Christmas, New Years & 25 weeks

Well with Christmas behind us and New Years just around the corner our lives have been very busy. We spent a wonderful Christmas weekend with Mark's family and all the friends in Tri-Cities. This coming weekend will be spent with Karen's side celebrating 2nd Christmas, Grandpa Blair's 80th Birthday and of course New Years.

Karen's belly has reached the 25th week mark. Our little son is very active. We are continuing to work on the nursery but are making slow progress around the holidays. He'll be here before we know it.

Karen's office will now be at home. Her company has decided to become "virtual" meaning everyone is moving to a home office. We think this is great... when the baby comes Karen will be able to be home and a mom and work and be a designer.

We wish you all a very happy New Year!

Half Way There

Well we have made it halfway. This week marks 20 weeks for Karen and the little one. We couldn't be more excited. Lots of stuff to do before he arrives but we'll be ready for him. We have been busy painting furniture and sewing his quilt and crib stuff. Soon enough he will be here. Watch out world, one more Snyder boy!

Ultrasound Video

It is amazing we have figured out a way to see our babies before they are born. In the video you can see his profile with his little heart beating and then the investigation of whether it is a boy or girl. What do you think? Then some more profile video with his little hand up by his face and lastly just a close up of his heart beating away!

IT'S A BOY!

We had our first ultra sound today and are going to be proud parents of a little baby BOY! It was the most amazing experience to be able to see our little baby. And so far everything looks good. His heart was beating hard and he was moving around a lot. We are very excited to start picking out boy names and shopping for cute little blue stuff.

Mt. Bike Hiking

Have you ever been biking and the trail just got too steep to ride? Well this last weekend a couple of my friends and their friends went to the Liberty Creek Loop and that is just what happened. We rode a good way into the loop and then we hit the seriously expert trail. It is very steep and has extremely tight switchbacks as it climbs up and up. Most of us tried to ride as much of it as we could but we ended up pushing and carrying our bikes through part of it. Once we reached the peak of the trail it was all fun from there. Down, down we came and FAST! The trail had some nice corners, creek crossings and a good amount of bumps and humps to go flying over and off of. A great trail if you are prepared for a bike hike up and have no fear coming down.

The Pumpkin Carvers

It is that time of year again - our pumpkins are carved, lit and ready for tricker treaters. Andrea helped out and carved the baby pumpkin that is inside Karen's larger pregnant one. We had a lot of fun being kids and carving them up. Plus they turned out great!

WE'RE PREGNANT!

Mark and I are expecting a baby this April. Easter Sunday April 8th to be exact. We are very excited. I am just starting my 15th week so we have a ways to go but time seems to be going by faster and faster. I am really glad the "all day sickness" (morning sickness HA!) is finally over. That was tough!

We are going to keep updating you on the growth of my belly and other fun stuff here on the blog. Soon it will be time for an ultra sound and finding out if it is a little boy or girl.

Well keep you posted.

Weekend Outside

This past weekend was packed with fun in the outdoors. It started out on Friday when my boss told me to take off at noon. I didn't pass that up. I headed home and picked up Karen and we went to Audubon park to play trackball and frisbee. Then out to Karen's parents house where I met up with her dad and brother to go shooting. We went up into Dishman Mica hills and found this sketchy private shooting range. They guy running it looked like a pirate from Pirates of the Carribean. He even carried a pistol on his hip. Anyways we shot .22s at targets and shot the shotgun at clay skeet. My shoulder was a little sore after that. Then that night I headed out with a couple friends to go ice blocking at the golf course. We didnt start until 10:30 and it was DARK! Steep hill, dark, and a crazy fast ice block made for a ton of fun, plus no one got hurt so that was even better.

Then on Saturday I headed to Stevens Lake to go backpacking with a couple other friends. The hike was only a moderate in rating but it almost killed me. The whole thing was up up up! We made it the 2.5 miles to the first lake and found only a few camp spots with one of them with a couple guys so we headed further up to the upper lake. What an adventure. We never really found the trail so we climbed along the creek/waterfalls coming from the upper lake. Once we managed to get up there it was worth it. All of the foilage was turning so there were tons of reds/oranges/and yellow. That night we had a fire and made smores. Then we were all out like a light. Morning came and so did the wind and cold, but what do you expect when it is October. Once the sun broke everything started warming up and we hiked up to Stevens Peak (elev. 6826) from the lake (elev. 5563). It only took us an hour and 15 min. The veiw was amazing looking down onto both Stevens Lakes and also over the ridge to Lone Lake. We headed down to camp to grab our packs and then hiked back out to the car. Leaving the upper lake we were bound to find the real trail between the lakes but we weren't that lucky. So I bushwhacked us through the woods until we came along a dear trail and followed that down to the lower lake and caught the hiking trail the rest of the way to the car. It was a short trip but a lot of fun. Only would have been better if Karen could have come too.

