Yes, I Said Idaho!

I see that my last post was in 2010.  I don't even know if anyone will read this, but I decided to post anyway. And, happy decade post day! I know, that's not a thing...

We just did the most  inexplicable thing. We left Colorado and crossed the wilderness that is Wyoming and part of Utah for a smaller, less expensive (that's all relative, I know), and more politically conservative area.  Chris works from home, so we aren't necessarily limited when it comes to where we can live.  We decided it would be best to stay close to an HPE facility since that is who Chris is employed with.  Our choices were: California, Texas, or Idaho.  Needless to say, it became a comparison between Texas and Idaho.  Idaho came out on top.  We just didn't even want to mess with a confusing property tax system in Texas, and Idaho felt right.

Unbeknownst to us, Chris' older brother and his family decided to move to Idaho at about the same time.  They ended up 20 minutes from us. That's definitely a bonus!  We miss the family and friends that we left behind, but I have to confess that we are happy here.  Our kids are doing well and have adjusted better than I could have imagined.  We sent our oldest to college last month, and coincidentally, she is only about 5 hours away and also in Idaho.  Things have mostly turned out well.

We picked out a new home, but in a serendipitous moment, it fell through a week before we left Colorado.  After a brief panic mode, we ended up renting a home sight unseen so we could at least have a place to land.  We signed a 6-moth lease, and tried to be positive as it was less than half of the square footage we had before. I'm not complaining, we made everything work out because we went with it.  Then last week, the house literally next door was vacated and available to rent.  We didn't know it was a rental, and since it is slightly bigger than what we have now, we decided to take a look.  That's all we needed.  We are now moving next door, and since our current property management company doesn't want to try and rent this place over Christmas, they are letting us out of our lease a month early so they have a better chance of finding tenants.  We have until November 1st to vacate.  It's a nice overlap, we got this!  Moving again will not be awesome, but a bigger kitchen, bigger bedrooms, bigger living room, nice covered patio, a shop space for Chris (we don't have that here so his tools are all lonely and gathering dust), it was a no-brainer for only $40 more per month.  Renting really was a better way to go since we weren't really familiar with the area.  I'm so glad we didn't end up where we would have if we were able to buy the home we had contracted.  We really like where we are.

Chris has been busier and travels more for work, but he loves what he does.  He works with the young men (boys 12-18) at church, and I love that we can hang out at home during his breaks.  I keep busy doing things around the house, cooking, reading books for a book club that my mom and sisters (and one brother) are a part of.  I also work with the young women (girls 12-18) at church. I'm still trying to find my place, but I'm meeting a lot of nice people.  Caylee is so happy at BYUI right now.  I am so glad she got a good batch of roomies.  She is learning to spread her wings and taking matters into her own hands.  She was going to major in Chemistry, but recently decided that she is going to pursue forensic science.  Go Caylee!  Aiden found a great group of friends and is doing well in school.  That's a complete turn-around from last year.  He seems so much happier, and that makes me happy.  Sawyer is loving the Boy Scouts, and both Aiden and Sawyer are at the point of working on their Eagle Scout projects.  Sawyer is part of Chess Club, and is also doing well in school.  Brea has found playmates all over the neighborhood, and started a "beginning orchestra" class.  She is learning to play the violin.  She also spends lots of time on the phone talking to her older sister, and writing letters to some of her Colorado friends.

That's where we are right now.  And really, this post is quite long.  I think the next words that I write should be, "until next time friends!"  Have a great weekend, and have fun getting ready for Halloween!

