Goodbye 2022

The year went by so fast as they all have. It was full of fun memories and lots of activities. 

In January, we played in a ton of snow up Blacksmith Canyon and Logan Canyon.

In February, Logan celebrated his 9th birthday by having an awesome dragon party.  We also had fun at the Hogle Zoo with our cousins.

In March, Colby celebrated his 11th birthday at the ice skating rink with his friends.  Russell and I also took a fun trip to Las Vegas without the kids and had a blast at the Blue Man Group show.  We definitely want to do this again!  Charlotte also learned to ride her bike without training wheels in March.  At first she didn't want to but now she rides her bike everywhere.  She even took it on some mountain bike trails in St. George last month.

April was a big month for Brooklyn.  She turn one year old, got her first tooth, and learned to walk all within a few weeks of each other.  She is running around everywhere now and talking up a storm as well.  She has really grown from a baby into a toddler all within this year.  It's crazy to see the change in her.

May started the busyness of the year.  One sad thing is that Grandma Morwood died at the age of 103 this May.  We were able to attend her funeral and get together with family we hadn't seen in many years.  One great thing that happened is Emily won the Hyrum City Princess!! Charlotte also participated in the pageant in the Little Miss group and won an attendant.  The girls had a great time being in the parades this summer.

June started the summer off in full swing.  I participated in my first road bike race, the Little Red.  It was so much fun that I want to do it again.  All of the kids participated in Baseball teams which made scheduling and attending everything a little tricky.  Emily had a great experience at FSY and is sad she can't go again this year.  The kids also tried out different sports this month.  Emily started mountain biking, Colby attended the USU basketball camp, and Logan and Charlotte had a learning how to swim.  

July is always packed with fun things to do.  We celebrated the 4th of July with all of the Farnsworth/Phillips family, we went kayaking and bike riding for my birthday, and spent a week camping at the property.  I started working on the sites at the American West Heritage Center and as part of that learned how to cook over a fire.  This is something I was excited and scared to learn but I did it.

August meant summer was coming to an end.  Emily enjoyed her last few weeks of summer vacation at Girls' Camp and loved it.  As school began again for the kids, Emily started 8th grade, Colby went into 6th, grade, Logan was in 4th grade and Charlotte started Kindergarten.  Emily also had her first mountain bike race of the season and did really well.  Russell has also enjoyed being one of the Mountain Bike coaches for Emily's team.

September did not slow down.  Charlotte celebrated her 6th birthday and Emily celebrated her 14th birthday.  How are these kids getting so old when Russell and I are not getting old at all?  Emily finished off her mountain bike season, Colby built an awesome cardboard boat, Logan grew couple giant pumpkins, Charlotte learned to play the piano, and Brooklyn continued to get cuter and more sassy everyday.

October brought fall weather and a change of seasons.  The boys played a lot of flag football, Red Ribbon Week happened, corn mazes, pumpkin decorating, and Emily turned into a zombie every weekend for the Haunted Hollow.  Our Flintstone costumes were the talk of the town.  

November brought a fun trip to St. George over Thanksgiving.  I ran my first half marathon in two years and loved it.  We also spent a lot of time mountain biking and wrecking.

Finally we come to December and the busyness of the holidays.  We have had some great times this year as well as stressful times. In all though, it has been a good year.  

To end the year, we had fun as a family on New Year's Eve. 

We played games, drank Bubbly, ate way too many treats with the chocolate fountain, and just had a good time. Brooklyn lasted until about 9:45 pm but the rest of the kids stayed up until midnight. 

As far as new year resolutions went this year, I don't think we (or should I say "I") did very well.  I did part of my first goal of spiritual things.  I was able to read the entire Old Testament, as well as the church magazines.  However I still struggle with my personal prayers, attending the temple and forget about Family history... I will continue to try to be better at these things next year.  My second goal of being kind to others went okay.  I don't feel like I am rude to others but as far as going out of my way to help or be with others does need some more work.  It turns out I am not the only one that Covid ruined.  It seems like everyone is more into staying home away from people like I am.  This needs to change...  Finally my last goal was to be more resolute or more dedicated.  Well I was not very dedicated to these goals this year...  I did work on my physical goal this year though.  I was able to get better at riding my bike as well as get back into running.  I was able to do a 45 mile bike race as well as a half marathon.  So I feel pretty good about that.  Hopefully I will be able to do better on my goals in the coming year.

