Small Update

Here's a quick update on what's been happening with The Sniders....

- Ben is job hunting. The job market is awful right now, but I'm sure that my very talented and marketable hubby will find something soon.

- High School small groups have begun at our church and Ben and I have the privilege of leading ones. I am excited to see how my group of girls mesh and to see how God works in their lives over the next few months. I know Ben feels the same.

- I just got back from a surprise date weekend with Ben. He sent me these cute little hints (one example below) on what we were doing and then drove to Bloomington where we rock climbed at Upper Limits. I've been wanting to go for quite awhile now and he managed to find a day that we were free to go do so. It was Amazing. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful and thoughtful husband! He never ceases to show me love in creative and unique ways! Check out a few photos from our rock climbing excursion on my photo blog.

- Miriam (our sister in law) is in labor right now!!! We are eagerly awaiting to hear if she has a boy or girl. My money is on a girl. I had a dream about it...so it must be true. This will be our second niece or nephew. We already are in love with our nephew Simon...so we welcome another little guy or girl to love on. I am excited to feed them lots of candy and ice cream when they get older! I am also guessing that if it's a girl the name will be Emily and if a boy the name will be Alexander.

- I am ticked at everybody for wishing my summer away. Multiple times this summer I recall telling people to stop wishing it away with their comments. Ben kept saying that he couldn't wait for football season (which pretty much starts in the fall) and back in May my friends kept saying how they wanted our Wisconsin trip to hurry and get here...and it did hurry and get here. Now don't get me wrong...I had a blast and I was also looking forward to it, BUT it wasn't until Labor Day weekend. So I blame you Ben, Christen, Brad, and Aaron for the summer flying by. Shame on you all!

Photobooth

Intense

Jordans' Birthday and Parents' Baptism

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day! It was my brother's 15th Birthday...which is crazy in itself. It doesn't feel like that long ago that I was babysitting him and he was sneaking out of his bedroom window during nap time. You were a sneaky one Jordan! It has been so exciting to see you grow up and I'm proud of the man you are becoming. I am scared that I am going to literally be looking up to you very soon. Now remember little brother...I can still deliver a charlie horse that can bring tears to your eyes even if you ever become taller/stronger than me. :) Happy Birthday Jordan!! And one last piece of advice...try not to break every girls' heart okay!





It was also a very exciting day because my parents were both baptized. My Mom decided to have my Uncle Stanley baptize her and Dad surprised Mom by letting her baptize him as well. It is such a huge blessing to have two God-fearing parents in my life. I love you both very much! Thank you for raising our family in His image!

Travel & Frog in the Blender

Three of our best friends had the opportunity to do some mission’s work over in Haiti. They have been there since last Monday and will be back home in a few days. I think it is such an amazing opportunity to experience and I’m very thankful that they were able to serve the Lord in this way. I would have loved to have gone with, but it just didn’t work out for me and Ben to do so. It just never seems to work out to do these types of trips.

I had a chance to go to the Dominican Republic in High School, but it fell through. I remember being really bummed and hoping that I’d have another chance. My freshman year of college I thought that it was finally going to happen for me. My softball team offered a chance to go to the Dominican over Interterm. It also fell through though.

The fall semester of my Junior Year I was all signed up and paid for to spend my semester in Africa. I was very excited to go, but felt God calling me to stay at Greenville. I was the captain of our softball team and the RC of my floor. I felt that I had a lot of opportunities right there in front of me. So I reluctantly backed out of the trip and stayed. I did end up dating my future husband that semester and I formed some great relationships with teammates, roommates, and dormmates. So I’m definitely not complaining…I just can’t figure out why these trips have never worked out for me.

Maybe someday…I know they will go to Haiti again in two years. Fingers crossed!!

We’ve had a fun week though. We did the following:

- Test drove bikes. Ours got stolen. Boo to that!! Bikes are darn expensive though…boo to that too!

-Had our first Shaved Ice of the summer. One of my favorite kinds is Frog in a Blender. It is Green Apple with a splash of cherry. Morbid name, but very tasty!

