Have any of you ever watched Gilmore Girls? If you have, you’ll know that Lorelai loves the snow. She has a special bond with snow. She can smell it coming and wakes up to go outside and watch it fall. I totally relate to Lorelai because I, too, love snow! Friday night it snowed, and it snowed hard. And I loved every minute of it. Jeffy had to go pick up his laptop at simply mac from getting fixed so when we hopped in the car that’s when we saw the snow. And we both just giggled a little bit because we both love it. Even though driving in the snow can be difficult and scary at times, I love it. I love how you feel like you’re going lightning speed on the road when the snow is coming at you. When we got back home, we just stood in the garage and watched it fall. I love to look up and watch the snow falling from out of nowhere it seems. I love how quiet the world is when it snows. I love the way the trees look when they have snow on their branches. I love the mountains covered in snow. I love how snow gives me an opportunity to be grateful for the beauty that surrounds me. And I love waking up to a white covered world. And I love playing in the snow with my kids.




Logan loves to shovel the snow around with his tractor.

I even love shoveling the snow and Jeffy doesn’t mind it either.

When Jeff was shoveling, he would throw the snow in the air and it would fall on the kids. They loved it!



Jeff’s very first snow angel.

My snow babies.

When we moved into our new house, one of the things that was so relaxing about the whole experience was that I loved the colors on all of the walls so I wouldn’t have to paint. I only painted one wall in the kids room before we moved in and that was just because the color that was there wasn’t really a neutral boy/girl color. Other than that, I love it all. The bathroom on the main floor, which is also the kids bathroom, is a beautiful pale yellow. I love the color but I was struggling with how to decorate it because I just didn’t want to paint over it because I despise painting bathrooms. It’s too much work. Because that bathroom is the bathroom people will use when they come over to visit, and not just the kids bathroom, I didn’t want to make it too much of a kid space. I had a hard time figuring out how to decorate it. We decided on some pale blue rugs and a white shower curtain and it all looked lovely, except that the walls just seemed a little too bare. So I looked at some art at some places but didn’t want to spend that much money. So I went to my fall back option. Michaels.com. I LOVE being crafty, but I love it more when I have a purpose. I found some cute ideas on making my own wall art with fabric so I thought I’d give it a try. I decided to go with a blue fabric to bring out the blue from the rugs and add some white and a little bit of yellow. I found a fabric I liked and then gathered some ribbon, flowers and buttons and figured I’d make it work.

I started with a blank thing of Styrofoam board. I bought two different blue fabrics and then sewed them together. I then sewed some white ribbon over the seam and then added some blue ribbon with buttons and some yellow flowers and I think they turned out super cute!


I’m still wondering if I want to add something else, but I can’t think of anything so I probably won’t. But if anyone has any super cute ideas, I’m all ears!
The walls aren’t so bare anymore and I had a fun time making them!

Lindsay had a field trip with her new preschool on Wednesday and Logan and I went as a parent supervisor. It was a lot of fun! We were there for about an hour and a half and the kids got to see EVERYTHING! They got to go behind the doors that says “for employees only” and man oh man, they thought they were so cool! It was so cute. They took us to the warehouse part where they keep all the pallets of food and Logan asked if he could drive the forklift. Not just ride on it, DRIVE it. Seriously. Tractors are in his future. They also took us inside the big refrigerator, the freezer (BRRR!), behind the meat counter to watch them wrap a pound of hamburger, watch them decorate a cake, the pharmacy, the baker counter to get a free ice cream cone, to see the big oven where they cook everything, and also upstairs to look through the “secret” windows. The last one was by far Lindsay’s favorite. She had a blast and I’m so glad Logan and I got to go with her. Who knew a grocery store could be so fun! Especially being there with all of your friends! So cool!






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The kids have been loving our new big tub with jets. Putting bubble bath in a jet tub makes little bubbles into LOTS of bubbles and it’s so much fun! The kids don’t ever want to get out and they get super clean!

While the kids were playing today, they got married. To each other. In the temple.

Other than the loud SMOOCH I heard, I’m very happy for them! Here’s to hoping it was on the cheek!

Lindsay wore her Dora Christmas pajamas and Logan wore his tractor shirt and jeans and they arrived to the temple via Logan’s big truck, Logan riding it and Lindsay pushing it. I also babysat their baby while they got married. It was all VERY cute.