Well 2022 it had been a good time together but now it is time to move on.  Goodbye 2022!

Ice Skating

After Christmas we went down to the Mill Creek Commons ice rink in South Salt Lake on Monday to meet up with Jen and Tyler's family to skate. It was a good time to see everyone. The kids are always excited to see their cousins and play around. 

Here we are as the whole group.  This ice skating rink was outside which made it even more fun.  Thankfully it was a warm sunny day.  At one point we didn't even need our coats.  

All the kids are getting really good at skating. Russell had the GoPro with him and took a ton of cool videos and pictures of us skating.  Emily also wanted to have fun with the GoPro so Russell showed her how to use it and how to take a video. Off she went and it wasn't long until she crashed and off she and the GoPro slid. She felt so bad and all we could do was laugh and ask if she was okay. We told her we couldn't wait to watch the video of her skating and then falling. She laughed and off we went again.  

It was fun to watch Colby skate as fast as he could and also show off that he could skate backwards. He is getting good. 

Logan is also pretty talented at skating.  Mostly I think because he is not afraid to crash.  There were quite a few times he would get going pretty fast and then land on his butt. He was always a good sport about it though and got right back up.

Even Charlotte was able to skate on her own this year. She started out with a walker but by the end she discovered that she could go much faster with out the walker.  That and some lady came and stole our walker saying we were hoarding it.  Oh well...

Brooklyn loved being pushed around in the stroller. Every time we got off the ice she started to through a fit and say she wanted to go back out. Even Charlotte was able to push her around and have a fun time. 

We all had a great time with the cousins. If we had more time, I think some of the kids would have kept skating all night long.  James and Logan had a good time until their feet hurt and then they were done.  These four hung out the whole time showing off their tricks to each other.

Charlotte loves her best cousin Kari. They are two peas in a pod. They hung out the whole time. They skated together in the small circle ring the majority of the time and played.  Brooklyn and Mavis liked being pushed around in the strollers.  Brooklyn kept saying "Hi Baby!" to Mavis and Mavis would just smile.

After being at the rink for about 5 hours, we were ready to be done.  Even if we wanted to say, our feet and ankles were done in and not having any more of it.  So we opted for a photo op instead.

What is a family get together without a end of family picture to show we had a great time. I hope we can make this a family tradition. We all had a great time.

Merry Christmas 2022

Merry Christmas Day everyone!  We woke up around 8:00 am and the older kids were yelling at the bottom of the stairs saying, "Wake up everyone, it's Christmas!" I went to the stairs and told them to go back to bed.  I told them Santa did not come this year. They knew it was a lie of course. When it was time to have them come upstairs, we went youngest to oldest to come see what Santa brought. Santa did good this year. Each of the kids got a new nice outfit for Sunday. 

They all looked really nice. Our intentions were to make it to church for the Christmas program, but Logan had a fever and Tiffany had cold. We were able to watch it on Zoom though and enjoyed the messages that were shared. 

We got a new video GoPro this year to help get pictures and video of all the fun adventures we are going to have. Our other video camera got dropped and no longer works so we had to get something new.  I think this GoPro will be really fun.  I was trying it out one day and took a picture of Charlotte and Brooklyn on Christmas Eve. It turned out really good. 

This year we asked Santa for some season passes to Lagoon so we can have fun as a family during the Spring time through the Fall time. It will be nice because we will be having a busy Summer time and we can just drive one hour and play for a few hours. We can play there as much as we want and not feel rushed while we are there. 

This was our big gift this year and the kids are excited to be able to go to Lagoon a lot this year.  Every time we drive passed it on the freeway, they ask us when we can go there.  Now we can.

The kids got some other fun gifts for Christmas as well. Brooklyn got an American Girl Baby doll and a new book.  She was most excited about the book and immediately wanted to sit on our laps and read the book.  Her favorite gift though was the apple in her stocking.  She started eating that apple as soon as she took it out of her stocking and wouldn't give it up until it was finished.

Charlotte got a Ukulele to be like her cousin Kari.  The ukulele is her favorite gift.  She has been playing it ever since.  She also got a book to learn how to play the ukulele and has so far learned the C chord and the C7 chord.  Charlotte taught herself to plunk out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the strings.  

