How cute is she? My grand-niece makes her Debute!

A few photos from Christmas at my parents in Oklahoma. I got to meet and spend some time with my grand-niece, Katrina. She's 7 months old and she just learned to crawl up steps. We think that she will be walking in a couple of months since she is already pulling up. It feels great to have a little one calling me "Aunt Sissy". This is Katrina with her mom and dad. Her mom is my niece, Kira.

The other two photos are Katrina with her great-grandparents; my mom and dad.

How cute is she? My grand-niece makes her Debute!

Fine Art in Goodland, Kansas

We were on our way to Denver (many of you know that Mark had surgery while we were on this trip).

We stopped in a small town called Goodland, Kansas. This little town was in the middle of nowhere but is growing. They had a brand new Holiday Inn Express (open less than 6 months). Amazing changes in the brand; talk about a "wow factor". The lobby of this hotel had a fireplace with wide screen plasma TV above it; the rooms had high-end Egyptian sheets (triple sheeting!), wide screen HD televisions, pillow top mattresses and more. Plus, the room was less than $100 per night! We liked the hotel so much that we stayed a second night.

Since we were there a second night, we decided to do some exploring. We found something very cool.

A replica of the Van Gough painting Sunflowers, it stands on an 80' tall easel.
The painting itself is 24' x 32'. Well worth a stop if you are in the area.

Photos from Petrified Forest

Hope you liked the photos of the sky, the clouds were fantastic the day we we were at the Petrified National Forest. An overcast day makes it much easier to shot photos since the sun doesn't wash out the colors. As you can see from these photos, the skies change from sunny with some clouds to overcast and misty. It is easier to get better color representation when the skies are overcast.

The first photo is of the landscape in the early part of the park. Second photo is the desert and some of the petrified logs. Third photo is a close-up of the petrification (is that a word?). I think the colors are amazing. Can't believe that a piece of wood changed into this colorful stone. I loved the colors so much that Mark bought me a bracelet made from small, polished pieces of petrified wood (all legally collected by the 1st Nations' People in an area outside of the National Park).

Love to you all. Judy and Mark

Out of the Wilderness, at least temporarily

We've been having so much fun that I am behind posting. After the Grand Canyon, we made a stop at the Petrified Forest. It is an amazing, colorful place. The first time that we visited (I think we've been there 7 or 8 times since we've been married), I was overwhelmed by the complexity of the petrified wood and surprised to think that there had once been an expansive forest in what is now the middle of the high desert.

Mark and I spread some of Wisdom's ashes at a rock formation that looks like a reclining dog (head, shoulders, front legs & paws).

I'm going to make a couple of posts today to try and at least get December finished so I'll keep this short. I hope that the photos speak for themselves.