Anyone else remember the greatness of this show???

Logan started gymnastics today and he absolutely loved it!!! But I have to be honest, I was dreading this morning all week long because I didn’t know how he was going to do. He doesn’t do very well when we take him to Nursery, he usually cries when we leave but then he’s okay, and over the last 6 months, I’ve tried doing gymnastics with him other places and he just wouldn’t do it. So, I honestly didn’t think things were going to go well today. So, we pumped it up ALL. WEEK. LONG. It’s a three year old class and they let him start even though he’s not quite three yet and so he goes in by himself. Yesterday Lindsay had gymnastics and so I took that opportunity to walk him through what we would be doing for his class. I showed him where he was going to put his shoes and his coat and where I was going to sit to watch him and where he’d be able to see me the whole time. They both have the same teachers so I told him that and I also told him that he’d be doing the same things Lindsay is doing. It seemed to work because the kid just went right in. He had to go potty before class and as he was washing his hands, they started. I walked him out to the mat and the teacher said hi to him and he hid behind my legs. Oh boy. So I knelt down and showed him again where I would be sitting and he said, “Yeah, but mom? Can I have a sucker after class?” I told him I would ask if they have any (the reason he asked was because Lindsay got a sucker after her class the day before) gave him a kiss and told him to have fun. He sat down and I walked out and he had a blast! It almost made me cry watching him in there by himself because he hasn’t does anything without Lindsay by his side. Even while he was going potty he asked if he could sit by Lindsay during class and I tried my hardest to explain that it was for almost 3 year old boys and girls and that Lindsay was too old. They are seriously so sweet with each other. But he loved it and did such a good job listening to his teachers and doing what he was supposed to. My little baby is getting so big. Lindsay and I had fun watching him because sometimes he would forget to do all of the circuit and he would just do the things he liked the most over and over and over again. I’m so proud of you Logan and we love you!

We picked the WORST day to move. After dumping 5 or 6 inches of snow over night, it continued to snow ALL. DAY. LONG. See?
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We hired a moving company to move us and for the most part, it was worth it. Before they came, we had to make sure the walks were shoveled and salted so that nobody would trip. Jeffy doesnt have any boots, so he reverted back to the 80s to get the job done. Doesnt he look fabulous?
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Before the movers got there, I was feeling pretty good about all that I had gotten done. I felt like I had packed a lot of things, but once they got started I realized there was still so much to pack. They wasted no time at all and got to work which we appreciated since they were an hour and a half late. After about three hours of being there with them, Jeff needed to leave to meet some installers at the new house and I wasnt comfortable staying in the house with all these men so we asked if we had to stay and they said no, so we both left. We picked up the kids from Mimis house (thanks again!!) and we left for the new house. I had packed the car full of stuff so we unloaded that when we got there and then we waited and waited and waited for the movers to get there. They didnt get to the new house until 6:00PM!! I was hoping to be done by that time, but instead they didnt finish unloading until 10PM. Anyway, while we were waiting for the movers, the kids had fun playing outside in the snow. They look so little in this huge yard and I know they are going to have a blast in it! Uncle Chris was here helping us with the move and so he went out and played with the kids, too. Thanks for all of your help, Christopher. You were great!
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Jeff took this picture of these boxes because there were three of them filled with Lauras shoes. THREE! I dont even think Id take up half a box with my shoes. She does have really cute shoes though.
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But after a really long day, we were in and we practically had the kitchen unpacked before the movers left. The kids slept on their mattress on the floor since their bed was in pieces and I will always remember that first night. They were both exhausted and freezing (because the door had to stay open for the movers and it was roughly 20 degrees outside) and they were so ready for bed. We put them to bed before the movers were gone but I think they both fell asleep the second their heads hit the pillows.
The next day we worked hard to unpack boxes because we were having friends over for a new years eve party that night. And work we did! Christopher put together the entertainment unit and the kids bunk beds, while Jeffy went to the old house to finish getting things done there and I worked on unpacking boxes. Between the three of us, we got a lot done. The kids had a blast just playing. We had no TV and I think they enjoyed that! It was a nice change, but by about 4:00, I was ready for them to chill and watch a movie or something. They amaze me everyday with little things like that. They adjust to things really well. We continued to unpack boxes all weekend since Jeffy didnt have to work and weve gotten so much done. Everything is put together and all the big things are done. Were just down to emptying more boxes and putting up curtains and pictures.
We went to our new ward on Sunday and everyone was really friendly. It was weird to be in a ward where we were the ONLY new family. In our past wards there were usually at least 3 or 4 new families at a time. This was nice though because everyone knew who we were. The kids had fun in their classes and Lindsay made a new friend named Katie. Logan struggled going to nursery but eventually had fun. The ward is more diverse in ages and Jeffy is by far the youngest High Priest. We have a lot more older couples in this ward and more middle aged families, but there are plenty of people our age, too. I dont care so much about that though as I do about kids the same age as our kids and there are plenty.
The thing I love about this house is that its always felt like home. There was never any awkwardness when we first moved in, everything just felt normal. Thats good and we all love it.

