Arizona, Mesa - Saturday, December 23, 2017 - Mormon Temple Lights

The first thing I want to say is MERRY CHRISTMAS!! To our family and friends.  Even though we may be far away our thoughts are still with you this season.  God bless each of you and those you love, hope you have a wonderful holiday.

We visited this beautiful light display last year.  We asked our friends Bill and Cindy Carson from Colorado to visit with us this year, it was still just as amazing.  In addition to the unbelievable light display there is musical entertainment nightly and it is all free.

We wanted to be sure to see the display this year because it is supposed to be down for the next two years for construction at the Temple.  We started out the evening last night with dinner at Garcia’s, a local Mexican restaurant that is a favorite of ours.  Just as we got out of the car headed for the display we saw what we (and everyone else) thought had to be a UFO – no other explanation seemed feasible.  I know my night and lights photography lacks something to be desired but you can see what we were looking at in the center of this picture, click on the picture to enlarge it..  You can see the three wise men to the left and that is definitely not the North Star in the center of the picture, it appeared to be moving rather slowly in a semi-circle pattern.  We found out this morning that a lot of people in California and Arizona also witnessed this strange light.  Turns out it was a rocket that was launched from Santa Barbara, CA that was transporting satellites for an update to a system that helps in tracking planes for the airline industry.

I think every surface in the Temple’s garden is covered with lights, some that must be custom made.  This arch leads into the garden.

The trees are covered entirely in lights and have various kinds of lights in the branches.

Even the flower beds beneath the trees have lights that look like flowers.  I have to figure out how to photograph these better, I’m just not doing them justice.

All of the lights reflecting in the pool in front of the Temple are just amazing.

The nativity scene is a favorite stopping point for everyone.  There is a continuous narration of the story of Christ’s birth.  This is definitely a great place to take the family, it helps us all to remember the reason for the season.

Arizona, Mesa - Thursday, December 22, 2016 - Mormon Temple Lights

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

Earlier this week we went with a group to view the massive light display at the Mormon Temple in Mesa.  This is an annual event, I understand they start putting it up in October.

The group we went with was some of the people we square dance with.

The light displays were some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.  Unfortunately, I didn’t do them justice with these pictures.  I’m hoping the photography club here at the resort offers some classes this year that will help me improve.  I think you can still get the feel of the intensity of this project.  Note that even the tall palm trees have decorations in them.

A narration at the Nativity scene tells the story of the birth of Jesus – it’s a very moving display.

We’ve been keeping busy.  We are still just working one day a week for five hours.  We anticipate this will increase to 10 hours a piece after the first of the year.  We are also square dancing at least four times a week.  We aren’t having as much success with our weight loss program this year as we had last year.  Going to have to tweak something after the first of the year to get going again.  We had a friend snap our picture at a holiday party.