Rob & Julie Snow Family Blog

Playground Pictures

2009-11-12T13:14:00.001-07:00

Rob took the kids to the park a couple of weeks ago and took some fun, playful shots. Enjoy!

A few more pictures are here.

SpiderNate

2009-11-11T15:42:00.001-07:00

Happy Belated Halloween!!

Our Trip to Penn State – Part 2

2009-11-05T18:02:00.001-07:00

THUMBS DOWN: To the manufacturers of contact solution for not selling a bottle that complies with FAA standards for liquids.

THUMBS UP: Getting numerous comments such as “Wow! I didn’t even realize there were kids on the plane!” Yup, my kids are just that great.

THUMBS DOWN: United baggage handlers breaking our stroller.

THUMBS UP: Getting upgraded from a Dodge Caliber to a Chrysler Town & Country minivan.

THUMBS DOWN: To directions from MapQuest and missing roads from maps.

THUMBS DOWN: To the never-ending mile. They stretch on forever there and make car rides long.

THUMBS UP: To beautiful, peaceful Lancaster County, PA. The farms, the trees and leaves, the rolling hills, the many horse-and-buggies (No pictures of those. The Amish believe photographs are making “graven images”), the dark, and the quiet.

THUMBS UP: The homemade “grate nuts” and granola left for us from the Mennonite couple whose apartment we rented.

THUMBS UP: To the Mennonite couple inviting us to their Amish & Mennonite Church. We weren’t able to stay the whole time, but were there for Sunday School/Primary. It’s amazing how similar we are. If it weren’t for the men and women sitting on separate sides of the chapel and the bonnets and beards, I’d swear we were in our own church.

THUMBS UP: To the First Presbyterian Church members who were so kind to us when we wandered in off the street to find Nate a bathroom. They even offered us refreshments. Now that’s one thing we ARE missing at our own church.

THUMBS UP: To beauty and kindness everywhere

Our Trip to Penn State – Part 1

2009-11-04T14:27:00.001-07:00

I have a mountain of laundry and am tired, but I want to make sure to get our vacation documented before I start forgetting some of the details.

We went to Pennsylvania to visit my Grandma Raines (my dad’s step-mom). It’s been 10 years since I’ve seen her which means she hasn’t met Rob or the kids. She’s always been so kind by commenting on our blog, sending emails, and sending gifts for Christmas and birthdays. I wanted to make sure the kids had some memories of her so when a killer deal came up, we went for a visit.

Grandma emphasized how much she dislikes having her picture taken, so we kept our camera put away. That’s why we don’t have any pictures of her. But we had a great time chatting, eating, and looking through photo albums. The kids had a great time exploring around her apartment and finding cool treasures (adding machine, magnifying glass, etc.).

Thanks, grandma Maria, for hosting our family. We truly enjoyed our stay and are so happy we had the opportunity to get to know each other a little better.

We love you!!!

(I have much more of our trip to blog about.)

Nebo Drive & Payson Lakes

2009-10-25T21:15:00.001-06:00

Last weekend we piled in the car and drove down south to the Nebo Area. We hoped to go a few weeks earlier to see the leaves change but couldn’t make it happen. So yeah, the leaves were all down as we, or at least I (Rob) expected. Every time we drove over a hill and beheld a valley filled with trees (sans leaves) I would chuckle a little because I knew Julie was agonizing over how beautiful it could have been…..if only….. LOL!

We got out of the car at a few places along the drive to take a walk in the woods. How fun it was to goof around with the kids. We had a blast playing with sticks and rocks, throwing dirt and leaves, and jumping on logs. Of course we made a lot of images.

Nate has his mom's amazing eyes!

Eventually we made our way to Payson Lakes. We played in the dirt, mud, sand, and water for at least two hours! The kids found a old broken paddle to use as a make shift shovel. Instant FUN!

Here is one of Madeleine with her pile of rocks and dirt. She worked on this for about 20 minutes. I’m not really sure what she was doing the entire time; However, we can rest assured that it was satisfying. :)

Here are a couple shots I took when I wasn’t playing with the kids. We even found a few leaves for Julie!

