Random selections of summer

Wellsville, UT tour. 
Grandma Allen has long wanted to take my mom and Morgan and I to Wellsville to show us memorable places from her growing up years. Sites that we visited included the cemetery, grandmas childhood home, church, baseball field, and other locations. It turned out to be a fun day that ended in Logan with Aggie ice cream and a search for Peter Maughns' grave and statue. The search for the statue took awhile because we had no idea what we were looking for. Luckily someone had posted a picture of it on the internet and that helped narrow our search in the enormous cemetery. It turned out to not be a statue but more of a plaque. See the pictures below. Grandma had us take notes so that in the future we will remember the things we saw and will be able to find them again.

Great grandma and grandpa Murray's headstone

Aggie Icecream!!

The Wellsville cemetery

Plaque stating the founders of Wellsville including Peter Maughn

Grandmas church in Wellsville

The Peter Maughn grave site memorial

close up of the plaque

Yellowstone
In mid August our family went on our summer trip to Yellowstone. We had a great time observing wildlife, hiking to waterfalls, watching geysers go off, and just enjoying each others company. We saw a lot of wildlife in the park including elk, bison, a coyote, and a wolf. A nearby grizzly and wolf reserve also provided a lot of entertainment. There you can watch them hide food for the bears and then watch the bears effortlessly turn over logs and boulders as they search for the hidden food. We also got to hear a pack of wolves howl while we were there. That was neat! On the way home we went to Bear World, a drive through park with bears and other animals as well as a petting zoo that included goats and deer.

Fairy Falls

Old Faithful

Elk in the river. The first animals we spotted on the trip.

Petting zoo at Bear World

The Deck: an ongoing project 
All summer we've been working on the deck. The latest project was staining the underside of it to protect the wood. My grandpa and grandma Campbell came up to help out. It was a lot of work to get the stain in every little crevice. No all the deck is lacking is a railing. I probably wont be here to see the finished product but it sure looks nice now and I look forward to seeing it all done at christmas time. 

Hogel Zoo

Morgan and I went to the zoo earlier this summer to see the new Rocky Shores exhibits. They've redone the whole bear exhibits and added some sea lions and seals as well as otters. I was really impressed by the exhibit and I loved seeing the polar bear dive into the water! All the bears sure seemed really happy in there new homes. We were also treated to seeing a tiger swim and bask in the water, something I've always wanted to see.

Morgan and her monkey friend

Scout
In July Scout turned 6 years old. He's been having some skin issues the past month and he's so itchy that he's even chewed part of his foot pads off. Ouch! He's had steroid injections and antibiotics along with booties and the "cone of shame" to try to get him back to normal. It looks like we'll have to pursue a cure in Oregon since he and I journey back there later this week. Poor little guy has had a rough time the past few weeks and there's not a lot that can be done to relieve his itchiness. It seems that he's developed an allergy to something and hopefully a state change will help him get back to normal. If not, I'm lucky to have a vet school full of awesome vets and perhaps a vet dermatologist to help sort it all out.

Cone of Shame