Oscar Stew

We always make a visit to “Dinosaur” Grandpa’s house during our sunny sabbatical in St. George. Why do the kids call him that? You’ll find out just as soon as Grandma LaVerna gets Ellie’s fingers untangled from the string puppet collection…

Back before Ryan & I were married (slightly after dinosaurs roamed the earth) my Grandpa was grading some land he owned in order to sell it. While he was digging he came across an incredible find: Dinosaur footprints!

Once upon a time St. George was covered in water. The dinosaurs walked through the shallow parts and left their footprints in the mud. The footprints filled with silt, millions of years passed, and ding! This is what the bottom of a dilophosaurus foot looks like…in 3D!

At this point he thought, “Why stop digging?” He got some extra help and revealed hundreds of tracks from many different kinds of dinosaurs.

The kids were more & more impressed with each footprint. Hey Ro-saurus, how do you measure up?

If it hadn’t sunk deep into their cortex yet that it was their great-grandfather who made this awesome discovery, the cartoon was sure to do the trick:

“Hey Grandpa, that’s you!”

Needless to say the kids were pretty excited that Grandpa has his “very own” museum. But they were also kinda jealous. “How come Grandpa gets to find all the dinosaur tracks?”

Have no fear kids, you can be a prehistoric paw prospector too! Fire up the back hoe and the grader. Wait Ellie, not at the same time!

The master digger gave Drew some tips on where he might find some T-rex treads.

Brinley decided role-playing was a worthwhile technique. If I was a scaly, 200-ton lizard, where would I roam?

Looks like drew may be brushing off a great specimen! On the other hand, Eleanor is trying to use the brush as a shovel…

The unveiling continues, with Brinley controlling the bristles. Hey Rowan, this may go quicker if we could use your hair. Whaddya say to that!?

I think Ellie overheard us and bugged out before she got “delegated”.

Sorry Ellie, just like inside the museum, you can’t take that footprint home either. Nice try!

This Tour de Utah review is going on and on like we were on vacay for months! I told you it was a busy-cation! Its okay, we only have like…well a lot of stops left on this tour, but many life-changing events needed to be documented! For example: 

It was only a matter of time for Kristy to submit to peer pressure and become a woman of the cloth just like her mom and sisters:

She may have thought quilting was just this cutesy boring thing that old hens did while playing canasta. Truth be told, it’s quite a dirty sport!

So Kristy, have you enjoyed cutting large pieces of fabric into small pieces and sewing them back together?

I couldn’t quite hear you over the roar of the quilting machines…could you say that again?

There’s no need to make an excuse for being vain while on vacation, right Brinley?!  

Color selected, feet soaked, ready for pedi, paint, & polish. Can the nail guy make your legs longer?

Probably not, but he can swindle you into getting logo-toes!

Don’t mind the man in the mask, he’s just gonna file off your claws while you deliberate…

What’s it like not to have toe-jam anymore?

Apparently it’s an uplifting experience! The nail guy made Kristy’s feet float!

I thought the nail guy was supposed to get rid of the toe-jam?

We received specific instructions not to wiggle our toes or let anything touch our new shiny nails for awhile. So we were real careful while we worked on another hobby of ours…

So Brinley, how was your day? Was it great? Was it awesome? Don’t be a flip-flopper!

After the day we spent at the family reunion, we headed back to the other side of the mountain to meet with relatives on Ryan’s side of the family. We are very grateful t0 Grandpa F for the nice stay we had at the Cedar City Hampton Inn. Nice rooms, pool, close to restaurants, and…They actually wash the bedspreads! But, there was one irritating thing we discovered during breakfast the next morning: The kids do not fare well with too many choices!

Why just have a bowl of cereal when you could have fruit, yogurt, a waffle, hot chocolate, bacon, biscuits & gravy, sausage…you get my point?

Ah what the heck, we’re on vacation. Go ahead and pig out kids. No really, just shove as much as you can in all at once!

We were excited to meet our brand new cousin, but were also sad to say earthly goodbyes to another.

We’re grateful for the knowledge that families really can be together forever. We know we will be able to meet Brooklyn someday.

One thing Brooklyn did was bring family from all around the world close together. These monkeys know this uncle very well from previous family occasions. Hey Aric, can we go get really muddy again???

Or maybe you could carry us sherpa-style over to the closest movie theater for Cars 2? Um, Aric? Can I talk to you for a sec?

I know that someone may have told you that it’s trendy for men to wear girly Bavarian shoulder bags, but let me give you the best gift ever: Drop it now. 

This artist may not have the most colorful palette in the world, but the whole world is her canvas. Literally.

If you spend more time at higher altitudes before you eat your meal, will you be hungrier? It’s worth a try!

Are any of the boys getting hungrier with their eyes glued to the game? I’d say the chances are slim…