Just for Fun

Here is just a random little post of some fun pictures and events happening in our life:

These two cousins love playing together. We only have one tricycle so they like to share. I think they were playing "Going to the Ball." Alex was the prince and Emily is the princess and they are going to the ball on their bike. They have so much fun together I know Emily will be sad when Jen, Rick and the boys move up north in about a month.

These pictures are of Colby's technically second haircut but first major hair cut:

As you can see, he loved it...NOT! He was crying the whole time. Colby's hair was getting so long he looked like he had a bad comb-over and mullet going on at the same time. He looks so much better with it cut short. Luckily he is a little kid though because Russell and I are not professional barbers. The poor little kid's hair was so crooked and choppy. Thankfully it is not too noticeable at least no one has commented on the crappy job. Oh well he looks cute anyway and we did fix most of it with the scissors so it is not that bad. Russell had so much fun cutting Colby's hair he put the razor to his own head and pretty much shaved all of his hair off! His hair is probably about a 1/4 of an inch long. Of course he did this while I was at work or I would have stopped him. I am still getting used to the shortness. The buzz cut is better for him while he is in the fire academy so I guess I will have to deal with it. Emily says she doesn't want to get her hair cut because she wants it to grow as long as Rapunzel's hair so she can be Rapunzel for Halloween. And while we are on the subject of hair, I am still searching and deciding on a new style for me but I am not having any luck. Maybe I will go back short too...

Any way, life is good here in the Farnsworth home. And if I can make it through the next few weeks of tax season and Russell can make it through the last couple months of fire academy, we will be doing even better. Colby is doing much better with sleeping through the night and will even go to sleep on his own as long as I sing Primary songs to him or Russell is in the room. Emily is still the spunky girl she has always been. She loves going to Sunbeams and singing in Primary. She loves memorizing scriptures to tell the Bishop so she can get a candy out of his jar. I am looking forward to General Conference this weekend. I love hearing the prophet and apostles speak. The last few Conferences it has seemed that they were speaking right to me so I am excited to hear what they have to say this time.

Thunder Over Utah

One word: AMAZING!

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels came to St. George on March 17 to perform their awesome Thunder Over Utah Air Show. We didn't want to miss this probably once in a lifetime show so of course we went. The kids had a great time as well. Emily was so excited to go that she talked about going to the air show for a whole week before. She kept reminding me that I needed to get her and Colby some ear plugs, sunglasses and a hat, and I couldn't forget her special drink too. She wanted pink ear plugs because that is her favorite color. Unfortunately we couldn't find any pink so she settled for her next favorite color, purple. As the air show got closer, Dixie Ambulance needed paramedics to do stand by at the show so Russell volunteered to work. By doing this, we got free tickets to the show and a free parking pass. That saved us $60 and Russell got paid to be there too! We decided that was a good deal. We were still able to do whatever we wanted and all Russell had to do was wear his uniform and carry a radio in case there was an emergency.

On the morning of the air show, we go up bright and early to be out at the airport by 8:30 in order to get a good parking spot and seat. Russell had to leave even earlier to ride in with the ambulance. After securing our seat with our camp chairs and blanket, we walked around and looked at all of the awesome airplanes.

The first airplane we looked at was a huge cargo plane for the U.S. Air Force. This airplane can hold tanks and other machinery.

We actually got to go inside the cargo plane and see how big it is. When you see it up close, it is amazing to think that something this big and this heavy can actually fly and stay in the air. Wow!

Next we saw all of the other airplanes on display.

Some of the pilots even let us sit in the airplanes and pretend to drive them. Emily had a blast looking at all of the different airplanes and Colby just loved being outside all day. We saw everything from jets, old fighter planes, single engine planes and even the KSL 5 News Helicopter!

The Army had also brought some tanks for us to look at.

The tanks were cool to see that close. I was amazed at how big the bullets and shells are that are shot out of the tanks. You can see the huge bullets in the picture on the right. The tanks were used in the air show to do a WWII battle scene re-enactment. During the re-enactment they shot off the cannon and also used a huge flame thrower. The flame thrower was so hot you could see and feel the flame from where we sat.

