Our CornBelly Adventure - venture - venture...

Do you like the echo? Haha! This October we were lucky enough to get season passes for Cornbelly's, the world-famous fall festival and celebration of corn!


Just look at the smiles in these photos. (Ike is the one doing the belly-flop)

These bouncies are our favorite. I can only stand a few minutes of bouncing now-a-days (I'm too old I guess)


But that's okay because Ava doesn't like the bouncies either. She prefers to sit like a "lady" on the hay bails. :D

Don and his momma. (so much hay!)

Ava and her grandpa (so much corn!)


Here's the fam-damly on a hay ride.

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When it got cold we snuggled in blankets, sat by the fire pit, and/or ate chili or soup. (mmmm!)


When our feet got tired we sat in the magical pumpkin coach.


When we broke the rules we went to the stocks.


When we got scared we called in Grandpa Jack, the Dragon Tamer!


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We couldn't convince Aunt Holly or Miley to go in the Monster Maze, so they kept each other company (a safe distance away from the beast!)




Here we are in a scene from the Wizard of Oz.
...and Ava is Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.


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Donny rode the bull. He was the only one brave/crazy enough! (apparently he's done this with a live bull?!)
Go, Don! Yay, Dad!
Okay, that's long enough.
Good landing. Bravo!


My lil' punkin in a patch of pumpkins.

We would love Cornbelly's to be our family tradition, but sadly, we have plans to leave Utah next summer. :(

But the beautiful thing about family traditions is that you can make them up as you go along!

Ike & Milas Go To School

Kinder-what?! Oh, why does it have to hurt so much to see children grow up so fast?


My Milas.


Going to Kindergarten.





I promised myself I wouldn't cry.
But it was such a BIG school and my Milas is just a bitty thing. When we reached the school doors, my heart and my throat ganged up on me. I made my eyes look away so they wouldn't be tempted to join this Sobbing Hearts gang.
Miley loves her teacher, her friends, and her homework (ooooooof course).


Here are two pretty pink ladies on another happy day of school. I love that Grandma "Honey" is a retired grade school teacher. She has WAAAAAAAYY more patience than I do when it comes to teaching inquisitive minds.



Now Ike had his first day of "Preek-school." No where near as traumatic...


...for me, anyway. He was just a little nervous and had one big cry on his first day.

But now he loves school.... almost as much as he loves being silly!

I am so lucky to have such wonderful, beautiful babes.

{Snodress Reunion}

All the Snodgress' got together for a family reunion at Navajo Lake! We did all the traditional things like:

Painted quilt squares,

Played poker,

Got rained out,



Did the Horseshoe Tournament,


(which can get very serious!)



look at her focus...

Laughing,


and eating yummy food!

This year we added a few new traditions...

Rock painting,

and Home Movie Night! (Uncle Kevin hung a big white sheet over the deck and we watched old (and new) home movies through a projector as we sat around the campfire--that's where my previous post of "Family Time" comes from.)




Hooray for Family Reunions!





We are so lucky to have such wonderful family members. I have so many good memories with my Snodgress relatives, and Grandma Bev is the glue that holds us all together. Some of the treausred memories that I have with Grandma are:
the toys in the hall closet
ice cream cones
swimming with SpringTree tags
socks for Christmas
Grandma's talking car
Memory Match game
the big gold chair with a mystery stain under the cushion
fancy hand soaps
mandatory "talk time" at dinner
and Sunday comics

These are just a few of the things that make me smile whenever I think of Grandma.

Release of "Family Time."

The much anticipated movie is now available on DVD or FaceBook.

At the Snodgress Family Reunion, each family submitted a home video. Each was judged and awarded according to best actor/actress, etc. Ours won Best Video (*clap hands*).

Now sit back, relax, and enjoy a glimpse of how the Snodgress' spend an afternoon together.

On a side note, Brittany won Best Villian at the Academy Awards. :D

Coming soon to a theater near you:

Snodgress Revival;

A Tribute to the Monkees

One Fine Day

Today I spent 2 hours at American Fork Hospital. I ate breakfast, filled out some paperwork, got decontaminized... you know, the usual.

Oh, didn't you hear? There was a biochemical terrorist attack today at the BYU football stadium.


I hope you keep reading, because it was just a drill.


Not real. Just a drill.


For my nursing classes, I have to do community volunteer hours. I signed up for the Utah County Mock Disaster Drill because I heard there was a continental breakfast. :) I roped Don in to it too. He also needs community hours for med school.



The whole county was involved; the police, the UTA, the National Guard, the hospitals. It was pretty cool to see everyone work together.

So, my part was pretty cool. After the "bomb" went off, I was shunted to American Fork Hospital and was sent through the decontamination shower in my bathing suit. I played a 75 year old woman with no symptoms. I was happy and glad that everyone at the hospital was doing their job. (That's what my assignment card said.) Easy-peasy. Everyone did their job well, but it was mostly fun and kick-back. The unconscious guy next to me was drinking a Diet Coke, and the pregnant guy across from me had stuffed a balloon up his shirt. :D


Don's story is a little different.