I sure wish people would pick up their trash! Ugh!

Those interested can find a few more images in the web gallery.

Happy Birthday, Colleen!

2009-10-22T00:23:00.001-06:00

Today is my sister Colleen’s birthday. She turned 24. She has two totally great sons, Jason and Xander.

Here are a few memories I have of her or of us growing up together:

When Colleen was only a few years old, she would write her name on everything…usually in permanent marker. We’d find her name on bed frames, the wall, tables, just about anything. What made it funny was that she would always deny it, even though it was her name. What’s even funnier, is this is how she spelled Colleen – ololloollo. It was like she was a computer coding genius at 3. I wonder what secret program she was writing?
Colleen loved to tag along with me and my best friend. She was game for anything we wanted to play, as long as she was included. We played house, post office, school, Barbies, and anything else. She always wanted to be in the middle of the fun.
I don’t know if she still is, but growing up, Colleen was very accident-prone. I take that back, I do know. She is still very accident prone. She had a huge, bloody scrape across her face for my sister’s wedding, she chipped her two front teeth riding her bike into a parked car, she has had numerous sprained appendages, etc. But she’s always been a good sport about it, usually laughing at herself as she tells us what happened.
She had the prettiest, naturally blonde hair growing up. I was always jealous because mine was mousy brown. And I always thought my hand-me-downs looked cuter on her.
She has empathy. Two great stories comin’ at ya. 1-When she was maybe 3 years old we were visiting my grandparents on a vacation. We were all eating ice cream in the living room. We found Colleen in the bedroom with my great-grandmother who had Alzheimer’s, hand-feeding her ice cream. 2-The second story happened the night I said goodbye to my boyfriend who was entering the MTC the next day. I came home and as soon as I walked in the door, Colleen came to me and gave me a big, long hug. Now, my family is not a family of huggers. I don’t usually care for it (except with Rob and the kids), but that night I did and I was so appreciative of her for recognizing the difficult time I was going through. She was the only one who seemed to acknowledge it, and it meant a whole lot to me.
I seem to remember her always being in good spirits and enthusiastic, even amidst a difficult moment.

Some other notable things about Colleen now:

Even with all the stresses of adulthood, she is still usually in good spirits and enthusiastic about life.
Colleen and I have our differences. Many of them, in fact. But we’re always able to come together after a disagreement and just be sisters. She doesn’t hold grudges and does a good job at shrugging things off.
She is very detail-oriented. I am also, so I really value when someone else is. When she has the planning reigns, you don’t have to worry about her overlooking anything. She’ll have every detail worked out.
One thing that I truly admire is her phone skills. I hate calling. She revels in it.
She’s able to talk to absolutely anyone for any amount of time, even perfect strangers. It’s easy and natural for her. She’s always gracious.

Happy Birthday, Colleen!! I love you!!

Colleen & Kids

2009-10-21T09:22:00.001-06:00

My (Julie) sister asked us to take pictures of her, her sons, and her boyfriend’s sons. We went to Fort Buenaventura in Ogden. It was a great place for photos! Plus, the boys had fun running around in between photo snapping. It’s always easier when the kids are entertained and happy.

I’m not going to say too much else because Colleen’s birthday is this week so there’ll be a birthday post coming up. But enjoy the pictures. Family can see more here.

Xander is notorious for not wanting his picture taken. But we got some! Yay!

Jason looking handsome as ever.

His cool trick.

This picture makes me laugh. Jason was frustrated that his brother wasn’t cooperating. But Xander found great pleasure in licking his fingers and ignoring everyone.

But, eventually, we got a great shot.

This kid cracked me up. He was all about helping us with his own ideas on background, lighting, and posing.

When I asked them to give me attitude, I got attitude!

Mueller Park in the Fall

2009-10-18T13:39:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday we went to Meuller Park in Bountiful to experience the beautiful fall colors. The kids had fun throwing rocks in the water and Rob and I took turns taking pictures.

We had a great time, as usual, and hope to always get out in nature as a family. It does something good for the soul.

You can see a few more pictures here, if you’re interested.