Finally at 1:00 the Thunder Over Utah Air Show began. The first planes were the old WWII Mustangs and the Raptor:

These planes were so cool. The Mustangs would fly really low and then do back flips in the air. Next the Raptor came out and the two of them flew side by side doing flips and turns in sync with each other. Then the Raptor did a cool trick and flew straight up in the air flying vertically! The Raptor was so fast that it actually flew faster than the speed of sound. You could see him coming before you actually heard it. It would fly past us then we heard it and it was so loud we were glad we had our ear plugs. We had to keep putting Colby's ear plugs in because they kept falling out of his little ears.

The next plane was the Osprey:

This plane reminded me of Transformers. The Osprey is a military plane that is a mix between a helicopter and an airplane. The propellers can change position so they can face forward (like in the top right picture) so that the plane can go forward really fast or the propellers can be in an upright position so that the plane can hover like a helicopter. These planes look quite scary to me. If I was an enemy, I would hate to be spotted by one of these!

The next show was the stunt plane:

This pilot was crazy! This plane would fly upside down, straight up in the air, do flips, and turn barrel rolls. Every time he would fly up in the air and do a barrel roll, it looked like he was falling out of the sky. It freaked me out each time because I thought he was going to crash! Luckily he never crashed and kept the plane in control.

Next was the wing walker:

That's right, if you look closely at the pictures, you will see a lady standing on the wing of the flying plane! This was also scary to watch because I couldn't believe someone would actually do this. The announcer said that this lady had been walking on the wings of planes for 10 years. I don't know why anyone would even want to try this once let alone do it for ten years! This plane didn't fly very high but it did do a flip in the air with the lady on it! Wow is all I can say.

And finally the many attraction...The Blue Angels:

These guys were awesome! Their formations seemed perfect and their stunts kept us on our feet the whole time. There are 8 Blue Angels planes but only six of them flew today. You can see that the planes are so close together in their formations so it is obvious how accurate these pilots must be. The pilots said that the planes are so close that they could actually touch the other plane with their hand if they could reach out of the cockpit window! Even the smallest wrong turn could have devastating results so they must be perfect. During one of the stunts, two planes were flying so close together it looked like one plane. In fact everyone thought it was one plane until they turned and we could see both planes. These guys also flew upside down and straight up in the air. All I can say is the show was amazing. I am definitely glad we were able to go. Emily loved it too and is still talking about the Blue Angels and the air show. The next day she told everyone about it during Primary.

If you couldn't tell from the pictures, there were a ton of people at the show. On the day we went there were supposedly 20,000 people! I don't really know if there were that many but there were a lot. After the show, we were all herded like cattle to the parking lot and our cars. It took Tyler and me an hour and a half to get out of the parking lot and we almost got hit and ran over twice. I am not exaggerating! First we had to push our way into the line of cars and the guy we cut in front of was giving us the dirtiest looks. Then when we finally got to the gate of the parking lot, this Toyota totally speeds up to get in front of everyone and almost runs over the car in front of us. I decided to stay back a little and let him in so I wouldn't get hit. Once we got out of the parking lot we were driving down this dirt road in two lanes and then I noticed the road merged into one lane. I tried to get over and that same dumb Toyota would not let me in. He kept speeding up to prevent me from moving over. We came within inches of hitting each others mirror before I just sped up and got ahead of him and two or three more cars and then moved over. I couldn't believe how rude that Toyota driver was. Any way, Tyler and I had a good time laughing at all of the other impatient drivers while we waited for almost two hours to get home. I was glad that Colby had fallen asleep and Emily was busy reading her library books. Russell was lucky and didn't have to wait in the long line of cars. Right when the air show got over, someone got hurt and Russell got to take him into the hospital with lights and sirens. He was able to take the person to the hospital and get home before everyone else!

The Thunder Over Utah Air Show was a lot of fun and I think we will definitely go again if we get the chance.

