Music Recitals

The kids have been involved in a lot of music activities throughout the year. Emily and Colby have enjoyed being in choir this year at school.  They recently participated in the Night of Arts for the Cache County School District as well as their Spring Choir Concert.

They did such a good job singing the songs they have been learning like: "Do, Re, Mi," "76 Trombones," and songs from The Greatest Showman,  and other Broadway musicals.  This was a really great concert to go to and listen to because the songs were all ones I knew and could sing along in my head.  We are glad that Choir is over now though because it means we can sleep in a little more before school! 

Logan has also been involved with his Let's Play Music class this year.  This year he has been learning to play the piano and is really picking up on it quickly.  He also recently had his end of the year recital.

During this recital he sang songs with his class and performed a couple of songs on the piano as well.  

He played his favorite song of the year "I Am Robin Hood."  He practiced so hard and had the whole song memorized.  He also played the piano part to "Do, Re, Mi" as a fill in for a kid that was not there.  He did a great job on that song as well.

Logan received his certificate of completing his second year in Let's Play Music.  We really love his teacher, Miss Ashley, because she makes learning music so much fun.

Good job, Logan! He loves playing the piano.  He is especially good at playing by ear.  He can plunk out a song in a few minutes after hearing it.  The bad thing with that though is that he forgets to read the music on the page.  He just likes to memorize everything. Oh well he'll learn.

We love Let's Play Music, choir, and piano lessons.  It is sometimes hard to get the kids to practice and learn and sometimes they fight over it but when we go to the recitals and concerts like this we realize that it is all worth it in the end.  Good job, kids!

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!!

What a fun weekend for the whole family. We started out with Pack meeting with Colby and a cool service project. Before the service project, they had awards and Colby received his Bobcat award. It was way cool to see him excited for this award. He worked really hard on the Cub Scout Oath and Law, and also knots. 

Colby is really enjoying Cub Scouts and loves going to den meetings and doing the fun activities in his Scout book.

During Pack Meeting, all the scouts made Easter baskets for the Assisted Living home in the city. They put all different kinds of plastic eggs and candy. I was amazed to see how much candy made it into the baskets and not their mouths. They all had a great time with this project. 

When they finished them, they delivered them during their den meeting the next week.   The boys had a great time delivering the baskets the next week.  I think the older folks they gave them to really liked them as well.  They were so friendly and kind to the boys and wanted to know all about them.  The boys were shy at first but then they warmed up.

Easter weekend at the Farnsworth's house always begins with dying eggs. 

We stripped down Charlotte and let her go to town doing her own egg, and as you can tell she loved dying her egg.  Needless to say, there was a big mess but still a lot of fun.

The kids made some really cool designs and different multicolored designs with their eggs. It is always the fun part of the the holiday. The finished product of the eggs look pretty cool.

We got up early Saturday morning and got ready to go, well except for Mom.  Charlotte was the sneaky one this time. She ran out and said, "Mommy, Daddy bubbles!" We all laughed and the kids went running out to see what the Easter Bunny left them. 

They had a great time seeing the gifts they got.   There was candy, bubbles, and a book for each of them.  Once this was done, it was off to the Hyrum City Easter egg hunt. This has become a fun tradition in our family. 

They have thousands of eggs scattered all over the park. Once they say go, it is the funnest thing to watch. All of the eggs are picked up within minutes. It probably took more time to scatter them then it did to pick them all up. The kids made a killing on the eggs.  Each area is blocked off in different age groups and it was hard to get pictures of everyone when they are scattered all over the park. Mom was with Charlotte and I was with the boys and poor Emily was by herself. 

They all had a great time seeing the weird looking Easter Bunny. Charlotte was more excited to see it then anyone. It is funny to see all the kids make a mad dash for the eggs. It is like ants in the grass scattering all over the place. 

After the Easter Egg hunt we went into town and went to the new Cancer Clinic at Intermountain Health Care. Tiff has been watching this place and talking to the nurses about when it would be done and how cool it would be to go see it. The place is amazing on how they have it set up. It is a very nice facility. Emily, Logan and Charlotte got there faces painted and they looked way cool.

Once we got home, Tiffany needed a power nap and that afternoon we had another fun Easter hunt at our house. 

It is always fun to watch the kids play around and go after the eggs.  Of course it is not an Easter unless we see what kind of candy they hauled in. They made a killing on candy and fun toys.

I missed out on Easter Sunday breakfast because I was at work but they had our traditional bunny cinnamon rolls with colored eggs.

Later the family came to the fire station and we had a fun family time with the other families. We got together with the crew and made a big dinner for all of our families. There was a lot of Chicken Alfredo and other foods. 

After the food we did an Easter egg in the truck bay. It was fun to watch the kids search all over the bay to find eggs. They made another huge haul on candy. It was also fun being with the other families. 

At the end of the night we had all the kids go up on the ladder truck and take one big picture. We also got the kids standing on the ladder. What a great night. 

Happy Easter from the Farnsworth family and Logan City Fire Truck 70!

