The Averett Family

Bed Rest

2010-04-08T16:45:00.003-06:00

About 2 1/2 weeks ago I started contracting and it was really bad so at 27 weeks my doctor put me on bed rest. I am now 29 weeks (that is when I delivered Garrett) and am dying from boredom! Lucky for me my friend lent me her laptop so I can at least have a break from watching t.v. and reading. For the first little while I couldn't even read because the medication they put me on to stop the contractions makes my heart race and I was not able to concentrate. Though my heart still races and I feel pretty dizzy most of the time my body is starting to adjust enough that I am able to do other things some of the time. My poor family has really had to pick up the slack, and while this is good for them it is hard as a mom to sit back and watch. Garrett has sacrificed his bed so that I can be in the front room and at least not feel like I am holed up away from the family all the time. My ward has been awesome and brings dinner in to us 3 nights a week. I am so grateful that I have a ward that is so willing to help. My boys and Jess are keeping the house clean (as clean as boys keep things) and doing laundry as well. This is huge for my boys because because I tend to just do most things by myself. They have been really great at picking up the slack for me. One of the big things that I have come to realize is that I HATE being taken care of. As weird as it sounds I am pretty independent and like to just do things my way, so I guess this is a great learning experience for me?! My poor sister has also been awesome to help me, driving me to doctor's appointments, taking my kids, and coming to visit me among other things! My mom and dad have been great as well at helping, and Jesse's dad brings dinner at least once a week and calls me like clock work throughout the day to check on me. Now some of you might be thinking how nice it would be to lay around all day and just veg, but I can assure you after about oh one day of it it gets really old! Isn't it funny that when we have tons to do you just want to veg, and when we have to veg you want to get things done? So the plan is for me to stay on bed rest until I reach 35 weeks (May 16). If I make it that far and have not had the baby then I can go off bed rest and resume my normal life until I deliver.

This week is Spring Break for my kids and I am feeling so bad because they are bored to tears. Most of their friends left town and so they are doing a lot of nothing. I feel bad because of course this year they got a whole week off for Spring Break and we usually leave town as well, but here we sit. But it will all be worth it in the long run when we get a healthy baby here and there will be many other times to go and play, right?!

Thanks to all my friends and family for the love and support!

Wait... What?!?

2010-01-01T14:44:00.004-07:00

If you have not yet heard we are expecting another baby! After everything we have been through in the last few years with trying to have a baby I had decided that we were done. Well surprise! No we aren't! Our new bundle of joy will be arriving in June. My due date is June 20.

I am 15 weeks and because I am high risk my doctor sent me to the specialist. So funny story: we are there getting our ultrasound and the technician is asking if we want to know what we are having, uh yeah! So while she is measuring the baby she is gabbing with Jess and I about our family. We tell her that Jess thinks for sure it is a boy and he has convinced me that it is a boy and she says that she thinks dad is right because she thought she caught a glimpse of boy parts. So we happily continue thinking it's a boy. Well when she finally gets around to checking the baby would not cooperate, but she finally sees and says "Oh I was totally wrong, it's a GIRL!" Wait...What!?! I wish I had taken a picture of Jesse at this point. It was the funniest thing ever! He was in absolute shock! Anyway the doctor came and talked to us and everything is looking good so far and we are still in a little bit of shock! Don't get me wrong we are thrilled with a girl but we are a boy family! So we called the kids and Garrett's response was "cool" (translation: I am excited). Hunter's response "are you kidding me!?" (not so happy in the beginning but he is quickly getting used to the idea) This is going to be a real change in our house!

Before you ask let me answer all of the typical questions that we are getting asked:

Q: Was this planned?
A: Uh ya, do you really want to know that?

Q: Wow that is going to be a BIG gap (not really a question, just an interesting statement)
A: Uh ya that part was not planned.

Q: Wow aren't you worried that you are a little bit old to be starting over?
A: I am only 31 people! Just because my kids are old doesn't mean I am too old!

Q: Wow you are getting big fast! (here again, not a question just a really interesting statement)
A: I am 5'2" people! Of course I get big fast!

Q: Are you so glad you are not having another boy?
A: NO! I love my boys and would love to have another one! All we want is a healthy baby!

Now don't get me wrong and think you can't ask questions! These are just a few of the typical questions that we have been asked and I think are funny. If you have been one of the people who asked these questions please do not take feel bad! I am not at all offended just amused at the things people say! Now the biggest problem is thinking of a name! We have NEVER discussed girl names! Lucky for us we have a while!

Ringing in 2010

2010-01-01T14:31:00.004-07:00

For New Years we stayed home and hung out with the kids. We had great food and played games.

Me and Jess.

Is that a smile I see?!?

Me and Hunter

Hunter eating cookie dough.

Playing Rockband

Interestingly enough Garrett was fell asleep when it was time to clean up! He must have been so tired (or just didn't want to help clean up)

Hope your New Year brings great joy and happiness!

Christmas

2009-12-25T14:12:00.002-07:00

Christmas morning

Garrett got the new bike he had been wanting.

Hunter got the Fuzion scooter he had been wanting

Yes we are up and it's early, so don't judge the picture! he he

Garrett and his beloved new Cowboys jersey

Hunter got a fox motorcycle jersey and was in heaven! Hunter has a real love for motorcycles. I am not sure where this came from since we don't own one and Jesse and I have never had any interest in them, but Hunter LOVES them.

Garrett, Hunter, and Grandpa Kelly (Jesse's dad)

We had a great Christmas. As usual Kelly bought WAY too much (I'm not kidding!), and we all had a great day together!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T14:01:00.002-07:00

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and had a lot of fun. We ate great food, had our annual nativity and opening of Christmas pajamas.

Hunter and Jonah ready for the nativity.

Garrett and Hunter.

Our beautiful nativity.

Each year I like to get a family picture on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately this year I forgot about it until we were ready to leave and the kids were in pajamas already.

Gingerbread cookies

2009-12-20T13:52:00.004-07:00

Grandma Laura (Jesse's mom) came over to make gingerbread cookies with the boys this year.

Garrett, Grandma Laura, and Hunter. Garrett has been into making crazy eyes lately whenever we take a picture. (Don't ask me why)

What an angel?!? This is what we got when Jesse threatened him about making crazy eyes!

The final product.

Jesse enjoying his gingerbread cookie. He just loves when I take his picture! he he

Seeing Santa

2009-12-15T13:40:00.002-07:00

Each year my mom likes to get a picture of all of the grandkids with Santa.

Hunter sitting on Santa's lap.

Garrett is way to old and cool to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wants so he graciously took this picture for me!

All the Snyder grandkids (minus Danielle).

Hello again!

2009-09-03T19:12:00.002-06:00

So I know what you are all thinking! What a lamo for not posting all summer! I have been without a camera all summer and have been waiting for pictures to trickle in from everyone so that I have something to blog about. I also have really been struggling this summer and have not been up to blogging. As many of you may have heard Jess and I have been trying to have a baby for a few years now without any good results. On Hunter's birthday I went in for an ultrasound of what I thought was a normal 10 week pregnancy and found out that the baby had stopped developing and there was no heartbeat. It was a big surprise to us and very emotional as you can imagine. I went in for a D&C two days later and have had a very hard summer physically and emotionally. We had told the kids that we were going to have a baby and they were SOOOO excited, so to have to explain that to them was a hard thing. I never realized how emotionally draining this sort of thing is! I am still struggling with this (some days are better than others) but luckily for me I have had great support from my family! I am keeping busy and just trying to think positive! I may never know Heavenly Father's reasoning for this but am trying to put my trust in him and know that we are supposed to learn something from this trial.(here again some days are better than others!) But I know that Heavenly Father will never give us anything more than we can handle, I just am not sure why he thinks I can handle this! I am a little worried that he has gotten me mixed up with someone much stronger and is sending me her trials! :) I just want to let my family know how much I love them and appreciate their support through all of this. Through trials in life I can really see why God gave us families. I don't know what I would do without any of you! I love you!

But anyway I will be posting more of our summer as I get the pictures.

On a lighter note:
The kids have started school and are really liking it so far. Garrett is in 8th grade this year and Hunter is in 4th! Garrett is playing football again and Jess is helping coach so that keeps us busy 6 nights a week. I am working, trying to finish school and am the PTA president at Hunter's school this year. I am really enjoying it! I have found that I do much better when I am busy! Hopefully I will get a new camera soon and will be better about posting again!

Mom's Big Birthday Weekend!

2009-07-23T18:09:00.008-06:00

For mom's birthday this year we wanted to do something memorable since it was a BIG one! (I won't reveal how many years young mom is but it rhymes with "trixty") he he. Angie, Kristy and I started planning months before and wanted to do something fun for her. Well Kristy came up with this awesome idea to send her and dad on a hot air balloon ride. Well mom is afraid of heights so we decided maybe we shouldn't do it, but her wonderful sister Anne informed us that she had done it and loved it and that we should do it for mom. So the planning started! Kristy booked the hot air balloon ride in Park City the weekend before her birthday and I called mom and dad's good friend to book the condo for the weekend. Mom and dad went up on Thursday, mom thinking that they were just spending a weekend alone. Well as kids we went up to this same condo a lot and mom got up there and started missing everyone! She called everybody on Friday and told us how sad she was to be there without all of us! Well little did she know when she called me that I was on my way to Park City with my family! Kristy and Spence also brought there family and spent Friday night as well. When we got there mom was shocked to see us, but pretty happy (I think)! We informed her that we were going for a hike the next day and we were leaving at 6:15 and she absolutely had to be in the parking lot and ready to go! Now why she believed that all of us and our kids were going hiking at 6 in the morning I am unsure, but she nicely went along with it! When we got to the place to meet and she saw the hot air balloon basket she about peed her pants! She was so nervous, but I told her that her sweet sister had insisted that she would love it! She was less than excited, but luckily she had time to calm down before we sent her on her way! Angie and her kids made the early morning trek to see meet us and so did Chris so I think that mom knew she was stuck!

Getting ready for the big ride! Can you see the death grip mom has on dad's arm?!?

Spencer, Maleah, Angie and me all watching the fun!

Kristy and Brighton

It was early and a little bit cold (as you can see by Miles BIG yawn and Hunter's missing arms)

Doesn't this picture just say it all!

I'm only doing this to please you kids!

Then we all jumped in our cars and followed the man that was the balloon chaser. We were all waiting at the end for mom and dad, hoping mom wasn't ready to kill us! We had a breakfast picnic and even sang to mom.

The group. We missed Dan, who couldn't make it, and Nate and Nico drove up later. We had a fun time hiking, and then went back and had lunch and swam for a while. It really was a fun weekend! I'm sure it's a birthday that mom will never forget! We love you mom, thanks for being a good sport!

Baseball tournament's

2009-07-14T19:40:00.006-06:00

For Hunter's birthday we spent the WHOLE day at baseball tournaments! When I say the whole day I am really not kidding, we left home at 11:00 a.m. and the last game finished at 11:30 p.m. It was a long but fun day. Hunter played in Provo and Garrett in Spanish Fork. Lucky for us Jesse was coaching Hunter's team and was able to take work off so we each took a kid and met up at different times throughout the day.

Hunter playing 1st base. He really did well this year.

Garrett batting.

Garrett got to pitch some at tournament. He did really well considering he hadn't pitched all season.

Hunter enjoying an ice cream between games.

One last team cheer!

We ended up at tournament for 2 days. Both teams did really well.

2 long days at baseball tournaments =

2 very tired, dirty kids!

1 very burned mom!

and 1 very tired coach!

Great job guys! You did awesome! Hope your birthdays were memorable!

Birthday's and seven peaks

2009-07-13T20:16:00.001-06:00

Both of the boys baseball teams made it to state tournament this year and so we decided to go to seven peaks water park and celebrate there birthdays before that all started.

Me and my boys!

Mom took pity on me and spent the day lounging

in the hot sun!