Outdated Update

After we returned from Mexico we had one week to rush around and get everything unpacked washed and repacked for our trip to Hawaii. We spent 7 nights 8 days in Kauai with Mark's parents. It was wonderful. Lots of snorkeling, beaches, hiking, waterfalls, great food and even a helicopter tour of the island. The resort we stayed at was beautiful. The trip was very relaxing and well worth it.


After Hawaii we slowed down a bit... weekends were filled with helping Karen's parents tear down a giant cherry tree, friends (Ryan and Lauren) coming to visit, camping a couple times once with the whole family, huckle berry picking, helping friends move, attending a wedding, going to Indians baseball games, staining the fence, washing and working on cars, going to the Spokane County fair and Labor day was spent in tri cities. It is always so much fun to go see family and friends.

That brings us up to mid September where we are trying to make time for the to-do list and get ready for fall and winter.

Blog from the Past

We are such terrible bloggers. It has been way too long. It might just be due to the fact that we have been so busy... anyone who was reading this blog before has probably given up by now... but hey if there is anyone still out there here you go. I will start with the end of April and bring you up to speed or almost.

After Easter weekend - which was so much fun - the following weekend was Women of Faith here in Spokane. I went with my dear friend Jane and had a great time. The speakers were wonderful and the musical artists were fantastic. It was a really good time to reflect and remind me why I sacrifice and try to live the life God would want. Our friends from Tri-Cities were also up for the Conference and afterwards came over and had a good time.

The next week April 24-26 we had our hard wood floors refinished. Lots of sanding and dust and did I mention the STINK! WOW that stuff is smelly. We thought we could handle it by staying downstairs for a couple of days but we quickly discovered that it was necessary to evacuate. Thankfully we have wonderful friends and we retreated to their guest room for a couple of nights. Thanks Rusty and Jordan.
When it was all dry and we were let back in the floors looked wonderful! We love them.

April 28-30 brought us outside for our motorcycle training class. It was a ton of fun learning to maneuver the bike and feel safe on it. By the end of that really long weekend we were both legal motorcycle drivers. We got our licenses updated that next week and we are now enjoying the bike in the warm weather.

We had a bit of fun with the teens on Cinco de Mayo with Game show night. All the teens and their families were invited - the youth staff set up 4 or 5 different game show games and we pulled the contestants out of the audience. It was great fun.
After that we ended the night at a Cinco de Drinko party with some friends and had a good time there as well.

The following weekend May 11-13 was filled with picking out, deciding on, buying, cutting, laying and grouting new tile for our fireplace. It was a totally new adventure and thankfully it turned out really great. We still can't wait to get it finished with the rest of the wood pillars and mantle. But that will come soon enough.

Starting on May 15th we began the adventure of installing a sprinkler system. There was lots of figuring, drawing, charting, mapping, discussing and then came the removal of the sod the digging the digging and more digging! Both of our parents joined us for a long weekend... after it was all in it was wonderful to know that our grass would be green and that Mark would not be moving around a hose and sprinkler all summer again.

Saturday morning the 27th of May we loaded up the Subaru, picked up our friends, made sure we had birth certificates along and took off for the northern border. We went to a fun little town in Canada. While in Nelson B.C., we stayed in a historic hotel, visited the Ainsworth hot springs. On our way home we took a ferry ride across Kootenay Lake, stopped at a couple casinos and had a nice drive home. It was an action packed trip full of good memories.

The first weekend in June was great! We finally emptied the garage onto the driveway and had a "garage sale" with some friends. We sold just about everything on the first day and thank goodness because the next couple days were super rainy.

The first part of June went by so fast with us finishing up small jobs around the house, celebrating Karen’s 25th birthday, painting a carousel pony for a charity auction and just trying to stay ahead at work.

Soon we were leaving for Mexico (June 16). We packed the church bus full of 45 people (teens and adults) and headed this time for the south border. It was a long ride but we made it with little trouble. Once in Mexico we set out to build 3 houses in 3 days, finishing with time to spare. There was lots of playing with the Mexican children and giving away lots of toys. Those teens work so hard and gain some real perspective on how others live in our world. Mark and I feel really blessed to have been apart of such a great trip again this year.

More to come soon to bring you all the way up to date...hopefully

Easter Weekend

Friday and Sunday night our Church put on a Musical / Drama Presentation for Easter titled Eyes of Faith. Karen had a part as Mary Magdalene and did a great job. The whole presentation was amazing, better than anything else I've seen at Church in a long time. I am very proud of Karen for using the talents that God has given her.

The Calender Was Full!

Sorry that we have been such lazy bloggers. We have been super busy. Here is a look at what we have been up to since I last blogged.

Shawn McDonald Concert - March 7th
We drove out to Post Falls ID to see Shawn McDonald, Warren Barfield, and Ali Rogers (totally great new artist). The best part was getting to see our friend Scot Mortimore (drummer for Shawn McDonald). We had a good time catching up and watching them perform. Good night.



