Sned Fam

Kitty Paparazzi

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Mon, 28 May 2012 02:50:00 +0000

I was doing some dejunking and found Marshall's old camera from his mission. It's a 35mm and I figured we would just send it to the DI. The boys discovered it worked and had a flash so they started taking pictures with it. I pulled out another digital camera we haven't used for a while and let Rowan play with that one. The boys have been having fun taking pictures. I thought it was funny because Chandler took a bunch and then was frustrated when he couldn't figure out how to view them. Oh to grow up in the digital age. His expression was funny when I told him there was film that would have to be developed at the store. For quite a while, they followed Bessie around, taking her picture. Bessie has settled in nicely here. She hid under the beds a lot the first week and seemed really apprehensive. She also pawed at our door all night one night and has finally learned that she doesn't do that at night which is nice. She is really loving and patient with the boys. The boys are soft with her and she likes to be wherever we are. So here is our kitty paparazzi, cute yes?

Chandler's Kindergarten Graduation

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:16:00 +0000

I can't believe he's going to be moving on to 1st grade next year! This year has gone quickly and Chandler has done fabulous. We got to see him sing in the program today, and he had a short line to say (which of course I missed.) Then we went to his classroom to see his favorite memory and see him get an award. His teacher, Mrs. LeBaron has been fantastic. He loved her so much and had a great year.

The videos are split into 2 because you can view them in HD and I didn't want to mess with the video quality. So I chose my favorite 2. (Make sure to change the youtube viewing to HD in the bottom right corner.)

Congratulations Chandler, we love you!!

The Job

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:18:00 +0000

Remember the ultrasound job that I talked about in this post? I was offered it at the first of the week. I am the second student in the region to get hired and the first one to be hired for an independent position. I know they were also looking at registered technicians outside the region so I'm really flattered to have been offered it. I had some time to think and pray before the recruiter called me on Thursday to ask if I'd accept the position. After some talking and contemplating, Marsh & I decided that I should accept it. I'm really excited about a few things

1) To be doing something I love. I really love ultrasound and while I'm a bit freaked out to be working independently on the weekends, I know I have it in me. (Granted I will have the Radiologist to fall back on, but not another tech or my amazing clinical instructor.)

2) To be able to spend time with my boys this semester. I was planning on class Monday morning and then clinical on Tuesday & Wednesday, so 3 days a week. With this job, I will be working every Saturday & Sunday with every other Sunday night call which means that I will be home with my boys Monday through Friday. This was a big factor in the decision. Plus my working hours will be counted as my clinical hours, so I'll be getting paid. Being home with my boys during the week is priceless to me.

3) Finally getting paid what I'm worth - This job is 2x what I was making in the ER at LDS. (I did put in my 2 weeks notice.) There's also a $6 an hour pay increase when I become registered, which I will be doing in August or September.

The downfall in all of this is the fact that I won't get to attend church like I want to. This was basically the power struggle I had with my job when I came to a realization: It's not forever. Things could change and other jobs could be made available. I also realized that I have a strong testimony that will not waver. I was expecting a yes or no answer when I prayed about it. I didn't feel very strongly one way or another, but I just kept thinking about my testimony. I realized that it was Heavenly Father asking me how my testimony was. That was my answer. I'll admit that there have been times in my life where I've been somewhat lazy in the gospel but I could never deny it. I know it's true and everything it teaches protects and helps me and my family. It was a bit amazing to me to realize just how much of a testimony I have and it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. I'm SO grateful for it and that no one can take it away from me. Marsh and I have talked about maybe him getting permission to give me the sacrament at home. I'm also thinking they might do a sacrament service for workers & patients at the hospital that I will be working at. I also had another tech offer to come in for a few hours occasionally so I can attend church occasionally.

I'm going to start training either the week of the 4th, or the week of the 10th, I'm not sure yet. I'm grateful for this opportunity and blessing for our family. I'm also grateful for a supportive husband who is also a great dad to our kids. Here we go!

Handsome

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Thu, 24 May 2012 21:35:00 +0000

Got my new camera today. Have had some fun taking and editing pictures. Can't help but think how handsome Chandler is.

