June Activities

June has been really fun for us.  Every year, at the beginning of the summer, the Hyrum Museum and Library put on a fun car show called Hot Rods & Hot Dogs.  We love to go and support the Museum and Library. The kids love going and seeing the old cars and pointing out which ones they want. Here are some of our favorite cars this year: 

Another fun thing Hyrum does in June is host the Spar Spangled Rodeo.  This has also become a tradition for us.  The kids love seeing the animals and watching the cowboys ride the bucking broncs and bulls.

During the month of June, we signed the kids up for swimming lessons. This is the first time any of them have had swimming lessons because we are the worst parents.  Well its never too late to learn, right?  So we signed the three oldest up.  

Charlotte was just barely too young to start swimming lessons so she just got to hang out with mom and dad and watch.  Emily, Colby, and Logan had so much fun learning how to swim. Every time they left the lessons they became more and more confident about swimming in the water on their own. 

During lessons, they learned to float, do the front and backstroke, and just get comfortable in the water.  By the end of lessons, they were able to jump off the diving board.  Logan and Colby still needed a little help in the deep end but that is okay.

Russell's summer work party was held at the swimming pool so the kids were able to practice their swimming skills.  They were doing so well.  

To earn one of his belt loops in Scouts, Colby needed to swim 25 feet on his own.  We practiced all night and finally Colby was able to do it!  The funny thing is though he swam the whole thing under water as fast as he could.  I told him he had to learn to swim above the water or at least come up for breath and then keep going.  Oh well he did it.  

Emily was very brave and loved going down the steep slide over and over.  She also practiced her back floating and back stroke.  I am glad they are finally getting use to the water and not so afraid.  Mostly this helps me because now I do not worry as much when they are in the water.  

We are so glad Summer is finally here.

Baseball

Its baseball season here in Hyrum.  The kids love playing baseball and it is becoming one of their favorite sports.  

Colby played machine pitch this year again. He was on the Twins team.

Colby got a lot better this year.  He loved playing the field and throwing the ball.  His favorite part though was batting.  He was getting really good at hitting by the end of the season.  His team did really well too.  If I remember right, they won most of their games.  

Russell was able to help coach Colby's team occasionally.  He loved being with the boys and teaching them what he knew.  One thing about it though was Colby would get really nervous when Russell was the coach at the pitching machine.  Because of this, Russell always had someone else do the machine and Colby was then able to hit the ball better.  It was always fun to watch the games.

Logan played T-Ball this year.  His team was the Storm.  He loved being with his team and it was more of a social hour for him.  He was really just in it for the fun and had a hard time focusing on the game. 

He had a good time though and that is all that matters.  He loved hitting the ball off the tee and he ran really fast around the bases.  While we were practicing at home, he was getting a lot better at throwing and catching the ball.

Emily played softball this year.  She was pretty sad this year because she broke her right arm and was not able to play like she would have liked.  She was able to play outfield but was not able to bat this year.  

She was the best cheerleader for her team while they were batting though so that was great.  She was able to do something she had never done before though.  She was able to be the pitcher!  She was the pitcher for a couple of games and did a great job.  Emily still has a lot to learn and practice to do for being a pitcher but she had a great time trying her best at this position.  

Finally on her last softball game, Emily got the okay from the doctor to go ahead and bat.  She was so happy to finally be able to bat.  She was able to hit the ball and run the bases like she likes to do.  It was a great season and she had a great team; The Herricanes.

Emily and her friend, Callie, were great entrepreneurs this baseball season.  They decided to set up a mobile lemonade stand and took it to most of Colby's baseball games.

They sold lemonade, Otter Pops, cookies and rice crispy treats.  They made about $40 in one night!  They did a great job and had fun doing it.

We love Baseball!

Cub Scout Day Camp

Colby is really enjoying Cub Scouts.  He has been in Scouts for a few months now and just went to his first Cub Scout Day Camp.  I was able to go with him and help the leaders with all of the boys.  We had a fun time together.

The Scouts went to Camp Keisel near Huntsville.  The theme for the Scout Camp was Jurassic Park so the boys were chased by a T-Rex!

Luckily the Scout leaders over the camp were able to wrangle the T-Rex away from the kids.  

The boys enjoyed many different activities while at Scout Camp.  

