Warm Weather Fun

This is just a fun little update with some random pictures of the kids having fun in the sun.  After the long winter, we are enjoying the summer.  Well we though spring had come when all the snow melted in March and April.  We tilled and planted our garden, got out all of our summer clothes and we were ready for summer.  Then May 17 came and we looked outside and saw this:

Yes that is snow.  Snow in May!  Come on Elsa just bring back summer!  There was about 3-5 inches of snow on the ground and I had to go back through the clothing totes and get the kids some winter clothes to wear to school that day.  We were also really worried about our garden and hoping it did not freeze and die.  Thankfully though the snow melted by the next day and it was Spring again.

The kids love playing outside especially with their friends.  Eliza and Nixon pretty much live here and they love swinging and playing with Logan.  Charlotte also loves swinging in her swing and being outside for the first time in her life.  Emily, Colby, and Logan just roam the neighborhood, riding their bikes, and playing with any kids that are outside.  They love it!

Sometimes we just go outside and sit in the sun and soak up the Vitamin D.  We love having picnics in the backyard.

Emily and Colby also live outside now.  Emily has become quite the tree climber.  She and Colby have placed claim on the trees in the backyard and love to climb the trees and sit and eat their lunch in them.  

We recently got a trampoline from our neighbors.  They got a new one and asked us if we wanted their old one.  We said yes and that has been the best thing ever.  The kids love the trampoline and have pretty much lived on is since we got it.  Colby is quite the trickster and has learned how to do flips and other tricks on the trampoline.

More fun is had at the park too.  All of the kids even Charlotte love the splash pads.  They just love getting wet.  I think they have spent more time in their swimming suits than actual clothes this summer.

More tree climbing and park playing for these boys.  They think they are monkeys and can climb any tree.  

Another fun thing has been going to the summer activities at the library.  This year's theme for summer reading is "Building a Better World."  All of the activities have had something to do with building.  In this picture the kids are showing off the things they built.  They all built cardboard ukuleles and Colby built a castle out of cups and toilet paper rolls.  They all turned out really good.

These are just funny pictures of us while we watched Emily's softball game.

Our garden survived the May snow and we have had some good harvests so far.  We have tons of lettuce and spinach, kale, peas, radishes and a lot of strawberries so far.  We also planted potatoes, corn, cucumbers, pumpkin, sunflowers, carrots, beets, tomatoes, onions and watermelon.  We are hoping it all grows.  Unfortunately our carrots did not do well this year and the ants got to our potatoes before they got very big.  We did get quite a few baby potatoes though so we are going to eat those with the peas in a gravy.  That is so good.   

Another fun thing Russell did with the kids is sleep out on the trampoline.  I remember loving this as a kid.  They had fun sleeping outside until it got too cold.  Too bad they picked the coldest night of the summer because it was only about 45 degrees.  It is warmer now so they will have to do it again.  They also struggled because they kept sliding to the middle of the tramp where Russell was sleeping so they were all squished together.  Finally they came inside at about 2 am.  They had fun other than that and want to do it again.

Another fun day was visiting with the Stewart's and seeing baby Kari.  These cousins could play together all the time.  Emily and Colby had a good time with Paul and Alex while we took Logan to Primary Children's.  Logan has what is called, hydrocele.  The doctor at Primary's said that he will probably need surgery to fix it if it doesn't go away on its own.  So we are waiting a few months to see if it goes away and then we will need to go back.  One thing after another right? 

Anyway we are having a great summer so far and we love the warm weather and being outside in the sunshine.  We love you summer.  Never go away.

Grace... Cancer Journey Part 5

Sometimes life is crazy and just throws you curve balls every which way.  Other times you start to realize that those curve balls are given to you to make you stronger and to help you realize all that you have good in your life.  I think one of those curve balls in my life is this cancer.  I am trying to put my trust in the Lord and endure this trial the best I can and also learn what I can from it.  I am coming to realize that sometimes our trials are blessings in disguise.  It is really crazy that I have to go through this trial to help me realize all the great people in my life that love and care for me.  I think that is one of the things I am meant to learn through this trial.  I know I am only maybe half way through and the worst is yet to come but I want to put into writing some of the blessings I have received from this trial.

I recently read an amazing book called, The Christ-Centered Home.  It is a great book and I would recommend it to everyone.  In the book it talks about how to have a better Christ-centered home and how to recognize Christ's hand in your life.  One statement in the book really stood out to me.  It said, "Grace (of God) are the times when the ordinary details of life are orchestrated in such a way that you  are reminded heaven has not forgotten you."  There have been many instances in this cancer journey so far that I have been reminded that heaven has not forgotten me.  There are times that I get down and start feeling sorry for myself but then something will happen that makes me realize that I am not alone in this.  Heavenly Father is aware of my needs and sends blessings when I need them.  It is always in the little things that I see this.

