Happy New Year

My youngest sister's girls spent New Year's Eve eve with us and we had a Mama Mia fest (that would be hours of dancing, singing and acting out various scenes from Mama Mia) and a New Year's Eve party a night early. Here are the girls in their party attire!

Christmas in Vegas

This year we did something different for Christmas. 2 of my sisters and my husband took our parents to Las Vegas. (Check out our self-portrait taken in the mirror tiles at the Bellagio gardens.) We stayed at the Excalibur, Mom and Dad's favorite casino. Unfortunately neither the gambling or the weather was great for Vegas, but we still had a good time. Even though it was colder than anticipated, it was still great to get outside and walk and walk and have interesting scenary along the way. We checked out the flowers at the Bellagio, the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and also went through the 2 new casinos, Encore and Palazzo. Once the plane was de-iced in Vegas, we were on our way back to Iowa, where the frozen cars were waiting for us.

We celebrated the holidays with the Dykstra side of the family in early December. Everyone who was able to meet at Rose and Don Harms was there with great food and great conversation. We even had a visit from Santa. Several of the kids built a wonderful snowman. It was a great day and fun was had by all.

This is niece Melissa's youngest boy, Sawyer. He was making quite the bridge for the train going around the Christmas tree. I'm sure this pose made his mommy proud :-) Melissa was our flower girl -- boy, talk about feeling old!

Domenic Jutting (niece Kathy's boy) was one of the great nephews who was very cooperative with getting his photo taken in front of the Christmas tree. He has a handsome smile!

Baby Gracie (niece Angela's youngest) was born in June. She is so beautiful!

This little ham is Cyler, son of niece Stacy and Mark Cirks. He is quite the little entertainer. He makes us all smile!

Santa was getting lots of attention from Aunt Gertrude and Aunt Geraldine!

Thanksgiving with Scott and Jill

Nephew Scott and his growing family came to visit us Thanksgiving weekend. Baby Brooklyn Rose was the latest addition to their family in October, so we had to take baby photos and new family pictures. Scott has quite the harem to be thankful for :-) See what you think!

After family pictures, the two older girls went to Build a Bear and made their own bears and then picked out attire for them. We had a near disaster when Autumn lost one of her bear's bows in Scheels, but Uncle Jerry saved the day. He went back to Build a Bear and sweet-talked the sales person into 3 more sets of bows to replace the one bow that had been lost. He was hero that day!

Santa with the Girls

We had to make the annual visit to see Santa with the girls. As you can see, the girls enjoy Santa. They also had to do their best Naughty and Nice poses!

Engagement Photos - Alex and Michelle

We have 2 family weddings in 2009. The second wedding is on the Jennings' side of the family when nephew Alex gets married in July. I had the opportunity to take their engagement photos at Ledges on a cool, overcast fall day. The lighting couldn't have been more perfect (it could have been a bit warmer though). Here are a few of my favorites.

Engagement Photos - Stacy and Mark

We have 2 family weddings to look forward to in 2009. The first is on the Dykstra side of the family, when niece Stacy gets married in May. I had the opportunity to take engagement photos of her and Mark Cirks at Ledges in October. It was a beautiful fall day and the lighting was pretty cooperative. Here are a few of my favorites!

Zion Trip with Maddie

In late September, I made my second annual trip to Zion National Park in Southern Utah. It is one of the most beautiful places I've had the opportunity to visit. I especially enjoy the hiking. The trails range from very easy to very challenging and provide great scenary along the way.

This year, my almost 8 year old niece, Maddie, went along with me. She took a week off of school to go hiking with her "old" aunt.

Our first day, we took the Weeping Rock and Hidden Canyon trails. On the Weeping Rock trail, we saw 2 mule deer foraging for food. They were not afraid of us and we were able to get very close to them to take photos. We then headed up the Hidden Canyon trail. It is a steep trail and in places, there are chains to hang on to. Maddie did great. She wasn't afraid of the trails or heights and was quite the little hiker.

Here she is sitting on the edge of the West Rim Trail. The colors are so beautiful with the contrast of the red sandstone against the blue sky. We had great weather while we were there in late September.

We also took the Canyon Overlook Trail early on the morning we headed up to Bryce Canyon. We were very lucky and got to see several Bighorn Sheep along the way. They walked right up to us along the road.

After following the Bighorn Sheep for a while, we headed on up to Bryce Canyon. We took the Navajo Loop Trail and going down wasn't bad, coming back up out of the canyon was a bit more challenging. On the way back to Springdale, we took a minor detour up to Cedar Mountain so Maddie could see Navajo Lake, where the Virgin River begins. We were fortunate to see a few fall colors along the road.

Our last day in Zion, we took the Emerald Pools Trail in the early morning and were fortunate enough to see a tarantula along the trail. He was huge! Thank goodness one doesn't run into one of them in Iowa! We also saw a mule deer family feeding around Lower Emerald Pools. This was the only buck we saw.

We then took the Riverside Trail up to the beginning of the Narrows water trail. Unfortunately we didn't rent the river hiking shoes that we should have to enter the Narrows and barefoot wasn't going to cut it, so we decided we'd have to do it next year!