This and That from July

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium in southern Salt Lake with one of Bryant's friends from Arizona and his wife and daughter. It was a lot of fun, smaller than we expected, but perfect for a Saturday morning.

Tucker enjoyed climbing on the frog

Tucker also loved looking in all the difference aquariums. He really enjoyed the penguins and shark tank. Hunter just lovd running around more than looking at all the different fish :)

Here are some pictures taken by Tucker:


Picture of me :P

Take one of Hunter

Take two. Tucker has a hard time holding the camera still while pushing the button on top. He usually lines the picture up right and then moves the camera in order to push the button :>

Hunter and Bryant chilling on the couch.

Hunter eating cheerios with a fork. He rarely uses a fork or spoon to eat his food, but for one reason or another he loves to eat his cheerios with a fork. He can be so strange sometimes :P

Tucker was coming to get the camera from me :)

Bryant had the opportunity to spend some time with one of the members he brought to baptism. She came all the way from the Canary Islands with her son and daughter for a visit. They went to Arizona and enjoyed the grand canyon before coming up to Utah and spending time with Bryant one of his companions Daniel Perkinson. Bryant was a little shy with his Spanish but I think he managed well having not practiced since being back from his mission six years ago :) I tried to offer them a drink when they arrived with my limited Spanish. I had no way of interrupting the conversation other than to just ask "Quieren vasito con agua, jugo, o leche?" Kavbi smiled and was very impressed with my attempts. She understood what I was asking and was grateful for the water. Bryant's comment to me was that I would make a great mission president's wife :) Other than that I just played with Hunter on the floor and listened, trying to decipher what was being talked about. :)

Bryant also went with the group of them and his old companion to temple square. Everyone was impressed by his ability to push two strollers at the same time. (Even I am impressed by this because it is no easy task).



Here is Tucker during one of his naps. He is such a sweet sleeper (as long as you are not trying to sleep next to him :P). Often times he will be lying on his bed holding either his bear or dog under one of his arms. I love him so much!

Well it finally happened. We make $100 too much to qualify to food stamps. So we went out and tried to spend all the money on our food stamps card before the end of the month in case it disappeared if we didn't use. These are pictures from our first attempt. We went shopping again the next and tried to use up the rest and ended up with at least as many bags.


So while we no longer have food stamps, the majority of the groceries we buy are milk, cheese, and meat products. Everything else we could possibly want is tucked away in one of the bedroom closets. I'm sad that we no longer have the luxury to buy whatever we want when we want but it was sure a blessing when we had them. We still have WIC and so we get our milk and bread and limited fruits and vegetables for free :) It will be interesting to see how much we really do spend on food now. It may sound odd but in a way I'm grateful to be out of food stamps so that I can actually know how much money we need to live off of better enabling us to plan for our future capabilities :)

Hot Air Balloon Ride!

So I have always wanted to go for a ride in a hot air balloon. A friend I graduated from law school with is working as a realtor with ReMax. For one reason or another (probably to get better known) ReMax gave free rides in their hot air balloon

Me holding Tucker, Jordan, and Hunter sitting in the stroller waiting in line for our turn :)

Hunter was very excited!

Even Tucker was happy enough to smile for a picture :)


Here is the balloon we were in line to ride


Jordan holding Tucker and me holding Hunter. It was getting hot and so they had to limit the amount of weight in the balloon. Bryant was perfectly happy staying on the ground watching us.

We didn't go very high but that's okay. It just means that I can still try and get a "real" hot air balloon ride out of Bryant one day and if not I have at least been up in the air in one. (I think I went in one when I was young but I can't rememeber for sure). Tucker and Hunter both enjoyed it until we started heading for the ground, then Tucker was a little anxious.

They also had bounce houses. Tucker loved playing them. It took him a little bit to figure out how to make it to the ladder to go down the slide with all the other big kids running through it, but he toughed it out and had fun!

July Fourth at the Cabin

Bryant, Tucker, Hunter, and I traveled to Greer Arizona for the 4th of July. On Friday we spent time geocaching. Tucker had lots of fun trading out toys in the various geocaches.


