Summer...Gone, but not Forgotten

I made some promises to myself and others that I wouldn't just pass over all the fun we had this Summer without posting so, if you care to see, these are some of the fun times we had.

Hiking to Stewart Falls, with a 30-something pound toddler in a back-pack.

The Payson Grotto, a much more suitable hike for the toddler.

My beautiful little Flower Girls, a dream come true.

A Big Birthday for Josh - "He's 12!"

Oh Happy Day! - Brynna's 7th Birthday

Fun on the 4th of July

Also, find out what happens when I tell my daughter "No, you can't have any gerbils, even if they are free!"

And lastly, see what happens when you are in a hurry, getting a birthday present for a party that is about to start, and talking on the phone while getting in the car.  Not pretty.

That is it in a nutshell.  The last few months of our lives.  The good, the crazy and the ugly!

Hiking to Stewart Falls

I am not sure how I got talked into this hike, except that it isn't hard for Heather to talk me into anything.  I really do enjoy doing fun things with her and the kids.  Since she got me a backpack for Jonah I decided to go along.  I carried Jonah part of the way.  Did I mention he probably weighs almost 40 lbs?  Jonah is a big boy for his age. 92% for his height and 60% for his weight, last we checked anyway.  Heather might not be so quick to invite us next time since she carried him probably half of the time.  I quickly learned my hips will not tolerate another 40 lbs. and I don't think her knees will either.  Garrett got in on the action and carried him for a little while.  We let him walk at the end and it is a good thing we had the back pack because we NEVER would have made it to the falls without it.

The falls were beautiful.  A little less so, when our boys were up way up high next to them, but beautiful none the less. It was fun, but I think we will have to wait for Jonah to get a little bigger AND faster before we do much more hiking or I guess, take Don along. Ha Ha!

The Payson Grotto

With only a couple more days of freedom, (that is how the kids put it) Heather and I thought we better enjoy it and decided to get a little hiking in.  We hiked up to the Payson Grotto.  It was a nice day, but the water was freezing.  Garrett was by far the bravest and Josh the biggest wimp.  I think Jonah even got wetter than him.  Josh is still saying he didn't want to get his shorts wet.  Most of the kids enjoyed taking turns running in and out of the water.  It was a fun little hike!

Mike & Greta's Wedding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were so privileged to get to share in Mike and Greta's special day.  I was Greta's young women's leader and the girls have loved her ever since.  Of course why wouldn't you love someone who takes you swimming and to lunch.  So when Greta asked the girls to be her flower girls it was a dream come true.  The girls love weddings and have been waiting for Chris to get married because they THINK they get to be his flower girls, luckily Greta came through.

Mike & Greta got married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple.  When Greta walked into the room I had to hold back tears.  She looked so beautiful.  It is such a reward as a YW leader to see your girls find good young men and marry them in the temple.

After the temple there was LOTS of picture-taking.  The girls took their job very seriously and carried her train for her a number of times.  It was so cute.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that.  After grabbing something to eat, we went home to get ready for the reception.  Unfortunately Brynna fell asleep and woke up in a very bad mood.  She was done!  She wouldn't let me fix her hair and had had enough picture taking for one day.  I was trying to figure out how I was going to tell Greta her flower girl was MIA.  It was then that the bribery began.  I was offering sodas, chicken nuggets, whatever she needed to be ready for the reception.  After LOTS of crying and screaming she finally agreed to go IF she got a happy meal...small price, we were only a little late and still there in plenty of time to help setup.

The girls ate, danced and just enjoyed being with all the bridesmaids. (4 of them were also my YW)  They refused to leave until they saw Mike & Greta leave.  Now they are planning a trip to Arizona to visit the newlyweds, even though Maleah thought they kissed waaaay too much and that Mike was much too mushy!  I can't wait to remind her of that on her wedding day!

It was such a beautiful day and I was so glad that we got to be there for all of it!

Joshua's Big Birthday - He's 12!

Joshua is growing up on us.  He is now 12 and "supposedly" taller than I am.  For his birthday all he wanted was an IPOD touch, a DSI, or a new cell phone.  At least he is smart enough to know he won't get all three.  We got him a new cell phone with texting.  He was very happy!  He took a few of his favorite friends, Garrett, Hunter, Calvin, Daniel, and Zane to his favorite swimming pool.  I was planning on that being the party, but the boys kept talking me into more fun.  We went back to our house to barbeque hamburgers and then they talked me into letting them sleep out on the trampoline.  This is HUGE because we don't do sleep overs so this was BIG!  The girls were not happy, especially when I told them that they could not sleep out with the boys.  Now they are both counting down to their 12th birthdays when they get to have their friends sleep over :)  It feels like Josh has really grown up.  He started mowing lawns for the neighbors, going to young men's, passing the sacrament, and even bought himself a pocket bike.  He has been a big help to me this Summer and I am a little sad to see my babysitter go back to school.