The learned how to tie knots, shoot bows and arrows and BB guns, and cast fishing poles.  They also participated in an obstacle course, and a Dino dig for dinosaurs.  We also went on a nature hike and learned a lot about the plants in the area.  

One of the favorite activities was the boat ride.  Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of the boating because I was too afraid of getting my phone drenched.  Luckily I left it behind because I was pretty wet after getting out of the boat.  We split the boys into two boats.  The other two leaders took five of the boys while I took the other six.  I thought the boys would just paddle me out in the water and I wouldn't have to actually work.  Yeah that was a mistake.  The boys had no idea how to paddle and work together so we kept just going in circles and it took us forever to get away from the shore.  Finally I told them all to stop and I paddled them out in to the open water.  Let's just say a boat with five wiggly 8-year-old boys is a lot harder to paddle than a kayak.  We did have a good time though and we splashed the other boys and leaders in their boat.  In turn, they splashed us a lot!  Because I was the only one that could paddle, we did not get away very quickly.  It was so fun.  

In between the activities, the boys learned a new game of tag and played it over and over throughout the day.  They loved everything about camp.

Their favorite part of the day though seemed to be lunch!  We had to leave really early in the morning in order to drive down to the Scout Camp.  Because of this, the boys' breakfast at 6:00 am did not last until noon when it was lunch time.  They kept asking us if they could eat yet.  Finally it was lunch time and they were so glad!  

We had a lot of fun at camp and we all enjoyed the craziness of the boys.  Some of the crazy rubbed off onto the leaders too.  After the final flag ceremony, the T- Rex was captured and we were safe to leave the camp. 

By the time we left the canyon, all of the boys in my van were asleep!  The ride home was so quiet and peaceful!  They were so worn out but they had a great time.

Farnsworth Reunion

During the second week of June, we had our Farnsworth Family Reunion.  Russell and I were in charge this year so we got to decide where to go and what to do.  We decided to introduce the Farnsworth's to Gooseberry.  We camped at Cold Springs and had a great time.  Now that Russell's parents have a camp trailer, it is easier to camp in secluded areas rather than in campgrounds. 

The Cold Springs area was so beautiful.  It was also so wet!  The snow had just melted on the mountain so there were streams and ponds everywhere.  There were even snow drifts in some places.  We loved riding the four-wheelers around and hiking.

Near the Cold Springs lake there was this beautiful stream running into the lake.  There were also many springs running into the lake.  We liked walking around the lake and exploring.  Well we only made it made a quarter of the way around the lake before it became too muddy from the last remaining snow banks.

The boys had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma Farnsworth.  Colby was able to catch a tiny frog and he kept it in a water bottle the whole time.  It was his new pet.  He gave it leaves, and water, and anything else he could think of to make the frogs habitat comfortable in the bottle.  We did let the frog go before we left though so that it would live.  

Logan loved playing games with Grandpa.  His favorite was Qwerkle.  After playing the game they used the blocks to build towers and then knocked them over.

As part of the reunion, we traveled down to Manti to see the Manti Pageant.  This was the final year of the Pageant so we wanted to see it for the last time. 

We got there early enough to find pretty good seats along the grassy area on the side.  While we waited, we ate a picnic dinner and played games.  

Poor Charlotte got sick the day we came up to the mountain.  We could not figure out what was going on and why she had a fever.  Finally we figured she must have an ear infection or sore throat to be causing the fevers to knock her out.  We decided to take her to the doctor in Manti.  We were so grateful for their service because by the time we got off the mountain and into Manti, the clinic was about to close.  We called them as soon as we got service and they said they would stay open to see Charlotte.  I am so glad they did because it turned out that she did have a pretty bad ear infection and needed an antibiotic.  We thanked them so much and got some medicine in Charlotte.  While at the pageant, she slept most of the time, the poor thing.

We also met my parents and Lacie and her family at the Pageant.  They also wanted to see it for the last time so we told them to come with us too.  The kids loved seeing both grandparents and even more cousins.  They had a blast.  The Pageant was amazing as it always has been.    We are sad that it will no longer be playing each year now that the Church came out and said they were no longer doing pageants.  We are so glad that we got to see it this year.

After the pageant, we headed back up the mountain to our camp and then slept in the next morning because of the late night.

The next day, we took our kayaks out for their maiden voyage.  Last year we tried out Lacie and Clay's kayaks on Fish Lake and absolutely loved them.  Because of this, we went out and bought three of our own.  We bought them during the winter though so this was the first time we have taken them out.

