5 Years Together

Five years ago I married my best friend for time and all eternity. This was the best decision I have made in my life and I have never doubted or regretted it. We are looking forward to many many more years together.

That day was definitely one of the happiest days of my life.

For our five year anniversary, Russell and I went on a DATE! That is right just the two of us. It has been awhile since we have gone on a date alone. We dropped the kids off at Grandma Farnsworth's and also gave Traci a key to our house so she could take them home for bed later. Then we headed up to Springdale for dinner and a movie.

It had been sprinkling a little so we caught a glimpse of this double rainbow over the beautiful Zion mountains. This was definitely a sign of a good day.

We ate dinner at Wildcat Willies in Springdale. Their food was so good. A little spendy but totally worth it. We actually ordered our food as we drove up so when we arrived, we sat down and they gave us our plates. Perfect timing if I do say so. We didn't have to wait for anything which was good because as soon as we finished eating, we headed to the Zion Giant Theater to see our movie. We saw Transformers 3:Dark of the Moon in 3D on the Giant IMax screen. It was awesome. Here we are in our super cool 3D glasses. The movie was really good. I think it will be one that we buy. The action scenes were great and the story kept you interested the whole time which is good for a squeal. Also seeing it in 3D was cool because you actually felt like you were in the movie.

After the movie, we headed home and stopped at Wendy's for a Frosty! A great midnight snack. When we got home, Traci had both kids in bed asleep so we didn't have to do anything. Thanks Traci and Grandma F. for watching our kids while we had a much needed night out.

We have had a great five years together and are looking forward to many more years. A lot can happen in five years but I think the greatest things that have happened to us are our two beautiful kids. Aren't they adorable!!! (Colby thought he was so big sitting in the high chair because he was at eye level with everyone else!)

I love you, Russell, and our story is just beginning...

Morwood Reunion

The Morwood reunion was held over the Pioneer Day weekend this year. We camped at UM Creek on Fish Lake Mountain. It was so nice to get out of town and just enjoy our family and this beautiful mountain.

I truly believe this is what heaven will look like.

We left St. George on Friday afternoon (7/22) and finally arrived at our camp site at about 8:30 pm. We had just enough time to get parked and set up before it got dark.

Saturday (7/23) many of our family members went on a long four-wheeler ride up and over the mountain. Russell and Emily went on the ride while I stayed back at camp with Colby and visited with my mom, aunts, and cousins. They started at our camp along UM Creek and went over the mountain to Gates Lake. Then Russell and my cousin, Dayne, came back to camp to help start dinner while the others continued on over the next mountain to the Gooseberry side of Fish Lake and then back another way to camp.

Along the trail they encountered rivers, mud holes, dust, dust and more dust. Russell did say that there were some beautiful meadows full of purple wildflowers and some amazing overlooks and scenery. As you can see from the picture, it was a pretty adventurous ride that totally wiped out Tyrel and Emily. It was also an eventful ride in that my cousin, Tobey's four-wheeler ran out of gas and had to be towed back, Klint Hughes four-wheeler caught on fire, or blew up, or had some kind of engine trouble (I never did get the whole story but it still runs so I don't know what happened.), and my other cousin, Dayne, rolled his four-wheeler with his 4-year-old daughter on it. Luckily no one was hurt and all returned safely.

That night we had a big family dinner of Dutch Oven chicken and potatoes and salads. The chicken was really good; I need to get the recipe from my cousin, Brooke, someday...

Sunday (7/24) was Pioneer Day. To celebrate, we went to church at the Fish Lake Lodge. Elder Pace from the Presiding Bishopric was the main speaker. He talked of honoring our ancestors by living up to the standards they set for us. We were an hour late for church though because we got bad information from the Lodge. When I worked for the Fish Lake Lodge 6 years ago church was always at 10:00 and it always has been 10:00 but my cousin's husband, Larry, said that he talked to the people at the Lodge and they said that because it was a holiday weekend, church was going to be at 11:00. We believed them and arrived at church at 11:00 to find it half over. We were bummed but in a way it was good because I don't think Emily or Colby would have set through one more hour of church.

