Cross Country Begins

We had so much fun this afternoon watching Hilary and Hannah run with the T-Birds in their first cross country meet.

They both set certain goals they wanted to achieve and they beat them!


Dan and I jogged from one section of the race to the next to cheer them toward the finish line.

They are really racking up the miles everyday with their running.

I am amazed at their progress and their determination to improve.

The best part of the race was right before the finish line. Hilary and Hannah were sprinting hard toward the finish line. They were so close to each other that I seriously thought they might accidentally elbow the other one as they ran. Step in step together, they crossed the finish line within one second of each other. I guess a little friendly competition is good for them! I can't wait for their next race!

Washington D.C. and a Wedding

Dan and I headed to Washington D.C. last week for a wonderful wedding

and

a much needed get away.

I felt a little bad that we missed the girls' first days of school,

but Emily did a great job documenting the event for me.

The first few days were so incredibly hot and humid!

We loved visiting the monuments at night--beautiful and a little cooler.

We spent much of our time along the mall

catching up at our favorite Smithsonians.

Of course, the highlight of the trip was seeing this cute couple

married in the Washington D.C. Temple.

An added bonus was attending the Bethesda Ward to

hear Elder Ben Snow give his farewell address before he enters the MTC

in a few weeks.

Can't wait for the next adventure...

Emily's Last First Day

It's me again! Emily in the form of mother. (Cricket, cricket.)

Well, I just wrote a scatterbrained novel about the first two days of my senior year on my own blog, and it probably doesn't fit the caliber of my mom's blogging, so I'm just going to post a link here so you can read it if you will. Disclaimer: Beware of typos; I'm too braindead to read and re-read my blogs.

If you won't, here is the Spark notes version: It seems I'm going to have a good one.

The first day of school and such

Hello. This is Emily in the form of my mom. Because she has fled the state to attend my cousin's wedding in Washington, D.C., I am essentially taking her place and documenting the exciting and random happenings of the abandoned Snow children.

Anyhow.

Today was Hilary and Hannah's first day of high school, and I was given the coveted (ahem) duty of escorting them to their freshman orientation thing.

Here they are walking into the building! They couldn't escape this shot. Bahaha.

Today was also Julia's first day of fourth grade, which is very much exciting, because (I quote Julia) "when you are in fourth grade, you are officially a big kid. Third grade, you are only a pre-big kid." She is darling.

Naturally, we rocked out to Mika on the way.

So, that left me to hang around in the morning with Scout, who pretty much looked like this the whole time because everybody was gone. It got really boring really fast.

But don't worry, my boredom was quickly replaced by a trip to school (go figure) to do some journalism-lab stuff. We organized some last-minute things, talked to a few random friends, and--get excited--my dear friend Matisse and I had a grand time chalking up the chalkboard wall. (Yes, I definitely recommend chalkboard paint.) I'm just realizing how nerdy it is to spend the last day of summer break at school. Ahhhh.

Well, that is basically everything noteworthy and not so noteworthy that happened to me and my sisters today. So, until tomorrow, when I finally get to start school (for real).

Disclaimer: Please note that the scatterbrained nature of my writing is not a reflection on my mom's parenting. And, the blurry nature of these photographs is not a reflection of my photography skills (I am stuck with the lovely camera that belongs to one of my sisters).

P.S. Hi, Mom!

G-Free Living

Can I brag a little bit about this one here...

She has been on a roller coaster ride the past four years with her health.

I know we have the answer now--three doctors later--she has celiac disease.

The roller coaster ride began in Atlanta in 2005 when blood work and an endoscopy confirmed

she had celiac. A year of living "G-free" still didn't completely relieve her symptoms so we got a second opinion, second round of blood tests and another endoscopy. The second doctor said she merely had food allergies, especially to nuts and corn.

So Hilary dedicated herself to living nut and corn-free and was doing pretty well.

Call it mother's intuition, but I sensed she still wasn't 100 percent even after all she was doing to eat right and exercise.

A chat with our current allergist led us to test her a final time for celiac disease.

Let's just say that when our doctor got the results back she said she had never seen numbers so high in all her years of practicing medicine.

Today we met our new pediatric g.i. doc and she was fantastic.

Another endoscopy is most likely in the near future and then we'll be living G-free again.

I'm so proud of Hilary's amazing attitude and her dedication to living the healthiest lifestyle possible. She is such a great example to the rest of us!

I love you!

Ode to Summer

I look at this picture of Emily and I think I can read her mind...

Get a grip, summer break is ending in a week Mom!

Seriously, where does the time go?

We've had soooo much fun as a family.

It has been our simplest summer ever...

fewer lessons and structured activities...

even simpler family vacations.

We've celebrated every one's birthdays.

We've stayed up way too late at night
but still managed to get up most mornings to go running.

The neighborhood has been alive at all hours of the night with kids playing night games.

The summer evenings have been spectacular and the scenery greener than ever.

I could go on and on about how perfect this summer has been...
but I will stop here.

I will "get a grip" and try not to dwell on the fact that this is our last real summer
before Emily enters the next stage of her life.

So goes my ode to summer.

Ouch!

It's a good thing I love this child so much!

Today I took over a debacle from my eldest child.

Eight hideous looking metal desks arrived at my back door this morning.

(Thank you Matisse for your use of the truck).

The problem?

The desks belong in Timpview's Journalism Lab.

The mission:

To restore them to their previous life before school starts.

All was going well until a shelf fell on my middle finger.

I think my finger might be broken.

At the very least I'm going to loose my beautiful fingernail.

Now twelve cans of spray paint later...we are almost finished!

Clarification...

Emily did not desert me through the project.

She has sanded unceasingly and inhaled a lifetime's worth of toxic fumes with me.

Good times today Emily!

Girls Camp '09

Dan and I headed to Mia Shalom on Thursday to meet up with all the young women at Girls Camp. We brought up pizza for lunch and spent the afternoon with all the girls.

It was great to see Hilary and Hannah again!

We have a wonderful, unified group of young women in our ward.

Dan was the only male in the vicinity of camp making bracelets and necklaces with the girls. What a guy!

I had fun giving manicures and hand massages to some of the girls and just chatting it up with all of them.

This year Mia Shalom is so green and beautiful, especially for so late in the summer.

The wild flowers were out in full force and it made for a beautiful setting.

Bishop's Night was quite tame this year and the humiliation of priesthood leaders was kept to a minimum. Dan was awesome busting some 80's dance moves with the other men. The night ended with a great devotional from our stake leaders and then our ward's testimony meeting and dessert. It has been a wonderful camp experience for all the girls this year. I'm so grateful for all the top notch leaders who planned, prepared and spent the week with all the young women. I can't wait to see my girls tomorrow morning!

Off to Mia Shalom

My twiners are off to Mia Shalom this week.

They boarded buses bright and early this morning

and for the first time, Emily wasn't with them.

(They were both a little bummed about this)

Emily will join them on Thursday for the tail end.

In the meantime, the house is really quiet and feels empty without them.

As much as I love all the young women, I'm not sad I'm missing out on a week at Mia Shalom.

I'll get a day and evening there which will be just the right amount for this less than enthusiastic camper!