February 18, 2010

This video is for a compilation that my sister is doing that will have many housekeeping tips put together when it's completed. This was the only way I could get the video to her, so enjoy! :)

A Wedding and a Vacation :)

This past Wednesday I traveled to Utah to see my cousin Camille's wedding. It was a long car trip but it was fun to see family members that I haven't seen in years. Chris and the kids stayed home, so I always felt there was something missing. I had a lot of fun doing girl stuff with my sisters and my cousins. Reconnecting with family is always nice. The temple and the weather was beautiful. I would have liked to have more time to contact some friends and other family members out there but there wasn't any time. If we weren't doing wedding things we were celebrating birthdays. I am so thankful that Chris let me go and was willing to watch the kiddos for me. I'm a lucky girl I think! :D Thanks Toni for letting me come raid your house and see your cute son! I hope you continue to feel well and I can't wait to see baby #2! Gotta go now and spend some time with the people I missed the most while I was away. Later my people!

A New Arrival...

My brother Ethan and his wife Brandy had their little baby girl when Brandy was only 24 weeks along. She is very tiny and having a lot of issues as of late, but she is a fighter! My sister put this little video together from last Saturday night when they went down to see her because she wasn't doing well. Ethan and Brandy you are in our prayers and we love you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrrkTBXIbiM

Interesting and Exciting

Yesterday, I was in my own little world sitting on the couch. The next thing I know, I look over towards the front door and there is Sawyer with this "angry man" face getting ready to snipe me with his Lego gun. Chris and I laughed for a long time. Then Aiden joined in the fun as they pretended to shoot each other and "die." Boys are SO funny :)

Chris got an interesting calling on Sunday. They asked him to serve a one-year service mission in the ward helping the deaf group and learning ASL so he could translate. He will have to attend classes on Tuesday evenings and learn as much as he can. We have a large deaf population in the stake and our ward was designated to be the meeting place for them. We even have families that come all the way from Fort Collins. Anyway, we were both surprised but we are both excited and I know that Chris will learn fast and do his best. He is still the Cubmaster for now but since it is a Tuesday night calling they will be finding a replacement before the classes start. Just wanted to share with you all! Have a great day and hope you are all well.

Last but not least...

We are so excited to tell everyone that Aiden lost his first tooth this morning! Olivia and Cole beat him to the punch, but he wasn't far behind. He only told Chris and I about his wiggly tooth a few days ago. Then he woke me this morning to tell me he had yanked it out himself. Is it just me, or are these kids growing up really fast?! Just wanted to let you all know what exciting things were happening in our house.

Chris and I are also speaking at a YM/YW fireside tomorrow night (Sunday) on the topic of missionary work. We are looking forward to getting to know the youth better. Hope everyone is doing well. Love you all and talk to you again soon!

Yes it's been a while...

April finds us well. Chris is the Cubmaster at church, and Heather just started working with the Young Women in the ward (girls ages 12-13). Caylee was just baptized a few weeks ago, and we had a wonderful Easter holiday with lots of food, fun and family. Aiden is doing well in school and already reading and writing well. Sawyer is three and loving to get into everything! He is my climber, my discoverer of the candy hiding places, and also my biggest helper at home when the older two kids are still at school. Chris is still working with MCR (Medical Center of the Rockies) as a System Administrator. Heather does her best to make the household run smoothly. Yeah that's a laugh, but hey, she is up for the challenge :)

As always you can see our newest pictures through the link to the left. Hope you are all doing well and hopefully it won't be 5 months before the next post! Take care!

Halloween

It was a Happy Halloween at the Snell home this month! Grandma Rue and Granddad came to visit and we went to the pumpkin patch. The left picture is of the kids right before they picked out their pumpkins.

On Halloween, Caylee dressed up as Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter book and movie series, Aiden was Darth Vader (yep, three years in row, do you think he likes Star Wars?), and Sawyer was my chicken man. It was pretty funny. He did NOT want his costume on and I think he was afraid of it. I never struggled so hard to get a little one dressed! I gave up on him going trick-or-treating because I never thought he would wear it again. Much to my surprise, as soon as he realized he could get candy if he put it on, he wouldn't even let me HELP him put it on. He had so much fun that he kept trick-or-treating to me even after he got home. It was a fun night. Dad went out with the kids and Mom stayed home and watched a scary movie and passed out candy. I hope you all had a fun Halloween :D

Until next time...and I posted the pumpkin patch pictures and Halloween pictures on my picture link to the left. Later!

