Great Chili, Crazy Costumes, and an Overdose of Candy -- It Must be Halloween

Guess which holiday that Mom is so glad is over that she took down the Halloween decorations on Sunday (Halloween) and put up Thanksgiving decorations. She also bought the kid's candy from them, and gave it all to Jer to dispose of (like he is really going to do that). She can't wait until the Christmas music starts on Nov 1.

Anyway, Halloween seemed to last forever at our house. It started over a month ago when Sarah started making the kid's costumes, which turned out great.

Last week, the kids had a crazy hair day at school. We then had a fun Halloween party at the Lewis's on the 23rd where we carved pumpkins and the kids started to accumulate their candy. We enjoyed the Ward Halloween party on Friday night, where Sarah won the Best Chili Award.

Crazy Hair Day at School
(on purpose this time)

Carved pumpkins at the Lewis's

Potato Head Family
(Tortilla Form, two little potatoes, and Pickle Form from Toy Story 3)

Jer won the funny costume award

(Thanks to a friend at work who provided the idea, the hat, and the suspenders)

Doh!-Nut Falls

After the YM canceled their hike to Lone Peak this weekend, I (Jer) and Kyle went hiking Friday afternoon. We set off for donut falls, characterized as a small waterfall that goes through a rock hole. I calls it Doh!-Nut falls because it took three attempts to find a way to actually reach the falls. On the first attempt, a middle age couple was trying to climb the steep wall on the east side of the falls. They turned around after it got to steep. We climbed to the top of the cliff and didn't want to go down the same way. (Lesson one taught to Cub Scout Kyle, it is easier to climb up a cliff than to climb down.) We followed a game trail that led us back to the creek. On our second attempt, we backtracked to find a trail that heads up the west side of the canyon. We did get a better view of the falls on the west side, but we hadn't reached the cave. On our third attempt, we went back to the creek and just bouldered up to the falls, which really wasn't that difficult, and much safer than the steep climb that we took on our first attempt. Doh!!

On the way down, we stopped at Hidden Falls. Not quite as impressive as Donut Falls, nor as fun to get to, but it did have a cool mine.

Hidden Falls

Kyle & Cara's Biathlon

Kyle and Cara had fun competing in the Alta Canyon Rec Center Kids Biathlon which included a 100-meter swim and a 1-mile run. Kyle won the overall and Cara placed second, with Kyle finishing about a minute ahead of Cara. Kyle's swim training has helped him get in shape.




Cara finishing the race:

Kyle's finish wasn't as dramatic but the video is interesting. Watch for the lady staging a finish, and Tadd running through the finish line trying to have some fun himself.

SNOWDER FAMILY SHOWS SUPPORT FOR PET SUPER ADOPTION WEEKEND

Kids beg Mom for a dog. Will she break . . .?

Actually, surveys show that 5 out of 6 Snowder's want a dog. The sole dissenting vote won't give and has been under pressure to bend. Neighbors have weighed in on the debate and one posted the pet adoption poster on our lawn. Thanks Doug! We never give up hope. We want a cockapoo, a breed that doesn't shed, is hypoallergenic, doesn't get to big, and is great with kids.

Hot Days of July

Sailing on the Jordanelle:

Fun With the Lewis Side of the Family

Kids' Vacation to Yosemite

The kids had a great time in Yosemite. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Snowder. Cara almost made it to Half Dome. Kyle floated down the river. Teya saw lots of wild animals.


Phone Conversation with Home:

Teya: We saw a coyote and a fox.
Mom: Did you pet the fox?
Teya: Mom. It was a FOX!

Self-check Test for Brain Damage; Cara's 5K; July 4th

Self-check for Brain Damage:

Teya passed on a self-check test for brain damage. She hit her head pretty hard a couple of days ago and must have been worried that she did some serious damage. She later told us that when she hits her head, she asks herself, "What is 1 + 1?" If she knows the answer, then she doesn't have brain damage.

OK. (sigh) I guess I'll have Steak
The family 4th of July get-together in Provo was bring-your-own meat for BBQ. To save money, we purchased hamburger meat to bring. When Cara was first told about the event, she pleaded, "Can we please have ribs. I love ribs!"
"No, Cara, we are not having ribs."
"Ok, (sigh) I guess I'll have steak."
(You can imagine her disappointment when she was brought down to reality that we were bringing hamburgers.)

