The Farnsworth Family: September 2024

Happy Birthday to me!! SWEET SIXTEEN!!

What a busy, crazy, and fun birthday. My birthday happened to fall on the busiest weekend in September. There was the homecoming dance at the school, a mountain bike and cross country race the same day. I was sort of worried we weren't going to do a whole lot for my birthday with everything going on. Come to find out a plan was in the works for months for a really fun Sweet Sixteen party.

First, on the Thursday before my birthday, after school Mom texted me that she was on her way home and to get ready to go somewhere. Mom ended up driving the two us to a salon in town and we had a fun pedicure. It was super nice and relaxing as the ladies massaged our feet and painted our nails. Our toes turned out super cute and really pretty. Next time we go in we are planning to do a manicure.

After the pedicure Mom drove farther into town to a random building. I wasn't sure what we were doing there.

As I was walking to the door, though, I heard Dad's voice inside saying, "She's coming, here she comes!" As I walked in all my friends were there. Surprise Party!! I had no idea I was going to have a surprise party. I had some suspicions about what might be going on but it was still was a surprise. I was especially surprised that my friends were so secretive! They didn't say a thing about the party! Inside, the building was decorated really cool with fancy lights and balloons. Everything was pink and gold and said Happy Sweet Sixteen! It was awesome.

After the surprise I hugged all my friends there and then Mom gave me a fancy birthday sash and crown.

We had a bunch of yummy food at the party. There was nachos! The meat for the nachos I made for my foods class not knowing it was for the party. It was super good.

There was even our chocolate fountain with all sorts of yummy things to dip and cover in chocolate. Everyone enjoyed it. It was super good and super messy. But it was the best.

There was also a flavored soda bar that we had with our food. You could choose a soda and then put some flavors in it. I had a Sprite drink with some fruity flavors. A favorite drink flavor was Butter Beer.

Everyone dug into the food and enjoyed it. We talked, ate, and laughed. There was a lot of laughing.

After everyone finished eating, we went to the photo booth and took some fun pictures with some cool props. We took some nice pictures and of course funny pictures.

The friends at my party were: from the left top, Mia, Hahna, me of course, Audrey, Courtney, Kate, a friend from mountain biking, and Rubie. Bottom left, Ella, a friend from church in young women's, Aunara a friend from cross country, Eden a friend from middle school and elementary school, Gretchen, Khloe, Lily Raegan, and in the front, Kambri. There were a few other girls invited but weren't able to make it. This is super fun group of friends that I am glad to have. They are funny and crazy just like me. When you get all of us together it's crazy fun. I'm glad they were all able to come and surprise me at the party.

When we were done with some fun pictures some of my friends practiced our social dance skills. A lot of the girls have social dance class together with me or have taken the class. It was super funny. We waltzed, cha cha-ed and swing danced.

After our practicing and showing off our dancing skills, we played some games.

We played games that connected to the TV and our phones. We played a game called Jack Box which was super fun. We played of few rounds of different games. In the game you have to respond to different questions and the responses we did were super funny.

When we were done with the games we did presents!

My friends got me some really fun gifts that were really nice. I got some candles, candy, some gift cards and more. One of the favorite gifts I received was from my friend Hahna. It was a Lego person that looked like me and it came with a Lego bike!

When all the presents were open, it was time for cake.

The cake was my favorite, mint chocolate chip Oreo ice cream cake! It was so good.

As my friends were leaving, we danced some more, sang to some songs, and just partied.

When everyone left we cleaned up and got ready to go. My bestie, Hahna, was the last one to leave with her family and they helped clean up. We listened to some more songs and some of them that were chosen by my siblings and Hahna's brother, Toni were really weird and funny. When we were done cleaning, I saved some of the balloons I took them home and hung them in my room. They are still hanging up there now. It was a really fun surprise party. I was really glad I was able to have a really fun Sweet Sixteen party with my friends. I think it has been my favorite birthday party yet.

On my actual birthday was the high school mountain bike race in Beaver City.

