New Blog Link

Still having some blog issues :)

The new blog is open for the time being.  I'll let you know and send an invite out when I decide to go back to private.


Here is the link:
Our Family Stories

So I started a new blog...

Apparently blogger has a limit to the amount of data you can upload and I've hit the max. Bummer!  I'm not prepared to pay a monthly fee because I haven't done the research to see if there is a better paid option out there so for now I had to start a new blog.

If you still even read this blog and would like an invite to my new one, just leave me a comment (or let me know however).  I still have all the emails I used to invite you to this one so unless you want me to use a new email, you can just let me know you want an invite.

Sorry for the hassle

For Chase- the day you sang with an apostle.

Today was Stake Conference.  It was a "special one".  The whole ward (and probably the stake) was buzzing about why they would call a "special" stake conference 2 months after our last stake conference.  There was a lot of talk about splitting the ward, or redrawing the ward or stake boundaries.  It's been the talk around this area for a while and feels long overdue so we were all sure that was the purpose.  But it wasn't.  It was special for a whole other reason. 

I was sitting alone saving your seats while you went to the bathroom when the whole congregation stood up.  Before I could even stand to join everyone a powerful spirit overcame me.  I watched in great anticipation for the man who brought the remarkable spirit with him.  Up at the front of the room I watched Elder Russell M. Nelson take his seat with his wife by his side.  This isn't the first time we have had the privileged of having an Apostle in the church with us, but it was very powerful.

When he stood up to speak he talked for a while and then asked all the children to stand up.  We were sitting far into the gym so you stood up on a chair.  He called his wife up to the podium with him and then asked you and all the children to sing for them.  You sang "I am a child of God", and after listening with a big grin on his face, Elder Nelson started to sing into the microphone with you.  Tears filled my eyes as I watched you sing every word of the song out loud and with Elder Nelson.  The spirit was so strong.  I hope you could feel it too.  In that moment I knew without any doubt that you are a child of God.  That God sent you and Brody to Daddy and me for us to try to lead and guide you.  I could feel how much he loves you and wants to best for you.  I promise I'm going to try harder to be the mom you deserve.  I love you boys.

My little boy is 5!

I can't believe this sweet, energetic, loving, and smart little boy is 5 years old!  He has been so excited for his birthday and woke up thrilled. 
These quotes are all from the first hour of being awake:
 -  How can I be 5 if I still fit this shirt?
 -  But my feet are still 4 sized!
 - Today is my B-day so tomorrow I'll be 5 (this one was reoccurring.  He was in denial!)
 - But there are no present here to open.
 -I'm really proud today.  (I asked why) Because I'm 5 now.

And after opening his scooter-
 -  Now I have 2 toys, a Simba and a scooter!
 -  Now I'm lucky like Grandma because I have a scooter like she does


So far he opened his scooter, played with it all morning!  We went and got cupcakes for his preschool class and that's where he is now.  His plans are to hand out party invitations, eat lunch at McDonalds, make a cake, have chicken noodle soup for dinner (a boy after my own heart!) and play when dad gets home!
It's gonna be a good one!

This kid is a reader!

 I have been working extra with Chase and along with preschool it's paid off.  He's really taken off in his learning. 



We've been writing notes back and forth at dinner.  

and this was my favorite Halloween decoration this year:

Chase came home from school one day and said that we needed a "Boo" sign to scare people.  He ended up running out of room on the paper and the extra "o" had to go before the b, but it is still my favorite.





I was trying to get him to pose for a picture for me (the picture above was the result.)  He dragging his feet and telling me that he didn't want to read a book right now.  Not two seconds after I left him alone did I find him as pictured below. :)

We took advantage of exploring our own backyard to find these petroglyphs.  They were all over the place on these broken rocks like in the picture above.  If you look on the top right corner of the boulder Daniel is kneeling by you can see one of a deer.  That obviously was Daniels favorite :)

 Chase wanted to be the photographer on our trip.

We drug Preston along with us.  He's a good sport to play with the boys who love him to death.  Literally ...they try to love him ...to death.