There is also this really old rope swing at the Whiting Homestead. The entire day leading up to the rope swing Bryant kept assuring me that I should not feel pressured to go on the rope swing. After all I am pregnant and should not do anything that could endanger the life of our unborn child. Well I eventually climbed up the "hill" to get better pictures of Bryant swinging and what do you know? Bryant is telling me that I need to try the swing at least once :) I always knew he would want me to experience the rope swing that almost claimed the life of his sister-in-law's sister (well not quite but she did roll down the "hill").


Me on the rope swing :)


Bryant on the rope swing. He went numerous times.


Bryant took Tucker on the rope swing after seeing his brother Jeff takes his girls one at a time. Tucker however was not so fond of the adventure and did not care to do it again!


Bryant and Tucker on the Rope swing!

Also while at the cabin Bryant enlisted the help of his brother Jordan to pull all of the studs out of our tires. We have had snow tires on our car since winter of 2008. Bryant didn't think it was such a good idea to continue to press our luck with the snow tires. Did you know it is like a $500 fine if you have snow tires on your car after April? It is definitely A LOT cheaper to buy new tires than pay the fine and then buy new tires. So instead of buying new tires they pulled every single stud out of the tires.


Tucker loved riding in/on anything that was not our car. He loved riding the quad with Bryant. Even rode on Uncle Jeremy's new motorcycle! He had a lot of fun



He even tried to take his cousin Rachel out for a ride. Fortunately they had no idea how to turn it on or make it go. But it is quite the picturesque moment :)



On Saturday we enjoyed the annual Springville/Taylor parade. This year my father-in-law knew better than to sit next to me and poor Jon was stuck with me on one side of him and his girlfriend on the other. We both like to shout out to all the passing paradeans. When I was younger and in parades it was my favorite to be able to hear my dad yelling my name out above the crowed! "Yea! Go Malisa!" Everyone next to me would always ask, "Who is that?" and it please me like nothing else to be able to say it was my dad. So to carry on the tradition of being loud, I yell for everyone in the parade based on what their banners say. Our first year with Bryant's family I cheered loudly. Than Bryant's father turns to Bryant and says "whoever that is yelling is going to lose their voice." To which Bryant replied, "That's Malisa." :) It was nice to have another person at the parade happy to yell at everything too! Besides the louder you are the more likely the people in the parade are to throw their candy at your group :)

Even Tucker got into the cheering mood. It was so fun to hear him yell, "Yea, woo hoo!" and clap his hands :)

The ponies and horses were a big hit with Tucker!





One of the best floats at the parade was Abraham Lincoln. He was really big!


After the parade we went to one of Bryant's aunt's house for lunch. Hunter loved sitting in the back of the tractor and going wherever anyone would take him.

Hunter and Rachel


On Sunday, we decided that we would go see the infamous beaver dam and maybe catch a glimpse of the beaver that has built the amazing dam.

Here we all are on the quad. Eventually we moved Hunter between me and Bryant but otherwise it was a delightful trip.

Here is the beaver mound where the beaver lives. We saw him swim into it on one side and while we were watching for him to come out he took off out a different side and down the stream. He was one tricky beaver.

Malisa and Hunter in front of the dam that has been build by the beaver!

Here is Tucker reluctantly posing for a picture :P

That night they made smores (YUM). Bryant and Jon tried to play chubby bunnies with the giant marshmallows. It was hilarious!! Bryant was not even able to fit one in his mouth because he was laughing so hard at Jon! Jon managed to get one into his mouth say "chubby bunnies" and then eventually (despite the enormous amount of laughter) get a second one into his mouth. Shortly after the second one went in, he tried to exclaim "chubby bunnies" and then everything came out of his mouth!

Here is Sarah, Baileigh, and Rachel enjoying their gooey smores.


Rachel showing off her sticky fingers.

I was grateful that Tucker had more interest in the swing set than in smores, cause I really did not want to have to clean him up.

He was so proud of the fact that he could hang :)

Bryant and his brothers and cousins and other family, played a delightful round or two of "the stick game." Everyone has a stick and everyone but one has a hole for their stick. The person without a hole is trying to get a hole from someone else. This person whacks a can (or some other sturdy piece of garbage) towards the other players. If the can comes close to your hole you are supposed to hit it away with your stick without losing your hole. While you are hitting the can other players tyr to take your hole leaving you without a whole. This game usually lasts until someone gets injured bad enough to bleed. Which is what eventually happened with this game.

