Awards Photo and Video 12-13-08

Rebekah and Joel are the smiling ones on the far right in black! (Rebekah's medal is the only one that isn't covered up with flowers.)

Pairs Videos 12-31-08

Happy New Year and Happy 2009!

I didn't have time to send out holiday cards this year, so instead, I'm going to write a short New Year's note.

As we begin 2009, the Schneider-Farris family has so much to be thankful for! Everyone is happy and healthy, Rebekah and Joel are the 2009 U.S. Juvenile Dance Silver Medalists, all three children continue to love to skate, we continue to enjoy homeschooling, Jo Ann continues to write about figure skating for About.com, and Dan's job at the V.A. is about the same (but never boring).

Check out the latest news on us at: http://danfarris.blogspot.com/

Happy 2009!

Jo Ann, Dan, Joel, Rebekah, and Annabelle Schneider-Farris

Figure Skating Videos 12-30-08

Photos of Kids in 2009 Junior Nationals T-Shirts

Here's some "happy photos" of the kids wearing their new t-shirts.

Rebekah and Joel Featured in Cheyenne Edition 12-19-08

If you click on the article on the left you can see an article that featured Rebekah and Joel!

Competition December 2008 Montage

It's fun to see this all together!

More Photos of Joel, Jo Ann, Dan in Snow 12-28-08

Jo Ann and Dan in the Snow 12-28-08

Isn't this a blessing to see?

Photos in Larkspur With Camera Phone 12-27-08

Annabelle took these with my new phone!

Playing in Snow Photos 12-27-08

We had GREAT FUN today! Notice "no Joel" - he didn't feel well...

Playing in Snow 12-27-08

We had great fun playing in the snow in Larkspur!

Ice Skating 12-26-08

Dan had the day off and took a bunch of videos of the kids!

Cute 14 Days of Homeschool Video

My friend Marion sent me this cute video. It sums up what kind of comments we get from those who don't "quite understand us!"

Enjoy!

Our Adventure Home From Lake Placid

We had "an adventure" returning home from Lake Placid. We spent a pleasant morning in Lake Placid and even had our photo taken with the Protopopovs! The drive to Albany was also delightful. Then, it seemed everything began to go sour:

First, our plane was delayed in Albany due to the weather in Chicago, and then, in Chicago, our flight home to Colorado Springs was cancelled. We also had a small mishap as we boarded the plane, since the attendent insisted we took on too much carry on lugguage. That was very upsetting since we actually did comply with the airlines policies....

We had to spend the night in Chicago, which turned out to be just a "teeny bit" fun, since Jo Ann's parents live there. They booked a motel near the airport for us, and visited us the next day and also took us to the airport. We found out Chicago's O'hare has a "Kiss and Fly" area. I wonder if it was named after figure skating's "Kiss and Cry?"

To get back to Colorado Springs from Chicago took over 15 hours since all the direct flights to Colorado Springs were full. We had to travel to Memphis, then Denver, and then we had to wait 5 hours in the Denver airport in order to fly from there to Colorado Springs. We didn't get home until midnight on Wednesday night!

Joel kissed the Colorado Springs' airport's floor once we got off the plane!

We spent most of the next day recovering, but Dan had to go back to work.

We are so glad to be home!

Awards Clips

Rebekah and Joel Pairs Slide Show 2008-09

A friend put together this wonderful slide show of Rebekah and Joel!

I'm a proud mom!

Again, I'm a proud mother. My own two children, Rebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris, are the 2009 U.S. Juvenile Dance Silver Medalists! We've spent an exciting week in Lake Placid, New York at the the 2009 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships!

Further Reading:

Video Clips of Rebekah and Joel
Five Broadmoor Skaters Medal at Junior Nationals
U.S. Junior Championships Diary - By Jo Ann Schneider Farris on IceNetwork.com
18 Broadmoor Skaters Qualifying for Junior Nationals!
What Is the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships?

Five Broadmoor Skaters Medal at Junior Nationals

2009 US Juvenile Figure Skating Medalists Rebebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris, Katie Shipstad, Eddie Shipstad, Logan Bye, and Jessica Pfund

Five Broadmoor Skaters Medal at Junior Nationals

Five young figure skaters from Colorado Springs and the Broadmoor Skating Club won medals at the 2009 U.S. Junior National Figure Skating Championships which took place in Lake Placid, New York from December 10--13, 2008.

Rebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris won silver medals in juvenile dance, Katie Shipstad and Logan Bye took the bronze in the same event, and Jessica Pfund won the bronze medal in the juvenile girls event.

Pfund skated a clean program, which included two double Axels.

The competition between the Schneider-Farris siblings and Shipstad and Bye was very close. Only four hundreds of a point made the difference between second and third place. "We performed our best free dance ever and even got a Level 4 score on our dance spin," said Joel Schneider-Farris. "We admire Katie and Logan's skating so much and are so glad all of us ended upon the podium," said Joel's sister Rebekah. "The competitiion was really tough."

The five medalists train at the Colorado Springs World Arena.Thirteen other figure skaters from Colorado Springs qualified for the 2009 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Congratulations to all participants!


Further Reading:

U.S. Junior Championships Diary - By Jo Ann Schneider Farris, IceNetwork.com

Ten Fox performance

This is really fun to watch!

Fiesta performance

I think this is pretty good!

