Taking a Break

We have officially had the driest December in Utah History.

And since there was NO snow.

And since it is the last day of the year.

what better way to celebrate 60* in December than to go to Zion's for a little fresh air.

I haven't been in Zion's since I was in high school, but I have decided that the best time to go to any National Park is in the "off-season".  

There was nobody there.  

And we could drive through the park and not have to ride the shuttle.

But, the hike we tried to do was closed because of ice.  

So, we only did about 1/4 of the intended hike.

oh well.

But it was good for the body and good for the mind.

Here was our laugh of the day...

"Ethan, what the flip is wrong with you?"

(quoted by Ethan's sister, as Ethan was forcing his sister right off the trail as he gazed as the beauty around him.)

Another observation.  or two.

(Spoiler alert)

Christmas...it also didn't help the level of success of Santa when one week before Christmas we were wrapping gifts and Cole walked right into the storage room where all of his santa gifts were hidden in plain sight.  Soooo, we had to rearrange what gifts everyone was giving each other so Cole wouldn't discover that his Santa gifts were sitting in the basement a week before Christmas.  

And Summer pointed out that because we have done home school for the past 2 Decembers, those 2 Christmas's were much more Christmassy.

We didn't have to devote so much time to things that didn't matter.  

We could spend more time together and do more family things and devote more time to the Spirit of Christmas.  I won't try to promote the homeschooling thing or even try to convince anyone, but for us it really did make a difference in our Spirit of Christmas for the last 2 years.  And we really noticed it this year.