Zoo for Halloween

 

Hey, I’m pretty sure it is January and this is a post for October. Very lame. Anyway, I finally got around to processing these images and I ended up liking them more than I expected. There are a couple of real gems in here and I hope you enjoy them. We visited Hogle Zoo for their Halloween Day. It was packed with very long lines. Luckily we were able to avoid some of the long lines for candy and find a few short ones. First up, meet the three cousins, Nate (Optimus Prime), Madeleine (Rapunzel), and Joe (some kind of green dinosaur).

 

Nate is quickly developing a love for maps to rival Julie’s. If a map is involved he wants to be in charge of keeping the group on track.

Nate and Madeleine enjoying some of their well-earned Halloween candy.

Here is one of Madeleine and my mom checking out the giraffes. These two get along really well.

The three cousins again in a dinosaur egg.

And my two favorite images of the day.

There are a few more images in the online gallery if you’re interested. 

The Snowiest Christmas

Man, Christmas was FUN this year! I remember being quite depressed last December because I totally wasn’t feeling the spirit of Christmas whatsoever. I’m sure it had nothing to do with a) a colicky newborn, b) total lack of sleep, c) failing to sell our house and figuring out the whole renting-it-out process, and d) getting ready to move into my parents’ basement.

But THIS year was great. I tell ya, Christmas with little kids is the best. It’s so exciting and happy and sweet. I can’t wait to do it again in 11 months.

This year we hosted the annual Cool Avenues People Christmas Party at our home. We had our four good friends’ families that we met while we lived on 1st Ave all come for dinner and a white elephant. It was so much fun to get everyone together! We really had a great time. We’ve all come a long way in just the last 7 years since living there. None of us had kids and now we have between 1 and almost 4 each. Crazy! But great.

This is the first year our little family has spent Christmas Eve with just us. My mom decided that it was time her kids created their own traditions with their own kids and stop mooching off of grandma Just kidding…kind of. We spent an evening with the Raines side of the family a few days before Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we made a big dinner of ribs, homemade baked beans, corn, bread, soda (a rarity here) and apple crisp. It was a ton of effort that took most of the day, but it was delicious. I made sure to carry on the tradition of a spooky dinner (that’s what I called our candlelight dinner when I was little) but we called it our fancy dinner. We had a tablecloth and cloth napkins, fancy glasses (stemware) and, of course, candles. Caroline didn’t like eating in the dark, but the rest of us had a good time.

After dinner we talked about the nativity story using the figures my dad made us, read a couple of Christmas books, opened pjs, and went to bed. Rob and I had actually gotten everything done in the days before so we had time to relax and watch a movie together.

One of Rob’s presents to me was a shaven face. I’ve missed his cute smile! He didn’t want to do it all at once so here he is with half of it shaven. He did the rest the next morning and it lasted all of a week. He’s back to his beard now, but that’s ok. He’s awfully sexy when he’s all stubbly and manly.

 

Since Christmas was on a Sunday and we had church at 8:30am, we had just enough time to open stockings before leaving. I really enjoyed going to church first and listening to the beautiful Christmas program. Another plus, I’m actually dressed on and have my hair and makeup done for the present-opening pictures!! Woo! Christmas morning pictures are seriously scary most years.

About 2 years ago when I was pregnant with baby Caroline I found this amazing wooden rocking horse at Deseret Industries for three dollars. THREE dollars!! I bought it with the intent of giving to my baby on his or her 2nd Christmas. I had Rob re-stain and re-paint it to look like new and isn’t it gorgeous?! I wanted it to be gender-neutral and to blend in seamlessly with her woodsy bedroom and it is perfect. Besides, she loves it!

We also got her a cozy coupe. This thing has been probably the most played with toy. All the kids love it.

 

Madeleine got a stick unicorn and a real cowgirl hat. Cute!

Here’s Nate with one of his 4 Star Wars action figures. Another thing he got was a pocket microscope. He had been asking for one for months and I thought it was a great idea because I had one when I was a kid, too!

 

 

Rob upgraded some of his speakers for the surround sound. The big surprise, though, was his gift to me (helped with gift money from both sets of parents). Can you tell I’m in love with it? I don’t just have a crush. I’m not just infatuated. I’m truly, deeply, in love.

  

The rest of Christmas day was spent at the Snow family home for visiting, dinner, and gifts.

I can’t list every present we all received, but it doesn’t matter because that’s not what made Christmas special. Christmas was special because we are so blessed with family and friends. Thanks, so very much, for helping us make this Christmas a great one to remember. We love you!!

