This was Skye's favorite part of the Dinosaur Museum--the moving dinosaurs! I thought they were actually pretty life-like.

Skye Loves Trains

My mom and I decided to take Skye to Union Station in Ogden because she loves trains. She also loves fountains and there just happened to be one outside of the station. Here are some of the big, old trains we saw...

As you might be able to tell, Skye was not in a photo mood. She did not want her picture taken and she definitely did not want to smile, so...

she decided to growl like a dinosaur instead.

She loves dinosaurs, too.

Dino Girl

In the Land of Autumn

Friday morning, I went on a hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon with my friend, Teresa. It was so amazing and beautiful with all of the leaves changing into their bright colors. Deeply breathing in the crisp, cool, fresh air was exhilarating and invigorating. This is what autumn is all about!

It was fun to see some snow along the way, too!

Ah, the mountains...

Looking down at the valley below, I couldn't believe how high we had climbed.

We loved seeing the fallen leaves in the snow.

So spectacular!

A Few Random Pictures

When we got to Utah, this is what the weather was like--cool and rainy. That's how it is again. After enduring a torturing hot summer in Phoenix, it's been the most glorious thing to experience! And Skye has had fun, too. My mom found this old, pink umbrella that I remember playing with when I was little for Skye to play with and she loves it!
She also loves these silly glasses and hey, you couldn't ask for a better nerd picture if you wanted to, right?

She still loves the drums and talks about being in the marching band when she's playing them. That sounds good to me!

The Utah State Fair

Last weekend, Lance drove up to spend a couple of days with us. While he was here, we took Skye to the state fair with my parents. She had fun looking at fish and other animals. So cute!

One of her favorite parts was getting to go on a pony ride.

Some of the time, Lance walked around beside her and some of the time she did it all on her own.

We wanted her to sit on the big 300+ pound pumpkin, but she wanted to sit on the little one.

So I sat on the big pumpkin with her on my lap.

Then she tried to push it!

We also took her on the ferris wheel, but she just clung closely to Daddy the whole time. We sure were glad we got to see him!

First Haircut

Skye got her first haircut last week. It was definitely needed, but I was still sad to see her lose that long, beautiful, golden hair. This is before the haircut...
Here's during the haircut (just after I got one).

She did pretty good most of the time--thanks to the Marshmallow Maties that Traci (the wonderful woman who cut our hair) provided.

By the end, she was getting pretty fed up, though as you can see in her sad expression.

But we made it through! Here we are with Tracy after we were all done. I love Tracy!

And here are the after pictures.

I must admit that I think she looks pretty cute now. And everyone is glad that she doesn't have hair hanging down over her eyes anymore.

This Girl Loves Grapes

Skye's always loved grapes, but eating fresh grapes straight from the vine while playing in Papa and Cookie's back yard is the best!

Lions and Tigers and Snakes, Oh My!

The fun part of our Labor Day Weekend was spent at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park near Camp Verde, north of Phoenix. This place was so amazing! It started out with a safari to see African animals like this giraffe. The bus driver/trainer got out of the bus to coax Pilgrim over. Everyone got a carrot to feed him. That's Skye's hand. It was so neat to be that close to the giraffe.

Then we saw some zebras including a couple of really cute babies!
The trainer made the zebras "smile" in order to get a treat.

Out of Africa is filled with shows including the Tiger Splash where trainers play with these two female tigers, sometimes getting them to jump into the pool with them.

Then we saw a snake show.

After the show, everyone got to go in and pet these two giant pythons.

It was so cool! You could tell they were powerful animals. And yet, they let hundred of hands touch them! If you ever get the chance to pet a big snake like this, take it!

After the snake show, Skye insisted on going for a camel ride.

She was all smiles riding that camel with Daddy and is still talking about it!

Don't be fooled by this picture. I know this hyena looks small, but it was quite large and scary looking. Lance was sure it was eyeing Skye as if she could be its next meal. I would never ever want to run into a hyena in the wild. Those things are freaky!

This cougar, on the other hand, just looked like a big, friendly cat.

Well, maybe.

I LOVE tigers! I think they are the most beautiful creatures in the whole world so I was thrilled to see this one so close up. The reason it wasn't off sleeping is because it was almost meal time. Yep, the final show was the Predator Feed where trainers come around and huck big chunks of meat in for all the predator animals. Once, this tiger jumped up and growled at us. It definitely made my heart race, despite the fence between us.

The lion enjoyed his meal.

We ended our trip with some slightly more mild creatures--birds! If you're ever looking for an animal adventure, I totally suggest checking out Out of Africa.