Best Friends

One of my greatest joys in life is seeing my babies get along.

Ruby and Noni really are the best of friends.

Ruby is so good to Noni and Noni is learning to be good to Ruby.

They are just sweet little siblings and I love to see it.
I mean, they have their moments but on the whole the really love being together.

One day Eldy will be big enough and all 3 of them will have to figure out how to fit on one chair- but I am sure they can do it!

It may be a challenge trying to fit this chubby old man baby on there, but I know they will find a way!  Love can conquer all! 

Juliette

We are all completely in love with Baby Juliette (our new niece).
She is so sweet and lovely.
Ruby cannot get enough of her.
Myers mostly ignores her until she is gone.
But he did once say that she was as cute as a marshmallow- and if you know Noni- that is a BIG deal.
It means her REALLY loves her.

We all really love her!
Ruby now wants to name our baby Romeo if it is a boy.
I just hope ours is as sweet and as cute as little Juliette....

I Love To See The Temple

One thing I really love about Ruby is her ability to notice and love all that is beautiful.
She really truly appreciates it.
The temple in Calgary has just been finished and they are having their open house right now (a time when anyone can go in and take a tour of the temple before it is dedicated.)
I knew we were going to take the kids but I was also looking forward to Ruby's reaction to the beauty of it.  She did not disappoint and was sure to notice all of the little tiny details that only she could.
It was a great experience and I am so glad that we were able to go as a family and enjoy the peaceful feelings that were there.
Even Noni stopped for a second or two to take a look around.

I hope that as they grow they will remember the experience they had there, and the feelings they felt while inside.  I am grateful for temples and for this new temple in Calgary.  The open house is still going on for another week- if you get the chance it is well worth your time!

Courage

In the span of a few weeks my sweet little baby girl turned 5 and started Kindergarten.

It is still a little too much for me to handle.
We did some major contemplation when deciding about school for Ruby and in the end we felt best about sending her to Kindergarten this year.
I still am trying to emotionally accept this, but Ruby has seemed too embrace it whole heartedly and is absolutely loving it.
Before she began school I decided that we should start a new back to school tradition.
Each year we pick a word, a scripture, and a quote for the year.
This year our word is 'COURAGE'.
I originally picked it because Ruby was a little nervous about school but soon realised that it applied more to me that anyone else.
I needed the courage to follow what I felt we were being inspired to do (aka send Ruby to school), the courage to send her to school, the courage to be completely involved in her schooling and to always be her advocate, and the courage to parent her as Justin and I feel we should.
Plus I want her to have the courage to make new friends, to be herself, to choose the right, to remember what she has been taught, to be a good example, to be a friend to all.
We all need courage.
So I thought it was an appropriate word for us this year.
I am amazed how many times it has come up in the last couple of weeks alone.
I chose the scripture found in Joshua 1:9
 'Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.'


And this quote by Thomas S. Monson



So as we embark on this new journey in life I hope that we can have always courage.

My Favorite Things Ohio #2

 Papa Bear's Pizza.  Seriously THE MOST DELICIOUS PIZZA EVER.
We discovered it just a couple months ago and have been sure to enjoy it as often as we can!
We love it and our love for it only grew when we tried their alfredo sauce pizza.
DELICIOUS.
Bacon, green pepper, mushrooms and alfredo sauce- pure perfection on pizza.  (Though I would add pineapple but that is the one topping they don't offer...)
Even the kids can't seem to get enough!
We will miss Papa Bears when we are gone.  And sadly I think tonight was our last dose of it.  But it was definitely savored and enjoyed.
Especially by shirtless Noni.

And no- I will not admit how many pieces I ate today- I mean it was our last, and I AM pregnant.  I think I have a free pass.

Borton

Things have been a little crazy here for the last while and mostly I have been sick- therefore the lack of posts.

This pregnancy is kicking my butt and my only hope is that I will feel better soon. 

I am now 14 weeks- and hoping it is smooth sailing from here on out.

Our time here in Alliance is limited and I want to make the most of the time we have left.

Justin only has 8 work days left.

8 WORK DAYS.

I feel both excited and sad as is to be expected with change.

Being sick has made it easier to leave,  I just need my mom.  And there is the proof that no matter how old you are you always need your mom.

Anyway my plan is to show you my favorite parts of living here in Alliance. 

The things that I want to remember in the years to come.

I hope to be able to show you something each day until we leave.  

There is a lot that I do love.

And I think I am finally feeling good enough to actually go to the places that I love.

