Bountiful Basket

This was my first experience with Bountiful Baskets. It is a fruit/veggie co-op thingy sweeping the country. Some wonderful friends had family in other areas participating and worked really hard to get it going up here in Spokane. You go to their website www.bountifulbaskets.org find your area, register, and every week you go on and sign up for how ever many baskets you want. Then Saturday morning you go and pick up your basket(s). It is $15 and this is all that I got.

There are green beans in the 3 bags, celery, corn on the cob, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, cantaloupe, oranges, apples, bananas, strawberries, and plums. Not sure that we will go through all of it in 1 week, but WOW look at all that food. It seems that there is something for everyone. Abi is very excited about the strawberries and Tyler is wanting to cut into that cantaloupe right away. We will enjoy some corn on the cob for dinner tonight and now I have salad stuff for work this next week.

Anyway, first experience with Bountiful Baskets, so I thought I would share. If interested go to the website and see if they have a co-op in your area. If they don't, find someone willing to head it up and get it organized in your area because it seems to be well worth it.

In other news, the family is great. Kids are enjoying their summer at home. They are ready for school to start all ready though. I am glad I have kids who love school and learning as much as I do. Tyler has read almost the whole series of Pendragon since Easter when he got the first book in his basket. That is 10 books. He has us all hooked so Jacob and I are working on the series as well. Noah is enjoying getting Percy Jackson read to him. We are on Book 2 of that series. I personally cannot wait for Mockingjay to come out, the 3rd book in the Hunger Games series. A Summer of Books, what can be better.

SYSA Baseball 2010

Baseball Season has been upon us. We sure do enjoy this sport! This was our second year doing baseball through SYSA and I have to say that we are again pleased with the season. The boys had a wonderful time and gained some skill in the last few months. This was Abi's first year in baseball and first time playing an organized sport. She had a blast. Here are some pictures of our teams this year.

Abi's Orange Crushers with Coach Junior and Coach Teresa. As a side note, Coach Junior's father (Gordy Sr.) was Noah's coach last year. It was fun to have that familiarity! Abi LOVED playing baseball. She was very nervous at first, but once she got into it, the smile never left her face. She played T-ball, but the last few games they did coach pitch to get them used to being pitched to. She got a few hits, which I think surprised her more than anyone. She loved being out there with the boys and having fun. It was not unusual to see her dancing around in the outfield though. I guess she still has to prove that she is a girl! LOL.

Noah's Team The Fireballs with Coach Soran. Noah had a blast. His favorite position has been catcher. He just loves getting all the gear on. Noah was in Coach Pitch, but the last few games they always give the boys a chance to pitch and learn that position so they are ready for the higher levels. Noah said his last game he got a chance to pitch and he really liked it. He is a good little baseball player and made some great plays. I saw him get a few grounders and throw the ball to the correct base, even getting a few of them out. It is great to see him gaining confidence and having fun playing around.

Jacob's team was a pretty good little team. They won quite a few of their games (although technically they do not keep score, LOL). He had a blast playing again this year. It was great to see him gaining some skill and confidence in his abilities. He got a few hits. His level is player pitching, so there were sometimes only a few opportunities to actually hit the ball as these guys learn that position. It is a hard skill to learn, but you could see all of their confidence and strength build throughout the games. Most of the time Jacob was walked, which his team attributed to his small strike zone. LOL. He had a great time and made some new friends.

Tyler had a good time as well. He is figuring out his favorite positions and gaining some skill and knowledge in those positions. He likes second base, short stop area. I think he likes being in that action spot. His coach put him in the outfield the first game and you could see the boredom on his face. He really likes the in-field spots. He had a good time as well. His team was lacking a bit in a few areas, but the boys tried their best every game, gave it their all, and most importantly had a great time.

Here is a slideshow of just some random shots throughout the season.

