New Year's Eve

Looking back on this year of 2018, I realize that it really has been a good year.  Even though we still have hard days sometimes, looking back we really have had a lot more good times.  This year we were able to accomplish a lot of the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year.  

Russell's goal was to graduate from school with his Bachelor's Degree and he was able to do that by finishing his last class a few weeks ago.  He now has his degree!  Emily's goal was to run a 5K and memorize the Articles of Faith.  She was able to run her first 5K in May as part of the Canyon Colt Leadership Run. I also accomplished one of my goals by running it with her.  Emily also memorized all 13 of the Articles of Faith this summer as part of an Activity Day's summer challenge.  Colby's goals were to improve on his piano and drawing skills.  He was able to write his own song for his end of year recital in Let's Play Music and has started private lessons and progressed as far in 4 months as a typical student does in one year.  He has also improved a lot on his drawings.  Some of the things he draws are very detailed and very good.  He especially loves to draw trucks and other vehicles.  Logan also achieved some of his goals of becoming more physically fit.  He joined the running club with the other kids and can run a mile without stopping.  He and Colby also did very well in soccer and baseball. Charlotte also achieved the goal Russell and I had set for her and is now potty trained!  No more diapers!  Finally I also worked hard on my goals.  I was able to start running again and thankfully have had no drawbacks or health issues.  I average 20 miles a week and hope to do more this next year.  I was also able to finish the Book of Mormon again this year and loved reading and learning more about its teaching and stories.

We also had a lot of fun things happen this year including Tyler and Cassie coming home from their missions, celebrating Grandma Morwood's 100th birthday, seeing Jacee and Stuart get married as well as Josh and Hallie tie the knot.  We also had a great summer full of camping and enjoying the outdoors. We especially loved our big summer trip to Nauvoo and Missouri this year. It was so much fun and we got to see and learn a lot.  Since this trip, I have dove into everything I could read and learn about Church History.  I am truly amazed by the early pioneers.  We have had some great times this year and are looking forward to more amazing times in the year to come.  One adventure we are excited about is our trip to Disneyland!  Which brings us to New Year's Eve. 

On our way to California for our Disneyland Trip, we stopped for New Year's Eve in St. George.  We had a great time with family celebrating the New Year.  Terral put on a great New Year/Christmas party for the whole family.  She called it Pajamas and Pancakes.  We all dressed in our pajamas and had a breakfast feast.  There was so much food (and good food I might add) that I felt so full for like two days afterward.  I could not eat another bite or even look at anymore food.  We also played a lot of fun games like a "Get Ready to go to Walmart" relay, Minute to Win It games, and unwrap the Saran Wrap ball. We also played Bingo all night until finally we all won some prize or we got tired of playing.   Finally at 11:30, we got ready to ring in the New Year and got out the party hats, noise makers, and glow sticks. 

The kids absolutely had a blast being with all of their cousins again.  We were not able to make it down for Christmas but this was even better.

Charlotte and Taylor got along great.  I think Charlotte has a bottomless pit of a stomach when it comes to candy and treats. She can eat and eat and never get sick or full.  There was not a minute that went by that I didn't see her with some kind of cookie or something in her mouth.  I kept telling her to stop because I knew she was going to puke but she never did and she never got sick thankfully.  Anyway the party was so fun and even though we had to get up early the next morning to travel, we didn't want to leave.  As soon as midnight hit and the ball dropped, we all made as much noise as we possibly could with our noisemakers and welcomed 2019 in.  This has been a great year and now we are looking forward to 2019.  Happy New Year!!!

Ice Skating

After Christmas we got together with the Farnsworth clan down in Salt Lake.  We all met up at Jen's house for a little after Christmas party.  We got to open presents from Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth and played with our cousins.  Then we all went over to the Utah Olympic Oval to go ice skating.

We all had a blast skating.  This has kind of become a tradition with the Farnsworth's.  We went skating here this time last year as well.  It is so fun though.  The kids are getting much better at skating.  Colby didn't need the walkers at all and really Logan didn't need it either but he did feel safer with it.

Emily, Alex, and Paul just headed out on their own and had a great time as cousins.  We pretty much didn't see them the whole time because they were just hanging out having fun racing on the ice. 

It was nice seeing Traci, Sean, and Johnathan again all the way from Texas.   Charlotte was especially excited to see Johnathan.  She kept saying "Hi Johnathan!"

Tyler was also up from St. George and even brought along a friend named Ashley.  She seemed nice but the kids were more excited to be hanging out with Uncle Tyler.  I kept telling him he needed to shave though.  We all laughed at that. 

