Geology Fieldtrip

This post has a lot of pictures but I'm just too excited to leave anything out!

It's really hard to find a complete skeleton but 80% of the skull of this triceritops was found in fairly decent shape!

Classic T-rex

Cool fossil!!

We got to have a backstage tour before we went through the museum. This is a guy working on polishing a leg bone.

A very large (and heavy) femur bone.

This is a bone that hasn't been cut out of the plaster cast yet.

Skulls!

These are turtle shells. The one in the top right corner was the biggest known Jurassic turtle shell. The guy giving us the tour found the big one on the left and gets to name it!

This sign is above the men's bathroom. :)

This is a large fish...whoever catches this at the Southwick reunion definately would be the winner!

Prehistoric aligators

Spiny Dino!

This museum is way cool for kids! Lots of hands on activities!

A sideways picture of me compared to the leg of the long neck dinosaur.

This is a very big turtle! Way bigger than my turtles!

Really well preserved fish by a plant.

Mammoth! There was some mammoth hair on display too.

Remember the movie Ice Age? There are some cave drawings of the homosapians killing mammoths. Well, in this display there were 3-4 humans with spears on the left side, one underneath spearing his rib cage, one on the rock pile trying to throw a boulder at the mammoth, and one being squished by the foot of the mammoth. It made us all laugh!

That night we stayed on the Little Sahera Sand Dunes. The dunes are remains from Lake Bonneville that covered most of Utah 12,000 years ago. The Great Salt Lake and Severe Lake are remains of Lake Bonneville.

Tents on the windy dunes!

The next morning we got up with the sun and went to go trilobite hunting. This was a huge pile of rocks that we had to split open with a hammer and pray not to break the little fossils. My dad told me that Alex knows all about Trilobites! If he had bigger muscles he would love this place!

My hammer. If you look closely at the rock there is a trilobite next to the hammer. This was the first one I found.

The Weeke's Formation- These rocks formed 165 Million Years Ago. It was here that we saw some things that professional geologists have only read about in textbooks and papers. Cool!

Cactus!

The second night we pitched our tents at a geology campsite by Fossil Mountain. We woke up and found a couple scorpions in our campsite..."shudder" It was fun to watch the boys catch them and put them together to make them fight.

Cooking breakfast.

Fossil Mountain. It didn't look that far from the vans. Then we started walking. Three miles later we saw...

...this. If you blow up this picture you can see two white dots in about the center of the picture. Those are our vans.

Looking up at fossil mountain. (Named for an obvious reason. Just hiking up the mountain you find fossils everywhere!)

And we found a bull snake and the ground was covered with tarantula holes.

Next stop was the playa lake. (Also remains of Lake Bonneville) Nothing but mudcracks for miles! Our teacher told us that sometimes the vans get to race antelope at 60 miles per hour!

We gathered at the man made wildlife resevoir to look at our oldest ancestor...

...Cyanobacteria! This is the first organism that lived on the earth. It performs photosynthesis releasing oxygen into the air which aided the growth of other life.

This is Tom getting close and personal with his past.

The Spring 2010 Geology 112 Class

We love rocks!

Finally!

So here are a couple of pictures from our first anniversary. We ate at Red Robin and then went to see Iron Man II at the theater.

An ambulance down in the valley

My bishop shared this a couple of months ago and it really impressed me.

'Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,

Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant,

But over its terrible edge there had slipped,

A duke and full many a peasant.

The people said something would have to be done,

But their projects did not at all tally.

Some said, "Put a fence around the edge of the cliff,"

Some, "An ambulance down in the valley."

The lament of the crowd was profound and was loud,

As their hearts overflowed with their pity;

But the cry for the ambulance carried the day,

For it spread through the neighboring city,

A collection was made, to accumulate aid,

And the dwellers in highway and alley

Gave dollars or cents-not to furnish a fence-

But an ambulance down in the valley.

"For the cliff is alright if you're careful," they said;

"And if folks ever slip and are dropping,

It isn't the slipping that hurs them so much

As the shock down below- when they're stopping."

So for years (we ahve heard), as these mishaps occurred,

Quick forth would the rescuers sally,

To pick up the victims who fell from the cliff,

With the ambulance down in the valley.

Said one, to his peers, "it's a marvel to me

That you'd give so much greater attention

To repairing results than to curing the cause,

You had much better aim at prevention.

For the mischief, of course, should be stopped at its source,

Come, neighbors and friends, let us rally.

It is far better sense to rely on a fence

Than an ambulance down in the valley."

"He is wrong in his head," the majority said;

"He would end all our earnest endeavor.

He's a man who would shirk his responsible work,

But we will supporti it forever.

Aren't we picking up all, just as fast as they fall,

And giving them care liberally?

A superfluous fence is of no consequence,

If the ambulance works in the valley.

The story looks queer as we've written it here,

But things oft occur that are stranger;

More humane, we assert, than to succor the hurt

Is the plan of removing the danger,

The best possible course is to safeguard the source;

Attend to things rationally.

Yes, build up the fence and let us dispense

With the ambulance down in the valley.

~Joseph Malins

Our first

Happy First Anniversary!

I'm so excited for the rest of my family to meet my wonderful husband this summer!

Eben and Joshua

These two boys are already makeing an impression on the world!

http://coloradocommunitynewspapers.com/articles/2010/04/03/tri_lakes_tribune/news/07_mo_soccer.txt

Spring Break

We drove down to Salt Lake and flew down to Colorado. Patrick's dad, Tim, picked us up with Trek and Joshua and we all went to Joshua's soccer game. He is awesome on the field.

Eben and Joshua trying "bones" (aka ribs) for the first time.

My handsome husband!

We had a huge birthday party for RaeLynn (April 2), Eben (14, April 11), Patrick (24, April 13), and Jolie (10, April 15).

He loves his Dad!

When we got down to Colorado, Joshua asked Patrick to give a talk and me to conduct the music at his baptism the next day! We had no idea and we were so excited for him!

Joshua and Tim


Joshua and the missionaries.

Happy Birthday Eben!

While the kids were at school one day we went to the zoo in Colorado Springs. This zoo is so cool because all of the animals are so close to you. First stop: Giraffes.

We got to feed them crackers.

Freakishly long tongue!

Zebras!


Monkeys. This is exactly how I sat as a monkey in "Children of Eden"!

Okay, who was the brains behind this animal? Zebra...deer...giraffe...thing...

This is Patrick's Pirate Bird. He loved Patrick!

RaeLynn and her bird friend.

Bir-Duh!

My hubby and his Pirate Bird!

Some kid with a stick with seeds on it.

Tiger!


Bear!

Sea Otter! (I love this picture. You can only get these shots in the little caves built for kids.)

Komodo Dragon!

After leaving Colorado we spent some time with my family in Utah. We took family pictures and went miniature golfing at cherry hill. It was tons of fun and so sunny!

Daddy!


My wonderful hubby!

I love my mommy!

My crazy brother, Alex!