Garrett going down free fall

Hunter going down free fall

Josh going down free fall

What big strong boys! Hunter was so excited because this was the first year he was tall enough to go down free fall. He was a little nervous but with some encouragement from Garrett and Josh he decided to brave it and then spent most of the day going down it!

Pinewood Derby

2009-05-24T17:33:00.004-06:00

Hunter got to participate in his very first Pinewood Derby race for cub scouts. He was so excited to build his car. Well the night before the race he got REALLY sick! So I kept him home from school the next day. He slept all day and just didn't feel like eating much. He hadn't gotten "sick" in 24 hours and he really wanted to go to the race. I didn't have the heart to tell him he couldn't go so we went. Well being the wise mother that I am I was worried that he hadn't eaten in 24 hours so we stopped for a shake! An Oreo cookie shake! Now I know what your thinking, maybe he "lost" his shake on the floor. Oh no even better! Once the sugar kicked in from that shake he was BOUNCING of the walls! Can you say EXTREME sugar high! He was crazy! (even more than usual)! But hey he had fun! And I am definitely not winner mother of the year AGAIN this year! (For more reasons than this one!!) he he

All the boys after the race.

Mother's Day

2009-05-24T17:06:00.007-06:00

Mother's day this year was so nice. My boys were great to me and even did yard work with me on Saturday without complaining! A BIG accomplishment at our house!

Hunter made me this very cute card at school. He was so funny, I was putting away laundry a few days before and he came running in his room and stood in front of one of the drawers and told me not to open it because his mother's day present was in it. He was VERY worried I was going to see it.

Garrett came home from church with this note he had written in Young Men's.

In case you can't read it, it says:

Dear Mom,

Thank you for saving my butt from dad all those times he wanted to kill me.

Love, Garrett

Now I know some of you are thinking real nice mother's day card! But coming from a 13 year old BOY it was a very nice card! It made me laugh, and he was very proud of himself for that!

On Sunday afternoon we went for a BBQ at Angie and Don's.

All the mom's.

A boy in my parent's ward came over to visit on his dad's motorcycle. I have found a new love in life! It all started when my little brother got a motorcycle. I really wanted to drive it but he and Jesse wouldn't let me! Well they wouldn't let me drive this one either but I did get to go for a ride on the back. I told Jesse I really wanted one for us to ride together! (we'll see if that ever happens!)

I think mom and dad really liked the motorcycle too!

It really was a great mother's day, and I would just like to let my mom know that even if I tease you (a lot) it's only because I love you! You have been such a great part in my life and my family! You are a great example to me of what a mom does. Thanks for always being there for me!

Mother's Day Enrichment Night

2009-05-07T13:01:00.007-06:00

My mom's ward had a Mother's day enrichment night, and Angie and I got to go. They had wedding dresses from the 1930's to the current day being modeled. It was interesting to see how the styles had changed through the years. Well I was lucky enough to get volunteered to wear my mom's dress.

Here's mom in her wedding dress when she got married. Isn't she beautiful!

Here is me in mom's wedding dress. Wow there's a sight! I think mom DEFINITELY looks better! It's a beautiful dress, but I'm a little tall for it!

It was a fun evening and mom's ward had put a lot of work into it. Thanks mom for the invite!

I got a job!

2009-04-30T11:20:00.002-06:00

So for the last year I have been doing school online for Medical Transcription. I have really enjoyed it and am REALLY close to graduating. Well my mom has a friend that was looking for another person to work for her transcribing and she hired me last week! So I am now working from home transcribing and loving it! I still plan on finishing school just so that I can graduate, but in the meantime I am working.

Spring Break

2009-04-30T09:58:00.015-06:00

This year for Spring Break my whole family headed down to Springdale. My brother Dan lives in Virgin and we were doing our family service project for the year. If you remember last year my dad decided that each year instead of Christmas presents, we would do something at one of my siblings houses each year. It all began with my pergola last year. So this year we all went down to enjoy a few days in the warmth and help Dan clean up his yard.

On Friday Jesse, Garrett, Chris and Don took advantage of the nice weather and went golfing in St. George. Hunter and I went hiking in Zion National Park with my mom and dad, Spencer, Kristy, Stella, Miles and Brighton. It was a beautiful day.

Stella, Miles and Hunter after the hike. Did we tire them out or what!?!

This is what happens when you leave your camera alone with your brother when you go to the bathroom!

On Saturday we got up and went to Dan's. My mom made her yummy pancakes and we got to work. When we got to Dan's he was telling us how much longer his growing season was in Southern Utah than ours in Northern Utah so I was telling Jess that I wanted to move so that I could have more tomatoes. Well after working at Dan's I changed my mind! Everything that we picked up had snakes, lizards, cockroaches and other creepy things! Never mind! I am happy were I'm at. The funny thing was that the little girls LOVED the snakes! They carried them around all morning. I didn't get many pictures of the actual work part because I was actually working, unlike others I know! he he By the way Mom and Angie, I am still waiting for you to send me pictures!

The gang!

After we were done working Dan took us on a hike in Zion. We hiked to a waterfall and the kids loved it! They actually got in the FREEZING cold water.

Smile Angie!

On the last day, we went for one last hike before heading home.

Sleeping on the ride home!

We had such a fun Spring Break. I am so glad that we could all be together. My parents were kind enough to get us all rooms at the Desert Pearl in Springdale. It was a beautiful hotel and had a great pool, though I didn't get any pictures of the kids swimming. The rooms even came equipped with a beday, which was the topic of MANY conversations during the weekend. What a high class bunch we are! But all in all we had a great time being together! Though my family makes me crazy most days, I wouldn't trade even one of those weirdo's! Thanks mom and dad for the great memory!

Easter

2009-04-30T09:34:00.004-06:00

We spent Easter with my family for the annual Snyder Family Easter Egg Hunt. It was VERY cold and by the time we got started it was raining! But that didn't stop us.

We started out with coloring eggs. Some holidays are getting to be a little depressing for me because my kids think they are getting too old to participate, and they are boys! They have better things to do. So while everyone else colored eggs, Garrett, Hunter and Josh went and rode the go cart. When they finally came in Garrett told us he was bored and so Spencer jumped in and helped Garrett "color" an Easter egg..... with chocolate! Yes, Spencer is still a kid at heart!

The final product! They realized after they were done that they should have taken the shell off before they frosted it so that someone could actually eat it! Well that didn't stop Chris. He took a bite, shell and all! Don't worry he didn't swallow it!

Dad and Mom

Garrett and Josh hunting for eggs. If there hadn't been candy and competition between the boys to find the most eggs, I'm pretty sure these two would have not even hunted for eggs this year.

Nate and Nico hunting for eggs. (I wonder who gets to eat Nico's candy?!?)

Miles and Hunter checking out the eggs.

Brighton and Jonah on the loose!

All the grandkids (and Nate).

Winter Blue's

2009-03-25T09:01:00.002-06:00

I hate winter! I know it is officially spring, but not in Utah! It is so cold out today and there is snow on the ground and more to come. I am done being cold. Done with the dark skies. I am ready for the sun to come out and the warm weather to come and stay! I am DONE with winter!

Hello Again!

2009-03-12T07:44:00.001-06:00

Yes I am still here, and alive! I have just been busy and in a mood for a while now and so I have not posted. Also someone (Jesse) spilled water on my camera and so I have been without a camera for a while. Luckily my mom gave me her old one, which just happens to be the exact same camera that was ruined! Lucky for me I didn't have to figure out how to use a new camera!

So now I am playing catch up. Lucky for me since my camera wasn't working I don't have much catch up with! he he

It's the most WONDERFUL time of the year!

2009-03-12T07:21:00.006-06:00

Yes I know Christmas is over! I'm talking about spring! It's that time of year again that I turn my kitchen into a greenhouse! I know I'm a little bit (actually a lot) crazy but I LOVE starting my garden. I have started my tomato and pepper plants and loving every minute of it!

Garrett is laughing at me right now for dedicating a post to my plants but oh well!

This one is for you my sweet little plants!

They may look pathetic now but just imagine the wonderful tomato's I will be getting off of them a few months from now!

Pedicures with the girls!

2009-03-12T07:21:00.004-06:00

For my niece Maleah's birthday we decided to take advantage and have a girls day! So Angie, Maleah, Brynna, Mom, Kristy, Stella and I all went to lunch and for pedicures! We had so much fun! As we were waiting for pedicures Kristy was holding Stella's balloon and it popped. Well with the high ceilings in the mall it made a VERY loud noise and everyone was looking at Kristy! he he I think they thought she was holding up the joint! Well afterwords when I was leaving someone had put an empty plastic bottle under my the tire of my truck so as I backed up there was a loud bang! I thought my tire had blown out, and everyone stopped to see! How embarrassing! Well I later heard a story that topped mine and Kristy's! Angie and mom had stayed at the mall to do some shopping with Maleah and Brynna. From what I hear Maleah and Brynna were throwing pennies in the fountain and Maleah launched her bag of new clothes into the fountain! In true Angie fashion she rolled up her pants and got into the fountain to save the bag! Oh how I wish I could have seen this! Just to hear about it brought extreme laughter! From what Angie said the water was EXTREMELY cold! he he Mom said that people were stopping and watching, probably thinking wow lady I know times are hard but stealing money out of the wishing fountain is not the way to go about it! (even while writing this extreme laughter is still happening!) Oh dear sweet Angie! You are always good for a laugh!

Notice Mom and Kristy are not in the picture. Well mom is taking the pictures. She didn't get a pedicure and Kristy was right next to me, but I left out the picture with Kristy in it because I know how much she hates pictures of herself (even if she does always look great)! You can pay me later Kristy! :)

The final product! Yes mine are the ugliest toes with tissue paper stuffed between them. They didn't stuff tissue between anyone else's toes, and then told me I needed to keep it there. Probably because I have such awful toes!

Thanks for the good time girls!

Draper Temple

2009-03-12T06:54:00.008-06:00

We were able to go to the Draper Temple open house with my sister and her family. What a great experience to have with my family and Angie and her family! It is such a beautiful temple and I am so thankful that we have temple's close to us.

The gang!

Hunter and Maleah on the bus ride over

Brynna and Jesse

On our way to the temple we got a flat tire. We noticed it before it was completely flat and we were able to get to the tire place and have the tire changed! Well the tire was ruined so we bought a used tire and went on our way. Whew what a relief you may be thinking. When we got to Draper and parked at the church we had a nail in our tire! Yes the tire that we had just bought! So after we got out of the temple Jesse and Don had to change it! Not a big deal really but a big pain! Thanks Don for helping Jess change the tire! I really didn't want to in my skirt and heels.

It just goes to show you the all of the ways that Satan will test you!

Christmas Day

2008-12-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

We had such an awesome Christmas. Jesse's dad comes over on Christmas eve and spends the night and enjoys Christmas morning with us. We have done that for a few years now and I am really glad he comes.

Hunter got a power wing scooter from Santa.

Garrett got a new bike.

It was a blizzard on Christmas, but that didn't stop the boys from trying out there stuff! This is Garrett riding his bike.

Yes, he's still in his pajama's!

The boys also got Rockband from Jess and I. I was actually surprised how fun it was! We spent most of Christmas playing it!

My brother Chris, what a nerd!

Jesse singing.

So I am posting this video because it is HILARIOUS! (With my mom's permission) My mom, Dan, Chris and Danielle came to visit Christmas night. Well of course they wanted to join in playing Rockband with us. Now being the good sport my mom is she wanted to sing. We tried to pick a song that she would know, but even this song she wasn't real familiar with. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to turn the video so sorry you have to watch it sideways.