Charlotte loved hanging out with James and Grandma and Grandpa on the sidelines.  She didn't even care that she wasn't on the ice with everyone else.

Colby was getting really good at skating on his own.  He was even starting to go really fast.  Logan skated with me and the walker.  On one lap I made him give up the walker and just skate.  He did pretty well and only fell a few times but you could tell that he had to concentrate a whole lot more when he didn't have the walker.  Once we made it around, he wanted the walker again so that he didn't have to worry about falling and could just have fun.  

Russell and I even took a few laps around without the kids.

We even got brave enough to do a few tricks.  OK so they were really minor tricks like lifting up one leg but we felt cool doing them.  Ice skating is really quite fun.  I could do it all day if it didn't make my hands cold.  

We finally decided it was time to leave because the hockey teams came out to practice.  They were not skating on the same ice as us but we were sitting right next to their practice arena and it stunk so bad!  It was a lovely combination of BO and stagnant water mixed with never washing their uniforms.  It was time to leave anyway.

We had a great time skating and being with family. After we had all changed back into our normal shoes, we headed back to Jen's house for dinner.  We had pulled pork sandwiches and salads.  It was so good.  When we were done eating, we were off to family pictures.

Jen had reserved a reception hall for us to have family pictures taken in.  I don't think we have had an updated picture since Logan was a baby.  The place was really nice so I hope the pictures turned out good. I have not seen them yet though.  

It was really nice spending time with family and having a good time ice skating.

Merry Christmas 2018

Christmas finally came to our house!  The first thing we did was make cookies for Santa.  This year for some reason I had been craving Gingerbread cookies so that was the kind of cookies we made.  We made Gingerbread men of all shapes and sizes.  

Making cookies is always fun for the family. We get together in the kitchen to make the cookies and watch them cook and at last decorate them with lots of icing and red hot candies.  Each of the kids took turns rolling out the dough and cutting out the Gingerbread men or girls.

All the kids had fun decorating their cookies and giving each cookie a different look. We had Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, pirate gingerbread cookies and ones with red hots all over them.  They were all different and so delicious. 

Russell had to work on Christmas Day so we decided to do Christmas early this year.  We wrote a special email to Santa telling him about our situation and he agreed to come a day early just for us.  We had Christmas Eve was on the 23rd.  Russell worked that day as well, but it is always fun to go to the fire station to visit and have Christmas Eve. The kids brought one present to open before Christmas day. 

They each opened their gifts and were excited to see Mickey or Minnie Mouse pajama's. Once the presents were open, we played around and talked and then it was time to get home and ready for Santa. 

The kids got their letters to Santa written and the cookies and eggnog set out.  While we were writing our letters, Charlotte was so funny.  Emily had gotten out her Christmas stickers to put on her letter and Charlotte saw a sticker of Santa.  When she saw it, she pointed and said, "Monster! Ho! Ho! Ho!"  We laughed so hard and had to get her to repeat it on a video.  Finally we read the Christmas story in Luke 2 and it was time for bed.  The kids were so excited they had a hard time going to sleep but finally they did.

The next morning, Russell came home from work at around 8 and the only one that was awake was Logan.  Russell decided that he needed to wake the rest of us up so we wouldn't miss Christmas.  Finally we all got up and we were so excited to see what Santa had brought.  

When we walked into the front room, we noticed that the only thing Santa had left was one giant present and a note on the top that said he had decided to do something different for us this year.  (The note also told Charlotte that Santa was not a monster but a really nice guy.)

So we told the kids to open the present to see what was inside.

Inside the box was this note and a bunch of fun things we will need for our trip.  We were going to DISNEYLAND!!!  Instead of presents this year, Santa gave us a trip to Disneyland!  The kids were so excited they were jumping for joy.

Inside the box were Mickey and Minnie ears, new clothes to wear at Disneyland, books to read and games to play while on the trip down, and some treats, glow sticks, and other things to use while at the Park. The kids couldn't believe we were actually going to Disneyland.  They have been wanting to go there for so long.  We will be leaving for California in one week on January 1st.  We cannot wait!

Along with the big gift from Santa, each of us drew names and got each other a present to put under the tree.  We had a great Christmas.

Emily got some great gifts from her friends and Colby.  While we were in Nauvoo, Emily met a good friend named, Synevie.  They have stayed in contact ever since and Synevie sent her a fun present all the way from Canada.  She loved the warm Canadian socks and the bag full of Canadian candy and stickers.  Colby had Emily's name this year and got her a Butterfly Garden kit.  Unfortunately it is too cold here to actually get the butterfly eggs to grow so we got a coupon to redeem in the spring.  Then we can actually watch the caterpillars grow, form a cocoon, and then turn into a butterfly. 