Colby's Baptism

What an amazing day for Colby. He made the decision to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and was baptized on April 13, 2019. Tiffany and I could not be more happy as parents to watch this young man enter into the waters of baptism and follow in the footsteps of our Savior Jesus Christ.

 

It was fun to talk to Colby about if he wanted to get baptized. He said, "Sure I want to be baptized." But when we asked him if it something he wanted to do, he told us yes it was and he wanted to be like Jesus. I was proud to hear him say this. I have always worried as a parent if I was forcing my kids to be baptized or that they felt they had to because it was the thing to do as a follower. He is such an amazing smart kid, I love him so much. Even though he has more of his mom's personality he still has his a very soft heart with lots of good strong emotions like his dad. 

I am glad he is my son and Heavenly Father trusted me with this young man to raise and teach him. Sometimes I feel like I am not doing my best, but when I see his Colby smile it makes me glad that he is my son. I am also glad that he chose me to baptize and confirm him. As a dad these are very special days to have and always remember. Love you Colby.

The fun part of Colby's baptism is that he got to share his baptism day with his best friends, Quinn Allen and Jace Holmstead.

 They were excited boys and full of energy when they were together. They are like the Three Musketeers so it was fitting that they all got baptized on the same day.

Colby's baptism program went really well once we finally got there.  Everything seemed to go wrong while we were planning this day.  First, the stake decided to change the date of the baptism on us.  They had originally told us that the stake baptism would be on April 13 so we told all of our family that date clear back in December.  Then in the middle of March, they told us the date would be changed to March 30.  Well that really threw a wrench in things because all of our family had already arranged schedules and things to make it for April.  Also, Braden's farewell was scheduled for that date and then Grandpa Maxwell died and the funeral was that date.  So we decided to schedule our own baptism for the original date of April 13.  We jumped threw all of the hoops to schedule it and got special permission from the stake president and set the date.  Then Jace and Quinn's parents wanted to keep the same date too for similar reasons so we all joined together to keep the same date.  We thought we were in the clear but then a couple of days before the baptism, we found out that there is a funeral suddenly scheduled that needed the stake center for April 13.  So once again, we were booted out.  We were so mad!  I mean really can't a funeral move to another building that doesn't have a baptismal font?  So after talking back and forth with our bishop and the bishop of the funeral, we decided to move the baptism up an hour so that we could be done before the funeral started.  So once again we had to call all of our families and tell them the new time.  Finally on the day of the baptism, everything worked out for the best for Colby.  We were not bothered by the funeral and hopefully they were not bothered by us.  You know it really goes to show you that Satan will try anything he can to stop a saving ordinance from happening.  But we know that baptism is the key to returning to live with Heavenly Father so nothing was going to stop us from getting it done.  In the end, the day turned out to be perfect just as it should be.

The baptism program was great. Grandma Farnsworth gave a talk, Aunt Lacie gave a prayer, Emily played the piano for the musical number, and there was a fun spotlight moment all about Colby.  Not only was the program was great, but the ordinance was performed perfectly.  Walking Colby down into the font and taking his hands and me holding him, all I could think about was make sure he goes all the way under. Sure enough he made it all the way under. We were a little worried that Colby's toe came out of the water but the two grandpas acting as witnesses said I was fast enough and they didn't come out.  Russell also gave some great blessings during Colby's confirmation.  Grandma Farnsworth wrote some of them down for us.  They included, Always remember the Holy Ghost will help you; Blessing of strength to know the Savior; Listen always to the Holy Ghost; Trust and rely on your family and Heavenly Father in prayer.

After the Baptism, we had a big luncheon at the Stake Center pavilion.  It was good to be with everyone and celebrate this important time in Colby's life.

We had grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins come up to be there for Colby's special day. Our house was really full for about three days. We are blessed to have the house we have to allow family to stay. The baptism was amazing. It was an amazing spiritual moment to watch Colby enter into the waters of baptism and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I hope you always remember this day, Colby, and the special feeling you felt as you were baptized.

Spring Break, Baby Animals, & General Conference

This Spring Break has been a fun one for us.  We are loving the warmer weather, and the melting snow.  We started our Spring Break down in St. George along with the rest of Northern Utah.  We went down for Grandpa Maxwell's funeral and Braden's farewell.  We had a blast with family in the sunshine.  

We especially had a good time with our Farnsworth cousins.  Charlotte loves Uncle Tyler and was always with him.  The first thing she would do when we got to Grandma Farnsworth's house was find Tyler.  We thought this was a funny picture of Charlotte and Tyler.  Tyler was just laying on the grass talking to Jen and Charlotte just came right up and laid down on Tyler's back.  They stayed like that for quite a while.

We also enjoyed checking out a few of the new parks in St. George.  This park is right down the road from our old house.  Too bad we don't live there anymore because this was a fun park.

Emily and Charlotte loved riding the springy horse and the teeter totter.  Logan and James loved the climbing ropes.  Colby loved riding his scooter around the park on all of the trails.  The best though was playing sand volleyball with all of the grownups.  There may or may not have been some cheating involved...  

