Our Big Summer vacation (Part 1)

Visting the Sacred Grove in Palmyra.
The Palmyra temple--So beautiful!

Touring the Sacred Grove with my Sweetie!

Visiting Niagra Falls with all the other tourists!

Touring upstate New York.

So our adventure began July 31st. We drove our kids to Pocatello to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussen while we got the vacation of a lifetime to go to New York and Boston without any kids. My sister Janelle and my niece Tyler took Zach and we can't thank our family enough for taking care of our kids so we could go on this trip!! SO Thank You, THANK YOU everyone!

Since it is late and I have been wanting to post this trip for weeks I have had to break it into 2 parts because I don't know how to add more pictures to this post...it's is getting late so just humor me...Did I mention it is late? ( I just edited what I've typed so far and this could be a really funny post! So pardon any rambleing!)

We flew from SLC to Buffalo, New York on Saturday. The next day we crossed the border and visited Niagra Falls. It was beautiful. Then it was back across the border. It took us twice as long to cross the border than actual time spent looking at the falls! No kidding!! Then we drove a about an hour and a half to Palmyra, New York. We met up with Scott's other brother John and his family. It was SO fun to see our nieces and nephews. It had been 2 years for me and I can't believe how much they have each grown and changed. John Paul may be 13 inches taller than me but can still carry him--barely!

While in Palmyra we got to tour all the sites of where the Mormon church got it's beginning. Itwas amazing to tour the Grandin building where the Book of Mormon was published and hear the history of how much was sacrificed so that that we can have this book. I loved going to the Joseph Smith home. The home is 80 percent original and boy did it smell original!! I also loved going to the Martin Harris farm and hearing stories from the missionaries living there. It was an experience I will never forget. When we got home I was on a car trip with Britt a few weeks later and she was keeping me awake while we were driving. So I decided to tell her how our church was started. I must have gotten lost in my own stories but after I had talked for about 15 minutes I realized she was FAST asleep. Huh, I guess it's alot more exhilerating once you have walked in these sacred places. I love that our testimonies never have to stop growing.

Catching the Summer Wave Snelders Style

Nate shows Mom that with Jared's help surfing is easy!
Britt couldn't wait for her turn to catch a wave.

OH, I got it,wait...Nope, I don't! But every time I fell I did it with style!

Scott is showing off his new found wake surfing skills!

Zach learned to love his life jacket and didn't complain until the end of the trip! What a little trooper!

The hum of the boats motor helped Zach take a nice long nap! Ahh, peace and quiet for all!

Kayden (Nates new 10 year old friend--who is a bug and lizard expert) caught this lizard at the campground and let Nate take turns holding it. The kids all loved "Geekie" and were sad when they had to release him back into the wild.

With a smile on her face, shirt on backwards, and that awesome hair; it is obvious that Britt got the best night sleep on our campout. I guess 80 degrees is her perfect sleeping temperature!

Owyhee Reservoir

We have some awesome friends in Star! The Cheney's invited us to go camping and boating this weekend and we didn't want to miss this opportunity! We drove Friday evening about and hour and a half to Owyhee Reservoir in eastern Oregon. It was a beautiful area that neither Scott or I had ever seen before. We love going discovering new places.

However once we arrived at our camp spot and were deciding where to pitch our tent the kids heard a rattlesnake. Sad to say this time it was NOT their imaginations. Some other adults came over and crushed the snakes head with a rock and then the camp host came over to "finish" the snake off...with a shovel. SO we decided to put our tent as far from the sagebrush as possible!! Luckily that was the only rattlesnake we saw.

Stacie and Jared have a son that is 10 and this kid is an animal expert! He told me so much about lizards and snakes and bugs it nearly made my head spin. He had caught a little lizard earlier in the day before we arrived and named him "Geekie". I was surprised when Nate asked to hold him. He did great as long as the Geekie held still, if the lizard so much as flinched Nate was ready to throw him on the ground. Luckily Geekie was very cooperative. Nate and I also visited the kids that took the rattlesnake body and touched the belly of the snake. We were surprised to find the body still reacted to touch even when it's head was 50 yards away in the sagebrush! Ahh, you gotta love Nature!

After playing cards for a bit we were all exhausted and Britt and Nate were SO excited to sleep in the tent. I didn't realize how warm it would be at night and packed everyone nice warm pj's. By morning it cooled off to maybe 72 degree's. Even little Zach woke up with sweat down his back.