While you wait for those thrilling posts I will leave you with a short update.

We headed to Kalahari this weekend with some of our great friends from Ohio- the Wrights.  (We will miss them)  It was a way to celebrate father's day and our anniversary all in one.  We are big Kalahari fans and are even thinking of stopping in at the one in Wisconsin on our way home.  It was a ton of fun and the kids loved it.  Myers fell asleep in the wave pool once again.   And don't worry we kept up the tradition and got ourselves some delicious dippin dots.  Rocky Road and my favorite- Banana Split.  It was a great time and tired us all out, but I want to go back again- I just love it...

I'm still sick.  Did I already mention that?  I just haven't been this sick with any other pregnancy...  I don't know what to do with myself...  I am hoping it gets better soon.  Justin just can't do everything forever.  

We had our first garage sale- it was fun!  

Once again Justin did most of the work- but the great thing about him- he never complains.  We sold almost all of our stuff and everything we didn't sell we left on the side of the curb and put free on our yard sale signs and went to get some ice cream.  When we returned everything was gone- except this lonely chair.  I guess it really was THAT bad.

I have gotten us about half way packed.  That may be a little bit of an overestimation but it makes me feel better.  Now we just need Justin to stay healthy and we will all survive this move.

We are deciding on our route home- we wanted to stop in at Mackinac Island again but decided against it.  It didn't add very much time on to our trip but once you get that far north it is pretty much deserted and it would make for long stretches between hotels.  So we are figuring out our next course of action.  It will be truly snellerific I am sure.    

And just a quick note on our little Noni.

Right now he insists on being called Horton.  Which he pronounces 'Borton'.  But DO NOT call him Borton.

He also will not tolerate ANYONE calling him cute.

If you do decide to call him cute he will answer- 'NOT CUTE- BIG.'

And he will probably growl at you.

Also a bum is now called a bum cracker.  And he likes to lay the smack down on bum crackers.

We are working on his aggressive side.

There is a lot to do here before we leave- but I do hope to fit in lots of fun too.  Ohio will always have a special place in our hearts....  And the fireflies are back- I will miss the fireflies...

You Know How We Feel About Cleveland...

We have been taking quite a few trips to Costco lately.  Really is there any place that is more magical than that place?  It even rivals Disney World.  It is an hour away so it means that we get to explore more of Cleveland (to make sure that our trip is worth it).  And with our limited budget it means we are always searching for things that are free.
Luckily it isn't too hard.
Lately we have visited The Great Lakes Science Center.

It was really fun.  They have a planetarium and a few animals to see.  It was fun.  The kids loved it.
Ruby honed her puppeteering skills.

While Myers honed his insect skills.

We had a good time.

On another trip we headed to a great park that Justin found online.  It was called Preston's Hope.

They had a little city and a great teeter totter and some great equipment to climb.
Myers and Ruby were pros.




Justin on the other hand needed some help.


Look at that cute little bum...


- and of course we made sure to use the swings.

It took a lot of coaxing but we finally got Myers off the swing and got to Costco.

Did I mention that I love Costco?
But not as much as I love Cleveland....
And maybe I was being a little bit hasty when I said it rivaled Disney...

And I made Ruby a new outfit-

I love it and she loves it!
I used this tutorial for the skirt.

Merry Christmas Eve

(Take note of the tree skirt- I finished that yesterday and I love it!!!)

Things we love this Christmas season:
Amazon Prime (free 2 day shipping on almost everything)  how will we ever live without you?
Packages and letters in the mail
The green grass- yes I said Green- there will be no white or brown Christmas here- it looks like summer out there!  It may not be as warm but I will enjoy it as long as I can.
Our REAL beautiful Christmas tree adorned with mostly homemade decorations and a new tree skirt.
Each other- we are grateful to be together and healthy and happy.
The real reason we celebrate Christmas.  Though Santa is fun we have really been trying to focus on Jesus Christ this season.  We have made a point to talk about different parts of the Christmas story every day and read books that focus on the nativity.  It has been a special Christmas for us all.  We watched these videos yesterday together and the kids loved them.  (Though Ruby had a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that they were just actors and it wasn't the real Joseph and Mary.  She just thought they were being being video taped like she always is.  We had to explain to her that there were no cameras back when Jesus was born...  she couldn't believe it!)
Friends that we have made here that make it a little easier to be away from family at this time...
Simple traditions that are passed down- things like decorating the Christmas tree, making the house dark and turning on the Christmas tree lights and laying under it- just enjoying the beauty and wonder of Christmas.