Rowan Rides a Bike

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:22:00 +0000

Our Rowan man is riding a bike! He did so great on his balance bike last summer and my cousin had an extra bike they weren't using. We took him to the tennis courts and he was off in less than 5 minutes. It's pretty cute to see him riding since he's only 4. Way to go Rowan we are so proud of you!

Family In Idaho

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:19:00 +0000

This last weekend, we headed up to Idaho. Specificially we were going for Marshall's sister Ashley's Senior recital. She will be graduating in July with a Bachelor's in Music Performance. (Piano) The recital was Saturday and it was nothing short of spectacular. She did an amazing job and it's the kind of piano playing that gives you chills. :) That picture below is of me with Ashley. She's also 19 weeks pregnant, but you totally wouldn't guess it, she's still super tiny.

While we were down there, we barbecued with Marshall's family and with my family. I wasn't great about taking pictures. I just sold my DSLR and am waiting for my upgrade to come *SQUEAL!* so all I had was my iphone.

The pic below is Chan with 2 of his second cousins. They are all close to the same age and play so well together.

This picture is of Rowan and two more of the second cousins, plus my niece Savanna. She's great with kids and all of them love playing with her.

Before we took off to go back home, we got to sing Happy Birthday to my mother in law and watch her burn out the candles. She's such a great woman, I'm glad to call her family.

Chandler sacked out on the ride home. Love his hair in this pictures. The boys played hard and slept a lot of the car ride home.

Bessie

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:28:00 +0000

This is Bessie, (yes I realize it's a COW name but that was the name she came with.) Our first pet EVER. She's 4 years old and has the prettiest green eyes. She likes to hang out under the bed all day but I'm forcing her to be social today. I'm doing that because she likes to stay up all night. The other night she came in our room and tried to sleep with us but just ended up laying all over us. NOT cool. Last night we shut the door and she pawed and head butted the door until we let her in. We need to figure that out. Today we got her new bowls, a bed and some toys. I kinda like her...I think we'll keep her.

Mother's Day Puepa

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:35:00 +0000

It's so fun to have a day to celebrate those who gave birth to us. My mom is awesome and I'm so grateful for her! I also have a great mother-in-law who I am also really grateful for.

Marshall and the boys made me feel really special this Mother's Day. Chan gave a "puepa" with a poem from school. I got some video of him giving it to me and it was so cute how he said it. I finally told him it was called a Petunia, but I prefer Peupa. I also got a really neat canvas from Marshall and the boys. Marsh photoshopped this picture of us and made me in color. He said that he liked how they were all looking at me and that it portrayed that I am the center of their lives. I got a bit teary eyed. :)

We tried to get a picture of the boys and me after church. Classic faces right?

Reading

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:26:00 +0000

Chan will finish out Kindergarten in just a couple of weeks here. The school year has gone way too fast. I can't believe how well he's reading and is doing more and more by himself. I'm always surprised when he picks up a good sized book and can read it by himself. We have quite a few e-books on the ipad and here he is reading to Rowan. Rowan is taking a lot of interest in books too which I love. I have a cute Mother's Day video of Chan reading which I will post soon.

Brandcation

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:15:00 +0000

Just wanted to give everyone who actually reads a heads up. This blog has a google page rank of 2 (which probably means nothing to you but it means something to me and advertisers. ;) ) I've passed up sponsored posts in the past as I wanted to keep this blog completely focused on family, but I'm starting to realize that $100+ for a post that takes me a half hour to write is worth it. So if you see random posts about garage doors, saving money, etc and you scratch your head and think, huh - scroll to the bottom and you will see it is a sponsored post. It might not happen very often, but chances are that it probably will happen.

Ok, now onto Brandcation! (PS - This post will be LONG. VERY long. Kudos to you in advance if you read the whole thing. If you don't, at least check out the pictures, they are pretty!)

