Down By The River

Back in July we made a quick work trip down to the Escalante area. Other post about this trip are here, here, and here. We’ll take advantage of any reason we can to come down to this part of the state. If you are considering going down and want some company, let us know and we’ll show you around. We made a quick stop on our drive down to play in the Escalante River. The scenery is just so amazing and beautiful. The sky, the rock, the layers are all so beautiful to me. I feel inspired to help people enjoy our wonderful world as I take in this beautiful area. Here are a few more images of my cute family (sans Caroline, she was asleep and I didn’t want her anywhere near this wall). We are so cute!

On our walk down to the river.

Down in the peaceful river. Life.

The froth of the river never stops.

I love this picture of Madi exploring the river and enjoying the water. Emblematic of summer, of freedom to explore, of curiosity, and of taking pleasure in the simple parts of life.

Next to the water.

The most enjoyable form of bank erosion…..

Don’t forget to look up!

I look so happy to be in the river in this picture.

Helping my youngest play in the water and to explore the river.

Check here if you want to see more.

Grandpa’s Birthday Times 2

On December 2nd we celebrated the birth of two grandpas, Grandpa Snow and Grandpa Williams. These are two of our favorite grandpas in the whole world. They really mean a lot to us.

I started what I hope to become a tradition with birthdays on the Snow side of the family. At every party, conduct a brief video interview of the birthday person using random/interesting questions so that we can all get to know some fun, lesser-known things about them. A couple of the questions for the grandpas were:

What was your favorite toy as a kid?
Would you rather die by piranha or anaconda and why?
Tell us about your first date.
What was your least favorite job and why?
Would you rather be 3 feet tall or 8 feet tall and why?

Here are the links for the interviews of Grandpa Williams and Grandpa Snow.

Here are some other random pictures from the party. We had just gotten our new camera and Rob was anxious to take as many pictures as possible.

 

Rob’s dad was playing a game with the kids. They laughed so hard!

 

Here is Madeleine patiently waiting for her turn.

 

 

 

Cousins Joe and Ben.

Family can see a few more pictures here.

Flix of the Netted Sort

Rob complimented me the other day by saying that I somehow find the best, most obscure little gems on Netflix. That made me smile. He told me I should make a list of some of better movies and tv shows (in my opinion). I’m pretty picky, remember that these are according to my tastes. My tastes may very well not be your tastes. A few of these I have mentioned before.

Disclaimer: Many of these are rated PG but there are a few with a moderate PG-13 rating so there may be a scene or some language that might put you over your comfort level.

 

Light-Weight TV

 

Psych
It took me a little while to appreciate this show. Rob loves it. My mom loves it. My sister loves it. Silly sums it up. The guys are pretty cute, too. I think that’s why my mom likes it so much ;)

 

White Collar
If you want a less disturbing storyline than the typical detective show, this is great. It’s fun and the guy is really easy to watch ;)

 

My Fair Wedding with David Tutera
I don’t watch many shows like this, but this one is just so fluffy and cheesy and fun for getting your wedding fantasy fix. Rob does NOT recommend this one ;) Pure girliness.

 

Serious TV

 

Lie to Me
A more disturbing but fascinating take on a detective drama.

 

 Sherlock
How could this take on Sherlock Holmes go wrong? Sherlock is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, also starring as a villain  in the upcoming Star Trek movie, and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit) as Watson.

 

Sweet Little Independents

I love independently made movies. They are so full of heart. The storylines are fresh and writing is above par.

Waiting for Forever
Filmed in Odgen and Salt Lake, it’s so fun to see places you recognize. This was sweet, innocent, different, and I bought two of the songs from the soundtrack (World’s Apart Film Version and Forever Goodbye by The Mostar Driving Club).

 

The Way
This was a nice movie big on character. I loved seeing the landscapes.

 

Life is Beautiful
You may have seen this since it came out over 10 years ago, but it’s beautiful. You’ll cry out of sadness and and out of happiness all at once. One of my favorite classical pieces is featured (Barcarolle composed by Offenbach).

 

My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend
Another cupcake-sweet movie filmed in Salt Lake.

 

Romantics Anonymous
Foreign films are sometimes just so funny. This is, again, sweet and we chuckled quite a bit.

