Another gorgeous day at the Grand Canyon! Brendan and I hiked about 5 miles along the rim today from the Market Plaza parking area to Pipe Creek Vista.

Look at this guy sitting way out on the point!

This deer was right where our car was parked

Beautiful sunset at Trailview Overlook

Tomorrow we’re headed to historic Route 66.

Words just cannot describe how beautiful, jaw dropping, amazing the Grand Canyon is. The canyon colors change with the shifting light, so you could go to the same view point at different times and days and it will look completely different. Most of the time photographers are looking for soft, overcast light, but at the Grand Canyon the colors are much more spectacular with the sun during the early morning and late afternoon.

The sun rises late here this time of year and we arrived at Mather Point around 8:15 to gorgeous views and crowds. We didn’t think it would be too crowded this time of year, but it turns out we were wrong, although I’m sure that the crowds during the summer are unimaginable. We stopped at the visitor’s center to find out the trail conditions and it looks like we won’t be doing any hiking down into the canyon, most of the trails are ice covered right now and you need crampons to hike down into the canyon. There’s plenty of hiking along the rim though!

Mather Point

Ravens are abundant in the park

It’s cold!

Clouds are starting to roll in and as we were hiking back to the car it started snowing!

Well almost there!  We drove from Phoenix to our hotel right outside of the park, but haven’t ventured into the park yet.  It’s a 4-5 hour drive from Phoenix and we were exhausted after yesterday, so we slept in late and took a leisurely drive up, checked into the hotel and are relaxing a bit before dinner.  On the drive up we actually got off the main highway and drove through Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon.  These pictures were taken just outside of Sedona and the red rocks are a spectacular color.  We are currently at almost 7000′ elevation and there was snow on the ground driving through Oak Canyon.  I am hoping there is some snow at the Grand Canyon, which will make for spectacular pictures.

We made it to Phoenix, but we’re exhausted. Our flight from JFK was delayed and we finally made it to Phoenix at 12:30 a.m. Which is really 2:30 in the morning for us. Surprisingly Phoenix airport is a zoo right now. I’m posting this from my Blackberry as we wait for our bags!

Happy Holidays! I wish I was with my family. Holidays just never seem the same unless you’re with family. Thankfully I’ll be visiting them in a few weeks. Here’s a picture of my parents from my last trip to Florida.

I’m spending the holidays with the Murphy family and here’s a few pictures from this morning.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

The winner of the favorite flower poll is Courtney’s flowers…yeah! She had the most colorful bouquet, which I just loved. Courtney and Jason were married this past May and you can see my blog post about their wedding **here** Congrats Courtney and Jason, I’ll be mailing you a framed print of the image in January.

Brendan and I are leaving today to visit his family in Massachusetts for the Christmas holidays and will be there until the 27th and then we are headed to the Grand Canyon!! I am so excited for our trip! I won’t be back in the office until Monday, January 7th so if you need to reach me email is best. Remember to check back to read about our travel adventure and see some amazing pictures of the Grand Canyon!

Happy Holidays!

Today is my sister’s birthday! I won’t announce how old she is:) but she’s much younger than me. I don’t have many recent pictures of her because she lives down in Orlando with her husband, Ed and her two adorable kids, Matthew and Meagan, but I took this one last year when I was down visiting. Happy Birthday!!

Winter can be such a dreary time of year and flowers always brighten the day, so I thought it would be fun to vote for your favorite flowers from a few of this year’s weddings. I could only use 5 in the poll, otherwise I would have chosen more. The couple who has the flowers with most votes will receive a framed, matted photograph of the image. The poll ends Christmas Eve.

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Just kidding!! Actually I usually think about other people before myself. I think these pictures are such a great series and wanted to share them with you. My sister emailed me and told me she tried to take Matthew and Meagan to get pictures with Santa and Meagan had a complete meltdown when she saw Santa, which reminded me of these pictures.

My Mom gave them to me a long time ago and I keep meaning to have them framed. They sit in a folder on my desk and I think it’s about time I framed them. These are not the best quality because I took a picture of a picture with my point and shoot, but I think they’re fun! Scroll down to see my complete meltdown at the professional portrait studio.

And I think that ended the photo shoot!