Family Self Portrait

Last year we had a friend and photographer take our family portraits and they were beautiful. This year we decided to be ambitious and try to free-hand it ourselves. It worked pretty well! Our kids are VERY used to getting their pictures taken by now and as long as we let them play between shots, they will sit and smile for us. I think they know it will be over much quicker if they just cooperate.

Look how beautiful our children are!!

 

 

I had a bit of a hard time deciding the look I wanted for the shoot. Originally, I was wanting a late-in-the-day, late summer shot on a dock at the lake wearing plaid, denim, boat shoes, etc. But August passed us by and then September also. So then I decided to do bare aspen grove and neutral colors for a cool, wintery look but then I just couldn’t resist the sharp yellow of the leaves during October. I gathered all the clothes we had and tried to coordinate grays and browns (so the background would be the main color), but it just wasn’t coming together. It wasn’t in the budget to buy everyone new everything, so I ended up just going with what we had which was gray, black, and red. I figured it would work, especially since I knew we wouldn’t get around to editing these until Christmastime anyway. And I was right!

We drove up to Sundance and found this special spot with a wonderful wooden swing, a creek, and perfect fall colors.
We had a lot of fun playing and posing.

 

Next we went to Vivian Park where we found this great red pavilion and piles and piles of leaves. We had a lot of fun here, too.

 

We know how hard it is to get everything and everyone coordinated for family pictures. We know it can be stressful. But it is so worth it! We tried to make this more of a family outing rather than a portrait session. It’s more fun that way and you get better smiles.

I will always look back on these shots and remember how my kids act at this age. I will remember playing in the leaves. I will see their little smiles and hear their joyful laughs. I will feel love for them.

Merry Christmas To All

Woodmansee Reunion 2012 Edition

Each year our family has a reunion up City Creek Canyon. This has been happening as long as I can remember; always, the same canyon, always the same picnic site, and always a lot of fun. We’ve blogged about this event in the past. It is a Snow family favorite and a must-attend summer event. Our kids are completely in love with it. Something also happened this year that will solidify the reunion in Madi’s mind for years to come. Read on to find out what happened.

One of the most anticipated events is the piñata! Here are all the participants lined up and ready to participate (note Nate’s ridiculous excited face). :)

Madi was the first of our kids up to bat. At first she had her eyes closed but eventually opened them and got down to business.

With a little help from Julie even Cara joined in the fun.

Cousin Joseph also got a few good hits in!

Stacy and Pam decided it would be OK to let Nate go without a blindfold. I think they will choose differently next year. Nate drew first blood and knocked some candy free!

Julie coaxing Cara from the sidelines to join the throng of candy collecters!

My mom Gail, sister Breanna, and cousin Dani look on in happiness.

The kids had some really good face painted left over from a work party earlier in the day. 

After the piñata action things got a little out of hand. This is where Madi and I created a memory that neither of us will soon forget. Here she is looking excited with something tied up in her rope. What has she roped? Me.

Her cousin Joe wanted in on the action as well. Here I am wrapped in rope. I don’t think I stayed upright too much longer. Madi has a fascination with ropes and tying knots. As you can imagine she was totally into this activity.

Here are a couple of videos (video 1 and video 2) showing events as they unfolded.

After they got me to the ground I was done for. Check out the complexity of this knot! If she could only get a hang of swearing she’d be an excellent sailor (ha!). In the next two images you can see how pleased I am with Madi. She is a wonderful girl and I love her very much.

Julie captured her enthusiasm perfectly in these last two frames. She was literally having the time of her life.

In Love for 10 Years!

I was married to the love of my life 10 years ago this week. Julie I love you so much! Thank you for everything you do for me. I love you!

Fall Soccer

We registered Nate to play soccer with the North Utah County Soccer League. We got him geared up and ready for his first practice. Here he is all ready to play.

And a shot of his very cool soccer boots (cleats).

I was able to be Nate’s coach this year. Because the coaches are supposed to be on the field to keep things going I was really grateful for the parents that stepped in to help me keep things going at practice and the game. Here is one of our classic team cheers (It may have actually been our first team cheer). Our cheers became progressively more funny and by the end of the season they always referenced some type of flatulence (Ha).

