The Snow Family

Yellowstone - 2011

2011-11-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

We got a double-dose of Goodman fun this summer when we met my family in Yellowstone this summer for our first ever Goodman Family Reunion. My parents and all of my siblings, with the exception of my brother who is on a mission, got to come. It was a bit of a shock for the Missouri clan. They were in the middle of a record-setting heat wave when they came out and they went from nasty hot weather to cold, rainy weather in 24 hours. Still, it was better than the heat and we had a lot of fun. Even Rebecca and Nathan, whose van bit the dust on the drive out, managed to have a good time.

This is my favorite picture. My two favorite guys in front of an incredible view. It doesn't even look real...but it is!

The kids asked to go back to the "stinky pots" for several weeks afterwards.
It would appear that we rarely clean our kids' faces.

In front of Old Faithful. We got there just in time and didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes.

Aunt Christy planned some super fun games to play.

Aunt Kerri brought some fun things to make. The kids made boats. We planned to have a contest floating them in the lake, but we never quite got to that.
It's hard to see past the dirt, but the girls had fun putting on glitter makeup and fingernail polish. Mackenzie and Shaylee fixed the girls hair everyday.

The weather was cool, the mosquitoes were the worst I had ever experienced (they bit us through our clothes and even the palms of my hands and bottom of my feet had bites), and we got rained out the last day and had to leave early. But we had a great time and I'm excited for the next reunion.

Missouri Trip - Summer 2011

2011-11-02T20:26:00.001-07:00

I am way behind on posting here. I'm going to try to do a little bit every day to catch up. We'll start with our Missouri trip in June. The kids and I got to stay with my parents for 2 weeks in June while Roger taught at a training in Nebraska. We missed having him there, but managed to have a good time, anyway! The kids' favorite things to do were fish in Grandma and Grandpa's pond, feed the horses in the barn, and of course, ride the horses.

Keira thought she was something else. She kept asking Grandpa to let go so she could ride the horse by herself.

Grandpa's pond is stocked full of fish. The kids were catching something on nearly every cast....even when the pole was simply a stick, string, and hook. I peeked out the window just in time to see that Keira and Ryder had gone out by themselves and had caught a fish. They had no idea what to do with it when they caught it, but were sure excited, anyway.

Keira's Preschool Graduation

2011-06-01T20:17:00.001-07:00

Keira went to preschool at Ogden High School this year. This was super cool because this is where Daddy works, which meant that he got to go see her at times. She loved all of her friends and teachers and learned so much. She can write her name all by herself now and teaches us all sorts of fun songs. She is even helping Ryder learn the alphabet.

Pictures of the Kids

2011-06-01T19:50:00.001-07:00

Ryder has an awesome bike. Unfortunately, it's pink. Roger thinks this is terrible and wants to paint it a manly color. I think pink is the new manly color. I thought that maybe blue training wheels and a blue helmet would help, but Roger pointed out that they are both powder blue and only makes things worse. I hope Ryder will get over the trauma of riding a pink bike.
Savanna looks so much like Keira...it's a good thing Keira is a cutie! Savanna and Keira also have similar personalities and characteristics (as babies, anyway). Keira started sleeping through the night at 5 weeks old, Savanna started at 7 weeks. Savanna is incredibly happy and easy going, just like Keira was. We are lucky to have such good kids and we love them all so much.

Playing in the fire pit.

Savanna at 4 months old.

Roger's birthday

2011-06-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

Roger's birthday was also in April. We had so much fun. One of his favorite memories from a birthday when he was a kid is when his sister, Kathy, made him a Cookie Monster cake. So, to celebrate his 35th birthday, Kathy made him another one. She did a fantastic job and the kids were just as excited as Roger was to eat it.

Ryder's Birthday

2011-06-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

Ryder turned 3 years old in April. I made him a delicious carrot cake with goat cheese frosting (it tasted much better than it looks) and Ryder couldn't get enough of it. He got cars and a racetrack from Grandma Snow...anyone who knows Ryder knows that he LOVES race cars. He got a skateboard from Grandma and Grandpa Goodman...Ryder also has a love of skateboards. He is quite the daredevil, so I was a little nervous about what would happen with a skateboard. However, he knows the rules and he only sits on it for now when he is outside. He also got some punching "gloves" from the Pearces, which he loves to torment us with. He had a great day and is already counting down to when he turns 4!