Three Months Later...

Well, so much for writing once a week! August saw the beginning of school again, then September came and went and October is almost gone--whew! Chris had another birthday and Aiden is 6 now. The time is really flying by! My sister Toni (middle) came for a visit and this was a picture of me with her and Eliza (left) and I at my niece's birthday party. We are only missing you Amy!

This coming Sunday is our Primary Program in church and I have been busy helping to get that ready. This past week was also parent-teacher conferences for Caylee and Aiden. Both conferences went well and I was surprised and happy to hear that they were both very good at reading and writing and behaving themselves in class. You just never know how they will act when they aren't around you, but their teachers were both happy to have them in their respective classrooms. I don't think there is anything more satisfying as a mom with grade-school aged kids :)

Chris has been busy with work and other home projects. He finished up a work project recently that had him driving to Fort Collins every day for about 6 weeks. He is glad to be done with that as he was mostly babysitting. FUN TIMES--oh yeah sounds like my full-time job--HA HA HA.

We are doing well and the kids are anxiously awaiting Halloween. Okay, I am to. It's fun to watch the kids having fun. Chris' parents will be in town this weekend for the Primary Program so we should have some fun. I want to go to the pumpkin patch and to a corn maze. I think we might even catch a movie. I'll be sure to post pictures if there are any. Until next time...have a good one everyone!

July--MIA

Hello all,

We've been SO busy lately, so I will sum up July in one post. So get some popcorn, and a drink....only kidding.

We spent the first weekend in July on a family camp out with the Snell side. It was a lot of fun, although we got sick of the constant bug spray/sunscreen/dirt combination :)

We ate smores, camped, watched fireworks, took a scenic mountain train ride, walked through Old Town Leadville, ate good food, went fishing, went for walks, and slept as much as we could.

Shortly after our trip, my sister Amy and her family came into town for two weeks. We went to the Butterfly Pavilion, Water World, swimming, hung out, had a couple of family dinners, and just let the kids visit with their cousins. It is amazing to see how much all of the kids have grown.

At the end of their stay, my Aunt Holly and cousin Katie came to visit as she prepared to leave for San Diego. It was so much fun and great to see some family members that we don't get to see very often.

After that, our schedule kind of became a whirlwind. Chris ended up getting a lot of side work all at once. He finally finished a mantle piece that he had been making and got it installed. Then he outfitted a couple of small businesses around here with computers/software/support. I am keeping busy with Primary and teaching the kids at church. We went through the drama of trying to get home repairs from the tornado. In fact, the roofers are banging away as I type. Then we have had to get the van fixed, get the kids to their swimming lessons every night for two weeks, met up with Chris' Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Gaye for dinner, wow it just never stops...

Things are good. I am really looking forward to getting the kids back into school. They are missing friends and learning, and are starting to wear on each other's nerves. I am ready to have more time to get things done while they are gone. The house has suffered with them home all day :)

I hope everyone is well. I posted a bunch of pictures, so just click on my picture link at the left. Take care, and I hope to keep up to date better as we transition into a school schedule. Caylee will be in 2nd grade, and Aiden in Kindergarten. Goodbye summer, and we'll talk to you all later :)

A few weeks later...

Hello all! I hope the last few weeks were good for you. Ours were not very eventful. A few trips to the park, a few playdates, you get the point. This past weekend was probably the most exciting, as we took Sawyer to his first movie in the movie theater. We went as a family to Kung Fu Panda. It was pretty good, and there were a lot of funny parts that made the kids laugh and clap. Sawyer did well, and stayed in his seat for most of the movie. The kids especially enjoyed having drinks, popcorn and candy.

