Crazy Mom and here first century ride!

I'm pretty sure my kids think I am crazy!! This Saturday I went on a century bike ride! 6.5 hours on a bike seat. We traveled through beautiful farmlands and the temperature was perfect.  It went well but by mile 80 I wanted it to be done.  By mile 90 I was exhausted and it seemed like there were a lot of hills.  It was really hard.  Jo Smith, Jolene Nosak and I made it though.  We were very compatible with each other and had a lot of fun together.

Austin Received his mission call.

We are crazy excited in our house this week.  Austin's call came on Wednesday and we had the whole family over for the big event.  Austin wanted to open it with his family and then take his friends to Tuchanos for dinner and tell them all where he would be going.  He has been called to serve in IRELAND/SCOTLAND!!!  We were all so surprised but we all think it will be so perfect! Foreign country, English Language, beautiful, modern conveniences, totally different way of life, beautiful, great mission!  He was thrilled! I'm so proud as his Mom of his choice to sacrifice two years of his life for this gospel and to being a better way of life to the people of Ireland and Scotland.

Too Much of a Good Thing!

We were so busy this summer it didn't even seem like a summer! We had a blast but I was exhusted.  We just had to go to Lake Powell a week into school.  It was beautiful and fun but I felt really tired the whole trip and could have gone home to my little bed at any moment.  The rest of the fam on the other hand couldn't get enough of "Fun in the Sun" We did a lot of exploring and wake boarding.  Conner got up for the first time and was an instant pro.  I got up easily this year and had a great time.  Nikki is jumping now and Scott is just a crazy man.  The big kids stayed home once again.  They are just too busy for us or they figured out how fun it is to stay home alone.

Awakening

If I want to get in all the training I do everyday I have to wake up at 5:15!!  I have never been a morning person and don't know if I will ever become one.  It is hard every day but once I am out running, watching the sunrise, it makes me happy! I am always glad I woke up to get in my run! Now if I could only feel that way when I'm lying in bed at 5:15 not wanting to get up! I have to tell myself "You will be glad you did this"  Since school started I have been running, climbing...with one set of friends at 5:30 and then at 8:30 I have been biking and hiking.  I love it all! I'm in the best shape of my life (which is sad since I'm 44 )  I sure wish I would have figured this exercise thing out a long time ago.

First Day of School! 2011

This day describes my family to the tee....Went out front to take pictures and Austin wouldn't put down his cereal because it isn't his first day of school.  Sidney came home from school telling me how much she hates school and how many days left until summer.  Nikki walked through the door singing and telling us what a great day she had.  Conner spent all afternoon telling me every minute of every conversation he had with every person he saw at school today.  My day was spent...waking at 5:00 and running, cleaning house and sending kids off, going on a bike ride to south fork, getting my hair done, going to lunch with Jennie and then deep cleaning Conners room.  It was a great first day of school!!!

FAthers BlessingS and the Start of scHool!

Tonight was a huge night for the Snowden's.  First we finished Austin's mission papers and have sent them off to the bishop.  We are hoping the bishop and stake president call him in quickly and he gets his call in the next few weeks.  Ahhhhhh so bitter sweet! I'm so excited for this new adventure in our families lives but we will miss him so much!!

Scott also gave all the kids a sweet back to school fathers blessing tonight.  Our kids love this night and love hearing all the spirit and heart felt words of their Dad. Scott is a man of few words but the things he blesses them with are important to them and so special.  I always give the boys a present of a grocery bag filled with back to school goodies and the girls some sort of momento.  This year they got gift cards to jamba juice and subway.

Tomorrow the first day of school is here.  I'll miss everyone.  It's been a great summer!

Summer..is over and I'm going to catch up on blogging! I promise!

Summer was crazy, busy!  It was fun but now I wish we still had a few weeks to catch up.  We played hard all summer and didn't get to do everything we wanted to but had a blast!  I need to blog about Yellowstone, Jordanelle, sending in Austin's mission papers, California and dance nationals, our family Jordanelle trip, the heat, and various other things.  For now I am posting this so I can remember it all and come tomorrow with some great pictures and posting.