Tyler's Eagle Court of Honor

This was a day that I have been looking forward to as big brother ever since Tyler got into scouting. Yes Tyler got his Eagle Scout award last week. I was an awesome night to see him receive this award. Like I said before I have been looking forward to this day and I told myself that I would be there no matter what happens or where I am at. I called Tyler on the phone to ask when the Court of Honor was and when he told me that it was on a Tuesday my heart sank. I started the St. George Fire Academy and classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At orientation, my instructors told us we were not allowed to miss class for any reason. So you can understand I was really upset at first and asked Tyler if the court of honor could be moved to another date. Unfortunately it couldn't be moved because seven other boys were also getting their Eagle awards at this Court of Honor. I told my brother that if I miss the academy class I would be kicked out or miss too much to catch up. My little brother with all his faith in the world told me, "I feel strongly that you will be able to be there, please at least ask to see if you can go." I said I would ask. I went to class the next day and asked my Captain if I would be able to go. In my head I knew the answer was going to be no, but I had a little faith and I hoped he would say yes. I was so excited when my Captain said "Let me talk to Chief and we will see what we can do." As I walked out of the room I was saying "Thank you Heavenly Father, thank you Heavenly Father." One more added blessing and answered prayer from the faith of a 15 year old boy!

As you can tell from the pictures I was able to make it to his Eagle Court of Honor. I was able to escort him to the front of the audience and sit in the Eagles nest. There was a total of seven boys that received their Eagle that night. I am so proud of my little brother for getting his Eagle, he worked hard to get where he needed to be.

Here ate the two Eagle Scouts after the Court of Honor. It is amazing how grown up my little brother is getting. He is really not that tall though, but I am sure that it will not be long before he is taller and bigger than his older brother. Before they had closing remarks the boys had a chance to give out mentor pins to the people who help them out the most in getting their Eagle. Tyler chose Mom and I as his mentors. I was so honored that my brother chose me as his mentor.

One of the other highlights of the nights was that there was a man who brought a Golden Eagle as part of the presentation of the Eagle Scouts. He explained certain characteristics that an Eagle has and compared them to an Eagle Scout. It was really cool to see an Eagle that close.

I am proud of you Tyler that you have achieved this amazing award.

Happy 1st Birthday Colby!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLBY! Look how much you have changed in one year:

Colby has gone from this:

7 lbs 13 oz and 20.5 inches tall

To this:

24 lbs 8 oz (90 percentile) and 30.25 inches tall (67 percentile)

In just one year!!!

We had a really fun birthday party for Colby on March 4. We invited all of our family to come and we had about 40 people at our house to help us celebrate this great occasion!

Here is my big birthday boy:

Colby loves his balloons. He would shake them and pounded on them and has played with them ever since we brought them out of the store. Unfortunately one popped in the car on the way home because he was playing a little too hard with it I guess. Colby didn't mind though. He still had four more to play with!

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive to start the party, we enjoyed the beautiful spring day outside. I love that the weather is getting warmer and we can play outside without coats on anymore. We finally put up a fence on the side of our yard for a dog run for Clifford. Now we have our yard back and we can go outside without worrying about stepping in doggie do-do. (YES!!!) We do let Clifford out to play with us at least once or twice a day so don't think we have totally exiled our dog from the yard. I actually think he like having a little place of his own in the yard. We are happier with the dog at least.

Any way back to the party... Everyone showed up at 6 or 6:30 and it was present time:

I think Emily, Paul, and Alex were more excited about opening presents than Colby was. He definitely had a lot of helpers to get the presents open. Emily decided Colby was being a little too slow at opening presents so she decided to help him by opening everything for him. She would put the present on his tray, rip it open, and show it to Colby. He would scream with excitement and then Emily would take the present out of his hands and grab another gift and Colby was totally fine with it. The whole situation was so funny to watch. Paul and Alex kept asking if they could help Colby unwrap the presents and Jen kept telling them no but the excitement was too much for them and they kept getting closer and closer to the action even stealing a rip or two. Finally Colby did get the hang of opening the presents and we made Emily leave him alone so he could do it himself. He even tasted a bit of the paper too! Being the crazy parents that we are, we forgot to buy birthday wrapping paper. Okay I didn't forget, I just thought we had more than we did. I got out the paper to wrap at about 10 Saturday night and realized we only had enough for two presents! So had to revert to using Christmas wrapping paper so I got out the roll that looked the least Christmas-y. That's okay no one seemed to care especially the kids!

Next it was time for cake:

I made Colby his very own cake to eat. Traci had to hold his hands down while I took a picture because he kept trying to touch the flame of the candle. We didn't want him to get burned. Colby is the funniest kid. He does not like anything messy or sweet, and he doesn't like to feed himself so he wanted nothing to do with the cake. He wouldn't even try it even when I tried to feed him a bite! He also doesn't like to be the center of attention (unlike Emily). He kept wondering why everyone was looking at him and was starting to get scared. He was about to cry until I took him out of the chair and told him it was okay if he didn't eat the cake. He was much happier sitting on my lap and even tried some ice cream.

