never posted these darlings.

So, I was looking through some photographs on the old computadora (again, for my non-spanish speaking friends...it means computer), and came across these gems.

I am lousy at posting pictures right after they've been taken. For that, I apologize. But, I thoguht you would like to see Aaron's cute family! My definite favorites are the ones with "los hermanos"---holy cow, I forgot how fluent I am in spanish. The boys are so funny when they get together. I mean, seriously, I was taking A (meaning ONE) photo of them together, and then they keep posing and say, "no! here's another one!" yikes. they love the camera. But, we ask, does the camera love them?

You decide.

No, I'll decide. The camera does love them. Heck, we all love them. :)

So, here's some photos from the "shoot" up AF Canyon.

Please Enjoy. Of course you'll enjoy! Duh! (kajsa, I can't stop saying duh. I totally blame you).

by george, i've got it!

Team.

I have an announcement to make. I have it figured out. Did science prove it? no. Did we see actual evidence? no. But, how do I know? LOOK AT THE FACTS, PEOPLE! Duh! (thanks kajsa for re-introducing that word into my life. it has had a long 8-10 year absence and has been dearly missed).

We are going to have a baby boy. I totally know it.

I've decided that it is a Season for the Boys. Yes, I did create a special title for this season, because it is true. Why? Well, I'll tell you. Every single pregnant woman I know is having a boy. Not ONE of them is having a girl! Not one is having a girl! (well, one person is not far enough along to know, but...soon enough, and when she does, it will be a boy too).

Oh, you think I don't know people? Hey, I know people. And, it just so happens that a bunch are pregnant right this very minute. Oh, and yes, I know more than a handful, thank you very much. Let me list the names. (oh, these are in no particular order...just the order that they are coming to my brain).
Tiffany E., Bekah G., Danielle C., Lindsay B., Katie S., Svetlana, Shaela H., Margaret S., ...and well, that is all I can think of right this very moment in time. But, team, that is a lot of girls that I am friends with who are having a boy here in a few months. (in case I forgot someone...I will blame aaron, and remind me and I will add you to the list!)

What does that mean? Crazy. It is the Season for the Boys.

You know what song comes to mind? "Let's Hear it for the Boys" -- you know, that song that they play on Foot Loose (are we supposed to underline movie titles? and put quotes around song titles? i never remember), where the best friend is learning how to dance? Yeah, best part of the whole movie, and of course, they choose such a great song that totally has everything to do with MY post.

Well. That's it for now. To make it official, I guess we'll go to the appointment the DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING to find out.

But, whatever, I already totally know. Sheesh. It is nice to be so smart AND psychic.

halloween horrors!

Needless to say, Aaron loves the camera and his photo shoots. In the last one I look like I am doing a piece of choreography from Michael Jackson's thriller. Awesome. Oh, take note that I am pretty much squeezed into that shirt. Can I tell you that lots of my button down shirts are not accommodating this pregnancy very well. Gag. Oh well, so is life...a whole bunch of Gag sometimes.

dear team...

Well, today is Halloween. All Hallows Eve? I don't even know what to call it, but I do know that I have a BUNCH of candy...lots for the kiddos in the neighborhood (and let's be honest, mostly for Aaron and me...oh, and while we're being honest, this is our 2nd round of candy. We made the mistake of buying the first round a few weeks ago. Yeah, you can figure out why we needed a 2nd round).

That brings me to the topic of Halloween candy. Which do you buy for the kiddos? If it was up to Aaron, we'd be giving them all Tootsie Rolls. Can we say, "Gag" ? Yes. I mean, I love an occasional Tootsie here and there, but come on...that's like the houses that would give you a little thing of smarties. You're face drops and you have to say thanks, but we all know, Smarties are the worst treat of all. One or two Tootsies rank right up there.


So, what did we get? And when I say WE I mean, ME. The kids are in for a real treat this year...the leftover Tootsie Pops that Aaron and I did not eat from the first round (yes, he did win a few weeks ago, we got the tootsies. ha! the joys of being an adult), Kitkats, 3 Musketeers, Hershey Bars, and...yeah, that's it. We did have Mike & Ike's at one point, but alas, no more. Sorry all you trick or treaters out there. You missed out.


