Tuesday, February 28, 2023

February Fun

February is the shortest month of the year but it is still full of exciting things happening in our family.  Russell started off the month by winning the "Hometown Hero" award from our local radio station KIX96.  
To win this amazing award, he was nominated by people in the community and then selected by the radio station based on the nominators' comments.  When it was announced over the radio, we had no idea he had even been nominated.  When I heard "Farnsworth," I said, "Was that your name they just read?"  Russell had missed it too but then the radio station called him a few minutes later and said he had won!  We were all surprised but this was pretty cool.  Russell is definitely a hero in our eyes and apparently in the eyes of others as well.  For winning he got a gift certificate to Cafe Sabor and Bluebird Chocolates. 

Next our school was finally awarded the $1,000 for winning the Red Ribbon Photo Contest back in November.  Members of the Utah DEA came to our school to present the big check to us.

Because we were in charge of the Red Ribbon week at the school, as well as submitting the photo, Russell and I were able to accept the check along with the principal, Mrs. Burt, and PTA President-Elect, Emily Webb.  This was a pretty fun assembly with the whole school.  The students were really excited for the big check and listened so well as the DEA Agent talked to them about being drug free.

On February 11, the girls participated in the Family Place's Princess Tea.  This was something they helped out with as the Hyrum Royalty.  

While at the Tea, the girls greeted the kids as they arrived and also walked around talking to, taking pictures with, and interacting with all of the kids there.  They were the actual Princesses at the Tea Party.
Along with these actual princesses, there were also a ton of Disney Princesses there as well. Okay this was really why people came to this Tea but the girls were happy to be there helping out too.  While the older girls were interacting with guests, I took Charlotte and a few of the other younger girls around to see the Disney Princesses.  Charlotte loved this even though she was very shy around them.  She got to meet Joy and Disguse (Inside Out), Belle, Moana, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, Merida, Tinkerbell, and, of course, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff.  There were other princesses as well like Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, and even Princess Leia from Star Wars.

This was so fun.  We were able to do all of the activities as well as get lunch just for coming and helping out.  At the end of the Tea Party, there was a dance party with all of the characters and Elsa even sang, "Let it Go" to all of the kids.  After the dance party, all of the Princesses including the Hyrum Royalty formed a walkway so all of the kids could walk through and see everyone again before they left.  

Here are our beautiful princesses!  They loved helping out with this community event.  They were pretty tired at the end of the 6 hours though... 
I'm glad they have had this opportunity to be a part of the Hyrum City Royalty this last year.  Their reign will soon be over in April but they have loved it.

February 12 was Super Bowl Sunday.  The big game was between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.  For the Super Bowl we had a house full of family.  Jen and her family came up from Lehi and Tyer's family came over as well. It was a lot of fun getting together.

We even brought the TV up from downstairs.  The only place we could put it was on top of the wall.  We had Tyler's laptop hooked up to it so we could get the game.  I actually liked the TV upstairs because then we could all be together eating dinner of Ultimate Nachos and watching the game without half upstairs and half downstairs.  

I don't know a lot about football especially the different players but Colby is an expert.  He was telling us all about who was playing and who he thought would win.  Then Tyler pipped in as well with his predictions.  They both were hoping for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to win.

During the game, we also decorated Valentine cookies with the kids.

We had to really convince Alex, Paul, and Colby to break away from the game to come decorate and get a group picture.  As soon as the picture was taken, they were back to the game.  The younger kids loved decorating the cookies though.  Brooklyn and Mavis joined in as well and loved getting all sticky.  I think Charlotte and Kari had more sprinkles than cookie by the time they were done.  In the end, there were sprinkles everywhere.

You would think that in February we would be getting to the end of winter and the snow would be melting but that is not the case this year.  We are experiencing record snow fall and snow pack this winter.  This is great for the drought and the water levels for the summer but, man, all we see is white!
We are now at the end of February, first of March and there is probably 3 feet of snow in our yard and more in the areas we have shoveled and mounded.  Our mailbox is almost completely covered.  The ground hog did predict 6 more weeks of winter and we will definitely reach that goal.  On the bright side, this has meant more fun in the snow this month.

While Emily, Charlotte and I were at the Princess Tea, Russell took the boys and Brooklyn sledding at Gibbons Park.  Tyler, Ashley, and Mavis came along as well.