You may ask yourself why is Ginnie growling while she sings, well that my friends is her "rocker" voice. As you can hear we all couldn't quit laughing! Seriously how many Grandma's do you know that would get up and do this?!?! My mom did say she wants to come back over and redeem herself for this one, but I think it is awesome! Thanks for the laugh mom and being such a good sport! Stay tuned for more video if mom really does come and perform again! :)

I am just so grateful for the Christmas season. I am glad that we can all reflect on Christ and his birth. I am so thankful that I was able to have such an awesome Christmas with my family. Jess and I didn't buy each other anything this year (partly because of him being gone and partly because we didn't really have the money to spend). Jess was really worried about it and I told him as long as I had my family home for Christmas I didn't care! Just being together was the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for! In years past we have kind of gone overboard with presents, and this year we just tried to keep it simple and I am so glad that we did! Isn't it interesting the things we learn as we start to get old! ;) he he

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and a great New Year!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-31T15:48:00.004-07:00

On Christmas eve we always go to my mom's for yummy food, a nativity, and presents. My mom is so great to cook for all of us. Thanks mom, it was delicious!

The kids dressed up in there nativity costumes.

As you can tell Garrett is getting a little big for the nativity costume! When he put it on we decided that 14 would be the age that the kids would get to sit and watch the nativity instead of participate. Garrett was thrilled! He just wished that 13 would have been the cutoff age instead!

Jesse and my brother Nate.

Dad and Nate's baby Nico. He is so cute I could just eat him! (Nico not my dad!) he he

Maleah, Brynna and Stella in the beautiful pj's my mom bought them. Spencer was very excited!

Chris, Dan, Dad and Garrett.

Hunter, Brynna and Stella enjoying his new toy.

Garrett loved his basketball!

Nate and Nico in his new pj's.

Honestly I managed to get the kids smiling why can I not get my husband to!

Visiting Santa

2008-12-31T15:37:00.002-07:00

Every year my mom likes to get a picture of all of the grand kids with Santa. Garrett did NOT want to get his picture taken with Santa but after much discussion (and threatening!) he agreed to be in the picture. I did tell him he didn't have to actually sit on Santa's lap just be in the picture.

All of the Snyder grand kids minus may brother's daughter Danielle. (She is 17, need I say more?!)

Eating lunch after visiting Santa!

Jesse really was happy to be here! He just NEVER smiles in pictures!

Garrett and Josh watching a movie on Garrett's ipod.

Hello again!

2008-12-31T15:16:00.004-07:00

So I have been a totally lame blogger! Jess was out of town for a month and I have come to find out that my life shuts down when he is gone! The one positive thing about him being away is I am so much more grateful for him to be home. How pathetic am I! It takes my husband being gone for me to really appreciate when he is home! I am really going to try and always remember to be grateful for those that I have in my life! Another thing I learned this month (which is a no brainer) is that I need to be SOOOO careful not to criticize others because you have no idea what trials they could be going through behind closed doors. I just didn't function very well with Jess gone and so some things in life didn't get done and I had people really annoyed at me. They had no idea that I was struggling so I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt but it just goes to show you that you just never know why someone is being a flake. Again I know this is pathetic that it took me this long to REALLY get this! A huge thanks to all of my family and friends for listening to ALL of the whining! I really think it probably got to the point that they all wanted to stop answering the phone when they saw it was me! But Jess is back and life is back to functioning normally (as normal as my life can function that is) ;)

The night that we picked Jess up from the airport we stopped to see the lights at temple square. It was SOOOO bitter cold we only got one picture! It was so beautiful though I am glad we took the time to stop.

GO UTES!

2008-11-24T06:47:00.006-07:00

Jesse is out of town so I got to take the boys and go enjoy the Holy War football game between the Utes and BYU. Football is not my favorite sport (especially in the cold!) but the boys wanted me to take them. The game didn't start until 4:00, but we decided to go and enjoy all of the fun. (mainly because Jesse had promised the boys HE would take them to enjoy all the fun!) We went up to Salt Lake for the Ute walk at 1:00. What happens with this is you stand along the road by the stadium, amongst the drunkest people in America, and the team gets off the bus and the crowd cheers and you get to see the team up close. Garrett and Hunter loved it! Then we got food and walked around enjoying all of the fun things the radio stations put on and did a little shopping. Final it was time for the big game! Honestly it was a little bit of a culture shock for me! I have been around plenty of drunk people in my life, but I have NEVER seen anything like this! The Ute fans were SO drunk and dare I say just rude to the poor BYU fans that dared come to the game! One of my biggest fears was, if all these people have driven together, who is driving them home and can I go first so that one of them don't kill me and my kids?!?!? :) After getting over my shock, it was a fun game. Poor Garrett had to spend most of it explaining to me what was happening! We even stormed the field after the game was over! (again thanks to Jesse for doing this with the kids on a regular basis causing our kids to expect it!) ;) We got to meet some of the team and even managed to make it off the field alive (barely)! I am glad that we have Utes season tickets so that Jess and the boys can have that father/son bonding time, and I am glad that I got to share it with Garrett and Hunter. Let's face it when you have boys you have to do things that they enjoy right! I don't think that will ever include pedicures, and lunch, but that's ok! Thanks Garrett and Hunter for letting me go with you, and also thanks to Jesse's friend Shane and his wife. They have seats behind us and were nice enough to make sure the boys and I were taken care of.

Garrett and Hunter with red hair. Bo was even excited for the big game with his red stripe!

Garrett and Hunter painted the truck windows!

Garrett was even nice enough to put red stripes in my hair! I was a little afraid they were never going to come out but mine came out better than the boys! Garrett was passing the sacrament on Sunday with his hair still a little red (in our ward of BYU fans)!

Me and the boys before the game.

This was Garrett's attempt to take a picture of the final score. In case you can't make it out, the Utes won 48 to 24. Boy are my kids excited to go to school today and rub it in!

Halloween

2008-11-07T15:51:00.002-07:00

So I am finally getting around to posting my Halloween pics.

Can you tell by this picture why it took me so long?!? I was sooo sick on Halloween! This wonderful picture was taken by my dad. Thanks for that dad!

Hunter the mummy!

Hunter and Grandpa Kelly (Jesse's dad)

Garrett and his loot! This was at the end of the night and I didn't even know what Garrett was dressed up as. He and his friends came home after school and grabbed stuff out of the Halloween box and left! The sad truth of the matter is he's not supposed to eat half of this junk with his braces!

Happy Birthday Jess!

2008-10-28T22:30:00.002-06:00

Today was Jesse's 33rd birthday! I went to Salt Lake and met Jess for a birthday lunch. (the perks of being home and having everyone in school!)
Jess can't stand not knowing what his present is so every year he manages to get it out of one of the kids what I have gotten him! He is so sneaky about it too! He tricks them in to telling him by asking random, seemingly innocent questions! Well this year I prepared the kids for the types of questions he may ask, and we managed to keep it a secret! But he almost got it out of Hunter. He went in to work late today and enjoyed a morning at home with us. He offered to take Hunter and his friend to school for me (I should have know he had ulterior motives!) Well apparently he was asking Hunter those "innocent" questions of his (ie. can I wear it, is it bigger than a notebook, do you have one. etc.) Well Hunter held strong! Then when I went to meet him for lunch he said (so innocently) "Hunter told me what you got me for my birthday, I know it's clothes". (this is his way of getting me to give something away!) Well I knew that Hunter hadn't because if Jess would have really know that I had gotten him a new IPOD he wouldn't have been able to hide his excitement! So I just ignored him. Well when I got home I decided to teach him a lesson! I got the kids in on it and we pulled a sweatshirt out of Jesse's closet and wrapped it up, then we hid his real present! Jesse is like most men in America and doesn't want clothes for his birthday! When he stuck his hand in the bag and felt clothes he just looked at me and said "clothes, really?!?!" We had him going until he pulled one of his old sweatshirts out of the bag! We had a good laugh and gave him his real present! He was SOOOO excited! He has really been needing a new IPod. I also need to mention that Jess is the hardest person to shop for on the planet! I think I have managed to give him a total of two things over the years that he hasn't returned! (And the IPod counts as one of those two!)

Can you see the look of disgust in this picture as he opens his "present"!

And the joy in this picture when he realizes not only did we not give him clothes but he got the IPod he has been wanting for so long!
Jesse's dad came over and we had dinner, and pie. I didn't manage to take anymore pictures of the night.

Happy Birthday Babe! I hope you learned your lesson! :)

Carving Pumpkins

2008-10-27T06:14:00.000-06:00

Tonight for Family home evening we carved pumpkins. We do this every year (along with most of the world!) and have a lot of fun doing it. Jesse crowns himself the "winner" every year! Well this year we decided to make it official and called our neighbor's Shawn and Michelle to come over and judge. They were good sports about coming over and going along with our craziness! We are a VERY competitive family, but it really is all in fun.

Jesse carving his masterpiece.

Hunter working very hard on his!

Look, it's Garrett! He didn't even cover his face for the picture!

Jesse, Garrett and Hunter. Hunter is standing by his pumpkin (the skull) Jesse's is on top of the straw (gargoyle), Garrett has his arm around his (headless horseman) and mine is next to Garrett's (witch).

Don't mind this AWFUL picture of me. I am fighting a horrible head cold!

I know your just dying to know who won! Well Hunter took 1st, Jess took 2nd, and Garrett and I were after them! We may be a little nutty but hey we have fun with it!

Happy Halloween!

Scout Auction

2008-10-25T22:54:00.001-06:00

Today was our wards Scout Auction. All of the scouts were supposed to make a cake to be auctioned off to help raise money for Friends of Scouting. We had dinner and an auction. It was a lot of fun.

The boys loved frosting the cakes.

Garrett's friends came over to uh... "help".

The finished product. Hunter's was a football.

And Garrett's was a lion.

After dinner and the auction they had a pie eating contest for the boys.

(don't worry they were mini pies!)

Garrett and Hunter eating there pies.

Here is a shot of the group. The boys all loved this!

Garrett took 1st.

Hunter wasn't near as quick as those older boys, but he had fun anyway!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-19T19:05:00.003-06:00

Angie and I took the kids on our yearly trip to the Red Barn here in Santaquin to get pumpkins. We have done this for the last few years. We had a great time trying to get 6 kids to pick the perfect pumpkin!

Josh, Garrett, Brynna, Hunter, Maleah and Jonah

Jonah was REALLY enjoying the wagon ride.

Aren't they cute?!?! Garrett really loves Jonah, actually ALL the kids really love Jonah, but Garrett is so cute with him! Jonah only managed to throw that pumpkin of his oh about 10 times. (he kept calling it a ball!)

I was trying to capture the enthusiasm in these two! They are too cool for everything we do anymore! But they are good sports to go along.

I have great memories of getting together with my cousins, and hope that through all of this that mine and Angie's kids will have good memories of there cousins as well! (even if half the time they drive each other crazy!) :)

Food Storage

2008-10-19T18:57:00.003-06:00

So I finally got my food storage organized. I had to buy another shelf to hold all of my goodies! This is the best my food storage has ever looked! I did a good amount of canning this year including: Peaches, Pears, Salsa, Spaghetti Sauce, and Pickles. I am hoping to learn to bottle chicken in the next few months. I love canning just because I feel so productive! It is a ton of work but so worth it in the end. I was actually quite sad that my tomato plants froze! I wasn't ready to be done yet! Oh well, there is always next year!

I had a hard time fitting all of the shelves in one picture because of the walls. There really is only 3 sets of shelves, all these pictures make it seem like there is a lot more than that.

Kid Tag

2008-10-14T16:04:00.004-06:00

I saw this on a couple of my friends blogs and thought it was cute.

Garrett Says:
1.What is something mom always says to you? "pick up your laundry"
2. What makes mom happy? "when we are at school"
3. What makes mom sad? "when we are home from school"
4. How does your mom make you laugh? "she doesn't ever make me laugh"
5. What was your mom like as a child? "spoiled"
6. How old is your mom? "29"
7. How tall is your mom? "4 ft. 6 inches"
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "watch tv"
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "party"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "watching tv"
11. What is your mom really good at? "canning"
12. What is your mom not very good at? "thinking of bedtimes" (apparently he doesn't like what time I send him to bed!!!)
13. What does your mom do for her job? "work on the computer"
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "pretzels"
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "she pays for my sports"
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Darth Vader"
17. What do you and your mom do together? "go to church"
18. How are you and your mom the same? "we like the Utes"
19. How are you and your mom different? "She likes the dumb Giants"
20. How do you know your mom loves you? "comes to my football games" (Yes EVERYTHING is about sports with this kid!)