We love our kayaks and the Stewart's had a good time using them as well.  The water was so calm and relaxing that Jen and I did not want to come back into shore when we went out together.  We took the kayaks out on Salina Reservoir.  The water was so high that the entire meadow was full.  The kids floated around near the shore where we could see them but the adults paddled back up into the trees and the back side of the Reservoir.  It was so beautiful! Alex and Emily were professional kayak-ers and went all over the lake.  I don't think Colby even came in and got off the yellow kayak the whole time we were there.

Charlotte was still not feeling the greatest so most of the time she and I just chilled on the shore in our camp chairs.  Finally the fever got the best of her and she puked.  I knew then it was time to take her back to camp.  We had a fun time on the kayaks and will definitely be using them a lot this summer.

By the time it was time to break camp and head home, Charlotte was feeling much better.  The medicine was starting to work.  Unfortunately this was on the last day so she missed out on playing with her cousins the whole time.  

A couple of funny stories that happened this weekend involved hammocks, trees, and the ground.  First, it was Father's Day during the Reunion so together everyone got Grandpa Farnsworth a hammock.  He was so excited to try out his hammock so he had Tyler string it up on some trees and set it up for him.  When Tyler had done this, Keith went over to try and get in the hammock.  We were all watching him with interest knowing this was going to be funny.  We told Tyler to get out his phone to video this but he wouldn't.  Well just as Keith sat down and tried to get comfortable, the hammock swung out from under him and he did this flip thing and landed right on the ground.  We didn't know if we should laugh our heads off or run and help him.  We decided to laugh!  He was fine and was actually laughing on the ground as well.  Finally Keith figured out how to get into the hammock with out falling and spent a lot of time relaxing in it.  

The second story involved Tyler and Ashley.  They were both laying in one hammock and just chilling when all of a sudden they heard this cracking noise.  They looked around just as the tree their hammock was tied to fell to the ground taking them with it.  Luckily the tree fell away from them but they still landed hard on the ground.  Once again we decided to laugh at them as they struggled to get up.  So now the joke is that they are so heavy trees can't even hold them in a hammock.

We all had a good time at the reunion and we didn't want to leave the mountain.  Until next year!

Running

We have been participating in a few races the last few weeks.  The first one we did was the Smithfield Health Days Race.  The kids and Russell ran the one mile course while I did the 10K.

Everyone had a great race and shaved more time off of their previous bests.  Emily ran her mile in 8:58.  Colby also got a PR at 8:08.  Logan and Dad were not far behind with a time of 9:14.  They all did an amazing job!  They are getting so fast!!

I ran the 10K and this was one of my first races since getting back into running.  The course was really rough for the first three miles because it was all up hill.  Then it got much better as we hit the turnaround spot because then it was all down hill.  I made up a lot of time after that.  I was able to finish the 10K in 53:58.  It felt good to race.  Colby even ran the last 25 yard with me to the finish line!

Because we all did a great job, we got medals!

Logan and Colby both placed second in their age divisions.  Emily placed fifth in her age.  I was able to come home with a third place in my age division.  I was really surprised at that and had no idea until they called my name!  Good job everyone!

The next race I did was the 16 Crossing Trail Run.  I have never done a trail run before so I was kind of scared to sign up for this race.  I did though because I needed an 11-12 mile run for my marathon training and this seemed like a fun way to get the miles in.  This was an 11 mile trail course up the canyon in Smithfield.

The trail crossed the river 16 times so not only did I run but there was quite a bit of wading too. It was so cold! The elevation change was over 2,000 feet and there was snow at the top. This was my first ever trail run and it was so fun and so much of a learning experience because trail is quite different from road.  The trail up was quite hard because it was 5 miles straight up. I actually walked a bit of it.  The trail down was much easier and I made up a lot of time.  

I even got a battle wound! When I was crossing the river during one of the 16 crossings, a stick attacked me and stabbed me in the leg.  Luckily my leg was numb from the ice cold river so I didn't feel the pain.  I do have a nice scar on my leg now.  Trail running is fun because I felt like a deer running through the forest.  You do run slower on trails because you are trying to avoid rocks, sticks, and ruts but the scenery is amazing.  I was able to run this 11 mile trail in 1:54. 

We love running as a family.