Visit to the Natural History Museum of Utah

We went for a big family outing with my family to the Natural History Museum of Utah one afternoon. 

The kids always love feeding coins to the dinosaur in the lobby

A big group picture in front of the several stories high nature shelf exhibit

There is a special exhibit there right now about Vikings which we were very interested in seeing

The kids doing their "viking faces"

Sam by a boat re-creation

There were quite a few artifacts on display. Some of my favorite ones were the intricate jewelry pieces.

There were several interactive learning stations. This one was about the different kinds of clothes people wore in the viking period

This screen allowed you to explore the worlds in Norse Mythology, and explained what each one was.

You could listen to these pillars to hear a voice telling stories of Norse mythology

The kids really loved this activity - the first part showed a landscape, and you had to go and gather (by clicking on) all of the resources that you need to build a viking ship (different kinds of wood, ore for the nails, wool for the sail, horse tails to make rope, etc.)

After you gathered all of your supplies, then it walks you through all the steps and parts of making a ship. It was pretty cool!

Some of the boys in front of a re-created ship sail

Viking coins

Nora by a replica of a rune stone

Writing names in runes

After we finished looking at the Viking exhibit, we explored some of the other exhibits in the museum

Learning about some minerals

The kids enjoyed playing at the sand and water table, and seeing if they could make a sand dam that would hold all the water back

This is an anthill that is illuminated from within so you can see all the pathways the ants have made, and watch what the ants are currently doing. It was fascinating to watch.

Learning about amino acid sequences and mRNA

James' Teddy Bear Picnic Birthday, and Andrew's Mission Call

James had a fun Teddy Bear Picnic birthday party at my parents' house while the Burtons were up visiting.

These yellow lanterns had plastic bees on them, to make them beehives

Since both sides of their family were there, they started out the party with Andrew opening his mission call. 

He was called to the Adriatic South Mission, which includes Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. He will be learning to speak Albanian, and reports to the MTC in September.

There were some fun crafts for the kids - decorating a bear bag, and making a honeycomb necklace

Everyone got to put together their own picnic lunch pail from the yummy buffet

Karin had prepared some fun games for the kids to play

There were teddy bear cupcakes for dessert

Opening presents

One of the gifts he got was Floam - a playdough made with foam, and he was nice enough to share and let all the kids try playing with it

Sam and the card he made for James

As part of the Teddy Bear picnic, all the kids were told on the invitation they could bring their favorite stuffed animal with them. We got a picture of my sisters and me with our favorite stuffed animals from our childhood - Buttercup, Kitty Cat, Goose and Pink Bear.

Here are some of Beth's cute pictures from the party:

Grammy's B-day

Karin and her family were visiting for a lot of the month of June, so we did a special birthday celebration for Mom with all of us together.

The grown up girls went to dinner at Trestle Tavern on a Friday night, which is a fun little restaurant in Salt Lake that serves Eastern European food. It was a really nice evening, and we sat out on the patio. We especially enjoyed their selection of pierogies.

We stopped by a gelato shop that was just down the street for dessert

For Sunday dinner, we got a cake from Backer's, and all the grandkids sang to her

A couple of months ago, the art teacher that my mom takes lessons from, held a fundraiser art show for the Humane Society. The youth students each drew a picture of a shelter pet to contribute to the show. We bought two of the pictures for my mom, and the kids also drew pictures of some of the pets my family had while I was growing up to give to her.