Farnsworth Family Reunion

My family reunion this year was up in Washington. It was a long drive in a crowded car to get there. For the drive from Provo to My Aunt's house in Washington we fit two car seats for Tucker and Hunter, Bryant, myself, my Sister Michelle, her son Ian, and two of my other sisters Aleisa and Emilee. It was a crowded and long journey! We were glad to get to my Aunt Pam's house and run free in all of her grass! It was also wonderful to share in the fabulous Father's Day meal she had made. Thank you Aunt Pam and Uncle Rob. Oh and did I mention that in addition to all of us my mom, sister Natalie, brother Jared, Brother Isaac and his wife Juli were at the house? My poor cousin Leilani went to a friend's house to sleep for the night because there was no room at the inn.

It felt good stretch our legs :)

Hunter decided to be clingy right before this vacation so he usually cried when left with anyone but Bryant or me.

For the 4 hour drive from my Aunt Pam's to the reunion the minivan held Isaac and Juli instead of Emilee and Aleisa (and I think that Ian went with my mom but I can't remember). Juli was not too excited about being stuck eithout leg room for the long journey either, especially since she is taller than most of us :( AlsoTucker was done driving by the time we made it to Taco Time only 45 minutes away.


We did survive and made it to camp Brinkley! Hooray!!


When we first arrived at the family reunion there was a lot of cleaning to be done in our cabin to get out the dirt. Here is Isaac, Juli, and Bryant whacking the dirt out of our main room carpet/rug. They originally wanted to bang it out inside the cabin figuring it wouldn't be too bad to sweep up the mess :) I'm glad they went outside to take care of it!


At the reunion there was a lake. Tucker did not want to get in the boat at first but was happy to be in it once we were out on the lake and wanted to stay out there forever! Hunter loved the moving water and it was all I could do to keep in him the boat and not topple of the side trying to get closer to the water :)


Here is my brother Isaac pushing Hunter down to the lake. The only time Hunter was not crying when with someone else was when he was being b\pushed in the stroller. This worked to our advantage one day because Juli was able to take him for a walk until he fell asleep while Bryant, Tucker and I took a nap in the cabin.

Here is me, Tucker, and Bryant making our way to the lake!

Bryant paddle from the back and was quite the "task master" :) poor Juli tried hard to follow every command but I think it was more funny than anything.


Here are the boys sitting on the dock watching everyone else jump in. They thought they wanted in until we actually let them get in with Isaac :)


Isaac and Juli at the one and only breakfast they ever made it too :)

Hunter and Tucker eating one of the many delicious meals that my dad made :)


Tucker playing in our cabin

Every reunion there is a "fish pond" for all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that are 8 and younger.

Hunter Fishing

Hunter caught a fish!!


Tucker Fishing :)


Tucker caught a fish!

The boys were good about sharing their toys with each other. Tucker got the fire truck and a bubble gun. Hunter got the ball spinner and a minivan :) All of these toys are still loved and played with on a daily basis :)



We had a fire place in our cabin and so we built a fire a couple of the nights we were there. Isaac and Juli went to the log pile and chopped up the wood for our fires.

Here is Juli with the wagon

Isaac showing off his Lumber Jack skills. He would make NAU proud :P

Even Ian had a turn at it :)


Bryant took on the task of building our fires.

He can make a mean tepee :)

Hunter really liked to wet the wood with his mouth before Bryant put it in the fireplace...

Then Hunter did not want to stay away while Bryant tried to light it. Camp Brinkley had tons of rain right before our reunion started. The wood in the shed was supposed to be dry. As it turned out it was a bit damp and full of sap so it made an interesting fire to light. Once lit it shot off little embers like fireworks. It was fun to watch and listen too but we had to make sure nothing got on Isaac and Juli's air mattress :)


A success!


Tucker and Hunter had lots of fun playing outside. Hunter was not walking at this point, so he rarely wore shoes, so his pants and socks were always filthy bu the end of the day (or even just half way through the day :P)


It was a lot of fun. Hunter was either really sad to be leaving or not looking forward to our 16 hour car ride home in a cramped van cause he cried at the top of his lungs once he was in his car seat until we started driving off :'(