(Apparently we weren't very concerned with making sure Brody ended up in any of our pictures.  He's actually in all of them, just hiding behind Daniel in the backpack.)

L-3 zoo day

(We went into survival mode for a couple of months so I'll be playing catch up on the blog for the next little while.)

 We took the boys to Daniel's work's zoo day.  They were so exited about it for weeks before hand.  I was excited too, but more so because they were serving us dinner so I got the night off!

Brody can sure make a hamburger look good!  He is a hamburger kid all the way.  

Chase in front of the traditional lions drinking fountain

The tigers were Brody's favorite.  It helped get him excited for dressing up as a tiger for Halloween!

Election 2012

(Written November 8, 2012) I'm a little late on this and most of anything I could think of to say has already been said; however this being my sort of journal I didn't want this to pass as if it wasn't important to me and my family.

Daniel and I voted two weeks prior in the early election but it was still on my mind all day.  I sat next to Daniel glued to the T.V. screen on Election night.  I was nervous and confused watching it knowing that just because they were showing Romney slightly ahead in the beginning didn't mean much of anything.  And I felt the rush of disappointment that many others did that night as President Obama was officially elected for a 2nd term. 

I wasn't too surprised when I checked facebook before bed to see my updates blowing up with dooms day comments about the country and the choice that was just made.  I totally understood everyone of those comments because I felt the EXACT same way.... 4 years ago.  

4 years ago I felt sick after the election.  I thought we were seeing the end of our great country and I was very dramatic  about it.  Well 4 years later I feel the country is in  a worse place than it was, but it hasn't ended yet.  This year I shrugged my shoulders in disappointment and headed off to bed.

I have heard so many great comments come about this year that echo exactly how I feel right now. 

  -the picture of President Monson with the caption "My president didn't change tonight."
  - the church putting out an official statement congratulation President Obama and saying that now is the
    time for American to come together.
  -Jill pointing out that a black man and a mormon where running against each other as president.  Our
    country is making progress in some areas.
  -"The future is as bright as your faith" -Thomas S. Monson

And most importantly I don't really believe that Mitt Romney could have changed the country as dramatically as we all hope.  I don't believe any president has quite that much power.  The really important changes are the ones that need to be made in our homes and in our lives.   We have half a country whose values and ideas align with the presidents enough to let him have another 4 years and that is what worries me. 

Halloween Preschool Party

 Chase had looked forward to this party for the whole month of October! 

Brody and I got to go and celebrate with them.  They had lots of candy games and "witches brew".

Halloween festivities

 This year we decided to start a "Boo" around our neighborhood.  I let the boys pick out what they wanted o make about a week before we made them so I would have time to get to the store and everything and they decided on "mummy cupcakes" (found on pinterest).  They were calling them "mommy" cupcakes and it wasn't until the day we were making them that I realized it wasn't just a pronunciation problem.  Chase asked me if we could make "daddy cupcakes too".  That's when I realized the boys didn't know what a mummy was :)

They enjoyed making the cupcakes as much as delivering them.

Brody seeing his chocolate face in the mirror :)


The boys had so much fun sneaking them to the neighbors houses.  Brody and I would find a spot to hide while Daniel and Chase would take them up and ring the door bell and run.  Then we would all watch as they tried to find us.  Chase had so much fun with it.  Brody just wanted to eat the cupcakes and wondered why we were giving them all away :)


 Then we came home and each got one of the reject ones. (as you can see some of the mummy's ended up with a few too many eyes:)

PUMPKIN CARVING

Brody was game to dig right in and help out.

Chase has always hated the pumpkin carving and when he quickly turned his back, folded his arms and refused to touch any nasty pumpkin guts.   I wiped some on his face to give him a hard time and Daniel forced his hand into the pumpkin.  That's when the gagging started.  We left him alone after that :)

We had Chase draw the design for the pumpkin and Daniel cut it out.  It's my favorite pumpkin ever!

 Of course I had to force them into some pictures. 



They would only take one with me if we did crazy faces :)

All dressed up

 After watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Chase wanted to be a ghost like all the kids on Charlie Brown.  (But only two holes:)  After thinking it through I realized that he wasn't going to wear a sheet over his head all day at a preschool party and trick or treating so we borrowed the ghost cover from Grandma and used paint for the rest.  Easy, cheap, and he was thrilled! 