Things we will miss this Christmas season
Family- of course.  It just isn't the same without everyone.  I keep thinking about what everyone is doing back home and wishing that we could be there too.  Luckily it won't be too long until we are back visiting.
Snow- I know I was just bragging about the green Christmas that we are having- but lets be realistic- how can it really feel like Christmas without snow?
TOFFIFEE- Cannot find the stuff anywhere.  How can it be Christmas if I don't have toffifee in my stocking?  I know that they sell it down here (they actually spell it toffifay down here) but they must not sell it in ohio.  So if anyone hears my plea- buy me a pack of toffifee and I will come and get it in January!  (while I was writing this I looked it up on Amazon- they sell it, of course, 15 pieces for 10 dollars- does that seem right?)

We would just like to say Merry Christmas.  Thank you for all you have done for us and for all the packages and love that we have received.  We are grateful for this time of year to celebrate the miracle of Christ's birth and the magic of Christmas.

HEAD

In Justin's adult life I have only known him to be truly afraid of one thing.

Styrofoam heads.

I can only blame his sisters for the lack of Styrofoam head decoration in our home.

(Everyone has Styrofoam heads adorning their halls right?  I feel totally left out of the Styrofoam head craze...)

On All Hallows Eve we received a 'guest' in the mail.

In the form of a Styrofoam head.

It looked like this:

And it creeped us all out.

I did not expect the amount of creepage that I felt.  

I thought it was all just a simple joke that would be funny and then the styrofoam head would go away and we would all laugh and that would be it.

But that head has a way of haunting a person and finding its way back into your life.

The creepiest part is the fact that it has 'I FOUND YOU' written on its head. 

That creeps everyone else out too, right?

I will admit I am a bonified 'scaredy'.  There is no other way to describe it.

Justin showed a little bit of fear whether fake or real suppressed 'I was terrorized with this head by my sisters in my youth' fear it doesn't matter.  I jumped right on that band wagon.

We quickly threw it down the stairs (into the basement that we NEVER enter, not under ANY circumstances- because of said fear) and quickly close the door.

We discussed what we would do with it- I wanted to get rid of it so Justin said he would run down and get it and then we could get rid of it. So he opened the door- and about 4 steps down- there was the head.

It had landed right side up on its neck and was looking at us through those opaque white eyes- just willing us to come closer.

SO.... we shut the door again.

And laughed nervously....  (the kids were around and we don't want them to have unnecessary fear of the head)

We did eventually get the head and now it has a dwelling in our garage.

We just can't seem to let it go.

Where do you find a styrofoam head anyway?  What if we needed it some day?

I know you are laughing at us right now- but beware!!!

Maybe one day the head will find you.

Yes I am mostly speaking to you Aymie DAVIS!!!!

Oh, Mail- How we love you!

There has been a high influx of mail in these parts lately and we LOVE IT!

It is probably our favorite thing! 

Right now we have been getting Christmas gifts so sadly we have not been able to open them.

So it was quite the treat when Ruby go this money in the mail from Grammie Ruby.

She was pretty excited!

 We hopped on the bike as soon as we could and headed to our favorite ice cream shop!  I don't know if she was more excited for the ice cream or the bike ride!

 We got them their favorite baby cones!!  They are so cute and just enough for the kids!

 And we actually ran into some friends their coincidentally and so we were able to get an actual family picture!

If we are lucky that won't be the last bike ride of the season....

(For those of you asking how you can make it on the blog- all you need do is send us some mail- we REALLY love mail...)

Fall Fun

This girl loves crafts.

Every day when Noni naps she asks to make a craft so I am constantly thinking of fun, quick and inexpensive things that we can make.

Fall has been a great season for crafts!

We started out with a book that taught Ruby (and us) all of the chemicals that make the leaves change color.

Chlorophyll is green

Xanthophyll is yellow

Annin is brown

Anthocyanin is purple/red

Carotene is orange.

(in case you were all wondering)

She was so interested in the colors and the chemicals that we thought we needed to go out and collect all the colors and shapes of leaves that we could find.

So we headed out for FHE one day and collected TONS of leaves.  

 So what to do with them?

Well I brought out the wax paper first and thought that we could iron the leaves in between them and then hang them.  Well that was an epic fail- it didn't work and just looked terrible.  So I pulled out the trusty mod podge and we went to work.

Ruby mod podged some onto a duotang....

 And with the rest we just modpodged them separately and hung them to dry.  I had gotten to packages of clothes pins from a lady at church and was glad to find a use for them!