Here’s the link to more pictures and the above video if you were unable to play it.

Butterfly Pavilion

While in Denver the second time, I decided to splurge a little and pay for me and the kids to go to the Butterfly Pavilion north of town. We had recently checked-out Fancy Nancy and the Butterfly Birthday from the library and I really thought Madeleine would LOVE being surrounded by beautiful, fluttering butterflies. Wrong. She didn’t like it one bit. All those creepy, flying bugs threatening to land on her was not her idea of fun. She kept begging to leave. I forced her to stay in there with the rest of us while we got our fill. I did, afterall, just drive for 45 minutes and pay $20 to go.

  

 

 

 

 

A pretty, white butterfly landed on the ground next to Caroline. While I was trying to get a picture, I realized this meant certain death to the poor little thing. Now I know why there is “No Touching!”.

 

  

 

Tropical flora definitely not indigenous to Colorado.

 

They also have a few aquariums with upside-down jellyfish and a huge starfish. This thing was about 2 feet across.

 

 

They also have an insect exhibit. We all refused to hold the tarantella, but Nate stroked the cockroach. Gross!

 

After the inside exhibits, we played outside in the nature-y area. Those pictures will be posted another day. As cool as it was, I’m not convinced it was worth the money. If Madeleine would have enjoyed herself like I thought she would have, than maybe. Oh, well.

Mistake

I made a mistake! That never happens

Below it states FREE (web-sized) copies of your favorite images. We’re actually giving away FULL-RESOLUTION images so you can print your pictures anywhere.

A New Year Give-A-Way

Just a reminder for you to enter our give-a-way by Monday night!

 

 

Obviously, photography is very important to me and Rob. We love capturing our family’s love and smiles. We enjoy doing this for other people as well.

We realize that getting family portraits taken can be a difficult matter of time and money. So for RJ Snow Photography’s New Year Give-A-Way, we’re offering the following:

• FREE 1 hour photoshoot for a family, individual, a group of friends; anything goes.
• FREE retouching of your favorite images.
• FREE (web-sized) copies of your favorite images.

Stipulations:

• We’d like to offer this to someone who really needs it so we’re limiting it to people who have not had professional portraits taken in the last 5 years.
• The photoshoot will need to take place in February 2012.

Just send us an email at rjsnow@rjsnowphotography.com and let us know you’d like to be entered in our giveaway. You may also nominate someone you know. We will send the entries through a random-number generator to select the winner. The deadline to enter is January 9th at midnight.

Good luck!

 

ps. If you want to see the winners of our last give-a-way, their post is here.

Raines Thanksgiving 2011

Waiting for dinner…

Meal time!

Doesn’t her Thanksgiving dinner look delicious?

 

Going on a turkey hunt!

 

 

 

Some after-dinner casual portraits. Rob and I don’t get many together.

 

 

Hmmm. I think we’re due for a nice portrait of Grandma Clark. Better set that up!

Family can see more pictures here.

A New Year Give-A-Way

Obviously, photography is very important to me and Rob. We love capturing our family’s love and smiles. We enjoy doing this for other people as well.

We realize that getting family portraits taken can be a difficult matter of time and money. So for RJ Snow Photography’s New Year Give-A-Way, we’re offering the following:

• FREE 1 hour photoshoot for a family, individual, a group of friends; anything goes.
• FREE retouching of your favorite images.
• FREE (web-sized) copies of your favorite images.

Stipulations:

• We’d like to offer this to someone who really needs it so we’re limiting it to people who have not had professional portraits taken in the last 5 years.
• The photoshoot will need to take place in February 2012.

Just send us an email at rjsnow@rjsnowphotography.com and let us know you’d like to be entered in our giveaway. You may also nominate someone you know. We will send the entries through a random-number generator to select the winner. The deadline to enter is January 9th at midnight.

Good luck!

ps. If you want to see the winners of our last give-a-way, their post is here. You can also check out our photography website and blog at www.rjsnowphotography.com.

 

Retirement

This past September my dad retired from work. He had been working at The Church History Museum for over 25 years! I have some fond memories of visiting him at work with my mom and brother and sisters, of Bring-Your-Daughter-to-Work Day (does that still exist??), and going to exhibit open houses. I was sad when I quit working for the Church after only 6 years…I can’t imagine how it would feel after 26 years!

On the day of his retirement, he put on a presentation for some of the staff. The presentation included how he came to work for the Church (a miracle) and how his life and family have been blessed through his work.

