Memorial Day

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went camping at Cold Springs. This was such a good trip for us. We got to get away and also spend time with family. The kids absolutely loved hanging out with cousins, Cole, Cash, and Rider, all weekend.

This was also Brooklyn's first camping trip. She was a little trooper and seemed to enjoy camping. She spent most of the time being wrapped up in a blanket though because it was a little cold.

The kids loved exploring the pond near our campsite. They climbed logs, threw rocks, and just had fun being boys.

These boys were a little crazy especially Cash. They caught a bunch of different critters in their explorations.

They found a frog near the pond, a snake in the bushes, and of course fish in the lake. They had a great time playing with their new pets. I told them they had to get rid of the snake though because I hate snakes.

Charlotte was so excited to play with Rider. They both had a good time playing Barbies and following the boys around. Rider had no idea she even had a girl cousin and Charlotte didn't know she had someone her age. They were instant friends.

During this camping trip we spent a lot of time fishing. Here we are at Gate's Lake.  

Brooklyn was content just being held by Grandma while everyone else fished.  We must be terrible fishermen because we never catch anything.  The Pryor's caught about 6 fish, and the Hughes's caught a few as well.  We caught nothing. We didn't even get a bite.  Who knows what we are doing wrong?

Another time we walked from our camp up to the Cold Springs Lake. 

We didn't catch anything here either even though you could see the fish swimming in the clear lake water. It was really funny because you could see the fish swim up to the bait and then just swim around it. They must not have been very hungry.  

Russell and Colby went here early in the morning and they did have some luck at that time. They actually caught about 4 fish but when they went to gut the fish they forgot to secure the stringer holding the fish so they all swam away before Russell could grab them, taking the stringer with them. See we are terrible fishermen...

We had a great time at Cold Springs camping for the first time this summer. We hope to have more fun trips like this the rest of the summer.

It's Gonna be May!

May is always a busy time for us. With school winding down for the year, making summer plans, and just wising we could be outside enjoying the great weather, even though it is a busy time, we also seem to get really trunky. Well this May was no exception but we did manage to get things done and have some fun too.

During the last week of school, the classes get to go to the splash pad and have an end of the year party. Logan's class is pictured below. He loved 2nd grade especially his teacher.

 On the last day Super Spirit Friday of the school year, Emily and her friend Ayzleigh went all out with their school spirit. Since it would be their last Friday in elementary school, they wanted to go big so they decked out in orange and blue.

Also during May, Emily entered the Hyrum Library's writing contest and she won first place!

Congratulations Emily! We have a budding author on our hands. She loves to write adventure fiction. This story was all about a girl who didn't know her mom was a spy and the adventures she goes on to save her mom after discovering the truth.

I am glad Emily won first in this community contest because when she entered her story into the school story contest she won second place. She was a little disappointed in second place but I told her it was still awesome to win.

Emily is also loving Young Women's. 

Here they are ice skating for one of their activities. It is great to be done with the Zoom meetings for YW. Emily is the president of her YW class and is always thinking if ways to include all of the girls. She does a great job.

Emily has also been busy with Hunter's Safety classes.

Here she is taking her shooting test for the class. Because of Covid, everything moved to online so her Hunter's Safety class was an online course she did herself. Then when she completed the modules, she met in person for the shooting and written test.

Russell and Emily had a good time learning together. After getting her .22 for Christmas, she was anxious to learn how to shoot it and liked going out and practicing. She got to be a pretty good shot as you can see.

Well she passed her Hunter's Safety and earned her Blue Card. Now she can go hunting!

These are just some fun pictures of Russell and his fire crew.  Each year they get updated pictures. Russell is still loving his job and is now acting in as captain every once in a while. He likes not being the grunt anymore. 

We made it through May.  The kids graduated to the next grade, and they did not have to wear masks the last week of school. That alone was probably the best part of the whole year! Now bring on summer!