I've been looking forward to this event for a few months. It was a blogger conference that I paid to go to. I bought everything up front and started looking for sponsors. Luckily, Pampers provided me with a stipend that paid for the event which I was incredibly grateful for. I took a red eye flight that left at 1 am and hoped that I would get some sleep. No such luck. I sat next to a nice, chatty girl holding an 8 month old baby and we ended up talking for most of the flight. I finally couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and slept the last 45 minutes of the flight. I had a 2 hour layover in Atlanta where I tried to doze but it's kind of impossible in an airport. I slept from Atlanta to Pensacola, all 45 minutes of the flight. Needless to say, I was a bit out of it when I arrived in Pensacola. One of the other bloggers who is local picked a few of us up at the airport. It's amazing and interesting at the same time to finally meet other women face to face who you've known online for years. Some of these women I've been connected to online for over 3 years and this was our first time meeting. It's amazing how easy it is to click with a lot of them too! There were 32 of us total. We drove down to where we were staying and between being so incredibly tired and it raining, I didn't get much of the effect driving into Pensacola Beach. Once we did get there, we checked into the condos and the rain had stopped. The view was absolutely beautiful.

Once all of the other bloggers arrived, we started our blogger Olympics. We were split into teams by the condos that we were staying in. There were 8 per condo. My team was in white and we were the SEO's. (Search Engine Optimization, a blogger familiar term. ;) ) We first went on a picture scavenger hunt. Next we went down to the beach to do other relays and activities. We had a sandcastle building contest, swimming relays and a hula hooping contest. I actually held my own in the hula hooping contest and came in 3rd. Our team overall came in 1st place!

Friday night we ate at a local Burger Place called Surf Burger, took pictures down by a dock and had our swag party. In the blogger world, swag is essentially comped stuff. Product that is donated by sponsors and such. It was really fun to see all of the companies that support Brandcation and I was excited to hand out some Pampers swag myself!

Saturday we headed to Adventures Unlimited that was about an hour from Pensacola in Milton. There we would be ziplining and tubing 4 miles down the river. Ziplining was so much fun. We did 7 different lines, and although I'll admit that I had a little bit of anxiety over the heights, it was an amazing experience!

After ziplining, we had lunch and waited for all of the groups to finish. We were all ready to dip our toes in the river as it was hot and HUMID. I am so not used to humidity and it was weird having my skin sticky all of the time and my hair frizzy. We took a bus up to where we were supposed to start and got in. Not 2 minutes later, one of the girls ripped off her entire big toenail. OUCH. The river was pretty shallow at parts with tons of tree stumps and rocks. The first hour we were just trying to get around stuff. After a couple of hours, I think we were all ready to get out. Some of the girls got really sick too. We were on the river for 4 hours. I'll admit that I was ready to get out when it was all said and done - 4 hours is a bit much. Another girl actually broke one of her toes down the river too.

Saturday night we ate down by the pool and met the local astronomy group to do some star gazing. They had a bunch of telescopes set up and that was the night of the Super Moon. Pretty cool, right?

Sunday we went on a dolphin cruise. This was so much fun. It was a beautiful day and we saw lots of dolphins, even a teeny tiny baby dolphin!

After the cruise, we all had lunch and some of the bloggers headed out. There were some of us staying until Monday, me being one of them. Airfare was a lot cheaper on Monday so that's why I stayed. A few of us decided to go parasailing. I'm SO glad that I did. It was so incredibly beautiful and peaceful. It's times like that that you marvel in God's creations and think about how incredible it all is. I went parasailing with 2 other girls and while up in the air we saw a LOT of Sting Rays. Towards the end, they dipped our feet in the water and I was just praying we wouldn't be over the Sting Rays. We weren't, lol.

Monday I was the last one to fly out. I hung out by the pool at the hotel for about 3 hours and did some blogging and just enjoyed the gulf. I would love to take the family back to the gulf, it was so pretty there! If you are thinking of vacationing in Florida, I would definitely recommend Pensacola Beach.

As a blogger, I've learned that in order to become successful I have to network...and network...and network some more. It's awesome to be able to cultivate these relationships I have with other bloggers online and to get to know them on a better level. There were also some things I learned that I should and shouldn't be doing with my blog and I learned more about myself. I'll be attending one other blogger conference this year, and that is Blogher in NYC in August. My sister Avry will be joining me for that conference and I am so excited to go with her!