Ryder's First Time Skiing

2011-06-01T19:27:00.001-07:00

Roger took Ryder Skiing before the season ended this year. We were set up a little better than when Keira went. We put a harness on Ryder so that he could ski in front of Roger without getting out of control. He absolutely loved it and did really well. He still talks about skiing in the mountains with daddy. His favorite part of the whole day was when Dad fell down in the snow.

Savanna Pics

2011-02-21T08:22:00.000-08:00

NICU

2011-01-31T19:11:00.000-08:00

Savanna completed her routine bilirubin test the day we were to be discharged from the hospital. However, rather than getting the news that all is well and going home, we learned that her levels were critically high and that she would need to go straight to NICU. She had a positive Coombs test, which meant that her high levels were a result of a blood incompatibility between me and her.

There were a few options on the table to treat her, including doing a blood transfusion. They opted to treat her with as many phototherapy lights as possible and see what happened that night. If her levels didn't go down w/in 12 hours, they would probably do the transfusion. Luckily, her levels dropped out of the critical zone that first night. Her levels have been dropping more slowly now and she remains in NICU.

She has been a real trooper during this time. Apparently, most babies hate the phototherapy lights because they can't be held and have to stay in there 24/7 and they cry all day long. They also rarely eat because they are tired and feeling sick. Savanna, however, does none of these things. She eats a ton and then happily lays in her bed for the rest of the day. We have recently been allowed to take her out of the bed for a few minutes while we feed her, which has been so nice. I love being able to hold her and look at her eyes while she takes everything in. She is very alert and just cranks her head around to look at everything she can before putting her eye mask on and going back to the "bili bed."

We are hoping that we can get her home by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week!

Savanna Marie Snow

2011-01-31T19:01:00.000-08:00

Savanna was born on Monday, Jan 24 at 3 PM. She weighed in at 7.13 pounds and was 20.5" long. She is a sweet little girl and rarely cries. Ryder and Keira are so excited to have a little sister. Ryder immediately asks to hold her, but a minute or two later he is done and then doesn't want much to do with her. If she cries then he gets really worried and won't go anywhere near her. Keira is a good big sister and just wants to hold and love on her all of the time.

Skiing with Dad

2011-01-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

Roger has been excited to get Keira up on ski's since the day she was born. This year was the big year. He took her up to Powder Mountain and she had a great time. She actually did pretty good. He just kept her on a gentle little hill and she did a great job going down by herself. She was most excited about riding the ski lift. She had fun for a couple of hours and then got cold, so Roger took her to the ski patrol shack and gave her hot chocolate. She can't wait to do it again. She's going to have to fight Ryder to go, though. He is also very excited to give it a go and Roger will probably be taking him up soon, as well.

Winter Fun

2010-12-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

We finally got a real snow storm! Roger was out shoveling most of the day yesterday. He decided that since he was shoveling anyway, he might as well build something. And build something...he did! He made a "mountain" for the kids to play on. It has steps on the side to climb to the top and a nice, smooth slide on the way down. They were out there for hours playing. Both kids refused to come in until they were both wet, freezing, and crying from the cold. But they can't wait to get out there again!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-30T17:19:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma Snow and our good friends, Aaron, Alice, Ethan, and Landon Stout. We crammed a lot into one evening. We started by having dinner, then playing games, making cinnamon rolls, building gingerbread houses, reading about the birth of our Savior, and watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." Then, we all rushed to bed so Santa could come to our house.

We left Santa some healthy snacks...carrots and an orange. Ryder was so excited that he started eating the carrots himself, and this boy rarely eats vegetables! Santa was very happy about that.

Santa was good to us this year and brought the kids the jump ropes they asked for, plus lots more. We can't wait for next Christmas!

First Snow Man of the Winter

2010-12-30T17:15:00.000-08:00

Ryder and Keira spent a lot of time on their very first snow man of the season. Dad helped them get started, and then they did the rest themselves. I didn't get a picture of the final product, but he ended up getting two carrot noses and some rock eyes and buttons. He melted the very next day.