One Month Old

It has been one month since Brooklyn completed our family.  She is the happiest baby and is even starting to smile real smiles more often!

Just look at that cute face!  She is getting so big!  This dress was one that I wore when I was a baby.  

This month has also been full of fun new adventures for Brooklyn.  First she got to pretend to have a sleepover with her big sister:

Then she got to meet her Great Grandma Maxwell.  Grandma Maxwell was in heaven holding Brooklyn.  She has not had a lot of energy and strength lately so for us to go and visit her with Brooklyn just made her day.

Brooklyn still loves being held and fed by everyone but especially her big brothers and sisters.  They love it as well and actually fight over who can hold her and feed her next.

Grandpa Morwood even decided she was big enough to hold now.  She loved being held but Grandpa and even tried to coo at him.  

One major milestone this month was her first real bath!  Her umbilical cord finally fell off a few days ago so we could finally give her a bath.  She... umm... hated it...

But she absolutely loved being wrapped up in her towel!  Well, we will keep trying, eventually I am sure she will start to like baths.  The other kids do, in fact we have to yell at them to get out of the shower now days.

Charlotte is a great big sister and loves doing everything with her Baby Ruth that we do with Brooklyn.  Including wrapping her baby in a tight blanket and feeding her a bottle at bed time.

Brooklyn is a funny girl.  If you hold her in the rocking chair, she will sleep all day long.  As soon as you try and lay her down, she wakes right up.  Sometimes it is a little frustrating but most of the time I just like to sit and rock her.  What's wrong with that?  Nothing!  When I took this picture, Brooklyn literally slept all day long only waking up every few hours for a bottle and then back to sleep.  I guess I should have put her down but look how cute and peacefully she looks.

Other days though she likes to lay and stretch out.

This is a fun little onesie the Fire Department gave Russell when Brooklyn was born.  Now she has an official Fire Department uniform.  

I just love this cute face!  

I loved this quote when I read it and it totally applies to Brooklyn. "Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." - Winnie the Pooh. 

Happy One Month Cute Baby!

Brooklyn's Blessing

Brooklyn's baby blessing was held on May 9, 2021. This was a nice day to do it because it was also Mother's Day.  

She was so beautiful in her dress and so alert.  It was nice to be joined with family and friends for this special day.

I think this picture might be our first (good) family photo with Brooklyn. Too bad she was screaming because she was cold and hungry.

Both grandparents were able to come up and see Brooklyn.  This was her first time meeting Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth.  She was in heaven all weekend because I don't think she ever got put down.  She was held all the time.

During the blessing, Russell did an amazing job on the blessing.  I keep telling myself to take notes or do something to remember the things he said in the blessing but I always forget.  I guess that is not the important part, the important part is how the Spirit touches you during the blessing.  The Spirit was very strong today.  I am so grateful for Russell and his worthiness to hold and exercise the priesthood.  

Also during the blessing, Brooklyn was wide awake just looking around at all of the guys in the circle.  They all commented on how they have never seen a baby so alert and so aware of what's going on in their blessing.  It was as if she could tell this was a special experience and she wanted to be awake for it.

We were so happy for the family members that were able to attend the blessing with us.  The Stewart's came up as well as Tyler and Ashley.  Everyone else had the opportunity to watch it on our ward's Zoom meeting.

We are also grateful for these great guys that stood in the circle.  

After church, we had a luncheon with everyone.  We went really easy and did sub sandwiches and salads.  It was perfect but we had a ton of food left over, which is not necessarily a bad thing. 

The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and were so excited to see their grandparents too.  I am glad that Covid restrictions are starting to lift so that we can see people again.  

During church, Brooklyn made this face while she was sleeping.  It was like she was contemplating all that was happening this day:

Emily and Brooklyn are great friends.  Emily is an awesome helper with Brooklyn.  It is like she has two moms.  What a lucky girl.  

Congratulations on your special blessing day pretty girl! And Happy Mother's Day!