And the award goes to...

Here's a video of our first annual Christmas Lights Awards. We've traveled around our part of town and selected our favorite Christmas decorations. Enjoy.

Caitlin's Violin Recital

Here's Caitlin's violin recital last week at the studio in Mesa where she has her lessons. Sounding good, too!

Halloweenies

Emily went trick or treating as a "serial killer maid" - Daddy and Caitlin sat out and handed out candy as "mad scientist" and "monster"

Emily's October Cello Recital

Sounding good!

Decorated for Halloween

Caitlin and Emily took the lead in decorating our yard for Halloween this year. Here's the results in the front yard. Spooky!

High Up!

One more picture from the Kachina Trail. It's Caitlin and Emily, and both have their eyes open! Note the landscape in the background far below...that's at 7,000 feet. Gives you an idea of how high up we were.

Fall - We're Lovin' It!

Here are the girls and Teresa on the Kachina Trail. Note the tasty fall colors.

Finding Fall at 9,000 Feet

We went to Flagstaff, AZ

(123 miles north of home) to see some fall color and enjoy some fall coolness. Here we are on the Kachina Trail that goes around Mt. Humphreys. We are at 9,000 feet at this point and the weather was a crisp 40 something degrees. The aspens were a beautiful gold.

Quartets

Here are the girls in their string quartets. Caitlin's group is first and then Emily's is next. Both girls are on the right. I was really impressed with how well they did, especially considering they only had a week to practice the music.

String Camp Orchestra

The girls participated in a "quartet camp" this week. During the camp, they practiced with a string orchestra. Today was their concert, here's a sample song from the performance. Caitlin is hard to see, look for the top of her head between the "A" and the cross banners. Emily is the cello player on the farthest right.

Chuck Wagon

Here it is...the famous Chuck Wagon in Torrey, UT. Caitlin is in front. This is where Teresa's brother Mike works.

Arch Close Up

Here's the arch close up.

Grovsner Arch

Today we drove on a 47 mile dirt road through the middle of the Grand Staircase National Monument (yes, it was bumpy!). The highlight was this arch. Thanks to Daisy for taking a family photo for us. (Daddy is hardly ever in pictures!)

BFF on the mountain

Daisy and Caitlin on a hill near the view point area on Boulder Mountain (about 9,500 ft.).

Top of the World

The girls at about 9,500 ft. on Boulder Mountain on the road to Torrey, UT.

Up the creek

The girls using a tree branch to tip into the Esclante River (more like a creek -- but at least it was cool water) on the road back to Torrey, UT from Bryce Canyon.

The homeland?

Is this Daisy's homeland? Cannonville, UT on the road from Bryce Canyon.

More Bryce Canyon

Here are the girls on the Rim Trail at Bryce Canyon. There were so many awesome views!

Bryce Canyon

Looking at the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon, UT.

Capitol Reef National Park

Hiking at Capitol Reef National Park. Emily at the end of the trail.

Jumpin' Torrey

The girls jumping in Uncle Mike's backyard in Torrey, UT. Nice to be out of the car!

Lake Powell

Blogging from Torrey, Utah this weekend...Here we are on the way to Torrey. We stopped for a break half way there at Lake Powell, AZ at the Glen Canyon Dam.

New Violin

Here is Caitlin with her new violin from LA.

Getty Mug

Here's the stylin' mug we got at the Getty.

Looking down into the pit.

Here's a giant ground sloth bone (where the red flag is) . Isn't it obvious?

Looking down at the pit.

There was guy there who digs at the pit and explained what we were looking at.

It's the pits!

Before we entered the Brea Tar Pits musuem, and spend $15, we saw a sign that said "Pit 91" was open for viewing. We walked over there and got to see an actual tar pit excavation (and for free).

More Malibu

We wandered onto the grounds of a historic house at the beach park. I wanted to explore, but you can tell Caitlin was not all that interested and wanted to go straight to the beach.

Shocking!

By a fountain in the east garden of the Getty Villa.

Greetings from Malibu

Emily at Malibu Lagoon Beach State Park.

It's Zeus!

Behold Zeus at the Getty. This is only inside shot I got because right after this the guards told me "no flash photos." If you only have one photo of a god, might as well make it Zeus.

The Villa Courtyard

The girls at the Villa Courtyard, before the hordes of school kids descended on it.

Three at the Getty

A rare shot of Daddy along with the girls, in the Getty garden.

The view from the 11th Floor.

This is the view from our hotel room on the 11th floor. We can see Beverly Hills and Wilshire Blvd. in the far distance.

Orchid Fever

We had some more time so we went to Orchid Fever in Culver City (only 3 miles from the hotel). It's right across from Sony Pictures Studios.

Airplants I bought

Cool. I love LA nurseries!

Two Buddhas

Caitlin snapped this shot of Emily at the airplant nursery.

The airplant nursery.

The girls at Rainforest Flora nursery. This is one of the coolest nurseries in the universe! Caitlin and Emily liked looking around just as much as I did!

Strike a pose!

Emily is more interested in the mirror than the view from our 11th floor room.

At the Culver City Marriott

Confirmation Photo

The "other Aunt T" with Emily and Caitlin at St. Thomas More church during confirmation back in April.

Another concert video

This one has more Emily.

First posting! A string concert video.