The kids all had a great time. I love that they make it so easy and accessible to everyone. Our games were T/Th and for the most part were all at one big sports complex. I could wander around with the 2 little ones and watch parts of each game. There were a few times when Tyler or Jacob were at a different field, but that was rare and within a short driving distance from the main fields. We had a fun time, but I have to admit that I am okay with it being over. Now back to a good dinner routine and bedtime LOL. Heres to a wonderful 2010 season and we look forward to our 2011 season. PLAY BALL!!!!!!!

Noah's Birthday and Baptism

So I think I say this with every birthday, but I cant believe how big these kids are getting. Feels so weird to think that half the Snook crew is now 8 and baptized. Noah has been so excited for this birthday. He was so excited to be baptized, get his own set of scriptures, and finally be 8.

He requested an ice cream cake and wanted iron man. So we got this ice cream cake and the iron man toys to put on top. He thought it was the best. I am glad that they can still be pleased by simpleness.

His birthday was on a Sunday. He even got to do scripture/prayer in primary on his birthday. That was a planned or special thing just because it was his birthday, it just worked out that way, but he sure thought it was special. When we came home from church, he enjoyed opening his presents.

The kids each love to hand their presents to the birthday boy/girl and wish them a Happy Birthday. Jameson unfortunately still thinks the presents are his and wants to play with them.

Here is his take from the fam. He had a great time and cant wait to use the squirt gun. He is very excited about the legos. Him and daddy had a great time (during nap time the next day) putting together the Lego Power Miners and the Mega Blocks Iron Man. Geronimo Stilton is also a huge favorite so he was excited to get 2 books from Mommy.

it is hard to get him to sit still long enough to do anything, but here is one quick shot of him getting ready to blow out his candles. He just couldnt wait to get the iron man toys off of it. One to lick the frosting off and another to play with them. I dont think he ate too much of his cake as he was too busy playing with his new toys.

The next Saturday he finally got to be baptized. He has been so excited to be a big boy like Jacob and Noah and get baptized. Him and James spent some time practicing and he was ready for the big day. Below is a picture of Noah and the other boy who was getting baptized with Noah. He was from a different Ward in our Stake.

We had someone that was just standing there take a picture of all of us. Thus, we have a picture from too far away. Anyway, here is all 8 of us on Noah's big day.

Here is one of all 6 kids. Look at all those cute little people. They make me smile and laugh each and every day. I cannot believe how blessed I am.

Noah and Daddy on the big day.

Noah got to finally open his brand new set of scriptures. This is probably the thing he has been waiting for the most. He wanted a green set of scriptures, so we got him green scriptures with a green tote. He was seen all day Saturday of the baptism and the Sunday following carrying around his scriptures. He is so proud to finally have his own set. Now at night when we do scripture and prayer, he is one of the first to run and get his very own scriptures! Here he is right after (I mean right after) the baptism was over. I barely caught up to him in time to get this shot.

I wanted one of Noah in front of the font. I cannot decide which picture I like better, the one above or the one below. I like the one above because it is totally Noah's personality. I like the fingers pointing up and his cute little bare feet. But, the one below is just so precious as well. Thank you to my awesome photog husband to capture the great spirit of the day!

Anyway, Happy Birthday to our little man Noah! Here are some great things we love about Noah.

• Noah has a wonderful imagination. He loves Legos, building, and creating things. He comes up with some of the funnest, craziest, and most amazing things sometimes.
• Noah is always very cuddly. I can always count on him to sit on my lap and snuggle with me. I miss that in some of the other (older) kids, I will appreciate this fro Noah for as long as it lasts.
• Noah is a funny, crazy little man. He can be a big goof ball at times and make us all laugh.
• Noah comes up with some great stories. He has such a good imagination and can make up some fun stories, games, and songs as he is playing around.
• Noah LOVES to play baseball. He absolutely loves playing catcher and has a great time out there at all his games playing around and enjoying being a part of his team.
• Noah is a great brother! He loves his little brothers Daniel and Jameson and can be seen sharing and playing with them often. He also loves his sister Abigail. It is fun to watch him interact with her and play some kind of family game or doll stuff. He enjoys being one of the "big" boys too and playing around with Jacob and Tyler.
• Noah is full of all kinds of spirit! As much as this gets him in trouble sometimes, it is also very endearing. He always has energy and exuberance to play and have a good time.
• As much as Noah is full of all kinds of spirit, he is also full of a wonderful Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus Christ. His genuine excitement about church and reading scriptures shows his testimony. He is often the one to remind us to do scripture and prayer at night.

