Happy 13th Birthday Emily

 Can you believe we have a teenager!! No I am not that old.  Well it's true. Emily is officially 13!

Grandma Farnsworth gave her this cool shirt for her birthday that says "Keep Calm, I'm an Official Teenager!" It was a perfect shirt to wear on her birthday.

This year for her birthday she wanted to have a fried sleepover. Unfortunately her friends couldn't sleep over but they were able to stay for a late night. The girls had a blast playing games, eating pizza and snacks and just giggling. 

For her birthday she also wanted an ice cream cake from Cold Stone:

We didn't have a candle to make 13 so we used an 8 and then added five more candles to equal 13. That works right? 

Then it was present time:

She got all her favorite things like new books, and Hawaiian sandals. Her big present though was a new mountain bike! This bike will be really fun for her to get in to riding. We have a few mountain bike trails near our house so she is excited to try them out.

Her birthday was on Tuesday this year which landed on a Young Women activity. For the activity the girls planned a surprise party for her.  They had cheesecake and played around. She said it was really fun.

Emily is a great daughter. She is a big help with Brooklyn and Brooklyn loves her so much. Emily is like a second mom to her.  Emily is also doing so well in middle school. She likes her classes, is learning her new instruments in band, and maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She is becoming very responsible. 

Happy birthday Emily!!

More September fun

September was a busy month. It seems like every month is getting busier and busier. We started the month out in St. George. We went down for Labor Day weekend to enjoy the warm weather and go to Fynlee's baby blessing. This was a fun trip. We also celebrated Charlotte's birthday at Terral's pool while were there.

I was also able to get together with my friend Trista, and go on a bike ride. This was such a fun ride as we got to talk the whole time and we didn't even care how slow we were going. We rode out to Sand Hollow Reservoir and got there just as the sun was rising over the lake. 

Back in Cache Valley, it is turning into Fall. I really love the Falls here. The leaf colors are amazing and I love all of the sunflowers growing in the fields.

As part of the elementary schools Ag Week, they had a Western Night.

This night was so fun because the boys and I got to have a Mother/Son date. It was nice to just be one on one with each of the boys. During the Western Night, we got to learn how to square dance.  I have not square danced since I was in fifth grade so this was something new and fun for all of us. Logan loved square dancing and picked up the steps and calls really fast. It was also good that we had a good group in our square that knew what to do. Colby's square was not so good. He did really well and learned the steps but the other couples in the square were not paying that good of attention so it was hard to really get in the flow. We still had a good time together though. I was glad we got to spend this time together.

A couple weeks later, we headed back down to St. George for Grandma's birthday and Mavis's blessing.

While there, we went to the car show at the Santa Clara Swiss Days.

At the car show, I found my mid-life crisis/dream car. This awesome yellow Corvette!  I always thought this car was out of our reach but when we looked up the prices, it really only costs as much as a Duramax. So hmm maybe a five year plan in the works?

We saw a lot of cool cars while we were at the car show.  As a tradition, we each pick our favorite car.

This was the car Logan and Charlotte liked the best. It was just their size.

That night we went to Grandma Morwood's 103rd birthday party.

It was good to see Grandma again and get to talk to her. We miss living next door to her. I can't believe she is 103 and still doing so well. She has had a hard year with her physical health because she had a fall earlier in the year and broke her shoulder but seems to have healed just fine. She says she's getting too old and is always tired or sore now though. Her kids have been spending days and nights with her ever since her fall. This has been helpful.

On Sunday we attended Mavis's blessing.

Mavis is such a cute baby. It is fun to see Tyler with a little one. He was really stressed out about getting everything ready for the blessing Sunday morning. We just kind of sat back and enjoyed his stress and helped where we could.

Tyler gave a great blessing and the day turned out great. They are a cute little family.

We had a lot of fun adventures this month including a lot of traveling. We now looking forward to fall fun back home.

Salmon Run & Pocatello Temple

We had some visitors this weekend!  Grandma and Grandpa Morwood and the Hughes' came up to stay with us for a couple of days.  While they were here, we took them to see the Kokanee Salmon running at Porcupine Reservoir.  