Cupcake Catastrophe

My family destroys all cake that every enters our house and has even been know to damage a few cakes other places as well.  This round of birthdays was no different.  Brynna's primary teacher made her some beautiful blue (her favorite color) cupcakes for her birthday.  Fortunately she brought plenty extra because when Brynna helped her carry them into the house some tipped over and some slid off the tray.  Her poor teacher was trying to hide the pain on her face as she watched her precious master pieces get destroyed.  I guess I should have warned her before she brought them over.  It wasn't but a few hours later that Jonah managed to dump one whole tray on the floor. (I really should have seen that coming.) 

My family has some history with destroying cakes, maybe I doomed myself when Don and I smashed each other with the cake on our wedding day, but someone is always doing something to the cake.  Joshua climbed on the fridge and dug through the saran wrap right into the middle of Maleah's 1st birthday cake.  Joshua also ran his finger down the side of Dan's wedding cake.  Apparently he just can't resist.  So if you ever need to put a cake somewhere for safe keeping don't bring to our house or anywhere near any of my children!

Oh Happy Day! Brynna's 7th Birthday

Brynna was so happy on her birthday.  As you can see from all the smiles.  I think she smiled from the moment she got up until she went to sleep.  She had a busy, fun-filled day.  She had swimming lessons first thing, so her first gift was a new swim bag, sunglasses, and swim suit cover-up.  She rides her bike to swim lessons so she had to have that first thing.  Don had carefully hidden it in the garage for her to find.  After swimming she had a neighborhood dance class where the girls planned her a surprise party.  She got new dance clothes and a Michael Jackson CD (She is a huge fan!  I think I may have created a monster!)  At the party they had ice cream cone cupcakes, so cute, painted nails and of course, danced!  Big thanks to her dance teachers for doing all that for her!  Then we took one of her favorite friends, GG, and went to the pool.  We finished up the evening with dinner, cupcakes (thanks, Angie Lemon) and fireworks!  Brynna wants fireworks every year for her birthday and since it is the day before the 24th she can have them.  She also gets to celebrate with her Grammie at a family party every year, non-stop fun for Brynna!

Fun on the 4th

We had our usual fun on the 4th of July.  We started out with the parade in Mt. Pleasant.  It is a great small town parade.  The kids love it because they throw plenty of candy.  We love it because it starts a little later and we don't have to park very far away or fight the crowds.  After the parade we had a picnic and went swimming at the pool just down from the cabin.  Then we went up to the cabin to relax and barbeque for dinner.  After the drive home we usually like to do some fireworks, but this year everyone was too tired to do much of anything.  Lots of fun!

Dog for Sale?

My kids are in a horrible habit of looking at things online on KSL classifieds and for some reason don't seem to understand that just because an animal is FREE doesn't mean they get to have it.  Imagine Maleah's dismay when she called on 10 FREE gerbils and was told NO, even though all we had to do was go to Provo to pick them up.  Why wouldn't a mother do that?  Well, the poor dog got the blame.  So Maleah promptly got him on his leash and took pictures of him so that she could post him on KSL for sale.  Fortunately she is not QUITE that computer-savvy, so our poor, innocent (ok, naughty, stinker of a dog) was saved.  At least for now!

Not pretty.

 

And, just in case you were wondering, it is NOT socially acceptable for a grown woman to go around with a black eye.  My Grandma said what everyone else was thinking, "Who did that to you? " She said rather accusingly.  I'm not sure she believed me when I said, "I did!"  If you don't believe me, just go try opening your driver's side door, quickly, with your right hand, while talking on the phone and holding said phone on your left shoulder.

Farm Country

Since all the other kids are now in school Jonah and I are hoping to do some fun & educational things of our own.  Last week we went to farm country on $2 Tuesday.  Probably not the best idea, but we had fun. (It was very crowded.) 

I learned I need a much faster camera in order to catch this busy little two year old in action.  He loved everything, feeding the big white horse, the baby goats, riding in the wagon with his buddy Sky and was even willing to wait in a very long line for 45 minutes for a pony ride.  We did have an embarrassing moment or two along the way, which has led me to wonder if it is better to be with friends or alone when your child does something embarrassing.  I still haven't decided, but if there is anyone else who would like to get out and do something fun with their less than perfectly behaved toddler, let me know.

