Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Ethan, Courtney and I were watching a documentary on dinosaurs a few weeks ago and it mentioned the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Park.  I told the kids that I grew up near there and they wanted to go.  Luckily, we had a trip to Emery County planned, so we obliged them.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten how long the drive was on dirt roads.  But we survived. 

We were at the gates a bit early, so Courtney, Ethan and Grandpa got to walk around and hunt for more dinosaur bones while we waited.  The volunteers pulled up, unlocked the gate and we drove to the Quarry.  Now, when I was in 1st grade, this was the field trip.  We all thought it was so cool to see the metal building where the bones were being dug.

It certainly has changed, like everything else.  They actually had a museum-type building where you could look at fossils and do some activities.  The metal buildings were still there and looked a lot smaller to me than they did back when I was a kid.  It was "free National Park day" so that was a bonus.

Here are Ethan, Courtney and Grandpa in the museum:

 Here is Courtney after pulling together a dinosaur:

 Ethan after putting together the dinosaur:

After the kids put together the dinosaur bones, we went for a hike around to see some other sights around the quarry.  It could have been a really long hike but we shortened it by cutting through some areas.  It was a beautiful day!

Above: Grandpa, Courtney and Ethan in one of the metal buildings looking at the bones.
Below:  On the hike:

Then we loaded back in the car, drove back to Castle Dale and went to the cemetery where the Oman side of my family is all buried.  It was fun to tell stories to the kids about their ancestors.

Emery County

Last weekend was the Oman Family Reunion/Bert Oman 80th Birthday Party in Emery County.  We haven't had an Oman Family Reunion since 1994 so I wanted to go.  I was afraid I wouldn't know anyone or worse, that no one would know me.  But we planned it and were off.

We stayed in cabins at Gilly's in Ferron (the reunion was originally going to be at the park in Ferron).  They weren't bad at all.  We got to Ferron on Friday afternoon, found my parents (their cabin was next door) and went to Huntington to look at the old neighborhood and visit the cemetery.  Things looked A LOT different from the last time we were there.  The old barn behind our house was gone, along with the work shed.  The side and back lawns with the garden area looked like they were completely gone too.  It used to look huge (even 4 years ago when we were back last) but it looked kind of run down now.  I was a bit sad.

The cemetery looked very nice and it was fun to try and explain how everyone was related.  Bryan thought he had it at one point, but then he lost the connections.  Hahaha.

We then went to Price where we were SUPPOSED to eat at China City.  This was our family's very favorite restaurant growing up.  It's where we celebrated birthdays, graduations, good dentist appointments, etc.  I LOVED their moo goo gai pan and haven't found any to top it anywhere.  It would sizzle as they brought it out to you and it was stuffed full of chicken (not mushrooms like they serve in St. George)  They also had these huge shrimp that were to die for!

I looked it up online to make sure they still had moo goo gai pan and there was their menu with the same building showing on their website.  Imagine our complete SHOCK when we showed up to an abandoned building!!  No go for the shrimp or the moo goo gai pan.  I was so upset...so was Ethan who was looking forward to shrimp.

We ended up at Pizza Hut.

Then we drove around the college, which has changed a lot too.  And started back to Ferron, a 40 minute drive.

My Arm

I wasn't going to post about this but figured I would document my family history in medical so it might help someone.  At the funeral yesterday, one of the sons said that everyone is born with "biological ticking time bombs" and it's our responsibility to know what those are so we can disarm them when the time comes.  I agree with that assessment. 

One time bomb in my family is skin cancer.  Oman's do not tan.  It's just a fact of life.  We are pasty white, always have been and always will be.  It took me a long time to be fine with that but I have come to grips with the fact that I will never been tan.  Okay.

But, I have to watch when I do get in the sun to always wear sunscreen and then to be aware of moles that don't look quite right.

When I was pregnant with Courtney, I noticed a freckle on my leg that hadn't been there before and kept getting bigger.  I asked my OBGYN and she said it was nothing but thought I should have a dermatologist check it out.  I made an appointment with my dad's doctor so he would know our family history of skin cancer/melanoma.  He is a character (to put it mildly).  He took one look at the freckle, said, "That doesn't look good," numbed me and used a razor blade to take it off.  Ugh!  All like that, without any preamble or explanation. 

It turned out to be an "dysplastic nevus" with a "senescent change" that was "aggressive."  This means that I had an ugly mole that was quickly changing from being just a regular mole to a melanoma mole.  Since I have a family history of this, it meant that a week later I had to go back in to Dr. Duke and have a huge section (actually it was only the diameter of a quarter and only 1/2 inch deep) cut out of my leg and then sewn back up.  But he got all the changing cells.  I was then told that I had to go in every year to have a full-body check for other "ugly moles."

Now, everyone has "dysplastic nevus."  Dysplastic nevus are what turn into melanoma.  But not all dysplastic nevus will turn into melanoma.  Many people have "ugly moles" and never have melanoma.  The difference is in your genes.

So for the past 6 years I have watched my moles, had my body checks and been fine.  Last month I went in because I had a couple moles that bugged me.  Once again, Dr. Duke looked at them, grabbed his razor blade and I left the office with 2 "owies."  A week later I got the call that I had another "dysplastic nevus" that had a "senescent change" but it was only "moderate."  They still felt that they needed to cut it out of my arm.