At the end, he was presented with a special letter from the First Presidency of the Church thanking him for his many years of service. Wow. So neat.

Then there was the kids’ favorite part, refreshments!

We are sure dad is going to be missed at Church Headquarters, but we’re glad to have him around more. It’s probably not as relaxing as he thought retirement would be, but we hope he enjoys it.

 

Dad can see more of his retirement party pictures here.

Grandma Snow

My dear Grandma Jeanette Snow passed away just before Christmas. I have a lot of memories of my grandma and I'm not sure that I could think of one that was the least bit negative. I sometimes thought she was a little strange but I think that comes with grandma territory.

My grandma was a great people-person and was good at making friends wherever she went. She would often say "my best friend was once a stranger." She certainly made me feel loved and helped me learn how to be kind to others.

First I wanted to share a few photos of Grandma in her younger years. Some of these just crack me up. My grandma loved growing plants and flowers. Here is a picture of her with a very large and bulbous tomato from her garden. That one looks very good.

 

So I knew she was a good bowler and heard a lot of people discuss that at the funeral. As I was looking for some good pictures of her I came across this one of her and the bowling team and had a good laugh. What a great group of women.

Many memories have come to my mind as I sit composing this post. To follow that image above of the tomato I made a picture with my daughter Madeleine of Grandma's peach tree. Peaches were a summertime constant at her house. I remember them always being warm from the sun, sweet, and juicy.

Remember when I said that as a kid I sometimes thought she did strange things? Those usually became my favorite memories of her. From dancing in the street on the Fourth of July to spouting random (and personlized, mind you) songs at any occasion. Her joyful, playful, loving, and caring nature was treasure of the family. I will always remember you and will apply the lessons you taught me time and time again.

Here is the obituary.

Jeannette "Jan" Snow

1932 ~ 2011

Jeannette "Jan" Ann Woodmansee Snow, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and friend was a fighter that endured many illnesses including liver disease only to be taken by complications with pneumonia on Dec.21, 2011A life to celebrate and honor, a true lady. Born January 23, 1932 in SLC to Benjamin Lewis and Annie Bertha Woodmansee. Grew up in downtown SLC and graduated from South High. She worked at Wagner Bag, Wilson Meat Pies and at The Capitol Theater where she enjoyed meeting actors and actresses. As young ladies, Jan and 2 girlfriends traveled and explored Utah, Nevada and Arizona (quite adventurous for young women of that day).

After a blind date, Jan and Vern fell in love. Mom loved Dad's good looks, Dad loved her sense of humor and beautiful blue eyes. They were married April 30, 1955. To this marriage came Robert, Wendy, Julie and Stacy. During these years Jan worked at Litton Guidance Systems (25 years), where she made many lifelong friends. Jan was past president of ABWA and enjoyed Toast Masters. She loved to tell jokes and stories through rhyme. She was a true friend to many. Jan made her home warm and beautiful at holidays, hosting many family parties. She loved music, gardening, shopping, bowling, playing cards, babies and ice-cream. Later in life Jan also loved the Jazz (but not the refs) and Wendover. Most of all Jan loved her family. She was very proud that all of her grandchildren graduated from college.

Mom's favorite saying was, "My best friend was once a stranger." Her home was a place where everyone was welcome. Mother was like a rose, she brought beauty and brightness to the world.

Survived by husband, Vern Snow; son, Robert (Gail) Snow; daughters, Wendy (John) Kunzler, Julie (Kevin) Connors, Stacy Snow; nephew, Steven (Sandra) Villarreal; 12 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren plus one on the way; brothers, Albert (Gladys), Duane (Shauna) Woodmansee, Marlin Snow and sister, Shirley (Ted) Nielsen.. Preceded in death by parents; in-laws, Charles C. Snow and Janetta Rymer; brother, Jerry (Joyce) Woodmansee; sister, Joyce (Hal) Gallacher and her sister-in-law, Lena Villarreal.

Jan's children thank their Father for the unconditional loving care of their Mother which gave everyone more time to enjoy her. Thank you to all of the physicians and nurses that provided care for Jan over the years.

Mom "we love you more." In honor of our Mother, make a friend.

Services will be held Wednesday, December 28th, 11:00 a.m. at Redwood Memorial Mortuary, 6500 So. Redwood Rd. A viewing will be held Tuesday evening from 6 - 8 p.m. at the mortuary and one hour prior to services on Wednesday. On-line condolences may be left at www.memorialutah.com