Ahh, I remember the days well of dressing up, replacing the little plastic pumpkin bucket for the pillow case, running from house to house so we could get more candy in a smaller amount of time...those were the good days. I am sad to report, this year, Aaron isn't even dressing up.


BUT! I will say that we did dress up the other day. We had a Murder Mystery party at one of our friends' houses (was that grammatically correct right there?). We forgot our camera for the bulk of the evening, then ran to grab it in the car and only had enough time for a few shots of us. Hence the pictures posted above. (Aaron loved his hat and suspenders from WalMart...can we say LOVED them? yes.) But, Jami did a good job posting. Here's her link. It was pretty fun.

So...with that I say Happy Halloween to y'all. Hope you don't get tricked...only treated. I got tricked already this morning. We keep water in the leftover milk cartons (yes, we clean them out first, duh!) and when I was pouring my liquid onto my brand new cereal (Oatmeal Squares) I looked down and realized it was indeed water I was pouring. Sick. I know. But, I was able to salvage the cereal.

Don't stress, guys. It's only Halloween. Things like this are bound to happen.

Ta ta!

pregunta para tu. (mostly girls here).

For all my NON-Spanish speaking friends, the title for this post means, "Question for you." Pregunta is not another tricky word for pregnant (although it does look like it has the same root.). (and no, this is not me and my fun friend at a photo shoot. :) I found this picture on the bellaband.com website. I'll explain.)

What do we know about the "Bella" or "Belly bands"? Aaron thought I was talking about a Belly Dancing mechanism, but no... I am definitely not taking up belly dancing at this point in my life. :) Sorry to disappoint.

Here's a picture. I don't want to post this picture, because the one it shows has bare stomach...and if I show it, then I won't be able to keep our "PG-13" rating on our blog...heaven forbid, it might make it worse! :) I can't believe that because I talked about dead animals a while back, and killing ants, that we really deserve that rating. Sheesh.

ANYWAY, have you heard of these? They are essentially a big rubber band of cloth that goes around your middle, making it easier to wear "pre-maternity" clothes...like your favorite pants. How? I guess you can have your buttons undone and zippers half way down, but then you put this rubber band thing around you and no one knows the difference. I guess it just looks like you have on an undershirt and are layering your clothes (nice explanation, I know).

But, have we heard of these? More importantly, have we TRIED one of these yet? I haven't. Have you? Obviously this if for the gals out there...unless for some odd reason, some of you boys have some knowledge on the subject. I can just see Aaron being really thrilled that I posted this today. Not! Too bad. Pregnancy is taking over life now and we ALL get to accept that. Lovely, just lovely. So, team, enlighten me, if you please.

ode to the "good things in life"

darlings,

sigh. just thinking about this post is making me sigh. Being this season of harvest and gratitude (well, almost) I am thinking lots about grateful moments in my life. Here's one I felt inclined to share with ya'll. My bloggin' peeps.

Let me start from the beginning. Picture this. Aaron and I are out of food. (well, i'm sure there were some things to eat...but no REAL food for a lunch the next day). So, naturally, we were going to head down to our neighborhood Walmart that is 4 minutes away from our house
(Location, location, location people! love that)

So, it was a rare night that Aaron didn't really have lots of homework (or let's be honest, maybe he did, but he didn't feel like doing it. We've realized there will ALWAYS be more to study). We decided to venture to the store together. Good times, right?

No. We got half way there and I started crying and telling Aaron that I didn't have the energy to fight the crowds and get all of the things we needed to. Nuff said. Aaron knows not to question the tears. We turned around. Went home. Watched The Office.

Next day. No lunch. sob! What?! So, a few granola bars later and fruit snacks too, I tell Aaron that we MUST try Walmart again that night after work. So we did. Got the goods, checked out the "maternity section" that had LITERALLY 3 different shirts and 2 different pants. Awesome. Thanks, Walmart.