It was a fun yet kind of hard way to spend my birthday. It was cool to race on my birthday but I was nervous about my race the whole day. It was also hot and dusty. I was still fun. I wore the birthday sash while I raced and everyone knew it was my birthday and wished me a happy birthday.

It was a fun race that was all over the place. Up and down hills and through rocks. A nice thing about this trail was that the starting line didn't started on a hill, it was super flat. But it was super dusty.

As I raced everyone told me happy birthday when the saw my sash. After 2 laps I was glad to see the finish line. This race kind of determined if I was going to state or not. I was really close but I sadly didn't qualify. The points and qualification system is really weird.

After the race in the hot sun and dust we went to the creamery for some birthday ice cream to cool us off. We were worried that it would be closed but luckily with everyone else from the race with the same idea as us the creamery was open.

On Sunday after the race I was able to open more presents from Mom and Dad. I got a new camp chair because my old one was really old and falling apart. I got a CTR ring that I wanted and I got two really cute dresses. Plus a couple more gifts.

On Monday two days after I officially turned 16, I went to the DMV after school to take my driving test to get my drivers license. I was really nervous. After waiting in the waiting room for a minute, I went out with the instructor to take the test. I drove where the instructor told me around a neighborhood and did some different turns and maneuvers. One thing I had to do was parallel park. The first time I tried it I didn't do very well then when I tried it again I did the parallel park super good. The instructor said it was smooth like cutting into butter. Once I completed the driving test with the instructor told me I passed!

Then we went inside and made it official. As the pictures shows, I am a fully licensed driver! I can drive where ever I want with no need of a parent with me. Even though I do still prefer my parents to drive sometimes, it's super nice to drive to and from work on my own. It is also really nice to be able to drive my sibling places whenever my parent are busy. Look out world I'm ruling the streets!

What a super fun birthday weekend. Thanks to my mom and dad for planning an awesome Sweet Sixteen surprise party I had a super fun party with my friends. I also had a fun mountain bike race on my birthday, I got some fun gifts, and I now that I am 16 I have my drivers license. It was a really memorable and fun Sweet Sixteen!

September has been a busy month full of trips almost every weekend and something going on literally everyday. We made a couple of trips to St. George, mountain bike races, cross country races, celebrated birthdays and baptisms, and much more.

We started the month in St. George over Labor Day. This was a special trip because I was able to go to the temple with Jess and Danny and see them receive their endowments and be sealed as a family with their two boys, Cole and Cash.

This was probably one of the best experiences I have had in the temple so far. I was so happy for Jess and Danny. I have never been to a family sealing before, well except my own when I was three but I don't remember much about that. I didn't really know how it would all work but I can tell you it was one of the sweetest most spiritual things I have ever witnessed. It was amazing to see Jess and Danny be sealed but when they brought in their two handsome boys, the tears started flowing. Witnessing this family sealing was something I will never forget. I know this is the true church and gospel because there is no other place that could be so right than the temple. The blessings and promises we are given there just make life worth living. I am so happy the Blake's decided to take this step in their lives. I know they will be blessed for it. I know I have been blessed for just witnessing it. I am so glad I was able to attend.

While in St. George, we did have some days of outdoor fun too.

I promised the kids we could go to a splash pad or something so we went to a small secluded park near my parents' house. We picked up Fynlee on our way so she and Brooklyn could play. This was a great park because we were the only ones there! The kids had a blast just splashing and running around even though it was hot.

Back home, we traveled some more. This time we went northwest to Bear River High School for Emily's cross country meet.

This race had all of the girls running together. Once again it was pretty hot and the air was smoky but Emily did great. This course was a few laps around a park and some loops crisscrossing around a dirt field. It was nice for the spectators because we could cheer for everyone in one central spot but a little confusing for the runners. Our top runner, Lily, took a wrong turn and had to push it to catch back up to the top position after everyone yelled at her to turn around. She still ended up finishing first but it was too bad she lost some ground. Russell, Brooklyn and I cheered for Emily and her friends from the dirt field as they passed us multiple times. Then we ran to the finish line to watch Emily finish strong. Emily was able to improve her time on this race and maintain her spot on the team as the top 8 or 9. Nice!

