Kindergarten Graduation

I can't believe it is already the end of the year!  Logan has loved Kindergarten. He especially loved his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Kendrick.  For kindergarten graduation, she put together this big production of songs and parts explaining all about what the kids have been learning in the Leader in Me program.

Logan had a blast learning all of the songs for the program.  He also loved learning the actions and dancing to the music.  All of the kids did an awesome job and those little kindergartners were so fun to watch.

Logan also had a speaking part for the graduation program:

He talked about Habit 4: Think Win-Win.  He said, "Thinking Win-Win means everyone can win." He said other things in his part too but I can't remember what they are right now.  He did such a good job memorizing his lines and then saying them in front of everyone.

Finally it was time for the diplomas:

They were all so cute and happy to be graduating.  Just think in 12 years they will be graduating for real!  This was such a fun program to watch.

Here is Logan with his favorite teacher so far: Mrs. Kendrick.

Mrs. Kendrick really was a great teacher.  You could tell that she really loved the kids in her class and was willing to do anything to help them learn.  She made all of them feel special to her.

Logan also had his best friend, Jayden, in his class.

This was fun for the boys because they always had a friend to play with at recess.

Now that they had graduated from Kindergarten, the rest of the school days were just filled with fun field trips.  First they went to the Jump the Moon art studio to learn more about art and how to be creative.  

They learned how music is art by dancing to the "Hall of the Mountain King."

They also learned how to paint a butterfly.  Charlotte had a blast coming along with the big kids and painting.

They also painted a few other scenes and learned how to fold and fly paper airplanes. This was a really fun field trip.  Logan was so excited because he got to ride the bus for the first time!

We love kindergarten!

Memorial Day

This year we spent Memorial Day weekend in St. George enjoying the warmth and sunshine!  

We recently purchased a second four wheeler because, with six people, the one four wheeler was getting pretty crowded.  Clay's co-worker was selling his four wheelers and gave us a really good deal.  We drove down to St. George during Memorial weekend to pick up the new four wheeler and take it out on its maiden voyage.  We decided to take it out near Gunlock Reservoir.

We had a great time riding and enjoying the sites.  I had never been on these trails before.  We were glad Clay and Clint could show us some new places.  As we were looking out over this lookout, Charlotte decided she wanted to drive and pushed on the gas.  The four wheeler lurched forward and I knew it was going over the edge.  Luckily, the movement scared Charlotte and she let go and I hurried and grabbed the brakes.  Russell rushed over and turned the bike off and put on the Emergency Brake.  It scared me so bad!  Thankfully we were all safe.  Then we drove out to the petrogyphs.

These petroglyphs were pretty cool.  You had to hike up and around this rock face to see them inside a cave.  The bigger kids went and saw the cool art while Logan, Charlotte, and I stayed on the rock face and saw a the few that were still there.  Sadly, a lot of the petroglyphs have been rubbed away from people stepping on them but the ones inside the cave were much better.

Charlotte loved seeing all of the cacti in bloom.  They were very pretty.  

The next day we took another four-wheeling excursion up to General Steam.

This time Tami, Terral, and Lacie went with us as well.  Once again it was a great ride.  We did go later in the day though and it had been raining so it was cooler.  That was okay though because that meant less dust.  We took a picnic dinner and had a great time with family.

Colby loved hopping over the stream at General Steam.  He is our explorer and he loves to find new trails and areas to explore. 

Monday we headed back home with our new four wheeler.  We had a great weekend and we were glad we were able to get out and explore new places on our bikes.

Soccer Players

It is that time again for spring soccer.  Emily has given up on soccer but still likes to play for fun.  Colby and Logan, however, still love the game and wanted to keep playing this year.  They are getting pretty good at it as well.

Colby's age group is getting more and more competitive so he has learned to run faster and kick further.  He likes to play defender though so he stays near the goal and then kicks the ball out of the way before it gets too close to the goalie.  Here are some fun shots of Colby:

He had a blast playing this year and took every game pretty seriously.  He didn't know many of the kids on his team but after working together in games, they all got to be friends.

Good season Colby!  He even scored a few goals of his own as well as blocked many of the other teams' attempts.

Logan also had a blast playing this season.  He is still getting the hang of soccer but he is picking it up quickly.  He is especially good at running fast to the ball and kicking it down field.  He is getting better at dribbling and was able to take the ball down the field a few times. Here are some fun shots of Logan:

Logan also scored a few goals for his team this year.  This is a fun age to watch play because the kids are all just happy to be there playing and having fun.  Logan also didn't know many on his team but was soon best friends with all of them.