He was bused to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center as an unconscious man with a chest laceration. hahahahaha... I'm sorry, I am laughing as I write this. Remember how I said that the whole county was taking part in this mock disaster? Well, no one told the staff at UVRMC. All they got was a message saying, "There was a chemical bomb at Levell Edwards Stadium. Prepare for buses of injured. Several critical. Few minor. Few in late pregnancy. Possible contamination."

Don's bus was the first to arrive. He said it was controlled hysteria. Every nurse and doctor was scrambling to get the decontamination tent set up so they could help these poor injured people. The volunteers acted their part well, moaning and groaning. Since Don was unconscious, he was put on a gurney by the hospital entrance. The labor and delivery nurse was the first to run up to the bus. She shouted to the crowd, "Where are my pregnant ladies? Where are my pregnant ladies?" A young guy sitting in a wheelchair raised his hand, "Oh, that's me." I could only imagine what the poor nurse was thinking, "You idiot, we're in the middle of a crisis, and you're being a smart-A!" What she said was, "THAT IS NOT FUNNY! THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS SITUATION!" --as she wheeled him out of the way.

Don said it was a good 20 minutes before they realized that the situation was not real. The ER doctor was the first to understand...because, you know... nothing was wrong with these people.

hahahahaha-- sorry, I'm still laughing!

An administrator finally came down to make sure no one was getting poked with needles or stuck with IVs. Which, Don almost was! So he decided to come out of his coma. When he sat up, the X-ray tech was amazed at his sudden recovery and kept asking him how he felt and what his symptoms were. Not everyone caught on.


This was supposed to be a fun day for student volunteers. Get free food, run around in a bathing suit, play-act an injured person... sounds fun to me! Poor uninformed medical personnel. I bet they hated today.

Toothless!

Two days ago Miley came to me in hysterics. Through her tears and hiccups, I thought I heard, "My tooth is coming out!!!!" Then I thought to myself, "That can't be right. My baby can't have a loose tooth already!" She opened her mouth and--whoa-- sure enough, it was terribly loose. The solid chocolate Easter bunny she had been sneaking bites from was the culprit. Poor babe. It was never explained to her that parts of her body will spontaneously and inevitably fall out. She was not prepared for this. I was not prepared for this. My first reaction was to implode as Miley was exploding. But then I remembered the saving grace of losing teeth. The Tooth Fairy! And oh, once I explained about the Tooth Fairy, Miley was a running and jumping blur of squeals. There was only one day of ceremonious soft food eating and tongue-tooth wiggling before Miley became impatient enough to take action. I discovered her in the bathroom tying dental floss to the door handle. My What-the-heck..? facial expression didn't deter her from her plan. Nonchalantly, "Mom can you help me tie this?" Miley is so awesome and fearless. Don and I both agreed that we were never so brave.

Here is footage of the tooth vs. door battle, and the bloody aftermath.






Poor Ike thought he was next in line.







That night we placed the baby tooth in a special fairy tooth-pouch-thing that I had bought at the dollar store.


The Tooth Fairy came and went, leaving Miley a Whimzy Pet and five $1 gold coins under her pillow. The Tooth Fairy also left behind some fairy dust in the pouch where her tooth used to be! (I was so excited for the Tooth Fairy that night, I could hardly sleep!)

Miley and I love magic!

candy, CaNdY, CANDY! (not just for Halloween)

Easter is so family-oriented, that's why we LOVE this holiday! We were so glad to see the family (especially Aunt Holly), even though it was cold and snowy. :{
On Saturday, we kicked off the celebrations with the traditional candy hunt at grandma's house.

.:Remember the good old days when all 50 cousins would crowd under the carport on a sunny Easter morn, anxiously waiting for the candy race? Basket with pink grass in hand, then Gramps would fire his pistol--you'd pee your pants a little-- then all the older cousins would push you into the bushes? :.

...wish I could go back...

In hopes of providing the same magical Easter memories for my children, I try and do what my parents did. Look at Miley here. What a smile--and pink grass! I must be doing something right.




Go for the gold, Ava! I know Ava will "share" her candy with me, so I guide her to the PB eggs.




I want to say that Ike is helping Ava find candy, but a part of me thinks he is making off with her basket...




Aunt Jas, if you don't open that candy for her, she'll just go love someone else.


Grandma Snodgress tried to convince the kids to not eat their candy until after the weenie roast. But I remember eating candy ALL day, so I let them spoil their appetites. They are well on their way to happy memories!




After the weenie roast and ice cream feast, we went back to G & G Richards' house for more fun! Here we are dying eggs.

Right now I could act all appalled at what Ike is doing. "Where does he get that behavior!" But I know exactly where he gets it from. He comes from a long line of goof-balls: His dad. Uncle Ricky. But I suspect it originates from great Uncle Kevin.


We went to Pirate Island Pizza for dinner...


...and had sword fights for dessert.





Easter Sunday was perfect! We all OD'd on ham, sweet potaters, mashed potaters, broccoli and cheese, and pie! Honestly, I was too busy eating to take pictures, but I did get this: It's Gramps (Don's dad) in his chair. Classic.My Easter memories include my grandpa falling asleep (or pretending to be asleep) on the floor in front of the fireplace. Grandpas are so funny!