The Land Before Time

I have recently gotten very big into trying to find good deals and be more frugal with our money so when I discovered the dinosaur museum close to us changed their admission from $11 to $2 on Tuesdays in August Cassidy and I had to go (because I have lived in Utah for 7 years and always wanted to go, but never have because $11 that's a lot to see bones). Here are some pictures from our adventure.

My old roommate Karen whom we haven't seen since our wedding came with us, too bad Ben couldn't make it. The first picture is Karen and Cassidy playing the game what do I eat and the second is Karen and I coming out of this little crawl through cave. We had to wait for all of the kids to get out of the way so we could have our turn, but it was worth it :)

Part way through there was this huge sand pit with water where you could make your own landscape or something. We made a turtle with palm trees for legs.

And finally some of the dinosaurs.

After the dinosaurs there was also an exhibit on prehistoric under-water life. This is Cassidy in front of a giant sea turtle. We had a good time, but were definitely ready to leave by the end because we were not the only ones that decided to take advantage of this great deal. There were people everywhere! We didn't even get to play in the excavation pit because there was no room.

The Dance Off At Millers Flat

As mentioned in an earlier blog in Utah we get a holiday for the 24th of July. Cassidy's extended family has started celebrating by going camping at Millers Flat in Utah. We went up Thursday evening and came back Sunday afternoon. We had a blast on the four wheelers and just relaxing with family. New this year was a dance competition for the second generation. This was the first year and it turned in to a big deal with costumes, a trophy, and movie tickets for the winning couple.

Cassidy and I in our costumes before the dance competition. Thanks DI for these awesome outfits.

Holding the trophy after WE WON!!!!! Our certificate says most prepared and we were crowned the King and Queen of Dance. In the next picture you will see why Cass is holding the trophy the way he is.

The trophy. Cassidy's cousin made it based off the ESPYS. It has now become a traveling trophy so we will take it back with us next year. It looks pretty great on our bookshelf though :)

All of the dancers. We thought there would be more, but hopefully next year after everyone saw how fun it was.

Besides dancing we also watched movies outside at night because an uncle brought a screen and projector.

Taking a break on one of our long rides to admire the view. There were 5 four wheelers with at least two people a piece on this ride.

What we were looking at in the picture above. We camped on the other side of the lake.

Cass and I on our four wheeler. We got filthy on this ride and when we got back to camp we had to go to the lake and take a bath.

Hanging out before the pot luck dinner.

There were 6 boys 6 and under on the trip with us. They discovered this little crawl space at the bottom of one of the trailers and loved to play in it instead of all of the open space they had. You can't see him, but there is a third little boy in there

The view from the top on another long ride. There were tons of beautiful wild flowers all along the whole ride, but I don't think we got a picture of them.

Cassidy and his brother Jason. We loved the rag hanging from Jason's hat to keep his neck from getting sunburned.

It was a rough ride, poor Treygann.

Cassidy's mom Sherrie, I think she looks like a biker chick in this photo.

Vroom, Vroom!

Out On The Lake

Last Saturday (the 17th) Cass and I were up and going early. We have a friend who put together a 5K for a fundraiser for her trip to India this fall. Because we are friends we were obligated to run even though neither of us has run in quite a while. The 5K finally got started around 9am when it was already over 80 degrees. As soon as we crawled across the finish line we were off to the lake with Cassidy's parents for some fun on the boat. This was another day of firsts for me. I got to try wake boarding and even driving the boat! All in all it was a fun day, but we were exhausted by the time we got home that night and Sunday morning we both had problems just getting out of bed.

My first time driving a boat. You might not know it, but that is total confidence on my face.

Cass on the wake board. He also did the slalom ski.

Me trying to get up on the wake board. I was told I wasn't allowed back in the boat until I got up, but after about thirty minutes and me lying in the water exhausted, pity was taken I was allowed back in for lunch.

Diamond Fork and Beyond

In Utah we get July 24th as a state holiday to commemorate when the Pioneers came into the valley. Because July 24th falls on a Saturday this year Randi had to take a day off any time in the two week pay period. She took Monday the 12th off and this is how we spent the day.

This is Diamond Fork Canyon several miles on the back side of the famous "Y" Mountain (for BYU).

We discovered a lot of cool ponds on our drive. Notice the beaver dam in the background.

This is where we stopped for our very grown up lunch of pb&j and melted fruit snacks.

Because it was a Monday there were not a lot of people, but a lot of wildlife. this is the only dear we could get to pose for a picture though.

And this is the end result. Because it is so hot and dry there was a lot of dust kicked up by the four wheeler. Aren't we pretty? And we still had to stop at Target after this.

Axtell

For the last 10 years Cassidy's aunt and uncle have been maintaining a ranch down in Axtell Utah (between Gunnison and Salina). For the the last several years they have asked the family to come down for a weekend, and no one has until they threw a party because they are moving to Texas now. And well this blog is about our trip down on the ranch with the Petersons.

First it was a trip to the "Dead Head Shed" where the owner of the ranch has his collection of dead animals. The animals range from Alaska Moose to animals brought back from Africa (Sorry on pictures really of the "Dead Head Shed").

We also took the four wheelers for a trip around the pond and next to the Sevier River.

After having dinner with the family we all gathered around next to a field and did some skeet shooting. Both Cassidy and Randi took a turn and Randi hit a few. All in all we had a bast and wished we had gone down a long time ago.

(Just some newly hatched birds they had down there)


After we got back it was American Forks Steel Days so we went and watched fireworks at the high school.

Explosions, Birthdays, and Breakdowns: Just One Big Party

So this is the only picture we got of Jamie and her fiance Rudy with his family. Jamie was going to Reno for Rudy's sister's wedding on July 3 and on her way there her car broke down (very sad story you will have to ask her about it). Instead of driving Jamie part way to get picked up by my parents so she could use one of their cars to go back to Las Vegas (the original plan) Rudy's family decided to come all the way to Elko so they could meet our family and talk about the wedding. We had 15 people for 4th of July dinner 2 of which do not speak English. It turned out to be one awesome birthday party for our country and many members of the Norton family.

As most of you know the Norton family has a lot of birthdays in July. With Mom's being July 2, Dad July 4, and Randi July 6 we just did all the presents on Sunday. Here are some pictures of the cake and presents and yes that little cake fed all 15 people.

A gift card to one of his favorite baking stores. I hope he gets a chance to go to Utah in order to use it :)

BJ gave me a picture frame full of pictures of me entitled "The Many Faces of Randi" When I was in Las Vegas he wanted a model so he could practice some new things. I got bored just standing there and started making funny faces which now hang proudly in my kitchen.

Jamie's birthday is July 17 so she also got to open some presents because everyone (except me) will be on the east coast for her birthday. This is her gift from mom and dad a Costco membership.
The pictures below are from the fireworks on Sunday night. We drove dad's truck up to a hill in town and while he and mom sat in lawn chairs in the back with BJ, Jamie, Rudy, Cassidy, and I sat on the hood of the truck. It was a pretty impressive show for a town the size of Elko.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of BJ. He showed up Sunday morning to surprise mom and dad for their birthdays. We have had a lot of excuses to get the whole family together this summer and we have sure enjoyed it.

Guests!

As most of you know Cassidy works graveyards so he leaves the house around 9:30pm and gest home at 6:20am. This means I spend Monday-Friday nights alone, but not this week. My best friend Leeann and her husband John spent Thursday night at our apartment on their way to Arizona. They were our first over night guests as a married couple (too bad Cass was at work and missed them) so they get a special blog post. Thanks for staying with me so I didn't have to be all alone for one night. And you guys look great in your picture for 5am!