After church we wandered through the 100 year old Lodge reliving memories of when I worked there. That was a fun summer.

Here we are chilling on the old log furniture in the restaurant. After site seeing, we walked down the Lake Shore trail along the lake and found a perfect spot to have a picnic and cook our hot dogs.

We ate our hot dogs (Emily's favorite camping food) and chips before heading down to the lake to skip rocks. My record of skipping rocks in probably 4-5 skips. I think Russell's was even more. Emily just liked throwing rocks into the water and sneaking her feet and shoes in the water even though we told her not to.

We had a lot of fun at the Lodge. We headed back to camp around 3. When we got back to camp, I took Emily on a little four-wheeler ride up and down the road while Russell played with Colby. Then around 5 or 6 o'clock we started getting our food ready for the big Dutch Oven cook off!

We made homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. While on his horse riding camp out, Russell learned how to make the noodles and soup from his fellow YM leader. Noodles are actually quite easy to make; all you need is eggs and flour! The soup was a hit and all of the kids voted us the winners of the cook off. The other dishes were really good too. Lacie made a creamy chicken pasta salad, Tami made yummy baked bean with kielbasa sausage, and my mom made a meatball soup.

That night we stayed up late talking and roasting marshmallows for S'Mores. We had leftover Peeps from Easter so we roasted them for our S'mores instead of regular mallows. Peeps are actually really good roasted, you should try it.

Monday (7/25) was spent riding horses.

Well Emily and the other cousins rode them anyway. Jessica's fiance, Danny, brought up 4 of his horses and let all of the kids ride them around the camp. They had a blast riding and most of them didn't want to get off. Luckily all of the horses were pretty mellow because they had a lot of kids running around them startling them.

After riding for a while, we packed up our stuff and got ready to head home. The reunion was really fun and we enjoyed being with our extended family. We didn't want to leave. My sisters are staying up to Fish Lake for the entire week and even until we go to Lagoon on August 4! I wish we could stay too but we needed to get home to go to work. Bummer...

Thanks for the good times and the memories!

Touching Toes

Just because Colby has a big round belly doesn't mean he can't touch his toes! He has recently discovered his toes and loves playing with them. They are such fun toys and can keep him entertained for quite a while.

Aren't they the cutest kids?! They sure love each other. I love watching and hearing them play and laugh together. Emily can make Colby laugh by just talking to him. We were driving in the car the other day and from the back seat, I could hear Emily saying "Boo! Boo!" and Colby just laughing his head off. Then Emily would laugh at Colby laughing and that would get Colby laughing even more. It was so funny to listen too. I hope they will always be this good of friends and play together so well.

Happy Birthday Russell!

We celebrated Russell's 28th birthday yesterday. (Man and I thought I was old! He's closer to 30 than I am!) We had a lot of fun with his family swimming at Sand Cove and then later having a really yummy dinner and cake.

After I got off work and fed Colby, we headed up to Sand Cove with Russell's family. Jen and Rick and their boys just moved back to Southern Utah and we are so excited to have them here. They lived in Laramie, WY for about a year and a half and then moved to Sacramento, CA for the last 6 months. They are now living in New Harmony on Grandma and Grandpa Maxwell's property. It is fun to have them back and Emily loves playing with Paul and Alex.

Here we are at Sand Cove having a blast in the cool water. It was definitely a nice way to get out of the heat.

Emily had a blast playing in the water with Russell and she especially loved riding in the canoe around the lake. Because it was a little heavy in the back and the wind was blowing against it, the canoe was hard to paddle back to shore. The raised front acted like a sail and kept turning the canoe in circles as it was paddled against the wind. Finally Russell figured out that if he paddled the canoe backwards he could get a lot further. He and Emily eventually made it back to shore.

Colby loved helping Grandpa blow up the tubes. He liked feeling the vibrations of the air pump on his belly.

Here is a cute picture of all of the Farnsworth cousins and their parents. This is Russell's older sister, Jen, and her two boys, Paul and Alex. Paul is 5 and Alex is 2 weeks older than Emily so he will be 3 in September. It is fun to have them around.

