When my grandparents come to Utah, they stay in a condo in downtown Salt Lake. When we visit them, we often end up at the LDS Church History Museum. Friday, August 10th was no exception. I have been there so many times that I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few.
My handsome grandpa and author J. Carlyle Parker
Probably couldn't have crossed the plains in 4 inch wedges
Next time a customer wants a "vintage" wedding dress, I'm pulling this one out
"The Mormon Creed Is To Mind Your Own Business" I didn't make this up.
Abraham before almost sacrificing his son Isaac
A volunteer at the museum told my grandparents that they looked like this couple
The Museum was holding its annual international art competition. The last two photos were submissions. Abraham was my brother's favorite. I highly recommend looking at all of the submissions here. Not all of them are religious and they are all beautiful.
Yesterday Doug and I went to Utah's Hogle Zoo with his family and my brother Jess. We started with the colobus monkeys. I love their long white tails.
Next we stopped by the elephants and rhinoceros. I like the picture of looking under the belly of one rhino to see the other one eating.
The zoo has a new exhibit area called Rocky Shores which has bald eagles, river otters, harbor seals, sea lions, a polar bear, and grizzly bears. Jess and I took turns in the eagles nest.
The polar bear really liked to swim in her pool and stroll around her enclosure. She dove for some fish that the keeper tossed in. It was really fun to watch her swim. The viewing area is great because you can see underwater, on the land area, and in her den.
The grizzly bears had a special ice treat in their enclosure. We make these for our puppy Penny sometimes with chicken broth and hot dog chunks.
Near the end of our visit the zoo keepers worked with the seals and blind sea lion. They teach the animals behaviors to help with veterinary work and to keep them safe. They can retrieve items that fall into the water and take them to their keepers for a fish reward. They also hold out their claws to be clipped and open their mouths to have their teeth brushed.
The blind sea lion has a stick with a ball on the end that makes noise so he can follow it. He did pretty well swimming around and didn't run into things. He stays mostly in one corner of the pool but he seems happy.
After Rocky Shores we saw the tigers, giraffes, and some marsh birds including a swan.
We saw a lot more animals but my camera battery kept dying so I had to be selective with my photography subjects. I'm glad I got to see so many beautiful and diverse creatures. It was a wonderful day near the end of summer.
On August 1st we enjoyed America's favorite past time. A good old baseball game. The Salt Lake Bees are a minor league team whose players can be called up to the Los Angeles Angels. The Bees were playing the New Orleans Zephyrs.
The Zephyrs were up to bat. Bees were in white.
Is baseball really still America's favorite past time? Maybe from times past. The ballpark was pretty empty.
Doug and I
Mark and Morgan
That Zephyr hit the ball
My favorite part of the game was yelling at the umpires after they said a guy was out when he was safe. I think I yelled that he needed to get glasses. I also love singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame between the top and bottom of the 7th inning. There was a really funny kid who was selling roasted almonds. He kept yelling "get your almonds" and "guess how many in a bag." He really seemed to be enjoying his job.
A beautiful sunset over the Wasatch mountains
The Bees finally hit the ball
In the end the Bees lost 7 runs to 3. It was still a really fun night. (And don't tell Morgan but I'm really jealous that she has a horse).
My blog posts have been falling behind because I keep doing too many fun things and don't have enough time to blog about them. I'll try to get caught up before the next set of fun things starts happening.
On Wednesday, July 25 Doug and I went to the Natural History Museum at the University of Utah.
It's new and BIG!
When I was a kid I went on a few field trips to the old museum on Presidents circle. It was in a really old building and didn't have enough space. Then, when I was a student at the U, I visited the museum a few times with friends. I was a little hesitant about going to the new museum because I thought that all my memories of the old one would be gone. But they weren't!
Al, the Allosaurus, who asks your for money
I still fit in the dinosaur footprint
They transferred Al the Allosaurus and the dinosaur footprint from the old museum. They may seem like silly things, but I was really glad they kept them. They also still have the windows to the room where they prepare dinosaur bones. We got to watch two guys working on taking some bones out of plaster.
A prehistoric horse fossil
They have these really neat areas where the floor is made of glass and it looks like a dinosaur dig underneath.
