Day 35 - A day of rest...

Sunday, August 24th - Lehi and Springville

We went to church with Ryan, Teresa, and Haylee this morning. After church, we took naps before going over to Jayson and Heidi's home for dinner and to watch the closing show for the Olympics.

The dinner was great... we had grilled teriaki steak and chicken, with rice and some great salads to round it out. Katy and Joy were also there!

After dinner, we layed around and watched the Olympic closing show while playing "Fat Dog". The show was kind of disappointing but the Olympics were great... what I got to see of them in the motels at night (what were we thinking taking a road trip during the Olympics with a ten foot HD screen at home????)

Tomorrow we will move to Jayson and Heidi's for a few days while Ryan and Teresa get ready to go to Disneyland. I am not sure yet whether we will get to go or not... We have to figure out the rest of our trip tomorrow.

Well I am going to bed so I can get up early in the morning and help J Dawg cater a gig for the BYU Football team.

Day 34 - Rock and Ribs and The Olympic Fountain

Saturday, August 23rd - Salt Lake City

Today, Deb went shopping with Teresa and Haylee while I went shopping with Ryan. Ryan had to get some stuff to get their car ready for their trip to Disneyland next week.

After shopping, we went to the Galavin Center in SLC to an event called Rock and Ribs. It was not what I thought it would be but we did get some good BBQ for dinner before we went to the SLC Gateway Mall to play in the Olympic Fountain...

Haylee decided she was not to excited about the fountain... she did not like the unpredictability of the randomly squirting water...

"See Haylee, there is nothing to worry about... WHOOOA!"

"Yeah, right..."

Heidi, Jayson and Mae joined us for the fun...

It did not take long for them to get into the action!

Heidi and Mae got soaked!

Daddy loves Mae...

"OK... If Mae will do it, I will try it..."

It was a fun evening and a refreshing way to cool down...

...after a long hot day!

Day 33 - Haylee, Mae, and Katy rock our faces off!

Friday, August 22nd - Lehi, Utah

We are at Ryan and Teresa's home now... Teresa baked us some bread this morning...

Mae came over this morning to visit Haylee and grandpa had a pretend birthday party with his granddaughters...

"Cheeeeeese"

Mae...

...and Haylee had fun with grandma at the park.

Tonight, we all went to the Scera Arena to hear watch Katy compete in the semifinals of the Utah Celebrity Vocal Competition...

Mae and Haylee wait for the show to start...

Katy sang "Happy Girl" and rocked our face off! She was one of 18 semifinalists selected from over 90 contestants...

They selected 3 girls and 3 guys to go to the finals... the 3 girls they chose were younger than 11 years old! It was pretty obvious the judges were going for the cutesy factor for the Boyz To Men show (where the finals are held this week). We were quite disappointed because Katy should clearly have been a finalist with her excellent performance... but she was OK with it when it was over...

Heidi and Jayson enjoying the show.

After the show we all went out to CPK for dinner... it was a fun night.

Day 32 - Family History Library

Thursday, August 21st, Salt Lake City

Today we spent the entire day in the Family History Library... Well actually, I dropped Deb off at around 8:30 am than I went back to the hotel for a couple more hours of sleep... we didn't get into the motel This morning until almost 1:00 am.

After my nap, I joined Deb and helped her do some research. I also did some research for Valerie Schomburg (with no success).

Deb had a lot of success and I was able to find some information on her Ford County, Illinois folks in the books on the third floor.

Tonight we surprised Haylee by getting to her house a day earlier than we told her we would be there... It was great to see her again.

I also got to go to Springville to deliver a bed to Jayson and Heidi's and sneak a peek at Mae Mae... Don't tell grandma!

Tomorrow, Katy sings!

Day 31 - Jurassic Park

Wednesday, August 20th - Just outside Vernal Utah on the way to SLC...

On the way out of Colorado, we Deb took a couple of photos of big rocks!

This is Castle Rock near the Air Force Academy...

This is the westbound side of one of the longest tunnels in the US as it passes through the Rocky Mountains...

Very long...

some more beautiful rock formations...

Couldn't resist this sign for my buddy Craig...

As we entered Utah...

We also turned around and got this phot of the Colorado sign because it was too dark Monday night to get it when we entered Colorado...

Just outside Vernal, Utah, we decided to visit the Nation Dinosaur Monument... It was very hot his afternoon they had cancelled the walks to the fossil beds...

but we did visit the visitor center where we saw this actual femor bone from a dinosaur dug from the fossil beds near here...

and then we took the auto tour... this is an area where the limestone has been forced up in an area known as Tilted Rock on the Green River... It would have been interesting to witness the forces that were involved in this kind of rock bending...

This is a view of the rocks where the following picturs were taken...

These are ancient Petroglyphs left by two different groups of natives that inhabited this area 800-1000 years ago...

More "tilted rock"...

These purplish rock formations are the Morris Formations where most of the dinosaur fossils are found...

This rock formation is called "Turtle Rock"... can you see him?

This is Elephant Claw Rock...

more petroglyphs...

These clifff walls were very interesting. The walls were probably close to a 1000 feet straight up... about half way up you could see some beautifully preserved petroglyphs in the dark "Canyon Varnish". Can you see the lizards?

What can you see here?

After spotting with the binoculars, I put on my 750mm lens and the walls came alive with petroglyphs that we could not see with the naked eye... See another lizard?

more lizards and a little human form... (remember you can click on these photos for an enlargement)...

Look at all the animals and human forms below the main lizards...

and on the wall to the right of the lizards... this flute player!

These guys almost look like Santa Claus...

Do you think? Nah...

At the very end of the road, we found this cabin that was built by Josie Basset Morris...

She was a very interesting woman and lived in this cabin for 50 years...

Just behind the cabin was the most amazing box canyon, which was use by Josie as a natural corral for her pigs... she just fenced off the narrow entrance to the canyon and she had a perfect corral with walls close to 1500 feet high!

We hiked the half mile to the end of the canyon and were blessed with this incredible view lit by the late afternoon sun... Those are full sized trees in the floor of the canyon...

I had to take advantage of the beautiful warm light that was being reflected off the limestone canyon walls...

My rock girl fell in love with this boulder that she wanted me to air lift home for her... I told her that we would just have to come back and visit... it was a very peaceful place... Deb said it would have been her Sacred Grove.

Before we left Vernal, we stopped to photograph the Temple... it is very unique in it's look, but I really liked it!

It was a very long drive in the dark down the canyon to Salt Lake City... many warning signs about deer and elk crossing the highway... I took it very easy... that would not be good for the Mini!