we did get spend a lot of time with Matt this past month, taking several trips together to help make the days on the road go by faster.
At the beginning of August we took a weekend trip up to LA while he was scouting the Dodgers and Tom and Sheri met us up at the hotel for a 2 day visit which was nice.
2 days after we returned home, Matt & I took a trip together back to New York while he was scouting the Mets for 5 days. It was a LOT of fun and Braelyn was up at the cabin with my parents so she barely knew we were gone! We saw all of the usual touristy sites in the city as well as taking a couple of self-guided walking tours of different areas of Manhattan that we downloaded to our IPODS. I hadn’t been to NYC since I was about 10 and Matt hadn’t been in 2 years since he stopped traveling with the team. The weather was amazing, the city was clean and safe and we got to see and do so much in our few days. We saw Lion King on Broadway which is an experience like no other stage show that I have ever seen and we walked 5-10 miles every single day we were there. I would go back in a heartbeat – I really enjoyed our time there and it is always nice to get some time together as a couple. Thanks to both of our families for making the trip possible for us and allowing us to experience the city.
After flying across country, unpacking and spending 1 whole night at home, we were then off to San Diego for a week to spend time with family while Matt was doing some minor league scouting, as well as scouting the Padres. Braelyn had SO much fun with Kyleigh and they were hilarious together playing so nicely and getting along so well. They were both totally bummed when we had to leave and Braelyn still asks about her all the time. I stayed with Matt at the hotel for a night so B got to spend some good time with Grandma and Grandpa which she always enjoys. They visited the Natural History Museum at Balboa Park and we also went to dog beach in Del Mar. We took a trip up to La Jolla to see the seals in the cove as well and got an unexpected shower from a rogue wave that completely DRENCHED Braelyn, Sheri and I. We were completely soaked and dripping wet and even the inside of my purse needed to be dumped out to get rid of the water. When we went home 3 hours later, I was still WET, not damp but it makes for a good story and we were good sports about it!
When we drove home, we brought my cousin Sara and her daughter Emma with us and we had a nice family party for my Grandma’s 80th Birthday. I felt completely unprepared, not having been around for much of the planning BUT I just did what I was told instead of being the boss and it worked out great. Everyone had fun and we had some nice out of town guests that made the party even more special.
Once our company had gone home, you would think that we rested and relaxed but, OH NO not us! Braelyn started school last week and so we were back and forth taking her and dropping her off. She was nervous at first but she really seems to like it and her teacher is really good with the kids. They had show and tell last week and this week they have color week so they have to dress in all yellow tomorrow for class. I am a parent helper for the class so I get to do all kinds of fun things like cut out dinosaurs from construction paper, cut out and hole punch letter necklaces and all other sorts of crafty stuff that helps out the teacher and reduces her workload.
Braelyn is still taking dance/gymnastics and swim class and on Saturday she starts her acting class in which I think she will be a big hit because, if you know Braelyn, there is nothing but complete DRAMA to everything. From her facial expressions to her sweeping arm movements to her dressing up and putting on her makeup, I think this girl is headed for the stage – LOL! I actually can’t wait to see her up there performing because I think it will be so good for her and she will be able to use her natural dramatic talents! She told me that she was concerned about this acting class because ‘What if I get stage fright during the performance?’ I tried not to laugh and told her that she would be great and that she would do her best and that the teacher would help her if she forgot her lines. Too funny!
Things for me are going well with our new business. We are finishing up our current line of artwork and already prepping for new lines and designs. We are doing lots of live shows this fall to promote our products and we have retailers interested in adding our lines to their shops and stores. We are expanding into pet art, educational items and full size wall murals so be on the lookout for our stuff soon! If you are looking for customized artwork, we can do that too, just let me know size and design and my partner can create something AMAZING for you!