Soon were packed up and ready to hit the lake. First we found a nice cove and anchored down for swimming and lunch. Man, what better way to spend a hot summer day! After lunch it was time to start lessons. This was our second time trying wake surfing and we found some of us and faster learners (Scott) and others (Nat). I drank alot of lake water on my first turn. I got up nearly every time but only stayed up for about 20 seconds! Then Scott has to make me look bad by popping up and surfing on his 2nd attempt! He did great. He got into the "sweet spot" and even had enough confidence to let go of the rope. I should get the "perseverence award" because I tried ALOT! My coaches, Stacie and Jared, say I'm getting better and I could tell I was getting it toward the end of the day. But if I stop now then hopefully we can squeeze another invitation out of the to go boating before the summer is over. So really, sucking at this sport is really for the benefit of my family! HUGE Thank you to the Cheney's for a very FUN and memorable trip to Owhyee! What a blast!

July Summer Fun

We've had a fun filled last couple of weeks. We spent the 4th of July out in Wayan where we had our annual 4th of July Parade. Reluctantly, I am posting a shot of my patriotism! We had a lot of fun hanging out with family, playing games, and lighting firworks.

The next weekend we had Julie and her three kids come over for the first annual Star Hometown celebration. Saturday morning was a fun run and Natalie ran along with Nathan, Brittanie, Hallie & Brynn. They all had fun running and Hallie, Natalie, and Nathan all took home a little hardware from the event. Brittanie performed with the Star Performers that night at the barbecue. The pic I loaded shows her enthusiasm with singing and dancing. This was the third and final performance for her this year. She did great and loved every minute of it.

I also loaded a couple of pictures of the kids playing outside in the backyard. They loved having their cousins come over to play. They are looking forward to the week in Pocatello with their cousins and Grandma & Grandpa later this summer!

Broadway, Are you ready for this?

The Star Performers take the stage at the Emmett Cherry Festival
Britt takes to the stage and sings her little heart out!

Solo time...and she Brings down the house! She didn't hold back at all when she got in front of a real audience!

Look at that hip action as she "Washes that man right out of my hair!"

After Britt performed at her 1st grade program and then again in front of her entire school at the end of the year talent show we realized we had a little performer on our hands! I heard about this singing group that does a few performances in the summer and decided to let Britt try it out. She has had a BLAST! So far they have been in a parade and then their first stage performance last Saturday at the Cherry Festival in Emmett. It is SO fun to watch her perform! She really goes all out when she is on stage. I don't know where she gets it! They have 2 songs they perform and it took me a full week before I could get it out of my head!--Oh man, now talking about it has brought it all back!! "I love you, a Bushel and a Peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!...."You bet your 'purdy' neck I DO! Doo-da-loo-da-loo-do-do!! The other day the kids across the street started a lemonade stand. The next thing I see is Britt making a sign of her own. So I'm thinking it's only a matter of minutes before she is asking me to help her make Kool-Aid to start up her own lemonade stand. But she surprised me. In stead she had a sign that read in 1st grade handwriting" "Brittanie will purform "Bushul and a Peck" for $1.00 each show.

Now that cracks me up! So what do you do when you don't have a good agent? You do it yourself because good help is hard to find!

Look out Kindergarten!

If only we knew how nervous Nate really was standing up in front of everyone!
Handsome little graduate!

Nathan gradutated from Preschool earlier this month. We know how shy our little Nathan is and wondered how he would do in this program. A few weeks earlier he wouldn't go on the stage at church and sing for Mother's Day with all the other kids. I wasn't surprised when the daycare owner told me the next day how scared Nathan was as they were lining up to begin. He went to the bathroom and was in there a long time. It was long enough that a teacher went to check on him and found him in the corner of the bathroom nearly in tears. Luckily we have the BEST teachers at his school and one of them took him by the hand and told him that she also gets nervous in font of an audience and it would really help her if HE would hold her hand when they walked in. That did the trick! Once he got over his nerves he had a wonderful program and got to accept his dipolma. Thank you Stepping Stones for all you have done to help our little Nathan grow and learn. Look out Kindergarten...Here comes Nathan!

What a Girl won't do for the 1st slice of Pizza!

So this is how she REALLY feels between shots!
Pretty little Ballerina!

