Photography Class

I have been taking a photography class. It has been a ton of fun and I have learned a lot. It has also been fun for James and I to go out together for my homework assignments. He has been very patient trying to teach me more and help me get the right shot. It has been a lot of fun. here are some of my favorites from the last 4 weeks.

LIFE

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude." -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin "Come What May, and Love It"

I found this quote while reading a friends blog this morning. What a great quote and such an inspiring time. I needed this quote this morning. Life is hard. Life is darn busy. But, I know that it will all be worth it in the end. We all have our struggles of different kinds, but if we keep on trucking and live with faith, our tears of trials will be turned to tears of rejoicing and gratitude.

Here is another quote from that same conference talk "every life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don’t sing and bells don’t ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result.

I love the thoughts from the prophets. Cant wait for Conference next week for some more inspiring words from these dear people!

Reflections as I prepare my R.S. lesson

I love music, especially with a great spiritual, uplifting message added to it. Teaching the lesson in Relief Society tomorrow. This has helped me to "get in the spirit" of the lesson!

Funny moments

Our little Sunshine (Daniel) keeps us laughing with some of the things he comes up with.... Today he had quite a few gems that I want to record before I forget about them.

After church, the kids all found their cowboy boots (and cowgirl boots for Abi). We had 3 kids (Abi, Daniel, and Noah) wearing boots outside. Daniel comes in the house saying "Howdy pardner" over and over. it was just too cute!

This evening Abi and Daniel were playing around. Daniel was spinning and spinning. He stopped for a second and promptly fell over as he was so dizzy. He kind of just looked up at me. I asked if he was okay and he said yeah. I asked if he was dizzy, again I got a yeah. He then got up and exclaimed "Well... That was embarrassing!"

I love that kid and all the funny things he has to say! He is going to be the life of the party when he is older. Tons of personality in such a little body right now. He really is our little ray of Sunshine!

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.