Summer Vacation Part 17 - Museum of Natural History in Price

While in Utah we made a trip to Price to visit the Museum of Natural History there. With all the mines in the area they have a very good museum with dinosaur and mammoth bones. Sacha and her kids came with us on the trip so it was good for our boys to spend some fun time with their Cook cousins.

Here the kids are studying a dinosaur exhibit very carefully.

This is the mammoth display that is so impressive. Apparently this mammoth was discovered in the area and is one of the best skeletons in the world. I was impressed by it.

Jared, Brett, Morgan, Mason, Ryan and Dallas at the museum.

Dallas, Mason, Sacha, Morgan, Brett, Lori, Jared, Grandma and Ryan by some dinosaur bones.

One of the many complete dinosaur skeletons.

Brett, Jared and Lori by another dinosaur skeleton.

Here is a dinosaur being chased by a raptor.

The main dinosaur display. Very impressive.

The other part of the main display.

Archaeologists Brett and Ryan digging some bones in the kid area of the museum.

Morgan and Mason with some Dinosaur puppets.

Jared, Mason and Dallas with the dinosaur puppets.

Ryan with T-Rex.

Archaeologist Jared doing some measurements.

The main dinosaur display.

The Allosaurus was impressive.

Grandpa found a chair and took a little snooze. It was a good thing because we did not get home that night until after 1:00 am.

Brett and Jared fearlessly facing the Allosaurus.

Jared, Ryan and Brett with the Allosaurus.

Summer Vacation Part 16: Throwing Tomahawks and Knives

Grandpa Sorensen has tons of manly-man stuff and among his arsenal are throwing tomahawks and knives. After finding a leather store and buying some coyote and fox furs, what could be more manly than throwing some tomahawks and knives?

Here I am helping Ryan to learn the proper tomahawk throwing technique. These tomahawks have metal pipes for handles so they are quite heavy so it was a little tough for Ryan to throw.

This is me showing the kids how to throw as they look-on and try to learn.

Lori even got into the spirit of being a manly-man and threw the tomahawk a few times.

Ryan throwing one of the knives, which was a little easier for him.

Jared figured it out and stuck quite a few in the log.

This is Jared on the release.

The logs we were throwing at with one of the tomahawks stuck. Sticking one was great fun.

Ryan doing a mighty throw with one of the knives.

Brett throwing a tomahawk.

Brett coming over his head with the throw. He got pretty good as well and stuck quite a few.

Ryan holding a couple of his throwing knives.

Summer Vacation Part 15: Sorensen Family Dinner

The Sunday after I arrived in Utah we had a family dinner at my parent's house. Uncle Jon and Aunt Lu came as well as Sally and her family. It was fun to get together with everyone even though we discovered that Chad has turned into a raging liberal. I thought Troy would be able to keep the false indoctrination from school out of his head at the monthly dinners but I guess once a month is just not enough, which gave me and idea for Chad's upcoming birthday. It is good to get together because it is much easier to find great gift ideas. We took a few pictures that evening which I will share, but we did not take very many. Lori may have a tough time with Birthday Cards this year because these dinners are where she normally gets the pictures for the following year.

As usual, the dessert table was amazing. These dinners do not do anything to help me with my weight.

Chad and Dawn having a conversation.

Angela helped all the grand-kids make cement stepping stones for Grandma for Mother's Day. Since our kids obviously were not there, she brought the stuff over and our kids each made one with their hand prints. Chad missed the previous opportunity as well so he made one too.

Troy was very ticklish when he was young and has since determined that it is mind over matter and has decided that he is not ticklish anymore. Here he is demonstrating how that works with Shelby and Angela testing his will.

It turned out that he did very well withstanding the tickling without laughing.

Summer Vacation Part 14: Atkin House

As I mentioned in the previous post, one of our main reasons for going to Heritage Park/This is the Place again this trip to Utah was so we could see the Atkin house. Dad contributed some money to have the replica built and the last time we were there we did not know to look for the house. This time we went with my parents so we would be sure to see it. This is an original picture of the William Atkin House in Atkinville, Utah, which is about 8 miles south of St. George. Something significant about this picture is the American Flag. When this picture was taken, Utah was still part of Mexico so having the American Flag was a brave and somewhat rebellious thing to do. Apparently the Atkins were know to have a bit of a rebellious streak to them. There is a story about when they were crossing the plains to come to Utah they were with a company travelling through Wyoming. The company commander wanted to camp on one side of a river and then cross first thing in the morning. The Atkins thought that was a dumb idea because they thought it would be better to cross the river that evening and then they could start the next day dry. Getting wet to start the walk first thing in the morning did not seem like a good idea to them, so they went ahead and crossed the river on their own. The Company Commander then came across the river to chastise them and while he was doing that, about half the company, who were probably thinking like the Atkins, also crossed. So they were in trouble for not following directions and encouraging others to do the same by their example. The rest of the story is a bit fuzzy to me but from what I understand they were excommunicated for not following orders and then re-baptized later. They were not polygamists either. The Atkins hid Wiford Woodruff from the authorities when polygamists were being prosecuted, but they (Rachel Atkin in particular) would not have any part of it. I can appreciate the independent thinking of the Atkins though. As those that know me are aware, it is all I can do to tolerate the Boy Scout programs in the Church and not openly rebel. Although, in our family we have decided that our boys will go through the Cub Scout program and get their Arrow of Light, but after that we will work on Duty to God but any further advancement in the Scouting program will be totally up to them. The Church may support Scouting, but in our family after Cub Scouts we are done. I know that because our older boys hate Cub Scouts and are certainly not going to continue the program without us driving them. So that is my "crossing the river early" rebellion.

