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!