Graduation from Seminary

Tonight was the first event of the end of the school year season.  Austin graduating from seminary.  It is all so bitter sweet.  As a Mom you begin to see the end of your kids needing you so much and since that is my full time job I don't really like losing it.  I am so proud of my Austin though! He has the sweetest spirit about him.  He has touched our whole family in so many ways.  I want to cherish every moment until he leaves on his mission because I know it is where he should be and it will be so good for him but we are going to miss him so much!!!

Lady GAGA

Aunt Camie bought Lady Gaga tickets for Sid and Dan forever ago.  Well the big night was last night.  Sidney was so excited to go to her first concert.  She thought it was the best thing ever.  Aunt Camie said she only had to hid here eyes 3 times and cover her ears a few times...haha! Good thing she has a great Aunt who will spoil her.  She even came home with a GaGa shirt so it was a very good night!

Austin....coming to an end.

This past weekend was all about Austin! Friday night was his last high school battle of the bands.  They played so great.  It has been so fun to see how much they have improved over this year.  It was also the final games of church ball.  Our Priest team this year was really good.  They won our stake tournament and went to regionals.  They made it all the way to the semi finals and then lost! They fought such a hard battle but just couldn't get it done in the end.  All these events with Austin are so bitter sweet as we come to an end of his high school life.  He is growing into such a great young man and I couldn't be prouder of him :)!

I'm a Sub!

I've gone back to work.  I started substitute teaching and I'm really thinking it's the best job I could have with my vast schooling and experience! I can work when I want, work the kids hours, and get to be with kids all day.  It's taking a little adjusting to. My house isn't nearly as clean and organized as I like and I've had to have the kids ride their bikes to several after school events but all in all I think it's my best option for now.  We also started cleaning Studio One one night a week. Sid, Nik and Cons all help and we are usually out of there pretty quick.  I think it's great the kids can help earn money for their very expensive talent!  Austin has been working with Scott a lot lately and I am so thankful that his Daddy can teach him a great trade that he can always use to help support his schooling and maybe even take over our business one day. :)  As a family we have been supportive of each other through these past hard times and have grown closer.  I LOVE my family!

Sidney's a Queen

When Jess started doing solo's we went to a lot of competitions that gave out crowns to the winners of dance.  Sidney was always wanting one of her crowns.  That became less popular or we started going to comps that didn't give away crowns.  Well this past weekend Sidney finally won Queen Solo Dancer! She got her crown and wore it proudly.  

Basketball Season

I love the change of seasons and the change of sports!! Basketball is on and with Austin playing J Jazz and Church Ball, Nikki playing J Jazz and church ball and Conner playing his first year of J Jazz we had enough games a week in our family to keep us hopping.  Then we tried to add in watching our Cougars and Jazz! Our whole winter has been a Madness.  The kids have loved playing ball and we have loved watching them.  Austin is a crazy hustler and really fun to watch, Nikki rebounds like crazy and it is so cook to see my daughter play under the basket.  She is actually one of the tallest girls in J Jazz. Conner is aggressive and turning into a great shooter. Conner doesn't go anywhere without his ball.  He loves going to his brother and sisters games just so he can shoot at time outs and half time.  Scotty coached Conners little team and had a blast.  We took all the little boys to a Cougar game at the end of the season and had a blast!

Our first time to Phoenix.

Sidney earned a year long scholarship to LA Dance Magic and really wanted to use it at least once.  We decided a few months ago we would travel in the motor home to Phoenix.  None of us had ever been there and it would be warm in March.  We enjoyed the 80 degree weather, swimming, a spring training game between the Oakland A's and the San Fran Giants, and a 10k race. The girls danced their hearts and legs out! All in all a fast fun trip.  The ride home was very long.  We left at 6:00 pm and drove until 1:00 am.  Once again we stopped at a Walmart to get a few hours of shut eye in.  Scott woke up at 5:00 and took off again.  We were home be 9:30am.

We all decided it was fun but we never need to go back to Arizona again. Not really a fan of sand, cactuses and brown.  No offense to all you retirees who love it there!

