Our Photo Daddy

To say that the last few years have been rough would be an understatement. We have struggled a lot financially, emotionally, and spiritually. Times have definitely been trying. But through all those trying times, James has been so strong and courageous. I am continually amazed at how these "little" things just dont get him down, or at least he doesnt show it too much. When we were nearing the end of schooling and thinking things were soon going to get better, James started turning in applications for a "permanent" job in photojournalism. 2 years later, he is till looking to find that dream job. FOr now though, he is happy hanging out and taking pictures whenever he gets the chance and he never complains about having to take some pretty crappy jobs to get by.

A few weeks ago we had yet another heartbreaking let down in the job category and I must say that I was crushed. Not for myself or for the lack of money, but I just felt like we had "put our time in" and deserved a break. He deserves a lot more than what he is getting right now and I just thought that maybe our time was up and the blessings should just start pouring in any moment now. I totally believe in enduring to the end and keep on moving and all that, but seriously can we find the end any time soon. That is just what I was feeling. doors kept slamming in our faces, opportunities just kept slipping through our grasps and for what, so we could remain poor and unable to support ourselves, blah, blah, blah. I guess I just had a mental breakdown of sorts and still am fighting my way out of it. but through it all, James has remained happy and strong. He did have some sadness at the lost opportunity of yet another job, but he has not crashed like I have. he even had to give a talk on the importance of prayer the Sunday after hearing he did not get the job and I must say that I dont think I could have done it. I was seriously doubting prayer at that point. I mean we prayed night and day, fasted, attended the temple, all of those things you are supposed to do and still did nto get the job. What more could we do? I would have found it very difficult to get up in front of the church and profess my testimony on prayer because at the moment, my testimony was lacking ALOT!

Anyway, things are looking up. He has struggled to find the job that fits just right and has yet to find it except for the Baseball photography, which is only during the summer. Through it all though, we have been blessed in so many other little ways and i need to remember those little things more often.

This past week he landed a job. Is it his "dream job"? No. But he is still very happy about it. it is an opportunity to be doing something he loves to do, shooting photographs! What can be better. It is also a job that he can "grow" with where moving up is an option. I am continually amazed at his wonderful attitude and his "just ducky" attitude. That is his favorite saying because he says he tries to look at stuff like a duck would and just let the "water run off his back." he doesnt let these things get him down. he just picks himself back up and tries again. I am proud of you hunny. Good luck with the new job and I pray that I may some day have a good attitude about life like you do. I have a lot to learn from you. thanks for putting up with my doldroms lately. LOVE YA!

FHE for Dummies

My friend posted this to her blog, so I thought I would pass the information along as well. I am all for the simplest way to get things done. This is a lesson manual for FHE for 1 full year. I full year people!!!! Can you believe that. the lessons are already done for you and ready to go. Just add your prayers, treats, and plug in your activity and you are ready to go! Sweet! Simple is the best way to go. Enjoy.

click here for the download

Good luck to all on their FHE Challenges. I know we have a hard time keeping on task every Monday night. You know with 6 kids and all. Sometimes I feel as we are praying, doing FHE, or reading our scriptures that I am screaming more than I am reading. Might take a bit away from the spirit as my voice keeps getting louder and louder to surpass their building noise, but oh well, it gets done and they are obviously learning something, so we will stick with it. LOL. For now, it is nice to think that I dont have to "plan" to much for the next year. Yippee!!!!

Better School Pictures

With a built in photographer in our family, we have chosen to not pay for anymore unsuccessful "school" pictures for the kids. Instead, James and I take the kids to the park on a sunny fall afternoon and get new pictures of each one. Here are this years pictures.

Jameson is just growing so fast and getting so big. I cannot believe that he is 20 months, almost 21 months old now. It sure does go fast. He is into EVERYTHING! Climbing all over the place and generally getting himself into all kinds of trouble. Good thing he is so darn cute! LOL. We love his bubbly personality. He has shown his love for music and anytime he hears music from a comercial, the radio, or even his sister singing he will stop what he is doing and do a little baby dancing jig for us. He is a little ham and is always strutting his stuff. If it is not music he is enjoying, it is Elmo! The kid is an Elmo addict! He has few words that he can say, the typical Mama, Dada, Ty-Ty, and of course Elmo. Elmo and music though are nothing compared to his big bro Ty-Ty. Those two are best buds and Ty-Ty is such a wonderful help with his lil brother. Jameson is very fond of Tyler and I think Tyler is pretty darn attached to Jameson.

Jameson at 18 months old

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Daniel is 3-1/2 now and is growing fast as well. He has mastered potty-training (yay) and is showing the usual 3 year old interest in Buzz Lightyear and Woody. Daniel is a goofy little guy who is always making us laugh. He is always coming up with funny little things to entertain everyone. His future career may indeed be the stand up comedian!