Hunter says:
1.What is something mom always says to you? "be quiet"
2. What makes mom happy? "when we do chores"
3. What makes mom sad? "when we don't do chores or our homework"
4. How does your mom make you laugh? "nothing"
5. What was your mom like as a child? "mean"
6. How old is your mom? "26" (Good Answer!)
7. How tall is your mom? "8 inches"
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "clean"
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "go to the gas station"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "super model" (Another good answer!)
11. What is your mom really good at? "driving"
12. What is your mom not very good at? "yelling at us"
13. What does your mom do for her job? "play on the computer"
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "pizza"
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "when she gives me Sprite"
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Bugs Bunny"
17. What do you and your mom do together? "watch tv"
18. How are you and your mom the same? "we both like Sprite"
19. How are you and your mom different? "she types faster"
20. How do you know your mom loves you? "she hugs me"

After doing this with my kids (and laughing my head off) I have learned a few things about how my boys think.
1. They do NOT find me funny (which is interesting because I think I'm HILARIOUS!)
2. They think all I do is play on the computer and watch tv all day!
3. It is actually paying off going to boring sporting events! Garrett FINALLY appreciates it!
4. I need to give Hunter Sprite more often!

I was a little scared doing this because I was afraid of what my boys would say, well Garrett thinks he's pretty funny (I wonder were he gets that!) because every time he would answer he would laugh! I have really been seeing lately that I need to do more fun things with my kids and stop trying to be so serious ALL the time! (yes I really can be a serious person!) I guess I just need to have more fun with them occasionally!

Tagged

2008-10-13T18:32:00.001-06:00

8 Things I did today...

1. Woke up FREEZING to death! It is soooo cold and my furnace is on the fritz again! It was 65 in my house ALL day! (sorry you all have to listen to this but I'm a real baby about the cold!)

2. Homework!

3. Laundry!!!

4. Took Garrett to the orthodontist.

5. Got blood work done! (Lucky Me!)

6. Made white chicken chili for dinner (because it's FREEZING outside)

7. Watched my friend Michelle's kids.

8. Pulled out the old thermal underwear!

8 Shows I love (in no particular order)
1. ER

2. Survivor

3. 48 Hours Mysteries

4. Gary Unmarried

5. Biggest Loser

6. Amazing Race

7. Dancing with the Stars

8. Jon and Kate Plus 8

8 Restaurants I love
1. Ruby River

2. Pizza Factory

3. Mi Rancherito

4. Ruby Tuesdays

5. Brick Oven

6. Chic-fil-a

7. Sizzler

8. Pizza Hut

8 Things I am looking forward to.......
1. SPRING! (I know it's only fall!)

2. Trying my pickle's that I canned! (only about a month left until they are ready!)

3. Finishing school

4. Jesse and I going to the temple (someday)

5. Building a fire in my fireplace again

6. Day after Thanksgiving shopping with my mom and sister and sister-in-law

7. Taking a nice hot shower in a few minutes to get warm!

8. My cute sister Angie sending invitations to all of our cousins for her blog! (Angie: notice all of the comments on my blog from our cousins!) :) He He He

8 things I am wishing for.......

1. Kids that get along and NEVER fight!

2. The day when my kids grow up and realize I'm not so bad! :)

3. Warm weather! (can you tell I hate living in Utah when it is cold!)

4. A maid to keep my house clean!

5. An electric fence to keep our dang dog from getting out!

6. My fence to stain itself before the snow falls!

7. More tomatoes to can! My garden froze this weekend and I am SOOOO sad!

8. World Peace! :)

8 People I Tag
1. Jennifer

2. Kirstin

3. Kelli

4. Jenny

5. LaRae

6. Deana

7. Kristy

8. Janae

Las Vegas

2008-10-09T17:19:00.010-06:00

I just got back from Las Vegas were Angie and I went with our kids to my Grandpa Zobrist's funeral. It was a LONG trip with 6 kids! But we had a good time. We were able to relax by the pool one day, and visit with all of our family the next. My Grandparents have 6 kids who were all able to make it for the funeral, as well as all 34 grand kids from various states! Some of who had to travel a pretty long distance to be there. It was great to see all of my cousins.

It was a great funeral filled with fun memories, all of the great grand kids sang a song, and my mom volunteered her and my sister Angie and I to sing!(much to my dismay) But all in all it wasn't that bad! (considering it was a song I had never heard, and we practiced it once the night before the funeral!) It was so nice to hear memories of my grandpa from my mom and her brothers and sister.

Grandpa in 2007

I love this picture of grandma and grandpa because this is how I remember them! I LOVE Grandma's HUGE earrings!

Driving to Vegas. (are we ready for Vegas or what!)

Doesn't he look innocent?

Josh, Garrett, Grandma and Hunter at the cemetery.

Aunt Anne (my mom's sister), Grandma and Mom.

My brother's and sister. From L to R: Angie, Me, Spencer, Nate, Dan. We are missing Chris. He was sick and left early.

Mom, Grandma, me, Hunter, and Garrett.

Mom, Grandma, Dan and his daughter Danielle.

My Grandma was such a good sport and just kept posing for pictures with everyone. She was SOOO tired after all that and nicely asked my mom if we were done taking pictures yet! She was ready to go home.

Dan teasing Miles (Spencer's little boy)

My cousins and sister. Jenny, Melanie, Janae and Angie.

Uncle Bob and Jason.

Angie and I went one night to sit in the hot tub and Don was nice enough to take a shift with the kids! Well this is what we returned to at 9:45. Don asleep in bed and the kids all watching TV! Exactly how it would have been if Jess had been there!

It was great to go and visit with family but as usual great to be home! Thanks Angie and Don for letting me and the kids crash at the time share with you (as usual!)

The end of Football! (At least for this season)

2008-10-04T17:44:00.001-06:00

Garrett played his last tackle football game of the season today (in the rain!) It was a lot of fun and the boys loved playing in the rain! Garrett scored the only 2 touchdowns for his team in this game! Though football has taken over our lives, it is sad to see the season end. I love to watch my kids play sports, especially when they LOVE the sport they are playing. But hey, flag football starts next week for Hunter and Jess is coaching him.

This is the only video I took of Garrett playing football. I realized partway through the game that I had not taken any video, so I started recording and Garrett was nice enough to score while I was recording! Nice timing huh!

Goodbye Grandpa Zobrist

2008-10-04T15:00:00.000-06:00

My Grandpa Zobrist died this week at the young age of 88. He and Grandma have 6 kids, 34 grandchildren and over 100 great and great-great grandchildren. Grandpa lived a full and exciting life but for me it still is hard to see him go. I have been thinking about why it is so hard for me and I think part of the reason is because I feel so guilty for not being better at visiting him. He and Grandma live in Las Vegas and I don't get down very often to visit either of them. The last time I saw Grandpa was at the Zobrist family reunion in the summer of 2007. Though the reunion was hard on him physically, it was so great to get to see him and the rest of my mom's family. I just hope that Grandpa can forgive me for not being better at visiting.

Grandpa lived a life full of travel. He and Grandma served a mission together, he was a successful business man. He also worked as a sealer in the Las Vegas temple. He was able to seal many of my cousins in various temples. I wish that Jess and I had been able to go to the temple years ago and have Grandpa seal us, but I know that when the day comes for Jess and I to go through that Grandpa will be there with us!

I don't have the best memory in the world but I do have a few memories of Grandpa. I was always so excited to go to Vegas as a kid to visit Grandma and Grandpa. They had a great indoor pool for us to swim in and it was a lot of fun. I remember getting to Vegas, walking in and seeing Grandpa (half dressed) on the couch watching t.v. (usually cartoons!) He would hug us all and ask my mom how long we were staying! Can you imagine though the noise 6 kids can make in one house, especially with a pool! Then when it was time to leave he would always kiss us goodbye and in his nicest voice tell mom it was great seeing us and how next time he wished we could stay longer! I remember sitting on the couch watching "Duck Tales with him and one day I was clipping my toe nails. I was probably 9 and so of course I was just clipping them right onto the floor and Grandpa started yelling at me because he said Grandma gets so mad at him when he does that, and I was going to get him in trouble! Looking back I just giggle because no matter if I would get in trouble or not, who wants toe nail clippings on the floor!

Grandpa was know to be grumpy when we were young, but I look back on that with fond memories. I know that he loved all of us!

Goodbye Grandpa! I love you!

This picture was taken in 2006 of Grandpa, Grandma, Garrett and Hunter. Grandma had just finished giving the grandkids rides on her Jazzy. I think she and Grandpa enjoyed doing this almost as much as the grandkids!

Just call me Quirky!

2008-09-14T13:13:00.003-06:00

My cousins Jenny and Melanie tagged me. Does that mean I have to do this twice?!?!?! Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.

2. List the rules on your blog.

3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of your own.

4. Tag 6 bloggers to complete the meme.

Here are six quirky things about me:

1) I eat what I call "frozen treats" in bed at night. It is pink lemonade poured into mugs and frozen. The way you eat them is by scraping it with a spoon. SOOOO YUMMY! My poor husband has to sleep through that!

2) I wear rubber gloves when I clean at home. I have different pairs for different rooms. (ie: bathroom, garage, kitchen.)

3) I LOVE to pop zits! I know this is gross but I just love it! Not on just anyone, I save that for my husband and sons!

4) I have weird eating habits (I know everybody knows about this one.) I have a real issue with texture and fruits and vegetables are the worst! Especially banana's! I do get my vegetable intake by eating LOTS of pickles! Hey they are a cucumber! I also really like the juice from the jar!

5) I hate chocolate and french fries! I really hate when candy is mixed in a bowl, like chocolate candy and cinnamon candy. The cinnamon candy takes on the chocolate flavor! Blec!

6) I find blood and guts really cool! One of my favorite shows to watch is Plastic Surgery Before and After! It is so cool to watch how they do surgery!

Bonus quirk: I love to watch TV Land late at night. (ie: I love Lucy, All in the family, The Brady bunch) My husband tell me I was born in the wrong generation. I also secretly love to watch That 70's show at night when my family is in bed! It is the dumbest show but oh so entertaining!

I tag my favorite sister Angie, my long lost high school friends Jodi and Deana, and my neighborhood buddies Kirstin, Michelle, and Sandy.

Canning

2008-09-06T08:22:00.004-06:00

So the canning season has started and I couldn't be more excited! Angie tells me that this is the old woman coming out in me but you are what you are right?!? I have big plans for canning this season (we will see how much of it actually gets done!) So yesterday I attempted pickles. As a child I remember LOVING my Grandma Snyder's pickles. I am hoping that I haven't built them up in my head only to be disappointed! Let me make one recommendation to all of you who have recipes that you hope to one day pass on. Make sure you make it legible! Just because you can read it doesn't mean the future generations will be able to! My grandma had beautiful hand writing but I wouldn't read it when I got the recipe!! She also used words for measurements that I had never heard of! Lucky for me we were able to call my Aunt and have her translate the recipe for us. But what would we have done if she hadn't know it! Anyway I got 22 quarts of pickles put up and am excited to try them in a few months! My next project will hopefully be peaches, then salsa and spaghetti sauce! For me this would be a HUGE accomplishment, unlike some of you who are expert canners. My house will some day get the vinegar smell out of it as will as my hair! Probably when I start my salsa!

