love love love the fall

We have had such a fun fall and I am just glad to be a mom. I have realized as of late how precious these moments are and how quickly they flutter by. Our home is loud and chaotic but we are having more fun and stressing less about the mess and undone chores, though a clean house is a happy house in my book! I finally feel like we are functioning since Myles has been born, it has taken 6 months and is getting better by the day. I have the crafting bug and switched some things up in the house so it is brighter and less dark for winter. I love our new additions, thanks to pinterest.com, and this post and this post, we got new curtains.

The Inspiration: and



The real deal:
{never mind the toys and sock, I'm a real mom}

The lighting behind the roman shade doesn't do justice, but it is perfect and they only cost $6 each to make!!! They are functioning roman shades that go down at night to hide all the craziness that happens at the Snow's...take that last comment as G-rated! The striped curtains are not for everyone, but I had to have them and so did a friend of mine, we labored extensively, with very patient husbands mind you, and finished with an amazing product! If you are wondering about this pinterest.com obsession, don't log in unless you can devote hours of learning new tricks with the kids, in cleaning, cheap decorating ideas, style etc., etc., etc. It has it all! I LURVE it!
I am taking time to cook and teach the kids new things and it's refreshing to spend a day together and not popping in movies when we get bored. I have been using my pasta roller a lot this fall to make spinach pasta, lasagna, and ravioli, some successes and some failures, but the girls learned how to use it and they have fun, never mind the big mess it makes!

Anyway, Rasty is home at his normal time now and I can't believe how important time together is for a marriage and family. I thought I was so alone and in a dark place this summer with his crazy 70 hour/7 days a week schedule and with a new baby, but we are making time to be together and had a great few months. The highlight thus far was driving the Alpine Loop on a Friday afternoon when the leaves were magnificent and the kids were great. We drove like 10mph and Rasty had to capture every tree on the road. {He has never shot a picture with my camera, I think he resents that this camera costs more than the TV he dreams of owning!} He loved being the photographer and he got some great pics I will admit! So maybe I will end up in more pictures in the future. The kids were able to hike around and throw rocks like they love to do, it was all too perfect and I can't stand that these kids are getting so big. Annika is reading and asking questions and writing stories, and we're just getting started ...there's no stopping her, she is crazy smart! This is her crazy hair day at school, it took about an hour to convince her that other people will have crazy hair too...I forget how innocent kindergarteners are. They haven't been there and done that. People always told me when she was young that she looked like a little Cindy Lou Who, the cup inside was smashed by the time she got home! Miss Livy is still frolicking in fairy tales. She always has something sugar coated to say and has a care bear wrapped under her arm and butterflies to attend to. Cute cute cute, she is the sweetest. She is getting her ABC's down, which we have struggled with, she'd rather be nursing a baby back to health than sit and sing the ABC song. Daniel is still grunting his way through life. With boogers cemented to his face and a his blanky in hand, he is discovering the world the 'Rasty' way, taking things apart and putting them back together. 100% BOY! When Dad dresses him for bed, it is very obvious and Rasty tries to blame the child. I woke up one morning after a night where Rasty put Danny to bed and this is what I discovered, his church vest backwards (which he wore the day before for church) and inside out sweat pants, weird people residing here at the Snows. He also has an obsession with his church tie, we find him wearing it all day, everyday. He knows where it is, grabs it after his naps or night of sleep and wears it with pride!He is a funny funny boy. I just wish we had a video of him running or prancing, he's bow legged and pigeon toed, makes a great sight to see the kid run.

Myles is rolling all over the floor and up on all fours ready to crawl, but we are not teaching him yet...a stationary kid makes for a happy a mom! He is sleeping a lot better in the night and eating like a horse. The first time we introduced the spoon, he gobbled the whole bowl of cereal and wanted more, best of all the kids. He is just a little tike, his 6 month appointment showed he is still 20-30% in everything, weird for a Snow kid, Danny was 90 percentile all-around! These boys could not be more different.
As of late for FHE we have been acting out scripture stories, we are a bunch of thespians at heart! The kids pick a picture from the ensign or gospel art kit and we act it out. This particular night they picked the story of Nephi slaying Laban. Rasty and I eyed each other and thought maybe too gruesome for kids, but it's in the "book" so we should do it. We each had a turn being the king and getting our head cut off by a straw. This is Annika being the king and not handing over the plates, Livy took great pleasure using the straw to kill the king! Each week we have lots of laughs and a great time learning the scriptures.
We had a surprise visit from Derrick and his family this past month for his birthday. Deana kept it a secret until they got to the airport, awesome surprise! We had a lot of fun with Eddie and we sure miss them! The kids were putting on little productions, a costume change occurred every few minutes, but they were so funny. I was just waiting to for this day, I collect dress ups for this very purpose!
Halloween was so great this year. The girls were my childhood dolls, rainbow brite and strawberry shortcake and they were so cute. And Daniel was a dirty little boy! Myles was a tiger. We celebrated a bit early with aunt Missy's birthday party at my parents. My mom and dad are quite a pair, my mom dresses up each Halloween and it was awesome to see these 2 clowns answer the door!

This is the Livy {in preparation for the big night} that I want to bottle up and never let go!

Our dear neighbors had a Halloween dinner party before the trick or treating began and it was very festive, we each contributed some spooky food and had some good laughs of course. We are so lucky to have such great friends.




We set up a fire in our front yard to welcome the trick or treaters and I will never go back to answering the door a hundred times again. We got sit back a relax, enjoy great conversation and see all the hustle and bustle of the night. It was sooo fun! The fire was warm and inviting as the night grew cold, and we got to see neighbors and friends we haven't seen in a while.

Thanks Rasty for being so handy and willing to entertain my last minute ideas! This was put together just as the day was ending, it worked out great! Now we are on to Thanksgiving and then Christmas, I can't believe how fast time is going, our little critters are growing, (Rasty and I are not trying to grow, but we just might during the holidays!) we are all learning, and life is good.