I love you Noah. Here is to many more Happy Birthdays! Hope you had a great day and congratulations on the baptism.

Summer happenings

So I promised that I would keep up with my blogging and just have not been able to lately. Somewhat due to laziness, somewhat due to not enough time, and somewhat due to waiting for pics from Jim's camera to get to my computer. We were finally able to culminate the picture transfer so I am buckling down to get some blogging done.

With a non-existent vacation budget, we are spending a lot of the summer doing "free" things. Splash pads, hiking, and playing at parks. The kids are having a great time seeing all the different parks Spokane has to offer. Here are some pictures of us enjoying our summer so far.

Another thing we have tried to do is go hiking every weekend. We have gone to The Bowl and Pitcher at the Spokane River, Camp Caro at Dishman Mica Hills, and while camping we hiked the Liberty Lake trail. These times out in the woods with the kids have been a lot of fun. We have enjoyed the beauty of this world as well as some peace and quiet (in between squeals of delight from the kids). There is just something about being in the woods to keep you grounded and focused on life.

We had the opportunity to go camping last weekend as well. We just went to the Liberty Lake campground and it was only overnight, but it was tons of fun. The kids had a blast getting the fire going, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, and sleeping in the tent. We went on a hike and saw a turtle, a beaver working on his dam, and a toad. After breaking down camp the second day, we tried to go swimming, unfortunately the wind was so strong that day. While sleeping during the night Jim and I feared that the tent was going to blown down. The side fell in on us quite a few times. We swam for a bit, enough to get pictures, but had to cut it all short due to the wind blowing the sand all over and freezing us out after being wet. It was still fun and the kids had a great time getting dirty, cant really beat that...

So there are some of the things we have been doing so far this summer. We will have more fun stuff with baseball, maybe some trips to the beach, and some more park fun around Spokane.

6th Grade Promotion

My Futures So Bright, I Have to Wear SHADES!

I cant believe Tyler is old enough to be "promoting" from 6th grade. I officially have a child in Middle School. WOW! At the end of 6th Grade they have a promotion. The Principal gave a great speech about how they choose to use the word promotion, because it denotes moving on to bigger and better things whereas graduate means the end of something. They want to emphasize that these kids are moving on to something better in Middle School, it was a pretty good speech. Anyway, here are some pics of my biggest guy "promoting" from the 6th grade.

Above is Tyler in the 6th Grade Chorus. They treated us to a few fun songs.

Tyler receiving his "diploma" from his teacher Mr. K.

Posing after receiving his diploma.

Me and my boy

Tyler with a few of his friends.

Mrs. Constantine his 5th Grade Teacher.

Mr. K 6th Grade Teacher.

So, here is to growing up! Congrats Tyler on all the hard work in your elementary school years.

Random Blogging

So have you ever seen the little "next blog" button at the top of the screen. Every once in a while I click on it just to see what I get. Sometimes it is nothing special at all, sometimes it is something I wish I had not seen, but every once in a while it is a special little nugget that makes a lasting impression.

This is what I found tonight. This lady apparently follows a friends blog who has a daughter with down's syndrome...