 Logan got a gymnastic floor mat and a small RC car. He loves the mats and has been doing his Parkour stunts on them all day.  Sadly the RC car broke within a few minutes so we will be contacting Santa to hopefully get a new one.  Logan also got the watch that he asked for.

Colby got a new watch and biking clothes. Ever since Emily's mountain bike season ended, Colby has been talking about joining the team next year.  He received some padded biking shorts as well as a tool kit and saddle bag for his bike.  He can't wait to get biking again in the Spring.

Emily got new Ear buds to listen to her books and music with. She also received a new Camelbak to use for riding or hiking.  Her last Camelbak got a hole in the bladder somehow.

Tiffany got a head lamp for running, a new camel back, and a good book to read.   The headlamp is so bright it will probably blind the people driving passed her as she runs so it might not be a good thing.  Santa also got us a cool family game of laser tag. The laser tag game has been really fun and has been played with the most.

Along with their gifts, each of the kids got a nice Sunday outfit to wear. They were all so handsome and pretty. 

Since Colby will be turning 12 this year and getting ordained to the priesthood, he needed a new suit.  Logan also got a new suit coat and they both got real ties they have to learn how to tie.

After our traditional scrambled egg breakfast, it was time to open the presents under the tree.  Brooklyn got a stick horse from Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth and it was her favorite. She saw it and instantly she wanted to ride it. We all laughed. Emily got her a stroller for her new baby.  Her other favorite present was a vacuum.  She has been "vacuuming" the house and cleaning ever since!  

Tiffany made Char an art tote for coloring books and crayons.  She has enjoyed doing the dot-to-dots and coloring in the books.  Charlotte also received some necklaces and bracelets from her brothers and sister as well as some new snow boots. 

Logan loved all of the things he received from his siblings.  He loved the glow in the dark stars for his room, new biking gloves, sunglasses, and pencils and notebooks. I was able to get the family fire department union shirts and jackets. 

Colby got some more biking tools including a pump from Emily and gloves from Mom.   He also loved his new sunglasses, car book, and battery powered toothbrush.   

Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth got the kids some fun things like matching Lego cars:

 They also got the kids their own personal journals.  Charlotte and Logan have been using their journals to write stories and draw pictures.  They also all worked together to put their Lego cars together so they could play.  It was fun to watch the kids have fun and relax all day. 

Grandma and Grandpa Morwood got the kids nice sweaters and jackets to keep the kids warm as well as coupons for free Frostys throughout the year.

Emily also received some pretty nice gifts. She loved her new snow boots because for some reason she keeps growing out of the ones she had. She also got a new hat, Lego base plate, and a nice picture for her room.

I got a massage gun and some fishing gear. I am especially excited about the massage gun! I am going to use it everyday.  

Christmas this year was just nice and relaxing.  We were not in a hurry to do anything and spent the day just playing. I was glad to relax and watch to kids have fun.   Merry Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

Christmas traditions are something the kids look forward to all year.  I have tried to simplify the traditions into just a few fun ones each year and it really helps to not be bombarded with a lot of things to do.  Here are some of the traditions we do each Christmas.  

First, we always have a great time setting up for each holiday and Christmas especially. This year we went simple on the tree ornaments and went old school. We put out all the homemade ornaments the kids have made over the years. The kids also strung popcorn and cranberries garland to wrap around the tree. 

Emily said it was her turn to put up the star since it has been a long time. Here she is putting up the traditional star. Our tree decorating skills might not be the best and our tree will never win an award but we love it and each ornament has a special memory associated with it.  It works for our family.

From summer to fall we save a lot of the candy from parades and Halloween so we can do our traditional gingerbread houses. By the time Christmas comes we have a huge amount of candy, enough to do seven houses. All of us love doing the gingerbread houses because we all have our own unique style. I enjoy seeing each of the kids think about how they will design it, and as they design it they eat candy, eat frosting and lick their fingers. 

This year we lost some land on the house but kept the same size house.  This is because we are running out of room on the shelf where we always put the house.  We have to fit 7 houses up there and there is only so much room.  So the yards on the gingerbread houses are pretty small.  It was okay though because by the time we were all done we had some really cool houses. It was Brooklyn's first year to officially help build her own house. She liked eating the frosting and didn't understand why she couldn't eat her house afterward. 