Goodbye Goodbye

2009-10-13T11:28:00.001-06:00

Here is a quick video of my old band (Found) playing a favorite song of many called Goodbye Goodbye. Maybe some of you remember it. This performance was recorded at South Jordan Park as part of a battle of the bands. It was a lot of fun. And for the record……we totally won. :) At the end of the video is some embed code if you want to repost this somewhere else. :)

Snakeboarding

2009-10-11T15:27:00.001-06:00

A long time ago I was on the Utah Snakeboarding team. We had a bunch of ramps and did demonstrations with them around the state. It was a lot of fun! A local news person decided to create a segment on us for a local news station. Enjoy! If you can see the video here or you would like to download it then click here. :) I’m the one in the red shorts.

A Fall Day

2009-10-10T13:20:00.001-06:00

Please enjoy a few more impromptu images of the kids playing. I took these the same day as the black and white series I posted the other day. This was one of last warm days of the year. We had a blast outside playing. You can find a few more images in the gallery if you are interested. :)

Nate’s First Solid Food

2009-10-09T13:11:00.001-06:00

I’ve managed to upload a few more videos over the weekend and I present two for you of Nate having his first solid food. The first one is rice cereal and the second is some kind of vegetable. These videos are about 6 or 7 minutes long and probably wont win any awards (although one of them features some music by BB King). If you are interested take a look. They are pretty cute.

Next….

The Last Decade

2009-10-08T14:29:00.001-06:00

I (Julie) was sitting here at the computer wasting time and saw a cruiseline’s banner ad that read, “Come celebrate the decade with us.” It took me a sec to realize what they meant by decade. It’s 2009. Almost the end of 2009. A decade ago was the turn of the century.

Then I was struck. Wow. 1999. That was a crazy year for me. And it was 10 years ago now. Can that really be possible? And am I really 10 years older?

Ten years ago I was working at ZCMI in the shoe department. I made many new friends that year and I still keep in contact with most of them.

I also had a pre-mission boyfriend. But that’s a different story.

That year was a blast. I’d say it was the best of my life up until I met Rob 2 years later.

Thanks, 1999, for the ride.

Small Businesses - Locally Owned

2009-10-07T13:37:00.001-06:00

So, this trend in myself (Julie) is still quite the work in progress, but lately I’ve felt more inclined with buying from locally-owned small businesses.

Let me start at the beginning. My parents owned and then operated their own ship modeling magazine business while I was growing up. I saw how much work they put into making it succeed. I graduated with my BA so I was exposed to “behind-the-scenes” of large corporations and wasn’t too thrilled at what I saw. I currently work for my brother-in-law’s Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning business, and Rob and I have a photography start-up of our own. With my personal experience being involved in these, I’ve seen first-hand how great small businesses are.

As far as I can tell, most small businesses are the same in regard to:

1-The business is usually opened as an extension of the entrepreneur's passion. They love what they do. It’s not just their job, it’s their life.

2-These people invest so much of their own time, money, and HEART into their business in order to make it succeed.

3-They really, really want people to be happy with their product or service and they’ll do just about anything within their power to make it happen.

4-Many times, the quality is much higher than mass-produced goods and services. The owner’s are usually on the front line themselves; therefore, they’re able to see first-hand what the customers’ needs are and the best way to obtain his or her satisfaction. Attention and care is placed into each customer and each order.

5-In many cases, the higher quality, handmade/handgrown good or service is the same price, if not less expensive, than the large company’s. With overhead being much lower (and the small business owner being less greedy) it’s easy to keep the price fair.

Just to be sure you don’t misunderstand my intentions, it’s not like I don’t shop at Walmart or any other big box store. Sometimes the selection and price just can’t be beat. But sometimes it can.

I want to pursue shopping locally more because I like what it stands for. Supporting good people for their good work is a good thing.

Here is a link to the 3/50 project. It’s super short, interesting, and helps drive my points home. “Pick 3. Spend 50. Save your local economy.” Thanks, Savannah, for sending this to me.