We about missed the salmon run this year because the weather has been really weird.  It has been unseasonably warm so much that hardly any of the leaves have changed colors yet.  We usually go see the salmon when the leaves change but since they haven't changed, we almost forgot about the salmon. We made it though and got to see the red fish swim and fight the current.

Another reason we didn't know if the salmon were running is because there has been very little water this last winter and summer causing the water levels in Porcupine to drop substantially.  Because of this, the poor salmon have to swim even further up stream than normal.

Normally this area in the above picture is under water so the salmon wouldn't even start their upstream swim until well after this point.  Because of the lower water levels though, the fish have to swim at least an extra mile upstream.  Good luck fishes!

This was Brooklyn's first salmon run and as you can see, she was loving it!

When we got home from Porcupine, it was time to get ready to go to Pocatello.  The Pocatello Temple has just been completed and we were able to get tickets to the Open House.  We were all excited to go walk through the newest temple,.

This temple was so beautiful just like the other temples.  The kids loved being able to go inside a temple and see what they are all about.  This is not the first temple open house they have been to but it is the first one that they are actually old enough to really remember and feel the Spirit of the place.

As we walked through the temple, we were able to show them the baptismal font, the endowment rooms, sealing rooms, and the Celestial room.  We quietly explained a little bit about what was done in each room so that they would know.  When we got to the sealing rooms, we were able to show them the mirrors on the walls.  We showed them that if they looked in the mirrors they could see their reflection forever.  That is what happens in the temple when you are sealed forever.  They thought the mirrors were pretty awesome.  Charlotte is still talking about how we went in the temple and looked in the mirrors.  

When we walked into the Celestial Room, my breath was literally taken away and my eyes teared up.  I didn't realize how much I had missed going to the temple since they have been closed due to Covid-19 until I walked in this room.  Even though this temple has not been dedicated yet, the Spirit was still there as strong as ever.  This was a great experience!!

We had a big group with us as we toured the temple.  We went through with the Hughes, Hulets, Morwood Grandparents, and a couple of Lacie's friends from Pocatello.  We loved every minute.

The area around the temple was also beautiful.  The sunset was amazing.  The sun shining through the clouds was like nothing else.  I cannot wait to go back inside the temple again.

Lotoja

This was a great race. I have been road biking for about 5 years and have only done virtual races with Tiff. LOTOJA was my first official bike race. I had trained for it for just under a year. Lots of miles were put on all over the valley to get to where I needed to be. 

I did the relay with 6 of my co-workers from the Fire Department. Chief Brad Hannig, Assistant Chief Doug Fullmer, Russell O'Donnell, Luke Brannon, and Cannon Parry. The ride started at 7:30 am on 100 East 200 North in Logan and finished at the Jackson Hole Wyoming High School. We each had one or two legs to ride during the relay. My leg was from Afton to Alpine Wyoming. It was a 34 mile leg. 

Here I am getting ready to start my leg.  I was wanting to get some personal best goals during this ride and I made the 34 miles in 1 hour and 30 minutes. My usual time is just under an hour. I also wanted to ride in to the finish line for the last leg.

Chief Hannig and I did this third leg together for about 6 miles and then Hannig was gone way ahead of me. He is an animal when it comes to riding. I thought for sure I could keep up with him. I had a goal to stay above 20 mph during the ride and I did that and I impressed myself. I should have stayed in the pelotons to help me not gas out as fast, but I wanted to punch through it. I passed a few groups and I was laughed at by my co-workers who were watching me pass them in the car. I was in the back of one group and one guy got behind and sprinted to catch up. He did this multiple times and I said heck with this I am not going to sprint like this and I passed them. 

Ii was an awesome ride with an amazing view. I got to the exchange point in Alpine with a surprise because my watch was off by two miles. I got to the feed zone with Hannig. I was gassed but I still had to go further and make it to the finished line. After eating and filling up with more water, off we went again. The last leg was an amazing ride along the river and canyon. 