2009 U.S. Juvenile Dance Silver Medalists!

We have two very happy children!

Last Year's Interview December, 2007

I just stumbled on this video of Rebekah and Joel from last year!

Perseverance Poster #2

This one is the same as the post below, but may be a bit clearer.

Anyway, this does show all the hard work Rebekah and Joel have put in!

Real Athletes Persevere - Joel and Rebekah Highlighted!

Isn't this cool?

Rebekah and Joel Free Dance Fire and Ice 12-5-08

This was the kids' last performance of their free dance before leaving for Junior Nationals.

Feutured in Cheyenne Edition 12-5-08

The kids were featured in the local paper!

(To read the article and see the photo, lick on the image at the left for an enlargement.)

Thanksgiving 2008 in Larkspur Memories

We took some video clips of our wonderful Thanksgiving!

Colorado Skaters Are Going to Junior Nationals

November has been a busy month for my family, since in early November, my two older children, Rebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris, qualified for the 2009 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships that will take place in Lake Placid, New York from December 10 through December 13, 2008.

I'm a proud mother, but I need to mention that sixteen other Colorado Springs youth have also qualified for the prestigious event!


Further Reading:

• 18 Broadmoor Skaters Going to Junior Nationals!
• Who's Going to the 2009 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships?
• What Is the US National Junior Figure Skating Championships?

_{2009 Midwestern Juvenile Dance Champions, Logan Bye and Katie Shipstad, and 2009 Midwestern Juvenile Dance Silver Medalists, Rebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris are just some of the young Colorado Springs figure skaters who will be competing at the 2009 U.S. Junior National Figure Skating Championships that will take place in Lake Placid, New York from December 10 through December 13, 2009 - Photo Copyright © JO ANN Schneider Farris}

18 Broadmoor Skaters Going to Junior Nationals!

World and Olympic dreams begin at a young age, and some of the best young figure skaters in the USA are being groomed right here in Colorado Springs. One reason is that the Colorado Springs World Arena Ice Hall's training atmosphere is excellent. That training atmosphere has paid off. This year, eighteen young figure skaters from Colorado Springs and the Broadmoor Skating Club have qualified for the 2009 U.S. Junior National Figure Skating Championships which will take place in Lake Placid, New York from December 10--13, 2008.

In order to qualify for the "Junior Nationals" event, the skaters competed earlier in the figure skating competition season at regional and sectional ice skating competitions. Only the top finishers won spots on Broadmoor Skating Club's Junior National Team. All skaters participating in the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships must be under eighteen.

The following skaters from Colorado Springs and the Broadmoor Skating Club will be participating at the 2009 Junior Nationals:

• Avery Kurtz - 2009 Southwestern Regional Juvenile Girls Champion


• Jessica Pfund - 2009 Southwestern Regional Juvenile Girls Bronze Medalist


• Ayaha Chen - 2009 Southwestern Regional Juvenile Girls Pewter Medalist


• Logan Bye - 2009 Southwestern Regional Juvenile Boys Champion


• Daniel Neudecker - 2009 Southwestern Regional Juvenile Boys Bronze Medalist


• Sam Anderson - 2009 Southwestern Regional Juvenile Boys - 6th Place


• Lukas Kaugars - 2009 Southwestern Regional Intermediate Mens Champion


• Rebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris - 2009 Midwestern Sectional Juvenile Pairs Bronze Medalists


• Nicole Perkey and Brandon Frazier - 2009 Midwestern Sectional Intermediate Pairs Silver Medalists


• Katie Shipstad and Logan Bye - 2009 Midwestern Sectional Juvenile Dance Champions


• Rebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris - 2009 Midwestern Sectional Juvenile Dance Silver Medalists


• Paolina Bushar and Jason Garofolo - 2009 Midwestern Sectional Juvenile Dance - 7th Place


• Molly Raymond and Douglas Stevenson - 2009 Midwestern Sectional Intermediate Dance Silver Medalists


• Jessica Mancini and Michael Hopkins - 2009 Midwestern Sectional Intermediate Dance Bronze Medalists

Three of the skaters participating have qualified to compete in more than one event: Logan Bye will be competing in both Juvenile Boys and Juvenile Dance, and Rebekah Schneider-Farris and Joel Schneider-Farris will be competing in Juvenile Pairs and Juvenile Dance.

Katie Shipstad, Logan Bye, Rebekah Schneider-Farris, Joel Schneider-Farris, Brandon Frazier, Molly Raymond, and Douglas Stevenson have participated at previous U.S. Junior Championships, but this is the first year that the other club members won berths on the national team.

"I am so excited about competing," says Rebekah Schneider-Farris. "It will be fun to make new skating friends in Lake Placid and at Junior Nationals. I am especially looking forward to seeing some great skating. It's such an honor to be competing in two events and to represent the Broadmoor Skating Club. I can't wait!"

_{Joel and Rebekah Schneider-Farris show off the pair and dance medals they won at the 2009 Midwestern Figure Skating Championships. Their placements earned them spots on Broadmoor Skating Club's 2009 Junior National Team - Photo Copyright © JO ANN Schneider Farris}

Thanksgiving 2008 in Larkspur

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Larkspur! Take a look at the beautiful table! My brother Billy and his wife Amy, and Amy's family made a wonderful dinner. It was a wonderful and special Thanksgiving!

(Click here for more photos.)