On September 7, we celebrated Charlotte's 8th birthday as well as her baptism!

Charlotte was excited to be baptized and had been looking forward to it for a while. We were also happy to have so many family members come up to celebrate with us. Happy Birthday Charlotte!

Our garden has been good this year. producing a ton of beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, spaghetti squash, and potatoes.

When I was not chasing the kids around with their sports, I was canning and processing all of the vegetables and fruit. Our peach tree also produced a lot of peaches this year which was great. The peaches were nice and big and really juicy. They were probably some of the best I have tasted. Another miracle happened and our little apple tree also produced about 25 big apples. We were really concerned about this tree for the first few years because it was not producing at all but this year has been the best crop yet! We didn't can or dry these apples, we just enjoyed eating them. They were so good!

Back to cross country racing! There was about one race a week so there was always something going on.

This time the race was at Gibbon's Park in Logan. This race was not a good one for Emily. She really struggled to keep going. For the past week or so she had been sick with a cold and was just not feeling 100%. She debated on not running but decided to just go for it anyway. The course was a terrible course full of steep hill climbs and descents. All of it was on grass too. When I say steep inclines, I mean in the winter we use this park for epic sledding. So there were two negatives against her, a cold and a terrible course. I could tell she was tired when she passed me the first time so instead of telling her to "Go! Go! Go!" I just tried to encourage her to keep going and make it to the end. At the finish line, I could tell she was upset with her race but I told her she did amazing with the terrible course and being sick. I said it was just one race and to write it off as a bad race and move on. We all have bad days. I was still so proud of her for giving her all, finishing and doing her best!

The third Mountain Bike race of the season was on September 14. This race was held in Mantua so we didn't have to travel too far.

This was Colby's final race of the season so he was determined to do well and get a good placing.

It was cold when Colby's race started first thing in the morning. As soon as his race got going, though, we all warmed up as we climbed up and down the mountain cheering for him in all of the viewing spots. Colby did great and zoomed around the turns and though the finish line. He placed 55 in the 8th grade boys and finished his lap in 27:55. I think this was his fastest race of the season so he was happy with that.

For the rest of the day we hung out in the Pit Zone waiting for Emily's race time around 2:00 pm. This waiting always makes Emily really nervous and anxious for her race. One thing her friends have started to do, though, is say a group prayer together before their race. This seems to help her so that is good.

Since this course is so close to us, Emily has ridden and practiced on this course a lot. She did so well. It was really hot and dusty by the time she raced but she pushed through and finished strong. Emily was able to keep her placement as number 47 and finished her two laps in 59:19. I think those times are amazing! I definitely could not do what she does.

This season has been fun to watch the kids progress and get better at riding. These girls have also been fun to get to know. It has been hard because they all race in a different category than Emily but they still have fun hanging out and cheering for each other.

And we are back to cross country! This race almost didn't happen. This was Mountain Crest's home meet, Cache Box, held at the American West Heritage Center. The Cache Box is a big invitational for multiple schools and is also the same course that is used for the region qualifying meet. On the morning of the meet, we woke up to gray skies and storm clouds. By 1:00, when the meet was supposed to start, it was down pouring. So much that it was literally buckets and the meet was postponed. Because all of the schools were already at the Heritage Center, everyone was seeking cover in the Welcome Center, the shop, and the storage buildings. Mountain Crest and another school was put in the Man and His Spread storage building where we keep all of the golf carts and decorations. While they were stuck in there, the kids made the most of it by having a dance party. I was in the back office room of the Welcome Center and we got to watch them dance on the surveillance cameras. It was pretty funny.

Finally about an hour later, the storm broke and the directors decided the race could go on but instead of splitting the races with Varsity and JV they would run all of the girls in one race and the boys would all run shortly afterward. This is why there are boys running with the girls in some of the pictures.

This race ended up being one of Emily's favorite courses and races. She did so well! She was able to push hard coming in the top runners on her team. She also got a new personal best of 23.44. This made Emily feel much better about herself. After the last race she was really down but this awesome performance really boosted her spirits and she liked running again.

