St. Joseph-where the west officially started getting wild

Our night at the Motel 6 was restful. It was nice to sleep in big, comfy beds and watch The Tonight Show. In the morning we waited way too long for breakfast at Denny's, and then made our way to the Glore Psychiatric Museum. I was all pumped about this museum since realizing that I had already seen part of a show about it on the History Channel or on Discovery or something. The museum shows all the different ways mental illness has been treated throughout the years, namely the St. Joseph Lunatic Asylum No.2. Like I said, I was all pumped. I've been to weird, slightly creepy museums before (Mutter Museum for an example) but after 20 minutes in Glore, and especially after seeing this display…

So in the early days they used physical force, and all kinds of crazy contraptions...when nowadays we get better results with itty bitty pills...needless to say, I had had enough. It's just so depressing to me that we treated people that poorly. There were numerous boxes and cages and wheels and chairs…blah.



Part of the museum was cool though, where they showed all the artwork and different projects the patients had done. Those were neat, slightly more positive. Sorry, no pictures of those. You can read more about the museum and see other pictures here.

So we left there, slightly more depressed, at least I did. I had a major case of the grumpies. But then we found our way over to the Pony Express Museum, and my mood improved.


That was a fun, well put together museum. We got to see a lot of life size models? I'm not sure what you would call it, but there was a guy on a horse and stuff, it looked like he was ready to leave the stable for a mail delivering adventure.

Then we got to swap mochilas from one saddle to another. Mochilas are the leather thing that goes over the saddle that holds about 20 pounds of mail. Overall there was a lot of art, a lot of maps…I enjoyed it, it was fun.

Me and Russell. Yes, I'm wearing my Pony Express shirt I got last summer in Nebraska


My focus on Russell is mainly for my aunt who lives on Russell Road, in a neighborhood with streets Majors and Waddel. together these guys were the super team that created the Pony Express

I liked this cuz of the part saying they won't use profane language and they won't quarrel or fight

Kansas-Carry on my wayward son...

Mandie and I started out driving Friday morning. We drove all through scenic Eastern Colorado with its green, rolling hills…it was really pretty. Then we got into Kansas…it was pretty…and flat. Luckily we made a stop halfway through the state, which made the 9 hour drive seem a little shorter. The stop we made was in Hays. That's where the Sternberg Natural History Museum is.

They have all kinds of AWESOME fossils. Really cool, detailed ones. BIG ones too. They had some interesting cultural items from all over the world…

A giant turtle's gonna attack Mandie!

These guys, Morasaurs are super big and aquatic

Shocked by the goings on

Sternburg, the dude the museum is named after, is really famous for this fossil specifically

How cute and petite! What's the latin basis for Bambiraptor anyway?

A fictional baby deer? Nice, very scientific

Mandie, in Colorado 70 million years ago...yes, there's time travel in Kansas

Fun stencil-ey art projects...Mandie got a bit carried away

Mandie and I had fun looking around…we kinda got into it. The exhibit in the dome was cool.


There was this big T-Rex, and Mandie and I were walking my, taking pictures, when all of a sudden Mandie's running ahead of me, startled. I was confused and looked up and the T-Rex had turned it's head and roared at us. We didn't know it was on a motion sensor thing. Mandie thought it was falling on her. :)


When we were done, I looked at my cell phone for the time, and it was 4:30. We got there close to 2…I was floored that we spent that much time there. But when got to the car, we realized that our cell phones had already gone ahead an hour…so we were only in there for an hour and a half, not 2 and a half. There was a lot to see…but not 2 and a half hours worth.
But after the museum we kept on driving. Our destination was St. Joseph, Missouri. It was about 45 minutes north of Kansas City. We spent the night in a crummy Motel 6 to rest up for our next big adventure!

Colorado Rocky Mountain High

Yeah, I was really high…elevation wise that is.

The drive from Utah to Castle Rock, Colorado where my friend Cassie lives was a steep one. I don't know exact elevation…but I was up there. I passed through some really pretty ski resort towns. All the condos looked kinda weird all surrounded by luscious green grass. It must be super crowded in the winter.

But I got to Castle Rock with no problems. My friend Cassie has a little boy Jacob who is 18 months and just starting to talk. His favorite word is aff, short for giraffe …but he replaces the f sounds with s's…yeah, it was pretty funny. Once he pointed at his mom and said it…hehe.

We had a nice visit. I spent 2 nights there and one full day. On that day, I utilized Mandie and Cassie's superior fashion skills and got a dress and a skirt. They're super cute! Thanks girls! The Elders came over for dinner on my second night there. Cassie made pizza--I helped. I squished the dough all over the pan…She had one regular pizza and one deep dish, Chicago style, which she baked in a dutch oven. It was really good. I loved it. Later that night we painted our toes. Jacob was studying us so intently that Mandie decided to paint his too. He now has metallic blue toes!

Camille's Dance Performance

This is of Camille's performance, but the whole show had a lot of different groups performing, such as various hip hop groups. The coolest were teeny little kids dancing hip hop. They were the Mini Squad and the Kid Squad. The boys in the Kid Squad, the second half of the video were great!

Now these videos are actually of Camille, singing with the group and by herself...eventually. I can't get it uploaded yet.

Jurassic Park--Ogden Style

The second stop on our free Tuesday was the Eccles Dinosaur Park also in Ogden. It had a small museum indoors...

This little furry beast is a Wooly Rhino, ain't he a beauty?

Then we went outside to the garden area where all the model dinosaurs are, the Jurassic Park area...

I really liked how birds would be just chillin' out on the dinosaurs. It made them seem less ferocious.

And then Rashel and I did a prehistoric rodeo!

And then we had some additional fun...

Christmas in June

My aunt Rashel and I had a wonderful day of free activities a couple of Tuesdays ago. What started it all was the train tour of Disney's upcoming movie The Christmas Carol that had a stop at Union Station in Ogden.

Rashel and I drove up and got there right as it opened and didn't have to wait in line long. We got to see all kinds of fun stuff about the movie, like all the different techniques that were used to make it.

They also had some actual items from a Charles Dickens museum! I thought that was neat, kinda risky...but whatever
And then we got to enjoy some Christmas cheer and decorations. There were some carolers and snow even! It was the soapy, light stuff.
And then we got to watch a clip of the movie in an inflatable theater! It was like a bouncy house, without the bouncing.

Mr.Potato Head!

Whenever I go and babysit my little cousins Ruby and Gabrielle, we usually end up playing "Tayto Head" or sometimes called "Tomato Head". Ruby loves creating...

while Gaby loves destroying. Sometimes things end in tears, but lately I've been making one and giving it to Gaby for her to take apart.

This video is cute, you can hear Ruby chattering away about her creation and you can see the concentration on Gaby's face. It was a fun time!