Halloween

2010-12-30T17:11:00.001-08:00

The kids had a great Halloween this year. It started off a bit rainy, but then cleared up enough to have a good night. Keira was a very proud witch and, even though it is now the end of December, she still takes great delight in telling everyone that she was a scary witch with a green face. Ryder was Elmo and stayed and was quite pleased with himself, as well!

House Sitting in Midway

2010-09-19T12:29:00.001-07:00

The kids and I are housesitting in Midway, Utah for Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jim for a few days. We get to take care of 4 dogs, which the kids are absolutely thrilled about. Dad got some dog treats for the kids to give to them and they couldn't wait to give them to their puppy friends. We got here on Friday morning, just in time to see a procession of fire trucks, which completely excited the kids. Then we got to the house and immediately gave the dogs their treats and went for a walk.

This has definitely been a weekend of many firsts for me, as I am not used to taking care of "inside" dogs. However, it's been a lot of fun, too. Roger came up for a little while and we got to go to several yard sales in the valley. This is always fun, but this was an especially fun weekend because Ryder got a "new" bike and the kids got "new" fishing poles. The bike and both poles are all pink. However, Keira has indoctrinated Ryder into thinking that Pink is his favorite color, so he is quite pleased. Roger already has big plans to get the auto shop kids to paint the bike a very manly color.

This was the best weekend to come up to see all of the fall colors, so we took advantage of that and took some family pictures in a canyon. Hopefully a few turned out...I'll post them when we get them. Then we took our new Barbie fishing poles to a pond and went fishing. The poles are nice and small and just the right size for the kids. We didn't catch anything, which is the norm for us, but had fun trying.

Grandma Snow got to come visit and she watched the kids that evening while Roger and I went on a date on the Heber Creeper (Heber Valley Railroad train). It took us around the valley and then stopped so we could have a BBQ dinner and listen to some live bluegrass music. Not bad for a weekend of housesitting!

1st Day of Preschool

2010-09-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

The day has finally arrived for Keira to go to preschool. She is so excited! She is going to the Ogden High School, "Tiny Tiger" preschool program. So, not only does she get to go to "school" with new friends, but she get's to go to Daddy's work, which is extra special.

The only person who was upset about this day was Ryder. He wanted to go to preschool so badly. He started crying when Keira put her backpack on because he didn't have one. Luckily, I scrounged an old one up for him and he was a happy boy again (until I dropped Keira off and he had to come with me back to the car). He was so proud of his backpack that he looks even more excited for his "1st day of preschool" picture than Keira does.

Summer 2010 Highlights

2010-09-06T13:48:00.001-07:00

How sad is it that Summer has to be officially over before I post anything? We did have a lot of fun over the summer. We got to go to Missouri and spent time with family and friends here in Utah, as well. I guess our biggest news is that I am pregnant with child #3. Yeah! It was a long 18 weeks before I got over the sickness that often comes with being pregnant, but I'm feeling great now and things are looking up.

Here are some pictures of some time we spent with the Snow family at Deer Creek. Roger didn't get to go, as he was doing a training in Texas at the time. The kids and I went and had a great time with Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and both Grandma's. Keira was more brave in the water than she has ever been and even "swam" by herself with a life jacket on...big step! Ryder wouldn't have much to do with the water, but he had a good time throwing rocks and digging in the sand.

Fourth of July - 2010

2010-09-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

We spent the Fourth of July this year with our good friends, Aaron and Alice Stout. Keira and Ryder loved playing with their boys, Ethan and Landon. We got to see lots of fireworks, played with glow sticks, and played a serious game of water balloon launching. Thanks for the great time!

Summer 2010 - Missouri Trip

2010-09-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

We've decided that we're going to have to go to Grandma and Grandpa Goodman's house every summer, as there are so many things to do. The highlights of our trip this year included riding in Grandpa's tractor; riding on Grandpa's mule; going to the zoo in Springfield; fishing in the pond; swimming in the river; going to Silver Dollar City; and, of course, playing with cousins! We can't wait to come again next year!

Free UTA Day

2010-02-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

February 12th was free UTA day, which meant we could take any form of public transportation for free. We have a train system that commutes from Ogden to SLC. The kids absolutely love trains and get so excited every time they see or hear one. We decided take the train as a family to Salt Lake and see if the kids loved riding as train as much as they liked watching them.

