Berry Picking

The kids and I took a weekend trip down to St. George to visit family this week.  My childhood friend, Kadee Woolsey, was having her mission farewell so I was not missing it.  Kadee's family is strong Lutheran and we all knew this so a couple years ago when Kadee told us she was getting baptized we were surprised but excited for her.  A year ago, I was also able to attend the temple when she received her endowments.  I was really happy to see her excitement about receiving her mission call to Federal Way, WA.  Even though we had moved out of town, I did not want to miss her mission farewell. 

Kadee did an awesome job on her talk and I know she will be an amazing missionary.

Also while we were in St. George, We took a fun trip up to General Steam to pick blackberries.  There were not many but enough to keep us busy for a little while.

We had a blast picking berries and wrestling the thorns to get to the best ones.  We all came home scraps and scratches on our arms and legs but we also came home with a couple of bags of berries which my mom made into yummy jam.

We also met a nice little friend, Tarantula.  It was in the berry bushes and when we found him, we decided we had enough berries and called it quits.  It was also dinner time and my dad was calling for us to tell us the hot dogs were ready.  This was a really fun outing with the Hughes.  

The kids and I headed home on Monday after a fun weekend.  This was a really fun trip but we were happy to be back home too.

Top of Utah Half Marathon

I ran my third half marathon this weekend; the Top of Utah Half Marathon.  I had a great experience and got my personal best time of 1:51 (8:30 min/mile).  I think the reason this was such a better race this time was because I was better trained because I am training for the marathon and because I had ran this course multiple times so I knew what to expect.  Either way, it was a really fun race.

Oh, and along the way, I had my own personal cheerleaders! They were pretty amazing.  I saw Russell and the kids at mile seven.  When I heard their cheers and saw their signs, I totally caught a second wind and got a huge energy boost from them.  I was so glad they were there.

Here are some pictures of me along the way at mile seven, ten and a half, and finally the finish line.

As always, I was really excited to finish especially when I knew I had gotten a good time.  After the race, met up with my awesome family and my little cheerleaders.  They were so happy for me.

We found out that Emily's first grade teacher was running the race too so when Emily spotted her, she had to get a picture with her as well.

The after race food was really good too. Great Harvest bread, chocolate milk, Fat Boys, and of course bananas, oranges and Gatorade.  I think I took more than my share but it was really good...

Here are my results and my finisher medal.  Now on to the Top of Utah Full Marathon coming up in a month!

That night, we hung out with our neighbors up in Left Hand Fork.  We had a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. 

This was such a fun night with the Jones', Halogen's, and Maxfield's.  It has been nice to meet new friends and hang out with them.  The kids had a blast playing in the dirt together too.

We all came home  dirty and smelling like a camp fire.  What a fun day!

First Day of First Grade!

Emily had her first day of First Grade today.  She had been looking forward to this day all summer.  She couldn't wait to start First Grade at her new school.  Here is our cute First Grader:

Emily was really excited to be staying at school all day and eating lunch there and having three recesses!  She couldn't wait to pack her lunch in her new Frozen lunchbox.  She even made her own sandwich. 

We walked to school this morning because the school is only a few blocks from our house.  Emily is now going to Canyon Elementary and is a Canyon Colt.  Here she is with her new teacher, Mrs. McBride.

And here she is at her new desk!  

When I picked her up from school she talked non stop about all of the fun things they did at school.  She told us about lunch and recess.  She said she hadn't made any friends yet but it was only the first day.  She did play with her friends from church at recess though.  Emily also told us all about Mrs. McBride and how cool she was.  Then she said, "Do you want me to tell you a secret? Mrs. McBride thinks we are the best class in the whole school!"  I just had to smile.  I hope she continues to love school and think it is fun.  I also hope she makes lots of new friends and learns a lot this year.

Fire in the Hole!

Last night was probably the scariest night of my life. We almost burnt down our house!  

For dinner we grilled up some deer steaks and had potatoes and veggies.  It was a great dinner.  While we were eating, Russell left the grill on to burn off and clean off any leftover food pieces stuck on the grill.  After we ate, Russell got ready to go to work.  Then the kids and I headed to the park to meet the other kids and families of the preschool group we are starting.  We had a great time at the park.  We played in the Splash pad and met a few new friends.

The kids had so much fun they didn't want to leave.  I think this new preschool group I have Colby in will be really good for him and the other ladies seem really great.