So here is what she said today:"Nella had her four month appointment yesterday.And, amid most of the time where I honestly forget she's different, I am reminded every once and awhile. Like getting ready to go to the doctor and feeling a little flutter inside. Like what if they tell me something. Like what if they rock my world again. Like what if one of those "increased likelihoods" that happen to attach themselves to that sweet little chromosome comes true. But, here's the thing. Once you become a parent...once you start feeling a little funny and you buy that pregnancy test...once you see a pink plus sign...once you know it's not just you anymore...well, you automatically carry around, for the rest of your life, an increased likelihood. To have your heart broken. And it's a constant fear that we struggle to put to rest.And we can choose to be afraid or we can choose to live. And I choose to live. Because an "increased likelihood of having your heart broken" also carries with it an increased likelihood to find yourself the happiest you've ever been in life."

What a wonderful attitude and how true is that. I am trying to remember that last part and the "increased likelihood" to find myself the happiest! Risks seem scary.... Whether in motherhood or with life in general. There is that increased chance that you will fail, but without that risk we have no increased likelihood to become happy and make our lives better. So, I too choose to live. Life is hard, life is scary, and life can be down right unfair sometimes, but life is also so very enjoyable, so very happy, and so WORTH it in the end. Glad I clicked that button for that little reminder...

Father's Day Talk

So I was asked to speak today in church. I always get nervous, but this is something I do enjoy doing. Here is a copy of my talk just in case others wanted to hear the message. It is also a good way to remember what I said.

I asked a friend some advice about giving a talk, and she said, "Speak loudly so that everyone will hear you, speak clearly so that everyone will understand you, and speak briefly so that everyone will like you."

I was asked to speak today on Fathers. Having respect for Fathers as well as our Heavenly Father. I would like to talk about another topic for just a bit and then come back to my original topic. Don’t worry Bishop, I think I know what I am doing here. First lets turn to a well know scripture in Matthew.

Matthew 22

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt ^alove the Lord thy God with all thy ^bheart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy ^cmind

38 This is the first and great ^acommandment

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt ^alove thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the ^alaw and the prophets.

In his conference address titled “The Love of God” given in the October 2009 President Dieter Uchtdorf said, “Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings, and in our livelihood.”

My question that I would like you to consider for the remainder of my talk is Why is love so important?

When I first was asked to give a talk on Father’s day, I was a bit nervous. I am not sure that I am worthy to speak on what I feel is such an important topic. All week I have worried about doing the subject justice. Not only do I want to give respect to our earthly fathers, but I want to give respect to our Heavenly Father as well. I do not have many stories to give of our earthly father as I cannot say that I have “that kind of father” with the amazing faith-building stories. I can say that I have an amazing husband and father of my children. One story with that is the very first time that I met him……

STORY ABOUT FIRST MEETING JIM!

He has not let me down on that first thought either. Mostly because every day I can see the love that he has for our children.

Upon researching for this talk, I came across the primary song titled FATHERS I would like to read the words for you now.

The Father of our home leads our Family

With wisdom’s light in all that’s right;

My father’s good to me.

The father of our ward tends with loving care

Each member’s needs with kindly deeds;

Our bishop’s always there.

And now we’ll sing great praise and reverently recall

The Holy One who gave his Son,

The Father of us all.

First, the FATHER OF OUR HOME. The song says that he leads our FAMILY. We have all heard the P’s associated with Fatherhood. Presiding, providing, priesthood, patriarch. These are all important and good words, but one about one very basic word….. LOVE!

Read story in What the Lord Requires of Fathers by Elder Robert L. Backman in September 1981 Ensign.

Ten thousand high school students in Kansas were asked what question they would ask their parents and want a straight answer on. Eighty percent replied: “Do you love me?”

The next most asked question: “If you had to do it all over again, would you have me?”

How vital it is for fathers to give their children a sense of personal worth, to let them know they are loved and needed. We need to love them unconditionally as the Savior loves us, using our time, energies, abilities, understanding, and concern to help them recognize their relationship to their loving Father in Heaven and their divine potential as his children.

Fathers, we need to express our love and approval for them. Too many of us are like the father of the little boy who cried: “You always tell me when you’re disappointed in me. Why don’t you ever tell me when you’re appointed in me?”