Our Church callings!

Scotty has been in Young Mens since Austin was 12 (6 years) and I have been in Young Womens since Jess was 12 (8 years) We love working with the youth in our ward.  I just got a new calling as Stake Assistant Camp Leader. I get to work with Awesome women with such great testimonies and they are so fun too.  I love planning and working on camp.  Our Theme this year is Recieve the Holy Ghost your constant companion.  I have to speak to all the Young Women leaders next week and then speak to the whole stake at camp.  That is a little scary but I'm ready to take on the challenge.

Austin and the Battle of the Bands

Austin's Band No name Needed went to the semi-regionals in Sandy this past Saturday.  Wow! It was so fun to see Austin perform on a live stage. He plays non-stop at home but it's hard to tell how good he is getting until we say him perform.  His band was did pretty good but Austin rocked! All his practicing is definately paying off in big ways.  He got really good comments from all the judges too.  We have the video posted on you tube under no name needed 1 and no name needed 2.  Check them out!!

Temple Tuesday

Once a month my girlfriends and I are going to the temple! We want to visit a different temple every month and then of course go to lunch.  Our first temple was the draper temple.  We had taken the kids to the open house but I hadn't gone through a session there.  It was beautiful.  I love the comfort and strength I feel everytime I go to the temple.  Now Scott and I just need to work on getting there once a month also.  We also want to take the kids to do baptisms again very soon.

You've been Jimmered! Goodbye Coach Sloan! Tons of games!

Our family (except Sidney) love to watch and play Sports.  Our BYU basketball team is rated number 7 in the nation right now.  They have a great player Jimmer Fredette!  He is up for the national college player of the year.  He is incredible and we got to watch him in person play the number 4 team San Diego State.  It was the funnest game I have ever been to.  It was also the loudest game I've ever been to.  We ended up winning the game and it was so fun!

Yesterday Jerry Sloan, the forever coach of The Utah Jazz resigned.  What a great man and coach he has been for the past 20 something years.  We will miss you and appreciate all you have done for our community and your team.  Coach Ty Corbin has taken over and we are hoping he has as much success or more!

We are very busy with basketball season right now.  Austin plays two games on Saturdays, Conner plays one and Nikki plays two.  5 kids games a week is crazy but fun!  All the kids are hustlers on the court and very fun for their competitive mom to watch!

A few of Nikki's 6th grade adventures

All my kids have participated in the NOVA program.  It is a drug awareness program put on by the Orem City police department.  All the kids had to write a talk about what they would do to stay off drugs.  Nikki got picked to read her talk at NOVA graduation.  I have to admit I was really impressed with her speech.  You easily forget how much your kids are growing up day to day.  She is growing into a great young woman.

The next week the 6th grade had a mock trial.  Nikki was a defense attorney defending the witch from the Hansel and Gretel story.  The parents got to come watch and be a part of the jury! I had to help convict the witch (Nikki wasn't very happy with me) but it was fun to see the kids be a part of this process.  Nikki is loving 6th grad and it is going by very quickly!

Family Prayer and Scripture Study and some hard times

Family Prayer has never really been a problem at the Snowden house.  We meet together every night around 9:30 and pray.  Everyone has an assigned night so we know when it is our turn.  Scipture Study has been OK as a family we have read through the BOM 3.5 times now.  Which is really slow.  Some nights everyone is just too tired, including me.  Some nights everyone is too silly and a lot of nights we have watched general conference talks instead of reading the scriptures.  This year we need to try harder to follow the advice of our leaders and be more consistent with our reading. I know it will bring greater blessings to our family and we need to help Austin prepare for his mission!