Here they all are. It is awesome because every year the houses look different from last year. It's funny to see how much candy one gingerbread house can hold.  

Every year the houses look different and each person's house has its own personality.  We love this tradition.

Tiffany and I are the 10-11 year old boys activity day leaders. We decided to do homemade snow globes as an activity this holiday season. It was a fun activity for all of the boys and I hope they enjoyed making them. 

Once we were done with the activity days, later that week, we decided to make our own snow globes as a family. They turned out really good. We made them out of old baby food jars, water and glitter.  Tiff found some little figurines at the dollar store to glue inside the jar to make it look like a winter scene. 

I put in too much glitter and it covers my person in the globe.  This is not one of our normal traditions but maybe it will become one in the future because they were fun to make.  Another fun tradition we have with our activity days boys is going caroling on a hay ride.  Our friend gets us a trailer of hay bales and we gather all of the boys and girls in Activity Days and drive around the ward singing carols.  It is always freezing but it is fun.  Afterward we gather at our house for hot chocolate and cookies.  

 

Speaking of cold, we went to bed one night knowing a storm was approaching, but we did not expect it to come so quick and dump a foot of snow. School was delayed for a couple hours while the streets and sidewalks and things were cleared.  

It was fun so see the fresh white snow all over in the morning. It is kind of peaceful. I woke the boys up and off we went to shovel the drive way and help other neighbors out. Brooklyn loved it so much that she did not want to come in at all that day. Even though the snow was basically as tall as she is and she couldn't walk in it very well, she loved it.  Snow is becoming a tradition in our family.

We also have one of the coolest traditions that we have done for a long time, and it is the 12 Days of Christmas to a family in need. We as a family have always loved this and I hope we will do it forever. The family we chose this year was the Randall family. Their youngest boy recently got diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. Jake just got off his mission and he just didn't feel right for a while. The saddest part of the story is he has terminal cancer. Jake was one of my young men when I was a youth leader. He was one of my favorite. It was a hard thing to hear. We stopped by and gave him a cool help bag while he goes through his treatments. As a family we were talking about who we should do for the 12 Days and I had a strong impression to help the Randall's. The kids agreed. It was a fun 12 Days. Each of the kids help throughout the week. They all ran and tried not to get caught as they dropped off the gifts each day. It was funny to watch Charlotte help. She was so excited when we told her it was her turn to help. She laughed with excitement. Logan had a funny mishap while he was doing it. The roads were slick with ice and as he got out of the van and as he was running he hit a patch of ice. At first we were worried, but he got back up laughing. He said he was good and off he went. It was a good time for us as a family. 

We were able to get to down to St. George before Christmas and see family and go to the Morwood Christmas party. It has been a tradition that all unmarried kids sit on Santa's lap and get a present. All the kids did great except Brooklyn. Brooklyn was not to sure about the man with a white beard and red suit. She did not want to sit on his lap and clenched on to Tiffany for dear life.  

The kids loved their gifts from Santa and were able to play with them before we left to the airport to see Becca return home.

This snow man dress has become a tradition as well.  I made it for Emily when she was a little over a year old and it has been handed down through the girls.

They each got to wear it at least once while it fit them and they all looked so cute in it.

 

We also have some nightly traditions for Christmas Eve.  First we read the Christmas Nativity story and opened up one present. The kids get new pajamas for the morning and it is fun to see the ones they get.

I don't know why Brooklyn looks so mad in her picture. She just didn't want to look at the camera for her picture to be taken.  Funny girl.  The kids liked their new pajamas and raced to put them on.

Here are all the kids in their pajamas. Now this time Brooklyn is not happy to take pictures.  In fact she was bawling.  Mostly because I was making her sit still for a picture against her will and second because I wouldn't give her the binky... 

Before everyone went to bed, we set out Santa's cookies and eggnog. We also set out food for the reindeer so they can have energy to get around the world. 

Charlotte was the most excited to set them out because she made some oatmeal reindeer food. All the kids wrote their letter to Santa and put it in their stockings before they went to bed. Then it was off to bed so that Santa could come and drop off presents. 

Merry Christmas Eve!!!