Daniel at 3-1/2

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Abi has proven to be a little Princess Diva as we like to call her. She definitely rules the roost most of the time. James is very thankful to only have one melodramatic daughter on his hands. LOL. She can be very dramatic when she doesnt get what she wants, but boy is it fun to have a "shopping buddy!" I look forward to the days when we can go to lunch and get our nails done and do a bit of shopping together. Just her and I chillin as girls whilst the boys are out playing with mud and junk. Those will be fun times. I cannot believe that she is almost 5 and ready to start Kindergarten next year. She is looking forward to being in the same school as her brothers.

Abigail at 4-1/2

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Noah is doing wonderfully! He is learning to read and getting better at writing every day. For Christmas he got a Tag reader and he enjoys using that to build his reading skills. It is so fun to see him do things on his own. He is still very shy and worried about a lot of things, but I see progress every day. He loves being in 1st grade and cant wait to be able to read like the big boys so he can read things like Harry Potter and Fablehaven. He is happy with Geronimo Stilton being read to him for now and working out words with his Tag reading system. It is great to see him learning and growing each and every day.

Noah 7

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Jacob is a big 3rd grader now. He is an amazing reader and is on the 4th Harry Potter book and 3rd Fablehaven and somewhere around the 2nd Percy Jackson. He is very much enjoying reading the same books that Tyler has been reading for the past few years and being able to talk to him about the storyline and so on. It is fun to see this kind of interaction between these two boys. Usually Jacob is in the midst of reading 4 books at one time because as he says "he might get bored with one for a while so he has a back up, or 2, or 3..." LOL. He is a great kid. He is still a challenge at times with his ADHD stuff, but we have learned how to work through things a bit better and as long as he is making such good progress with school, I cannot complain at all. His teacher is amazed at all the ideas he has floating in that head of his and loves to read his daily writting, because he always has such great things to say. Along with reading, he has taken well to math and science and just generally enjoys school alot. I am grateful for this in my children. They have all loved school so much.

Jacob 9

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Tyler is in the 6th grade. Again, I cannot believe how time has gone by so fast. He is just a wonderful child. Always willing to help with the little brothers and sister, eager to play with them, and ready to help us with anything we need. I cannot live my life without Tyler there assisting me in my daily routine. He is truly a blessing to this family. Him and Jameson have developed a special bond and they very much enjoy playing with each other. Anytime we need Jameson out of the room (like when we are doing dishes and he is pulling all the dirty dishes out of the dishwasher faster than we can put them in) Tyler is ready to take him away and keep him occupied. Tyler too is doing wonderfully in school. He has taken a few tests at school and has scored "off the charts" according to his teacher. This year he has a great teacher who encourages these kids at such a critical juncture in their lives. He is trying to prepare them for the crazy world of middle school and I am impressed by his dedication and love for his kids. Tyler is blessed to have a great teacher like him. Tyler enjoys reading, math, science, and sports. He will be starting basketball soon for the school and is very excited about this.

Tyler 11

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This is a picture we tried to get off all of them crossing the bridge together. It is okay, but did not work exactly how I was picturing it. It was very hard to get Jameson to cooperate. It did turn out good though. I like how most all attention is focused on Jameson in the middle.

This is the one that we used for our Christmas Card this year. We tried to get everyone, including Jameson, to hold hands while walking towards the pond. Alas, Jameson proved uncooperative again in regards to holding hands with these guys. They kept pulling him over and such. We decided to let Jameson hang back and see what happened. We sent the big kids off walking towards the pond while holding hands and Jameson turned to look at us (probably checking to see if we were coming, LOL). This is the shot we got and I loved it!

Anyway, those are our school pictures this year. A friend photographer calls them "better school pictures" and takes them every year for her kids and some clients. Jim is interested in starting to do more of this kind of thing as well. We will see how that all pans out. It seems to be a pretty good business, once you get the client base going an so on.

Nativities from around the world

Our Stake Center has what they call Nativities from Around the World every year. It is a huge event that has grown over the last 7 years. For the last 3 years it has been ranked as one of Spokanes top 10 things to do during the Holidays. that is so awesome. The stake center is literallhy taken over by nativities of all shapes and sizes and people stand in line to get a chance to get inside and partake of the spirit of it all. Every night there are concerts from different choirs of the area. Children's choirs, cathedral choirs, etc. The gym is decked out in all Christmas galore, lights, trees, and tables surrounding the edges and in the middle all beuatifully adorned with Nativity sets that people have donated to the church for the week. There are over 300 nativities on display. In the Young Women's rooms there is a childrens area were they can play with less fragile sets of nativities and even get the chance to dress up and play in their own nativity scene. Good think I have plenty of kids to fill those precious spots. All the above picture is missing is a Joseph and Mary, which in hindsight daddy and I could have done, but well, the kids look so darn cute anyway.