By this time, it was starting to get dark and cold so everyone started heading home. When everyone had gone and things calmed down a bit, Colby was much happier and relaxed. I got out some of him new toys and we played for about an hour while Russell and Emily took the chairs and tables back to their homes. I learned something about my kids today. I realized that they have very different personalities. Emily is outgoing, crazy, talks to everyone about anything and must have people around her all the time (kind of like Russell). Colby on the other hand is more relaxed, plays really well by himself in his room, doesn't like being bugged, and just kind of goes with the flow. He does like structure though and has since he was born. He likes to go to bed at certain times. Colby gets along well with Emily because he just lets her do her own thing and so far is okay with being told how to play. That may change as he gets older but for now as long as she is not bugging him to much he is fine. I think he is more like me.

Colby is growing up so fast! He loves throwing the ball back and forth. Colby loves being outside sliding and swinging and playing with Clifford. He is always following Emily around the house. He likes cruising around the furniture and climbing up to look out the windows but Colby can't walk on his own yet. He does like to walk while holding onto my hands though so he will soon be brave enough to let go and go on his own.

Well for Colby's birthday, we had a car themed party. Russell and I had a lot of fun making all of the food:

We had a lot of family over. Like I mentioned before, we had about 40 people. We wanted to make sure we had enough treats for everyone so we made extras. First we made car and firetruck sugar cookies. I got a big bag of cookie cutters at the DI for $2 and these cookie cutters were in the bag and they were perfect for the party. Next I made a big pan of cookie cake with sugar cookie dough. By the time we got to decorating it the night before, it was about midnight. Russell and I were tired by then and so we got a little crazy. We had fun decorating the cookie cake as a race track using licorice ropes. We had a lot of fun and crazy ideas but in the end, the race track turned out good. Next I made a personal sized round cake for Colby to eat but he didn't even want to touch it... And finally the dump truck cake turned out cute. It was a little harder to make than the picture in the magazine made it look but it works. It was a two layer cake with Ho Ho snack cakes for axles and mini doughnuts for wheels. Everyone thought it looked like Mater.

Another fun decoration I made was this "Watch Me Grow" banner:

I took some of the pictures I had taken of Colby over the last year and strung them on a string placing car cutouts in between the pictures. It was fun to see how much he had changed over the year.

I also had fun making some gifts for Colby. After a year of wishing and hoping, I finally made my first quilt! I love how it turned out:

Some day (hopefully in the near future) when we separate the kids rooms, we are going to do Colby's in cars and trucks and a red and blue theme. The material I found matched perfectly. The quilt was actually quite easy to make; I don't know why it took me so long. I even used my mom's walking foot to quilt it on my sewing machine. I made the quilt a little bigger than the crib so that it will fit on the toddler bed when Colby out grows the crib. I also made a valance for the window to match. I will be posting the completed room soon...I hope.

Next is this car caddy. I made one for Emily when she was about Colby's age and she loved it so I know Colby will too. He likes driving the little cars around on the ground and hopefully this will keep him entertained at church. And finally, also for church are some cute little ties:

These ties were quite easy to make and I will definitely be making more. Ties are for boys like dresses are for girls. Ties are the way to dress up a little boy for church. Colby looks just like a little man with them on.

Happy Birthday Colby! You are such a joy to our family. We love you!!

Family Pictures

We had a new family picture taken on Friday. We needed to get Colby's one year old pictures taken (yeah I can't believe he is a year old either!) and while we were at it, we asked Roy if he would take a family picture of us as well. I think the pictures turned out so well.

I think this is such a cute one of these two. It was hard because this was taken at the end of the photo shoot and Colby was so done with pictures. Emily was a good sport and held on tightly to the squirmy Colby.

Here are our favorite Colby one year old pictures. He is getting so big! I love his one tooth smile.

These pictures were taken by my brother-in-law Roy Pryor on the Sugar Loaf near the Dixie rock. I love the red rock back ground. It is so nice to have a professional photographer in the family and he takes such awesome pictures! Check out his website Roy Pryor Photography and see his awesome work then schedule your next photo shoot!