I just got a new calling to be the Assistant Camp Leader for our Stake. I am really excited and love all the ladies on my board.  I have to give a devotional the first morning of camp to all the YW and leaders of the Stake.  I am a little nervous about this but have a lot of time to prepare so I'll be fine! :)

We have had a hard couple of years financially in our home.  The economy has hit very hard and the construction world has been the recipient of it's wrath.  Somehow Scott has found enough work to keep us afloat but our income has been cut to almost 1/3 of what it was. We are really weighing in on me getting a job outside the home.  The problem is I have no formal education.  (Girls get your education finished :))  If I'm going to work outside the home I want it to at least be helping our family more than hurting it so we are going to start praying and looking at what is our there for me :)  The roller coaster of life has us on a slow climb upward now and I can't wait to get to the top again! :)

Austin's Blessing

Today we had a very special morning.  My Austin received his patriarchal blessing from Orlo McQuewen.  The McQuewens were such a sweet couple and invited us into their home and let us know how awesome they thought Austin was and got to know us in the first half an hour.  Brother McQuewen then went on to give Austin a very touching special blessing.  I was crying through the whole thing of course. Scott and Austin were both very touched by it also.  I'm so excited to get it in the mail so we can read it over and over and save it away somewhere very safe for him.  All these steps are just helping me realize how grown up he is becoming.  And most of all how PROUD I am of the Young Man he is becoming.

The Girls Awesome Studio One Concert

This year I was so excited for the Benefit Concert.  I hadn't seen any of the girls dances since they started learning them.  It's always fun to get a peak at the choreography you'll be cheering for all year.  It is Nikki's first year on a major company team.  She is on Juniors this year.  That was another reason I was excited to watch.  She did great.  I loved all the dances.  Usually some of them have to grow on me but I really loved all of them.  Sidney's senior team is full of Studio One lifers.  It is crazy to see all these girls who have danced together since they were three now in High School and performing like pro's! It's going to be a super fun year!

Do we live in Antarctica??

It is soooooo freaking cold!!  I'm soooooo tired of it! The ground is frozen.  The snow from weeks ago is still on the ground and the roads.  I can't get up the desire to go and run because ice is still all over the sidewalks.  I have a ski pass but I don't want to go up into the cold for the day to ski! All I want to do is snuggle up next to my fire, with my blankie, in my jammies and watch T.V.  This is not the best training for all my races I have coming up but I'll just keep enjoying my excuse to be LAZY!!

Conner isn't SPOILED

The kids are always saying I spoil Conner buy I think everyone in the family is to blame for this.  I constantly see the big kids giving in to him and making him feel like he is king of the home.  This day at a pool in SLC cracked me up.  I know Conner was thinking " Ha Ha once again I've got my brother and sisters right where I want them.  I told Conner my New Years goal was to make him more obedient and nicer.  He wanted to make sure I had a resolution for every kid.  I had to think about that and made one for everyone.  Most of them involve spending more time one on one with each of my kids rather it be skiing, lunch or pedi's. Every week I'm going to take a different kid myself.

AUSTIN 18 AND A SENIOR

Austin turned 18 this month.  It's so hard to believe.  This could be our last Christmas with him for two years.  We are getting him ready for college and he is taking his classes to become an elder.  I remember so much about his youth and what a great kid he has always been.  I'm excited to see the awesome man he is going to become and I love him so dang much.  I better enjoy every minute of him this year!

Never too old for SANTA

Moab

We went to Moab with our great friends the Wilkeys.  We had never taken our family there and I have no idea why.  We had so much fun.  We mountain biked all over.  We hiked the arch.  We went Jeeping over crazy things.  It was so scary but I loved it. Once again we slept in the motor home as a family.  We are getting very used to the squishy motor home. We will spend a lot more time in Moab in our near future!

Our Christmas 2010

As usual we played all Christmas Break!  We went to a Jazz game, the nutcracker, festival of the trees, bought Christmas for an angel, saw a few movies and went skiing.  Christmas Eve we spent with the Stalker family.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone and Jess came down for Christmas Eve and stayed for Christmas morning.  It was so good to have the whole family around for a night.  We cut way back this Christmas with our spending but you wouldn't of been able to tell by the excitement of the house.  I got great deals on Amazon.com and made our dollars really stretch.  Austin got an amp he really wanted, Sid and Jess got new iphone 4's, Nikki got a used computer,and Conner got a lot of fun toys.  This year Conner figured out the Santa secret and it was really sad.  I think we will just keep leaving Santa out and pretending that he came because it is so fun.  I don't want to give that all up.