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:50:00 +0000

I got home in the wee hours of the morning yesterday from Brandcation, a blogger event. It was in Pensacola Beach, Florida and I had the most amazing time. I know a blog post is going to take a while to draft since I have a lot of pictures to sort through. For now here is one to share. I was waiting on a boat, ready to parasail here. More to come....

Freedom! (For a Month)

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:10:00 +0000

I'm done with clinical for another semester! I almost can't believe it, I'm so incredibly excited. I have one online final and assignment to do and then I'll be home free until the first week of June. As of now, I've completed just under 1500 clinical hours, and have about 200 left for the summer. Looking back, I can't believe how quickly it's gone, even though it hasn't felt that way sometimes in the moment. More than anything, it gives me complete peace of mind. I know if something were to happen to Marshall or if he were to lose his job again, I could replace his income almost completely. That's not to say a job would necessarily be available, but since ultrasound is such a specialized field my chances of getting a job are good. Through ultrasound school, I've gotten to know some amazing people and you might have seen my friend Traci in my marathon post. She's been a great friend through this whole journey and I can see us being friends for many years to come. :)

With Traci @clinical, we feel loony half the time....

I was hoping to get hired on PRN (as needed, you pick up shifts) before I was done with school. You don't have to be registered to work in the state of Utah, but most places it's a requirement. There is one registry you can take before you graduate, and that's physics. I've already taken and passed that, and there aren't a lot of students that have taken it yet which puts me at a bit of an advantage. The region that I've done my clinical in has started looking to hire students since they know us, trust us, that type of thing. They've hired one student already and it looks like more jobs are going to open up. I've expressed openly to many of the techs that I'd really love a job and I really would. Ultimately I'd like PRN because then I could pick up without being on the schedule regularly. I know I want to work some when I graduate because it's too valuable of a skill to lose, I just want to be able to be home with my boys most of the time. That brings me to the next issue. There was a part time job they opened up to the students. It's at the hospital closest to me. It's every Saturday and Sunday day, 12 hour shifts. I'm having such mixed emotions about it and ended up applying for it. (This is the part that I hope nobody in ultrasound I knows reads this. ;) ) Really I applied because I want them to know that I'm interested in being employed when in reality I don't want to work every Saturday Sunday. That would mean missing church every week which I don't think I am really prepared to do. I'm not saying I've got the job in the bag, but I definitely think I'm in the running. Secretly I hope I am not offered it, but they know I applied and am interested in other positions. I'm not sure how it would affect my chances of getting another job if I was offered the position and ended up turning it down....I did apply for it after all. I've played out every scenerio in my head, Marshall and I have talked about it possibly being temporary for a few months until something else became available. When it comes down to it, it's almost like I know what I should do if I get offered it, but I know what I want to do. Does that sound terrible? I'm still not sure where I stand on it, need to do some praying and soul searching. As I mentioned, I'm hoping that I just don't get offered it, then I don't have to even deal with it. I'm not sure why I'm even bringing up the unknown, I guess I should cross that path when I get there. It's just been on my mind a lot.

I'm so excited to spend some much needed time with the boys over the next month and give my house a deep clean and some TLC as well. Here's to some needed time off!

Baseball

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:11:00 +0000

This is Chandler's first year playing baseball! They practice two times a week and have most of their games on Saturdays. Chan did great today and even hit the ball a few times. I think it fits him a little better right now than basketball did just because it seems more fair and he seems to know and be in tune to what's going on. He was so excited to get his shirt and a Bees hat as well. I was surprised to see that it wasn't strictly t-ball. The coaches soft pitch to the kids three times and if they don't hit it then they get the tee (sp?) out for them to hit off of. Here Chan is up to bat for his first time ever! (PS - you'll notice Rowan running across in front of the camera. I think he wanted some attention...)

Salt Lake City Half Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:21:00 +0000

Saturday was the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. I was up bright and early at 4:30 am. I headed to West Jordan to pick up my friend Traci, and then met Avry & Jason at Jason's house.