Another day, we went to the Tonaquint park and the new all-abilities park.  These were fun too.  While we were there, we got out our Rollerblade's and bladed the bike trails around the park.

We headed back home on Tuesday so that Russell could go to work but that didn't end our fun.  We spent Wednesday rollerblading some more, this time at the Cache Valley Fun Park.  We were able to go with some of our neighborhood friends and we had a blast.  

On Thursday, we headed to Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center.  This is one of our favorite spring traditions.  The kids love seeing, petting, and holding all of the baby farm animals.  Here they are with some rabbits:

Charlotte was in seventh heaven.  She loved the bunnies.  Colby also said that rabbits are his favorite.

I think my favorites were the baby chicks and ducklings:

Those poor baby chicks and ducks were just getting man handled so much!  Luckily they got switched out every 10 or 15 minutes.  All of the kids loved holding them.  They went to every box and held about every one of them.  The babies were so soft and they were so cute!

We also saw a bunch of other baby animals as well:

We loved petting the baby cows and sheep.  The cutest thing was the baby horse that was only a couple of days old.  We didn't get to pet him but we could see him from the fence.  There were also some exotic animals we got to see and touch.  There was a huge iguana, a wallaby, a falcon, and more.  We were even lucky enough to see the peacock fanned out and acting larger than life.

Another cool exhibit was the baby bears from Yellowstone's Bear World.  They were so cute and so small!  I wish we could have petted them but they wouldn't let us.

My other favorite, and I think this was one of the kids favorites too, was the baby turtles!  They were so small!  The little turtles were smaller than Charlotte's hands.  We just held them and let them crawl all over our hands.  Their little claws scratched us but we didn't care because they were so cute!

Next came the scary thing... I am not a fan of snakes.  In fact I hate big snakes, small snakes, and even sticks that look like snakes.  Well, they had a snake at Baby Animal Days and of course Logan wanted to hold it.

And then he wanted to wear it as a necklace... and then Charlotte thought that was cool and wanted a snake necklace too.  Then Emily thought she couldn't be out done and wore the snake as well.  Colby was the only smart one and wanted to pet the snake from a distance.  They all thought they were so brave and cool.  Charlotte is still talking about wearing the snake as a necklace.

There were also some fun activities at the Baby Animal Days like Panning for Gold:

And meeting Smoky the Bear.  There was also a western shoot out re-enactment, candy cannon, cow milking, pioneer doll making, and just touring the farm.

No trip to the American West Heritage Center would be complete without a ride on the train:

And of course a horse drawn wagon ride.  This was the amazing view of the Wellsville Mountains we saw on our wagon ride.  We love coming to the American West Heritage Center and enjoying farm life for a day.  

I loved it so much that I came back the next day and worked the ticket booth from open to close.  Unfortunately, Colby was not feeling well or Russell would have brought the kids back for more fun with the baby animals.  

On Saturday, we did something we had been wanting to do for some time now.  The one thing Colby told us he wanted for his eighth birthday was to go to General Conference at the Conference Center.  We thought this was a great birthday present and were very impressed that a 7 year old kid would make such a request.  So we did all we could to make it happen.  A counselor in our bishopric was able to track down 4 tickets for us and we were able to go to the Saturday Afternoon Session of General Conference!

Jen was awesome and watched Logan and Charlotte while we took Emily and Colby to the Conference Center.  They were so amazed at how big the Conference Center was.  We told them that it could hold around 20,000 people.  We arrived about an hour early and were able to walk around for a bit and see some of the things in the Center.  When we got to our seats, we realized we had fairly good seats for being in the nosebleed section.

We were on the first balcony but on the third row from the front and were directly facing the podium.  The speakers still looked like little ants but it was still cool.  

Here was our direct view.  The conference was amazing.  As always it seemed to me like the speakers were speaking right to me.  Unfortunately we did not get to hear President Nelson talk while we were there but we did see him in the room.  When he walked in, we all stood and when we left, we all stood and watched him wave to us and to everyone.  Colby said the reason why he wanted to go to Conference at the Conference Center was to find out for himself if the prophet was real.  When I asked him what he thought now, he said he knew that the prophet was real and he was so glad that he got to go to Conference.  I am so glad that we got this opportunity to take Emily and Colby to General Conference.  I hope it helped their testimony grow a little bit more.  I think this will become a new thing we do when the kids turn 8.  So I hope to go back in 2 years when Logan turns 8.  He has already requested it. 

As we came out of the Conference Center, there were millions of people exiting as well.  We were able to stop for a minute for some pictures before walking around the Salt Lake Temple grounds.  It was fun to take the kids and show them some of the great things about the gospel and the temple. 

We had an amazing Spring Break this year full of fun and new adventures.  And to top it all off, it decided to snow in April:

On the Monday after Spring Break, we got about 2 inches of new snow.  Thankfully it melted by the end of the day.  Bring on Spring please!