Little things like a friend stopping me at church and saying out of the blue, "I know you are starting treatment next week, what time are you bringing your kids over?"  This really came as a shock and blessing because I didn't know what I was going to do with my kids while Russell and I were at the hospital all day.  She was totally fine with having the kids over all day and was especially excited to have Charlotte all day.  

Little things like another friend sending me a YouTube video of a song that helps them through hard times.  When I watched the video, I was in tears because it was exactly what I needed to hear at that time.  

Little things like a neighbor saying "We need to have a party before you start chemo so don't plan anything for Friday because we are going to the lake!"  This totally came out of the blue but we had a great time at the lake with some neighbors we normally wouldn't have hung out with.  We love the Wood's now and had a great time getting to know them.

Little things like only having Stage I cancer and a very high survival rate.

Little things like friends bringing dinner and treats just to say we are thinking about you and hope you are doing well.

Little things like getting a text from a friend in New Mexico saying she had been thinking about me and wondering if I was okay.  That was probably the hardest day I have had so far and it meant so much to me to have someone think about me.

Little things like having a bishop in tune with the Spirit enough to give me the perfect scriptures and conference talks to read and listen to.  

Little things like having the Stake President call on a random Saturday morning and say I have been thinking about your family can I come by today and visit with you?  This really came as a shock because I had no idea the Stake President even knew what was going on.  We had a great visit with him and a general authority, Elder Nattress of the Seventy.  This was also a surprise but it was a great blessing.  Elder Nattress told us about his wife and her battle with cancer too and that another woman with cancer helped them out and gave them hope to make it through.  He told me that I would be okay and I would be a blessing and help to other cancer patients.  This was a great visit and exactly what I needed.  It really let me know that Heavenly Father was watching over me and my family.  

Little things like receiving a letter in the mail.  A few weeks after our visit with President Acevedo and Elder Nattress, I got a letter in the mail from Elder Nattress.  He thanked us for letting him come visit with us.  (We really should have been thanking him!)  His letter was very uplifting and one line really stood out to me.  He said, "Sister Farnsworth, the Lord is ever mindful of you and His angels will bear you up as you face this trial and experience."  This really touched me and gave me hope as I face this next phase of this cancer journey, Chemotherapy.  

Heaven has not forgotten me or my family.  The little things are evident of that.

June 9th was National Cancer Survivors Day here in Cache Valley. 

I don't know if I am considered a Cancer Survivor just yet but I am surviving cancer so far.  This was a fun night but I kind of felt bad being there because I have not gone through chemo or anything like the other people there had done.  But I guess I have been through a hard part of cancer, being diagnosed.  That was something we all had endured.  That night we listened to Desirae Ogden, a cancer survivor, tell her story.  She also gave each of us her book and I have loved reading her story.  I could not put it down because it was exactly the things that were going though my head as well.  Come to find out, Desirae is from Leeds and was one of Lacie's friends in school.  Small world.  Her story also gave me hope and was a blessing to read her story and get a better idea of what to expect from Chemo.

This journey has been one I never thought I would take but I will make it through one day at a time with the help of Russell and my kids.  These are the things worth living for and I love them!

To update on the healing process of  my incisions.  I went to the doctor on June 22 and Dr. Isom actually came and got me out of the waiting room.  He immediately asked how everything looked and I told him I thought it was healed and looked good.  He was relieved and said he had been losing sleep over me and hoping I was healing.  When he looked at the stitches, he said that yes everything looked great!  He took out the stitches and put sterile strips on it to help it heal completely. This has also been a blessing because we were really worried it would not heal and we would have to start over.  I am so happy we don't have to do that and I think Dr. Isom is glad about that too. He gave us the okay to start chemo finally.  So now we are onto the next scary step.  My first chemotherapy treatment is scheduled for July 10th.  So on we go with this cancer journey.

To be continued...

Party Time

Our neighbors have been so awesome to us while we have been going through this cancer thing.  The other day at church our neighbor, Laura Wood came up to me and said "Hey we need to have a party before you start chemo!  Don't plan anything for Friday because we are going to the lake."  I was like "Um okay lets do it!"  So Friday we went to the lake with the Wood's and the Swan's.  

We had a great time swimming and just chatting with everyone.  The kids especially loved swimming with their friends and splashing everyone with their floaters.  We had sloppy Joe's, hot dogs and salad and just enjoyed the warm weather.  It was so nice to just let go, have fun and get to know our neighbors better.

Then on Sunday, the Halligan's decided they wanted to throw a whole block/ward party in their yard.  Garrett made a smoker and smoked us some pork and it was so good.  We all brought something to share and it was such a really fun party.

As you can see there were tons of people there!  We all ate and chatted and played volleyball.  The volleyball game was so hilarious to watch.  We were all entertained by every one's awesome skills.  We definitely need to do this again soon because we all had a blast just joking and goofing off.  We love our neighborhood and ward!!