On Saturday night, we attended a work party for Chris. It was for all Poudre Valley Health Systems employees. I think there were a few thousand people there. We waited in lines a lot though, so it was hard to stay excited. They had a lot of good food--popcorn, nachos, sno-cones, ice cream treats, cotton candy, and we had hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner. We tried to do face-painting, but after 20 minutes of standing in a line that wouldn't move, we moved on. Caylee and I stood in line for the bungee trampolines. If you ever get a chance to do those, they were SO fun. Caylee is my daredevil, as she wanted to go higher than anyone else. She also managed to get a back flip in one of her jumps. She was giggling and squealing and having a great time. We didn't get out of there until after the kids bedtime, so church the next morning was a little hectic. It was so much fun though.

Well, I hope everyone has a good week. Next time I will try to post a picture. I forgot to take my camera to that picnic, so I didn't get to take any pictures. Have a good one!

Visiting With My Sister

Yay, I finally got to see my sister, Toni, and her son, Jack. Talk about a happy little guy! He didn't sleep very well and was driving his mom crazy, but he sure is a cutie Toner! We were going to go swimming, but it wasn't very warm yesterday and the wind was on a rampage. So we hung out and talked. At dinner, the only sibling missing was Amy--miss you Amy, can't wait to see you next month!

I can't believe it is already Father's Day on Sunday. Guess I better get a move on so that Chris has a nice day! He just finished a wood project that he has been working on for a long time, and he installs it tomorrow. He made a mantle piece for a friend who didn't like the drywall mantle that they had. It looks really nice. He is way too modest about his work. Now maybe he can get MY projects done. :) Well, we better get going! Hope you are all doing well, and we miss you!

Time Flies

It's amazing how the time can get away from you! Our Memorial Day holiday was very short. The weather was very cold and full of rain, so we were not able to do our regular BBQ/pool activity that we normally do. We have had sick kids for the past couple of weeks. First some chest colds, and now we have had kids with fevers and more. Today I got to spend some minimal time decorating a float for a parade. Caylee wanted to ride on it, and had a great time. Today was also Relay for Life of Loveland. Kickoff was at 2, and I showed up at almost 4 for our team picture. Then I got to work a station from 4-5. Even though it was the bounce house and there were a couple of obnoxious kids, it was a lot of fun. It's amazing how much personality some of those little tykes have. Last year I spent the night as the relay lasts until 8:00 the following morning (Sunday). This year I decided I wanted to sleep better, which means I need my own bed. I also have to teach the Sharing Time lesson tomorrow. At least church is in the morning so it will be over really quickly! :)

My sister, Toni, is in town with her little man. His name is Jack. I can't wait to see them more when my kids get better. There is nothing like having family in town that you hardly ever get to see, and then not being able to see them as much as you wanted because of things like the flu. Oh well, that's life right? Even though it isn't too peachy-keen at the moment, it is still pretty good for us here in Milliken. I'll let you all know if I actually get to see my sister and nephew. Later my people...

After the Storm

What an unexpected day. I was going to write a happy blog yesterday. Now I have a somewhat less happy blog to post. We had a severe storm yesterday that wiped out our power and had us hoping that the hail would stop. I have never seen such a long hail storm. I posted pictures of the hail size and of our home, and you can view those by clicking on the "My Pictures" link to the left of this post. We were lucky, as more than one tornado danced around our tiny town yesterday. This is a picture that my neighbor took from the middle school here in town. This is the tornado that started near Gilcrest, a small town to the east of us, and headed to Windsor and left massive devastation there. We went and stayed with my parents due to the power outage. Power was restored to our home some time last night and we are home now. The aftermath of the storm left many homeless, but the miracle is that only one person was killed as he tried to outrun the tornado in his car. The tornado shifted and he ended up right in it's path. Our hearts go out to his family, the neighboring communities, and we ask that you might include our little area of Colorado in your prayers. Until I write again, may we all be safe.