We get ALL of the stuff we needed/wanted and got in line. Waited, waited and waited some more. We're sitting there, the cashier is sitting there, and the lady purchasing is sitting there. No one was moving/talking/doing ANYthing, so I make Aaron ask (after about 15 minutes...literally) if he could help. Apparently they were waiting for some employee to get something for this lady. So we wait and wait some more. By this time, my eyes are welling up and I am debating whether or not I am going to climb into the cart on top of the eggs, or just plop on the floor (doesn't that visual sound nice? me plopping? yeah, that is what I do these days).

Finally! the employee comes running up to the register with the all important item. What is it? We wanted to know, what could have possible taken this much time???

Oh, yes. Now I understand. Pirates of the Caribbean mini boxers...about a size 22. Of course, for the woman customer. I think the inseam was about 1/2" long (hence why the word "mini" was used in the title). Awesome.

Worth the wait? Totally. It made my whole night. Pirates of the Caribbean mini boxers always are, aren't they?

p.s. I tried to find an image on Walmart's website of these glorious threads, but alas! she must have gotten the last pair!

extra, extra...read all about it.

team snyder is pictured above. from the left, from the left (-thanks beyonce') we have the jess-meister aka jesse, BIG R aka Roland, Momsy aka Denise, Melis aka Your Bloggin' Author today, A-DOG aka Aaronious aka Aaron, (first row now) Emmers aka Emily, Lizbert aka Lizzy, and Beck-AW aka Rebecca.

dear team,

So many things to talk about today. 1st off, I think we all agree, Aaron has done a fabulous job of keeping up the blog the last little bit while I've been on bloggin' vacation (for some odd reason). Aaron, you are the bomb. Favorite picture posted? Darling little Asian baby. Good work, dude.

2nd off, big thanks to the Snyder family. We had a KILLER time while they were here and I am sad that we're back to the "daily grind." Truly, it was so so so sososoosoooooo much fun while they were here. And we did so many fun things! We went to the outlets in San Marcos, hung out in Austin for a while, they went downtown while I was at work (bummer for me), went to Sea World, ate out WAY too much, and had WAY too much fun! Again, killer time. AND! I loved that EVERYONE in my family could come. It was really and truly wonderful. Thanks Team Snyder. Good times, good times. I'm just going to post these pictures. Enjoy.

lizzy loves the camera. literally. she's quite the poser. and mom, that is a funny face. :)


3rd off, (hey, i'll keep up this outline trend), I don't know if you realized this little tid bit, but I am finished with my 1st trimester! So, crazy, huh? Yep. Pretty nuts. What's even nuttier is that I am beginning to have a little bit of a gut. Apparently this baby is well over three inches now. Nuts! Another weird thing is that I have lost weight and haven't gained. But, all you denise's out there, don't stress. :) The doctor said it is okay and by this point it's not like you are supposed to be gaining lots of poundage. You like that last word, don't you? Yes.

4th off, yes, Michelle Martin Rasmussen, you guessed it. You were the only one. :) I am no longer teaching seminary. I am retired. Or another word that could have applied..."too-tired". Man, I gave it a good effort though. I thought after a few weeks that my body could adjust to the wee hours of 4 o'clock in the morning. I thought that my life could adjust to the few hour prep at the end of the day... let me tell you how each day went:

4:30 ish - Wake up.
5:20 - Leave to seminary
6:00 - Seminary starts
7:10ish - Go home
7:35 ish - Arrived home
eat and do whatever I had energy to do...this was my "get things done" time, laundry, dishes I hadn't done the night before, etc.
8:00 - sleep
8:45 - get ready, again, for work this time
9:15 go to work
6:35ish Leave work
7:00 p.m. Home from work
eat dinner, talk to aaron for a bit, prepare tomorrow's lesson.
8:30 - 9:00 p.m. In bed. Ready to start the drill the next morning.

Let's just say... life, wasn't very...hmmm...good? I loved the kids. Loved loved loved the kids. They were powerhouses! Such great kids. Loved the spiritual aspect of things, new knowledge and growth in the scriptures...but the whole "life" equation wasn't working. Oh, yeah, and remember how I was pregnant during all of that? Ahh...details like pregnancy. Love that.