Labor Day Fun

2008-09-02T09:46:00.006-06:00

Jess had the day off of work for Labor day and we decided to enjoy the time. We woke up to rain and a cold day so we were scrambling at what to do. Jesse had to drive up to Salt Lake to check his job and we went along for the ride. Well the afternoon turned out sunnier than the morning had started (sunnier not warmer!) So we decided to stop at Boondocks and play. The boys LOVE Boondocks and since it is not really close to home (let's face it NOTHING is close to Santaquin) we thought it would be fun. We had a great time miniature golfing, riding the go carts, laser tag, and the bumper boats. Not to mention playing arcade games! It was a fun filled day!

Miniature golfing

Go carts

Bumper boats. Leave it to Hunter to come to the side and spray me and Jess!

I'm so glad we get to spend time together as a family having fun! Soon enough the boys will be too cool to go hang out with mom and dad, oh wait they ARE to cool to hang out with mom and dad! The highlight of our day, getting a smile out of Garrett (who seems to never smile anymore!) Of course not for the camera though!

Utes Season Tickets

2008-09-02T09:37:00.007-06:00

Everyone hold your excitement but the 2008 Utes season tickets have arrived! Oh how we have waited for this day to come! I sat by the mailbox each afternoon hoping and praying that today would be the day we would get our season tickets! Those of you who know me well will know that I am totally kidding. We did in fact get our tickets in the mail but I don't really care for football and only go to 1 game a season (if I'm lucky). But Jesse and the boys LOVE Utes football! Heck Jesse and the boys love ANY football but Utes football is high on the list! We had season tickets last year and of course this will be a tradition I'm sure Jesse will keep alive! I do love that the boys can go and enjoy the games and have some good father/son bonding! So GO UTES! Hit a home run... I mean get a basket.... I mean score a touchdown?!?

Happy 50th Grandma and Grandpa Snow

2008-09-02T07:38:00.007-06:00

This weekend was Jesse's grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! We all got together for a party on Sunday up Springville Canyon. With 9 kids in the family getting everyone together is a great feat! We were missing two of Jesse's uncles, but everyone else manged to make it.

Uncle Johnny grilling.

Grandma Snow and Max. Grandma Snow has colon cancer and is doing so well! She has been doing chemotherapy for almost a year now. She gets really tired of course and sick but she is such a trooper! After cutting the cake with Grandpa she started sobbing! She had a good cry and then laughed and said this darn chemotherapy makes my emotions a mess! I told her if the chemotherapy was doing that to her she was lucky because I cry at the drop of a hat daily!

Grandma feeding Grandpa the cake.

Grandpa feeding Grandma!

Garrett and Grandma Laura (Jesse's Mom)

Garrett thought he was really funny in this picture and stuffed the whole top of the cupcake in his mouth! Well then he had so much in his mouth and started laughing and almost choked!

Hunter stealing a cupcake! Does he look guilty or what!?!

Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Ryan

Nice shades Uncle Josh!

Hunter and Jesse's brother Daniel playing baseball

We wanted to get a picture of the group so Uncle Charlie's girlfriend was nice enough to take a picture for all of us! Of course she had 50 camera's and a million people moving so the pictures are a little blurry! At least we got one right?!?!?!

Grandma and Grandpa and the grand kids, and the only two great grand kids(Garrett and Hunter.) Jesse's mom is the oldest of nine kids so Jesse and his brother's are a lot older than any of the other grand kids! When I realized this of course I insisted on a picture with all of the grand kids! Aren't I funny! Jesse has uncle's younger than him.

Happy Anniversary Karen and Jay! We love you!

Football

2008-08-28T06:18:00.005-06:00

Garrett had his first tackle football game tonight. Jesse is helping coach and I don't know who was more excited for the game, Jess or Garrett!

Football is VERY hard to get any good pictures of! Garrett is in both of these pictures (somewhere!) He is #42, and the one wearing the black socks.

All the coaches after the game talking excitedly about the game! Jess, Scott and Jeremy. We had a hard time getting them to leave because they were talking about the game and watching the next game. We may be driving separate from now on to the games!:)

The coaches boys talking excitedly about the game! Like father like son! Gunnar, Gavin, Garrett. They lost there game 12-7 but no one was too disappointed! I mean they got to run around for an hour and smash into each other! What more could a boy ask for! I on the other hand can't stand to watch them all smash into each other! It makes me sick to my stomach to watch. We made it through the first game without any broken bones though!(knock on wood) Keep your fingers crossed that we can keep that record up! Great game guys!

Hawaii

2008-08-13T12:53:00.014-06:00

I just got back from a week in Hawaii! My mom and I and Chris went to visit Nate and Anya and meet baby Nico. It was a fun filled week!

Nathan, Anya, and Nico.

Baby Nico

Mom and I at the temple in Hawaii.

Me, Trinh, and Anya. Trinh is a good friend of Anya's and was visiting from Utah this week as well.

Me and Baby Nico.

This is how none tourists enjoy the beach! Nate was such a good sport and spent everyday at the beach with us. He even was a good sport and went with me, mom and Trinh to the swap meet!

Me, Chris and Trinh by the Kayak. My dad flew in part way through the week and we went and rented kayak's. Chris and Dad were in one and Trinh and I were in the other. On our way back dad jumped onto our kayak and tipped us over! Getting back in a kayak in the middle of the ocean is not easy! I never did pay dad back for that one! Don't worry Dad I won't forget to get you back! You'll never see it coming! HE HE

This is a Portuguese man of war. It is a small jelly fish and everyone called them blue bubbles. They have signs warning you about them on the beach. We all got stung at one time or another but I was standing in the water and one wrapped around my ankle! It wasn't too bad but it did hurt. I had a pretty good size mark on my ankle the rest of the day.

These gecko's were everywhere! It was a little creepy but after they told me they are killing all of the bugs around I was better with them! I was surprised at all the bugs in Hawaii! My legs and arms have mosquito bites all over them, and Nate told me about the cockroaches! They are HUGE! I was lucky enough to not see one the whole time! Thank goodness!

So mom got the new book Breaking Dawn from the Twilight series right before we left for Hawaii so this is how she spent her vacation! She was driving Trinh and I crazy because we were both waiting to read the book and she would sit and read and say "Oh your never going to believe this" or "Oh wow"! She drove us nuts! Luckily for me she finished it the night before we went home and I got to read on the LONG flight home!

Here she is using my and her cell phones as light to read in the car!

This is how Chris spent his vacation! Talking to Sara on the phone or texting! She got a play by play of everything we did!

Anya's parents Boras and Verra.

Verra and Trinh. Verra is such a funny women! She is Russian and speaks very little English. Every time you walked in the house she would either say "you beach" or "you eat." She was SO sweet and always had tons of food ready for everyone to eat. I felt so bad because everything she cooks was nothing I could really eat (being a picky eater) and she about died every time I wouldn't eat it. In this picture she was giving Trinh and I cooking lessons! A very interesting thing to do when you are speaking a different language than the cook!

Nate took us hiking to a nearby waterfall.

Chris at the beach.

Chris and I went to the outdoor mall in Honolulu. We were walking through one of the stores and saw Sayid from the TV show LOST. So of course I asked him for a picture! I have to say I have never thought he was that cute on LOST but seeing him in person he is a VERY cute guy!

Our last night in Hawaii my dad took everyone out to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. It was very yummy and a lot of fun.

All in all it was a very fun week! Thanks Nate and Anya for putting up with all of us and being our tour guides! Thanks also Boras and Verra for letting us all intrude in your home!
I was a little nervous about leaving Jesse and the boys all week since Jesse had to work all week so that left the boys home to fend for themselves but all in all it went really well! The house was still standing when I got home and they had actually cleaned it for me! Jesse got the Pressurized Irrigation hooked up that I have been hounding him about, and he also got the large gate on the side of the house fixed! It took a lot of time but he got it done! What an awesome husband I have!

Santaquin Days

2008-08-03T09:52:00.003-06:00

Today was Santaquin Days and Jesse took the baseball team in the parade. I don't have any pictures of that because I was doing a booth at the craft fair. I was selling my little brother Nate's pendants. While I was sitting there Hunter and Garrett were running around enjoying the activities. Hunter came back from face painting with a mustache. Each time he came back over he had something else painted on him!

Hunter's mustache

See how the facial hair just keeps growing!

Last he came back with armpit and chest hair! He was very excited and said he asked for armpit hair and the guy gave him chest hair for free! The guy doing it was laughing his head off. He told me it was the most entertaining one he had done all day. Leave it to Hunter! He was so proud to show everyone his newly grown man hair.

Hunter and Jesse playing guitar hero. Look how manly Hunter looks. So I must admit that we have a wii but do not have guitar hero. It is rated T and I don't let my kids have any T games. No if, ands, or buts about it. As I was watching them play this game I didn't see anything wrong with it and they really enjoyed it. So I'm wondering if anyone has this game and if you know of a reason they rate it T. I promised the boys I would look into the game.

Spanish Fork Reservoir

2008-07-30T08:51:00.007-06:00

Yesterday Angie and I took the kids to the Spanish Fork Reservoir. The kids had a great time swimming.

Jonah playing in the sand.

Garrett and Josh on a log.

Smile Angie!

The ultra cool Garrett and Josh.

Danielle and Brynna burying Hunter in the sand.

Garrett and his tiny fish.

This older man was fishing and gave the boys a couple of fish (probably so they would leave him alone):) Then when we were leaving he was cleaning his fish so we watched for a while and found the right way to do it. He was such a helpful man! He even taught me how to cook them! So we went home and I helped Hunter gut my very first fish! Then I even got the bones out and cut the skin off.

Here is our cooked fish! Not much meat for two small fish. It may not look the greatest but the kids LOVED it!

Fishing

2008-07-23T16:14:00.007-06:00

Today I took my cub scout group to the Springlake Trout Farm. It was a great place to go with a group of 8 year olds and two female scout leaders who don't know much about fishing! They have a small pond the boys can fish in and they provide the poles and bait and will even help bait your hook and clean the fish when your done! There pond is FULL of all different sizes of trout.

Garrett and his fish

Hunter and his fish

Cayden with his fish

Ezra with his fish

Amber and Trey with his fish

Brandon and his fish

Hunter, Cayden and Ezra were so funny while we

waited for the other boys to catch a fish they

carried there fish around.

Hunter and Cayden were chasing me around trying

to let there fish touch me!

All the scouts with there fish! Don't they look happy.

Gutting the fish.

Hunter wanted to help pull the guts out of his fish!

What was the best part of the day you might ask? Catching the fish, no that was fun but not the best! The best part of the trip the boys thought was watching this dog eat the guts that they pulled out of the fish! Boys, go figure.

Late Night

2008-07-17T11:30:00.008-06:00

Yesterday afternoon Hunter and I and Brayden drove to Layton to meet Jennifer and Troy. Since Jesse is working nights this week and we NEVER get to see him when he does this Hunter and I decided to stop and have dinner with him on our way back home. I am a very whinny wife especially when Jess works nights! Anyone who talks to me ever knows this! I just like my husband around way to much to have him gone all night and sleeping all day. Hunter LOVES to go to work with Jesse. On the weekends if they are not working Jesse has to go up and check the job and Hunter is always the one that wants to go with Jess.

Jesse showing Hunter around the barrier machine.

Hunter wearing Jesse's Utes hard hat. Hunter loves this hard hat as you can see.

So these pictures are a little hard to see since it was dark and all but it was so exciting to watch I had to put them on here and tell you about them. There are two cranes in this picture down on the ground. They are adding a giant concrete beam to a bridge on the freeway. Well they had the two cranes attached to each side and were lifting it in to place and we were just watching the fun. Next thing we know the crane on the right looses power and the beam starts swaying back and forth. We were safely on the ground and back a ways but some of the workers were right up on the bridge helping to get this beam placed. So when this thing started swaying they started backing up. Next thing you know the crane on the rights's back end flies up in the air and the giant beam comes crashing down! Luckily the guys all got out of the way and no one was hurt but the beam was smashed! All of you who live in Utah and drive on the freeways in Salt Lake will be happy to know that the beam was then deemed unusable and they had to have another crane come in to lift it out of there so they could order a new beam! The ground actually shook were we were standing from all the force of this beam falling up on the freeway.