We decided that we would hang them in our window as garland and decoration.  Ruby liked to hit them with a ruler- she thought it was fun- and of course Myers wanted to join in on the fun too!

 That did not satisfy Ruby's craving however, so we moved onto the next craft the next FHE.  Painting glass pumpkins.  It was really fun.  Look at how serious Ruby's face is- isn't that just precious?  I love her.

 Myers even got to paint his own- 

 Until he decided to eat it.  He was so fast there was no way to even stop him!

 They turned out great and we put a candle in each of them and lit them up for halloween...

The far left is Noni's- we gave him a second chance with the paint- that also did not last very long.  Then there is Justin's- he calls him chompers.  Then our carved pumpkin (it has a mustache and a round mouth...  I know it doesn't look quite right, Justin did it for me...).  Then there is mine- I like to call him evil chompers (I have a small obsession with mustache crafts.  I think they are cool but they never turn out quite right... If I am going to be honest then I must tell you that I painted another face on the back of my jar and on the back of Justin's, all with mustaches, ALL UGLY.  I thought maybe I would be lucky enough to inherit some of my mom's painting skills- turns out I didn't...)  and then Ruby's- she was doing great but then got carried away with the black- painting is just too much fun!  I still think it is great and it looks a little bit like a spider...

And now for our last fall craft of the season- for it will now be thanksgiving and Christmas oriented crafts- an acorn covered hanging ball.

As well as the mustache obsession I have a decorative ball obsession.  I think they look cool.  So when we were out walking one day and we came across a gold mine of acorns I just knew I could find a use for them!  Ruby, Myers and I gathered up as many as we could and filled our pockets and then headed home.  A couple days later I got a Styrofoam ball and my trusty glue gun and the acorn ball was born.  Ruby even got in on the fun.  I still haven't decided if I am going to spray paint it or not- but a part of me really loves it.  Another part of me- not so much.  I'm still torn.

Fall has been good to us.  I love the falls out here they just seem more real....slower.  You can really take the time to enjoy the weather and the leaves and the smells.  I fear winter is coming too soon....

Autumn

The sun is shining and it is the perfect temperature outside.  I feel like I am of the same opinion as every other person that ever lived when I say 'I love Autumn.'  The smells, the colors, the weather....  Autumn may just be my favorite season.  Spring and summer both come in a close second and winter a VERY, VERY distant third.
It was raining here for a while so I almost forgot how much I love Autumn- but then the sun came out again and the leaves began to change and the world was made right again.

These flowers have been growing in our yard and all over the side of the road.  I think it is lavender.  Am I right?


We Snells are loving this weather, and our backyard- and each other.

The Auction

Hidden treasures just waiting to be found for incredible prices.  Fun finds at your finger tips.  I love auctions and they are EVERYWHERE here.  Our favorite auction happens every friday night about 5 minutes from our house.

If I am being honest with myself we really don't need to accumulate junk (a fact I really try to remember) so we haven't bought anything at one yet but we have our eye open if anything amazing and wonderful come along.
You know, like this box of randoms.

 Or an old outdated globe.

Or this steal of a find high chair (which I would have bought if Myers would sit in a high chair)

Or this huge box of never ending zipper.  I am sure I need that much zipper.  My favorite moment of the night was when I happened to be walking by these zippers and two older men (75 ish) were looking at them trying to figure out what they were.  They just kept looking at it and touching it and discussing.  They finally decided that it was some sort of strapping.  Something used to tie something else down on a truck or something.  The one man graciously stepped down and told the other man that he would let the him have them....  I just stood and stared- oh, and took a picture.  It got a little awkward so I walked away.

It is a really fun place to go!  We always have fun there and it is really neat to see what people bring and what goodies we can find.  We are looking for some sort of dresser or something for our front room so we will be back until the weather gets too cold.  We just need to grasp on to the whole bidding thing.  Sometimes it is too hard to tell what the auctioneer is even saying and by the time you figure it out the item is gone.  Like the 3 chairs I wanted to get that went for 6 dollars before we could even blink.  Ah, well...  I am sure they went to a good home.

I have some really fond memories of auctions when I was a kid.  (Ok only one memory)  It was when we were living in Altario, Ab (The wikipedia page talks about how well populated it used to be but doesn't mention how populated it is now- there were about 25 people there when I lived there and 6 of those people were my family.  It was comprised of one block- and was seriously an awesome place for a kid to grow up).  Anyway there was an auction it was fun and we came home with some cool stuff.  So I like auctions, so what?