You could walk over this fossil
This shows the bones being jumbled up, like in at a real dig site
I still like the big dinosaur bones the most. It's amazing to think of all those giant creatures wandering around where we still walk today.
A mamoth, sabertooth tiger, and ox type thing.
Doug looks like he could be a paleontologist.
The roof of the museum is covered in solar panels. I wanted to ask if they were enough to power the whole museum without needing outside electricity but I didn't ever find anyone who would have known the answer. After further research I found that the solar panels provide over 25% of the energy needed to power the museum. You can learn more about the building's sustainability by clicking here.
Solar panels on the roof and the beautiful Wasatch mountains
A lot of the museum is dedicated to housing collections. There are rows and rows of shelves with fossils and other important items. It would be fun to work there and have access to everything.
Some workers examining items in the collection
I highly recommend going to this new museum. It's educational and beautiful. We had a ton of fun. More information can be found on their website.
After subjecting everyone to multiple book reviews this summer which were also submitted to my local library, I finally got something out of it. The library had their end of summer reading program party on July 30th with prizes for the participants. Doug and I went expecting to see a lot of other people win stuff. BUT I ACTUALLY WON! When they called my name I jumped up and ran to the front to claim my prize while yelling "I won!" You would have though I won the lottery or the Price is Right. I didn't expect to win so I didn't take the camera, but trust me nobody who claimed prizes was as excited as I was. Do you want to know what I won?
My prize
$15 worth of gourmet cupcakes at The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe. I'm really excited to use my prize for delicious morsels of mini cakes. Yum Yum. Thanks summer reading program.
I promised an update on the robin's nest at my in-laws house. Fortunately all four eggs hatched and for awhile there were four chicks. Unfortunately now there is only one. I don't know exactly what happened to the other three, but here is the survivor.
This post should be titled whY did I think I could do this hike? For some reason the Universities around here think it's a good idea to plaster giant cement letters representing their school on the side of the mountain. And for some other reason, still unknown to even myself, I thought it was a good idea to hike there.
Anyone who knows me knows that I do not hike. I will take nature walks as long as the trail is flat and shady. But when the trail gains almost 1000 feet in 1.2 miles it is not my cup of tea. I wasn't trying to be brave, but I felt a little like Toad in this video.
The scene at about 40 seconds is a fairly accurate representation of our hike. Doug would have been Frog, and I was Toad, sadly lagging behind and muttering. At one point I made him run ahead to tell me how much farther we had to go while I collapsed on a bench thinking I would die and tried not to pass out and roll down the side of the mountain. You think I'm exaggerating but if you ask Doug he'll tell you that this is a very accurate account of the days happenings.
A rock with plants growing out of it
I pretended to be interested in the plants growing out of this rock and took multiple pictures of it so that I could rest for longer without seeming wimpy. Little did I know I was less than half way there. Later my pride didn't get in the way of collapsing on whatever benches were available.
The view from another of my resting spots
I finally got close enough to see the stupid giant white letter! At this point I had hope that I could make it all the way. Little did I know I still had a long way to go.
The sliver of white hope
Finally after much complaining, resting, and water, I made it to the Y. Now I can say I did it. And I never have to do it again.
The view of the valley from half way up the stupid mountain
The Y looked disproportionately long since we were near the bottom of it. It really is kind of ugly to have letters plastered all over the mountains.
A giant Y
You may be thinking to yourself that there haven't been any pictures of me and maybe I sent the camera along with Doug while I stayed behind. Well I thought of that and took a picture of my sweaty red face next to the stupid letter so you wouldn't doubt the validity of my claims of hiking up the mountain. You may say that my head is edited into the picture, but I assure you, there is no other picture of me so red and sweaty to have taken it from.
Yes, I was there
In the future, if you ever hear me mention going on a hike remind me not to unless I have months worth of training and gallons of water.
A little while ago on my day off, Doug and I went mini golfing. We had such good intentions of sneaking into all three courses, but it was so hot and I kept sneezing so we only made it through one. The good news is that I got TWO holes in one! There were also a few holes where I maxed out at six shots. Doug did fairly well, but I had the lowest score and won in the end.
Look at that form
So close!
In front of the princess castle
We thought my ball got stuck in the castle. But I ended up with my original purple ball and a black one! Although the day was hot and my nose was stuffy, it was very fun.