Keira was so excited that she ran in front of us and jumped on the train all by herself as we were trying to take a picture of it. Luckily, we were there several minutes before the train was scheduled to leave. So when the doors shut behind her, it was a simple matter of asking the nice lady at the doors to open them again so we could get her. She could hardly stay still long enough to pose for a picture.
Ryder, on the other hand, was a little more cautious. He loved the ride, but stayed very close to Mom and Dad for the first chunk of the ride.

We took the train to SLC, and then took the TRAX system to the downtown area so we could visit temple square. Then we ate at the Gateway Mall and jumped on the train back to Ogden. It was a great time!

Quirky Keira

2010-02-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

Keira is 3 years old now and is developing some unique interests. First, she is absolutely obsessed with horses. She has quite a collection of horses that she has gathered throughout the past few weeks and she carries them with her everywhere. This is what a typical lunch looks like for her, as she must make sure that her horses eat with her:

It doesn't matter what it is - toy, puzzle, chess piece, etc - if it looks like a horse, it must go into the collection. She has also developed an interest in "roping." She saw a rope in Grandpa's truck when we went to Missouri for Christmas and has been obsessed with it ever since. She spends hours every day tying up her rocking horses, shoes, toys, dolls, and anything else she can tie a rope or string around.

Keira has also developed a strong interest in fixing her own hair. One day I was working in my office when the kids were supposed to be napping. I was on the phone when I heard a blood curdling scream coming from upstairs. I got off the phone as quickly as I could and ran upstairs to find out what was going on. I found Keira crying in the bathroom. She was on top of the sink counter where she likes to sit and fix her hair. She had apparently found the aerosol hairspray and sprayed it directly into her eyes. She won't touch the bottle of hairspray anymore, but still likes to fix her hair by herself. Here are a few pictures of the "do's" she has come up with. Brace yourself, because they are more than a little frightening!

In this picture, she sprayed her hair with water and then used hairspray to spray every bit of hair that she has. It was so matted with spray that I couldn't even begin to brush it out. We had to immediately go up and wash it all out...much to her dismay, as she was very proud of what she had accomlished.

In this picture, she had just mastered the fine art of applying gel to her hair. She gooped handfuls of gel onto the top of her head and plastered it all down with a comb. She thought she was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Christmas in Missouri

2010-01-09T19:58:00.001-08:00

We got to spend Christmas at my Mom and Dad's new place in Everton, MO. We had a great trip. As we drove back into Ogden, Keira asked if we could turn around and go back to Grandma and Grandpa's in Missouri. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins, checking cows and going to the Handi Hut with Grandpa, and eating popcorn with Grandma in her theater room.

Taking a cold walk through the fields looking for baby cows. We didn't find them.

One of the favorite things to do was to go through Grandma's dress up box and dance to a Barbie Movie. Ryder was extremely proud of his beautiful outfit.

Santa

2009-12-19T21:45:00.000-08:00

We had a Christmas party at Church and Santa came to visit the kids. Ryder sat back and stared at Santa until every kid had finished talking with him. He is always very cautious around other people and won't have much to do with anyone. However, he seemed pretty intrigued with Santa, especially when he saw that Santa was giving packs of M&M's away. We finally got the courage to go up to Santa, but as soon as he got close, Ryder started screaming. Through his screams and tears, Ryder reached out to give something to Santa...it was an M&M that Ryder had found on the floor and put in his mouth. He had taken it out of his mouth to share with Santa. It was, of course, all nasty and gross, but Santa was a sport and took it (despite my objections). After Santa took the M&M, Ryder immediately stopped crying and decided Santa was ok.
Keira, however, has no qualms with anyone. When she saw him walk into the room, she immediately jumped up and ran to give him a big hug. She was a bit shy when it was her turn to sit on his lap, but did manage to tell him the one and only thing she wants for Christmas....Candy!

Christmas Village in Ogden

2009-12-19T21:38:00.000-08:00

We have a beautiful Christmas Village in downtown Ogden where different business and/or groups decorate little homes and put in on display. We took the kids to see the lights and they had a ball. Ryder was cracking us up because he ran through the entire thing. He kept slipping and falling on the ice, but was determined that we were not to touch him. He just got back up and kept running. He would stop every now and then to take a look at some of the displays. Then he would say, "Bye Bye," and run off to the next one.

