More Balloon Photos

Like I said, I had fun taking photos!

Sunrise Service

The new theme for the youth, Arise and Shine Forth, just begged for a sunrise service to talk about the theme and the focus for the activities this year. So on Saturday we woke up before the sun to be able to watch the sun rise on the day from Sanctuary Cove. It was so cold, but I loved it. I loved watching the sun rise. I loved listening to the leaders speak about what the theme means to them. I loved feeling the spirit testify of the importance of the gospel. I loved the feeling of love I had for the youth and my desire to serve them the best I can. And I loved taking pictures of our beautiful surroundings.

Here is how it looked—the story in photos:

A small group of hot air balloons rose early in the morning and one flew really close to where we were. It distracted for  a minute as it passed. It was really loud, which surprised me, but when you think about it, it fits the theme rather well!

After we were finished the teachers quorum was given a few minutes to run of the mountain. They made it pretty far!

Sabino Canyon

I don’t really know why, but we have not spent much time in Sabino Canyon. That is going to change as of today because we feel in love with it. We wanted to do something as a family to finish the winter break off right. This year is going to bring changes to our family, so we are trying to treasure the family time that we have. We also all want to get into better shape, so we chose to go hiking in the beautiful canyon.

We rode the tram up to the top and then started the decent down…on foot! We made it most of the way but then we had to speed things up to get Kelsey to work on time. Of course, I played my part as the amateur photographer.

Here is my favorite shot of the day

This is all of us at the end of the trail, taken by a passer-by.

The rest of these are the fun we had along the way, the beautiful fall colors, fresh air and sunshine.

Oh, and Kelsey read the map for us…even though there is only one road!

Bang! Bang!

We are starting the year off right—with a bang!

We celebrated the dawning of 2012 with a fireworks display at the top of our driveway. We are excited for this new year and the new lessons we will learn and the new adventures that await us.