While Emily and Russell were floating in the water, Colby and I were chilling on the shore just watching them. Colby liked being in the shade playing with his toys. He loved being outside looking at everything there is to see.

Colby wasn't too sure about the cool water though. It kind of took his breath away when Russell put him in the water. Emily liked splashing Colby but Colby didn't like it. After eating, Colby fell asleep so I laid him in his playpen near the water. The next thing I know I hear Colby crying because Emily had kicked water up into his playpen and woke him up with a cold splash. He was not happy after that but we had a good laugh.

After playing for a while at Sand Cove, we headed home to make Russell's birthday dinner. We made spaghetti with homemade meatballs stuffed with cheese. It was so good! We had Russell's family over for dinner too. I also made Russell a very yummy Oreo ice cream cake. It was sooooooooooooo goooooooood!!! The only thing that would have made it better was if our freezer would have froze it harder so that it wouldn't have been so melty. But still very good!

Here is the birthday boy cutting and serving his cake. Of course everyone loved it. For my secret recipe for this yummy cake, check out Made in a Jiff by Tiff.

After dinner we played a good game of Rage and just enjoyed every one's company. For his birthday, I got Russell tickets to Transformers 3 at the Zion Canyon Theater. It will be awesome to see the movie on an IMAX screen in 3D! So before we go to this movie, we are going to have a Transformers marathon and watch the other two movies. I also got him a dinner for two at a restaurant of his choice in Springdale before the movie. It will be nice to go on a real date for a change without the kids. We are actually going on this date on our anniversary coming up next week. I can't wait.

Happy Birthday, Russell!!

I'm a Cowboy, Baby.

Russell is a bon-a-fide wannabe cowboy now! Ha Ha Ha!

Work it Baby!! Just kidding. Actually this past week (July 11-13) Russell went on a three day camp out with the Priests in our ward. They rode horses for the three days around Pinto and Grass Valley. Our bishop bought all of the boys and leaders cowboy hats to have on the ride to keep the sun off their heads and neck. Russell has worn this hat everyday since he got it! I make fun of him everyday too! Here is Russell to tell you all about his fun camp out:
The "BISHOP'S COWBOYS" they are called. As Tiffany said I went with the priest on a three day horse back ride up in Pinto. The trip was a blast for me and the boys. We met at the bishop's house at 6am to load up the horses and the gear and we were on the road about 7:30. The drive up there was fun we all had our cowboy hats on and we turned on the bishop's radio and started singing to the country music songs. We got to camp around 8:30 and had a sandwich and we also made some sandwiches to take with us on the horse back ride. It was awesome to see how far the boys have come with liking horses. When the bishop brought up the idea to go, they laughed at the idea, but slowly they started liking the idea of riding the horses. One boy even brought up the idea to go horse back riding. I was amazed at their change of attitude and heart. They did an awesome job cleaning the horses and saddling the horses and even cleaning their hoofs. Here we are in starting our first day trek on the horses. I was on the black horse Hawk, Sterling was on Yeller, Zach was on Chip the light brown horse, Trent was on the dark brown horse Jack and bishop was on the other dark brown horse Mater, with Spencer by me and Stephen by Trent. Isn't it an awesome back drop.

Here is one of my boys, Sterling, on Yeller. Out of all the boys, he was the one that dressed the part with his cowboy hat, wranglers and boots. He and Yeller had a great ride together on the way up, but on the way down Yeller wanted to get home so he was being a little antsy and trotted and wanted to be in the front. Sterling was not too happy with him when the ride was finished.

The picture below was us on our way up the mountain the second day. We saw some beautiful country. We were about 6,000 to 7,000 ft. We were able to see some of Cedar valley, and the Beryl area. At the top, where we had lunch both days, we were able to look over the side of the mountain and see a secluded ranch at the bottom. I thought I would have seen a lot of wildlife but we only saw a pretty big 2 point buck. The first day trip was fun on the way up but on the way back my horse did the the same thing Yeller did, he did not want to be left behind so he trotted on the way down the mountain, my butt was so sore and my knees hurt when I was done. I was so happy that bishop put me on a different horse for the second day.