Happy Mom. Happy Kids.

I have decided I love the First Day of School. And not for the reasons you might think. Although I have been know to say "I love my kids, just not all at the same time." They are A LOT to handle all at once. But, still, I love my kids, I love having them around, I love taking them fun places all Summer long, but I also know that they and I thrive on a good routine. (Kudos to you homeschooling Moms who are able to give your kids a good routine without the help of sending them off to school.) We always start the Summer with a good routine, but by the end it seems like everything has gone crazy. It seemed to be even more true this Summer than any other. I was not at all ready to start getting up and getting everyone out the door, but seeing how excited they are about school makes me happy and excited for them.

Maleah did just as she was supposed to, got all ready for school and waited on the porch for her picture to be taken.

Brynna headed down the street to get her best friend, GG, who you can see in the background.

And then there is Josh. He left for school without even saying goodbye. I went and took him out of class. He would never have smiled so willingly except that I threatened to take the picture in his class if he didn't. He smiled nicely, but was mumbling some not so nice words under his breath. I'll bet next year he will be on the porch right along with Maleah. Unless of course he WANTS me to show up at the Jr. High.

I just loved watching them all run around the night before making sure they had their clothes set out, their breakfast planned and their alarm clocks set. If only that would last all year.

I loved this note that I found. It reads Brynna is having eggs. Don't take too many eggs.Thank you. Sincerely, Brynna. They really were busy thinking of everything they could to be prepared for school.

After school they all came home talking, smiling and happy. Life is good.

Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day! I started my day with the usual breakfast in bed, cards, and various goodies from the kids, and of course lots of loves. My girls love to get up bright and early to take care of Mom. At church the YM/YW took care of the primary and nursery so I got to go to RS. It was a pleasant surprise! It was a little bit of heaven sitting in RS enjoying chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels, that is until the kids found us :)


I wanted a picture of the kids and I for Mother's day. It took a lot of work to get them all in the same place, holding still, and kind of smiling.

I got to host the Mother's Day BBQ at my house. It was lots of fun and plenty chaotic. Jonah only escaped the house three or four times. We had lots of good food especially the dessert, thanks Kristy!

Here are all the moms for a Mother's Day photo op.
I don't know how good I am at this whole mothering thing, but I am sure thankful for a wonderful mom, who is always there for us when we need her. Sometimes more often than she might like. I am also so grateful for all the amazing mothers around me that continually inspire me! Thank you all for your great examples!

The Leprechauns were here.

The Leprechauns came to our house....

They turned the milk green and left footprints on the cookies. Luckily they left a few gold coins!
We hope you all had some St. Patrick's day fun!
Note: To see the inspiration for the cookies and a much more professional job go here.

So Fun. Maleah's Birthday Celebration - Part 2

Maleah decided this year for her birthday she wanted to go snowmobiling at the cabin. I was a little worried about this choice, but we had a great time and the girls asked if they could do this every year!


Don and I on the snowmobile. This was Jonah's first time on the snowmobile and you can see how he felt about it. On the way down he fell dead asleep so apparently he got over it.


Here are some of the girls on the sled. Brynna, Jonah, Courtlyne, Maleah and Olivia.
They had lots of fun, snowmobiling, swinging on the swing, and jumping off the deck.


Here they all are red cheeked, enjoying lunch and hot chocolate.
Camryn, Courtlyne, Mckinley, Olivia, and Maleah


Cupcake Time!
This was definitely Jonah's favorite part!

It was a huge success! Big thanks to Grammie and Grandfather for all their help!

Olivia said, "This is the best birthday party ever!"

Maleah's 9th Birthday - Part 1

Maleah woke up bright and early and ready for her first present.

Her present was this dress which I got from Matilda Jane.

Maleah is always happy with something new to wear.

Her dad brought her favorite breakfast, donuts. And one of her favorite friends, Mckinley showed up with the perfect present for Maleah, glitter jeans and scrapbook paper. Maleah loved it!

Then we headed out to lunch at Red Robin and pedicures with the girls. Thanks to Heather for the pedicure, Grammie for lunch, and Kristy and Stella for the Hello Kitty Lip gloss set.

I know I might be in trouble with this picture, but I just had to show how we took up all the pedicure chairs. It is a good thing Grammie didn't want a pedicure.

Stella and Brynna in the pink Panda chairs. They also had DVD players, what lucky girls.

Maleah wanted Brynna to match her today so Brynna also got her new dress.

The final result...look at all those pretty toes!

