Merry Christmas! Tonight we will be celebrating by going to a Candlelight Service and Nativity Play. The play will include Desert Boy as a sheep. It will be his first opportunity to be in a play, and I have a feeling he will like it.
The play also features these three adorable angels, who tend to get distracted easily, as you will see. 
Desert Boy's cousin Kayli has a solo, which she sings quite well. She is the angel Gabriel, so she had a lot of lines to memorize.
Here she is appearing to Joseph to tell him that his fiancee is with child and that it's okay.
The play is set up so you see most of the cast of characters for the entire performance. King Herod and his messenger are on the far left, the angels in the middle, Mary and Joseph in the stable on the right, and the shepherds and their sheep just off the stage.
The angels appear to have a little attitude here.
Mary and Joseph entertained themselves during slower parts by picking straw out of the manger.
Later the angels appeared to the shepherds to tell them about the newborn king.
The shepherds traveled to the stable to visit.
The sheep was left behind and was content for a little while.
The angels started singing a song...
...and the sheep decided to make a run for it, heading straight for Mama. I wonder if that will happen tonight. It will be dark in the auditorium, so it might make it harder for him to find me.
At the end, the entire cast performed Joy to the World. Minus the sheep who was hanging on to Mama. And another sheep and angel who were napping during the dress rehearsal. I think it will be an entertaining show!
We're in the middle of a snow storm, which is appropriate for the second day of winter. The good news is that the days are getting longer now!
Our plan was to drive up high enough in the mountains to get a white fir tree. They are so pretty, and the BLM permit is only $4. But the snow got a little deep.
We drove until the trucks wouldn't go any further, and we were still far from the white firs. So that meant plan B: get out the sleds and have some fun!
Megan is concentrating hard as she pulls two sleds. She is always warm, so that's why her coat is open. 
Desert Boy didn't get along with the snow quite as well. He quickly tipped out of his sled and got snow covered and didn't like it.
Sometimes sledding isn't so fun.
Fortunately a little hot chocolate and some cookies can quickly brighten everyone's attitude. Not that you can tell by this photo! I love the grimaces--but they really did feel better soon.
Yum!
Desert Boy was old enough to help decorate it--at least he was old enough to pick up ornaments and give them to Dad to put on the Christmas tree!
We had a last-minute getaway weekend vacation, and it was nice to get out and enjoy some different scenery. Although most of our time was spent shopping, eating out, and in the hotel pool, we also went to the northwestern part of Zion National Park, called Kolob Canyons. Not far from Interstate 15 is a five-mile scenic drive with several trails leading off from it. The trails were snow-covered and we weren't prepared to go on them (we have hiked some there in the past and it is quite relaxing). Instead we enjoyed the contrast of the bright, white snow on the orange sandstone with the evergreen accents.
We didn't manage to take too many photos. Desert Boy was very interested in hiking in the snow and even places where he could slide down steeper slopes. There weren't many visitors, so he was free to run and use up some of his boundless energy. The melting snow caused extra rocks to roll down some of the road cut areas--the power of erosion was clearly evident.
I went to check on Desert Boy during his nap. His bed was empty, and I wondered where he had gone off to. I knew he didn't want to take a nap and had been trying all sorts of things to avoid it. Then I looked under the bed and found he had fallen asleep after all, tucked away behind his toy box. I wonder if he will make that a regular sleeping hideout.
Yesterday I went to Ely to help with their first Christmas Bird Count. It was an enjoyable day, despite the huge numbers of European starlings, Eurasian collared doves, and house finches we saw--all non-native species. We did manage to see some more unusual birds, like a flock of cedar waxwings in someone's yard, two sharp-shinned hawks cruising by bird feeders looking for an easy meal, and two rough-legged hawks out in the Steptoe Wildlife Management Area. I haven't heard the final numbers, but I think the preliminary ones are 41 species and over 4,000 birds counted for all the groups.
Today is an extremely important day in Mexico and many other parts of the world, the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, or Our Lady of Guadalupe. 
The feast day is December 12, and this morning many gathered before sunrise to sing the Mananitas (morning songs) and pray. There are numerous songs dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, along with an array of traditions, of which I'm still learning.
It's freezing outside--no wait, it's below freezing outside! But we have had some marvelous sunrises and sunsets lately. Here are the mountains to the west of us.
One morning last week while the California cousins were visiting, Uncle Tom offered to take us for a hike along Silver Creek. It was a sunny, windless morning, thus perfect for the hike. We started right at the edge of the creek, crossing over it.
Henry came, too, and found a nice deep pool where he repeatedly swam to get sticks out. It didn't matter to him that both the air and water temperatures were well under 50 degrees F.
Eventually a couple nieces and I couldn't resist the urge to go hiking right along the creek bottom.
We weren't wearing footwear appropriate to get wet, so it was a bit of a struggle in places to stay dry.
I was amazed at how many springs entered the creek, as shown by abundant watercress in areas. The watercress generally grows where the water temperature is steadier and there are more nutrients, which is what the groundwater provides. The faster-moving stream water generally has less nutrients and during the winter gets much colder and in the summer warmer than the groundwater.
Here's Ruby, showing her appreciation for our adventure hike.
Uncle Tom still had Desert Boy and was up on top of the channel at this point.
And the nieces wandered up to find a cow skeleton. They took some of the vertebrae and the jaws home with them.
Eventually everyone came down to the stream. We proved our balancing skills crossing the log across the water.
Grace and Lola, who regularly go to gymnastics classes, had no problem whatsoever. Notice the jaw bone in Grace's hand!
Uncle Eugene kept a stick with him to make sure he wasn't going to plunge over.
Part of the fun of the hike was the many times we had to cross the creek. It was just wide enough that it was hard to jump over, so we had to look for places with stepping stones or add some of our own.
Grace is carrying Desert Boy down next to the stream now.
I was awed by the roots of the big cottonwood trees. Much of the dirt that had previously contained the roots had washed away, leaving the tendrils hanging.
Grace, Desert Boy, and Lola continude to find a dry path next to the stream. Desert Boy was actually wearing irrigating boots, but he had flooded them fairly early on. Nevertheless, he seemed to get the concept that he was supposed to stay to drier ground. Most of the time.
And then we came to a small waterfall. It was cool looking, and the perfect end to the hike. Almost.
Lola, Grace, Desert Boy, and Uncle Tom pose in front of the waterfall.
And then it was time for the big find, a bit of aquatic life that resisted capture, but was eventually subdued...
...a crawdad! Ruby is ready to taste it. Now this was the perfect end to the hike.
