Ellsworth Family Reunion

On Friday, July 18th we began our first Ellsworth family reunion. I was in charge of it this year and we decided to have it at our cabin in Oakley, Ut. Friday was a day for individual family activities.

On Wednesday before the reunion Joan, Alysa, and Katie brought the kids up to our house and the kids got to ride horses. Above is Taylor on Parker and Kallie is riding Shaquille.
On Friday evening Mom, Dad, and Joy (and of course Bailey and Brinkley their golden retrievers) came up to the cabin for a wonderful visit and dinner before the gang came up on Sunday. It was great to see them and to have them to ourselves for a short time.
Mom and Kelsey relaxing on the deck at the cabin.


Brandon making his presence known at the cabin.
Mom and Dad relaxing on the deck at the cabin.


Kelsey and Brandon.
Rob overseeing Brandon's weed-eating. He is making sure no trees are damaged.
Saturday afternoon and here comes the family!

Everyone gathering on the deck.Mom and Joy planned a game for everyone, with memories of our family.
Krista and Ben 4 wheeling.

Kelsey and Zane off for a ride. Brittany, Krista and baby Hunter.

Ralph, Jan, Dad and Joan out for a walk. "We're off to see the wizard"Mom, Rob, Katie and Dad playing cards.
Our Dad. What a fun day this was. Great memories!!!!

Joan and Taylor on Shaquille. Meleah is looking at the birds. Is it a bird, is it a plane, it.....

Do you want a bite?After the reunion Ralph and Pam and their family and Joan and her family stayed for a few days longer. We had lunch at McDonalds in Lehi.

Bear trapping in the Uintas

In June I went up with a group to set up bear traps to research the bears in the area. I took Shaquille and we rode through some beautiful country to the top of this mountain in the Uintas, by Mirror Lake. There we set up the traps that would be monitored throughout the summer.



We trailered our horses up to a campground area, where we unloaded and got our horses ready for the ride.
After riding for about 3 hours we reached the top of the mountain where we began setting up the traps. We strung barb wire around a group of trees, about 2 feet off the ground. My job was to measure the height of the wire.

After putting up the wire we attached a sensor camera to the site. As the bears came into the trap the camera would take a picture and record it.
A stinky scent was then applied to the center of the area that would attract the bears. A sign was then put in place to warn anyone who would come around the area.
Every 2 weeks they would ride up and collect hair off the barb wire and do a DNA test to see what kind of bears, age and how often the same bears come back to the area. What a great learning experience this was.

Jan teaching her summer science camps

After school is out for summer break I teach summer camps. This summer I took a group of kids to BYU planetarium, had a zoology camp, human biology camp, and meteorology camp. They are so much fun.

Here we are at BYU in the Erying Science center getting ready to go into the planetarium.


In zoology I took the kids the the animal hospital.

We also spent the night at the zoo.

Fun times in Utah

This is in our backyard where we ride. The gully is a beautiful place where there are deer, fox and many other animals. This is in the spring when Kelsey, Zane and I took the dogs for a walk down to the little river at the bottom of the gully.
Cayman and Annie after a swim.
Kelsey and Zane playing around. Of course they both ended up getting pretty wet.


Isn't this beautiful!!!!
Cute face Zane.

What a beautiful place!!!
Kelsey and Annie
This was a great bar-b-que with Dale, Heather, Eric, and Allison. Kelsey, Zane, and Krista are relaxing after dinner.



Kelsey and Zane love to go out shooting. She's getting pretty good too.

Brandon and Jan's trip to California in March

Dad and Mom waiting for dinner at Knottsberry Farm.
Brandon, Matthew, Madison, Taylor, Alysa, Joan and Dad on the mining ride.
What a great memory on the mining ride with Dad.

I sure love my Dad!

Brandon and Matthew waiting to go on a crazy ride.






Matthew and Jan at Knottsberry farm.

Brandon and me having a great time.

Matthew wanted to be just like Brandon, eating bar-b-qued corn on the cob.


In March Brandon and I took a trip to California to see the family. We had a great time staying at Mom and Dad's, going for dinner and a memorable trip to Knott's Berry Farm. We took Matthew with us and then Joan, Dad and Alysa and the kids met us there. It was a blast!!! We rode on most of the rides and ate lots. Mom and Joy met us down there for dinner. It was a great memory that we will never forget.