Unto You is Born A Savior - Christ the Lord!

While I'm home celebrating Christmas, I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from the past year, some which you haven't seen yet!
Bryce Canyon - one of my favorite National Parks
I couldn't take my eyes off the Sawtooth Mountains... not even for a picture.
Not all headstands are planned.
You haven't seen this one yet, and it gives you an appreciation for the size of Delicate Arch at Arches National Park.
A second headstand that wasn't quite so close to the edge!
50 handstands in front of the Tetons!

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone and don't leave Christ out of your Christmas!

The Weekend Before Christmas

Twas the weekend before Christmas,
When all through the land,
Not every towns person was shopping,
Not even the field mouse:
Ice skates: check
Snowshoes: check
Skies: check
Plans to ski up to Packsaddle Lake and go ice skating: check
A plowed road: who needs such frivolous accommodations?
Cross-country ski boots: Gulp... who drove an hour to go skiing and forgot their boots? (Hint: not Shayna)

And so a weekend of exciting, but failed adventures began.
After skiing (OK, Shayna skiing and Joe hiking) across a field for 2 hours in an attempted shortcut to the trail head, we had run out of time and had to turn back. Only then, did we realize I had miscalculated and gone past the trail head located by the cattle loading fences in this picture.
Shayna skies along a field while I race to catch up.
Fields are deceptively big in Idaho! But if you look really close, you'll see the point of Grand Teton sticking above the clouds - if it weren't for clouds, we would have had an amazing view of the Tetons the entire time... but not today.
As if forgetting ski boots wasn't bad enough, my snowshoe fell apart too! Some people just have all the luck.
After plowing back through the snow, and cleaning away the snow pack that had been forced clear to the top of my radiator, the Teton's decided to peak above the clouds!
Never discouraged, I headed to hear a "singing Christmas tree". Having never heard a tree sing - it was impressive!
Then it was off to Ryan's for a gingerbread house contest. Alysia's all smiles cause she thinks hers is the cutest...
...but mine had an airplane! And no, that's not a Hong Kong temple - they don't need the revolving lights on top!
Saturday was a new day and Chris, Shayna and I were all geared up to run down some new caving options...
...a good start looking out the top.
But this is about as far as we got in the first cave. While going down would have been fun, Chris (the wise one) didn't think we had the right ascension gear to get out.
So, we got a few pictures of the icicles...
...straight icicles...
...and curvy ones too!
Shayna and I on a rocky ice shelf... a little disconcerting once you realize how little there is holding you 100 feet above the cave floor. After accepting disappointment, we headed to a second cave to check out a cave we had been to previously in hopes the water was frozen this time so we could explore some more.
Rappelling down...
...while doing a little leap frogging. (Good thing for helmets!)
Shayna heads down...
...bringing a waterfall of rocks and dirt with her... a good place not to stand.
The small ice luge we were checking out.
Chris peaks his head out.
Shayna heads down.
The pink Taliban is back...
...and forces an upside down picture.
Can you figure out which picture is in the correct orientation? Is it (a)...
...(b)...
...or (c)?
...still waiting for Chris to reappear. Hmmm, maybe he got stuck trying to turn around. Unfortunately, it didn't lead very far.
All business here.
This is where the fun really began. Somehow, Chris managed to climb back up, while I held the rope and took a good sized rock to the shoulder and bag. After which, we got Shayna started... and there she hung, contemplating a nap while Chris did some reengineering up top. But alas, after a few hours, we were finally all back on top...
...just in time to see the sun set on another caving trip.
I sympathize with this little McPhie... 5 sisters is a bit much!
On our way back to town, we passed a live nativity, but those sheep definitely aren't alive!
The wise men bringing gifts for the King of Kings!
The horses that pulled us around. And there you have it... the last weekend before Christmas. Now back to packing...

(The correct orientation of the picture was (b)).

Nuts and Nutcrackers

There are some disadvantages of having a short memory..."What was her name?" On the other hand, I had to mentally review the whole week to recall our office evaluation and waiting at the bus stop every morning in subzero temperatures (that didn't include the wind chill either). But there are two things I haven't forgotten - Christmas is right around the corner and it snowed a couple of days this week and continually this weekend! Can you guess where I was on Saturday? If not, you'll figure it out...
Every concert starts the same, except this one was the Nutcracker ballet along with the Idaho Falls Symphony! L to R: Lindsey, Allen, Shayna and Ryan (who clearly didn't get the memo, but at least they gave him new tickets after putting them through the wash)
This picture was taken after watching them twirl, spin, swoop and tip-toe all over the stage... and before I started reenacting. (L to R: Joe, Shayna, Allen, Lindsey, Ryan and Alysia)

Friday night included wallyball, honing my air ball and some frisbee at the local recreation center - all the while, snow was still falling outside.
So Shayna and I were up bright and early for some early season cross country skiing at Mesa Falls!
The Lower Falls viewpoint...
...up close (in case you couldn't find the falls).
Nearing Upper Falls, we found some day old cross ski tracks on the right, but what are the tracks on the left? It looks like a tail dragging animal but the feet are offset from the tail...
...maybe it was a T-rex!
Overlook at Upper Falls
Anyone up for ice climbing?
You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you I wasn't the only one who gets up at 5AM to play in the snow - Shayna did too!
This week you even get an upright Joe...
...but not for long.
So much for Shayna being a good influence on me!
Synchronized handstands in the snow...
...without blocking the waterfall.
One last panoramic of Upper Falls.
"Will someone please let me outta here!"
"Where's my other pole?" I'm not sure what all went wrong, but it was all in slow motion and very humorous, and here's the rest of the story...
On our way out, we found a tire chain that had fallen off a van full of sightseeing college students. With the snow falling, we wanted to put it somewhere they would notice on their way back. So, I tried slinging it up on top of this stop sign. Hmmm... I was successful in breaking the sign (which I might add was about 8 feet high). So, plan B (which is where I failed)...
...obtain some engineered sticks to prop up the chain. Do you think they'll notice now?
This is as close as Shayna got to eating snow. Well, until a snowbank mysteriously appeared out of nowhere (I couldn't resist).

As if skiing wasn't enough, this was followed up by sledding at the sand dunes! Now I just have to figure out how to get the sand out of everything and hopefully next week they'll have some more snow.