Good job, Logan!  Keep on practicing boys and you will be great!

I wasn't going to let the boys be the only ones having fun so I took the ball from them a few times and made them chase me:

It is fun to get out and run and play with the kids.  I really should to it more often.  Colby was amazed that I could dribble the soccer ball and run faster than them.  Yes boys even though I am old, I can still out run you!!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  I had a great Mother's Day this year.  The kids were so great and Russell was too.  We just had a relaxing day at home after church and I even got a nap in!  So perfect.

The kids gave me some really great gifts they had made at school.  Each of them had their own special touch and message to me.  I loved them all.  Even Chester sat on my lap nicely and didn't bite me or claw me to death.  

At school on Friday, Logan had a special Mother's Day Tea and program in his kindergarten class.  

He did an awesome job reading the note he wrote to me and singing his songs with his class.  I may or may not have cried a little...  My favorite part of his note to me was when he said I was 23 years old!  Ha I wish!  However that was how old I was when I became a mother for the first time.  He and his class were so cute!  

I love these four little knot heads with everything I have in me.  I really do not know what I would do without them.  I know I am not perfect or the best mom but I do try my best and I hope they know that I love them and would do anything for them.  I hope they remember the good mom moments rather than the mean mom moments when they grow up.  I love you kids!!!

Firefighter Engineer

What a great day for Engineers Promotions. I thought this day would not be here for at least another few years, but it came a few years early. Over the last year I have been working hard to become an Engineer for my department. When I first heard the department dropped the years to test to 2 years and 4 years to promote, I was excited but nervous. It was a hard decision to make at first because I liked where I was in my career and I was learning a lot. I liked being in the back of the engine and fighting fires. I had some long conversations with some great guys on my department. My Captain at the time told me I would be a fool if I did not test. He told me this kind of opportunity would never come again. This is a first for Logan Fire Department to test like this. I studied hard and worked hard for this and it paid off.  

Part of the promotion is a swearing in and pinning to make the position official. After the swearing in, I had Tiffany came up and pinned my badge on. It was a great experience. While we were up there, Emily had fun taking pictures, she felt so cool doing this. 

We also had to sign our names to the oath we took during the swearing in.  This made it official, I was now an Engineer Firefighter.  After the swearing in and pinning, Chief Hannig spoke for a bit and gave some great advice. One thing he said stuck with me. He said, "If you want to succeed know the position below you and the position above you."  You are never too good to serve others.

The night was fun. I had the whole family there supporting me. I have always thought of this day when I became a firefighter. 

Along with the Engineer promotions, we also witnessed the swearing in and pinning of the new guys.  These guys have been in the department for one year and are finally off probation.  As you can tell, there were a lot of them there for one year of service awards and only three of us for engineers promotions.

This guy, Chief Doug Fullmer, is an amazing guy. He had a lot of faith in me in getting promoted. He helped me get to this position by doing a pump chart and little projects to help me get to where I am at. It was cool to hear him tell Tiffany, "Out of all of the guys, your husband deserves this promotion more than anything and I am not just saying this. It is true and he has worked hard to get this promotion."  It was awesome to hear. I am so glad that I was led to the best Fire Department. I have learned a lot in the last four years and I will continue to learn a lot more and keep moving forward. 

When all is said and done, I need to thank this cute family of mine and thank them for their help in getting me here. They were truly a support to me and encouraged me to keep going. I was gone quite a bit for classes and studying and they were very patient with me. I could not have done it with out them.

 Look these two cool boys and maybe future firefighters. They look good in the helmet!  We'll have to see...

CCLR

This CCLR race is starting to become a new family tradition for the Farnsworth family. We have done this race ever since we moved up here and have loved it. The kids work hard all summer running in the running club getting in shape and ready for the big day. 

This year everyone ran the one mile race except me, I ran the 5K.  Everyone must have felt great during the race because we all came away with personal bests.  Colby ran his mile in 8:56 minutes, Logan was around 10 minutes with Russell and Charlotte, and Emily ran hers in 9:45 minutes.  They all did awesome.  I ran my 5K in 25:11.  While this is not my best time ever, it is my best time since getting back into running after cancer. We were all happy with our results.  