I'm pretty proud of the hair. It's not easy to fake a bun with Britt's current hair style. All those hours of styling my Barbie head finally paid off!

This year picture day fell on a Tuesday night about 5:00 pm. So to make my life more simple I ordered pizza from the place 2 doors down from the dance studio. As soon as we got home from dance pictures Britt was dying to dive into the pizza but I REALLY wanted some cute pictures since I had done all this work getting her ready. So we made a deal. If she looked and smiled AT the camera, after 5 pictures I would let her change and she could have the 1st piece of pizza. If you know Britt at all, she has wandering eyes when it comes to pictures but man the PIZZA DEAL had her focused! I was sneaky and took a few extra pictures but it was SO much easier than pictures in the past. So note to self...recital night, have a few slices of pizza as bait!

I love watching Brittanie take dance. I was devastated when she quit in the fall for gymnastics but was thrilled (and a little guilty for enticing her to sign-up again) when she decided to come back. As we were getting her ready for pictures she flew off the chair when she saw me coming at her with (Dun-Dun-DUN) Mascara! She ran from me and told me that is why she quit dance. After some smooth talking I was able to get her back and finish her eyes. I guess what I am saying is that all her therapy needs in the future will stem from MY need to have her take dance!

Move over Johnny Damon...

...because the hottest baseball player in the league is now Nathan Snelders!!! Get in line ladies, he is only 5 years old!
Nathans smallest...but loudest fan!

Look at the wind up!

He can hit, run, and field the ball after 1 practice. This kid is AMAZING!

Nice hit!!

This is Scott's favorite picture of the night! Look at the power leg move!


Nathan started t-ball last Tuesday night and he was SO excited. He followed me around all day and was anxious to go to his first practice. After asking me four times if it was time to leave to go to practice he stopped and looked at me and said, "What IS practice?" This made me chuckle! We went to a get pictures on Saturday and then stayed and played some games the the Baseball extravaganza they set up to help the program earn a little money. I was pretty proud of myself because I took all 3 kids by myself and we were on time and then played games for an hour before Zach was done.

Then Monday night was the big night! It was game time and Nate was still unsure of what the difference was between a game and practice. He quickly found out that playing the game was ALOT more fun. We were very proud of him because he was aggressive and went after the ball everytime it even got close to him. There was a few times the boys dog-piled trying to get the ball--and not one kid was worried about the runner. It was so fun. Much less stressfull than soccer! We decided we like being t-ball parents!

Our little man is growing up!

Trying new foods is always a treat!
Zach has mastered sitting up but still tips over occasionally.

Zach just turned 8 months old and we thought this would be the perfect time to brag about all that he has accomplished so far. We have introduced solid foods over the past 2 months and he has some favorites and some...not so favorites. I would say some of his favorites are squash, applesauce, bananas, and oatmeal. Zach doesn't like the prune/apple combo we tried this week. I have been trying for 3 days to get him to finish off 1 container and it's a NO-GO. However, no matter what anyone is eating, Zach notices and wants to taste everything!! (He's like his Mom and doesn't want anyone to eat alone!)

Zach is growing like a weed now with all his new found favorite foods and now weighs almost 16 lbs. He loves his big brother. Nathan is probably the one that gets the most laughs out of Zach when he is being silly. Brittanie treats Zach like her own real life cabbage patch doll and has been caught more than once packing him around when she's not suppose to. It seems like just yesterday we were debating over baby names and now little "Nacho" is here. What JOY this little man has brought to our home!

Brittanies got TALENT!

This is for you Grandma! Watch it over and over!

Britt is trying out for her school talent show next week. When we told Grandma she wanted a little audition tape so here it is. We did several takes but this one was extra funny thanks to Nate. We all laughed so hard watching it that this was the one we had to post.

We hope you all enjoy. (Mom, Can you believe that I told you I would post and then I did all in the same day! I think I'm getting a handle on my life--maybe.)

First Family Ski Trip

We took our first family ski trip on Saturday. Having great success with the first trip Dad took with each of the kids, we thought it was time to get all of us up there together. We went up with Kevan & Judy's family to Bogus Basin for a little night sking fun. By the end of the night, we were so thrilled out how far both Brittanie and Nathan had come. They both could ski down the "coach" hill on their own and really started to love going fast.

Both kids are really excited about skiing and can't wait to be able to go again. We hope to get up there a time or two before all the snow melts this Spring.