Mutton Busters

We have a couple of rodeo cowboys in our family!!  This weekend was the Hyrum Star Spangled Rodeo so of course we had to go.   Calen and Rochelle went with us.  We had a lot of fun watching the bull riders and bronco riders.  Usually my favorite part is the barrel racing but I think this year it was the mutton bustin'.   

The kids have always wanted to do the Mutton Busting so when we heard about sign ups on the radio, we had to call and get the info.  Unfortunately Emily was too big to do it but Colby and Logan were so excited to go mutton busting.

The boys could not wait to ride their sheep.  Russell and I were giving them pointers all day long.  We were telling them things like hold on tight, and don't let go no matter what.  Finally it was go time.  They were in the shoot, on the sheep, and ready to open the gate.

Colby was first:

Colby did great.  He held on so long then the sheep stopped running so Colby thought the ride was over and jumped off.  Then the sheep took off running again as he was jumping off.  Colby said it was so much fun!  He felt like he was riding a car down a bumpy road.  Colby scored a whopping 76 points on his ride.

Next it was Logan's turn:

Off he ran.  He stayed on for quite a while but then he started slipping down the sheep and as he fell off he tripped the sheep and it jumped right over his head.  Logan rolled and crashed into the dirt.  This was not what Logan expected and was in tears as the rodeo clown picked him up and took him back to Russell.  The crowd cheered for him though as the announcer told him to turn and wave.  Logan scored a big 79 points for his ride.  Logan said he had fun and liked it until he fell off and then he didn't like it anymore. 

Unfortunately the boys did not win the belt buckle for first place.  Logan was really close and came in second place by one point.  The winner scored 80 points.

Here are our rodeo cowboys showing off their mutton busting shirts.   When I asked them if they would do it again, Colby said "Yes!" but Logan had to think about it for a while. Finally though he said he would do it again.  We had a great time at the rodeo this year.  We can't wait to do it again next year.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Colby and Emily have enjoyed playing baseball this last month.  I think they have found a sport they really like.  This was their first year playing baseball and they have really done a fantastic job.  They still need to work on catching but their batting and throwing is getting pretty good.  

Colby played T-Ball and his team was the Owlz.

He loved hitting the ball off the tee and running the bases.  While in the field he was all business and chased and threw the ball so far.

He had a fun team this year and made a lot of friends.  His friend, Kendrick, was on his team and the two boys had a good time together.  Good Job Colby!  

Emily also had a good time playing Softball.  Her team was the Hyrum Blaze.

At first she was a little scared of the ball but by the end of the season she was batting like a champ and was a great fielder too.  She said first base was hard because everyone threw the ball to you.  She liked the other bases though.  He favorite part was batting when she hit the ball and could run the bases.

This was a fun team for Emily to be on because a lot of her friends from school were on this team.  Her good friend, Jadaci, was on her team which made it extra fun.  She also had a blast with Maylin, Sadie, Tayley, Mckaila, and some new friends Aspen and Tessa.  Emily said she definitely wants to play again next year.  

We had a great season at the ball field.

Hogle Zoo

Before starting chemo and life getting too crazy, we decided to take a few fun trips with the kids and enjoy the summer.  Last week we took the kids to Hill Air Force Base Museum.  They loved it.  This week we took a trip to Salt Lake and went to Hogle Zoo.  This was such a fun trip and the kids loved seeing all of the animals.

It was a hot day so a lot of the animals were hiding in the shade or sleeping but the animals we were able to see were awesome.  

Right when we walked into the zoo, we spotted the giraffes first thing.  The giraffes were so big!  We were up on a tall outlook building and their heads came right up to us.  It was fun to see them.

Next we came to the lions.  While we were looking at the giraffes we saw the lions come running out of their building.  We walked over to the lion enclosure just as they were getting fed so we watched them lay in the shade and eat the bones they were fed. Colby said his favorite animal a the zoo was the lions.

As we left the lions, we walked by the monkey cages.

The monkeys were out sitting in the trees.  They were fun to look at.  Then Logan noticed one that was pooping and pointed it out to every one.  Now every time he talks about going to Hogle Zoo he says "Remember that monkey we saw that was pooping!"  He is a funny boy.

Logan kept saying he wanted to see the elephants.  Finally we found the elephant enclosure.

The zoo worker had a piece of elephant skin and let us feel what an elephant feels like.  It was really rough and thick skin.  While we were at the elephants, we were able to watch the Pachyderm Program where the trainers showed us how they train the elephants and take care of them.  The show was really cool.

It was really fun to see the elephants so close to us.  They are so big too!  During the show, we watched the elephants pick things up with their trunks, kick soccer balls, spray the audience with water, and one elephant even painted a picture with his trunk.  The trainers also showed us how they check the elephants' teeth and feet and body to make sure they are healthy.  It was a good show.