This picture is after the beam fell. Notice the right side is touching the ground and the left side is still up in the air.

This is the crane they had to bring in to help get the damaged beam off the freeway.

Hunter watching from the back of Jesse's truck.

Hunter was so tired after all this fun Jesse gave him a shoulder ride to the truck for us to go home. Like I say Hunter loves going to work with Jesse. We got to Jesse's job at 8:00 pm and watched all the fun until 1:00 am! We didn't even get dinner until 11:00 because of all of this excitement. I was pretty tired and so was Hunter but he wanted to see them get that other crane there and get the beam moved so we stayed and stayed! The things we do to spend time with our husbands! Don't worry Jesse will be off nights Friday night (we hope) and won't go back to them for a while (we hope!)

Friends

2008-07-17T11:15:00.004-06:00

Hunter's friend Brayden Crouch came from Idaho to visit us for a few days. The Crouch's lived around the corner from us and Hunter and Brayden became good friends. They up and left us last year and moved to Idaho! We don't get to see them near enough so I figured with Garrett gone all week and being Hunter's birthday we would have Brayden come and stay for a few days. They had a ton of fun together and I didn't take nearly enough pictures.

Hunter got a big pack of water balloons for his birthday and he and Brayden decided to have a water balloon fight. They had a great system, I would come out and fill up the water balloons and they would throw them at each other! They threw them a lot faster than I could fill them! Imagine that!

Hunter and Brayden riding bikes up to get a treat at the gas station. They did this a few times while he was here.

We had a lot of fun this week just goofing around. Thanks Jennifer and Troy for letting us take Brayden! Maybe next time you guys are down this way you won't hide from me and you will stop and visit! (he he) So everyone understands Brayden told me that Troy was in town one day with his brother and saw us and had to duck in the car so as not to be seen. I thought is was funny and I could tell Troy maybe didn't find it near as funny and wanted to ring Brayden's neck! He assured me it was because he didn't have time to stop and not because he was avoiding us! Either way I found it funny! Hunter does this to Jess and I all the time!

Memory Tag

2008-07-16T11:20:00.000-06:00

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! You can post a memory about Jesse or Heather.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

Happy Birthday Hunter!

2008-07-14T01:07:00.008-06:00

Today Hunter is 9 years old! I can't believe how time flies. I'm sure all of you have heard the Garrett and Hunter birth story a hundred times but here goes again. Jesse's grandma was leaving town right before Garrett's birthday and she gave me a lot of grief about "making sure not to have the baby on Garrett's birthday because it would just ruin his day!" Well that was never my plan! Hunter wasn't supposed to be born until the beginning of August so I figured I was fine! Well sweet Grandma planted a idea in Hunter's head and so wouldn't you know it I went into labor at 5:00 in the morning the day of Garrett's birthday! We went to the hospital and the doctor was happy to let me have him because he hadn't even figured I would be able to stay pregnant this long and was thrilled that he was only 3 weeks early. I cried and told him there was NO WAY I could have this baby today and he laughed! He said he didn't get many women come in labor and cry to be stopped when they were 3 weeks early but he stopped my labor anyway. Well we made it through Garrett's birthday and I went into labor at 5:00 the next morning! We went to the hospital and the doctor laughed and asked me how today would be to have a baby and I told him it was fine because Garrett's birthday was over! So now we get our birthday's over and done within 2 days and we are good for another year. I am exhausted by the end of it though!

Because Garrett was leaving for scout camp for the whole week we decided to have a BBQ at my mom's an invite everyone over to celebrate on Sunday. Jess started night's this week at work so he came and ate and then left (in case you were wondering why there are no pictures of him.)

Garrett, Hunter and Grandma Laura (Jesse's Mom)

Chris was REALLY enjoying Hunter's new toy.

Grammie giving Brynna some much needed loves.

Garrett and Hunter with there cake that I will never live down! I was writing on the cake and ran out of room right at the end and was only able to spell out "Happy Birthday Garrett and Hunt." I hate when people call Hunter Hunt so they new I would not have done this on purpose so of course when Hunter saw it he asked why I had written that and I had to tell him it was because I suck at writing on cakes!

Jonah enjoying 2 ice cream cones!

The gang!

Garrett was not thrilled about getting his picture taken today!

Hunter and Garrett with Grandpa Kelly (Jesse's Dad.)

Garrett and Hunter with Grandfather (my crazy dad)

Hunter with Chris and his girlfriend Sara. Hunter REALLY likes Sara

Danielle doing who knows what!

It is really depressing when your oldest child starts getting old but it extremely depressing when your baby starts getting old! I think the hardest thing for me is knowing that there is no going back to the days when they just loved you and didn't think everything you were doing was "so mean". That is the phrase I seem to here a lot as my kids get older, but when they were younger I was the nicest mommy ever! As you can tell I am feeling a little down about my kids getting older.

Happy Birthday Hunter! We love you!

Happy Birthday Garrett!

2008-07-13T09:13:00.010-06:00

It was 13 years ago today that Garrett was born! Yes I said 13! We officially have a teenager in our home! (scream) I look back and can't believe were the time has gone! It seems like just yesterday that Garrett was a tiny baby. He was 2 lbs. 11 ounces when he was born and sooooo tiny. He stayed in the Newborn ICU for a little over a month and the nurses said he was a fighter. Usually the little girl babies were the ones that would fight and the boys were all very weak and wouldn't fight as much but Garrett was a fighter from the minute he was born! He had such a hard first year and just never felt good. It was so hard to watch him struggle and hurt! You would never know it by looking at him now! He is a very important part of our family and we love him tons!

September 1995
THEN

July 2008

NOW

Because his birthday fell on a Sunday this year we had his birthday party with his friends yesterday. Garrett got up with me bright and early to help me decorate his cake. His friends came over and we went and got pizza and took them ice blocking in Payson. They had a lot of fun and I even tried it out. Jesse organized races with the boys.

After they were done they destroyed what was left of the ice blocks.

Then we went back to the house for cake and slip and slide in the front yard. Jesse brought home some heavy duty plastic from work last year and it works great! The kids love it but it is awful on my grass!

Garrett leaves tomorrow for scout camp for a whole week so we decided to give him his birthday present early so that he could enjoy it before he left. He wanted a table top jump for his bike and we figured he would have a great time on it all weekend. Garrett and Hunter and half the boys in the neighborhood spent most of the day jumping it.

Happy Birthday Garrett! We love you!

Swimming

2008-07-13T08:47:00.006-06:00

Hunter had swimming lessons this week in Spanish Fork. If I were to describe Hunter fearful would definitely not be the word I would use! He is very daring and brave but when you put him in the water his fearful side comes out. In years past he would cry and not let go of the teacher's neck! Well this year he jumped right in and did really well. He was still a little nervous when they would make him swim in the deep end but no tears about it all week! My kids both got the Snyder curse and just like my dad they sink like a rock in the water! I kid you not! Garrett and Hunter both stiffen up in the water and so they just sink! My dad is the same way! Angie's kids are like fish in the water from the day they are born! My kids are learning to relax in the water and not sink near as much. :) Angie's girls also had swimming lessons with us this week. We kind of figure the week of swimming lessons we get nothing done anyway so why not just go to the pool! We went to the new Payson pool this week and also to seven peaks. My mom and dad brought my niece Danielle to visit from Colorado for a few weeks and Dan came up to visit her so they came to enjoy seven peaks with us. We only get to see Danielle once a year(if were lucky) so it has been fun visiting with her. She turned 17 in June and is a lot of fun! She did manage to avoid my camera at seven peaks but I will post more pictures later so everyone can see how old Danielle is getting!

Hunter diving.

Mom and Dan wanted to make sure our stuff
was okay so they sat here the whole time and
read books!:) Aren't they exciting!

Smile Angie! She loves to have her picture taken!

Jonah eating candy and resting for a second!
We put him inside the tube to keep him still for
a second and that's about all that he was still for!
He kept running off and getting in the water
without anyone!

Maleah, Brynna and Hunter enjoying a snack!

Garrett and Josh.

Fun at the Cabin

2008-07-05T16:14:00.005-06:00

After swimming we headed up to the cabin. Mom and Dad were very sad to be left out of the fun this year but they were out of town so we enjoyed the cabin without them.(but we did miss them!) We spent the rest of the afternoon going on 4 wheeler rides! The kids love to ride the 4 wheelers at the cabin.

Jonah and Brighton trying to escape!

Spencer and Kristy decided they had had enough fun for one day so they went home and Angie and I and our families decided to spend the night. What could be more fun than that!

The kids playing games. Since when has Garrett

become so camera shy?!? Every time I tried to

take a picture he was covering his face!

Good morning Angie! Angie thought she was

really funny and kept taking awful morning pictures

of me so I held her down and took this awesome one

of her!

Jonah loves to climb and throw. He was throwing

his food on the floor and Angie tried to take it

away and he climbed up on the table to try to get

it back from her. Hunter very nicely got it for him

and was helping him eat it. What a monkey that Jonah

is! Every time we turned around he was throwing

something (anything) in your face. Camera's, food,

balls, toys!

Brynna LOVES uncle Jesse! She is always by his

side. Garrett and Hunter get a little (I mean a lot)

jealous by this! They told her the other day that

Jesse loved me more than her! She was very upset

by this and wanted me to reassure her that this was

not true!

It was great to get away and spend time with family, but it is always nice to come home again!

Swimming

2008-07-05T15:57:00.007-06:00

After the parade we got to go and cool off in the pool.

Garrett taking Stella down the water slide.
He and Josh were having a great time taking her down.

Isn't Miles the cutest kid! I just can't get over
how adorable he is! He is sooo funny. He is just
a tiny 2 year old and runs around talking really clear.
He has the funniest facial expressions.I think
the best part is watching how he runs Spencer
around in circles. He he Miles is definitely in charge!

Brynna helping Stella put her life jacket on.

Hunter on the diving board.

Here are the not so helpful dad's sitting outside
the pool area watching all the fun! Don did get in
the pool for a while but Jesse was too tired and
Spencer had a headache! Sounds like some good
excuses to me!:)

Brynna swimming with Jonah in the baby pool.
They wouldn't let any kids with swim diapers in
the regular pool so this is were the babies had to
swim.

4th of July Fun at the Parade!

2008-07-05T15:40:00.005-06:00

We went to Fairview this year to enjoy the 4th of July down at the cabin. Angie and her family came and Spencer and his family. We got to first enjoy the parade in Mount Pleasant at 11:30!(way too dang hot!)

Miles enjoying his candy!

Garrett and Josh think they are way too cool

for this!(can you tell) They would occasionally

run out in the road to get candy.

Jonah enjoying the parade. Doesn't he look hot!

Kristy feeding Brighton in the shade. I had to

put this picture in because Kristy is a professional

at hiding from the camera! Hah got you Kristy!

Maleah

My kids had spent the night before at Angie's

house and were sooooo tired! Hunter looks really
enthused doesn't he!

Goodbye Baseball

2008-07-05T14:53:00.007-06:00

Well it is official, the baseball season is over for the year!(a small tear is present on my cheek!) Garrett's team took 2nd place in the city tournament this year and Hunter's team took 4th. The top three teams can go to the state tournament but half of Garrett's team will be at scout camp the week of the tournament so the 4th place team will go in there place. We will be sad to not go to state tournament this year. On the up side we now have our evenings free to hang out together!

Team Picture. Way to go Dodgers! Notice the boy with the cast! Jesse had 3 boys on his team this year break there arms within weeks of each other (not in baseball). Well he was really shorthanded by this and so Travis (in the pic with the broken arm) was a good sport and still came and played once he got his hard cast. Every time he slid on the bases everyone held there breath! (Can you imagine going to the doctor and telling him you had re broken your arm sliding in baseball! Luckily he ended the season without doing this!)

Garrett pitching. Garrett has always played catcher and done an awesome job but has always wanted to trying pitching. This year Jess was in real need of pitchers so Garrett finally got to try and he did awesome! He was one of the starting pitchers on the team.