Putting For The Green - March 9th
Mark raised money for Life Services - crisis pregnancy center here in Spokane. The event was really great. Mark got lots of sponsors and we went and golfed, drove go carts and played tons of video games all for free. We had a really great time and supported a really great charity.




Skiing at 49 Degrees North - March 11th
Wow what an amazing ski day. The conditions couldn't have been better and the company wasn't half bad either - Just kidding friends. It was powdery, fresh, sunny and wonderful. We (Karen) found out how out of shape she was - the next morning with SORE muscles. But a great day!






Revolution Tour - March 17th-19th
I (Karen) headed to Seattle with the teens for a conference centered around sharing your faith. The teens had a great time - the schedule was PACKED! We headed out to the streets to go door to door collecting food and sharing our faith. It was an event I'll remember for a long time - challenging me to be open and honest with what I believe as I share the greatest gift I have with others.




Tri Cities - March 24th-26th
Once again we headed to Tri Cities - this time to celebrate Dan and Megan's baby on the way. We had lots of fun at the baby shower - as you can see by the photo us girls finally have something to count down. (For those of you who don't know - Mark's friends have been counting down the number of guys left single at each wedding - now all the brides and girlfriends can start the count down this time with babies) Tri Cities is always so much fun. Good times and good friends.



Hardwoods - March 27th-31st
Mark and I got crazy one night and decided to rip up all of our carpet in the living room and hallway upstairs. We knew there were hardwoods underneath and were pleasantly surprised by how nice they looked. In a few weeks we will have them refinished along with the dining room. Then we can move back in to the living room.




Painting Mark's Office - April 1st
Mark was tired of working in a boring white office with no personality. So we went in on a Saturday and gave it a makeover. We painted three walls blue and one accent wall orange/copper, bought him new office organizing stuff, and spray painted his old nasty bulletin board all black. He is still working on finishing three b/w photographs of us to hang above his desk. It looks so much better and makes him feel at home.




Re-Roof Garage - April 6th-7th
Our spring projects didn't stop with the carpet. Just this last weekend we tore off our garage roof down to the skip sheathing (1x4s) and put a new pretty one on that doesn't leak. It was a TON of work (4' x 8' sheathing, drip edge, tar paper and architectural asphalt shingles) and we had to do it fast. We only had one night and one day without rain. We are crazy to re-roof in early April in Spokane. You never know what the weather will do. But we got it done just in time before the rain and it looks great. Thank you Chris, Andrea, Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and definitely Dad for all the work you did. It would not have been possible without your help.





SO now it is on to putting in a sprinkler system and a few other small projects around the house. We hope to finish everything before our trip to Mexico in June where we are going to build houses for families in need through Amor Ministries.

We will keep you updated.

Road Trip

We just got back from an amazing weekend road trip to Southern Idaho. On Friday we got off work early loaded up the vans with teens and stuff and hit the road. We arrived in Nampa/Caldwell and stayed the night. Lots of poker and watching Olympics and at least some sleep for the teens and Mark - Karen went to bed early. Then we were up for a huge breakfast, some fun stops around town and by Saturday night we were at a Relient K concert. TONS of fun. Then it was off for a day of visiting the family while the teens had fun with Colin. Our new nephew is sooooo adorable with his red hair. Then Monday took us to NNU our alma mater campus. The teens went to classes and explored. We loaded up and made the long haul back late Monday night. It was another great weekend with the youth-group and our family. Plus it brought back some really great memories of where we first met at school.

Friends

Do you remember those days when you just had so much energy that you couldn't sit still. I do and I was reminded of that this weekend when we had over 20 teens come to our house for an Aftershock. We had a great time. We played video games, foosball, poker, uno, catch phrase, taboo, and I think there were a couple other games going as well. Sometimes I wish I could be a teenager again so that I could experience all that fun again. Sure I still have fun now but it just doesn't seem to come as often as it did back then. Life changes as you grow older, but at least I still have all of the wonderful memories. I thank God for the friends that he gave me during that time in my life. But I thank him even more that they are still my close friends now.

Winter Blast '06

Over Martin Luther King Day weekend Karen and I went with the teens from church up to Waitts Lake for our winter retreat. Too bad winter forgot to show up. There was no snow and it wasn't very cold, but everyone had a good time. We played lots of games, listened to a great speaker, and spent quality time with each other but most importantly with God. It is always fun to go on trips with the teens. I can't wait until June when we go on our 2nd annual Mexico Mission Trip to build houses for the poor.

Bouncy Balls

Last Friday night we watched our friends little girl while they went out to catch a movie. We had a great time. We watched Pooh, ate dinner (baked potato, chicken strips, and bananas) and then finished the night with a couple hours of playing with bouncy balls. It was fun to watch and play with her as she would bounce the ball and then chase after it so she could do it all over again. Mark had just about as much fun as she did playing with the balls. It took him back to the days of playing with bouncy balls all over his house as a kid.