Here we are on the second day also. We didn't have enough horses for everyone to ride at the same time so we split the days so some boys road one day and the others the other day. On Tuesday we rode further than the first day because we got an earlier start. We went about a total of twenty mile round trip. We saw some awesome hidden lakes as we rode. The first one was Pinto Springs and the next two were Big Water and White Rock. It way cool to find these hidden little reservoirs.

After about 5 hours of riding we stopped at the first reservoir to have lunch. This is a fun picture because we look like cowboys with all of our horse tied up to a fallen tree in the wilderness. Our lunches consisted of smashed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, rice crispy treats and water. Some of the sandwiches got flattened in the ride and they looked like pancakes. The first day we rode bishop took out his sandwich and it was squashed into a ball, but hey he said it is still tasted great.

This is our lunch break under the trees. We were grateful for the break and the shade trees.

These are some of the pictures of some of the scenery we saw as we rode through different areas of the mountain side. In all we had a great time!

This picture doesn't have anything to do with my camp out but I thought it was worth posting! These are my two rough country Davy Crockett kids that are so cute and handsome. While I was at a training meeting in Springdale for the ambulance, Tiffany and the kids had fun visiting some of the fun gift shops and having lunch. I am truly a lucky dad for having such a great family.

Sitting Up

We are trying to teach Colby how to sit up by himself because he is getting too heavy to carry! He is doing really well and can sit for about a minute by himself without tipping over.

Soon he will be sitting and playing all the time. I can't believe how fast he is growing. His personality is starting to come out too. He is the funniest little kid and smiles all the time. He loves talking and playing. Every time you look at him he flashes you the biggest smile and says "GOO!" He loves playing Peek-A-Boo and laughing.

4 months

Colby is now 4 months old and growing bigger and cuter everyday! At his doctor appointment, he weighed in at a whopping 19 lbs (97 percentile) and measured 27 inches long (99 percentile) and his head circumference was 17 inches (90 percentile). As you can tell, he is a BIG boy! Emily was this big at a year old! He is such a cutie and I love his little smile. Here are some cute birthday pictures of him on July 4th:

He is so patriotic already! Colby is a really happy baby. He is quite content just sitting and watching Emily. He sure loves his sister and smiles and talks to her all the time. If he is crying, Emily just has to say "Hi" to him and he will stop crying and look at her. The other night, I was holding Colby as I helped Emily get into pajamas. Colby was just watching her and then, out of the blue, he just started laughing! When Emily realized he was laughing at her, she started acting silly for him. He smiled and laughed at her for quite a while. It was so funny. Emily loves Colby too. I think the reason Colby has grown so fast is because it was his way of protecting himself from her mauling! He is almost bigger than her!

Look how cute all of those fat rolls are! He is my little Michelin Tire Man! I love how you can't even find his wrists, ankles, or neck. He is chubby but he is also quite active. He loves to play with toys, wiggle all around the floor on his back, kick his legs, and he can almost roll over. He tries to roll over whenever he is playing but has only been able to get over to his side. I am sure he will be rolling soon. He has rolled from his belly to his back a few times but I think they were more by accident. He hates being on his belly so a few times he has gotten so mad he pushed himself over to his back. He loves to stand and be jumped. I am sure he will love our Johnny Jump when he gets a little older.

The doctor said we could introduce solids if we wanted to. Colby has been so funny lately while we have been eating dinner. While we eat, he stares at the food and follows the fork up to our mouths like he wants to eat. I put an empty spoon up to his mouth and he practically swallowed it whole! Because of these things, we figured it was time to introduce rice cereal.

Well, I don't really know if Colby liked the whole idea of eating from a spoon. The first spoonful I gave him he devoured the spoon. Then, when he realized there was actually something on it, he made the funniest face and spit all of the cereal out. I kept trying to feed him and he would open his mouth but his face would cringe and out would come the cereal. He did manage to swallow a little bit but most of it landed on his bib. I guess we will just have to keep practicing! Happy 4 months, Colby!