We rode tracks up to where the starting line was at the Olympic Bridge. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I wanted to finish in 2 hours and that put me at a 9:11 minute mile. I felt a lot more conditioned and ready for this half marathon, but I knew this would be a push. I was glad to have my friend Traci run it with me. We have become very good close friends being in ultrasound school together. She is a very avid runner and I knew she would push me which is exactly what I needed. The first two miles were 9:07 and 9:05. I was feeling really comfortable and we pushed it a bit more. The next few miles were 8:40 and 8:50. I was so surprised we were running this fast! I really started to feel it at about mile 11. At mile 12, there was an uphill part up state street. It was hard because it was right at the end. I struggled at this part and it was our slowest mile, 9:43. When it was all said and done, we finished in 1:58.36!! This was such a huge stretch to run this fast and I couldn't be more proud!

My time stamp and where I placed.

Traci & me right after the race!

Getting a picture with Jason after the race.

The boys and Marshall cheered me in. The boys were excited to see me, and excited to see the post race creamies (ice cream) that I had for them.

For some reason, I didn't get pictures with Avry when she came in. I'm looking for another half marathon to run this summer sometime to keep my conditioning up and of course will continue training for my marathon in September. It feels good to reach goals!!

Playing Together

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 02:45:00 +0000

I've been thinking about these two little boys of ours a lot the last few weeks. Rowan's communication skills seem to be improving a bit although he's still behind. With improved communication comes ease of play between the boys. Chandler has often been frustrated in the past because he thinks Rowan is in "Spanish Mode" If you don't know where that line is from, you need to go watch Toy Story 3. Chan would want to play with Rowan, Rowan wouldn't understand and Chan didn't really have anyone to play with. Lately they've been playing together, really interacting. We got a slide with a tent underneath and tonight they were in that tent for over an hour talking and playing. Before that they were playing at the park together, and before that they were playing ipad together.

It absolutely melts my heart to see them getting along. Not to say they don't ever fight, but this is sort of what we had envisioned when we had the boys 2 years apart. I hope that they always have a good relationship and love each other.

Easter Hunts & Baskets

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:51:00 +0000

We did our Easter bunny celebrating on Saturday. This is how it was growing up for me. Easter baskets and hunts on Saturday, focus on Christ on Sunday. It's a tradition I really loved, so we've decided to do it with our boys. The night before we colored Easter eggs. We had about 4 egg fatalities and even more after they were colored. We had a monster kit and the boys thought it was so much fun!

Here's everything that the Easter Bunny brought.

I just have to add that I love this little pajama set. Rowan looks adorable in it.

We woke the boys up at 8:00 since we had an Easter egg hunt at 9:00. Chandler is NOT a morning person, much like his mama.

We had a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, it turned out really fun!

I had bought tickets to go to the Easter Eggstravaganza at Thanksgiving Point. I will never do it again. We headed there after we were done with our neighborhood egg hunt. There were so many people, and it seems like you paid to get in just to pay for more stuff. There were tons of vendors and it seemed more like a trade show. They had egg hunts every half hour that didn't seem super organized. We lost Rowan right before the egg hunt and there were massive amounts of people everywhere. I stayed with Chandler, trying not to break down and start crying while Marshall went to look for Rowan. He looked around for a few minutes, said a quick prayer and had an impression that Rowan was over by the blowup toys. He was there. Thankful for the power of prayer! So they basically threw out the eggs and the kids had a free for all for about 30 seconds.

So SO many kids. I stayed in one spot and told Chan to come find me. So you don't have to play Where's Waldo, I've pointed him out below. The eggs were filled with cheap stickers and the kind of candy no one ever eats because it's gross. I guess you live and learn, right?

We let the boys play on the blowup toys for about a half hour and left after that. We went to Chick-fil-a and got lunch and then went home. Overall, we had a great Easter and were glad to be able to spend it as a family.

Easter Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I still have yet to pull pics off my camera from the festivities yesterday, but here are the boys in their new Easter duds after church. I took soooo many pictures and thought I would share the outtakes. There were some pretty funny ones!

