tim

he picked up the guitar, self-taught, and became proficient.

he is fluent in three languages.

nobody believes he is married with 4 kids because he looks (or maybe acts) so young.

he is the most generous person i know.

he is almost done with school (relatively speaking...the end is in sight!).

he has a VERY impressive volleyball coaching resume.

he loves his family tremendous amounts.

he gives better back rubs than maci (sorry mace, he actually GIVES them).

he is a star wars fanatic.

and he is 31 today.

happy birthday

love you

Dear Papa,

We are so happy for you and the journey that you are on right now, though you will be missed here one earth. We treasure every moment we had with you and thank you for the kind of person you were. A good example to all of us all of constant love and concern for the people in your life. Take care, and know that we love and miss you very much!

Love, all your monkeys

my new trick

i know what you're thinking...

yet another post of Lindsey's cute kids. But look at them and ask yourself

if I have any choice?

In my moment or two of silence today, I snapped these photos and reflected on how lucky I am to be home taking care of, laughing at, and playing with these cute little munchkins!

I have the best job in the world...thank you Tim.

happy dry turkey day

hope yours was more moist than mine!

a special thanks to everyone who choked down my first attempt

at cooking a turkey without mom around.

next year we'll have ham like maci and jordan did (tradition traitors!)

thanks to my friend jennifer for the great photos

happy birthday afton

We can hardly believe our little Affy's two! She's so much fun to have around. For those of you who don't get to hang out with her all of the time, here are some of her favorites:

SONG.......anything with hand motions

TV SHOW......Dora (of course), although Wiggles are getting lots of air time lately

BOOK.........the Hungry Caterpillar

FOOD........"marsh-a-mallow" cereal and cheese

FRIENDS......Norah, Mason and Ali, Alex

ALSO LOVES TO.....jump, "fwing", ride bikes, play with barbie & baby dolls, go to nursery, and she is increasingly interested in sitting on the potty (although she doesn't do anything when I do put her on it).

We had a birthday party for her at the church. It was a lot of work for me, but she had the time of her life, so it was all worth it.

everyone enjoyed the food. I'm so glad Papa could come!

This is me going out of control to decorate for a two year old party. It was an apple theme, so that is some cute apple garland strung across the front of the table.

...more pictures of guests. Thanks everyone for coming! And a special thanks to Mom Snarr for taking all of the pictures I was too busy to take!

For the activities, we had all of Afton's favorite things to do: coloring, barbies, bikes, dancing, and bubbles (although the bubble machine made a big mess on the floor and had to be turned off.)
It was a fun night!

BOO hoo...

Is it too early to get the holiday blues? Since when did Halloween become a stressful holiday? Between getting the right costumes to a whole weekend devoted to Halloween parties, I'm already tired of the holiday. And it's still 4 days away! We've still got class parties, "boo" treats to get out, and then the actual day itself. Then you start stressing about how much sugar your kids are consuming, being the bad guy by constantly saying "no more candy corn," and it doesn't seem fun anymore. I'm trying to let it go, but I think (at least for me) what stresses me out the most is wanting my kids to have the hugest amount of fun and memories possible. Everyday it's, "Take a deep breath. Only do what they are going to remember, Lindsey." When is it MY turn to have fun and enjoy a holiday? I think a trip to the pumpkin patch is out of the question.

The Haunted Gingerbread House

Last Christmastime we bought a gingerbread house kit with the best intentions of getting it up. Didn't happen. So we put it in the freezer and decided to pull it out and decorate it for Halloween. The girls had some great ideas to make it very spooky. We had lots of fun at Winco in the bulk food bins picking out things to go on it. Then we made it a family night activity of putting it together...

look at what a good mom I am!

Afton had more fun pulling candy off and eating it, as we suspected she would. An after-pigtails-mullet much?

The finished product...now everyone get in bed!

"Let's go fly a kite"

Quick, everyone have a turn with the crappy Dora kite before it breaks!

Mia's holding on tight. It was a very windy day!

Even cute little Afton has a turn.

Annie obviously thought that by raising her arm higher in the air, the kite would go much higher up too.

Thanks Daddy, for repeatedly getting it out of the neighbors tree, untangling the string, and getting it back up for us to enjoy! It was worth all 99 pennies I paid for it. Below is Afton helping Daddy once when it was down. Please don't judge...the "one pigtail look" is so in.

the accidental pumpkin

So around the beginning of summer, my mom found this mysterious weed that she said "looks like something." She decided not to pull it, and we kept an eye on it as it turned into a little pumkin vine. Then the other day it died and Mom came in with the miniest pumpkin we had ever seen! It made me all excited for fall. I think it's even hollow like a big pumkin would be, so we are going to try to carve it on Halloween. Pictures to come (if it actually works)...

Baby Tucker making a fat face with the baby pumpkin.

Conference Sunday

Had a relaxing conference Sunday. It's always good to be reminded of the things we should be doing, but more importantly that we are loved by our Heavenly Father. Jesse and Leah came over with the kids, and so did Tim's parents. Tucker enjoyed himself. Even when he was being smothered with kisses by Uncle Jesse. How could you not though?

mia...

fun-loving-sweet-toothed-ghetto-booty-silly-sister

thank you for six unforgettable (never dull) years

happy birthday! we love our bug!

Another unexpected trip to Utah

sweet Avery

precious Tilly

Maci called on Tuesday to let us know that her preemie baby girls would need surgery to repair a heart valve that would not close. They had to be transported by ambulance to a hospital in Ogden (1hour and 20minutes from Provo). So pretty much at the last minute, my mom and I and our good friend Chrissie hopped in the car and started driving. I took Tucker of course and we drove all night to Provo to be with Mace. After many days of ups and downs, the girls are doing fine. And the silver lining was that I got to meet my darling nieces face to face.