Roger's Big Day

2009-12-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

Roger had an "in" with some instructors at a local helicopter flight instruction school. They invited him over for a ride and he had the time of his life. They let him take the controls and fly...they even let him hover for a while. He absolutely loved it. The kids loved it, as well, as they buzzed by the house. In fact, every kid in the neighborhood loved it because the helicopter was very loud and kept flying right over all of our houses. We stood in the driveway and waved to Daddy. Now, whenever Keira sees a helicopter of any sort, she thinks Dad is in it.

Halloween

2009-12-19T21:01:00.001-08:00

We had a great Halloween this year. Grandma Snow got to come up and go trick-or-treating with the kids, which they thought was great. Keira still asks if Grandma can come up so they can go again.

This was a scary Halloween for us, as we had poured a new driveway that day. Wet concrete and trick-or-treaters can be a scary mix! Roger dressed up as a snowboarder (kind of a stretch for him, right?) and stayed at the top of the driveway so that no one would try to walk to the doorway. The kids were fascinated with all the tractors and fun things in the yard that day.

Ryder dressed up as a ninja and even kept his hat on the whole time. He was very excited to get his candy and didn't even mind having to walk up to a stranger to get it. Suckers were his favorite.

Keira had a choice between being a fairy and Thomas the Train. She chose Thomas, which made me very happy as it is clearly an extremely easy costume. She was also very excited about the whole candy thing...anything chocolate is her favorite.

Stake Fall Festival

2009-09-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Our stake had a Fall Festival over the weekend. They had a live band playing and all sorts of games for the kids to play. We started by "fishing" for prizes, where Keira got a bracelet and Ryder got finger puppets. Keeping with the fish theme, Keira picked a whale to have painted on her face. Ryder would not let anywhere near his face. We furiously painted a sun on his hand, which he was very please with when all was said and done.

The kids danced to the band for most of the time. Even Ryder got into it!

Keira figured out the cake walk and couldn't wait to get a cupcake so that she could eat the gum drop off of the top. Neither one of the kids would actually eat the cupcake, but Ryder couldn't wait to get ahold of the wrapper to munch on.

Roger was at Powder Mountain for a First Aid training, so he couldn't come with us. He was certainly in our thoughts, though, because Keira told everyone she saw that, "Roger is on the mountain."

It's a Fair Summer

2009-09-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

Weber County Fair
We decided to splurge a bit and give the kids their first taste of cotton candy. Keira loved it. As you can see by the stink face Ryder was giving us, he wasn't about to put that weird stuff in his mouth!

Can you believe we paid $5 bucks for Keira to ride these ponies!? She loved it so much. She asks us every day to go to Grandpa's house to ride his horse, Brownie. This horse is no Brownie, but she loved it all the same.

Ryder had a great time feeding all of the animals until this goat nibbled his finger. He wouldn't go near them after that!

Keira, on the other hand, loved every minute of feeding the animals in the petting zoo.

The crowning moment of the Weber County Fair was when Keira got to milk a cow. After all her experience riding horses and milking cows, I think she's almost ready for a summer at Grandma and Grandpa Goodman's farm!

We had so much fun at the Weber County Fair in Ogden, we decided to go to the Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot. We spent the weekend with Uncle Rex and Aunt Cassie and went to the fair with them. Thanks for a great weekend, guys!

The fair in Blackfoot also had a little petting zoo, which the kids loved. Notice how Ryder learned his lesson from the petting zoo in Ogden. He made absolutely sure that anytime he had feed in his hand that his fingers were completely straight. That made it a bit hard to actually carry the feed to the animal, but he wasn't taking any chances!

Keira lucked out and found 2 rides that she was barely big enough to ride. She had a great time. Poor Ryder was too small for anything, but he was a good sport and had fun watching his sister.

We did, however, find a few things Ryder could play on...

About the time we were ready to head home, Keira started whining and throwing quite the little fit. She finally quieted down and we thought she was putting on a great pouting show. However, upon looking a little closer, we realized that she was actually asleep! She was so excited to see Uncle Rex and Aunt Cassie that she hadn't taken a nap earlier that day and she just couldn't stay awake any longer. We took that as a sign to head back to the house.