I am still doing agility with Casie. We have taken a break for the summer from our regular classes and so I have been filling in with some seminars from past instructors as well as getting to know some new ones. Casie actually now looks like a dog that you see on TV, weaving in between all of the poles and going on the teeter totter and over jumps and through tunnels. I have currently started taking private lessons to replace the group lessons so that we can work on things specific to Casie and I. I MAY start competing this fall but mostly I am doing it for fun and because Casie has had such fear issues in the past and still to this day, she can be skittish. It is really good in building her confidence and really good exercise for us both as we run around the courses.
Matt is finishing up his scouting in Dallas and Seattle over the next couple of weeks and then he will be done for the season. He is very worn down from being on the road so much and being in so many hotels. The GOOD thing about his travels is that we get LOADS of hotel points and air miles so that we can take some fun family vacations in the off-season and get lots of stuff for free! We aren’t totally sure what he’ll be doing next season as lots of things are still not finalized with the GM situation BUT we know he will be working in baseball somewhere next year and hopefully he will get to stay put where he is. Things are supposed to be hammered out in the next few weeks and then the scouts will start finding out what they will be doing and people will be moved around and shuffled to fill vacant spots left by people vacating them this year. There will be lots of opportunities and new teams to see, we are just waiting and hoping for a contract extension before October.
We hope everyone is doing well and that we will see you sometime in our Holiday or off-season travels this fall. Take care and enjoy the cooler weather and the fun family times ahead. Love to All.
So it’s been a little while since the last time we gave an update on all things “Desert Dwelling Smith” and about a hundred times longer since I was actually the one putting fingers to keyboard.
First of all, Happy New Year to everybody and we hope that 2010 is full of health, happiness, and success for all of you.
And now for the update …
Christmas for us was a good one. We spent Christmas Eve with Lisa’s family at Gary and Bonnie’s house where we were able to see Lisa’s Uncle, his wife, and their son Cameron (who we hadn’t seen in far too long). Christmas morning at our house was fun, as it always seems to be every year. Braelyn was surprised with a handful of treats from Santa and we were able to just take our time and relax together as a family … for a few hours at least … we ended up hosting Christmas Lunner at our house with about 20 friends and family with a fun potluck, bocce ball tournament, and a fire outside on the patio. It was cool to have so many good people come together and just enjoy each others’ company.
Lisa, Braelyn, and I packed up and headed home to SD for the week between Christmas and New Years and were fortunate enough to see lots of family and friends while we were there.
We took a family trip (my Mom, Dad, Devyn, and Kyleigh along with L, B, and me) to the Wild Animal Park which Braelyn absolutely ate up. We took the safari tour, heard Lions roaring, got to touch an African Boa Constrictor, got mooned by a handful of Gorillas, fed Ducks, rode the Carousel, and about died from heat exhaustion (the forecast called for something near 60 degrees but ended up roasting our fully clothed selves with a very January-esque 85). It was a good family outing as none of us had been there since Devyn was in Middle School (10 years ago at least). Braelyn also decided she wanted to get her face painted … pretty darn cute in my biased opinion.
My parents hosted a New Year’s Eve open house and we were able to see Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, and Neighbors … all of whom we haven’t seen in too long … it was awesome to get caught up.
Braelyn and her Gramma Sheri spent some time baking cookies, playing in the front yard, and playing with lots of toys … Braelyn enjoyed having her little cousin following her every footstep for the week too.
Since we’ve been back to reality, Braelyn continues to keep us busy with her dance/gymnastics classes, swim classes, and play dates with her friend Esteka. We also had another fun annual excursion with Jack and Betty (Lisa’s Gpa/Gma) when “Disney on Ice” came to town – Braelyn hasn’t stopped talking about it nor has she quit pretending to skate around the house.
