a year of happy

christmas favorites -- music

 I love Christmas music.
That's what makes me feel
the spirit of the season.

Here's a new version
of a less common carol
that I really like....

 

 

have you read it yet?

 

Contact me

and I'll send you a

free copy of the Book of Mormon.

The language of your choice.

reading between the lines

As a woman of a certain age,
I've gotten really good at
reading body language.

You know what I mean--
that age-old way of speaking
with gestures and expressions
that doesn't need any words.

Just look at the expressions
on these faces....





You can tell at first glance
each person's emotions,
just by reading their faces.

But in this new virtual world
of blogs and emails and text messages,
how are we to know
what people are really thinking and feeling
when we can't see their eyes
and read their body language?

Today I'm blogging
over at "Vision and Verb",
and I'm asking this question:
how is everybody getting along
now that nobody's speaking
body language anymore?! 

I hope you'll follow me over
and let's talk about it.
How do you communicate
when all you have is words?

_____________________________


"Vision and Verb" is one of
my favorite blogs.
It's a collaboration of
several multi-talented women
from all over the globe
who share their life experiences
through their photography
and their written words.

I'm so excited to be
a guest blogger there today!
Won't you join me?
Just click here
to read my post,
"Reading Between the Lines."

right in the middle of town

I took "A" to school this morning.

The sun had just come up,
and the shadows on the mountains
were so beautiful.

Carrying my camera around with me
has made me stop and notice things
that I hadn't paid any attention to before.

For instance,
about a mile away from my house
right in the middle of town
and across the street from the cemetery
lies this open field.

I drive by it several times a day.

And yet I've never paid attention
to the beauty of it all.

But when I look at it
through a camera lens,
I realize how breathtaking it really is.

Right in the middle of town.

Some people would pay
big bucks for a view like this!

a few photos from my favorite photographers

Ever since I got my new camera,
I've been fascinated
with learning photography--
not just as a means
to document our lives,
but as a form of art.
I'm finding new ways
to express myself,
to develop my creativity,
and  to enjoy life.

I've also been following some blog links
to some fabulous photographers
and their beautiful photos.

I would love to be able to
spend a day with one of them,
to pick their brains
and watch them work.
That would be such a treat!

I thought I'd share
a few of my favorite photos with you--
I think you'll like them too!


I love Marcie Scudder's photos...
click here and here and here
to see a few of my favorites.

Here's a peek
at a few of Bob Towery's photos...
click here and here and here.

And two more....

Diane Varner

John Barclay


Do you have some
favorite photos
you'd like to share?
Maybe one of your own...
or one from your
favorite photographer?
Leave a link in the comments!

my favorite weekend of the year

It's LDS General Conference Weekend!
One of my favorite weekends of the year.

Thousands will gather on Temple Square
to attend in the Conference Center
as well as the Tabernacle.

The rest of us
all across the world
will watch on television or the internet.

Conference is audio broadcast
in 68 languages
from Armenian to Vietnamese
and everything in between.

Would you like to join me?
Click here to watch or listen!

running free

"A's" favorite activity
is parkour or free running.

Have you heard of it?

This is the Wikipedia definition:

Parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment. It is a non-competitive, physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along a route, attempting to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible, as if moving in an emergency situation.

Skills such as jumping and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves are employed. The object of parkour is to get from one place to another using only the human body and the objects in the environment. The obstacles can be anything in one's environment, but parkour is often seen practiced in urban areas because of the many suitable public structures available such as buildings and rails.

The term freerunning is sometimes used interchangeably with parkour. While superficially similar, freerunning places more emphasis on the aesthetics of movement and finding creative ways to overcome obstacles than on efficiency and simplicity.

"A" and his friends
love to practice their
free running skills.

They're getting strong by
doing handstands
every day during their lunch hour.





They like to go to Discovery Park
which has lots of wooden obstacles
they can run and jump over.

They also go to a gym
that has pads
where they can practice
without getting hurt.
(That makes their mothers happy!)

And they each have their
own signature trick.

"A's" is a side flip.
We decided to try to get some
action shots of his moves.











Pretty cool, don't you think?!

someday

Last year, I took my son
to a new doctor's office
down in Provo.

On the walls hung
the most amazing paintings.
They were huge
and just filled up the space
with their beauty.
I couldn't take my eyes off them.





Finally I went to ask
the girls at the desk
if they knew
anything about the artist.
I decided I really wanted one
of these paintings for my home.

It took a bit of tracking down,
but I finally found out
that the artist is local
and his name is Christopher Young.

And I discovered
that a painting I had
fallen in love with years ago
was also by this same artist.





I haven't yet been able to
get one of these paintings for my home--
but someday, someday,
I hope to have a huge
40" x 60" painting
hanging front and center.
Wouldn't that be wonderful?!

Visit Christopher Young Art
and view all of his beautiful paintings--
then I'd love it if you'd come back
and tell me what is your favorite!

My favorites are his landscapes
and scenes from Italy in Gallery 1.
Be sure to look at
"Venetian Boats" and
"Duomo, Firenze."

I wish you could see them
in all their full size glory--
the computer screen
just can't do them justice!

noses

There's a story behind everything.

I always wonder
about the story behind photos--
especially old family photos.

Last week,
I showed you this photo.
But I didn't tell you the story.

These two lovely ladies
are my great-aunt,
Ethel Naomi Heninger,
and my grandmother,
Hazel Heninger. 

I think this photo
is so pretty
of the two of them.

But Ethel didn't think so.

Whenever she saw
this photograph,
she would turn it face down,
then she would sniff
and say, "Noses."



Do you have
old family photographs
with a story
just waiting to be told?

the three 3's that inspire me

On her blog yesterday,
my cute cousin posted
her favorite things in threes--
and she invited her readers
to do the same.

Her favorites inspired me....
and so I'm doing it!

These are the three 3's
that lift me up,
encourage me,
and motivate me
to keep going.

Songs

Come to Jesus by Kenneth Cope

Dream Big by Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band

Viva la Vida by Coldplay (sung by these kids)

Places

Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/vxla/ / CC BY 2.0

The Salt Lake LDS Temple

The Ocean





Books

The Greatest Salesman in the World

The Book of Mormon

A Heart Like His





What are the three things
that motivate and inspire you?