Here I am zooming through the transition point in Alpine going on to Jackson Hole.  I made it about 15 more miles until I went to stand up to start a climb and my leg cramped up. I was not happy. I decided to take a break and stretch for a minute. That was a bad idea. As soon as I got off my bike and straighten my legs and they cramped again. I tried to bend them and they still cramped. I had to crouch down to make it stop. I was not happy with this knowing that I had 25 miles to go. I convinced myself to get back on and just keep peddling. I did that until I was about 50 miles in and I started to cramp in all my muscles. I was trying to push it but I was gassed out. 

Thank goodness it was not to long after the guys came driving by and I flagged them down to switch. I was bummed but relieved. Cannon took my bike and I dropped to my knee to stop the cramping. Cannon said lay down but when I tried this, my groin cramped and every muscle tightened up. I knew I was finished. So much for the finished line...

We did it together and made it to the finish line. Cannon, Doug and Hannig crossed the finish line for our team.  

After all was said and done, Russ did the first leg and got ran off the road getting really bad road rash. Luke did 80 miles then gassed out on the fourth leg. Doug and Luke did an awesome job doing the climbing in the race. Cannon did the first leg with Russ and Cannon took over for me to the finished line with Doug.  Hannig did a great job with 4th and 5th leg and made it to the finish line at 7:30 pm. It was a great day full of fun memories with some great friends. I plan on doing it again next year with some different ideas to make it to the finish line.

5 months

Five months old already and she has us wrapped around her finger!  Brooklyn is the cutest, most happy baby ever.  There is not a time that she is not smiling unless she is being bugged by her siblings.  We love this cute girl:

Tyler and Ashley gave Brooklyn this cute mustard colored dress and it perfectly matched the sunflowers that are in bloom everywhere right now.  We had to take her 5 months pictures with the sunflowers.  They turned out great.

This month has been one for milestones in Brooklyn's life.  First she learned to roll over from her back to her belly.  Unfortunately, she hates being on her belly and hasn't quite got the hang of rolling back over to her back.  So she usually rolls over and then cries until we put her back on her back.

Next she learned to sit up on her own.  This is so nice because she has started playing with toys and entertaining herself for a minute.  I can't believe how big she is getting.

Like I said before, Brooklyn is a happy baby.  I love her smiles and laughs.

And I told you she was the cutest right?!  Look at those chubby cheeks!

One of Brooklyn's favorite parts of the day is bath time.  She loves splashing in the water and eating the wash rag.

Swinging in the swing is also fun.  The funny thing is that Brooklyn with rock back and forth and swing herself better than the swing can do it mechanically.  

Another milestone this month was trying out solid food.  Her first experience with rice cereal was, well, not her favorite.

She was not quite sure about what was going in her mouth.  She gagged, spit, and shuddered the whole time.  It was pretty funny.  I am sure it will get better with time and practice.

One solid food she does like though is apples!

She loved chewing, sucking, and gnawing on that apple slice.  She would get frustrated though because it kept slipping out of her hands.  This was definitely a treat for her to try out and it was a hit.  Luckily she doesn't have any teeth yet or that would be a different story.

One fun experience Brooklyn had this month was meeting two of her cousins, Mavis and Fynlee.  While we were in St. George for Labor Day, we got to see both babies for the first time.

Here she is with Mavis.  I could not believe how much bigger Brooklyn was compared to Mavis.  Granted Mavis was a preemie baby and only weigh about 7 pound in this picture and Brooklyn was a big 5 month old chunk.  They were both so cute together even though they didn't really know what was going on.

Here she is with Fynlee.  Both babies did not want their picture taken.  They especially did not want to be held by anyone but their moms even if it was their grandmas holding them.  While Fynlee and Brooklyn were closer to the same size, two months age difference in babies really does make a difference.  Brooklyn is much more mobile than Fynlee at this point in time.  I am sure she will catch up soon though.

Happy 5 Months Brookie.  We love that you are in our family!