As this is a rare update with me as the author, I’ll try to give a recap of some of my job/role changes since the last time I posted:
After spending 2009 away from our Major League team for the first time in 5 years; I was running around scouting High School and College players in preparation for the Draft as well as covering and reporting on a handful of Minor League teams in case trade opportunities were to arise and/or to gauge our interest in Free Agent acquisitions. I really enjoyed my time and was able to earn a more involved role within our scouting department. 2010 will see me covering 21 professional teams (5 Major League, 16 Minor League) for trades/free agency as well as seeing some of the top amateur players in the country as we prepare for the Draft (it sounds extremely similar but it is different, I promise, though it’s hard to explain). Long story short, lots of travel, lots of writing, lots and lots and lots of baseball … and lots of opportunity.
I’m just enjoying every minute of the off-season right now since my time at home runs out on April 8th. Braelyn is such an incredible little girl and Lisa, with very little help from me, sets such a wonderful example of what a caring, loving, genuine person embodies.
Long winded I know, but at least I hope you feel caught up. Best wishes to you and yours …
Our family just got back from lovely (and HOT!) San Diego so, I thought I would share all of our fun times with everyone Because we were gone for a whole week and packed a TON of activities into that time, I decided to make a list of all of the adventures and fun times we had rather than writing paragraphs about each one. I also have a bunch of pics for everyone to enjoy so…. here we go….
THINGS WE DID/PLACES WE WENT/PEOPLE WE SAW
(These are in no particular order!!)
1. Kyleigh’s 1st Birthday Party
2. Legoland
3. The Sea Life Aquarium
4. Dinner with Sara and Emma
5. Dinner downtown and the show, Wicked
6. Time with family
7. Time at the beach
8. Matt’s Birthday
9. Time in the water (to cool off from the ridiculously HOT weather!)
I will leave it to you all to figure out which pictures below came from which of our destinations We hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend & hope to hear from you soon!
Hello everyone – it’s been awhile! We have been really busy with traveling this last month and it hasn’t left me much time for writing and blogging. We are home now and I wanted to share some things from our latest trip since it is so fresh in my mind.
Matt and I took our delayed anniversary trip which we were initially supposed to do for our 4 year anniversary last fall. Due to some unexpected circumstances, we had to push off the trip to this summer & we are glad that it worked out.
We spent 5 glorious days in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada and we now remember why we love it so much! The weather, the views and the people make is such a spectacular place to visit. We had sunny, warm temperatures in the high 80s/low 90s which is heaven to us at this time of year. The skies were blue without clouds and you could see the surrounding mountain ranges, lakes and trees forever. We got to be outside everyday whether we were walking, hiking or listening to live music in the village and it was such a nice change.
The first day of our trip was Canada Day, similar to July 4th here in the US so there was a local parade and people were singing the national anthem and dressed up with red, white and maple leaves. Since Whistler will be hosting the 2010 winter Olympics, the mascots and torch were there at the official opening of their Olympic store.
Thursday we decided to be adventurous and we took an ATV ride up to the top of Blackcomb Mountain for a yummy waffle breakfast. The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking and made us appreciate what a beautiful place we were in. We also went through a mud pit, saw a deer and fawn and a bear sitting on the side of the mountain. Bears are a pretty regular thing to see in Whistler – I have seen one each time we have been there for the past 12 years – but it is still pretty amazing to see wild animals in the “wild”. He just sat on the mountain munching on grass and plants and was completely unaffected by the noise or the fact that 8 people were staring at him taking pictures.
Friday we took the ski lift to the top of Blackcomb Mountain and hiked for a couple of hours back to a lake that was partially frozen and surrounded by snow, even though the temperature outside was about 70 degrees. Matt hiked without his shirt and I was wearing a tank top but there was still several feet of snow on the ground and thick ice on the lake!