Happy Jumpers

2009-08-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

Keira has decided that her favorite thing to do is jump the stairs. She is progressively jumping further and further, to the point that it is starting to make me a bit nervous. Ryder, of course, loves every minute of it and thinks that he can do anything big sister can do.

I know...his shirt is disgusting.

At the lake

2009-08-07T12:25:00.001-07:00

Keira is practicing her wakeboarding stance.

Good thing Aunt Kathy is so Super Fine, otherwise she may not have been so excited to have a picture of her in a swimsuit posted online. But this is the only picture we have of the boat that was once ours...an awesome little Mastercraft. We have a lot of good memories on that boat and we are glad that Uncle Mike and Aunt Kris bought it so that they will have good memories in it, too!

North Ogden Pool

2009-07-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

After getting dunked a few times, Ryder started getting really confident in the water. He wanted to go everywhere by himself and would walk around in water up to his chin like it was nothing.

Keira....America's next swimsuit model?

We were a bit hesitant at first, but thought we'd start getting the kids to go all the way under the water in the hope that they would get used to the water quicker. Ryder did really well and actually kind of liked it. Keira did much better than we thought she would. She didn't cry when she came back out, but she wasn't about to let me do it again.

The kids sometimes take a few minutes to warm up to the water. This little sprinkler section works like a charm!

Missouri Trip

2009-07-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

Keira waited all week to ride one of Grandpa's horses. She finally got to ride Brownie and she was so excited she could hardly stand it. In Utah, she only gets to ride the carousel horses after we are done shopping. She liked the real thing even better!

Grandma and Grandpa's new house is right by the river. Grandma takes all the grandkids and cools off in the water. Keira and Ryder are catching pollywogs and crawdads with their cousin, Avery.

It was hot and muggy in Missouri, so we really liked spending time at Stockton Lake. The kids liked the water ok, but liked playing in the sand the best. You can see that Ryder had his own bucket, but preferred Keira's pink one. He may be little, but he was clearly big enough to send Keira into meltdown mode.

We lit fireworks on the 4th of July in Everton at Grandma and Grandpa's new house (and no...that's not it in the background). Keira loved her little sparklers, but wasn't about to relinquish the hold she had on the yummy corn that Grandpa grilled.

2009-07-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

My Little Flower Pickers

2009-07-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Keira and Ryder love to pick flowers. Sadly, the flowers around my house don't last long. Ryder picks them by the handfuls. He will run over to give them to me, and then run back for more. You can see how my flower bushes are mostly green stalks. The few blooms that are left are the ones that managed to remain intact before I beat the kids off of them.

Keira and her Daddy

2009-07-14T12:47:00.001-07:00

Keira loves her Daddy!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T13:11:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was great. My wonderful husband took care of the kids and made breakfast and dinner. He and Ryder picked out some beautiful flowers and gave me some yummy chocolates. I also got to give the Relief Society lesson and speak in Sacrament for Mother's Day...not so much fun at the time, but a good experience. One thing I did to prepare for my talk was to speak to some of my brothers and my sister to see what stood out to them about our mother growing up. It was fun to hear the consistencies in what they mentioned.

The biggest thing that stood out to all of us was our Mother's testimony of the Gospel. She was truly the backbone in our family in terms of making sure that we read our scriptures as a family every morning before school, said family prayers morning and night, had weekly family home evening, and making sure we were at church 15 minutes early to sit on the 2nd row every Sunday. She frequently bore her testimony of being a child of God and has never waivered in the knowledge of who she is and in her divine potential.

She always made it clear to us that her family was her first priority and made several sacrificies to ensure that we always came first. She gave up many of the nicer things to stay home with us. She made sure that we ate together as a family and always cooked wonderful, nutritious meals for her family.

Another thing that everyone remembered and appreciated was what Mom did for our birthdays. Whenever anyone had a birthday, she would decorate the table nicely and place their picture in the center to honor them. The birthday boy or girl would get to choose what they wanted for breakfast (usually biscuits and gravy) and dinner (usually steak, navajo tacos, or enchiladas) and what kind of cake/pie we wanted.