A lot of people have been asking how they can help and "what do Maci and Jordan need?" And though they would never complain, it seemed to me that at this point there are basically three things: Money (with Jordan missing some work, hospital fees and still needing baby things, bills are piling), Meals (Maci is sick of eating hospital food and Jordan is sick of tv dinners), and Prayers (to give their little family the strength they need to overcome this). Thanks to the many who have helped with these things already. Our family feels so blessed to have such a strong support network.

Blessing day

We are so lucky to have Tucker in our lives. He is such a happy boy and we all love him so much!

We LOVE Technology!

I don't know how the pioneers did it. We had to make an unexpected trip to Utah, and this is pretty much all Afton did the entire 11 hour drive. She either watched her Dora dvd or screamed and cried or slept (not enough sleeping though). So as we are driving through the barren desert that is Nevada, the big girls were watching a dvd, Afton was watching her dvd, and Tim and I were enjoying the music on the ipod through a fm tuner...I looked at Tim and said, "How did anyone ever drive across Nevada with a toddler and no technology?"

Funny things that were said on our drive:

Annie..."Are we almost to Key Largo yet?" (she meant Elko)

Mia......(In an effort to hurry through Winnemucca, we got BK for lunch but forgot to get the Mia's cheeseburger plain.) "Oh no, this has mustard on it!" "Sorry Mia, we forgot to get it plain." "That's okay, Annie just reminded me that I like mustard."

Annie...(She was watching a dvd rather loudly, so I tossed some earphones back and told her to put them in the hole on the side of the dvd player they fit into.) A: "This isn't working, they're not staying in." L: "Then you've got the wrong hole." A: "They're in the right hole" (and about now I look back to see she's trying to get them to stay in her ears. I guess she had the right hole:)

Tucker's 1st Photo Shoot

Ode to Alder Creek

It was really the most relaxing day we'd had since the baby came. We decided to spend some time at our favorite river spot before the summer ended and school started again. I spent the better part of my time there trying to coax the girls down this little rapid on the inner tube. I could tell Mia would do it before we left. At one time she sat in the water at the entry point contemplating if she should go down. Then she ran over to me and asked, "Mommy, will you give me something if I go down that rapid?" I assured her that she could have 2 oreos if she did, and next thing I knew she was going down the river rapid. After that, we couldn't get her to stop... not even for 2 oreos:)

First Day of School

School has officially begun. It sounds kind of crazy, but I'm actually looking forward to getting my schedule back. Summer has started to feel chaotic. I need the girls back in school and I especially need Tim back in school. When he's home I don't always get my chores done. Anyways, Annie is now in 3rd grade and has joined the spanish magnet class. She is very excited to learn spanish and speak it with Daddy. Mia is in 1st grade and is so happy to get to eat lunch in the cafeteria. We went school shopping last week and I told the girls I would get them backpacks. But apparently backpacks aren't "in" anymore. They needed "messenger bags." And I thought to myself, "Here we go." As long as the trend they want is modest and affordable (and never has a cartoon character on the front), I guess I can't complain.

Overheard...

"Mia, you look cute. All you need now are your gold shoes and your outfit will be a success!"

"Annie, that shirt's so cute. If you gave it to me, I would put up with it." (after Annie had complained about the itchy tag)

"Baby Guck... holdit?!"

Good Luck Mace!

So, as most of you are probably aware, my sister Maci is expecting twin girls in November. I warned her that at the moment I was not going to be giving her any pep talks on labor and delivery any time soon (especially doing it twice in a row...can you imagine?) I'm not going to brag or pretend that I was so strong to have this baby naturally...that was not a choice. The epidural is the way to go, but having a baby naturally does make you reflect and appreciate those mothers who have gone before you. It kind of connects you to previous generations who have experienced the same pain and consequent relief. Now I'm starting to sound like a hippie. (This is obviously a before picture hence, the smile)

Tucker Garnet Snarr

Born

20 July 2008

6 lbs 13 oz

18 in

Everyone is smitten!

The Afton Adventures

So, she's a 20 month old with a death wish. I really had no idea how calm the big girls were as babies. Afton, I'm told, has been preparing me for the pure energy of a boy. And if there is any form of water around, look out. She's in it. I've pulled her OUT of the toilet at least 3 times, countless puddles in the backyard, and she's even gone into the middle of the lawn sprinklers fully dressed. The other day we were at a friend's house, and they have a small pond with a little waterfall in their backyard. Luckily Tim was on his toes watching things unfold, because he ran out just in time to pull her struggling-for-air-little-19lb-body out of the mossy pond.

We probably average about 2-3 outfits a day with her. Yesterday Tim heard her crying in another room and thought she was in playing with the girls. When he went to check on the situation, he found her stuck sitting in the bathroom sink with the hot water running on her. Is it a phase? Are we getting a jump start on the terrible twos? It's a good thing she's so cute, or she'd be too much to have around. We sure do love her though!

It's what the founding fathers would have wanted...

Our July 4th: spent in the most traditional sense. We got up that morning and decorated our bikes and wagon for the neighborhood parade. Annie and Mia look forward to it every year, and this was no exception. Afton even had a grand time riding in the wagon and waving a mini flag very enthusiastically.

That evening we were invited to bbq and swim at our friends the Grayson's. I'm not sure if I stopped eating once I got there. Everything was delish, and the company was great. Even the weather cooperated and it even got a little chilly towards the end of the evening. We rounded off the night with fireworks in the street (and even a couple of minor burns by husbands acting childish). It was a perfect 4th...