Ready for the Holidays

We finally got our tree up in the living room. Only found one box of decorations and it wasn't the "best" ornaments. Nor was the treetop in it or our stockings. So Rick got a new topper on his way home from Grand Junction and we did our best.

But it came out beautiful anyway. Can't wait for the garage to be finished so we can unload the storage units and find all the "missing" things.

This is a small ceramic tree that belonged to Eileen's parents. We never saw it at their place but were lucky enough to receive it after they were gone. It really adds to our holiday to have this small rememberance of them. We know Mom Tenney really treasured it as she took it with her after Dad died. The small pots were also Mom and Dad Tenney's. They had been a gift to them from Scott and Cara. They were then given to us from Scott and Cara has a house warming gift when they came to see us. We doubly treasure them.

This is a pot Rick bought Eileen for her birthday (Dec 22). It proudly sits on top of the linen closet in the hallway.

This is our newest and most prized possession. Reid and Melissa sent Eileen a gift certificate for her birthday/Christmas gift to her favorite store here in Moab. We have been admiring this piece of art ever since we moved here but felt we just couldn't afford it. But with the gift from Reid and Melissa and a gift card from Rick's work, we treated ourselves to this for our Christmas (plus it was 20% off). It now hangs in our family room where we spend most of our time. We can not thank Reid and Melissa enough for starting the process of our getting this!

More Snow in Castle Valley This Morning

This morning (Friday) Rocky and I woke up to a couple more inches of snow here in lovely Castle Valley. Rick had to fly to New Orleans yesterday for work, but at least he got to fly out of Grand Junction, Co. this time. He'll be back Sunday evening. The valley looks like a winter wonderland right now. Not a lot of sun coming through, but a little and it is just beautiful.
Castle Rock has the most snow on it so far this year! It is so picturesque.
As you can see, the garage is still not finished, but Porcupine Rim behind us looks wonderful anyway.
At the end of the valley, the clouds are still hanging around. That's why not much sun. Don't know if we will see much of it today or not. We are suppose to get to about 34 degrees today. (Or at least Moab is.)
And yes Ashley, as you can see, Rocky does like to eat the snow!

I was sweeping the steps and porch and he stood there and tried to catch the snow I swept. So he just got covered with it. Of course, he also likes to chase the broom.

Pictures From Our Front Porch

Here are some pictures I took today from our front porch. It snowed yesterday and today there were some nice clouds hanging around.

This is a picture of the La Sal Mountains with Round Mountain in the foreground.
These are the cliffs just to the right of Castle Rock bathed in the late afternoon sun light.
From left to right the Priest and Nuns and the Rectory and Castle Rock. I liked the clouds hanging around to rocks.

Snow in Castle Valley

Sunday morning we woke up to our second skiff of snow here in Castle Valley. But this time, we got in the FJ and drove up the LaSal Loop Road to an overlook and took some more pictures. As we drove, we saw more and more snow. Soon the the road was covered and we made fresh tracks in it. It was really beautiful.
Here is the FJ parked at the overlook we stopped at. This was as far as we went.
Looking down into Castle Valley from the overlook.

As you can see, there was a lot more snow there (2-3 inches) compared to our skiff at home.

However, it started snowing Tues. morning and we ended up with a couple of inches at our home. Wed. we had a neighbor show up with a little plow and he plowed our driveway and a path to the front door. He was driving out before we knew he was there so don't even know who it was. But what a pleasant surprise!