Nate after the ball and backing up his teammate Thomas. During his first couple Nate played really hard. He was after the ball and scored a few goals. After that he slowed down a bit and goofed off more (This aggravated me to no end). We’ll see what happens in the spring. :)

I love this picture of Nate.

Hey Nate, no slide tackling please. hehe.

Oh he goes down!

Here goes Nate threading the needle between the defenders!

And protecting the ball from the defenders.

Nate looks awesome in this one.

Nate was good enough to pose with the coach (me) at the end of the game. Good times.

Here is a video of Nate doing some great defense and their team scoring a goal!

Here is a video of Cara

And one more sweet picture of me with my oldest kids. Madeleine wants to play soccer in the fall. I’m very excited for that too!

Destination: Denver

We’ve been to Denver 3 times now for work/play. This time, instead of chronicling our week there, I thought I’d just share some our favorite things we did this time around. We didn’t really take any pictures.

Family Activities:

The Denver Zoo
I’m not someone who likes to throw money away on random activities just for the sake of staying busy, they have to be worth their weight in debit card sliding. The zoo actually had one of their 8 free days per year the week we were there, so OF COURSE we went. But, I will say, if I had to pay full price to go, I wouldn’t have been annoyed. It’s a good, solid zoo. It always helps a ton when literally all of the animals were awake and active (I even saw an exotic bird lay an egg on the ground right next to me). I loved the that they have many animals that we don’t have at Hogle Zoo. We saw cheetahs and bears and anacondas and Nate’s favorite, two monitor lizards among other things.

Kazoo Toys
LOVE this toy store. First of all, it’s in the hippest, most beautiful part of town, Cherry Creek. The streets are lined with gorgeous (aka expensive) shops and homes. They are filled to the brim (but not overwhelmingly or chaotically so) with creative, cool, imaginative, nostalgic toys for kids of all ages. There are lots of classics and lots of new toys and there are lots of variety and options in each category. They even have many things out for the kids to play with while the parent tries not to blow their Christmas budget. The people are so friendly and helpful. I can’t recommend this place enough.

Westlands Park
I wish we had known about this park sooner. It is right in the middle of the Denver Tech Center so it is easy to pick up Rob, grab a to-go lunch, and take the kids to the park to burn some energy. It has a really tall slide, toddler play area, two large playgrounds, and a duck pond. Fun stuff.

Cherry Creek Shopping Center Play Area
This mall has a lot of high-end stores but we go there for the indoor play area. It is so much bigger than the play areas in Utah malls…which seems ironic since there are so many more kids here. The kids have a blast, though, and all of the parents whom I have met there are very friendly. It’s a good place to go when it’s cold outside.

Park Meadows Mall
Here we like to visit and play at the American Doll Store and the Lego Store.

 

Food:
I love finding stellar local food fare wherever we go. It’s kind of a hobby. We’ve had a lot of good food in Denver, but listed below are the places we will go to every time we visit.

Darcy’s Bistro & Pub
Oh, dear. The Dubliner sandwich (sourdough, house roast beef, grilled onions, white cheddar) is so good that we got it twice this time around.

Yanni’s
The best Lamb Souvlaki (marinated kebobs and assorted vegetables grilled to perfection and served with rice and Greek-style vegetables) we’ve ever had. We took this to-go to eat at the park and every time I looked over at Rob he was stuffing his face. We ate in-restaurant last time with our three crazy kids and the owners/managers were so very sweet and friendly to us. I’m sure they don’t see kids in their restaurant very often and were pleased to see us.

The Original Pancake House
They have a very fun creative menu. The kids love the playful pancake faces and Rob and I LOVE their good bacon and the Apple Pancake (oven baked with fresh granny smith apples and pure Sinkiang cinnamon glaze). It’s huge, gooey, and so delicious.

Crepes ‘n Crepes, a French Creperie
Rob and Caroline really enjoyed the ham and goat cheese crepe. Rob and I really REALLY enjoyed Heather’s Favorite Strawberry Crepe (strawberries, cream cheese, lemon, and brown sugar). We will be replicating this at home.