So, is this me justifying stopping? Yes. Not that I need to, I felt like it was the right thing to stop, but alas, it was very sad. So, after about a month and a little bit, I am no longer a seminary teacher. I am just Melissa now. But, I am okay with that. Are you?

Okay, novel over for today. This is me, back for a minute. Hug. hug. kiss. kiss. to you all (except the stinky boys, no hugs and kisses for you).

It's nice to see you all again.

It's finally here! YES!

I really wanted to get that carboard cut-out thing with all the 50 states and their quarters ever since the 50 states, 50 quarters program started in 1999. I remember seeing the Utah quarter wouldn't be out 'til 2007 and thinking that'd be forever! But we made it. I never did get the carboard cut-out thing, but I did start collecting the quarters. Problem was, I went on my mission 2 years into the program and got home 2 years later so I missed out on the release of North Carolina through Illinois. I could've collected as a missionary in San Jose, Ca... but, I was doing other stuff.

I don't know how much I like the picture of the 2 trains about to crash into each other, somebody going off an awesome ski jump might've been better.

Anyway, I was just so happy to see in the Deseret News an article about the first Utah quarters being minted this week. The date to officially enter into circulation is November 5, 2007. Alright!

ps - wikipedia has a great page on the quarters

Thanks for the baby comments.

(my nephews)


I loved reading the comments from those of you that left them about having babies. It was great to hear some of the different reasons for having kids, "It is like Mozart never writing music or Rachel Ray never cooking!" or "We wanted baby because we think that they are really cute and funny. :)"

I think you should take a look at the comments people left about why they think other people have babies/ why they themselves have babies if you haven't already.

My mom wasn't able to take the gospel out of the question... she's really good at being really good. Both Melissa and my mom really didn't like this game and didn't like me saying that people do it out of selfishness, but I still think that is a major reason. Selfishness just doesn't sound like the right word. Oh well!

Thanks for playing everybody!

Now that Melissa and I are getting ready to have a baby, I started thinking about, why do people have babies?

I don't want to sway you too much with my opinion, so if you think you are gonna be swayed, just post.

Is it just our nature? Do we want to better the world, or help out somehow? Why not adopt? Or better yet, go found a school or develop a training program for those with lower socio-economic status and benefit a lot more than just one person. It's crazy, everyone has babies! We know there are countless children around the world in need of a mom and dad. I guess I just can't get over how *easy it is to have a baby.

Gospel aside, I think in the end it's mostly because people want to have something to do (satisfy curiosity) and learn how great at being a parent they are (selfishness/pride?). I think people get kind of bored and then out of curiosity want to see what a little, in our case, aaron or melissa, looks like and acts like. But I'm curious to know what you think on this. (I took the religious factor out of this question so we could think about people all over the world... )

If you really hate politics or anything to do with America and the war, this is a boring post. If you don't know much about politics (me) then this is a little clip for your enjoyment.

I'm not all in the know about politics and whatever wars are going on in "the Iraq", but I do know that a lot of Utahns don't think Hillary should be in the next president. I think something in my gut tells me she shouldn't be the next president. Here is one little video clip, I'm sure it's one of hundreds floating around out there, courtesy of Sean Hannity, that shows Hillary flip-flopping on the war in the middle east.

Hey team, this is Aaron. Kajsa brought over the best salsa last night and Melissa and I had a great time chatting about blogging and going to the park and TV last night, and one of the things we talked about was how you can find out what your blog is supposedly "rated" from this website:

http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/blog_rating

I think everyone should find out what their blog is "rated". I told Melissa ours was PG and she felt pretty shocked. But when I told her about the excessive amount of use of "dead", "death", and "puke" on our blog, she understood. Now all y'all need to make sure you are guiding your kids while they look at our blog.

Also, I was reading what Melissa said was the funniest post of her life by Scott Lind. It really was funny. The best part is when he mentioned that he went to the restroom to "take a rest". You'll have to read the whole post yourself. He's a great writer. I'm not sure how to get to his blog, but I'll wish you luck getting to his blog. It is really funny.

I'm in class right now so I'm not checking for the format of this post, I'm just posting and not looking back.