Rob & Julie Snow Family Blog

Last weekend we piled in the car and drove down south to the Nebo Area.  We hoped to go a few weeks earlier to see the leaves change but couldn’t make it happen.  So yeah, the leaves were all down as we, or at least I (Rob) expected.  Every time we drove over a hill and beheld a valley filled with trees (sans leaves) I would chuckle a little because I knew Julie was agonizing over how beautiful it could have been…..if only…..  LOL!

We got out of the car at a few places along the drive to take a walk in the woods.  How fun it was to goof around with the kids.  We had a blast playing with sticks and rocks, throwing dirt and leaves, and jumping on logs.  Of course we made a lot of images. 

Nate has his mom's amazing eyes!

Eventually we made our way to Payson Lakes.  We played in the dirt, mud, sand, and water for at least two hours! The kids found a old broken paddle to use as a make shift shovel.  Instant FUN!

Here is one of Madeleine with her pile of rocks and dirt.  She worked on this for about 20 minutes.  I’m not really sure what she was doing the entire time; However, we can rest assured that it was satisfying.  :)

Here are a couple shots I took when I wasn’t playing with the kids.  We even found a few leaves for Julie!

I sure wish people would pick up their trash! Ugh!

 

Those interested can find a few more images in the web gallery.

 

Today is my sister Colleen’s birthday. She turned 24. She has two totally great sons, Jason and Xander. 

Here are a few memories I have of her or of us growing up together:

• When Colleen was only a few years old, she would write her name on everything…usually in permanent marker. We’d find her name on bed frames, the wall, tables, just about anything. What made it funny was that she would always deny it, even though it was her name. What’s even funnier, is this is how she spelled Colleen – ololloollo. It was like she was a computer coding genius at 3. I wonder what secret program she was writing?
• Colleen loved to tag along with me and my best friend. She was game for anything we wanted to play, as long as she was included. We played house, post office, school, Barbies, and anything else. She always wanted to be in the middle of the fun.
• I don’t know if she still is, but growing up, Colleen was very accident-prone. I take that back, I do know. She is still very accident prone. She had a huge, bloody scrape across her face for my sister’s wedding, she chipped her two front teeth riding her bike into a parked car, she has had numerous sprained appendages, etc. But she’s always been a good sport about it, usually laughing at herself as she tells us what happened.
• She had the prettiest, naturally blonde hair growing up. I was always jealous because mine was mousy brown. And I always thought my hand-me-downs looked cuter on her.
• She has empathy. Two great stories comin’ at ya. 1-When she was maybe 3 years old we were visiting my grandparents on a vacation. We were all eating ice cream in the living room. We found Colleen in the bedroom with my great-grandmother who had Alzheimer’s, hand-feeding her ice cream. 2-The second story happened the night I said goodbye to my boyfriend who was entering the MTC the next day. I came home and as soon as I walked in the door, Colleen came to me and gave me a big, long hug. Now, my family is not a family of huggers. I don’t usually care for it (except with Rob and the kids), but that night I did and I was so appreciative of her for recognizing the difficult time I was going through. She was the only one who seemed to acknowledge it, and it meant a whole lot to me.
• I seem to remember her always being in good spirits and enthusiastic, even amidst a difficult moment.

Some other notable things about Colleen now:

• Even with all the stresses of adulthood, she is still usually in good spirits and enthusiastic about life.
• Colleen and I have our differences. Many of them, in fact. But we’re always able to come together after a disagreement and just be sisters. She doesn’t hold grudges and does a good job at shrugging things off.   
• She is very detail-oriented. I am also, so I really value when someone else is. When she has the planning reigns, you don’t have to worry about her overlooking anything. She’ll have every detail worked out.
• One thing that I truly admire is her phone skills. I hate calling. She revels in it.
• She’s able to talk to absolutely anyone for any amount of time, even perfect strangers. It’s easy and natural for her. She’s always gracious.

Happy Birthday, Colleen!! I love you!!

My (Julie) sister asked us to take pictures of her, her sons, and her boyfriend’s sons. We went to Fort Buenaventura in Ogden. It was a great place for photos! Plus, the boys had fun running around in between photo snapping. It’s always easier when the kids are entertained and happy.

I’m not going to say too much else because Colleen’s birthday is this week so there’ll be a birthday post coming up. But enjoy the pictures. Family can see more here.

 

Xander is notorious for not wanting his picture taken. But we got some! Yay!

 

Jason looking handsome as ever.

 

His cool trick.

 

 

This picture makes me laugh. Jason was frustrated that his brother wasn’t cooperating. But Xander found great pleasure in licking his fingers and ignoring everyone.

 

But, eventually, we got a great shot.

 

 

 

 

This kid cracked me up. He was all about helping us with his own ideas on background, lighting, and posing. 

 

When I asked them to give me attitude, I got attitude!

Last Sunday we went to Meuller Park in Bountiful to experience the beautiful fall colors. The kids had fun throwing rocks in the water and Rob and I took turns taking pictures.

We had a great time, as usual, and hope to always get out in nature as a family. It does something good for the soul.

You can see a few more pictures here, if you’re interested.

 

 

   

Here is a quick video of my old band (Found) playing a favorite song of many called Goodbye Goodbye.  Maybe some of you remember it.  This performance was recorded at South Jordan Park as part of a battle of the bands.  It was a lot of fun.  And for the record……we totally won.  :)  At the end of the video is some embed code if you want to repost this somewhere else.  :) 

A long time ago I was on the Utah Snakeboarding team.  We had a bunch of ramps and did demonstrations with them around the state.  It was a lot of fun!  A local news person decided to create a segment on us for a local news station.  Enjoy! If you can see the video here or you would like to download it then click here.  :)  I’m the one in the red shorts.