Brody is big into tigers right now and that's all he wanted to be, which worked out pretty great for me because we just happened to have a tiger costume on hand! We picked that tiger costume up for 5 bucks one year and it has been used for 4 years in a row.

My spooky boys!

 Brody was so into all the decorations and other kids dressed up that the candy was just a bonus.  Every house we walked up to he would stop squat down with his face right by their pumpkins and comments on how "spooky" or "scary" they were.  He loved the "scary fire" lighting the pumpkins up.  I remember Chase being the same way at that age.  I'm pretty sure the 2.5-3 years age is my absolute favorite for trick-or-treating!

When mom isn't there...

I didn't cook dinner for my family.  I left it for Daniel to take care of and went about my evening activities that I had planned.  That night in bed Daniel told me that the new bag of chicken strips I bought were the best he's ever had- "tasted just like going to KFC and ordering some". 

The next day he calls me from work. 
    "So......  those chicken strips......  were they precooked?"

I hadn't even checked so I went and looked on the bag. 
    "No hun, they are raw.  Is that what you took for lunch today?"

"Yes, and also the ones I ate last night.... I microwaved those for a minute before eating."

I started panicking!  "Are you sick?  How does your stomach feel?  Should I look up symptoms of Salmonella poisoning? DID THE BOYS EAT THOSE?!?"


He replied, "No, but I don't have any lunch for today."


Apparently raw chicken makes for the best  chicken strips Daniels ever had, and I'm still laughing (but only because he didn't get sick!)

The preschool bag

At preschool orientation a couple weeks ago, the kids decorated these bags to hold all of their preschool projects that they will be making throughout the year.  Chase unfortunately got the wrong side and decorated the bottom of his bag without realizing it.  I just told him that I liked the bag and we went home.

Well, a couple days later he opened his bag up and found all the stickers on the bottom and he was shocked!  He came stomping in demanding that I tell him who had done that to him bag.  Someone had moved all the stickers to the bottom! 

I couldn't help but laugh as I calmed him down and showed him what had happened.  It was funny, almost as funny as it's going to be when he learns that the yellow "letters" sticker he put on there spells "princess" :)

Soccer!

 I love the game of soccer!  I hated it most of my life, until some friends talked me into playing my Sophomore year of High School.  I've loved it ever since, so I was thrilled when Chase took an interest in it.

 Saturday was their first game.  The picture above is chase heading to the goal with the ball to score his first goal.  The first out of a total of 4 that game! 

I thought it was going to be a crazy game of kids scoring in the wrong goal and passing to the wrong team etc., and it partly was, but Chase was a natural. 

First day of school...

Chase is back in preschool.  This year I'm sending off to someone else to get him used to being away from me.  He is so excited about it!  His teacher gives them a folder with the whole month's worth of homework at the beginning of the month with a schedule of what to do on what day.  He can't stand letting some of the pages sit unfinished.  I keep telling him to wait until he learns about the stuff at school before doing the homework, but often when I check his folder to make sure he has everything done he should, there are extra pages filled in. 

I hope he is always so excited about school and learning.

Brody misses him when he is gone.  He's starting to take advantage of having me alone, but the first two times he sat on the floor and cried.

I just can't believe my babies are growing up so fast!

"Cycle man"

 The boys in my house are so motorcycle obsessed.  Brody is following right along in Chase and Daddy's footsteps.  When we are out in the yard and Brody goes missing I know right where to find him- in the garage by Daniel's motorcycle.  And before we can leave he has to sit on it and pretend to drive it.  So naturally, this is what we do in some of our free time. 

 Go to the undeveloped land down the street and ride cycles.

  I wanted to get some pictures to put up in the boys rooms so I made them circle in front of me over, and over, and over, again...

Sometimes I even jump on and go for a spin- I think Daniel secretly likes it when I do :)

More science

If you haven't already figured it out, Chase's favorite activity is a science experiment.   I need to get him a book of experiments but for no I find things here and there on pinterest for him to try.