This time, because this is my second dysplatic nevus, I am now considered to have FAMMM (familial atypical multiple mole-melanoma syndrome).  Just a fancy way of saying that I have to keep watching my moles.

So last week, once again I was in the office where he cut out a chunk of my arm.  It was about 3 1/2 cm long, 1/2 inch wide and 1/2 inch deep.  He took pictures of it wide open then with stitches so I could show my kids (not something I really wanted to do but I did tell you that he is a character).  It took 15 stitches to put back together (12 inside and 3 outside).  The weird thing is that it really hasn't hurt at all.  What hurt was the horrible wrap they put around my arm that itched!

I have another week until they can take the stitches out and I haven't heard if they are sure they got all the "changing cells" or not, but with that huge of an area, I'm pretty sure they did.

IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH, DO NOT LOOK AT THE PHOTOS BELOW!!!!  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.



This is when it's opened up:

 This is after he stitched it closed.  You can see the nurse's fingertip on the left side.  That helps with the scale.

 

Gymnastics

Courtney has been asking to do gymnastics for a month or so.  I checked things out and found a place that has a nice facility and a summer program.  So I signed her up to take gymnastics, two days a week.  She had her first class yesterday and loved it!

We went to pick her up and were watching when Ethan said he would like to try it.  He has since changed his mind, he thinks.  I told him we would watch the Summer Olympics then he would decide.  I think it would be cool!

Now Courtney thinks she needs all the "gymnastics outfits" but I keep telling her that she doesn't need them.  She may be doing this for the clothes.  ;)

Basketball

Snow Canyon High School offers a basketball skills camp and a basketball shooting camp every summer for boys and girls from 4th grade up.  We didn't know about it last year but this year we did.  Ethan had told me that he didn't want to do it but then on Monday morning we started getting phone calls from the moms of boys in the neighborhood wondering if Ethan wanted a ride.  Finally, after 4 texts he decided to "cave to peer pressure, fine!" and go to the skills camp only.

HE LOVED IT!!  His tennis shoes are falling apart and have holes all over in them (I wanted to wait until school started and didn't think he would need them for anything but camping) but he doesn't care.  There are 5 boys from our little neighborhood in it and we car pool together.  He has camp Monday through Thursday this week for 1 1/2 hours each day.  At the end he will get a t-shirt and is so excited.

I have realized that sometimes we just need a little push to get us going.  I'm glad he loves it though!

My 3rd Counselor

Courtney is such a trooper.  The past 2 days have been absolutely crazy but I have had so many people step in to help, Courtney has been a huge help and Ethan had adapted to everything like a champ.

We had a funeral yesterday in our ward that I had to get ready.  I am an organizational freak so I had check lists of what needed to be done and I had everyone organized last Thursday before we left for our camp out.  I posted the sign up sheets on google docs for women to sign up for food.  I bought hams and potatoes on Saturday afternoon.  Sunday during Sunday School I sent around a sign up sheet for salads/desserts/baking the potatoes and helping at the funeral. The Elder's Quorum put up chairs and tables on Sunday afternoon.  Courtney and I went up on Monday to put on the table clothes and decorate the tables.  We also got everyone out of the Relief Society closet so we wouldn't have to disrupt the viewing to get plates, etc. 

On Tuesday morning Courtney and I ran up to the Church at 9:30 a.m. to start getting things ready.  The viewing was from 9-10:30 with the funeral beginning at 11:00.  I couldn't believe how much help Courtney was to me.  All the women called her my "third counselor" and she was loving it.  She put cups on the tables, helped carry food to the kitchen, etc.  After the funeral, she stayed with the women at the Church while I ran home to get the hams that had been cooking in my oven.  When I got back, she had been busy helping to set things on the table and get things ready for the family to come back. 

She helped serve the food, clean up afterward (she can shake table cloths like a pro) and she vacuumed the floor.  And she did this all without complaining...except when it was 2:00 and she was starving!  Yes, it was a long funeral day.  We went up at 9:30 and got home around 3:30.  But I had so many people helping.  (We had a lot of down time because we had everything organized so there wasn't much to do.  I was grateful to all the woman who stuck around to help for hours.)

Ethan got a ride to basketball skills camp and the same family brought him back to their house afterward and fed him lunch.  Another woman brought out family dinner last night.  I am grateful to those who step up and help.  And they don't even tease me when I give them a check list!  ;)

Ethan's Tooth

Once Ethan gets the "tooth pulling bug" he just has to keep going.  So it wasn't a surprise when he came out on Tuesday morning with a tooth in his hand.  Yes, it was loose before but it wouldn't have come out so quickly if it hadn't been for Ethan's persistent wiggling.  He now has holes where all 4 of his molars were.  Crazy kid!! 

I think this may be the last one he can pull out on his own, so it's good that Courtney's teeth fall out so slowly.  He will have years of joy ahead of him pulling her teeth.

 The one he lost this time  is on the left (you can see a little red) and you can also see the hole on the right where it's mirror tooth was before he pulled that one out.