Please enjoy a few more impromptu images of the kids playing.  I took these the same day as the black and white series I posted the other day. This was one of last warm days of the year.  We had a blast outside playing.  You can find a few more images in the gallery if you are interested.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve managed to upload a few more videos over the weekend and I present two for you of Nate having his first solid food.  The first one is rice cereal and the second is some kind of vegetable.  These videos are about 6 or 7 minutes long and probably wont win any awards (although one of them features some music by BB King).  If you are interested take a look.  They are pretty cute.

Next….

I (Julie) was sitting here at the computer wasting time and saw a cruiseline’s banner ad that read, “Come celebrate the decade with us.” It took me a sec to realize what they meant by decade. It’s 2009. Almost the end of 2009. A decade ago was the turn of the century.

Then I was struck. Wow. 1999. That was a crazy year for me. And it was 10 years ago now. Can that really be possible? And am I really 10 years older?

Ten years ago I was working at ZCMI in the shoe department. I made many new friends that year and I still keep in contact with most of them.

I also had a pre-mission boyfriend. But that’s a different story.

That year was a blast. I’d say it was the best of my life up until I met Rob 2 years later.

Thanks, 1999, for the ride.

So, this trend in myself (Julie) is still quite the work in progress, but lately I’ve felt more inclined with buying from locally-owned small businesses.

Let me start at the beginning. My parents owned and then operated their own ship modeling magazine business while I was growing up. I saw how much work they put into making it succeed. I graduated with my BA so I was exposed to “behind-the-scenes” of large corporations and wasn’t too thrilled at what I saw. I currently work for my brother-in-law’s Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning business, and Rob and I have a photography start-up of our own. With my personal experience being involved in these, I’ve seen first-hand how great small businesses are.

As far as I can tell, most small businesses are the same in regard to:

1-The business is usually opened as an extension of the entrepreneur's passion. They love what they do. It’s not just their job, it’s their life.

2-These people invest so much of their own time, money, and HEART into their business in order to make it succeed. 

3-They really, really want people to be happy with their product or service and they’ll do just about anything within their power to make it happen.

4-Many times, the quality is much higher than mass-produced goods and services. The owner’s are usually on the front line themselves; therefore, they’re able to see first-hand what the customers’ needs are and the best way to obtain his or her satisfaction. Attention and care is placed into each customer and each order.

5-In many cases, the higher quality, handmade/handgrown good or service is the same price, if not less expensive, than the large company’s. With overhead being much lower (and the small business owner being less greedy) it’s easy to keep the price fair.

Just to be sure you don’t misunderstand my intentions, it’s not like I don’t shop at Walmart or any other big box store. Sometimes the selection and price just can’t be beat. But sometimes it can.

I want to pursue shopping locally more because I like what it stands for. Supporting good people for their good work is a good thing.     

Here is a link to the 3/50 project. It’s super short, interesting, and helps drive my points home. “Pick 3. Spend 50. Save your local economy.” Thanks, Savannah, for sending this to me. 

Now, I want to hear from all of you who own a small business, work for a small business, just do a hobby for a little money on the side, or know someone who does. Some of you run a preschool, some do accounting, some are photographers, some make wedding cakes, some do hair, some are mechanics, some sew, some are graphic designers, and some are various consultants. I’d love you to leave a comment with who you are and what you do. Maybe, if you want, I’ll feature you in an upcoming blog post, PLUS, you may find me using your services. I’d rather give my money to a friend than to an impersonal corporation.

I decided it would be fun to get a personal history account into my blog. I’m not up for a big project so I decided to take a few questions at a time and answer them simply rather than do a complete write-out. So here are the 1st seven questions. Every once in a while I’ll add some more.

FAMILY INCOME & LIVELIHOOD

1. What did my father do for a living?

My dad was (and is still) a conservator for the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City.

2. Did my mother work outside the home?

My parents started their own business publishing a ship-building magazine (my dad’s hobby). They owned it for a couple of years before they sold it but they continued to run the entire operation for 15ish years.

3. Did I get any allowance as a child?

No. There were periods of time when we’d earn a quarter or so for each chore performed.

4. Did your family have a garden?

Oh, yes. A pretty big one. My parents loved to have us weed for Family Home Evening. We always enjoyed the food, but us kids never liked the work it took.

5. What type of house did I live in as a child?

My family lived in a few houses, but the one that I grew up in was a typical 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in a typical Taylorsville neighborhood. My parents continually expanded it by adding an office, a washroom, a dining room, and a cellar.

6. Did I have a yard?

We lived on a corner lot so we had yard surrounding the house on all four sides. The front and front-side lawns were kept nice. In the back there was one corner reserved for the dog, one corner reserved for the garden, and the side-back yard was reserved for us kids. We had a swingset, a trampoline, a playhouse, we dug holes, and pretty much tore the place up. Great times.

7. As a child, did I have a room of my own?

I didn’t have my own room until I was about 11. The 5 kids that were living at home all took turns sharing rooms with one another.

 

A week or two ago I did a playtime photo shoot with the kids.  I used my new 35mm f/1.8 lens for these shots and just love the sharpness and feel this lens gives.  I set up a flash on the windowsill which I directed towards the ceiling on 1/8th power and shot manual (1/100s at f/3.5).  Had such a fun time.  I hope you all like the fun and random images. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed these photos. Impromptu images of the kids are a lot of fun. I love getting down on their level. Family and Friends can view the gallery here if they want to download these images or order some prints. My kids are just so cute!