This was a fun one where you use vinegar to dissolve the hard calcium carbonate shell off of the egg, leaving the thin membrane layer.

Just don't try to bounce it like the website told us to- it's not really that strong :)

This is how I know I married a nerd.

"Hey Hun, come quick!" I heard from out in the garage one afternoon.  The urgency of his voice had me a little concerned, so I wiped off my dishwater soaked hands and quickly walked to the garage.  He had been in there all day cleaning it out so we could fit both our cars in.  As I walked in I first noticed that the cars were pulled out into the driveway and there were dirt piles that had been swept up and stacks of stuff everywhere.  Our old broken dishwasher sat near the door in pieces that had been roughly sawed apart.
"What's the matter hun?" I hesitantly asked, hoping I wasn't about to be roped into helping in the garage- the worst job at our house.
"Check this out!"
His enthusiasm poured out and I knew his nerdy side was going to shine through again.  It makes an appearance pretty often in our house and always with great enthusiasm and determination.

He continued, "I pulled the motor out of the old dishwasher and it still works!  Just think of all the things I could use this for!"

"Like what hun?" I asked truly curious as to what could be done with all these wires and things.

"I'm not sure yet, but I'm sure there is something!"

Dear Daniel

Hey Hun!

I wrote you this letter because I wasn't going to get the chance to talk much with you, but decided to put it on the blog for documenting it.  Hope you don't mind :)
I finally was able to get on the computer and finish my report (visiting teaching)- phew!  What a relief.  I don't know why that seems to turn into a fiasco almost every month!

The boys did so good at the doctor.  You would have been proud- I was.  I had do to some breathing exercises with Chase because he was so nervous he was about to hyperventilate!  He told me he didn't think he could be brave enough to talk to the doctor and I told him to just try.  When we got in there he couldn't STOP talking!  He was in the middle of one of his numerous sentences with the nurse and stopped and turned to me and said "see mom, you told me I could be brave to talk to the doctor" and continued one.  She just laughed.

When it came time to do the shots Chase got really nervous but was determined to be brave.  He didn't cry or anything.  Just flinched and a little whimper- just like I do when I have to get shots :)  Brody saw how brave Chase was and did the same.  He didn't cry either just kinda started saying "oh owie mom, owie."  I think I was closer to tears than either of them where.  I took them to Mcdonalds afterwards.   They earned it!

Chase took an eye test and they use pictures instead of letters for kids (I think it's kinda silly because the pictures aren't that clear as to what they are.  I was confused on some.... ) but she pointed to a crescent moon and asked him what it was.  He paused for a few moments and then said "Oh!  It's a peanut!" :)  I couldn't contain my laughter though I tried really hard so I wouldn't make Chase more nervous.  Brody copied everything he said and stood next to him and acted like he was taking the eye test.

Both boys are big and healthy and perfect!  Chase - 75% for weight and 90% for height.  Brody- 75% for weight and 50% for height.  I have just been feeling so happy and proud of these boys lately.  They are just really good kids.  They have a really good dad to look up to and I am so lucky!



Love you!

Roomie get together

Finally after 4 years I was able to see my old Snow roommates.  These girls helped me in the biggest way through one of my lowest points in life.  They will always mean so much to me.

Family picture bloopers

Family pictures can be a lot of work.  Especially when I'm determined to take them and be IN them.  I ended up with a handful that I was happy with, but many, MANY more that didn't make the cut.  Out of hours of pictures taking and hundreds and hundreds of pictures, we got 10-15 good ones.  Here are some of the others.

 Brody HATED having to sit for pictures and was very vocal about it.



 Although there were a few times he would tease me by looking my way, but never smiling.

 Chase is at an age where he likes to goof around and pose in silly ways.  He poses and then runs to see how silly the picture turned out.

Unfortunately this one would be really cute if it didn't look like he had three arms (from Brody right behind him) and my legs in the background.  Maybe someday I'll get enough motivations to try my hand at photo-shopping us out.

I have hundreds like this.  Near the end of the night my remote battery died and we were left trying to use the timer.  We obviously weren't quite ready :)