 

Heartbreaker
Another French Film. Funny. Creative. I kind of want to watch it right now.

 

The Little Traitor
The little actor is so great. It takes place in Israel and is about a little Palestinian boy making friends with a British officer.

 

Documentarian Stuff

God Grew Tired of Us
Follows a few of the 25,000 Sudanese refugees from Africa to their new lives in America. We take so many things for granted here. Butter packets, anyone?

 

 

Life in a Day
We loved this. This film comprises clips from over 80,000 people around the world showing what happens in their typical day, July 24, 2010.

 

 

Honorable Non-Netflix-Streaming Mentions

(500) Days of Summer
I loved this so much when I watched it myself that I watched it again with Rob in the same weekend. If you’ve ever been dumped, you’ll truly relate. I laughed out loud and smiled quite a bit. The soundtrack is awesome. We already had and loved one song (and you will recognize it from our Year End Slideshow) Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap and bought the song Quelqu’un m’a dit by Carla Bruni.

 

Premium Rush
Another movie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. What? He’s a good actor! This is completely reminiscent of those 90’s extreme sports movies with the younger, cool guy on his cool bike doing cool tricks trying to get away from the evil weirdo tracking him down. If you loved those movies as a kid, you’ll like this grown-up version. Rob’s adrenaline was pumping with the fast pace and all the close misses.

 

Bright Star
Quiet. Romantic. Beautiful poetry. Because of this movie I now have John Keats’ book of poetry and love letters and it’s next on my to-read list.

 

Have fun watching this weekend!!

Home Decor: Nursery

Way back when I didn’t know if Caroline was a embryo girl or an embryo boy, I was nesting and started planning the nursery. I wanted something mostly gender-neutral since he or she was a surprise.

 

While in St. George I found a crib sheet that uses brown, blue, orange, and yellow and decided that they were perfectly neutral.

 

This blanket I made not too long ago. I love the purples and burnt oranges and muted greens. I also love the quilting I decided to do on it.

 

I also made the sham. The colors were a bit more green and less brown in the store florescent lighting, but it works okay.

 

Along with the sheet I bought some decals with the same colors (a tree, bird, and turtle).

 

This little guy is walking along the top of the closet.

 

The sheers used to be one long scarf we had over a large set of windows when we lived downtown. They ended up being the perfect color so I cut it and made it into two panels. I bought a curtain rod with acorn finials to go along with the woodsy feel of the room.

 

We bought the rocking chair from a coworker for $10 before we had Nate. It’s small and, honestly, not very comfortable. Rob won’t even sit in it. But it’s super sturdy. The bear on the right was given to Cara by my OB. The shirt has all of her birth information on the back of it.

 

This furniture company no longer exists, but I did some research on it and it was one of the best during it’s time.

I made the blanket draped on the back of the chair (for comfort) when I was first learning how to sew. Making a bundle of boy/girl neutral blankets during my last trimester was really the only thing I felt like I could do physically since all I had to do was sit and use my foot for the pedal. It helped keep my mind off of my uncomfortable hugeness and was relaxing and challenging at the same time. It was seriously so therapeutic.

 

The dolls on the shelves were mine when I was young and the plaque with the two girls on it was given to me by a friend I had a long time ago. We had a friendship that was right at a time when we really needed each other. Due to normal life circumstances (getting married) we have long since lost touch. I wonder how she is doing…Very well, I hope.

 

The rocking horse had a repaint. Solid wood. $3.

 

The basket keeps the necessaries close by (hopefully for only a couple more months). When she was a baby there was another one holding blankets.

 

The birdhouse was a for 50 cents. I felt like we needed something hanging in this corner.

Well, that’s it! Again, nothing fancy. It’s not overly done. Simplistic. Minimal. But every detail is well thought through and meaningful. That’s how I roll.

I’m so glad that it has finally come together! It’s been 3 years now since I started thinking about it. I should really be better at getting this stuff done sooner. After all, Cara will be moving into Madi’s room in a year and then I’ll have to start all over again. Darn ;)

Snow Family 2012 - Year in Review

Here is a slideshow of images from 2012. We had a great year and are looking forward to another year full of adventures. We hope you all have a great year! If you want to watch the video in HD click here.