The Releif Society room this year held a new exhibit called The Life of Christ with a pictorial chronology of Christ's life. We did not make it in there, but hope to see that next year.

Overall, it is a wonderful way to celebrate this Holiday season. I am so grateful to have such wondeful teaching moments like these for the children. They loved the childrens area and got all their wiggles out before going in to be reverent and see all the Nativity sets. They loved them and had a great time seeing sets from places like Peru, Mexico, Italy, and Portugal as well as Nativities made from Legos and toilet paper rolls, paper mache, and nuts and bolts. There were the small and cute sets and the obviously expensive and imprressive sets as well as sets that were handcarved or blown from glass. It was an amazing, spirit filled night. I cant wait for next years display!

Family Night at Mobius

We earned some free tickets for the children's museum here in Spokane. After school on a Monday night we decided to take the kids (you know, before the FREE tickets expired. LOL). Mobius is very small, but we ended up being the only people there. When we first got to Mobius, there were a few other kids, but they all departed within a 1/2 hour leaving the Snook family to roam the place alone. The kids had a blast! I think the little cars were the biggest hit, even for the biggest kid out there.

After our time at Mobius, we walked across the street and enjoyed a rare treat of dinner at Red Robin. That means that Jim and I actually braved a Restaurant with 6 kids. Actually the kids were great. Of course we got plenty of stares and finger points. Seems we are an oddity going out in public with so many kids, but I am getting more and more used to that. (especially when the stares are because they are amazed the kids are being good and not for the opposite reasons. LOL).

At Red Robin of course they ask if the kids can have balloons. I am not a big fan of latex balloons mainly because of the fights that they tend to cause, but also for the choking hazards with the little kids. I know, spoil sport mommy. I decided since it is a special night of rare treats, why not give in for this one as well. Of course, just because they got the balloon doesnt mean they got to keep them. After dinner we walked over to the park and gave our balloons to Jesus. The kids enjoy letting their balloons go and watching them fly up into the sky. It is a fun thing for them to do and keeps me sane by not actually keeping the balloons.

Anyway, it was a very fun night. Here are some pics to share with you!

Woodland Park Zoo

We took a fun drive down I-90 a few weeks ago and spent the day at the Zoo. We went over to the Seattle area to take some baby clothes, toys, pay pen etc to my brother who is having a baby in just a few short weeks. I thought since we were over that way we would make a day of it and have some fun at the zoo and boy did we have fun.

The kids enjoyed looking at all of the animals and sites. Here is a slide show of the pics from the day.

The elephant featured in the above slide show was doing a dance. It was so cute to watch. Here is a video that Tyler shot of the 'dancing elephant.' One of the zoo workers said that she was taken to anothe zoo to 'mate' and while in the big truck traveling she started doing this dance and has ever since. I guess it is a stress thing, which is sad to think about, but the dance itself if very cute to watch.

Anyway, it was a very fun day. The kids had a blast and it was well worth the 4 hour drive to get there. We will definitely have to make the trip again.

I am still here, I promise

Well, life has been very VERY busy for us all lately and I have not been able to post any blogs in a very long time. I apologize for this. The kids have started school, I have started working full time, I am attending school full time, and James is working full time as well. The bottom half of the kids (Abby, Daniel, and Jameson) are in KinderCare every day and are loving it. Abby loves "school" and making more friends. She is learning so much faster now, so she definitely will be ready for kindergarten next year.

Daniel has taken a while to get used to his school, but he does enjoy it after the initial shock of Daddy leaving him passes every morning. By the time I pick him up in the afternoon, he is smiles and gigles and doesnt want to go home.

Here is a picture of the boys first day of school.

Such handsome young men. Tyler is a 6th grader this year. OMG! he is getting so old. I cant believe it. Jacob is in 3rd grade and Noah is in 1st grade. Everyone is loving school and learning lots. Noah is a beginning reader and enjoys his Geronimo Stilton books every night before bed. Jacob is on Book 4 of Harry Potter and also enjoys reading. His teacher says that she is amazed at how much he enjoys reading and sharing the stories to his class.

The boys are in their routine of going to school and walking home together after school. They are home for no more than an hour alone after school while I get off work and go pick up the babies from daycare. It has been a rough transition, but I think we are doing well with it. This leaves just a few hours to cook dinner, clean house, get homework done, and get everyone ready for bed before the morning comes again. We are so busy right now, but we are happy, healthy, and having fun.

Anyway, just an update on how things have been going for us. We have had some fun adventures over the summer and in the recent few weeks. A trip to the lake, a trip to Seattle and the zoo, and a fun time at the Children's museum. If I can find a few extra minutes here and there, I will try and blog some more and get pictures up.