Now, I want to hear from all of you who own a small business, work for a small business, just do a hobby for a little money on the side, or know someone who does. Some of you run a preschool, some do accounting, some are photographers, some make wedding cakes, some do hair, some are mechanics, some sew, some are graphic designers, and some are various consultants. I’d love you to leave a comment with who you are and what you do. Maybe, if you want, I’ll feature you in an upcoming blog post, PLUS, you may find me using your services. I’d rather give my money to a friend than to an impersonal corporation.

Julie’s History Questions 1-7

2009-10-05T16:56:00.001-06:00

I decided it would be fun to get a personal history account into my blog. I’m not up for a big project so I decided to take a few questions at a time and answer them simply rather than do a complete write-out. So here are the 1st seven questions. Every once in a while I’ll add some more.

FAMILY INCOME & LIVELIHOOD

1. What did my father do for a living?

My dad was (and is still) a conservator for the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City.

2. Did my mother work outside the home?

My parents started their own business publishing a ship-building magazine (my dad’s hobby). They owned it for a couple of years before they sold it but they continued to run the entire operation for 15ish years.

3. Did I get any allowance as a child?

No. There were periods of time when we’d earn a quarter or so for each chore performed.

4. Did your family have a garden?

Oh, yes. A pretty big one. My parents loved to have us weed for Family Home Evening. We always enjoyed the food, but us kids never liked the work it took.

5. What type of house did I live in as a child?

My family lived in a few houses, but the one that I grew up in was a typical 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in a typical Taylorsville neighborhood. My parents continually expanded it by adding an office, a washroom, a dining room, and a cellar.

6. Did I have a yard?

We lived on a corner lot so we had yard surrounding the house on all four sides. The front and front-side lawns were kept nice. In the back there was one corner reserved for the dog, one corner reserved for the garden, and the side-back yard was reserved for us kids. We had a swingset, a trampoline, a playhouse, we dug holes, and pretty much tore the place up. Great times.

7. As a child, did I have a room of my own?

I didn’t have my own room until I was about 11. The 5 kids that were living at home all took turns sharing rooms with one another.

Playtime in Black & White

2009-10-05T07:35:00.001-06:00

A week or two ago I did a playtime photo shoot with the kids. I used my new 35mm f/1.8 lens for these shots and just love the sharpness and feel this lens gives. I set up a flash on the windowsill which I directed towards the ceiling on 1/8th power and shot manual (1/100s at f/3.5). Had such a fun time. I hope you all like the fun and random images. :)

I hope you enjoyed these photos. Impromptu images of the kids are a lot of fun. I love getting down on their level. Family and Friends can view the gallery here if they want to download these images or order some prints. My kids are just so cute!

Chef Nate

2009-09-23T23:51:00.001-06:00

Before Nate was born we purchased a MiniDV camcorder (hard drive or flash memory versions were still too expensive at the time) to get lots of video of Nate. We shoot some video from time to time and I never get around to capturing that video digitally (it is a total pain). I’m finally getting around to doing it now and over the next several weeks we hope to share many fun videos from the past 4 years! To kick us off I give you “Nathan Cooks.” (Email Readers Click Here)

You may have heard of Nate’s intense desire to cook. This desire is slightly lessened as of late; however, this desire fueled many exciting adventures at our house. Here is a video of Nate (about a year ago) doing some cooking at home (completely of his own design) using ingredients that were nearly expired or that we would not eat. We hear a lot of talking by Nate in this video and those of you that are currently familiar with him will recognize his progress with pronunciation! When this video was taken his ears were completely filled with fluid. Poor guy. The video is almost ten minutes long so if you loose patience go to the end to see the finished product! :)

Coupon Extravaganza!

2009-09-22T22:08:00.001-06:00

Anyone in need of coupons (not grocery coupons)? I have a multitude. I bought a Happenings book plus have a bunch of loose coupons.

I have everything from Pier 1, Treehouse Museum, Crazy 8 kids clothes, the zoo, fast food, and LOTS of family activities. Name a place and I probably have a coupon for it. Maybe I need to have a coupon craze night and let everyone go through and grab all the coupons they want.

Ask and ye shall receive.

My Simple Testimony

2009-09-21T08:47:00.001-06:00

Tonight I (Julie) feel like expressing how happy I am to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I have a testimony of the gospel. The people aren’t perfect, but its principles and ordinances are.

