What a Surprise!

I was pleasantly surpirsed to get a message on my answering machine that a good friend from Santa Barbara, Amanda Allen, was in town with her kids. Not only was Amanda my visiting teacher, but she was also one of my greatest friends while we were in Cali. Our kids loved to play together, so when we met at Willow Park, it was just like old times! The weather was so nice, it actually felt like we were in Santa Barbara! Here are Bryce, Josh, Nicole and Emily posing for a picture before they ran off to play.

Thanks for getting in touch with us, Amanda! How fun to catch up again. We hope all goes well with baby #3 and keeping up with Bryce, Nicole, and life in general. If anyone can do it, it's you!

Spending the Day with Grandma

Yesterday I took the kids to Salt Lake and spent the day with my mom, Grandma Larsen. It was fun to be able to hang out and have some fun, just the four of us. First we visited Uncle Greg and Aunt Shiloh's house. It's looking good, you guys! You're doing a great job. It was fun to visit with Greg (Shi was at work). The highlight for the kids, though, was getting to play Greg's drums. Emily was getting pretty good at beating out rhythms. This is such serious business, as you can tell by the looks on their faces!


After visiting with Greg, we went to see my Grandma and Grandpa Farnworth. I haven't been to their house in such a long time. It brought back so many memories of the fun times we spent there as kids. Emily and Josh had fun playing with some of my cousins (one of whom is younger than them!) while I visited with Grandma and Grandpa and my Aunt Heidi. I wish I would have taken some pictures, though! Emily had a lot of fun with Madison, and Josh was thrilled to have Nicholas to play with. Thanks you guys!

After that, we went back to Mom's house to have lunch and play in the pool. The kids had a blast playing in the water and playing with the dog (but not in the water!). Josh turned into Mr. Muscle Man, giving us a show of all of his muscles. It was soooo cute! I didn't get any pictures of it, but did get it on video. Emily was enjoying playing with the dog, trying to teach her how to fetch. It really is hard to teach and old dog new tricks!

Thanks for taking the day off for us, Mom! We had a great time and hope we can do it again some time soon!

Bear Lake

We went to Bear Lake with Jared's family last weekend. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. The drive up was so pretty! I loved being able to look out over the lake at the top of the canyon. What a breathtaking view! And I didn't take any pictures of it!! The kids were so excited to see it, and even thought it looked like the ocean.

It was so nice to be together and just relax - as much as you can while trying to keep the kids out of trouble! We all really liked sitting in the dark and watching the stars. Jared taught the kids all about the big dipper, so they get quite anxious to look for it almost every night now. We saw a lot of shooting stars, satellites, and even the space station passing by! It rained on us while we were sleeping in our tents, but everyone was so tired that it was hardly even a bother.

Saturday morning we got up and went to play in the lake. It was so cold!! And I thought the ocean at Santa Barbara was cold! We all got used to it, though, and had a lot of fun floating on tubes, throwing the frisbee and football, and having races. The kids loved playing in the "sand" and made a sand castle and then a volcano.

Then we had fun burying uncle Jake in the sand. Aside from getting a couple shovels of sand in his face, the kids and Uncle Eric and Jared did a great job of burying him. He said it felt like he had an extra 50 pounds sitting on top of him, so it was a little hard to break out.

Emily wanted to get in on the action too, so Uncle Eric buried her. She was a little worried when we told her to get out - she said she couldn't move. So we told her to wiggle her whole body like a fish does when it is on land. That brought a smile to her face, and she was able to free herself.

Let's do it again next year!!

Happy Birthday Josh!

Josh turned 4 years old on August 5th, so we decided it was time to party!! We had his primary friends over for a pirate-themed birthday party. They all had so much fun, especially the birthday boy.



We had a search for mighty treasure, walked the plank, played in a pirate boat (otherwise known as a giant plastic tote!), and searched for dangerous crocs. And of course, what would a pirate party be without cake, ice cream, and all the candy treasure to go with it??!!



