Going Waaaaay Back in Time....Millions of Years

After years and years of driving by on the freeway, I've always wanted to stop and check out this museum in Lehi, Utah.  I finally got a chance to this week with Jed and our son, Ronin.

It's a good thing we brought Ronin along, he is our little expert on dinosaurs.  He knows all about them.

So excited to be here!!!!!

First we went to the 3D movie:

We would be such an easy lunch for a Teradactyl.  I love this museum, everything was life-sized!

Standing underneath one of the "long necks."

I was amazed at how truly gigantic these creatures are, they completely facinate me!

I found this guy to be the most interesting one, just because I'd never seen such a skull like this before:

There were lots of hands on activities for kids to do too:

Triceratops has always been my most favorite dinosaur:

My most favorite portion of the museum was the ancient sea life section.  To see the true scale of these creatures was sooooo cool.   Huge, HuGe, HUGE!!! 

The largest sea turtle ever found:

This ancient shark was ten times bigger than today's Great White Shark.

Wooly Mammoth

Checking out all the cool stuff at the museum store.

We let Ronin choose one thing so he picked out a plush Triceratops and named him Spike.

Afterwards, Jed HAD to go visit his "Mothership" as he so affectionately calls it.

Coming here means there's no rush getting out.

Ronin's favorite - the White Artic Wolf.

Jed has wanted this "man chair" so bad for a few years now.  But, until there is room for it in our house, it's gonna have to hang out at the store.  This is what Jed's gonna gonna be doing when he's 80 - a grumpy old man:

The real reason for our Utah visit was for a medical procedure Jed's been waiting for ever since he got back from Iraq . . . . . which was 6 months ago!  (I swear snails move faster than the Veteran's Affairs - VA for short.)    Someone FINALLY called and scheduled it last week.  They insisted that instead of having the procedure done locally, they wanted him to head to the nearest military base...almost four hours away.  They certainly know how to make things convenient for their veterans. :/

The night before the procedure was a rough one due to the nasty gallon of crap Jed had to drink.  He was violently puking up all night long.  But the actual experience at the hospital was a good one with great nurses taking care of him:


Jed also got to sport some snazzy socks.


Meanwhile, this is what Ronin did for 2 hours while we waited:

 And took a few pics of ourselves too. :)

Jed was groggy from the anesthesia but Ronin and Spike helped cheer him up.

Since Jed was too out of it to drive I was his designated driver.  He slept all the way home.  :)  A fun, quick trip!

One Year Older

It was my birthday earlier this week. :)

My parents threw me a little get-together to celebrate.

My brother, Cory, and his family were there too.   :)

We had ice cream and pie. Rigdon was a little confused as to why I didn't have a cake and blow out any candles.  He told me my "birthday was sad."  LOL

Like mother, like daughter - we're both going for a whole lot of caramel.   

Uncle Cory was teasing Aubrey about boys.  Aubrey's reaction: 

(Don't let her fool you though, we know of a few crushes she's had recently.)

My handsome hun-bun:

A blast from the past. 

I've grown up a lot since these old pictures.

Do you like my hairstyle here?  I cut my bangs just about down to the roots all by myself.  :)  Me and a neighborhood boy decided to play "barbershop."  My mom wasn't very happy with me AT ALL. 

(Pictured above with my brother, Troy, who passed away a few years ago.)

My first horse, Julie.  She was fun to ride but could be a bit of a stinker.

Dance.

My LDS Seminary graduation with my younger brother, Cory.

Crazy days!

Senior Year:

College days - "Spaghart."  Apparently me and my roommates were pretty bored one evening and discovered that you could throw wet spaghetti noodles up on the wall and they would stick!  So we plastered our kitchen wall with noodles, let them dry, and then colored them with markers.  :)

We were pretty proud of ourselves.  (Me-far left.)


Life is good.