Colby also had a great Christmas even though he was sick this year.  He has had a fever for a few days now and we don't know what is going on.  So in between having a fever, he had fun playing and opening presents.

The one thing Colby wanted this year was a microscope and Logan got him one.  Colby absolutely loves it and has examined every slide that came with it as well as a bunch of other things he has put under the microscope.  

Logan loved seeing what everyone else got for Christmas and was excited whenever anyone opened a gift.  He also loved everything he received.

Emily got him a box full of dinosaur eggs.  With these eggs, he can be an archaeologist and dig into them to find the dinosaur inside.  He was so excited to dig into the eggs and see what was inside.  These eggs have been really fun for all of the kids.

Finally Charlotte absolutely loved Christmas.  She loved opening all of her presents and wearing or playing with whatever was inside.

Her favorite must have been the apple and candy cane in her stocking though because she just went to town eating both of them as soon as she saw them.  She also loved seeing what everyone else got too.  She got a magnet shape set and we have had a great time building lots of different houses, Ferris wheels, and cars out of the magnets.  

Russell and I also got some fun gifts.  Each of the kids have Rollerblades but neither of us have some so it is hard to go skating with them.  This year, we got each other a pair of Rollerblades.

We cannot wait for the snow to melt so we can get out and use our roller blades.  I think we will all have a good time this spring and summer roller blading outside as a family.  I am hoping the Rollerblades will be like riding a bike and I will pick right back up on it.  I tried them on in the house when I got them and skated like two feet before I fell flat on my butt.  Luckily the rocking chair was there to catch my fall.  My rude family just sat there and laughed at me.  Okay I was laughing pretty hard myself.  Russell went outside to try his skates out so that if he fell no one would know.  Oh well I am sure I will be better once I am outside and not trying to dodge wrapping paper and other things all over the ground.  Right?

Back in February or March I made each of the kids a Levi quilt out of all of our holey jeans.  Well they kept asking when they could have their quilt and I finally gave it to them for Christmas.  They love them and are always wrapping up in them to read or watch a movie or even using them to make forts.  I love how they turned out and I love that they love them.  

We just had a good easy going Christmas as a family and loved every minute.  Now we just need to pack for our trip.  We cannot wait to go to Disneyland in a week!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Parties and More

We love Christmas Parties!  We must anyway because we go to a lot of them during the month of December.  The first party/field trip we went on was to the Mountain Crest High School Christmas Fantasy production.

Each year the high school puts on a Christmas show with all of the music and theater departments taking part in the production.  It is always fun to see and the kids love it. I love listening to the band music especially the jazz band and the percussion group.  The music was really good this year.  The kids especially loved the end when Santa came and gave everyone a candy cane.  It was chaos!  

The high school does a special showing for the elementary kids and Russell and I like to go and help with the kids so that we can see the show as well.  All of the kids walk to the high school with their classes.  It is definitely a feat for the teachers to herd 700 kids a half mile down the street to the high school but we manage to do it without losing anyone.  This year, we got to do all that herding in a blizzard:

This was really the first big snow we have had this year and it just happened to be on the day that we were walking to the high school.  The lucky kindergartners got to take a bus while the rest of us trudged through the snow.  The kids loved it and didn't seem to even notice the cold or snow.  The rest of us adults were thinking "Is this really worth it??"  Well we made it safe and sound and we all had a good time so I guess it was worth it after all.  Next time though I think we will put skis on the stroller so that it will be easier to push...

Our next fun Christmas party was Russell's work party.

This year the theme was "Ugly Christmas Sweater" so Russell and I went out and bought us some ugly sweaters.  Russell's is pretty bad with the llama but our sweaters turned out to be pretty decent and actually stylish compared to some of the ones the other guys were wearing that night.  I actually like mine and think it is kind of cute.  I wore it a couple other time this month.  Anyway the party was really fun and some of the other sweaters were quite hilarious.  Russell was one of the people in charge of the party so he got to MC the whole thing.  He even cracked a few jokes that had the whole department rolling on the ground.  The funny thing about it though was that he didn't even realize he was making the jokes, he was just talking.  One of the guys won a trampoline in the raffle.  Russell yells over the mic, "Casey's got a new tramp!"  We all just bust up laughing especially knowing who Casey is!  Russell had no idea until I told him afterward and then he started laughing too.  There were some other things like that as well.  It was a good time.   At the end, awards were given for the ugliest sweaters.  We didn't win because like I said before, our sweaters were actually good looking compared to the others.  Oh well, we did come home with a pretty nice prize though from the raffle.  We won a nice backpack full of goodies from Mountain Star Hospital.  It ended up having quite a few nice gifts inside that will be very useful.  