Finally we left the park and set off for home.  When I got home I faintly smelled propane but I thought nothing of it.  I got the kids into the bath and ready for bed.  Every night we open the windows in our house to let the night air cool the house during the night.  When I was opening the side window, I noticed our backyard was glowing and flickering.  I was so confused thinking "Who would have a fire going this time of night and so close to the houses?"  So I dashed over to the back door to see what was going on.  That is when I saw it.  THE FIRE!  Our barbecue grill was on fire and blowing flames right toward our house!  I ran outside to see if I could put the fire out and told the kids so stay in the house.  We were all freaking out.  Logan was crying.  I rushed to the grill and noticed that it was still turned on so I tried to turn it off.  The knob seemed to be stuck but finally I was able to turn it to the off position.  The fire was still raging and I noticed that the hose from the propane tank to the grill was melted clean off and just dangling there.  The fire was blowing out of the propane tank.  It was so scary because the fire was just like a blow torch just blowing out the side of the grill and propane tank.  

I tried to call Russell about a million times so he could tell me what to do but he must have been on a call and couldn't answer.  I had no idea what to do so turned the grill and "blow torch" away from the house and raced to the front yard to get the hose.  I wrestled the hose to the backyard, hooked it up to the spigot, and then wrestled the big knot of the hose over to the fire.  I sprayed the flame with a ton of water and it was still blazing.  I knew if I could turn off the propane tank I could stop the fire but in order to do that I would have burned my whole arm off in the process.  I decided that was not the best idea. That is when I decided I needed more help and for the first time in my life, I called 911.  I gave the dispatcher all of the information and she asked if the fire was near the propane tank.  That is when it hit me, this propane tank was going to explode and catch everything on fire!  I kind of freaked out again.  The dispatch lady said to get everyone out of the house and away from the fire and the fire department was on their way.  

I ran in the house and got the kids out and we waited in the corner of our backyard.  When I came back outside, I noticed a little flame trailing into the propane tank and I just got sick to my stomach.  I could hear the sirens coming but it seemed like they were not coming fast enough.  Just then, Kevin, the fire chief (and a guy in our ward), came around the side of the house, grabbed the grill, and just pulled it away from the house and into the grass.  I had tried to do that but with broken wheels on the grill it was hard and I didn't want to tip the grill over.  Then Kevin came and got the hose from me and started spraying the fire too.  The fire trucks finally arrived and in one spray of their hose snuffed the fire out and quickly turned the propane tank off.  I was so relieved.  I cannot even describe what a relief it was to see the fire out and my house still standing.  Luckily this was the only damage done:

Our grill was right next to the outside railing so by the time I got outside and moved the grill, the fire had melted and charred our railing.  This could have been much worse but I am glad it wasn't.  The other picture is of the melted hose to the barbecue grill.  After this melted, the fire was just blowing like a blow torch.  

The Hyrum Fire guys were really cool about the whole thing.  I felt really dumb calling 911 because Russell is a fire fighter and I felt like I should have known what to do. They all joked about how much better Hyrum Fire Department was than Logan Fire Department.  They even let the kids get in their fire trucks and honk the horns.  Even though I felt dumb calling, I am glad I did and the fire was put out.   

Russell was on shift at the time and heard the call go out.  This is the CAD call screen giving the fire fighters all of the information they need.  When he heard the address and the possible structure fire page, he knew that was our house and started calling me.  Because Hyrum is out of his service area he couldn't just jump and go to the call.  He couldn't get a hold of me on the phone because I was on the phone with 911 so he called our neighbor to come check on us.  Then I heard over the radio him say "That is my house we will be there in a minute!"  His co-workers all told him to never say "That is my house." over the radio.  His chief let him take the ambulance out to our house to check on us.  By the time he got there, the fire was out and the Hyrum FD was getting ready to leave.  They immediately started razzing him and saying Hyrum was better than Logan.  We didn't care, we were just glad we were safe and the fire was out.  Russell said that the rest of his shift he was being teased but then he also heard a bunch of stories about other fire fighters houses being burned.  So I guess it happens to everyone even if you are a fire fighter and should know better.  A lot of our friends and family members were also teasing us saying we wanted job security and things like that.  I am so glad we were safe.  The kids were pretty shaken up and kept saying things like they didn't want the house to burn down because they would miss their toys and things.  I had to explain that we could get new toys and even a new house but we could not get a new Emily or a new Colby or a new Logan so we were blessed to be safe.  While I was outside trying to put out the fire and on the phone with 911, the kids got together and said a prayer.  Emily said to Colby "Should we say a prayer?" and Colby said "Yeah."  So all three of them got together and said a prayer that we would be safe and the fire would get out.  When they told me this, I couldn't help but be so proud of them for asking help from Heavenly Father.  I didn't even think of that!  I told them thank you for saying a prayer and that their prayer had been answered.  That night when we said bedtime prayers, we remembered to thank Heavenly Father for answering their prayers and keeping us safe.  Sometimes these kids amaze me!

