Christmas 2022! Celebrating the Birth of King Jesus!

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Christmas, the celebration of the birth of our Savior!!!!!

Candy canes are my favorite.  I had never seen this before.  Now I know why I like candy canes! 

We did our traditional visit to the Kilgore home for Christmas Eve.  Kristin's in-laws invite us every year.  The only way to get pictures of the Layne and Lucy is when they are not looking.  If they are looking you get some sort of face. It's dinner time and there is always prayer before we start eating.  I love that. 

Lucy and Justin

Layne is getting some salad dressing. As usual the food is plentiful and so good. 

Mike and Jason!

Jason's girlfriend and Kristin

The cousins all exchange pajamas.  Kristin has been getting the grandparents gifts.  This is mine.

Lucy and her cousin in the pajamas. 

All the cousins in their jammies.  Doesn't matter how old you are if you are a cousin you wear those pajamas!

Justin and Lucy.

The ornament exchange happens after the pajama exchange.  Kristin in pondering this ornament.

Mike got to trade several times because ornaments were taken away from him.  He really inspected each wrapped ornament he picked up. 

It was a blessing to be able to share Christmas Eve with 29 others! Thanks for the invitation. 

Christmas morning gift opening!  Lots of practical gifts for both of us.  

From the Lathrops.  Sweats for Mike.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. 

I got one. 

Layne liked the gift card we got her.  

Totally not practical and I love it.  A record player from the Lathrops. 

Ryland and Easton always seem to want cash.  I prefer giving an actual gift they don't have to shop for but cash it is! 

Pajamas!

Christmas morning at the Lathrop house.

Layne and Lucy with their new belt buckles.  I love this so much! 

The End!

Eagle Viewing December 15, 2022

This was a great day to see the bald eagles at Higgins Point in Idaho.  They were flying everywhere.  I like to take pictures and the only issue was this was not a good day for pictures.  First of all there was no sun.  Not even a little so the pictures are dark.  Gray skies.  Next the trees were covered in snow for the most part so it was hard to spot the eagles in the trees.  Even though the pictures aren't great it was one of my favorite trips to see the bald eagles.  So many in flight and catching fish. I finally figured out how to use my large lens too.  

I practiced shooting eagles in flight no matter what direction they were going.  I got the tail feathers of this one.  

Still in flight and a good distance away but I got the eagle. 

More flight pictures. 

This is a beautiful view! We saw lots of bald eagles flying around this point.  

Can you find the eagle?

The road we were on is only two lanes and there are a few spots to pull over to get closer to the bald eagles.  Not always the safest thing to do.  You have to be careful of the cars passing by. 

In flight pictures from a distance.  

There are two parking lots you can land in.  One is at Higgins Point and that is the first one off the highway.  We took a lot of our pictures from that lot.  About a mile down the road there is another area to view the bald eagles.  Mineral Ridge.  There is a hiking trail at Mineral Ridge too.  You can see eagles all along this area but the two safe places to park are Mineral Ridge and Higgins Point.  

Hot chocolate hit the spot. 

There is a tree really close to the parking lot and we see bald eagles in the tree almost every time we are there.  

Dark pictures.  All these pictures would have been great if the sky wasn't gray.  I know there is a camera setting to help with this but since my camera is relatively new I haven't figured out how to adjust settings.  I should do that.  I considered coming back on a sunny day but the weather showed no sunny days for a couple of weeks. The bald eagles could be gone by then. 

My favorite moment came when we were slowly driving back to Higgins point from Mineral Ridge.  We saw a huge blade eagle flying and then it swooped down and caught a fish.  It was so big and beautiful.  Majestic I would say.  

Off to Jimmy's Down the Street for our traditional after bald eagle viewing meal. 

Good ol' fashion dining.  Just our style.