2012-12-31 ––– New Years Eve the kids all went out for sushi and left Olin and Aili with Lisa and I to watch. Aili came in this cute animal print outfit. Lisa had a similar looking animal print shirt on as well. Oslo, seeing their animal prints, wanted into the photo to show his au naturale animal print. Not your typical New Years Eve photo, but captured what ours was about this year. This image completes my Project 366 (1 extra day due to leap year), but also is the final photo of a two year effort to shoot a daily photo, since I also did a project 365 for 2011. It will be nice to have a rest.

2012-12-30 ––– This is Utah powder. We say we have the best snow in the world because it is dry and fluffy. People don't understand what that means. I took this shot of fresh snow that fell on my truck. There was about 3 inches of the fluffy stuff. You could blow it off and it would float like down feathers. You can see what makes it so "powdery" with each snowflake so lightly sitting on top of the previous flake. No matter how often I see this, it feels magical.

2012-12-29 ––– These days it is hard to get all the family together, but today my mom had a big Mexican meal for all of us that are in town. My entire family, including the two little grandkids, are in the picture. Pilvi Lehtinen front left is Lisa's cousin from Finland and back/center is Gary and Jen, my sister's daughter and her husband. My mom's in the chair with dad behind her and my sister Danna to my dad's left. Glad we could get this image, which covers four generations.

2012-12-28 ––– Sean got this three sided candle shade in Germany, I don't know what else to call it. It is made of two layers of very thin wood. The outside layer has a design cut out that silhouettes against the inside layer being lit by the candle light. Each side is a different Christmas scene. The are extremely delicate, but beautiful with the natural wood grains.

2012-12-27 ––– It continues to snow and every year I usually shoot a close up of the lights around our front trees. I like the S-shaped flow of the lights and the holes they melt in the snow from the little bit of warmth they give off. Eventually we will not be able to see the bulbs, just the glow in the snow as it gets deeper and deeper. This year looks like it might be a big snow year if the pattern continues.

2012-12-26 ––– I love shooting the front yard and house this time of year after we get a fresh layer of snow. This was almost midnight but the sky was overcast and the all the lights in the valley were reflecting off the clouds making it brighter than normal.

2012-12-25 ––– This was Aili's first Christmas. We are just so thankful to have her after all the problems with her heart and then open heart surgery. She is the happiest little girl. Christmas morning she got lots of cool toys, but seemed to really like Olin's cars and wood block train. Olin was kind enough to just let her play with them, even though he wasn't really happy about it.

2012-12-24 ––– We had the entire family together for Christmas Eve, plus Pilivi from Finland. After a great meal, Santa and his elf, Snorky (Logan and Sean) dropped by to visit Olin. Olin didn't recognize either of them. Aili just screamed when Santa even tried to get close to her. It was a wonderful evening.

2012-12-23 ––– It wouldn't be Christmas without some traditional Finnish Pulla. So good with the big sugar chunks on top. I like mine toasted and buttered. I like dipping it in hot chocolate, or on Christmas morning I fry ham and lay it on top of a slice of Pulla. Delicious no matter how you eat it.

2012-12-22 ––– I'm really getting into the Christmas spirit. Our Christmas tree is really simple with lots of Scandinavian ornaments. These white paper stars are one of my favorites.

2012-12-21 ––– Today we decided to check out the Traverse Mountain outlet stores. It was a beautiful day and relatively warm. After the stores we all went to the theater to see the Hobbit in 3D. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, but still very interesting.

2012-12-20 ––– Today was my 32nd anniversary. Lisa and I took Sean and Pilvi to Salt Lake City to do some shopping and then see the lights around Temple Square. These luminaria bags all say "Peace" in different languages. Pilvi found this one that was in Finnish. We wrapped up the evening with some authentic German food at Siegried's Deli downtown

2012-12-19 ––– I was in the kitchen getting a little breakfast and liked how the window framed Sean and Olin's snowman they made yesterday. I had to grab the camera and take a photo.

2012-12-18 –––– While at work, Sean and Olin made this cool snowman. Lisa called me so I could run home and get a picture before the sun went down. I got there just in time to see them put his arms on.

2012-12-17 ––– Pilvi made some ginger bread cookies this evening. She made enough dough so that she can make a ginger bread house later in the week.

2012-12-16 ––– Jessica, Chris, Aili, Sean. Lisa & I went to Alpine for the Christmas brunch. It might be our last since I've got the membership up for sales. It was a delicious meal and Aili was great right up to the end when she got a little tired and fussy.

2012-12-15 ––– Pilvi went with me to get a new phone at the T-Mobile store so I had to go with her while she was shopping at Plato's Closet for shoes and clothing. This was one of the first photos taken with my new phone, a Samsung Galaxy SIII.

2012-12-14 ––– One of the guys at work, Ryan, spent two weeks in China with one of his friends. He brought back some gifts for all of us in the marketing group. I've never taken a picture of these clay replicas of the terracotta soldier and his horse before so they were perfect for today. I liked the seasonal reference with the candy cane in the photo left over from the work Christmas party.

2012-12-13 ––– You know it is Christmas when Fishbowl has their family Christmas photos with Santa. With Pilvi in town from Finland for the holidays we got her into a photo with Lisa and I. Santa is my good friend Rick Weiss. He is our designer at Fishbowl.

2012-12-12 ––– We celebrated 12/12/12 after work with a harp concert and book reading in the lobby of my office. It was a father and son performance. Alex Bigney Jr. on the harp and Alex Bigney Sr. read sections of his book, Talking To Tesla.

2012-12-11 ––– I came home and found this goofy elf roaming my home. Her name is Pilvi the Christmas Elf. She is from Finland. OK, she is actually Lisa's cousin here to spend the holidays with us.

2012-12-10 ––– What a little angel. All I have to do is point the camera at her and tell her to smile and she knows exactly what is going on and smile. At 10 months old I love the hair. Makes her look so grown up.

2012-12-09 ––– Daddy Chris and Aili baby over for a dinner and a visit. She is the happiest baby I know.

2012-12-08 ––– Pilvi is getting ready to make a Finnish treat for us. I believe it was a baked salmon pie, for lack of the right word. We have her for two months. She has been here a little less than a week. I should have posted a picture of her earlier.