My baseball boys!

Hunter pitching just like his favorite brother! Hunter really looks up to Garrett(don't tell them that though!) and so he also wanted to pitch this year. He did really good! He is a whole year younger than most of the kids on his team and a real spitfire!

I was so proud of all my boys this year in baseball(Jesse included!) Garrett's original coach had a family emergency and had to leave town for the summer right after he had drafted the team. Jess was made a superintendent at work this year and has always wanted to coach baseball but never had a work schedule that he could do this. He is able to leave a little more now that he is a superintendent so with a little persuading from his wife:) he agreed to coach. He did tell me that he is now glad he did!(I'm always right! he he) I think it was good for Jess and Garrett both! Jess has even promised Hunter he will coach his team next year! Great job guys!

Happy Birthday Baby Nico!

2008-07-02T21:56:00.005-06:00

My little brother Nate and his gorgeous wife Anya had there first baby on June 30th. Baby Nico came into the world early Monday morning. He weighed 6lbs. 13ounces and was born in Hawaii. Nate and Anya moved to Hawaii a year ago. I just wanted to share these pictures Nate sent of him. He looks like a beautiful boy! I'm also very excited to go meet Nico in August when I fly out to Hawaii with my mom to see him! Yeah! I love to have all these beautiful babies in the family(just wish baby Nico was a little closer so I could mug on him a little more!) Anyway congratulations Nate and Anya! Welcome to the crazy Snyder family baby Nico!

Baseball, Baseball!

2008-07-02T08:13:00.005-06:00

Jesse and I got to spend our anniversary at the baseball game watching Hunter play. It was actually really nice because since Jess is coaching Garrett this year he hasn't got to sit at very many games with me and just watch Hunter play. It is the city baseball tournament this week. Garrett's team won on Monday so they play again for the championship on Wednesday. Hunter's team lost on Monday so they played today and won and so they too play Wednesday. Same time same place so once again Jess will miss Hunter's. It has been a great baseball season and I am sad to see it end! Hunter is so funny to watch playing baseball. His carefree spirit is still present on the baseball field! He loves to play and loves to chat with his friends while on the field. He is always making the crowd giggle with his antics. Take this picture for example. Hunter is playing first base in this picture and if you look close you will see he has a giant bubble in his mouth! Right after I snapped this picture he had a line drive hit straight to him, he caught it bubble and all!

Hunter is our tricky little ball player! He is right

handed but when it comes to sports he bats left

handed! He catches right handed but for hitting

and golfing he is a lefty. Go figure!

Happy Anniversary Jess!

2008-06-30T12:28:00.009-06:00

It was just over 14 years ago that I met Jess. I was 15 (almost 16!) and Jess was 19. My friend had know him for a while and took me over to his trailer one afternoon. It was love at first sight for me and I'm sure Jess would say the same for him! he he I like to tees him and tell him I only fell in love with him for his trailer! Well after dating for 3 years we finally were engaged and married 11 years ago today! I would be lying if I said that our first year of marriage was a smooth ride! It was however an exciting one! (Of course, I mean Jess is married to me! How could it be anything but exciting!) ha ha Over the years Jess and I have gone through a lot together! Tons of good times and a few bad. (Like when we were married for 6 months and he feel into a campfire and had 3rd degree burns down the one side of his body! Good times!)

Jess was even nice enough to

take me to my senior prom!

Our engagment picture. Don't

we look so young!

Our wedding day

We were married in Mapleton on July 1, 1998 I mean 1997! he he I thought it was the most beautiful wedding anyone had ever had! My poor sister was a month away from having her first baby and stood in my line anyway! (sorry Ang!) It was a beautiful day and one I will always look back on with great memories! It's no secret that Jess and I did things a little backwards and started our family before we were married. Garrett was our ringbearer in our wedding and he looked so cute in his little tuxedo! He started walking down the aisle and was doing great until he noticed how many people were there! He threw the pillow with our rings on and layed in the aisle crying! My mom had to rescue him. I definetly would not encourage anyone to start the way we did (with a 2 year old) but I wouldn't change my life for the world! I have an awesome husband who is a great dad to go along with it and treats me great! He also puts up with my craziness too! Hopefully by our next anniversary Jess and I will have gone through the temple together!(hint hint Jess):)

Happy Anniversary Jess!

Thanks for putting up with me over the last 11 years! I love ya!

Cub Scout Day Camp

2008-06-30T09:00:00.003-06:00

I am the Wolf den leader in my ward for cub scouts. Last Friday we went to day camp up Hobble Creek Canyon. It was a lot of fun! We have 12 eight year old boys in our troop, and only 8 of them were able to make it. Hunter is also in my troop for another 2 weeks. Thank goodness we have plenty of mom's willing to go and help us! We did all kinds of different activities including BB gun shooting, rafting, rain gutter regatta, archery, and metal working. It was a day full of fun activities and fun was definitely had by all.

Summer Fun

2008-06-24T17:01:00.006-06:00

Jesse keeps trying to convince me to get rid of our sand pile. He claims our kids are getting to old to enjoy it anymore and I tell him they still enjoy it. Well it's days like this that I am sure my kids still love it! Hunter and his friend Mario were out running through the sprinklers and they had been out there a long time. When I went out to check on them this is what I found. They had turned on the hose and were making rivers through the sand. When Garrett came out to see the fun he convinced Hunter to let him bury him in the wet sand. They played in it for hours! The things kids do for fun!

Gardening

2008-06-22T15:42:00.006-06:00

I love to garden and have found a joy of looking through seed catalog's and finding new things to grow. This year I wanted to grow popcorn! My garden is not quite big enough for everything I want to grow and so this year I have spilled over into my dad's garden. He has a greenhouse and wasn't going to use his garden this year so I gladly took over his space! My sister likes to tease me about garden and canning and claims I am an old women but I enjoy them so I guess I am an old women!

Hunter weeding between the rows of popcorn

Popcorn

Garrett is trying to earn money this year by

mowing lawns, so when we go out to take care

of the garden, he mows Grandfather's lawn.

I have even managed to finally get my garden planted and my dad helped me with a new drip system this year in my garden. This spring and summer have been crazy in Utah and so even though I started my plants in the house in January I had yet to plant them outside! Every chance I had to plant them it was raining or just too cold for the plants. But they are finally in!

Fun at Grammies

2008-06-22T14:31:00.011-06:00

This week Grandma Zobrist was visiting from Las Vegas. We don't get to see her near enough so we spent some time at my mom's house this week entertaining her. The kids love to play at my mom's house so any excuse to be there is fine with them. My Grandma is such a funny women! I have always had fond memories of going to Vegas and visiting her and Grandpa and all my cousins. It's funny to listen to the funny things my Grandma says that just drive my mom crazy! It's a good thing that my mom never drives me and my sister crazy! he he :) I am fighting a terrible head cold this week (I didn't get one all winter and now have one in June! Great Huh!) Garrett and Hunter got to spend some time helping my dad this week and even spent 2 nights sleeping over. This worked great for me being sick and not worrying about what they were doing.

Garrett, Hunter and Grandma Zobrist

Garrett and his little buddy Jonah.

Maleah and Brynna walking along the fence.

Garrett and Hunter climbing up the swing.
If we can climb it at Grammies we will!

Fun on the slip-n-slide

Maleah and Brynna love to pose for the camera.

Every time I turn around those two are posing

wanting a picture taken.

Jonah HATES the water! Of course everyone

wants him to love it so he is always being drug

kicking and screaming towards the water!

Imagine that! Leave him alone and he will do

it on his own terms!

Laying out

Grandma Zobrist, Angie and Brynna

Check out those poses! Do they love the camera!

Give that boy a ball and he's happy!

Garrett on the roof of the barn.

Hunter jumping off the roof of the barn on to the

trampoline!

We even made a quick day trip to the cabin!

I took the boys down for the day and did a deep

clean of the cabin. That really helped my cold!

I am putting this video on for my sister who

always forgets her camera! She was looking through

my pictures and said I had more pictures of her kids

than she did! So I am helping her capture her

youngest life! This video is soooo cute. Jonah has

learned to bark like a dog and was attacking my

mom's cat and barking at it. So this one's for

you Ang! What a slacker :)

Salem Ponds

2008-06-11T12:31:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we went to Salem Ponds with my sister Angie and her kids. Garrett's friend Jake came with us and the boys wanted to bring there bikes. I figured no big deal right?! Well the boys started riding there bikes into the pond. Still I figured no big deal. Well Angie and I were walking around checking all the kids and when we came back Garrett ran up and said that Jake had lost his bike in the water. Well I thought they weren't going very deep so it couldn't be that hard to find right?!? Wrong! Being the boys that they are they decided to see how far out they could go! Well apparently there is a HUGE drop off and once they got to it Jake panicked and let go! There was a man there and he swam out to help see if he could find it but couldn't. He then told us he had lost 3 bikes in the pond! We borrowed some goggles to see if we could see it but the water was too murky. I was in my clothes but I was desperate enough that I told the boys that if they could see it I would swim out and get it but they couldn't even see it! We searched for a while but never found it and then had to face going and telling Jake's dad that we had lost his bike in the pond! Being the responsible adult that I am we stopped and picked up his dad's favorite candy bar and went to tell him. He took it well (only saying one swear word) and told Jake no big deal he can earn some money and buy a new one! Lucky for us Jake said he was in a good mood! So if anyone is ever at Salem Ponds in the future I don't recommend riding your bike in the water and if you happen to find one bring it our way! Thanks Clay for not killing me or your son!

Boys!!!!

2008-06-09T08:30:00.004-06:00

Last night we had some friends over, after they left Garrett was running around popping balloons with a knife! Why you may ask would he be doing this? I have no clue! His great grandpa Averett has a knife collection and when each of the boys turn 12 they get to pick a knife. Well Garrett thought this was the perfect opportunity to use this knife to pop balloons! I had just told him to stop and get ready for bed when he came in the kitchen holding his cheek! He had pushed the knife in something and pulled back hard and caught himself in the cheek! Honestly I think Garrett is out to see how many crazy ways he can injure himself! So of course I am ready to head to the hospital and Jesse tells it is not bad enough for that! He tells me just to wash it good and put a band aid on it! Anyone who knows me will know that I think EVERYTHING is bad enough for the hospital! But I listened to my husband since the bleeding stopped and there was no tissue coming out of it! Gee many christmas! Why do boys think running around doing stuff like this is cool! No we do not often encourage our kids to run around with knives but they get to a certain age and they just make interesting choices! (we do however feed our kids fish and nuts at a young age don't we Michelle! he he) So I guess lesson learned for us all! Apparently 12 almost 13 is still too young to own a knife at our house!

Here is the knife he used! Looking at this I would definitely
choose this over say a tiny pin to pop balloons!

Garrett's battle wound!

Close up of the cut

No stitches just this tiny band aid and his dad said he would
be fine!

Pony Rides

2008-06-03T21:14:00.006-06:00

Today we went out to my friend Cheri's house out in Genola. We went and had lunch with Cheri and her kids and our friend Holly and her kids. It was a lot of fun! Cheri and Holly used to live by me and have both moved to Genola so we don't get to see them near enough. It's only about 5 minutes from my house but it's not next door so we don't get together as often. Cheri just got a new pony named Snickers so we decided to go see the pony and have a ride! The kids loved it! Everyone that is except for Garrett. He informed me that I grew up around horses and he has grown up around bikes, scooters and skateboards and that was why he was afraid and I wasn't!
Cheri's son Kayson was a good sport and led everyone around all afternoon.

Cheri's daughter Ashlynn on Snickers.

Cheri's son Dylan

Cheri's daughter Kylee

Look at the smile on Hunter! Do you think he's
lovin this or what!

Holly's daughter Natalie

Holly's son Brecken

Garrett avoiding the pony!

