Nine Mile Canyon

This weekend we went with Grandma and Grandpa Bell and a group from the Whiterocks Branch to Nine Mile Canyon to look at the amazing petroglyphs and Indian ruins that are all over the canyon walls. We couldn't believe how much cool stuff there was to see -and we only saw 1/1000th of what is there! This is the most famous panel in the canyon called "The Great Hunt".

Some of the art is "pictographs" which are painted on the wall. There are several colors: reds, yellows, and white. Early white settlers also left names and dates, usually in black.

Jim Brown was our tour guide. He lives in Roosevelt, but he lived and ranched in this canyon for 25 years. He knows where to find many of the sites. He pointed out cliff dwellings and ancient granaries that we would have never been able to find on our own.

Most of what we saw were "petroglyphs" which are carved or chipped out of the rock. Lots of it is right at ground level, and some of it is up higher on the cliffs where you wonder how they got up there to carve the pictures.


Some of us climbed a little ways up the mountain to see these (and many other) petroglyphs.



Most of the scenes are of human figures or animals. Some are more abstract designs, probably types of maps, or calandars.

This is one of my favorite carvings called the "Pregnant Buffalo". Next to it is some "historic grafitti" from 1869.

This is one of the more ancient designs. The carvings have taken on the dark patina of the stone around them. Just a few feet from this one were some newer carvings done by Utes - you can tell because there were pictures of horses. The more ancient people (the Fremont culture) never carved horses.

The kids had a great time, because it is very hands-on. Lots of hiking and looking.

Mr. Brown said he wanted to dig up this rock and put it in his front yard before it was protected, but it didn't work out.

Three Great Kids

Camping

Last weekend we took our camper up to our land on Strawberry Mountain. It was a little cool and rainy, but we had a good time. Worked really hard to get it ready to go again this year. He even replaced the carpet! See the rainbow?

Joe brought our chainsaw and cut up some of the dead wood laying on the side of the road and we burned lots of it. The boys helped him stack the better pieces into a nice woodpile.

McKayla brought her friend Melanie with us this time. They had fun playing games, reading, and breaking branches off dead trees.

Saturday afternoon, Joe was putting a big branch on the fire, and a lizard jumped off and scampered out of the firepit. Joe caught it and gave it to Kyle, so we now have a pet lizard. We think it's a girl, so her name is Suzie, or Gloria, or Sandy, or Firejumper (It changes often!). Oh, Kyle says her name is Rosie - today.

The land is fun! You are all welcome to come join us anytime!

A Birdseye View

Last week I took the kids down to the Legacy Center for the Lehi City "Information Fair" which sounds really boring, but ended up being a lot of fun! Joe and his team brought their vehicles to show what they are capable of. This is him in front of his amazing UCS van.

Lots of other organizations were there, too, like the Fire Department, the Lehi Police, UDOT, and the power company. The older kids got to ride in the bucket of the power truck. They thought it was really cool and "a little creepy"! Josh wanted absolutely nothing to do with getting in the bucket and going that high. We also checked out the huge earthmover/bulldozer(???) that UDOT was displaying. The kids also all got to drive remote control bulldozers across the parking lot. We also had popcorn and hot dogs and drinks FOR FREE! (you have to say that in an Adam Sandler voice - rent "Bedtime Stories" if you don't know what I'm talking about!) Overall, a nice activity for a chilly Spring evening!

Love Story meets Viva La Vida

I had the opportunity to go to a Piano Teacher Seminar by Jon Schmidt this morning. He is one of my favorite composers and it was a great experience to learn a new method of teaching note recognition to beginner students. This is Jon's newest release - the album will be out at the end of May (I think). Turn up your speakers and enjoy - he is really amazing!

North Carolina State Report

In fifth grade, the kids have to do a report on one of the 50 states. McKayla requested North Carolina. She has to do a written report, an oral report, and a poster with certain requirements.

She has been working on the poster for the past couple of days, and it is DONE!

This is a 3x4 foot posterboard that McKayla painted blue. She found all of the pictures and info online then put it all into Word documents all by herself. The only thing I did to help her was give some design tips and help glue some things down. The first block of the trail says "Follow Blackbeard's trail to find out ten AWESOME FACTS about North Carolina", and at the bottom in the diamonds she has the state items (bird, flower, tree, etc.) Didn't she do great!

Aloha from Hawaii

Joe had the lucky opportunity to do some maritime training with some members of his team in Hawaii this week, so he is spending Spring Break on the sunny island of Oahu! He tells me he is working hard, so I have to believe him, but even the work looks like fun to me! Here are some pictures he has taken (and I'm sure there are lots more to come):