Here are the kids next to an elephant skull and femur bone.  It just gives you an idea about how big these animals are!  While waiting for the elephant show to start, we joined an African drum circle and had a good time playing the different instruments.  

Here we are next to the awesome elephant statue that sprays water out of its trunk.  It was a cool sculpture.

Next to the Elephants were the Rhinos.

These guys were just as big as the elephants!  It was fun to watch them from outside but Emily got an up close look when she went inside.  Emily went in the underground lookout place and the rhino was right there by the window!  She thought that was pretty awesome.

One of my favorite animals was the Gorilla area.

We got to see the gorilla right next to the window!  He was just taking a nap and then realized that people were looking at him so he got up and stretched and started walking around.  It was cool how the gorilla just looked at us like we were crazy.  The kids got to measure themselves against the different sizes of gorillas.  Charlotte is that size of an infant gorilla, Logan is the size of a child gorilla, and Emily is the size of an adult female gorilla.  Well she might be as tall as a gorilla but her hands are a lot smaller.

After seeing the gorillas, we decided to go see the bird show.  This was probably one of the best things we saw at the zoo.

While at the bird show, we saw a bunch of different kinds of birds.  As the birds flew in, they flew right over our heads!  In fact we had to duck down or we would have been hit.  We saw parrots, owls, ravens, falcons, hawks, and eagles.  One green parrot could even talk!  It answered different questions that the trainer ask it.  It was amazing.  The eagles were awesome too.  The golden eagle swooped right down over our heads and then up into a tree.  Then it would not come back down no matter what the trainer tried to do.  Finally though it swooped back down over our heads and you could feel the wind from its beating wings.  Awesome!  Then when they brought out the bald eagle we were all in awe of the beauty and majesty of that great bird.  This show was very fun and entertaining.

Eagles are huge too.  This is a replica of an eagle's nest and all my kids fit right in it.  Logan is not even close to as big as an eagle's wing span.  

We saw so many animals at the zoo.  The kids loved pointing out all of the different animals and saying ooh and aah!

Another of my favorite animals was the giant tortoise.  This guy was huge!! I could have probably ridden on its back!

Colby loved seeing the crocodiles too.  We were pretty close to them so I was glad there was a glass fence between us.  Next we went into the reptile and small animal house and saw all sorts of animals including, snakes, lizards, frogs, foxes, monkeys, owls, turtles, spiders, and a bunch of other things.  We just walked slowly through so we could see everything.

Hogle Zoo had a fun thing going on called "Bugzilla!"  Everywhere you went there were giant bug figures all over the park.  We loved pointing out all of the giant bugs but we were pretty scared of the giant tarantula.

Some of the other giant bugs attacking the zoo were dragonflies, ladybugs, grasshoppers, butterflies, scorpions, bumble bees, lightening bugs, ants, and beetles.  The kids especially loved playing with the ladybugs.

On we went seeing all of the animals.  Did I mention that there are so many things to see at the zoo?

We liked watching the orangutans in their enclosure and measuring ourselves against their sizes.  Another favorite animal of Colby's was the bears.  He kept asking when we would see the bears and we finally made it at the end.  The bears were so hot that they just hung out in the pond.  One bear would not even get out of the water.  Colby was kind of disappointed as we all were because the polar bears were gone.  Back in September the polar bear died and the zoo has not replaced it yet so we were not able to see the polar bears.  Next we saw the otters and then moved on to the sea lions and seals.  The sea lions and seals were fun to watch as they swam around and dove into the water.  Later we came back and watched the sea lion show.  This was awesome too.  We watched the trainers get the sea lions to do tricks like hand stands, waving, and diving.  It was pretty fun.  As you can tell from Logan's face he was pretty excited every time a sea lion swam by.

Of course we had to get pictures of us drinking out of the famous lion head drinking fountains.  The kids thought it was fun to get eaten by a lion.

Toward the end of the day, we met with some of the zoo workers to pet some animals.  We got to pet a turtle, a snake and see a tarantula.  I liked petting the turtle but was not a fan of the snake.  Petting the animals was one of the best parts of the zoo.

After spending the whole day running around the zoo seeing all of the animals, the kids just wanted to take it easy and play.  The Hogle Zoo has a fun playground and splash pad in the middle of the zoo.  The kids had a blast just running and playing.  They especially loved cooling off in the splash pad.  Charlotte loved the water and did not want to leave.  She loved splashing and getting wet.  

We had a great time at the zoo.  The kids loved seeing the animals and were in awe with everything around them.  Emily's favorite part about the zoo was the splash pad and the seals.  Colby's favorite part was the hearing the lions roar and the sea lions.  Logan also loved the sea lions and the otters.  I think Charlotte loved the splash pad the best of all.   This was a great vacation.