Utahceratops

Utahceratops grazing

Utahceratops was found... can you guess?  Yes, in Utah.  In fact it was found in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  This animal has similar appearance to a Triceratops, although it was quite a bit smaller.  Utahceratops was 6.6 feet or 2 meters tall.  It was 23 feet or 7 meters long,  Its name means horned face from Utah.  Cetatops means horned face in Greek.   Utahceratops is thought to weigh up to 8,800 lbs... or have a mass of around 4,000 kg.

Utahceratops had much smaller horns than Triceratops.  Utahceratops brow horns faced somewhat
out to the side rather than forward like a full grown Triceratops brow horns.  The naris or nasal cavities or nostrils of Utahceratops were well in front of the nose horn.

Triceratops may have weighed up to 28,000 lbs or a mass of 12,500 kg.  Still, an 8,800 pound Utahceratops was no wimp.   The Ceratopsian dinosaurs were probably browsers who ate leaves from bushes and ferns.  But recent evidence shows that grass was very common by the late Cretaceous Period so the Ceratopsians certainly grazed on grass as well. 

 Adult Triceratops with forward facing Horns

Jackalope

Jackalope

Jackalopes are mythical creatures of North America.  There are many stories about them.  Jackalope milk is said to have magical powers.  Jackalopes can run extremely fast and are capable of defending themselves with their antlers.  The Jackalope song is said to be sweet and beautiful and can be heard at night in the Western American deserts, parries, and mountain valleys.  I heard a joke once that Jackalope milk is a good source of Vitamin P.  In fact, it has more Vitamin P than watermelon.

Horned rabbits are mentioned in middle ages stories out of Europe as well.  But the first Jackalope mounts appeared in Douglas, Wyoming in the 1930s.  The state legislature of Wyoming has considered making the Jackalope the official State Mythological Creature.  The Wyoming lottery has a mascot who is YoLo the Jackalope.

In Dubois, Wyoming there is a Jackalope museum of sorts at a convenience store.  They have a giant Jackalope that you can mount for photos. They named their Mega Jackalope YoLo.  The below photo
is me on that Jackalope.

Mega Jackalope YoLo and Robin

Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion

Wooden Sailing Ship at Bristol Harbor 

New Drawing at bottom of lists. . . click on Religion button above.

One of our Latter Day Saint apostles gave a talk a while back about being Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion.  This is an  idiom from Bristol England...  The apostle was Quentin Cook.  He had served a mission in Bristol England and one of the local leaders said missionaries needed to be "Ship shape and Bristol fashion."  You see, Bristol Harbor was once the second busiest harbor in England.  The tide there is quite severe.  It has a range of 45 feet or 14 meters.  This meant that ships needed to be strong and ready to be beached by the low tide.  The ships would nearly fall over onto their side.  So not only did the ships' hulls need to be very strong, everything on  board had to be tied down and secured or it would fall over or spill etc.  So the idiom "ship shape and Bristol Fashion" came into being from what ships went through at Bristol Harbor.

So what is an idiom?  It is a saying that means something that is not literal.  In some parts of the USA the phrase "kick the bucket" means "someone died."  There are idioms in some other languages.  For example, "patiar sus tenis" translates from Spanish literally to:  "hung his tennis shoes" but the idiom means "he died". . . so he doesn't need his tennis shoes anymore.  

So what the idiom "Ship shape and Bristol Fashion" means to me is that we need to be ready in life for trials.  If we are strong we can get through the trials.   Of course we are strongest when our Savior Jesus is helping us through the trials.  So we should stay close to the Lord when times are good and He will be there for us when times get tough.   Another thought. . . when times do get tough. . . and they will. . . we need to make a decision.  All believers make this decision when we face trials in life.   We can either get angry at God or turn to Him.  I can tell you that you will have trials either way.  But you will do better through the trials if you are getting help from God.  So  I think I will also retell my story...

After a failed surgery at a major hospital in Boston my surgeon walked into my room and told me, "I'm very sorry Mr. Lyman, but you're not going to make it.  I was stunned. . . Then after the doctor walked out the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit spoke to my mind or my spirit and said, "It's OK to go, but if you want to stay (on Earth) I will help you but it won't be easy.  So, I still had a 13 year old at home.  That was my first thought, and my older kids also needed me. . . and I wanted to be with my loving wife, so I chose to stay.  My trachea had a 1 x 5 cm hole in it.  I should have died of infection soon, but instead tissue grew into the surgical mesh that had migrated and caused the hole and the new growth tissue sealed up the hole.  The mesh continues to cut my trachea everyday. . . but I am still alive 12 years later. Only divine intervention could have saved me.  This was to me proof that God cares for me and loves me.  I also view this experience as proof that God loves us and He gets involved in all our lives and at times intervenes for our good.