We are the room parents for our kids classes at school so we got to help with the class Christmas parties this month.  The first party we participated in was Colby's class.

All of the games were fun and the kids had a great time.  We played the Candy Bar game and all of the kids in the class really got into it and were passing the dice so fast and trying to rip into that paper with the wooden spoon so quickly.  It was quite funny to watch them.  The class also made an ornament at the craft table, played "Pin the Nose on Olaf," listened to a Christmas story, and made doughnut snowmen at the treat station.  It was a fun party.

The next party I helped with was Logan's class.  This class had a blast making gingerbread houses.

Logan loved decorating his house with a ton of icing and candy.  We even found a chocolate Santa to put on his roof.  There was so much candy and treats for the houses because the afternoon class got all of the leftovers from the morning class as well.  At the end Logan's teacher was handing the kids bags so that they could fill up on candy to take home because she did not want anything left over.  The kids definitely loved that.  All of the houses turned out so good.

Finally we helped plan Emily's class party.  During this party we played four fun games and then ended with a treat.  We played a few Christmas edition Minute To Win It games including candy cane races.  Then we played the candy bar game again with this class.  It was funny to see how much better at this game 4th graders are than 2nd graders.  These kids had these gifts open within minutes whereas the 2nd graders took up the whole time.  We also played a Christmas edition Telestrations but I don't think the girl in charge of this station really knew how to play so really they just talked and drew pictures which I guess turned out just fine.  The final station was a snowman building contest:

The kids had to pick two kids from their group and turn them into a snowman using toilet paper.  As you can see, Emily was the lucky one chosen to be the snowman.  It was so funny to watch the kids go crazy with the toilet paper but they sure had fun and they did clean up after themselves so that was a plus.  This was also a great party.  It is fun to be involved in the kids' classrooms and help where we can.  Now bring on Christmas Break!

Other December Events

Our little family has been doing a lot of fun things through out the month of December. This month we went back to the live Nativity scene in Nibley. It was a great time to see the different animals that would have been there when Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus were in Bethlehem. It is always good to hear the story about the birth of Jesus Christ during the Christmas season. 

As you can tell we bundle up nice and warm because it is outside. When we got there we took a wagon hay ride to where the Nativity was at and waited in line. Some of our ward members were there and we got to have fun and talk to them. The kids loved seeing the camel. I was surprised to see a camel here in the middle of the winter.  

During the Spirit Assembly in December, Colby got an award from his teacher.

His award was for being a great student and for meeting all of his goals for the month and the previous months.  He was excited for the award but more excited to be able to run in the halls in the Colt Stampede.  Good job Colby.

Charlotte made a big step this month and finally got potty trained!! Tiff and I tried at least three times over the last few months but she wanted nothing to do with potty training. She would tell us "No Potty! Diapers!"  Tiff and I both told each other if we could just get her to go once or twice she would understand. So we put big girl panties on and her diapers off and took her about every 15 minutes and finally after day two or three she was catching on. 

Of course there is always the reward after the potty. She loved Skittles and told us, after she went potty, "Treat Mom treat Dad."  Just like we thought, after going in the potty once she realized what needed to be done and was potty trained ever since that time.  She is such a big girl. Finally no one in the house with diapers. YEAH!!! Diaper days are over. 

Russell also made a big step this month and graduated with his Bachelor's Degree.

Well here you have it everyone. Yes that paper in my hand is a paper that tells me that I am educated in the arts of Emergency Management. After a very long time and lots of hours studying, writing papers and long nights of research, I was awarded my Bachelors Degree from Utah Valley University. I have always known I wanted to get a Bachelors Degree, so I can show my kids that an education is important to have. Also to let them know to never give up with learning. The Lord told us that we need to be educating ourselves always. With hard work, sacrifice, prayer and faith I was able to get it done with good grades to show for it. It was a great opportunity for me to learn from each of the classes. Granted some were extremely boring and I did not understand why I was taking some of the  classes, but the majority of the classes were great. A big thanks to Tiffany and my kids who were patient with me through these years.  They have been patient and understanding of how important it was to me to get this. Now on to the next adventure.   

December has been a good month.