The snow was perfect for sledding they said.  The boys were very animated in their descriptions of the huge jumps they built, the air they got while going off the jumps, and the epic crashes as well.  As you can see from the pictures, they were really flying!  One time Logan flew so high, he was able to land on his feet on his sled like a skim board!  Colby also tried his snowboard on the slope and was able to balance and ride all the way down.  Brooklyn and Mavis liked sitting in the snow together and eating an occasional snowball.  The GoPro has been really nice to have for these kinds of outings.
South Cache Middle School revealed a new mural in their lunchroom.  As part of the Student Ambassadors, Emily was able to be part of the unveiling.  A local artist painted this mural and Emily said it looks amazing.  She was especially excited to see the mountain biker.

Here are some pictures of these cute girls:
Grandma Morwood made Brooklyn and Charlotte matching nightgowns and they love them.  They have worn them to bed almost everyday as long as they have been clean.  Thanks Grandma!

And this is the many funny faces of Brooklyn.  Emily caught these chef pictures with her phone.  I love the little smirks and smiles.  They definitely show off Brooklyn's fast growing personality.

We have recently tried to potty train Brooklyn.  It is not going very well.  The funny thing is, she knows when she needs to go or rather when she has gone so she will tell us she needs to "change bum!" So we thought she was ready but when we try to potty train, she will not go in the toilet.  She will sit there forever and hold it until we take her off and then she will pee within a minute or two... It's so frustrating!  She has gone in the toilet a couple times but not consistent enough to actually recognize that is what she's supposed to do.  Oh the joys of Potty training...

Finally, Colby and Logan were able to participate in the Elementary school's performance of the musical Suessical Jr.

This productions was so good and there was so much talent displayed during the performances.  We were very entertained and, for an elementary, it was very well done.  We all have the songs stuck in our heads!  Even Brooklyn has been walking around the house singing "A person's a person no matter how small!"  and another song with the words "Boil it! Boil it! ...  We are here! We are here!"  It is so cute to listen to her!

Logan was part of the Whoville choir and sang three songs during the play.  Colby was part of the stage crew so we would catch glimpses of him as he ran props on and off stage.  Both boys had a good time with the play.

We have had a good month of February!

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Happy 10th Birthday, Logan!

Happy Birthday Logan!  You are the big 1 0 !  Can you believe we have another kid in the double digits.

Logan wanted a Pokemon birthday so I made him this Pikachu cake.  He loved it! 

I think it turned out pretty good as well.  I had a lot of help from Brooklyn while making the cake. She really liked frosting the cake but mostly eating the cake.
How can you say no to that face?  I don't really know what the big hype is about Pokemon because I was never into it as a kid but Colby and Logan love collecting Pokemon cards.  Logan has a whole book on every character and knows all the facts.  Anyway, Pokemon cake!

We celebrated Logan's birthday a few days early while Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth were in town.  Logan wanted to go to the Cache Valley Fun Park and play the arcade games.  This was fine with us because we can go there for $20 and get 100 tokens and all the kids can play for a while.  
Sadly this is the only picture I took because everyone was running around to all the games they wanted.  This was a fun game of Air Hockey between Logan and Charlotte though.  I think the score was tied the whole game until Logan hit the winning goal right at the end. Grandma and Grandpa and Tyler and Ashley also came and had a good time with us.

When we got home, we opened a big present.  Then opened the rest of the presents on his actual birthday. Logan has been loving his Parkour gymnastics class over the last few months that he has been taking the class.  He has also been getting really good at the tricks and jumps involved in the sport.  So for his birthday he got a Jump Box to go with the mats he got for Christmas.  With this Box, he can practice the jumps and stunts he is learning in his class.


The box has three sides of different lengths so he can practice different heights.  The first thing he did was put it on the tallest side (30 inches) and jump right up onto it with no problem.  
After that, Russell and Tyler could not be shown up by a kid so they tried jumping up on the 30 inch side too.  They were able to do the jump as well!  Nice job old men!

It was finally time for cake and ice cream.

We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Logan as he blew out the candles.  The cutest thing was Brooklyn singing Happy Birthday to Logan. 

For his birthday breakfast, Logan wanted peanut butter pancakes.  Russell even made him a Pikachu shaped pancake.  He was happy to have a 2 hour delay for school starting so he could sleep in and miss some school.
After school, we headed to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner.  Logan said he had a great day.  Happy Birthday Logan!