Joseph Smith really did see Father in Heaven and Jesus the Christ. Every word of The Book of Mormon is true.

President Monson is the living prophet of God. He receives revelation and leads the Church with love and faith.

I’m grateful for my parents’ unfaltering faith. They taught me and showed by example the way to happiness.

I’m grateful to my children for teaching me, more than anyone ever has before, my faults. They stretch me to be better and better every day.

I’m grateful my husband holds and exercises his priesthood worthily and loves me without end.

Families are forever. How grateful I am for that truth.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Tidbits on a Tuesday

2009-09-16T23:04:00.001-06:00

Nate started preschool last week and really loves it. He always tells me all about what he learned and is always excited to go again. It’s also been nice for me and Madeleine to be able to spend some one-on-one time together.

When Nate says “pump” it comes out as “hump.” It’s quite comical, especially when he says things like, “Daddy, you need to hump up the ball.”

Madeleine is getting more and more headstrong. She’s independent, intelligent, and into everything. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for herself.

Nate does something that’s pretty funny. He makes sound effects to emphasize whatever he is doing…like he clicks his tongue, etc. Rob mentioned he probably gets it from him because he does the same thing. I never noticed before! So I’ve been paying more attention lately and it’s true. Rob makes sound effects, too! For example: clicking the mouse requires a click of the tongue, applying toothpaste requires a squirt sound, plopping a scoop of food onto a plate requires a plop sound. Unequivocally weird.

Last night I was sitting on the floor talking with Rob. I go to brush a stray hair off of my arm and see that the tickle wasn’t a stray hair. It was…a…spider!!! And not a teeny spider but a good, medium-sized spider. Talk about everyone’s nightmare coming true. EEEEKKK!!!! I had to shower right away because I kept feeling creepy crawlers all over me.

Three BIG thumbs up from Julie to After Hours Medical Centers for their move to offer monthly memberships to individuals who can’t afford health insurance and don’t qualify for Medicaid. Way to bypass the insurance companies and the government at the same time!! Can I hear a “Woo, Woo”! The plan isn’t perfect, but it’s a big step in the right direction. Don’t you just love forward thinkers?

There’s a new product I’m very excited about. I mean, what else comes with the promise “You won’t be like a man. You’ll just pee like one.” That’s right, I’m introducing you to the Female Urination Device (sometimes called a FUD). Great for camping, boating, skiing, and just plain unsanitary toilet conditions.

I believe the people who came up with this idea deserve some link love and you’ll get a good laugh out of it as well. I’m definitely putting it on my Christmas list this year ;)

I’m sure there are so many more things that I can’t think of at the moment. But here are some random pictures/portraits we’ve taken over the last couple of months. Family can see more pictures here. Enjoy.

Bath time!

I was looking for Nate one morning because it had gotten eerily quiet. I found him in his room, in his dirty clothes basket, eating a cookie.

Rob and I went on a double date with some friends the other night. We went to The Pie next to the U. While we were waiting for our friends to arrive we whipped out the camera and took some random pictures. The funny thing is that while Rob was laying on the ground for this shot and I was standing above him, our friends pulled up. They were laughing pretty heartily.

Gotta love the shadow on this one.

Rob had been trying to get a birthday portrait of me for weeks. I finally let him take it last Sunday. I look pretty serious.

Lots of love to all of you! Have a great week!

Help Wanted:

2009-09-12T21:04:00.001-06:00

One part-time mother for my two children.

Requirements: Piles of patience, the cleaning capabilities of Alice from the Brady Bunch, the energy of a nuclear rocket, and an unnaturally cheerful attitude 110% of the time whilst being screamed at nonstop.

Must be able to handle one constantly over-dramatic child and one who is roaring into her terrible 2s.

The lucky candidate will start immediately with a base salary of ZILCH.

Please send your resume
Attn: Mrs. Exhaus Ted CrankyPants

Labor Day – A Day Trip

2009-09-09T08:40:00.001-06:00

Can anyone guess where we went on our day trip??