Wow. Christmas seems so long ago! We went down to California again for Christmas this year and drove, which we haven’t done in 2 years I think. We drove through the night there, which was horrible, but on the way back we drove during the day and that wasn’t too bad at all. The kids did great and it seemed like it went by pretty fast.

We had so much fun. The kids got to play with their cousin, Emmy, two of the days we were there and they had a blast. After the first day when I was putting the kids to bed, Lindsay told me that she wasn’t going to have any fun the next day because Emmy wasn’t there. That girl idols her cousin and it’s so cute. They do have a lot of fun together.

For three years now, the kids have opened one gift on Christmas Eve, which is always pajamas but even so, Lindsay was still surprised. They looked adorable in them!


After opening the pajamas, Lindsay wrote a note for Santa and we put some cake and some boogers on a plate for him. Everything was gone in the morning so Santa must have been hungry by the time he got to our house.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun! Logan HAD to play with everything the second it was open, but would always come back willingly to open another one when it was his turn. He got SO MANY new trucks and tractors and things with wheels. He especially loved the train table Santa brought. It’s pretty cool! Lindsay had fun opening everything and couldn’t wait to get everything opened. She loved the dollhouse Santa brought and immediately put her new boy barbie to sleep. Santa had a hard time getting Lindsay’s present to California, but he eventually found a way and boy are we grateful to his elves! She waited patiently for her turn and watched as everyone else opened their presents. She almost looked as if she was having an OCD moment and couldn’t wait for everything to be opened so that we could clean up the mess or something. Oh wait, that was me. No not really. Here are a thousand pictures to show our morning.

Opening stockings

That’s what Lindsay thinks about Reese’s PB trees. Crazy girl.

The truck book that Logan told Santa where to find and the only thing he kept asking about before we went downstairs. “Did Santa bring me my new truck book?”. I’m SO glad he came through!

New barbie clothes!


Playing with her new boy barbie.



Jeffy looked FABULOUS!


Grandma and Grandpa Snider





Giving each other hugs for the presents from each other.

She was a little excited to get that movie.


Playing with the Wedgits blocks. They are awesome and the kids love them!

Singing us a beautiful song!!

Thanks to everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas visiting with Jeff’s family and with my parents and grandparents. We are so blessed and are so grateful for all of our blessings and we feel blessed to have all of you in our lives. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season and hope you have a joyful 2010!

This move proved to be harder on Lindsay than I thought it would. I figured she’d be fine since she’s so young, but for awhile there, she shed a lot of tears about moving. One of the reasons why was that she would no longer be going to preschool with Mrs. Ari. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to have Lindsay in her class. She genuinely wanted Lindsay to do well and challenged her with everything, not just reading, and taught her so much. Lindsay looked forward to preschool everyday and missed it the days she didn’t attend. She became really good friends with Mrs. Ari’s daughter, Aspen, and got really attached to her new baby towards the end. She was sad that she wouldn’t get to see baby Azure get bigger and was sad that she wouldn’t get to see Aspen every day. It was hard for me to see her so sad, but I knew she would bounce back and make new friends and be okay because she’s a like-able girl, that Lindsay Lou. Thank you Mrs. Ari for teaching Lindsay for that year and a half. I am grateful for your concern for her and for you taking the time to make separate lessons plans just for Lindsay. We love you and we miss you and we’ll come visit soon!