Yes, even I rode the pony! Don't I look stylin!?!
I probably could have touched the ground if I
put my feet down!

Being a good neighbor!

2008-05-30T10:41:00.005-06:00

Some unruly kids toilet papered my dear sweet neighbor's last night! I couldn't believe anyone would do that! So being the nice neighbor that I am I took my boys and my nephew down and helped Michelle clean up the mess! I know, I know I am like a saint but that is just what good neighbors do! he he!

Okay so the truth of the matter is that I just really wanted to be a responsible adult. Garrett was having friends over and I figured since I was such a responsible adult I go with the kids to toilet paper. I thought Shawn and Michelle would be a great target since they have big trees and I figured they wouldn't get too mad! Well Shawn busted us in the act and started chasing us and even got the hose out but that didn't discourage us from doing what we went to do! Later after I had taken the boys home Garrett and I came walking up the driveway and Shawn and Michelle were hiding behind our fence and got us with water! I'm really glad that we have good friends that can help Jess and I teach our children how to be responsible adults! Thanks Shawn and Michelle for being such good sports!

We love Baseball!

2008-05-29T22:40:00.004-06:00

Baseball season is in full swing again and I couldn't be happier! I love baseball! I love to watch my kids play and love spending our summer nights at the ball park. Jess is coaching Garrett this year and I love watching him coach as well. It makes the games even more exciting for me to see Jess working with the boys! He really is great with the boys. Tonight Hunter's coach let him pitch! Scary for mom but I made it! Hunter is playing up this year making him the youngest on the team but is loving every minute of it! He did a great job pitching and hopes to try again sometime soon.

My friends little boy Damon came to the game

with us and climbed up in the chair with me

and fell asleep!

Garrett the Graduate

2008-05-27T23:00:00.015-06:00

So it is official I am old! Garrett has graduated 6th grade which is elementary school here, and will be moving on to (gulp) Jr. High! What is wrong with this picture! He is still so young! I wish that kids could stay young forever! I went to watch the celebration of being finished with 6th grade. First they did a slide show of the year and gave the kids diploma's. Then they went outside for games. It is so fun to watch the kids. They all have a lot of fun together. That is one thing I will really miss about elementary school. The grades are small enough that they all get to know each other and really get along! It was a fun day for all! Garrett has had a great teacher this year that had to step in 3 months after school started. They had one teacher for 2 months and she had some personal struggles and had to quit. Well the next teacher only lasted 2 weeks! So finally Mrs. Rawle came and although it was a ruff start has really helped these kids! She has done some really fun things with them and helped them to blossom. It is really great to have wonderful teacher's out there that are willing to work with kids and make learning fun! Thanks Mrs. Rawle for all you have done this year for not only Garrett but all of the kids! Congratulations Garrett on finishing 6th grade!

You silly boys your diploma's are upside down!

Water balloon volleyball.

Marshmallow spitting!

Hanging out

Liter bottle rockets

Summer Fun

2008-05-27T22:53:00.003-06:00

Garrett and Hunter love to sleep outside in the summer! I guess they just love to sleep outside! This winter they slept out in snow caves! But this weekend they decided to break out the tent and sleep. It started raining in the middle of the night and they woke up in the morning in a puddle of water! The joys of Utah! Yet they are still planning the next outside adventure!

Boys will be boys

2008-05-25T20:24:00.003-06:00

Tonight after dinner Garrett and Hunter asked Jess if they could use some wood outside to saw apart and build a jump. Jess told them no so this is what we went out to find! You have to love boys! Notice they were at least kind enough to put there helmets on for this! This video Garrett shot and I just found it entertaining to see threw the eyes of a 12 year old boy!

Introducing Bo the Wonder Cat er Dog

2008-05-23T16:06:00.004-06:00

This is our 3 year old golden retriever named Bo. He is a great dog most of the time. The kids really enjoy him. Lately each morning that I wake up Bo is sitting on the front porch. Now you have to know that he is not supposed to be on the front porch because we keep him locked in the back yard or he runs off, so if he is on the front porch each morning than we just know he has been out all night and finally come home. Usually bringing random shoes along with him! So we were trying to figure out how he was getting out each night. Well one morning I went out to check on him and he was standing on the fence! Bo and the neighbors dog tore down the one slat of wood fence that our fence does not cover and were leaving our yards so in an effort to keep him in a few weeks ago we stacked some block up to keep him in. So he now climbs the block and walks along the fence line to the front of the yard and walks out. I left the block there in hopes of getting a picture of him doing this but of course he won't do it when I want him to. So today I came home from grocery shopping and he was walking along the fence line. So of course I grabbed my camera. This dog now thinks he is a cat! It was raining the other day so I put him in the garage and heard all kinds of noise. He had climbed over my deep freezer onto the work bench and was knocking stuff off the work bench because he is so large! (he is about 100 pounds) Leave it to the Averett's to have a dog that acts like a cat! Now you all may think I'm a crazy person for posting this but it just looks so darn funny to see a huge dog walking along the fence! Here is a short video. When I was calling him off you can here him whining because the chicken is scared to jump!

Happy Dance

2008-05-23T09:25:00.003-06:00

So I just have to do my happy dance for a minute and share it with all of you. Note: don't worry I will not actually be posting my happy dance! Just picture me doing all my best moves, with absolutely no rhythm of course. I am officially done with work for the school year! I work at my kids elementary school in the special needs preschool. This will be a big relief to my support system who listens to me day in and day out complaining! So thanks for putting up with me and I will try to keep the complaining to a minimum!(thanks Jesse, mom, Angie, Kirstin and Michelle for listen) I have worked there for three years and really enjoy my job! I love the kids and enjoy the people I work with (most days). he he This year has just really been a hard year for me personally, we had some extremely difficult kids and it seems like everyone I worked with (including myself) had some kind of personal struggles in there life this past year! Well when you get 6 women that work together that can be hard enough but add in personal struggles and it can make for a long day. Now don't get me wrong I really do like the people I work with and don't want it to sound like I don't but I am just breathing a sigh of relief that the year is over. I am not one of these women who can work and do it all at home still! We are so busy most days and I have a hard time working, running kids and keeping up on my house work! (thanks by the way Michelle and Kirstin for helping me around my house cleaning and planting flowers, it pays to have great friends!) So I am just glad to be able to stay home and get things done! I also have the next week off with no kids! I am trying to keep my excitement to a minimum! I love my kids but it really is nice to have a few days to yourself and know that they are doing something productive! As for our summer plans, the boys are both in baseball two nights a week and practice one other day. Jesse is coaching Garrett's team so that is very helpful. I was put in as assistant camp director so girls camp in June! wha who Garrett has a scout camp every month to attend. I am also a scout leader for the bears with Hunter and we have a day camp this summer! oh baby Jesse is also an 11 year old scout leader and they are going on a camp out in June as well! We hope to be able to enjoy our summer and enjoy each other! My goal is to enjoy and not over plan the summer with too many activities! I hope everyone is as excited about summer as I am (though it is only in the 50's in Utah today!) I love summer because I can work in my yard and my garden, which I am hoping to get planted this weekend. I started all my plants back in about February by seed and they are all ready to plant! Jesse and I have a great system, I love to garden but hate to eat the food from it and he loves the food I grow but hates to garden so I grow it and he and the kids eat it! Hope everyone has a safe summer and gets in plenty of quality family time!

2008-05-10T19:18:00.005-06:00

So I wanted everyone to see that I do have a little creativity in me!(with the help of my friends and family!) At my kids elementary school they have PTA mom's come and decorate the doors of everyone that works there to show appreciation for the workers. (I'm sure they probably do this everywhere) So I got to decorate the door for our awesome lunch ladies! Now I am just not the most creative person so of course I called one of the most creative ladies I know and asked for her opinion. She came up with this cute idea to say rub a dub dub thanks for the grub, and put pictures on the door of the lunch ladies and put them in the bathtub. I loved the idea and went with it! (thanks mom for the great idea) Then a great friend of mine came over late on night and helped me trace what seemed like a billion bubbles and cut them out! She then mocked my idea for a bathtub (which truth be told was really an awful drawing) and drew me this wonderful tub (which my kids said looked like a witch's pot) but I think it's adorable! (thanks Kirstin for the great creativity) I went to the school on Friday and put the door together and I think the lunch ladies loved it! They were taking pictures and sending them to there family! It was a great success and turned out very cute! So see I do have some creativity when I am given a good idea! he he

2008-05-04T16:19:00.003-06:00

For those of you that know Hunter this video will not surprise you, but for those of you that have yet to get to know Hunter as well here is a day in the life of Hunter! Hunter will be 9 in July and is always keeping us laughing! Today I was watching a recording of last weeks Dancing with the Stars episode. They had Def Leopard on singing "pour some sugar on me." Before I know what hit me Hunter ran in the room wearing a diaper and started dancing. One thing I think I will really like about blogging is it helps me to remember to take pictures of the entertaining things my kids do. So I grabbed the camera and recorded this. Hunter loves to get jiggy! He is always doing silly dances like this! I can't wait for Hunter to start dating so that I can pull out the home movies! He definitely got his dad's moves! By the way when I asked Hunter later why he was wearing a diaper he informed me that it had been left here by someone and he just wanted to wear it! I really do love my kids!

Like mother like son

2008-05-04T09:01:00.000-06:00

As I was looking through the pictures of yesterday's event I noticed something about one of the pictures that I found funny. If you notice in this picture Garrett is holding a hammer over my brother Dan's head ready to hit him. Well when we were younger I had a little bit of a temper(I know it's hard to imagine that!) but one day my brothers and sister and I were out building a tree house in the field. I was up in the tree house with my brother Spencer and he wouldn't let me do something I wanted and I picked up a hammer and threw it at him! Well lucky for him he ducked but unlucky for Dan who was standing right below us on the ground and the hammer fell from the tree house and hit him on the head! I just remember Dan running towards the house holding his head and it bleeding everywhere. As he ran he yelled "I'm going to kill you Spencer" and Spencer yelled "It wasn't me it was Heather!" I think Spencer was fearing for his life at this point I know I was. I'm not sure how many stitches he even ended up with in his head but I know it was a lot! Just another injury for the Snyder kids! Anyway I just found it ironic that of all the people for Garrett to be pretending to hit it would be Dan! It's a good thing my boys would never do anything like we did when we were kids! he he

Christmas in May!

2008-05-03T23:40:00.000-06:00

So for Christmas this year my parents decided to build Jesse and I a pergola for our recently finished deck. My dad flew my little brother Nate and his wife Anya in from Hawaii to help with the project and the whole family came for the day to help! I know you are saying to yourself how awesome is that! As much grief as I give my family they really are super duper! So thanks all of you goobers for helping! It was great to see Nate and Anya. They are expecting there first baby in July and we had yet to see Anya and her cute little belly. Yes I said little because Anya looks great! Just as beautiful now as she was before! Anyway I was just so excited to have a cover for the deck. Our backyard faces west so in the summer by afternoon we can't even use the deck without dying of heat stroke! I am so excited to spend my summer days out enjoy the deck. My next project is to build planter boxes so I can plant some vines to grow up the pergola. (How does next Saturday work for the family?) he he Anyway thanks so much for the awesome present mom and dad, and thanks everyone else for all the help! You all are awesome!

I give up!

2008-05-03T23:28:00.000-06:00

Okay so I have finally given up and started a blog! Everyone I know has one so I guess I should start one as well! The problem for me is I really feel like nothing we do is interesting to anyone else but here goes. We are just your regular family full of boys that constantly have sports on, or are playing sports, or screaming, spitting, and wrestling with each other! If you come over on any given day you may just get shot by flying Bebe's from the boys air soft guns or you may have to risk your life playing catcher for someone trying to practice his pitching!(yes I do this daily and yes I have the bruised legs to show it!) But really I feel very blessed that there is never a dull moment at our house with our wonderful kids around! When my boys are off playing and the house is quiet for that one brief moment I feel very lonely! I love all the noise and excitement that comes with having boys.