Grind
This is located in Glenwood Springs on the way to Denver. We’ve eaten at quite a few of the restaurants in this little community and this is the best we’ve had. “It' is using grass fed and finished beef, keeping your health at the forefront. 'It' is sourcing that grass fed beef locally, supporting our local economy.'It' is grinding every single patty we serve ourselves, knowing exactly what is going into the burgers and sandwiches you enjoy.” The wait for our order to be ready was long, but it was a very good burger.

 

I think that’s it for this trip. If you ever find yourself in Denver, do yourself a favor and try some of these. Tell them Julie sent you…

Therapy Sessions

I thought I’d give an update on Caroline’s therapy; such as who is coming, how often, what we’re working on, and what they say about her.

First we have a Behavioral Therapist coming for 1-2 hours twice a month. She observes Caroline in her natural environment at home with her mom and sister. Any behavioral concerns I have are addressed. The therapist gives me suggestions on how to teach Caroline proper behavior and teaches me how to properly discipline. She has taught me how to set and enforce limits. It’s not that I haven’t been doing these things, she just teaches me how to do it more effectively for Caroline’s needs and temperament.  In January the therapist is going to be here during a typical hard time, getting ready in the morning, and accompanying us to the library. We go every week and this is a notorious location for power struggles and behavioral issues. I will be getting more “tips” on how to deal with these and other problem times. I’ve already learned a lot and can see that it is going to help with our frustrations.

Next we have an Occupational Therapist who is coming for an hour once a month. He is addressing Caroline’s sensory needs. I’ve been suspicious of her craving more input, specifically vestibular and oral. She loves to be upside-down and not only in a “this is fun!” kind of way but a “Ohhhh, yeah. That feels gooood” kind of way. It seems to relax her. Many times throughout the day she is trying to get me or Rob to hold her upside-down or she will sometimes do it on her own.

His suggestions are to increase her ability to focus and calm down by lengthening the amount of time that she gets vestibular sensory input. For example, instead of just letting her sporadically run wild and bounce and be crazy whenever she feels like it, give her at minimum a good solid 20 minutes of stimuli after she wakes up in the morning, after lunch, and after she wakes up from her nap. Maybe again before bedtime. Then in between those times she will be more relaxed, amicable, and able to focus. The stimuli could be going to the park, pedaling a bike, jumping on a trampoline, etc. We will be using a yoga ball to help her to be upside-down more comfortably and a swiveling swing to help her get some unpredictable vestibular movement.

He also explained to me her hyposensitivity to oral input. He affirmed that she needs extra mouth input to be able to feel what is going on in there. He compared it to being numb after visiting the dentist. She can feel things and kind of knows what she is doing with her tongue and cheeks, but they’re not as sensitive as they should be. That’s why she drools, stuffs her mouth, chews on very hard things (breaking pens this week), and has a hard time speaking. He also asked me if she likes to taste hand sanitizer, since it’s also very common with these kids. Just yesterday I had to call Poison Control after finding she had climbed onto the counter to reach a small bottle of hand sanitizer, dumped it out, then licked it up!!

The third is a speech therapist that will be coming a couple of times a month beginning in January. Speech therapy comes after we take care of some of the behavioral issues so she can focus better.

This all sounds overwhelming and a little scary. But, in fact, the therapists are very optimistic. Caroline isn’t a major case (that’s rare) and most kids with these needs tend to get better and better with maturity. Even without therapy, most symptoms are lessened drastically by the time kindergarten comes around. It seems to be a factor of the neurological system maturing to a satisfactory level. The therapy mostly just helps in the interim. It reduces the frustration of both the parents and the child, lessens the severity, and usually decreases the amount of time it takes the system to mature.

I do have to say that I feel a little vindicated. All this time I had these suspicions and now I know that all my worrying and researching was for a reason and I was actually correct in what I thought was going on with her. Knowing her condition has increased our patience for her. She’s not just being a stinker or crazy, she has a need that isn’t being met. I’m happy with the therapists and their positive outlook. It’s reassuring to know that it’s not uncommon and is mostly temporary. I know she can function just fine without their help, but I want Caroline to feel great, not just fine.

If you have any questions regarding Caroline or any other child you know, I’m happy to talk about it and I can point you in the right direction if you need more information.