Here we are on the balcony of the replica house like in the original picture. When we went to the house we found the door open and we were able to go right in. Then some people came up and told us that the Atkin house is a closed house. We explained what we were doing and they let us see the house and even took this picture for us. We were really glad that we were able to see the house and get on the balcony even though it was closed.

I zoomed-up on the original picture to better see the people on the balcony.

This is us on the balcony. Chad and Nathan had to work and Dale did not come with Sacha so it is not all of us, but I thought we did pretty good to get most of us there.

Summer Vacation Part 13: Heritage Park

While we were in Utah we made another trip to Heritage Park/This is the Place. This time we made sure we were not going on "free" day and we went there with the intention to visit a replica of one of my ancestor's pioneer houses. So, if you get the chance to visit be sure and look-up the Atkin house. So we would know what we were doing this time, we went with my family because the know where the house is. We were also hoping to get a family picture at the house, which we were able to do and will be the subject of a future post.

We arrived first and so we took a quick picture of the family with Brigham Young and Joseph Smith while we waited for the others to arrive.

When we went in, we were able to take the "train" first thing.

Here we see the Sorensen clan on the train. Troy and Dawn and Angela and Dan and their families were there with us to start and Sacha came with her kids later.

This is in Brigham Young's farm house, which he did not spend much time at. But, some of his wives lived here.

We had the chance to pull some handcarts around. This is Brett and Conner giving it a try.

Jared taking it on his own. He is struggling to get it up the incline. This is an empty handcart so I can only imagine what a full one would be like to pull.

Ryan, Kaulin and Lori pulling a handcart. Lori is mostly stabilizing it.

Shelby and Conner giving it a try.

We then all loaded into a wagon and went for a little wagon ride. The wagon is better than pulling a handcart.

Ryan got the chance to sit up front and help drive the horses.

After we met-up with Sacha and her kids, the kids went for a ride on the ponies. This is Shelby waiting for her horse to get started. He is not that interested in walking around in a circle but eventually he got moving.

Conner riding the horse. His horse had to stop for potty breaks during the ride, which Dawn thought was appropriate for Conner.

Nicholas on the pony.

Kaulin riding on his horse. Called Trigger, of course. He wants to be a cowboy and you can be his cowgirl.

Ryan is ready to go.

Cowboy Jared looking serious, which is typical. He would hate to smile even if he is having fun!

Brett taking the horse for a spin.

Morgan the cowgirl going for a ride.

Dallas the cowboy at home on his horse.

After riding the horses and visiting the blacksmith shop, it was to school for everyone. Here we see the girls sitting on their side of the classroom...

... and the boys on their side.

This is Dallas, taking on the role of the class Dunce. I thought the teach was a little bit mean.

Here is Nicholas learning the proper way to stand to ask questions. It looks more like Ballet class to me.

Those Cook kids just could not stay out of trouble. Here Shelby is demonstrating how to put her nose to the wall and hold her arms out. When she really got bad, the teacher put some books in her hands which she had to hold out. This teacher was tough!

This is the Atkin House, which is a replica, although not exact, the air conditioners in the back were not at all like what they had back in the day. This was the house we came to see and more will be shared in a future post. (Can you stand the suspense!)

My family in front of the house after they locked us out.

This is a close-up so you can tell who is in the picture. I am the fat guy on the left. Then my Mom, Dad, and Troy finish off the back row. Sacha and Angela are in the front.

This is the sign that tells you about the house. Just in case you cannot read the sign, it says:
William Atkin Home
Atkinville, Utah 1877
Replicated in 2001William Atkin built his home after he was assigned to go south to strengthen the southern Utah settlements. The house was located eight miles south of St. George on a 160-acre farm that later became the on-family town of Atkinville. The features an unusual covered patio for summer dining and socializing protected from the severe southern Utah sun. A flood and storm nearly destroyed Atkinville in 1906, but some of the original foundation stones were used in the construction of this replica.

The back of the Atkin house.

There is a real train on rails for the kids to ride up by the pond. Here are the kids getting ready for the ride.

This is a replica of a leather shop that is an ancestor of one of Lori's Aunts (by marriage), Aunt Laurel.

The kids enjoyed doing some leather work and Lori and I enjoyed sitting in an air conditioned building for a few minutes. Again, air conditioning was not an exact replica of the original.