Brushing Mommy's Hair

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 01:22:00 +0000

Rowan has always loved my hair. From the time he could start gripping, he was grabbing my hair. It quickly became a comfort for him and even now he will grab and play with my hair. He was trying to brush my hair with a lego today, so I got him a brush. He spent quite a few minutes brushing it, I was enjoying the head massage. Please excuse the messy house, it generally looks like that at the end of a clinical week and I'm trying to muster up the energy to start cleaning. Here's some cuteness for you to watch.

Preschool Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:28:00 +0000

I didn't even realize that Rowan was having school pictures done until he came home with a slip in his backpacks with some proofs. By the time I saw the proof, it was too late to order. So here's a picture of a picture. I keep staring at these little pictures and I can't help but realize JUST how big he is. And his cheesy smile is priceless. I love him. And I love that he's mine.

Funny Things Kids Do and Say

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:42:00 +0000

Marshall and I are constantly saying how we need to document the funny things the kids do and say. There are multiple times a day that Chandler says something and I either just shake my head or laugh. Rowan is starting to get that way a little bit too, which is a bit surprising to me. One that I can think right off - Rowan knew that I had hidden some Reese's eggs from him. Yesterday he was looking all over the kitchen and pantry. Then in a sing song voice he said, "Oh candy.....where are you?" Was pretty funny to hear his little voice saying that. Here are a few things that I've caught on my phone (instagram recap to come soon!) that I can't help but document.

I'm sitting on the couch, having a snack. I look over and see Chan literally climbing the wall. Maybe the boy needs some gymnastics. I still can't get over this picture.

This one is from a Sunday night. I had butter softening on the counter for cookies. A little bit later, I see Rowan and his lips and cheek are shiny. I think nothing of it until I see a cube of butter on the coffee table with a chunk bitten out of it. I wonder if he thought it was good....

This picture is actually over a month old, but I still think it's funny. Reenacting a scene from Finding Nemo, those are "Sad turtles in a net."

I'm going to try to be better about documenting the funny things they do and say. It might be random here and there but I want to remember it all!

Disney Store Sneak Peek

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 01:58:00 +0000

Ever since we told the boys we were going to Disney in August, they've been so excited. Since they don't have much of a concept of time though, it's hard for them to think we are ever going. We are still 4 months away, so when I got the chance to take the whole family to a preview of the Disney Store at City Creek before it opened to the public, I was so excited for them.

We parked downtown, but far enough away that we could take the train. The boys love being able to take the train, it's such a novelty for them. Once we got to City Creek, we had a bit of a problem getting in. There was security all around and they looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I was media for the Disney store opening. I got ahold of my contact and after waiting for 15 minutes, we were escorted up to the store.

The boys were in heaven and if they could have bought everything in the store I think they would have. It's a fun interactive store. Chan sat down to color for a while.

Rowan took a liking to one of the employees who brought out a remote controlled mater car for him to play with.

The boys left content and we went over to Gateway for some dinner.

Here's my silly Mickey Mouse holding a Mickey Mouse that he currently sleeps with every night now.

Spring Break

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:01:00 +0000

This week I was on Spring break. It's been a very MUCH needed break from school. 32 hours a week of clinical plus commuting plus school work gets exhausting. I definitely feel refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the semester. Only 5 more weeks and then I'm off for a month!

On Thursday it was absolutely beautiful so I spent a few hours at the park with the boys. This one close to our house has a good sized hill. They boys loved riding bikes and scooters down it, and Rowan must have run up and rolled down it 20 or more times.

Boyce Avenue

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:50:00 +0000

For Marshall's birthday this year, I got him tickets to Boyce Avenue. They are a band that got their start on YouTube and are absolutely amazing. They do a lot of remakes and also have a lot of their own songs too. The lead singer has such an amazing voice! It was so much fun and we will definitely go again if they tour in Salt Lake again next year. Before we went to the concert, we went to dinner at Sugar House Barbecue in Salt Lake. What a wonderful date it was, always nice to get out with my hubby.