Fortunately, Grandpa & Grandma came through and brought filet mignon for her and us. (Jer says: Yes, steak is better that dessert.) If God didn't want us to eat animals, He wouldn't have made them out of meat.

Cara's 5K:
We are so proud of Cara. She ran her first 5K, finishing in the top 36% of all female runners, and in the top half of all runners. She had enough "juice" at the end that she sprinted the last 200 meters, passing several runners and attracting notice of the race announcer, "There's a runner that is excited to finish."

Fun 4th of July Weekend:

Other than a few people getting sick and Kyle throwing up in his aunt's car, it was a wonderful weekend. We had great times with the family, including a BBQ, swimming, croquet, fireworks, flag raising ceremony, Grandma Johnson's 4th of July program, fun runs, and Toy Story 3.

The interaction of the two-year olds was fireworks itself.

Reenactment of Boston Tea Party

YOU DANCE LIKE YOUR MOM!!!! (A can't miss video)

Tadd turned on the radio, pressed the search button until he found a station he liked, and then WENT TO TOWN!

A can't miss video:

For the Family: Sandy City Performance

For our family members, I've uploaded the kid's singing performance in the Sandy play. The video was to large so I had to break it up into two clips.


Clip 1 of 2

Clip 2

No, This Isn't Hell--It's Nevada

111 degrees is hot!!!!

As a background, we had a fun weekend in Arizona for Holly and Killen's wedding. We were not use to the heat, and made good use of the pool at the house the family rented. It was good to see everybody. Cara taught Jeremie that his description of the many "cactuses" is wrong, and that it is "cacti". On the way back, we stopped at the Hoover Dam at the border of Arizona and Nevada. We parked on the Arizona side and walked across the dam to Nevada. We let the kids pick out souvenir items, and Teya picked out a little stuffed dog that she named "Angel" because she saved it from the dam gift shop. In the 110+ degree heat, Cara started to show signs of heat stoke and the kids longed to return to the air conditioned car. They commented that they thought that that this is what Hell would be like. Sarah, corrected, "No, this is Nevada."

Kyle and his cousin.

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Below are some videos for the family:

Coming out of the temple.

Pool Play.

The Best Things Come in Small Packages

It's true. . . sometimes the best things come in small packages. Tadd came into our room in the middle of the night on Saturday with a fever, and slept until 11:45 a.m. When he woke up, he was full of energy and acted like his normal self. By the end of the day, he had worn himself out and crashed (literally).

As for family news, Teya graduated from preschool and Cara & Kyle are enjoying their last days of school, including a performance in the Silver Mesa Elementary School Choir concert.

Teya's Graduation

Silver Mesa Choir Concert
(Cara & Kyle are front row, far left)

Mom -- I Wish You Were Blind

At what extent should become concerned on Teya's obsession with getting a pet? She brought up an unusual conversation a few days ago with her dad.

Teya: "I wish that mom was blind."

Dad: "What?! Why do you want mom to be blind?"

Teya: "That way, we could get a dog."

[Dad pauses as he imagines Teya hiding a dog from a blind mom]

Teya: "She would need the dog to help her get around the house."

Dad: "Oh, it would be a seeing-eye dog. How would mom know where to pick up the poop in the backyard?"

[Teya giggles]



Well, we aren't getting a dog, but on the last trip to the pet store (JUST TO LOOK) Teya selected a specific puppy that she pretended that she adopted--she just has to keep it at the pet store. When the puppy gets sold, Teya will select a new dog to adopt, and so forth.

You're Good at Soccer -- "Yes I am."

Cara and Teya only have one more week of soccer. Both are doing very well. Cara has scored six goals over the last three games as her team has won at a combined score of 9-2. It will be interesting when Cara's team, almost all 4th graders move up to the 5th & 6th grade competition level in the fall. They haven't lost a game over the last few seasons, but they will soon be some of the youngest girls in the league.

Teya is on a pre-school team where the league does not have goalies and the games are mostly back and forth scoring. Teya also scored a couple of goals yesterday. When we complemented her that she is good at soccer, her response was, "Yes, I am."

Teya at soccer:

Teya's #1. fan. "Go Teya!"

Sandy Pride Day of Service:

Bike parade at a neighborhood park

MuRDeR . . . MoRE ChOice tHaN DrUgS?