Arr, matey!! What a fearsome pirate you make, Josh!

Happy Anniversary

Tomorrow Jared and I celebrate our 7th anniversary! In a lot of ways I can't believe it has already been 7 years - time flies so quickly. In other ways, it feels like Jared has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Funny how that happens. We have been through so much together in such a short time. What awesome memories we have!

I love you Jared! You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am so thankful for the amazing support you have given me, especially over the past few months. You are so strong! I will always cherish the memories we have made, and I look forward to the years and memories ahead.

Missing Santa Barbara

Yesterday was quite an overcast day with a few raindrops here and there. It really reminded me of those gray May days we'd have in Santa Barbara. I got thinking about Santa Barbara and the two years we spent there. Of course when you think of Santa Barbara, you see the beautiful sunshine. There are few things more beautiful or enjoyable than a sunny day in Santa Barbara. So I decided I'd post some of my favorite pictures from the time we spent living there. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoyed re-visiting them!


This is the kids and me (Jared is taking the picture) at Goleta Beach on New Years Day, 2004. We had so much fun playing together that day. I remember we dug a hole in the sand and put each of the kids in it and took their pictures. How fun it was to call all our family back in Utah and brag that we got to spend our day at the beach, while they were all stuck inside in the middle of winter!


This is Emily and me at a huge field of marigolds between Buelton and Solvang. Have you ever seen such a pretty field of flowers?? Emily's hair almost blends right in! This was in September 2004 when Jared's family came to visit. This was a fun visit for us. We got to spend some time with Jared's parents and his sister who returned from her mission to Toronto earlier that summer.


This is Jared holding Josh in September 2005. I believe this was above the Leadbetter Beach area. We were out driving around hoping to spot some dolphins, or maybe whales. No such luck this time. But we did get to see some excellent scenery. We were able to see a lot of dolphins while we lived in Goleta, but we never did see any whales. Maybe someday when we go back!


This is Josh and Emily at UCSB the week before we moved back to Utah in October 2005. We had just visited the touch tanks with our friends, Tamara and Ilan and Ingrid, Billy, & Seth. At the touch tanks the kids got to hold sea stars, sea cucumbers and other sea creatures. We even got to touch a shark! Maybe never getting to see any whales isn't so bad after all! How many people can say they've touched a shark!

We miss all you Santa Barbarians, and hope you'll send us an email if you're reading this. Or leave us a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

It's Fun to be Five!

Emily was eating breakfast this morning - homemade waffles - when she yelled, "Mom, guess what? I love America's Favorite Syrup''!! You know your 5-year-old is getting good at reading when she wants to read the syrup bottle! We love you Emily! You are an amazingly bright and fun little girl!

Bubbles Bubbles Bubbles!!

We had some fun with home-made bubbles yesterday. Emily and Josh really enjoyed trying all the different "tools" to see which would make the biggest bubbles. A regular old drinking straw made the most traditional sized bubbles. Emily got some good ones by blowing into the small end of a funnel. Josh got some really good ones by blowing into a string tied between 2 straws. My favorite of all, though, was when Emily started blowing them out of her mouth because she had so much solution on her when she used the funnel! What a cute little Santa she makes!

What can YOU do with a slinky...??

...Besides the usual walking it down the stairs of course!! Josh got quite creative playing with our new slinky today. From an "eye falling out" to a Santa beard to Mr. Muscle Man, the uses are endless. Get one today and see what YOU can do with a slinky!!

The Fruits of Our Labors

After what seems like an eternity of working in the dirt, rocks, and heat, we finally got our grass in last week. Green is such a better color than brown and gray! We are very pleased with the way it all turned out. This is a good shot of our front yard.

And this is a good shot of our back yard. Everything just looks so much nicer when the dirt and rocks are covered up. This is my favorite part of our yard. The rock walls that our builder put in really come to life with the grass in place.

Now we can start cleaning out all the dirt that has collected on the patio and in the basement. I think we could plant flowers in the basement if it had just a little more sunlight!