While we have always loved and appreciated our mom, I think our respect and appreciation for her gets stronger as we get older and start having children of our own. We start to get a little taste of how much effort she really had to put in to accomplish the things she did. Mom, thanks for being a wonderful Mother. Thanks for setting such a good example for us and teaching us the things you did. We love you!

Girl's Day Out

2009-05-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

We had a great Mother's Day weekend. Keira and I spent a "Girls Day Out" with my Sisters in Law and their daughters. We went to Aunt Kathy's house in Midway on Friday evening and stayed through Saturday afternoon. Keira had a ball. She stayed up until almost 11:00 PM eating junk food and climbing up and down the ladder to the loft. She woke up at 6:30 AM on Saturday and walked the dogs and played hard until she just couldn't take it any longer. She caught some zzz's and then was back at it again. Thanks for a fun weekend, Aunt Kathy!

Ryder

2009-05-11T13:03:00.001-07:00

Ryder is not to be outdone at the park. He watches everything Keira does and does his best to follow along.

Best Friends

2009-05-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

We went to the park the other day and Keira made a friend. A little girl came up to her and asked what her name was. Keira said her name and then said, pointing to us, "And that is Mommy, there's Daddy, and there is Frosty." She then reached over and gave the girl a big hug, grabbed her hand, and ran off with her.

Monkey

2009-05-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

Keira thinks she is part monkey. This is the first place she runs to when she goes to the park. She immediately hangs from the bar and says, "Look at me, look at me! I'm swinging!" She will sometimes even say, "Look at me, I'm a monkey!" and then start making monkey noises.

Child Labor

2009-05-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

Keira and Ryder took pity on their dad and decided to take over the job of cleaning out the garage. Never mind that it was only about 50 degrees outside and Ryder didn't have any shoes on. He stayed out there and wouldn't let anyone come near him for fear that they would take his broom away from him. Finally, when he was shivering so badly he could hardly walk, he let me take him in the house to get shoes and a jacket on. Then he came right back out to resume his duties.

Ryder's 1st Birthday

2009-04-10T20:54:00.001-07:00

Ryder's birthday was on April 1st and he is now officially 1 year old. He really got into his coconut cake. We are going to have to feed him much more of it. He went to the doctor last week and we learned that he is in the 0 percentile for his weight. So we are feeding him lots of peanut butter, avocados, and vegetables drizzled with olive oil. Let us know if you have any tips on how to fatten up a scrawny little boy!

Ryder's 1st Haircut

2009-01-23T20:39:00.000-08:00

So we finally decided that Ryder's hair was getting too scraggly and needed to be cut. It was a tough decision. Whenever we washed it, it would stick straight up all over his head and we absolutely loved it. But it was getting so long that we started thinking maybe it wasn't so cute anymore. So here is the new do. The pictures are a bit deceiving. Mom did not actually do the cutting...she was too scared she would snip an ear or something. So Dad did the honors. It's a fine hair cut. You can see that Ryder was less than pleased about the whole thing. He was pretty patient until the very end when he saw that his luxurious locks had been lopped off. It took a few days to get used to the new Ryder, but now that we are used to the new look, we think he is quite handsome again.

2009-01-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder why kids seem to get so much more excited when they see their dad over their mom? But then, moms don't generally send their baby boys flying through the air by the straps of their overalls...and moms try their best to hide their good chap stick from little girls who like to eat it or dig their fingers into it and wipe it all over the walls. No wonder they like to hang out with Dad...

Keira's 2nd Birthday

2008-12-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

Keira turned 2 years old on November 29. We had a little party for her and she got all sorts of fun presents. We made apple crisp for her birthday

"cake" because, well, it sounded good. Keira also LOVES apples, so we thought she'd really get into this birthday treat. As it turns out, she really only likes fresh, raw apples...not cooked ones. So she ate all of her ice cream and the crispy oat topping.

2008-12-16T18:03:00.000-08:00

Two of Keira's favorite people in the whole world are Amy and Madison Bennett. Amy tended Keira for about a year and Keira is always wanting to go back to Amy's house. Amy gave her this cute dress for her birthday, and Keira had to wear it while opening all her other presents.

2008-12-16T17:51:00.000-08:00

Ryder is all over the place now. His favorite things are climbing stairs and playing in toilets. I walked by the bathroom the other day when I heard splashing noises. I walked into the bathroom to find Ryder splashing away, having the time of his life. He didn't have as much fun cleaning up.

