our version of the christmas story

christmas eve with the taylors... russian wisemen, a veiled angel, camels for sheep...
all in all i had a nice holiday with the fam.

winter fun

i have lived in utah my entire life and yet the endless snow we see some days still amazes me. someone from california asked me what we do when it snows 6 inches in 12 hours. he thought we must just stay home with the driving conditions as bad as they are. i laughed! if only we could shut it all down and go skiing all day everytime we got a couple of inches:)

anyway, ariel (my sister) and I had a great day of snowboarding last week. to many of you that have seen me snowboard in my prior life... yes I can actually carve now! miracles do not cease to occur. but don't get any crazy ideas, i like the long, gentle, easy runs, none of that sun bowl at brighton for me. but thanks to jonathan getting me to go consistently last year, i'm actually enjoying the sport this season. it really is best to learn when you are a kid, but if not than get a helmet and go for it!

picture taking on the coast

this summer, jonathan and i had some amazing adventures. we spent some time in the monterey, california area with our good friends... 2 of my favorite people in the world and their amazing canine. i was surprised that after a week of the coast, i still couldn't stop taking pics that seemed different than everything i had already seen. seth and christie have quite the knack for photography. seeing the way they approach picture taking, they each have their own style, reminded me how much i love watching the world through a camera. so here are some of the fun pics i took!

my favorite author of the year: elizabeth gaskell

as many of you know, i discovered elizabeth gaskell this year. after seeing some british films made from several of her novels, i fell in love with her storytelling of strong and kind women. mrs. gaskell was a contemporary of and friends with the bronte sisters (emily and charlotte). she was well known to the readers of charles dicken's popular syndicate if their day. after seeing the film "north and south" (no this is not the miniseries with patrick swayzy) I was intrigued by the charachter of margaret hale. i was confused by different scenes and i decided i needed to really understand her. her virtue is a major focus and yet i found her very self-contradictory at times. so i am almost done with the book and I am loving it! jane austin fans would enjoy this novel. i will give more juicy detail later...but at least i have actually started my blog!