Butterfly Pavilion

Hello all! This weekend found us at the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver with Chris' brother John and his family. Chris was with his dad at a gun show and also a coin show. Chris' mom, Rue, was with us. The kids had a lot of fun, and it was neat to see an entire room dedicated to different exotic bugs. The had a living beehive in that room, along with different looking leaf bugs, HUGE spiders (EW!), and even cockroaches. You can see the link in my pictures for all the photos from that trip. It was great to see the kids faces. They had an ocean room with different sea creatures. The kids got to pet a starfish and a sea urchin. There was also a kind of crab to pet that looked a lot like a stingray. Anyway, it was quite a bit of fun to plant flowers to take home, and to tour their new garden and get tips on how to plant a garden that will attract butterflies. Besides Chris having the flu, an ear infection, and pinkeye this weekend, everything was pretty laid back. Saturday was also Gary's (Chris' Dad) birthday, so we celebrated with banana splits. We hope everyone is well, with all that seems to be going on in the world. Hurricanes, earthquakes, fires--the earth is sure groaning right now. Take care all, our love goes out to you.

Beyond Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother's Day. It was great! I taught Sharing Time at church (the lesson for the children). We made flowers for the moms out of pipe cleaners and tissue paper. It was cute.

For dinner we met at my mom's house and had dinner and hung out. All I had to make was a salad-it was nice. We had flank steak, which is an all-time family fave. I had my mom take a 4-generation picture which is the one you see. Sawyer had pink eye, so Chris stayed home with him. Aside from that little hiccup, we had a great day.

Monday we left as a family to go to the funeral for Glen. It was nice, and I could not believe how many people came. Even the Governor was there. It was a short, but long trip. I found out that the three other soldiers with him were also killed. I hope things hurry up and end over there. I know, probably not, but I will hope an end will come soon.

Today the kids went back to school. It turns out that Aiden won't need any more speech help when he starts kindergarten. They think he is doing well enough to be on his own, and can speak well enough to be understood. That was nice to hear. It was great to see the smile on his face when his teachers told him how well he had done this year and how far he had come. He still mixes up some sounds and he still can't say his "R's," but they assure me it will come in time. Caylee had a "Wacky Day" at school, so I did her hair funny and she wore her shirt inside out. I remember doing funny stuff like that when I was younger. It was part of her school spirit week.

So, the grandparents are coming down this weekend. The "Men" are going to the gun show while us females and youngsters will be going to the Butterfly Pavillion. I will have to let you all know how that goes. Until then, take care!

Honoring the Fallen...

This is Marine Sgt. Glen Martinez pictured with his wife, Sgt. Melissa Martinez. Glen was on his second tour in Iraq when he was killed on May 2nd by a roadside bomb. Chris and Glen went to high school together back in Monte Vista, and they were both on the wrestling team together. Chris will be going back to Monte on Monday night with his brother, John, to attend his funeral services on Tuesday. I thought we would honor his memory by dedicating a post on our blog to Glen. May the brave men and women serving in Iraq be watched over while they accomplish their missions, is our prayer. Thank you Glen and Melissa, for your selfless sacrifice. Melissa, our deepest sympathies and prayers go out to you today. We honor you both.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook Made this for my best friend for her birthday today. Thought you all might like to see how skinny I used to be!! Enjoy! Love you Amers!

Here We Are!

Hello all! We decided to start a blog so that you can always find out what we are doing out here in Colorado. There are only about 2 more weeks of school and Caylee and Aiden are excited about that. Over the summer, we plan to get the kids signed up for swimming lessons. I am going to start teaching Caylee piano, and hopefully we will get Aiden into soccer where he can have an outlet for all his energy. Sawyer is just as happy as he can be, and is getting quite a personality. He has started taking off his PJ's after we put him to bed, although it really isn't that hot yet. He also begs me to make a paper airplane whenever he finds a piece of paper! Well, that gets us started. Be sure to come back often as I will try to update a couple of times a week. Have a great rest of the week, you all...