July 2024

 July has been a fun month.  We started the month off by sending Emily to Provo for FSY.  Emily and her friend, Hahna wanted to attend FSY somewhere other than Utah State so they decided to go to the session at BYU.  

These two cute girls roomed together and had a wonderful time at FSY.  They learned a lot and enjoyed being away from home in a new area for a week.  FSY is such a great experience for kids.  Emily came home with so many spiritual experiences and stories about the things she had learned.  I always wanted to go to EFY when I was a kids but never got the opportunity.  I am so glad these experiences are more available to the youth now.

While she was gone, we celebrated the 4th of July.  Because Emily was at BYU during the 4th of July, she got to watch the huge Stadium of Fire firework show at the BYU stadium.  She said it was pretty awesome.   

The 4th of July was a blast with a lot of fun times. Charlotte and Logan were part of the Children's Choir in the Sunday Patriotic Program put on by Hyrum City. The family has been a part of this program since Emily was around 8 years old, so it is cool to see we still have kids who like the choir.  The Patriotic Program is always really good.

On the 4th of July, Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth came here to play around with us. We went to the Hyrum parade and had a good time. 

The kids love this parade because they always get a ton of candy.  It is also a huge parade and everyone from all over the Valley come to see it.  This year the parade lasted an hour and a half!

After the parade, we went to the Cache Valley Cruisin' Car show. Grandpa Farnsworth and Colby love going to see this car show. 

We all love seeing the cool car and picking out our favorites.  It is always fun seeing the cool old cars and the new ones. This year Calen and Rochelle had a vendor booth at the fair grounds selling their laser cut wood crafts.  We liked browsing their booth and looking at their fun items for sale.  Once the car show was done, we headed home to get ready for the BBQ and fireworks. 

We had the Pini's come over as well as Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth and part of the Phillips and Yap family. This year Russell splurged and got some fireworks to light off. The kids loved lighting off the fireworks. Once the night came, we always have the best seats in the house for the Hyrum Firework Show.

 The Pini's were even impressed with how close we were to the firework show. Like always Hyrum does an amazing job with the show. The encore show was good as well with the rest of the neighborhood doing fireworks.  They always go off for hours.

The next morning we met up with the Pini's again to hike the Wellsville Ridge for my birthday.

The hike was amazing and when I got home the kids had made a banner and decorated the house for my birthday.  Happy 39th birthday to me!

That night we went into Logan to see the Cache Valley Cruisin' parade.  This isn't really a parade but it is pretty awesome to see all of the cars from the car show driving up and down Main Street just cruising like they would in their day.

We love sitting and watching all of the awesome cars.  It is really a big community event and everyone loves it.

On July 10, we put our second kid in braces.

Colby is now in braces and he loves it.  Okay not really.  His teeth needed braces because there was a lot of overcrowding.  There was such little space that one of his canines is impacted meaning not growing in.  The Orthodontist hopes that as he moves the teeth around and provides a space for that tooth, it will grow in on its own.  If not we will have to go to an oral surgeon.  Our fingers are crossed that it will just grow in on its own.  So Colby is in braces for the next two or so years.  Yeah!

I have spent a lot of time working at the American West Heritage Center again this summer.  Occasionally the kids will join me and help with all of the chores at the farm house.  During one visit, they learned how to milk the cow.

Farmer Robert Hoth taught them the technique and was happy to have them help with the milking.  Logan was a natural and loved milking the cow.  We milk the cows twice a day and both times, Logan was the one to do most of the milking.  Charlotte and Brooklyn also tried milking.  Colby, being allergic to straw, stayed away from the barn and the cows just in case.  The kids also liked gathering the eggs from the chickens.  They were also a great help in picking the raspberries.  I think we came home with two big Ziploc bags to use in making raspberry syrup.  The syrup tasted so good!  We even used it to make homemade raspberry ice cream for Russell's birthday and it was so delicious!  We should have lived on a farm.

 The kids have been very creative during their summer break.  They have been making crafts, having picnics, and just having fun.  Colby and Logan found these giant boxes and decided to turn them into race cars.  The cars actually turned out really cool.  There was so much detail put into them.  There were even steering wheels, and gas and brake pedals.  They even decorated the big Amazon box like the Mystery Machine in Scooby Doo.

Charlotte and Brooklyn have also been having fun making up different activities.  They love having picnics and plan one for almost everyday.  They also got creative and painted rocks to keep themselves busy for an afternoon.

Logan City does a pool party each summer for all of the city employees.  This is always fun to go to and we all love to swim.

During the party they give out a bunch of prizes to the kids during the starfish drop.  The people drop starfish cutouts attached to diving rings into the pool and the kids have to search for them.  When they find a starfish, they can redeem the prize.  This year Charlotte and Brooklyn were the lucky winners.  Charlotte won this huge inflatable dragon.  She has been bouncing all over the house on this thing.  Brooklyn won a Bluey water toy and bath towel. She loved playing in the pool with Bluey.

On July 24 we got together with Ashley, Mavis, and Eloise and watched the Pioneer Day parade in Logan.  

It was so hot but thankfully we had our big umbrella to kind of give us some shade.  The kids liked the parade and got a bunch of candy.  The parade really had nothing to do with Pioneer Day though it was more of an extension of Independence Day festivities and advertisements for businesses.  

That night we lit off a few more fireworks and did some cool designs with our sparklers.  We really should look deeper into why we celebrate Pioneer Day.

On July 28 Russell and I took the kids up to Burley, ID so we could participate in the Spudman Triathlon.

This was a good race and we both improved our times over last year.

By the end of July, Mountain Bike season was in full force.  Emily and Colby had practices 3-4 times a week on the various trails around the area.  Instead of just waiting in the car, I have started running or hiking the trail with them.  A really beautiful trail and hike is Beaver Mountain.  The three younger kids hiked the lower loop with me while the other kids mountain biked both the upper and lower loops.  Logan was our guide because he had ridden this loop before and knew the way.  I loved being in the tall pine trees.

Another morning they took a ride up Green Canyon.  This time I decided to run the trail with them.  The funny thing about it was I could keep up with them on the uphill portion of the trail and actually beat a few of the riders to the top.  We went all the way up to the yurt before turning around and heading back down hill.  On the downhill portion though they totally beat me on their bikes.  Oh well I am still pretty impressed I could run as fast as they could bike for most of it.  This was a good 8 mile trail and the scenery was beautiful as well.  I may just have to transition into a trail runner because it is more fun.

For Young Mens, Colby's group planned a mountain biking activity.  They rode up the Blacksmith trail.  

Of course Colby and Ethan bombed up the trail and zoomed back down before anyone else could get halfway.  Their leader, Bro Skaife, was trying his best to keep up with them and he did pretty good but they still beat him.  

All of this and a week long camping trip made July pretty packed with fun.  We love summer!