So I try to be good, serve others, and I have faith that our Savior will one day welcome me into His kingdom on high.  I am trying to stick around as long as I can here on Earth. . . I try not to complain because when I was given the choice to stay or go I was warned that it would not be easy. . . so if I whine about the pain etc. God might rescind the deal.  I am hoping to stay spiritually ship shape and Bristol fashion.  My body is clearly NOT ship shape, but God seems to be holding it together. 

Jesus outside Jerusalem after His Resurrection
New Drawing

We believe that because of Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection we all one day will be resurrected with perfect bodies. . . no trach tubes or surgical mesh etc.  I have looked at drawings and paintings of Jesus after His resurrection and today I was thinking that maybe we artists should not be drawing a 33 year old's hairline.  After all, the scriptures say that not a hair of our head shall be lost.  

I wrote about the above man before, shortly after his death.  Brother Cook was a man who was disabled for many years, but he did not give up on serving.  We believe in our church that people can be baptized by proxy for those who did not have a chance to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ while on the Earth.  So we search for genealogical records and do baptisms in our temples for those who have passed on and who now live as spirits in the Spirit World.  We also seal couples to each other and their children to the parents because we believe that marriage and the family is eternal if we are sealed to one another.  Well, Brother Cook did something we called indexing or geneological indexing.  He found and recorded on the church's family history database (called FamilySearch) tens of thousands of names of those who passed on without hearing of the Gospel and without having the opportunity to be baptized and sealed by proper authority.  We believe that because of indexers like Brother Cook, many people will be able to be sealed for time and all eternity to their spouse and children.   So when Brother Pat Cook died a few months ago I imagined that there were thousands of people there in the Spirit World to welcome him and thank him for helping them have forever families. 

Pat Cook being thanked in the Spirit World

Temple with Family

These older drawings somewhere in middle of list. . . click on top Religion button.

Together in the Celestial Kingdom

So, we should strive to be worthy of these choice Temple blessings, but we need to remember that our Savior knew we would be imperfect.  That is why he volunteered to be our Savior.  He paid the price for our sins so we could make it back to live with Him and His Heavenly Father and our families for all eternity in joy, peace and love.  So keep on trying, don't be too hard on yourself and yet keep trying to improve.  

Older drawing

Green Iguana

Green Iguana in a Tree

HI EVERYBODY!  First of all to new visitors. . . click on the top buttons to see lists of the pictures you can print to color at home.  There are lists under each button.  Newer drawings (like this iguana) are at the bottom of the lists.  All drawings are on the "All Printables" list.  But new drawings are also at the correct category button as well.  So the "Green Iguana in a Tree" is under "Animals". 

Sorry there have been no posts for a while.  We were on vacation with family in Wyoming.  We saw some beautiful places, rode horses a bit, went to a dnio museum, and went to both a family baptism and a family wedding.

Our grandniece Maddi asked me to draw a green iguana so here it is.  I am also posting her colored version so you can see how it looks colored.  Of course iguanas come in many colors.  In the Galapagos Islands we saw iguanas that were around 3 feet long and dove into the ocean and swam down 100 feet to eat algae off the bottom of the ocean near their island.  They were black or dark gray with red stripes jaggedly across their backs.  In Mexico, on a different trip, we saw an iguana on a fallen log.  It was greenish. . . kind of light green and gray.  In the Ecuadoran city of Guayaquil there is a park where people feed iguanas salads.  I was trying to take a picture of an iguana about 5 yards away when I felt one crawl across my feet.  It was at least 3 feet long.  So color the iguana however you like.  But also enjoy Madi's example. . . but you don't have to follow it if you don't want to.   Then again maybe you WILL want to color your green iguana like hers.  She used Gel Pens.

Green Iguana colored by Maddie

T. rex mother and her Chicks

T. rex mother and three Chicks

Tyrannosaurus rex, based on the evidence, was a good parent.  In fact, they have found a few groups of fossilized Theropod dinosaurs that clearly lived and died together.  This led paleontologists to infer that Theropods lived in packs.  So it is possible that the entire Theropod pack took care of the young "chicks."  So although this is a cartoon drawing for young kids to color, it is based on evidence.  Since Crocodilians carry their young in their mouth it is easy to infer that Tyrannosaurs did the same.

