Christmas Eve Nativity Play

 One of our Christmas traditions when we're in town is to go to a neighboring community and attend the Christmas Eve Nativity Play. Children are the actors, and our kids have participated several years. This year we were wondering if little Lily would be willing to be one of the sheep. You can see what she thinks about that!

Desert Boy was cast as Gabriel and Desert Girl as Mary. They started the play with quite a few lines.

They both did well. They really like the costumes!

Usually the play has more younger kids, but there weren't enough in town, so some of the older kids were gracious enough to fill in.

The role of the guard is always a favorite, with "Hark ye, hark ye" as the opening words. You can hear the kids pretending they're the guard before the play and saying those words!

The play has several songs, so the kids learn the basic Christmas carols.

Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus in the stable. Mary got a little lesson on how to pick up baby Jesus so she wouldn't cause him whiplash.

The angels head out to shepherd hill to make their proclamation about the newborn King.

Then the three wise men go and visit King Herod. He is obviously thrilled with the visit. The guard thinks it's pretty cool to hang out, too. Even the angels on their heavenly cloud are amused.

The three wise men then visit the newborn King.

Angel Gabriel tells Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt. Joseph made sure none of the gifts were left behind. It was quite cute.

The king and guard hang out at the palace until King Herod dies. These two are both kindergarteners and were so fun to watch!

Then at the end is a rousing rendition of Joy to the World. And in twenty minutes, it's a wrap!

Mary is ready to hold on to baby Jesus and do the final bow holding hands with the actors next to her. (Mom taught her that move!)

Next it was time to change out of costumes and participate in a beautiful candlelight service. I thought Desert Boy would resist going, but he said he found the service relaxing. A dessert potluck followed, so that was extra incentive to stay!

The whole evening really put us in the Christmas spirit.

A Quick Trip to the Magic Grove near Mount Washington

 We had some visiting ecologists who were interested in setting up a limber and bristlecone pine monitoring program in Great Basin National Park. Since I do a lot of the high elevation botany/ecology, I went with them on a recon trip to one of the potential sites, up in the Mt. Washington area. I love going up the west side of the park, it is always so remote and beautiful. I took all these photos with my phone.

Jules joined us and brought along the telemetry gear to try and hear the collared bighorn ewe. We didn't hear it from down in Spring Valley, but we did hear it later in the day.

The traditional first stop up the road is the Wheeler Mine, where water comes out of the old mine and we can still see some of the mining structures. I'm not quite sure what this structure was used for.

Then we drove up the tight switchbacks up to near the top of Mt. Washington. We hiked the last 150 meters into the clouds.

Then we went down the other side to the northeast to check out a grove of bristlecones that has been dubbed the Magic Grove. The name isn't on any map, but it's stuck locally.

The moving clouds lent a very different air (double pun intended!) to the grove.

Wildflowers were scarce, but we could see there remains, like this Silene acaulis. In the summer it has brilliant pink flowers.

I found this four-trunked tree interesting.

Recognize this tree? It's on the Great Basin National Park quarter. It's a very cool looking tree from every angle.

The clouds were moving so fast. Thunderstorms were predicted for later in the day, so we knew we couldn't stay too long.

One of the cool things about bristlecones (and there are a lot of cool things!) is that often times the tree roots are above ground. These roots are so old that the ground has eroded out from around them, leaving the roots in air. This is an example where the biology can be used to help date the geology.

The bristlecones had some cones on them, so the life cycle continues. Those bottlebrush needles can live for 40 years!

On the way back down, the clouds lifted enough that we could see the marvelous patch of aspen on the other side of the canyon. A wildfire in 2000 burned part of Lincoln Canyon, making some great bighorn sheep habitat and regenerating a lot of aspen.

 It was a quick trip up and down the mountain, but lots of fun with good conversation about forest ecology and field work. The clouds made everything look so different. The Mt. Washington road requires high clearance  and four wheel drive and is one of the toughest roads around. The super tight switchbacks require three-point turns for longer vehicles.

Labor Day Kids Rodeo at Leamardo Days, Leamington, Utah

 On Labor Day, we went to Leamington, Utah for their Leamardo Days celebration. We bought tickets for the BBQ dinner, rodeo, and raffle. We also signed up the kids to participate: Desert Girl in mutton busting and Desert Boy in calf riding.

Mutton busting (little kids riding a sheep) was up first, and one of Desert Girl's classmates also participated. He rode the sheep backwards to get a better grip, and he sure did hold on tight.

What a face! He was bound and determined to stay on.

Eventually, though, he started sliding off, but he stayed on a good while, good enough to earn $20!

He had a little jaunt walking back. He had done it!

Desert Girl was very nervous about doing this, but she wanted to give it a try. She wore her cowboy boots and cowgirl shirt and some decorated leggings (she's going through a not-liking jean phase).

That sheep moved fast, and soon she was only holding on around the sheep's neck. (That darn railing was in my way for the photos!)

And then her arms weren't even around the sheep.

She was on the ground and getting up.

She was not at all happy about the falling part of the ride. But she did better than some of the participants, who didn't really even make it out the gate. She was awarded a package of Skittles, and that helped make her feel better.

Next up was the calf money run, where a calf has tickets on it and the kids try to pull them off to earn a buck. Kids were running all over the arena, including Desert Boy.

Next up was calf riding. Desert Boy was very nervous about this.

He loaded up in the chute.

And then he was off!

I mean literally off! He had a rowdy calf.

Ouch!

He didn't like the falling part either.

He said his calf riding days are over.

Soon after was the greased pig competition. Whoever tackled the pig got to take it home. Desert Girl was motivated. She wanted a pet pig.

The kids ran around and around in circles.

This kid dove for the pig but didn't quite get it, but eventually someone did.

There were other events like barrel racing, saddle bronc, and hide racing, but I didn't get photos of those because the kids really wanted to have snow cones and we were kind of worn out from the camping adventure the night before (more on that later). After it was all said and done, Desert Girl was really glad she had done the mutton busting, and wants to do it again. She's near the weight and age limit, though, so I'm not sure she will. Desert Boy is upset he can't do mutton busting, as that seems to him a lot less painful than calf riding. I'm glad the kids got the chance to participate, and I'm quite all right if they don't decide to take up rodeoing for a hobby or career, it's not an easy sport and the chances of injury are pretty high! It was great having an event where they could give it a try.