After the race, we enjoyed a yummy spaghetti dinner and crossed our fingers for the prize drawings.  

Logan even got to high-five the Colt mascot!  We did win some fun prizes like movie tickets, dinner gift cards, and free Crazy Bread at Little Caesars.  We were happy with our prizes even though we didn't win the grand prizes of a Blackstone grill or a rowing machine.  Oh well maybe next year.

Because this is a fundraiser, the kids all got pledges from people.  For this reason, the school also has a one mile run during school for all of the kids to participate if they couldn't participate in the actual race.  These fourth grade girls had too much fun running again the next day:

I love how our school keeps the kids active and having fun during school.  They are learning so much everyday and it is nice to have a fun break too.  We love running!

Broken Arm

Yep it happened. The oldest kid in our family, Ms Emily, broke her arm... again. 

As a dad, I feel responsible for this. The reason why I say this is because I am at fault. We were in running club and we were just about to the end. Colby started to sprint and Emily was falling behind, so I told her, "Don't let your little brother beat you." She was tired and I tried to push her and motivate her to go faster. She started to cry and I told her to buck up and push it on to the end. We were in the front of a church and I decided to go ahead a bit. Just as I pulled away, I heard a hard hit to the ground. I looked around quickly and saw Emily lying face down on the side walk crying even more now. There was a piece of the sidewalk that was raised and she caught her foot on the lip and fell. I felt so bad. I picked her up, held her, and then started to walk to the finish line. She was crying about her hurt wrist. I told her to relax because it was probably just sprained. The next day she went to school and came home with it still hurting. Later that night Tiffany came up to me with Emily and said, "When are you going to get her x-rayed?" I looked at her arm and it was a little crooked, so off we went to the ER at Cache Valley we went. After the x-ray, the doctor broke the news to us that Emily's arm was broken. We set up an appointment for the orthopedic doctor to get it casted a few days later. 

The next day we got text message from the Checketts telling us Madi had just broken the same arm as Emily. That night the two of them texted each other and talked about what color of cast they were going to get and how they broke their arms. 

As you can see, Emily chose the pink color to wear for 4 weeks, and Madi chose orange.  These two were so relieved to have a friend to share in their misery.  They even created their own special "Broken-Armed Girls" club.  Thankfully Emily is right-handed and she broke the left hand.  Madi was not so fortunate because she is left-handed.  Poor kid now she has to learn to wash herself and play the piano with one hand. 

The doctor told Emily that her cast would be able to come off a couple of days before Super Kid's Day at school. That made Emily's day to hear that.  However, he also had some bad news.  He said she would not be able to bat or wear a mitt to play softball.  That is when Emily started crying because she loves playing softball.  We finally convinced her that it wouldn't be that bad.  She could still play outfield and throw the ball with her right hand and then she could be a great cheerleader for her teammates during batting.

 Emily writes: "It stinked.  Once again dad "said" it was sprained, but no it was broken.  My friend Madi broke her left arm like I did and she writes with her left. The day I found out she is getting a hard cast, I told her to get blue or orange because the school was having the pledge run, but instead I got pink and Madi got orange because there was no yellow. Since we both broke our arms we started a broken arm club.  It was hard playing piano now."    

We finally made it through the 4 weeks of cast life and it was time to get that thing off.  Emily was a trooper and wore the cast without complaining too much.  She said it was a little easier with the cast on than with the splint because her arm didn't hurt.  One thing she did like about the cast was having everyone sign their name to it.  She had all of her friends and family sign as well as her whole 4th grade class.

I thought it was really cool how they cut the cast off.  They actually used a saw!  The nurse reassured us that the saw would not cut Emily's arm off only the cast.  Thankfully it did just that and her arm was safe.  When the cast came off, it stunk so bad!  And Emily's arm still looked crooked.  I thought, "Oh great her arm was set wrong and now we will have to re-break it and try again."  Then the doctor came in and showed us the new x-rays and said that the bone had healed perfectly.  He said that yes it was a little crooked but it would straighten out naturally over the next month.  That was a relief!  

So now Emily's arm pretty much fully healed.  She still has to be careful though because it is still new bone and a little weak.  For this reason, the doctor gave her a brace to wear when she is at school or playing softball or anytime she might bump her arm the wrong way.  She still cannot bat but at least now she can wear a mitt.  She has to wear the brace for about another month and then she should be good.  Gotta love broken arms!