American Alligator mother with Hatchlings

Song "I Heard Him Come"

Jesus visits a Leper Colony

There is a great song that I love called:  I Heard Him Come.   The song tells of Jesus visiting a leper colony.  The song was written by Jeff Goodrich.  A group called Afterglow sings the song and I invite you to look it up.  I am going to post the lyrics here.  This song helps me when I feel down.  I am dealing with a constant bleeding trachea and a tracheal stent.  I do not have any chance of ever being rid of the problem.  It forced me to quit teaching school. (I was a science teacher.)  Sometimes I feel like a leper.  I wear a scarf over my tracheotomy tube stent but sometimes when someone gets a glimpse of it I feel rather self conscious.  But again, this song give me hope.  I know that one day I will be resurrected and have a glorified and perfected body. . . and if I repent of my sins and try to serve others I will get to live with my family and my Savior for all eternity.   

There is a story in the Holy Bible where ten lepers come to see Jesus and he heals them.  Then only one comes back to thank him.  I think that story reminds us to be grateful for our many blessings and try not to focus on the negative things in our lives.  Now, I don't recall the Bible telling of Jesus visiting a leper colony, but everything he did is not written down.  I can picture him going to a leper colony, a place of no hope, and healing the people who had been smitten with that terrible disease.  So thank you Brother Goodrich and Afterglow for the song.    

I Heard Him Come

  By Jeff Goodrich

I heard him come

I saw his very face
I wondered who
Would come into this place
Where dead men walk
And where the dying talk
Of life before
The curse upon them came.

He looked on me;
He must have felt my gaze
He came toward me,
Through the crowded maze,
And I a leper in shame, hid my head
Till someone said, “Jesus, is his name”
And he said,

Nations fall behind him
The rivers crawl to find him.
Mountains move
Just to let him through.
Come and never leave him
Just let your heart believe him.
And never let his light go
(Echo) Never let his light go
Never let your love grow dim.

He fed a thousand
With one loaf of bread
I saw him raise
A child from the dead
He healed the sick
The blind man saw his eyes
The lame man stood
And joyous were his cries
And he said:

Nations fall behind him
The rivers crawl to find him
Mountains move
Just to let him through
Come and never leave him
Just let your heart believe him
And never let his light go

(Echo) never let his light go
Never let your love grow dim

I saw his pain
As they nailed him to a cross
Wish that we
Could understand the cause
He looked on me
As he had once before
Saying, “Teach my word
To all forever more”
And I'll say:

Nations fall behind him
The river crawl to find him
Mountains move
Just to let him through
Come and never him
Just believe
And never let his light go
(Echo) never let his light go
Never let your light grow dim

Take the Holy Spirit As Your Guide

Troop Transport Ship US Navy 1950

At the last General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Elder Larry Y. Wilson told this story.  I am just paraphrasing him but you can look up the story yourself by typing in the title of this post with his name.   

The story is about a young LDS naval officer in the 1950's.  The officer was Ensign Frank Blair.  He was on a troop transport   One night after his watch was over, and during a violent storm, the captain of the ship came to ask him to pray for the ship.  One of the ship's engines had gone out and another was not working at full power.  Only one engine was fully functioning.  

Previously the captain had asked Ensign Blair to be the ship's unofficial chaplain since it was too small a ship to have an official chaplain.  Ensign Blair was a man of faith and he was well respected by the crew.  The captain had noticed this.  

Well, Ensign Blair DID pray for the ship that night, but he also prayed for guidance on what HE could do to help.   The Holy Spirit told him to go out on deck and look around.  Ensign Blair got permission to do this, but he had to get the captain's permission.  He went out on deck tied to a lifeline because there were 40 foot or 12 meter high waves.  

While walking around he saw at the stern of the ship, when the propellers came out of the water, that the one propeller was going very fast. He felt inspired to tell the captain to slow that engine down.  The captain had been told by the chief engineer to keep the engine at full power. . . but the captain went with his junior officer's recommendation.  

After the ship survived the storm . . . the next morning, the captain saw and realized that Ensign Blair's recommendation had saved the ship.   If the captain had kept the one engine at full power it would have burned out and the ship almost certainly would have capsized and been lost.  

This story shows how we can turn to our Heavenly Father in times of crisis.  We can also turn to him in the good times.   Although we all won't be naval officers saving our ship and the lives of our shipmates, we all have times when we will benefit form guidance of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit.