Big Move to Big Texas

It's been a while...life is just crazy and I hate loading my pictures twice to get them on the blog...I made a goal to post once a month...we shall see...

Here is our move in a nutshell.  Jared took us on an emotional roller coaster ride of job interviews and much to our sadness was #2 for BYUI.  Which then took us on a desperate job hunt.  The Lord answered our prayers with a good job at Rice University in Texas!

Which meant big move!  We had already planned a family reunion trip and Corvallis trip so that left us very little time finding a house and moving.  We had to pack up our house in about 2 weeks!   Good news about being unemployed is that Jared was there to help! And we kept all our packing boxes and stuff from last year.

some of the packing mess...

this is how we ate the last few days...Tagg seems to be enjoying it.  We even ate one of our last meals in the garage because we had cleaned the kitchen already. :) 

One of the last things to go was the TV with Bubble Guppies - the one saving grace that kept Lydia entertained through all the chaos. 

We were tired and worn out many nights. 

Jared and the ward packed up our stuff in less space than we thought (score!) and off our stuff went to Texas! Our sweet BIL came and loaded a trailer and took it to UT for storage for us. It was hard leaving knowing that we just did this, but off we went! I will forever miss that backyard!  

After a stop in Utah with family to say goodbye, we headed to New Mexico (stayed an extra day in hotel to rest), then on to Texas.  Only 38 hours later we made it to Spring, Texas!  Jared and I both drove the whole way in both our cars.  There were some moments when I just didn't have it left in me and had to dig deep to keep going.  Rees was my right hand man and helped with the little kids in the van.  Jared got Luke and Darin.  Fun times.   

Rees is 12!

Rees turned 12!  I can't believe it.  He was a good sport as we traveled home on his Bday.  We hung out as a family and did his bday cake of ice cream.

Rees later received the Aaronic priesthood the Sunday before we left to move.  He got to go to scout camp with his friends and a couple mutual nights.  He was sad to leave all the new deacons that he just was getting to know.  I can't say enough about Rees.  He was the first child for a reason.  He knows how to calm his siblings, he is funny, motivated and has been such a great kid through all these moves.  He is good to always get done what he needs to and do well.  Love you our Rees!

Corvallis Trip

After UT trip we headed over the river and through the woods to Oregon.  Jared stopped in Portland to hang with his brother and go to a Physics Conference.  I took the kids down to Corvallis for a few days to hang out with good friends.  It was so fun to see everyone again!  We miss our dear friends there.  We had such good years there. 

We stayed with our good friends the Hales.  Bless them for putting us up and dealing with me constantly on the computer looking for new housing.  

Apparently I didn't take a lot of pictures. Opps.  We had Bday parties, swimming, and a good old GNO like the old days!

Lydia is 2!

While we were in UT we celebrated Lydia's 2nd Bday!  She was pretty clueless, but we did the best we could for what time we had.  We had a cousin gathering at a park and the weather was a bit cooler than we hoped.  They just played and we had cupcakes.  Pretty low key.

Some cousins from both sides! 

We later went to grandmas to open presents. 

Love this picture of her, too bad she kept moving and I didn't get a good shot.  She saw a baby doll inside! 

She was so excited to get her baby doll and stroller!  I love the girl in her! 

We adore this little girl!  We are so thankful she is in our family and adds such another element with all the boys. :)  I love watching all the innate qualities of a girl in her.  She is funny, polite and has some sass.  She is talking tons more now and loves to play with the "boys".  Happy Bday Mrs!

Stenson Family Reunion

Jared's family decided to take the plunge and start a biennial family reunion, just glad it's the off year for mine.  This year they got a cabin in Big Cottonwood Canyon near SLC.  We actually went to my sister's baby blessing then headed up the canyon for some family fun!

It was well planned out, lots of fun, lots of cousins and never a dull moment!  We had fun all being together.  We were only missing a few from the family. 

Here is half of the main room.  The theme was "the moon" and we had stars all around with compliments of everyone.  

We built rockets to launch off.  We got high soaring - athough most went pretty dang high!  

Some activities were: FHE, star gazing, hike, rockets, eating, laughing, family jeopardy, craft, pinata, eating, camp fire and more laughing!

 We had so much fun!  Lots of pictures and activities were captured on a cool video that Jared's brother created.  (Don't know if they want me posting it to the world though :) 

Summer Catch Up - Utah Chapter

As our family struggled with the unknown if we would have a job or not and the possibility that we would move, we had vacation plans already set in motion.  Instead of living in fear we went forward with our plans of a family trip to Utah for a family reunion and fun.  We found out the end of June that Jared got a job at Rice University in Houston, TX.  We were excited for the job but freaking out for the long move!  It was hard to pack up for our vacation knowing when we returned we had a whole lot of packing to do!  But away we went...

Swimming with cousins at my brothers house for July 4th. 

Waiting for fireworks on 4th of July - we had a BBQ at my other brothers house, then watched fireworks. 

My parents came out because my sister was blessing her baby and we had some fun with them.  They treated a bunch of us to the Discovery Children's Museum in SLC.  The kids had fun.

I took this picture to get the older boys in action...they were in this house cooking babies...yep baby dolls!  Those psycho boys.  They were making up all kinds of crazy things.  

Helicopter they got to sit in.  It also had a air traffic control station that piped into the helicopter and Rees was making up crazy things like..."beware there is a yeti on top of the helicopter."  The boys thought he was so hilarious.  

Mock wind tunnel. 

Luke working hard...or hardly working. 

Love these Snyder cousins.  We then filled up Johnny Rockets over at City Creek for some good lunch. 

The kids then ventured into the fountains, fully clothed. 

These two cute cousins loved the water!  We had such a good time. 

We had a few Snyder get togethers while in UT too.  My older brother came to town and we got to visit with him and his family too!  

Summer 2013 Catch Up - Part 1

Here we go with the quick summer catch up...


Cousin Boden came for a couple days to hang out with us at our local Lake.  The boys found this dead fish that they were obsessed with...so gross.  Of course they had to make a sand fort too.

Darin lost his first tooth!  

The summer was full of Lego building...always...

Jared's Father's Day gift with the kids handprints.  Love that Daddy! 

Local go-cart races near our park that we went to. 

The kids got free passes to a local Amusement Park - Silverwood for reading so much at school.  We squeaked in a family trip before we had vacation and moved.  They had sooo much fun!  It was the first amusement park they have been to.