It was after midnight when I finally went to bed because the adrenaline was still pumping and I couldn't calm down.  I kept looking out the back window to make sure the fire hadn't started up again.  Finally I was able to go to sleep.

This morning we woke up and realized how blessed we were to still have our house so I decided we needed take better care of it.  We spent the day cleaning the house top to bottom.  While we were cleaning, I told Emily to go downstairs and get something.  Then I heard her yelling upstairs to me something about how cute these mice were.  I rushed downstairs to see what she was talking about and we found these two new little friends:

Yeah these nasty little mice were in our window well.  I couldn't believe it.  I knew there were mice in the field behind our house but I hoped they would never come to our house.  I really hope they don't come in our house especially this winter.  So now I don't know what to do about these stupid little mice.  I hope they stay in the window well until Russell comes home and gets them.  Or maybe a cat will jump down there and eat them.  I really just hope they don't get into the house!  Man if it isn't one thing it is another!  I am just glad we are safe.

End of Summer Fun

With school starting next week, we decided we needed to have a little end of summer fun.  Emily will start first grade next week and Colby will be in preschool.  They are both looking forward to going to school.

Before summer ended, we knew we needed to check out the Logan Aquatic Center.  Luckily, Logan City put on a fun swimming party for all of their employees on Friday so we were able to go.  We had a blast.  The kids loved the leisure pool because they could just wade around with no worries of the water getting too deep.  I loved it for that reason too.  We splashed around, tried to swim, and just had a good time.  

 Russell and I also decided we need to get the kids into swimming lessons so they will know how to float and swim and not be afraid of the deep water.  While we were playing, we tried to teach all three of the kids how to float on their backs but they kept freaking out and wouldn't even try.  Oh well they will learn someday.

 Probably their favorite part of the Aquatic Center was the hydro slide!  Colby and Logan loved sliding down with Russell and me.  Emily had a blast going down by herself.  Thankfully a life guard caught her at the bottom each time.  We also won a prize for diving and catching a starfish.  Emily and Colby selected a bird feeder as our prize.  They cannot wait for us to hang it up at our house.

The next morning, for my marathon training run, Russell and the kids dropped me off up Blacksmith Fork Canyon and I ran 18 miles into Logan.  Then they met me at the Merrill Olsen park in Logan.  This was a really good run.  It was the farthest I have ever gone but I felt really good while I was running.  At the park the kids were playing in the river so I decided to join them and because the water was cold, I used it as an ice bath to cool the muscles in my legs.  It was supposed to help with soreness but I am still kind of sore.  Oh the joys of running...

When we got home, instead of getting ready for the day, we decided to head to Hyrum Reservoir and spend the day at the lake.

 This was so much fun and so relaxing!  We all had a blast in the water just splashing and playing around.  Emily is getting braver and was actually trying to learn to float and swim while we were teaching her.  The boys on the other had are still scared.  But they did like the fact that the life jackets helped them float when they got too far out.

We spent pretty much all day at the lake and came home with very nice sunburns...  I remembered to put sunscreen on the kids faces but their backs as well as mine and Russell's were pretty red.  Oh well it was still fun...

Today is Sunday and our family had to talk in sacrament meeting in our new ward.  I was dreading this ever since we moved in and then Russell pretty much volunteered us to speak because he had this Sunday off.  I am glad it is over now and to tell you the truth, it wasn't that bad.  Emily and Colby also spoke in sacrament with us!  They did such a great job!  Emily wanted to talk from the beginning so together we wrote a little talk about our topic, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.  She read it and practiced it all week long and was so excited to give her talk.  She gave her talk all by herself, we didn't even have to be by her!  She is much braver than I am.  Colby said he didn't want to give a talk.  I found him a little talk about things we can do on Sunday but he still didn't want to do it.  I wasn't going to push him because he is 4 and didn't really need to do one.  Then this morning, Russell, Emily and I got our talks ready to go to church and Colby came up to me and said he wanted to do his talk.  I was kind of shocked and asked him if he was sure.  He said yes and was really excited so I found his little talk and we practiced it a couple of times before church. Then when it was his turn to talk in sacrament meeting, he got right up to the microphone and, with me whispering the words in his ear, gave his little talk so perfectly.  He didn't even play around or make funny noises in the mic, he just gave his talk so well.  I was so proud of my kids for doing such a great job and setting the example for me to not be scared and just do it.  