Then we did a little more shopping and Maleah started to get a little tired. She was buying something with her money and when I asked for her money she threw her purse at me. She forgot the red gatorade in her purse though so when the purse hit the floor red gatorade went everywhere.

After that we were on the way out the door when the girls decided to throw money in the wishing fountain. Maleah was throwing so hard I thought she might hit somebody in the head, but she didn't do that she just threw her whole bag with new clothes, bracelet and lip gloss into the fountain. When the girls screamed I ran over and seeing that the bag hadn't sunk I didn't waste anytime. I slipped off my shoe and stepped into a VERY cold fountain. Everyone was staring, but the clothes were saved. My favorite thing about this is that Maleah told everyone these stories and was able to laugh at herself. Maleah can get embarrassed easily so I was so proud of her.

We finished the night by going to a beautiful dance recital that Mckinley performed in. Then went to eat with Caycie and Mckinley.

It was lots of fun from beginning to end!

Basketball

I don't post near enough about this kid. Mostly because he runs from the camera and the other three are busy posing, so you know who I am taking pictures of.
Joshua was on a great basketball team this year, with lots of wins and a good coach, it was a good experience. We finally found a sport that Josh enjoys and will stop what he is doing to go and practice. Thank goodness!

Yes, this shaggy haired boy is mine. The hair will probably be something we disagree on right up until he leaves home. I am just hoping that the girls feel the same way about it that I do.


Here he is in action on the court, #15. Toward the end of the season he wasn't afraid to get in there and go after the ball. We sure enjoyed cheering for him. Good job, Josh!

I Won! I Won! I Won!

I am a regular reader of Lisa Bearnson's Blog. And on Valentine's Day I actually won something. I refuse to say I never win anything because I am all about positive thinking, but this is my first blog win. I won because I was the first comment of the day and with 453 comments that is quite a feat. Anyhow my prize had perfect timing, what with me wanting to spend all day everyday in bed and having a little girl's birthday to plan. I had waited until the absolute last minute to send out party invitations and was in desperate need of some inspiration when my prize arrived.

It is this Bling kit. Lots of jewels and tools for all your scrapbooking or cardmaking needs.


Here is the card I made.

So, thanks to Lisa! Go check out her blog if you haven't already. She posts lots of great ideas.

I'm Back!

I would like to say that I have been gone on some exotic trip to another country, but instead I have been hibernating in my frozen little corner of the world. I really should have been born a bear. A fur coat and hibernating through the winter...sounds good to me!

Anyhow, I have some catch up to do and I promised my mother-in-law some birthday pics, so I had better get to it.

More to follow.

Brynna and the 5 Day Old Ham & Cheese Sandwich

Once upon a time there was a little brown-eyed girl named Brynna. Brynna liked to eat school lunch, but sometimes she liked to take lunch from home. One day her daddy packed her a homemade lunch. A ham & cheese sandwich with Miracle whip, just the way that Brynna liked it. He also included pretzels and a fruit snack.

This day when Brynna got to school she decided to SAVE her homemade lunch and eat school lunch instead. Brynna completely forgot about the homemade lunch until the next week at school. Brynna remembered the home lunch and thought it would be yummy. She also thought her mom would be soooo proud of her for eating all her lunch, so Brynna gobbled it all up!

When Brynna's mom picked her up from school Brynna was eating pretzels. Her mom said, "Where did you get the pretzels?" To which Brynna replied, "From my lunch box." Then Brynna happily announced, "I ate ALL of my sandwich!" Her mom said, "Please tell me it was peanut butter and honey." Brynna smiled and said, "Nope, ham and cheese." Brynna's mom was not as proud of her as Brynna had hoped she would be. Instead her mother said, "Oh, no, you are going to be sick." But Brynna just smiled and ran off playing and eating snacks all afternoon.

The very next morning Brynna's mom was right. Brynna was sick! Her stomach hurt all night long and then the throwing up began. Brynna threw up and slept, threw up, and slept, and then threw up and slept some more. Poor Brynna! After being sick all day, Brynna was better! The next day Brynna felt great! She went to a school field trip to the Scera Theater to see A Year with Frog and Toad. And Brynna never ate a 5 day old ham & cheese sandwich again. The End


The moral of the story is...

For Brynna - Never SAVE your lunch!

For Mom - Teach your children about food poisoning before they learn it the hard way.

Written by Angie with help from Brynna.

The Snyder Family Annual Ice Skating Party

After going to the Draper Temple we went over to Astro Burger for the Snyder Family's annual ice skating party. We ate dinner and then headed off for ice skating. I am so glad we have this so I at least take my kids ice skating once a year.