I’ve (Julie) been wanting to drive the scenic Mirror Lake Highway for some time now. Finally, on the last unofficial day of summer, we made the trek. The weather was perfect and the the crowds of campers had all packed up and were going the opposite direction. There are a ton of pictures, but what would a Snow post be without them? Rob decided to let me handle the camera for the day, so all the pictures are courtesy of me!

After stopping in Kamas for lunch at Dick’s Drive-In (quite good), our first stop was just along the Provo River so the kids could throw rocks. Okay, okay, it was so Rob could throw rocks. He never fails to drop a large one in the water right next to me, drenching me, and he never fails to think it’s hilarious.

We stopped briefly at the Slate Gorge Overlook and then on to Upper Provo River Falls. I always had a memory in the back of my mind of coming here when I was little but never knew where or what it was. So it was pretty cool to get out of the car and see what I’d seen in my head all these years. This is such a fun place. The photos don’t really show very well, but picture terrace after terrace of waterfalls. After each fall is a pool of calm, shallow water. Great climbing rocks surround the area. The place was crawling with kids having a BLAST.

Next we stopped briefly at Washington Lake before the wind drove us onward.

Our last stop was at Mirror Lake. Geez, is it gorgeous or what?! Like always, Rob and I pledge to go back when we have more time to camp.

Family can view more pictures of our day trip here.

BTW…Yesterday’s post was supposed to be titled Southern EXPEDITION, not Southern EXPOSURE. hehehe. Oops.

Southern Exposure – Day 3

2009-09-08T12:25:00.001-06:00

I know I’m supposed to be writing about our Labor Day fun, but these pictures are finally ready so I’ll blog about this first. Hopefully I’ll get to Labor Day later this week.

We got up pretty early and went to Bryce Canyon National Park. We had originally planned to do a 3-4 hour hike which passed most of the significant points of interest down inside the amphitheatre, but were quickly running out of time. So we shortened the hike to 2 hours and still saw some incredible scenery. There’s no way to fully appreciate the beauty of this place if you just see it from the overlooks. Those, too, are amazing and give you a sense of scale, but hiking below the rim is a real treat.

We started at Sunset Point and hiked down through Wall Street. This was one of my favorite parts of the hike. Switchback upon switchback lower you into a narrow canyon with the wall HIGH above. Notice the teeny people at the bottom of this photo.

Next we walked through the valley with the orange rocks, green trees, and blue sky. Not too many people hike through this area so it was a lot less busy than the other areas of the hike, which was nice.

Next we hiked up to Queen’s Garden, which was another of my favorite areas.

Then we wound our way up to a lookout point. On one side of us was this view…

And on the other side of us was this view.

We made it up to Sunrise Point and walked along the rim to our beginning point. Along the way we stopped and sat on a bench which overlooked the entirety of Bryce Canyon. We couldn’t get ourselves to leave the view for a long time. It pretty much took our breath away.

So, all throughout our Southern Utah trip, we ran into gazillions of French speakers. I know some were from Canada and some from France but I wonder…does anyone know if there’s some kind of Southern Utah marketing bonanza geared towards the French? There weren’t very many people from other European countries or from Asia. But like I said, gazillions of French. I bugged Rob the whole trip to get him to ask them why, but he kept chickening out. Anyone else know?

Afterwards, we drove home through Red Canyon. Our trip was amazing. Thanks again to Rob’s parents for watching the kids. We’d never be able to do this kind of hiking with them. Thanks to my best friend and husband who is always up for an adventure and willing to appease my exploring nature.

Can’t wait for our next trip!

Saturday @ Bear Lake

2009-09-01T14:15:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday the fam went to Bear Lake with Rob’s parents. What a wonderful day! The weather was perfect, the water was perfect, and the kids were perfect.

I’d say the only down side was the striped sunburns Rob and I got from not applying the sunscreen very well. But not a big deal.

Here are some fun pictures of us. Family can view more here.

A New Game

2009-08-31T13:10:00.001-06:00

I’ve been playing a new game the last few days.

It’s all about reading cues correctly. Cues that occur before Madeleine is about to throw up.

I’m losing.