I said earlier that I do not have “that kind of father.” He was an alcoholic and struggled with a lot of things as I was growing up. Of all the things I am grateful for my father is that he tried really hard. He got himself clean, was baptized into the church, took my family to the temple when we were kids, and tried when I was young to instill a little bit of faith in me. He has since fallen away from the church and we have our issues on communication, but I am grateful to my earthly father for helping me with the basics so that I could grow into the testimony that I have today.

The second verse talked about another Father that we have here on this earth. He is the Father of our Ward. Our Bishop.

In the October 2003 Priesthood Session of conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley gave a talk in which he talked mostly to the Bishops of the church. He stated, “We have more than 18,000 bishops in the Church. Every one is a man who has been called by the spirit of prophecy and revelation and set apart and ordained by the laying on of hands. Every one of them holds the keys of the presidency of his ward. Each is a high priest, the presiding high priest of his ward. Each carries tremendous responsibilities of stewardship. Each stands as a FATHER to his people.”

Here are some of the words President Hinckley used to describe Bishops, “ Counselor, comforter, anchor and strength in times of sorry and trouble, strong with strength that comes from Lord, wise with wisdom that comes from the Lord, open door to hear the cries, strong back to carry the burdens, sensitive heart to judge needs, godly love broad enough and strong enough to encompass even the wrongdoer and the critic, man of patience, willing to listen, striving to understand.” These are some very powerful characteristics. But what I think they have in common is LOVE! How many of us have wonderful stories of Bishops who have LOVED us and cared for us. I can truly say that our bishop loves each one of us and I am grateful for the FATHER OF THIS WARD who leads us and LOVES each one of us.

Describe different bishops in my life. Bishop Beck, Murdock, Nielsen, Crump, Bullough, Steenblik, Smith, Finn.

The last part of that song talked about our Heavenly Father. The Father of us all! We are all children of our Father in Heaven. We were created in His image. Why do we love God? We find the answer in Ist John 4:19 We love him because he first loved us!

Look at all that He has given us. President Uchtdorf states in his conference address “Our Father in Heaven has given us, His children, much more than any mortal mind can comprehend. Under his direction the Great Jehovah created this wondrous world we live in. God the Father watches over us, fills our hearts with breathtaking joy, and brightens our darkest hours with blessed peace” “He offers to His children the promise of a glorious and infinite existence and has provided a way for us to progress in knowledge and glory until we receive a fullness of joy. He has promised us ALL THAT HE HAS.”

Gods love for His children is no respecter of person’s. He does not look on outward appearances. Heavenly Father loves the disciple as much as he loves the sinner. He loves us all… His love is an infinite love that is pure and Holy. We are important to God, not because of the things we do, but because we are HIS children. I believe this statement can be true and should be true of the other 2 Father’s as well. Our bishops towards our Ward family and our earthly Father’s towards his children.

Elder Uchtdorf gave some very inspiring words when he said that “God the Eternal father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval, or admiration.

No, God does not need us to love Him…. But OH, how we need to Love God!

For what we love determines what we seek.

What we seek determines what we think and do.

What we think and do determines who we are – and who we will become.”

So yes, in talking about Father’s on this Father’s day, I have chosen to also speak on LOVE. I ask again, why is Love such a great commandment… Again, I turn to Elder Uchtdorf who says “When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk as disciples of Christ becomes more joyful. Our lives take on a new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound. Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden.”

The chorus of that Primary song I referred to early reads:

Fathers are so special with a very special love.

They watch us and protect us.

They guide us and direct us.

Back to our home above.

Father’s do have a very special kind of LOVE don’t they. Our Heavenly Father towards all of His children. The Bishop towards his Ward Family. And a Father here on this earth towards his Children. On this Father’s day, let us Honor all of these Father’s and give them the respect and reverence they deserve, but most importantly, let us all show them the LOVE that we have for them.

HAPPY FATHER's DAY to ALL the wonderful Fathers that I know and love.