2008-12-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

Our potty training efforts have obviously been unsuccessful. At least we're finding some use for the new underwear we bought.

2008-12-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad with the

kids. Everyone is oh so excited to go to church. Keira loves nursery and runs to class, never looking back. Mom and Dad love nursery, too.

Little Monsters

2008-11-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

Here's some videos of the kids' latest escapades

Kathy's house

2008-07-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

Keira loves going to her Aunt Kathy's house. She gets to eat corn on the cob and play with a fun scooter.

Ryder & Keira

2008-07-25T20:51:00.001-07:00

Keira used to just love Ryder from afar. She would hug and kiss him, but wouldn't really want to hold him. Lately, she wants to hold him all the time.

Good Dad

2008-07-25T20:43:00.001-07:00

Isn't Roger a good dad? He does a great job fixing Keira's hair. And she will sit still for as long as she needs to as long as she gets the water bottle to suck on while we're doing it.

Ryder loves his daddy, too.

The Park

2008-07-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

We love to walk to the park just below our house. Keira will play for a little while, but she especially loves pushing the stoller around. Poor Ryder gets quite a ride sometimes, and he doesn't always love them. But Keira will check up on him and try to make him feel better before she begins pushing again.

This last picture of Keira was taken in our back yard.

Ryder

2008-07-25T15:26:00.001-07:00

We just realized that we don't have any current pictures of Ryder, so here are a couple. We had to get a picture of his toes. He can seriously spread them apart. I figure with a spread like that, he should be walking by 7 months!

Picking apricots

2008-07-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

So it's the right time of the year for our apricot tree to start producing, and we are definitely getting more than we can eat from our single tree. Keira and Dad like to go play in the backyard and glut themselves on the fruit. Keira decided that she didn't want Frostee to feel left out, so she'll pick some apricots and then feed them to her. I'm sure that does wonders for the dog's bowels. It's all fine though, canine fecal disposal is dad's job.

Missouri Trip

2008-07-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

We went back to Missouri in July to visit the fam, and to bless Ryder. We actually flew back this time, (thanks to Mom and Dad Goodman), instead of braving the 2 day drive, so the travelling was much more bearable. Here's a little photo report of our trip:

Grandpa and Ryder

Grandma and Keira

Keira and Dad Fishing

All of the Cousins in the dune buggy, (note Keira working on her rally car racing career)

Newest Snowfall!!

2008-04-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here he is!
Ryder Benson Snow
7 lbs. 10 oz.
21-1/2 in.
Born on April 1st 2008 at 11:04 p.m.

Both mom and baby are doing really good, and Keira even seems to like him. We'll keep posts updated on everybody's progress.

Winter in North Ogden

2008-01-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

We recently got a snowstorm that brought us nearly two feet of snow in 24 hours. The plow didn't go by our house for two days, which meant that I couldn't even get out to go to work. Roger, however, has 4-wheel drive and called in sick so that he could go snowboarding. He did go to work the next day and then came home and spent the evening making a snow cave off of the side of our drive-way. Keira loved the snow this time. She'd play in it and whimper when her hands got cold and wet, but wouldn't want to go in the house. She also loved the snow cave that her dad made. She thought it was her own special place and wanted to stay there the rest of the evening.

Keira and Santa

2007-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

Roger surpised me last night with a picture of Keira and Santa. He took her to the mall to visit Santa while I was away visiting friends...what a brave dad. He said Keira studied Santa for a minute and then was pretty noncholant about the rest of it.

Keira's 1st Time in the Snow

2007-12-05T12:38:00.001-08:00

Roger took Keira out to play in the snow for the first time. Apparently she didn't love it. Maybe we should try getting her a snow suit that isn't two sizes too big.

1st Birthday

2007-12-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

Keira loved her birthday cake. She started eating it by sticking her thumb in the hole left by the candle and licking it clean. She'd say, "yummmm," then stick her thumb in and do it all over again. Things didn't get messy until we introduced the spoon. She was pretty disgusted at what she saw when she looked at herself in the mirror afterwards.

Family Pictures at the Park

2007-12-05T11:47:00.000-08:00