As Activity Day Leaders, we try to do fun activities the boys would like. After taking a break in the summer we decided to have a big activity to involve the boys and their families so we brought back the Cardboard Boat Regatta!

Each of the boys were given a cardboard box to build into a boat. There were really no rules other than they had to be able to fit inside of it and float down the river. It is always interesting to see what they come up with and how they use their imagination to build their boat. This year we had a dragon, a tank, a shark mouth, a canoe, a laminated boat, and more. We raced the boats at the Hyrdopark up Blacksmith Fork.

Logan wanted his boat to look like a dragon. He drew up the design and with some help made it come to life.

His boat was just wide enough on the bottom to balance out his weight and keep him a float down the river. He said he didn't even get wet on his first run. He did have to stay right in the middle so that it wouldn't tip over. After a few trips down the river though it did start to collapse under his weight.

Even though Colby is not in Activity Days anymore, he wanted to build a boat and float it in the Regatta as well.

His boat did not hold up as well as he had hoped but he was still happy to be on the water. He blamed his lack of structure on Logan using all of the duct tape.

All of the boys' boats did really well on the water. The only one that had a hard time was Jayden's shark head boat. Though it looked really cool, it would not float or stay upright with him inside. It was just too narrow and small for him to balance.

Blake's laminated boat was the longest lasting boat. His dad is an engineer of some sort so they really went all out in building the perfect boat. They kept calling and asking about the different materials and things they could use and if they could hot glue the whole boat essentially creating a plastic seal around the cardboard making it waterproof. We just laughed and told them if they wanted to spend that much time and money on their boat they could go for it. His boat did last the longest on the water and even held three boys at once before it started to deteriorate.

In the end, I think Blake and Logan's boats held the most people so all of the boys jumped in together for a whole group race.

All of the boys had a good time and their families enjoyed it too. Our judges decided that Jayden won the Titanic Award for most epic sink, Xavier won the Best Design award for his detailed army tank, and Maverick won the Speed Boat award for being the fastest and most streamlined boat in the race. The other boys also won some other fun awards too. Everyone had a good time!

The last week of September was Mountain Crest Homecoming week. All of us were in the MC Homecoming Parade. Russell, Emily, and Colby were part of the Mountain Bike team. They rode their bikes down the parade route doing trick. Emily was not sure which float to be on between Mountain Biking and Cross Country. Then we found out that the Mountain Bike team was one of the first floats and the cross country team was one of the last floats. She decided to ride her bike with the mountain bike team and then hurry and ride back to the start and jump on with the cross country team. So she was able to do both!

I am the Secretary of the MC Parent Organization so I was in the parade with them. We needed a vehicle to ride in so we used our truck. We taped banners and balloons to the truck and I drove it through the parade. Logan, Charlotte, and Brooklyn came with me and the rest of the Parent Organization Board and threw candy during the parade. The kids thought that was the best thing ever.

At the end of September, Tami and Roy entered the MTC as Senior Missionaries. We went down to St. George at the end of August to go to their mission farewell. It was amazing to hear their experience with trying to decide to go on a mission and how the received their call and how they knew that was the place they needed to be. I know they will be great missionaries.

Tami and Roy were called to serve in the Zimbabwe Harare Africa mission! They will be going to Africa!! To tell you the truth, I was really nervous about this call for them. I mean Africa is on the other side of the world and its Africa! After hearing their testimonies and finding out the story and process behind getting their call, I felt much better about it. It is still a little scary, but I know it is where they need to be. They are in the Provo MTC right now waiting for their Visas to get approved so they can head to Zimbabwe.

We cannot forget about Emily's 16th birthday!!

Emily turned 16 on September 28 and we had a really fun surprise party for her with all of her friends. The party turned out great and Emily was so happy. I can't believe we have a 16 year old and another driver in the house because she also passed her driver's test and got her driver's license! We love you Emily! Happy Birthday!

Finally I had to include this cute picture of Brooklyn that Charlotte took.