What a great weekend!

Martin Harris Pageant

Last night we had the opportunity to go to the Martin Harris Pageant in Clarkston.  We have been to this pageant a couple times before and this time was just as good.  

 While we were waiting for the Pageant to begin, we noticed that a storm seemed to be rolling in.  We were worried that the show would be cancelled due to rain.  The wind was also blowing so hard and the sky was getting darker because of the clouds.  Then right before the show began, the opening prayer was offered asking to temper the weather so that the show would be able to go on.  Just then, the sky seemed to break and this awesome rainbow appeared like it was telling us the storm would pass.  It was so cool and an answer to the prayer.  The kids even recognized that the prayer was answered.  What a great teaching and learning moment.  It did sprinkle a little bit during the show but nothing to really worry about. 

 Like I said before, the show was really good.  Our Uncle Paul and cousin Calen were in the play and we loved watching them act as the town drunk and the village idiot!  Calen even did a cartwheel on the stage and they both danced around during the show.   The Martin Harris pageant is all about Martin Harris' life and his role in bringing forth the Book of Mormon and helping Joseph Smith further the Gospel and the Church.  Martin Harris is also one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon.  The Martin Harris Pageant is held at the Clarkston cemetery where Martin Harris is buried.  At the end of the show, Martin Harris prays to see the gold plates and is visited by the Angel Moroni with the gold plates.  At this point, the Spirit was so strong that even Emily and Colby recognized it.  They said they felt really good and we were able to tell them that it was the Spirit with them.  Another good teaching moment.  

After the show we met up with Paul and Calen and told them how much we loved the show and what a good job they did.  

What a great Family Home Evening night.

Golden Spike, Great Salt Lake, and the Fair

More fun adventures of the Farnsworth family. Tiffany has been wanting to go to this since we got into the valley. We finally made it out to the Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Point. Tiffany found a day where we were able to get in free and watch the reenactment of the two rail roads coming together.   

This was the place that the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad came together and formed the Transcontinental rail line going all the way across the country.  The final railroad spike driven was a Golden Spike.  The rail lines met on May 10, 1869.  

The whole day we were there was full of fun activities for everyone. They started off with the re-enactment of the rail road meeting. We watched the two trains chug into the station and meet across from each other just like they did originally.The two trains used were made almost exactly like the real ones. Pictured first is the Jupiter from the Central Pacific Railroad from the East.  (Logan called this train "Thomas").

This second train pictured is the 119 from the Union Pacific Railroad from the west. (Logan called this train "Stephen" one of Thomas's friends.)  In order to make these trains the designers went off of old black and white pictures of the original ones. The people who owned the Promontory Point asked Walt Disney if he would make the trains but he turned down the job and suggested a friend of his do it. The bid was for $750,000 for each train, but the people who built them spent over 1.5 million for each of them. The ranger who was there said they were only a 1/4 of an inch off of the original specs. Before and after the re-enactment we were go inside the train and see inside. The Jupiter was a wood driven stream train and the 119 was a coal burning steam train. We found out that coal driven was better because the coal burned hotter creating more steam so the trains could go further and haul more than wood burning trains.

The reenactment of the rail road coming together was pretty fun to watch.  The actors were so funny. They had the four spikes that they drove into the ground. Two gold spikes and two silver spikes. The show was really good. 

Logan's favorite part was of course the choo choos, he would say, "Mom, Dad here comes Thomas and Stephen." Colby loved see inside the trains and his eyes were big when he got to see how big they were. Emily loved the trains also, but she was all about the activities.

Here are some of the fun activities they had. They showed how everyone in the United States was able to know that the stakes were driven in and they did it by a telegram operator who was sending out the message as the people were talking. The coolest part was once the last spike was in, the last telegram went out to the President and the message said D.O.N.E. The whole U.S. got to celebrate together. 

We also got to ride on a gas driven rail cart called a Speeder; we got to ride it up and down the track. 