Our kids auditioned and were selected to be in a Sandy City play that will be performed in June. The play is centered around the Beatles and features many of their songs. After the first night of practice, the kids were told that the director would like them to be the featured singers of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". Not knowing the song, Sarah went home googled the song.

With the kids in front of the computer screen, they watched a youtube video someone had made of the song. Imagine Sarah and the kids watching a video of a young man asking a girl on a date, and then when the girl opens the door "Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer come down upon her head. Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer made sure that she was dead." The screen turns red, and the scene is of the girl sprawled out on the floor.

The upbeat tune has contradictory lyrics about a young medical student who murders his girlfriend, then a teacher, and then the judge. It's a vaudevillian-style song that was written by the Beetles as a tongue-in-cheek message relating that sometimes bad things happen out of the blue. I've added the song to our playlist at the left of our blog if you are interested.

At the next practice, the kids learned the dance steps to the song as a group, and it is being presented in a humorous way, as reflected in the tune. Steve Martin has a video version of the song that is not as violent as some of the other youtube videos. Jeremie's favorite is the video with a man dressed as the girlfriend, and the man's handpuppet is the judge.

After learning the dance steps, the kids told the director they would rather be dancers in the song rather than featured singers, and the directer seemed to agree that they would be good dancers for the piece. Anyway, with the song portrayed as a comical dance, our concerns are reduced a little.

After that first night and seeing what song our kids are involved with, we scanned the program to see what other Beetles songs might be performed. The popular drug songs "Yellow Submarine" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" are notably missing. So my observation is, I guess that it is better to sing about a serial killer than popularizing drugs.

ALL IS WELL AROUND HERE ON MOTHER'S DAY (except our neighbor's house is on fire)

Mother's Day had been pretty relaxing . . . Jeremie was able to come home right after church . . . we are cooking a turkey for dinning . . . the weather is a nice 70*. . . we were able to go for a walk. However, during our walk, as Tadd was showing us his friend Ella's house, five fire trucks, two ambulances, and a couple of police cars raced past us and turned down our street. At the site of the first fire truck and ambulance, Jeremie's first thoughts were "Uh oh. .. one of our neighbors had a heart attack." Sarah's thoughts, "Uh oh . . . Do you think OUR house is on fire?"

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Anyway, all of the commotion related to a house down the street from us. From the story I heard, the fire started when the owner (Jay) was soldering a copper pipe in the wall. The back wall in the kitchen caught on fire with the fire traveling up the interior of the wall and filling the home with smoke. No one was injured, but the damage to the home is pretty bad. The firemen had to cut through the back of the house to make sure the fire wasn't smoldering within.

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We feel terrible for Jay. He has been renovating his house over the last few years completely refinishing the exterior with fiber-cement siding and the interior with new flooring and a new kitchen--just completing the last details of the kitchen last week. Luck has not been in his favor with his house. A couple of years ago, someone out of malice had turned on a water hose in his basement window while he was out of town. After the damage was fixed, the ice maker in the fridge broke while he was out of town, again flooding the basement. Not to mention, he had lost his job in this down economy. The photos below show our kids smiling, but everyone in the neighborhood feels bad for Jay.

Mother's Day Humor

I had to chuckle this morning when the Bishop recounted how he had once announced the Mother's Day treats being passed out in church. Not wanting to offend anyone, decoratively wrapped chocolate was purchased for all sisters in the ward age 18+ whether they had children or not. In trying to announce that all sisters but not the young women were to get a treat, he announced "If you consider yourself a woman, take a box of chocolates."

Reg. Update of the Family

We had a fun weekend to close out the end of April and welcome May. On Friday evening we went and saw Sarah's hometown friend Randall Mcgee and Groark perform at Ogden's Treehouse Museum. Our kids were non-stop laughing at the show, and Teya's wish list of pets increased to include dragons (Groark).

Saturday started with Cara scoring three of her team's four goals in a 4-1 win in 4th grade soccer. We then headed on over to the Scout-O-Rama where the kids built paper rockets, rock climbed, learned to use a wheelchair, and at lots of candy.

Randall, the kids, and Groark.

Groark in action.

"You're salsa is made in New York City?!?!?

Fun at the Scout-O-Rama

We enjoy the parks around our house.

Ohhh. . . .We've got to build one of these.