BYU * MINE * BRIDAL VEIL FALLS

We're still staying active. I know winter is creeping up on us, so things will slow down, but for now we still have a lot of things to see and do. On Friday we got to attend a puppet show of "The Man Who Planted Trees." There were two actors, and two puppets. These guys from Scotland travel around putting on the show. It was a very intimate, lovely show -- and got several laughs. Here is Sophie outside the building we saw it at, on the BYU campus.

Then later that afternoon we had another field trip (what's up with us planning two field trips a day!) -- a family one. Brandon's been wanting to take us out to the Kennecott mine. We wanted to take Mamkio, but she wasn't interested in it, so we waited. Then our school planned a field trip for a little later in October, but it was on a day Brandon couldn't go, so we decided to go on our own some other day -- but then they sent us a message saying the mine would be closing Oct 7th, so they just sent us a coupon to use on our own. Works for us! --- BUT, then I went to their website and noticed they were having a free admission period anyway. So, we were covered anyway we chose, and we finally went. Here is my panoramic shot of the hole in the ground:

And to give you a little perspective, if you can pick out the little trucks in the picture above, this is how big one of their tires is:

And some facts about the tires:

My family studying the hole:

Chloe is working hard to get pictures of me, so she always offers to take the camera.

Then we had an unexpected "field trip" on Monday. I found out my cousin from North Carolina was in town, and she kindly invited us to crash their party. We ended up going back to BYU. This time we got a tour of the campus. It was really fun to just ride around on a golf cart and learn interesting facts. Erin & Andrew got to reminisce since this is where they met, and they were here celebrating their 15th anniversary.

Their son was a little ball of energy and wasn't as content as I to just ride on a cart, so I kept him preoccupied with my camera.

After the tour we explored the Museum of Art. They had a new Andy Warhol exhibit that was cool to see, and this mylar balloon room was fun for the kids to play in.

Next, we went over to the Eyring Science building. They had a few things that were interesting to play with. The vortex cannon scared me! That thing is powerful. Then we took our starving children over to the Wilkinson Center and battled all the hungry college students for some lunch. We took our lunch to go, so we could have a picnic, but we needed to make one stop first. The BYU Creamery. Oh my goodness, that ice cream was good. Sophie and I both chose the mint brownie, and I would highly recommend it. We ate our ice cream on our way up the canyon, and stopped at Bridal Veil Falls for our picnic. After eating we just hung out, watching the kids play in the water and visiting. Sorry for Sophie's crazy face. I would have reshot it if I had known.

A fun, candid shot of everyone:

Andrew was actually posing for this:

Here's their family:

And the kids feeding the fish. They have so much fun doing this. Sophie begged me to do it, which doesn't bring me any satisfaction, but she told me it would make her so happy if I would -- so I did. I like to make her happy.

You may have noticed we got to spend the day with a girl in a wheel chair. As soon as we got in the car to leave Sophie told me, "That was interesting. I just finished a book about a girl in a wheel chair." That's all she said, but I know it was a positive experience for her.