Some other fun activities were relay races, junior ranger activities, and board games from that era. There was also a timed wood tossing contest. In this contest, the kids got to throw logs into the trains firebox to see who could do it the fastest. Colby was the funnest to watch. He put on his tough face and off he went to work. He did a great job throwing those logs in. Emily and Logan also had their turn and each did a great job. They each got a certificate with their names on it and their times.

 Another funny contest was a buffalo pie throwing contest. The kids threw actual buffalo (or cow) pies!  Yummy! Emily was sure glad there were gloves she could wear or I do not think she would have done it.

We had a lot of fun at the Golden Spike Site.  We want to come back again on May 10th, on the anniversary of the actual reunion, when they do an even bigger celebration and re-enactment.

After leaving Golden Spike, we decided that since we were so close to the Great Salt Lake, we would visit that too. 

We went to the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake.  This Jetty was built by Robert Smithson in 1970.  It was really cool to see.  The water levels in the Great Salt Lake fluctuate so sometimes the Jetty is surrounded by water, submerged, or visible.  When we went, the water levels were low so we were able to see the entire Jetty and also walk all around it on dry ground.  The ground around the Jetty was all encrusted with crystallized salt.  After exploring the Jetty, we continued walking out to the Great Salt Lake.  It was so crazy walking out to the Lake because the ground we were walking on was pretty much all hard salt.  In fact, you will notice in the pictures, the ground was all white and it looked like snow!

I have never been to the Great Salt Lake before and I have always wanted to go.  This was a fun experience.  It was also really crazy how much salt was everywhere.  I knew the Great Salt Lake was salty (obviously because of the name), but I really pictured it being more like the ocean.  No it was not like the ocean; it was much more salty!  In fact the water actually felt gritty in your hands and when the water dried on your hands, your skin instantly dried out, was itchy, and left a salty film.  

All around the water was this salty sea foam.  The foam was like nothing you have seen. It would disintegrate into salt as soon as you touched it, the wind would blow it around like a ball, and it was gritty to the touch.  The kids had a blast playing in it.   We could even pick up handfuls of salt off of the ground.

Russell decided to venture out into the salty lake just to see what it was like.  He said the ground was really hard and rough on his bare feet; nothing like sand.  When he came back, his legs were all dried up and powdery from the salt.  We decided that next time we come, we will bring our sandals so we can wade out in the water a little more.  We will also bring some extra water to wash ourselves off afterward.  If you look at the last picture above, you will see what I meant by the shore around the lake being white like snow because of the salt.  The ground was also very flat which I guess is why they call it the "salt flats!"  The water of the Great Salt Lake was pink!  Weird huh!  The reason it is pink is because of salt-loving microbes that live in the water.  

When we got back to the parking lot near the Spiral Jetty, Colby found this awesome rock mountain to climb.  He was King of the Mountain!

We were so tired after playing all day so the kids slept most of the ride home which was only a little over an hour.    Even though Russell and I were ready for bed, we had been promising the kids we would go to the Cache County Fair all week.  With this being the last day of the fair, we told them we could go.

They loved seeing all of the animals in the livestock and 4-H areas.  It is funny to compare the Washington County Fair to this fair because the Cache County Fair is definitely more agriculture based.  There were all kinds of animals from cows to sheep and pigs, and even chickens and pigeons!  

A couple really awesome animals we were able to see was two elephants!

These guys were huge!  We were all in awe as the elephants walked passed us and we were able to see them.  They elephant owners were offerings rides on the elephants but they were quite a lot of money so we just watched them instead.

After looking at all of the exhibits and vendor booths, we decided to hit the rides.  We each got to ride one ride.  Colby chose the motorcycle ride and, as you can tell from his face, he loved every minute of it.

Emily chose the Ferris Wheel.  Logan wanted to ride the motorcycle ride too but couldn't because he was too short.  He was able to ride the Ferris Wheel with Emily though as long as I rode with them.  He seemed okay with that.  Emily loved the ride and so did Logan.  Each time we went around, they would yell and wave to Colby and Russell on the ground.  The Ferris Wheel is not my favorite ride so I, on the other hand, was okay as long as we were going around but did not like it when we had to stop at the very top to let the passengers on the bottom get off.  I just don't like being that high up without a safety belt or anything to hold you in...  Oh well the kids loved it so it was worth it to let them have fun.

We had such a fun day today.  I am glad we were able to make fun trips and memories like this every once in a while.