I just MIGHT be crazy

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:56:00 +0000

Health and fitness are always something that have been important to me. It's become even that much more important and eye opening to me as I've dealt more and more with patient care, and seen others with health problems. In December I decided I wanted to be more consistent with my exercise. I made a goal to exercise at least 4 times a week. In January, I signed up for a half marathon as part of a Slim-Fast goal. My goal is to finish in 2 hours which I definitely think is attainable. Then this last month, I started doing some research on organic eating. After reading quite a bit, we are making a change to eat at least 50% of our food organic. I can't help but think what we take into our bodies when animals are treated inhumanely, fruits and vegetables are sprayed over and over with pesticides. I think my turning point was in the store one day. I picked up a package of boneless skinless chicken breast and was actually disgusted at how thick it was. A lot of foods we eat are artificially, chemically, synthetically and genetically produced which can't be good either, right? I've also read a lot of studies where organic foods actually retain more nutrition and are better for you. For example - an apple grown organically has about 25% more nutrition than one that isn't grown organically. At this point in our lives, we aren't able to eat all organic foods due to cost, but I've switched over to only buying organic chicken, beef, and fruits and vegetables where we eat the skins, and eggs. If I find organic milk at a good price, I will buy that too. My hope is that more people see the benefit of buying organic and start doing it. Pricing would go down a lot which would help us eat a lot healthier. I think Marshall is about 50% on the bandwagon but part of him is skeptical. Although I'd love to be 100% organic, I love knowing that we are making some changes.

So we are eating better, and I've actually kept my goal of exercising at least 4 times a week for well over 3 months! I used to be more sporadic, and it feels good to be consistent. Most weeks I workout 5-6 days and I've noticed great gradual changes with my body and energy. I've lost 5 lbs since the beginning of January and am feeling so so good. This last week, I was looking at our summer and what would be happening. In May, I'm heading to Pensacola, FL for a blogger retreat. I will be graduating the end of July, going to Blogher with my sister in NYC the first of August, taking the boys to Disney the 2nd week of August. Here's the part where I decided I might be crazy. I've run a full marathon and it wasn't fun. I've never hurt so badly in my life than I did the last 5 miles of that marathon. However, I think I'm in better shape even now than I was when I ran my marathon. After talking with my brother about how cool the Rock N' Roll Marathons are, we decided to run one in Denver in September. I am so excited and scared at the same time, but I'm signed up! I said I'd never do another one, but I also wanted to be in really great shape before we tried for another baby this Fall/Winter. I know that this will push me to where I need to be.

I just might be crazy....but oh well. ;)

Finger Mishap

noreply@blogger.com (tiff snedaker) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:47:00 +0000

I said last December that we were fortunate that the boys haven't had too many incidents or accidents. Maybe I spoke too soon? Last week, we got home from a long day at school and the boys were starving for dinner. I was trying to get things together as quickly as I could, and Rowan started pushing our metal folding stool across the floor. The next think I knew he was on the floor and screaming. His 4th finger on his right hand was pinned in between the stool as he had tripped and it had folded on him. From first glance, I wondered if he was going to need stitches. We kept pressure on it for about 20 minutes and it was still bleeding. I decided to take him into the instacare to see what they would do for him.

We waited at the Instacare for 2 hours. 2 hours! Rowan was beyond patient because there were shows on the TV that he was interested in. Once we finally got back, the Instacare Dr. said he wanted to put some stitches in it. This Dr. had the best bedside manner of any Dr. I've ever seen. He was so kind with Rowan, asked him lots of questions, gave him a sucker. The entire time he was numbing him, he was acting silly and doing things to keep Rowan's attention off of the needle. Rowan did awesome once he was all numbed up. He was interacting with this Dr. and was even answering a few questions. We talked a bit about Rowan's delay while there and the Dr. told me he had a 14 year old with Autism so he understands some of the frustrations I'm feeling. The Dr. even carried Rowan out to the car in a blizzard and buckled him in his car seat. Looking back on Rowan's ped visit in January, you wouldn't have thought this was the same child that was patient and cute during an almost 3 hour visit. I can't help but wish that this Instacare doc was a family Dr. I would go to him in a heartbeat.

We are going to get Rowan's stitches out today, but it's healing nicely! Let's hope we keep any accidents on the down low for the next while!