After our lake hike, we took the new gondola built especially for the Olympics – the Peak to Peak. This gondola takes you from the top of Blackcomb Mountain to the top of Whistler Mountain in 11 minutes which is REALLY fast. It is however, also REALLY scary as there is NOTHING below you but a creek and trees and you are VERY high up in the air. The engineering is as such that there is no support stations between the 2 peaks so you are just kind of hanging out there in between 2 tall mountain peaks. All I can say is that I am thankful that it was only 11 minutes and that I did it for the experience but won’t be doing it again When we got over to Whistler mountain we took an open-air ski lift to the peak for some amazing views of the whole valley. We also got to eat a yummy BBQ dinner at the lodge and listen to live local music.
Saturday was our last day to eat, shop and appreciate the time we had together. After lunch, we got into our rental car (which we hadn’t driven since our arrival! In Whistler when the weather is nice, you can walk everywhere and Matt calculated we walked about 5 miles each day!) and drove back to Vancouver to stay at a hotel near the airport since we had an early morning flight on Sunday morning.
We had such a great time and it was a much needed vacation for us away from all of the realities of normal life. We got to sleep in and do whatever we wanted with no schedule and no time commitments and it was really nice to be able to do that for a few days. My parents and grandparents took care of Braelyn and Casie for us up at the cabin so that we could get our time together and we really appreciate it (as always) and it made it easier for me knowing that she was in a really fun place so she wasn’t worried about us not being there.
We hope you enjoy the pictures but I must say they do not do justice to the true beauty of Canada. If you ever get the chance, VISIT because I haven’t met anyone yet who hasn’t absolutely loved being there!
B came down with the VERY nasty stomach virus that is apparently going around in the kiddos and it knocked her FLAT for 1 full week. Those of you that are familiar with B and her daily antics will know that this must have been something serious to keep her from eating and playing for 7 days. We are glad that she is finally feeling better and have become obsessive/compulsive hand washers the last few weeks to try to keep it from spreading – it is not something I would care to have. Luckily MLB dad avoided getting it, mainly becuase he has been gone for about 2 weeks straight – I think we saw him for a total of about 10 hours since May 9th and he won’t return until the 26th.
Because this month and next are so crazy for traveling (he is gone 21 out of 30 days in June), B and I have become dedicated Dbacks watchers (even more so than in the past) and have foresaken pretty much all other TV so that we can keep up on the goings on with the team. It is necessity for me because I can guarantee that after the game I will receive a phone call quizzing me on plays and strategy for that evening’s contest & I better be ready It also keeps us feeling close to his daily routine and what he is experiencing when he is away from us for so long.
B has become a regular cheerleader and knows all of the starting pitcher’s names. On their day to start, she will do a “GO (Fill in pitcher’s name here) and GO DBACKS!” cheer for Matt and we have even recorded it and messaged him on his cell phone. She knows that the Dbacks wear red hats and that they try to “hit the ball over the fence.” She even practices hitting like the Dbacks with her set of golf clubs and works on catching the ball like “O-Dog.” I fear we have created a monster. She will run around the living room saying that she “LOVES baseball” and that “Micah is her favorite and she LOVES him.” Oh the poor boys that will date her and try to keep up with her baseball knowledge!
I got lucky and married someone who is more obsessed than I am with sports but we do have entertaining evenings of watching Baseball Tonight and Sports Center to try and catch the 10 second highlights of the Dbacks that they show (East Coast and AL Bias!!!!) He knows WAY more than me about everything regarding baseball and all I can do is try to keep up and impress him with my surprising tidbits of info.
Anyway, if you all didn’t know it, we are baseball crazy and we try to stay connected any way that we can. It is such a HUGE part of Matt’s life and therefore ours but I am growing to love it more and more and couldn’t imagine another way of life. It’s hard when he’s gone for so long, but knowing that he has a job that he loves so much, makes it easier.
We hope you are all well and taking the time to enjoy being with your spouse, kids and family. Quality time is important, don’t take it for granted!! We love you all.
We did plenty of outdoor activites despite the temps being in the 20s most of the time. It was quite a shock to the desert dwellers and to some more than others (me!)!! We hope these pictures get you in the mood for winter and the Holidays ahead. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to everyone.
