Savanna Green, 7, reaches for a dollar bill as her mom Ciji teaches her figure skating student to skate backwards at the Ice Skating In. rink at 1130 North 3rd Street Sunday.

Dave Williams, dressed for the cold, reads “Quick Silver” by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens in Emerson Park Friday. He lives nearby the park in a apartment and often reads outside while enjoying a pipe.

XC skiers start the Skyway Skuffle at the Skyway Nordic Center on Grand Mesa Saturday, more than 30 racers took the challenge of the 10k Freestyle.

Dressed for the chilly weather,  John Hefner of Grand Junction cuts through the Colorado Mesa University on his bicycle as he heads home Wednesday.

Greg Luck and Trina Lindsey of Grand Junction carve up fresh powder in Lincoln Park on Christmas morning.

A single Christmas tree lights up the new snow along Ridges Blvd.

A cold day for a bike ride. Ft. Cillons scuptor James Hare sculpture ” Freewheeling” on Main Street in downtown Grand Junction is covered in fresh snow on Christmas Eve.

Eight-year-old Garren Stonestreet and his sister Zoey, age ten-years-old both from Grand Junction gets some air during a sled ride Sunday morning at Duck Pond Park on Orchard Mesa.

Eight-year-old Garren Stonestreet from Grand Junction gets some air during a sled ride Sunday morning at Duck Pond Park on Orchard Mesa.

Central’s Matt Henderson. #3, takes the ball up to the basket past Adams City’s Devante Loggins on a breakaway during the second half of Saturday’s game at Central High School.

Snuggled into a beanbag chair in the children’s section of the Mesa County Public Library’s main branch, Nathan Bittle, 10, of Grand Junction turns the page as he reads “Horace the Horrible” Friday while his 7-month-old brother Jacob sleeps at his feet.

Palisade’s Levi Hoaglud soars past the Montezuma-Cortez High School defenses to racket up the Palisade score by another two points. Photo by Charles Pearson

Dan Weaver with Desert Bloom Hydroponics, 445 Pitkin Ave. in Grand Junction working in one of the gardens at Desert Bloom.

A small herd of deer forage for food in a snow-covered pasture in the 700 block of 26 Road on Friday.

Twenty-six Christmas stockings hang in a pine tree in the medium between Ute and Pitkin Aves at 15th Street, one for each of the persons killed in the Newtown, Conn. shootings. A sign under the tree says to please write a letter to the families and put them in the stockings.

Five-year-old Weston Hildebrandt puts his weight behind the snow shovel as he helps his father Teddy clear several inches of fresh snow off of his next-door neighbor’s driveway on North Sherwood Drive Wednesday.

Curtis Lyons from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada flips out on the half pipe at Copper Mountain Resort. Lyons was in Colorado to visit family.

Competitors in the Highline Hustle triathlon take to the water in June, 2010, as they swim 500 meters through the water of Highline Lake, the first of three parts of the event. After completing their swim, racers then bicycled 16 miles and ran three miles around the lake. There’s a new triathlon coming to the state park next week.

#15, Sharaya Selsor with CMU Women’s Basketball.

Grand Junction artist Kevin Smith works on a mural above Main Street Bagels, 559 Main Street in downtown Grand Junction.Smith painted the mural in 2008 and was adding to it on Thursday afternoon. Smith has worked on paintings and murals at Main Street Bagels for over 12 years.

Drake Adams a 3rd grade student at Wingate Elementary School reads next to Wilbur, a therapy dog. Wilbur sits with kids while they read to help them feel comfortable and calm while they practice reading.

Clouds are lit by the setting sun and reflected in the waters of an almost ice covered Shadow Lake in the Ridges.

The Grinch will not ruin Christamas this year as it is in the mouth of Grrrreta the Dinosaur in Fruita’s Circle Park in downtown Fruita.

A group of hikers stop at an area locals call Leaning Tree in the Bangs Canyon Special Management Area.Its called Leaning Tree because of an old Ponderosa pine that is still alive but has fallen onto a cliff wall.

Family, friends and veterans from the Navajo National from Chinle, Arizona meet at the Western Slope Vietnam War Memorial Park in Fruita this morning to remember Ron “Doc"Ross.

Feed the beaver.Someone put a tree branch in the sculpture called Beaver by artist Cynthia Fenster at the corner of Pine and 6th Streets in Glenwood Springs.The sculpture is part of the 2 Rivers Art Project.

Fifteen-year-old Tanner Blee dances the lead of the Nutcracker and Prince in Tchaikovsky’s ballet, “The Nutcracker.”

Mike Allen, owner of Toys for the Fun of It, thumbs through a children’s book as he relaxes on his recombent trike while three other downtown small business owners prepare to mount their bicycles to carry about 100 books to Mesa View Elementary School on Tuesday. From left to right are Tony Bruton of Kairos, Mike Smith of Main Street Bagels, Allen, and Chris Brown of Brown Cycles.

A giant “Hello!” decorates the mucky bottom in front of a dock yards away from the water’s edge at Baron Lake on Grand Mesa in late September.

A rider waves at bystanders as hundreds of motorcyclists ride down Patterson Road on their way to deliver toys for the Salvation Army’s toy giveaway during the 33rd annual Western Slope Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) Toy Run on Saturday.