I got to skate this year since Don was crying about some injury of his. Knee, ankle, old age, who knows!



Brynna really enjoyed it. She was planning on wearing a dress with tights because, "That is what the professionals wear!" Amazingly we talked her out of it.



Josh also had fun.


Maleah was a little bit moodier. Now she is happy....

And now she's not. I'm not sure this picture really captures the full extent of her sulking, but she eventually got through it. The reason for the sadness, her perfectionistic tendencies. She wasn't able to ice skate as well as she wanted to so she was frustrated.


Poor Jonah. He just got to watch. Maybe next year!

Draper Temple Open House

We had the wonderful opportunity of attending the Draper Temple Open House with my sister and her family. It was such an enjoyable experience. Big thanks to Grammie for watching Jonah so Don and I could enjoy ourselves. We traveled without fighting and the kids were generally well-behaved, except for one little fart while in the temple, but we will leave that offender nameless. Joshua said his favorite thing was the huge chandelier, Maleah's was the Celestial room including the chandelier and Brynna just grinned really big and said, "EVERYTHING!" She especially liked all the beautiful artwork. We are so thankful that we have temples so close and we have the opportunity to be an eternal family.


Special thanks to Brynna for the little head tilt that let us see Christ in our picture.

Christmas

OK, so the rule is you have to blog Christmas pretty quickly because after a couple of weeks pass you have no desire to blog it at all. I am shocked that I feel that way because we really had a great Christmas, but I have been really tempted to skip it, but since I do want a record of all the fun I guess I better just get it done.

The kids woke up about 11:30 all ready for Christmas, unfortunately I was just going to bed so it was a long night. We did manage to hold them off until 5:00a.m. I was just trying to talk them into waiting a little longer when they got Jonah up, after that it was a done deal.

Brynna with her dress-up trunk from Grammie. Look at that pure Christmas joy on her face!


Since Jonah had some practice 5 days before he was much better at opening presents, but he did think every present would be a train.


So I was a push-over mom this year. Maleah told me she wouldn't have a Merry Christmas unless she got a puppy. I laughed my head off at her and once again explained how we are not quite ready for that and why you don't want a a puppy in the winter, blah, blah,blah. Shortly after that when I couldn't figure out what to get the girls I made the small mistake of going to see a really well-priced puppy. Once I had him in my arms I was sold. It was all over, only I had to wait ten days and I just about couldn't stand it.
So on Christmas Eve Don went and picked him up. We have some fantastic across the street neighbors, the Gerbers who willingly took him for the night. I can not thank them enough. It was so nice of them to take on the burden of our puppy. Thanks goodness for great friends!
After all the ipods, snowboards, barbies, and trains had been opened I snuck across the street and got the puppy.

This is the look on Maleah's face when she saw what I had.


Then the kids just lined up in order. Josh was first to get a hold of him. Josh loves him. He is so good with him and helps take care of him a lot!


This is Maleah's face once she got a hold of the puppy.


Brynna...well Brynna likes the puppy, but right after this picture she promptly dropped him.
She has a lot to learn.


And here is Jonah trying to hold him. I think that pretty much says it all.


And here is why we have the puppy, I just couldn't resist he is so sweet and snuggly. Unfortunately he also pees, poops, chews on things, and barks. Lucky for him he is cute!


This is Koda. He is a Sheltie and was born October 26th. I didn't think we were ready for a puppy, but so far so good. He is a lot of work, but a lot of fun, just like most good things in life!


As a final note, it only took Maleah two days to hate the puppy. We were at the mall and had to get home to let the puppy out. She was so mad at the inconvience that she said she hated him. Wow that was quick! Fortunately we didn't get him just for her. She did take it back shortly after that. The kids had no idea what we were getting into when we got him, thank goodness Don and I did.

Jonah's 2nd Birthday

Five days before Christmas we get to celebrate Jonah's birthday. It was pretty low key. He is still unsure about the whole thing. It took a lot of coaxing to get him to open any presents and most of the presents were opened by the other kids.


Jonah was very excited about his Thomas cake.

Presents, cake and ice cream is all you need for a fun 2 year old birthday. He got Thomas trains and some Tonka trucks. He also got a cute tent (thanks, Grammie & Grandfather) that the other kids sure had fun with. It was a sanity saver for me right before Christmas, but still a little sad when the kids would lock him out of the room because he was messing up the tent. Poor youngest child :(

He is growing up fast. He is talking more and more and has more ideas about what he wants. He is such a blessing for our family! We love our Jonah Bear!