-Played some washers. (read previous story)

-Ben got his XBOX 360 back. It had the Red Ring of Death. I thought he was going to cry. He is happy that he has it back. He hugged it when he got it back. It was precious.

-Had the chance to chat it up with my friend Emily. She is quite the bike riding stud now.

-Had dinner with the Churchills. Talk about some great people…we love hanging out with them. They have the funniest stories.

-Worked on a video for our nephew Simon. Almost done…the party is tomorrow at noon. I better get moving on finishing that up. I hope they like it!

That’s about it!

AFV Worthy

Tonight Ben and I were playing some washers in our backyard. (See photo of the day)

This is a very low key game. There should be no physical contact or injuries. It isn't lawn jarts for goodness sakes. Lawn Jarts could possibly be one of the greatest outdoor games ever created though. If anybody knows where I could get some we would be willing to play big money for them. (They are illegal now and are not sold anywhere!)

Anyways...so both of us walked away from our game of washers with an injury.

First I tried to stop one of Ben's wild throws with my foot. Instead it hit me square in the ankle and made quite the tink noise. I of course did a little hopping, that hurt, dance! It instantly puffed up and turned a dark shade of blue. Wow. I am talented.

Then about 10 minutes later I threw a wonderful toss that swirled around inside the cup and popped back out. It was almost a 3 point toss. Anyways, it ended up popping right up out of the cup and hitting Ben in the crotch. I some how managed to hit him in the crotch from 20 feet away with a washer! Now that's some skill. I of course bent over laughing almost to the point of tears. Ben was also almost in tears, but for a very different reason.

Then he beat me both games. I think God was rewarding him for taking a shot down there. Ben did successfully cover himself during each of my throws after that. I guess he just didn't want to take that chance again. Maybe he will wear a cup next time.

Baby Mama

I haven't blogged for over a month. That should tell you how stinkin funny I thought Baby Mama was. Go see it! Pick that friend who laughs when you laugh or that friend who still quotes Anchorman, Mean Girls, or your favorite Office episodes with you and go see it.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are hysterical and the Lamaze coach has a lazy R. I'm not sure the technical name of it, but when she wants to say really she say weawwy and when she says lesbian lovers she is really saying wesbian wovers. I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard.

Plus it has Steve Martin who gives one of the best performances I've ever seen him do. It's filled with amazing quotes!

If you've seen it let me know what you think!

Oh and I watched the new Indiana Jones movie and was very disappointed. It was cheesy and played the theme song a whopping 9 times. Oh plus Shiloh LeBoeuf swings from some tree vines with a bunch of monkeys. WHAT?

Chad and Megan's Wedding

Yesterday Chad and Megan tied the knot. It was a bit chilly outside, but beautiful none the less. They are a wonderful couple and we were glad that we were able to be a part of their special day. I have some pictures on my photo of the day blog and here are some other photos from the wedding...

ben's ninja turtle birthday party

So tonight we threw Benjamin a birthday party... a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Birthday party to be exact. It had cookie pizza dessert, eye bands, lots of green, and fellowship with friends and family. Ben was so excited for his party that I couldn't help but smile! His actual birthday is tomorrow and he will be turning the big 24, but tonight we celebrated like his was 10. It was fantastic!

He was spoiled rotten of course. He finally got an XBOX 360 that he has wanted so badly. Friends and family all pitched in with me to purchase him one. I really did think that he was going to wet himself when he opened it. Here are a few pictures from his birthday party.

Stranger than Fiction

I just watched Stranger than Fiction last night. It was excellent and that came as a bit of a surprise to me. I had seen previews for it before it came out and the concept of the movie didn’t interest me in the slightest. After it was recommended to me a few times and just recently by a co-worker, I thought I would give it a try.

It was very well done and I loved Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal in it. Maggie is becoming one of my new favorite actresses. She doesn’t always play roles where I love her character, but she’s a fantastic actress!

There was so much witty dialogue and narration in this film that it made me wish I was a better writer. The soundtrack was also amazing. I downloaded Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric and have already listened to it like 8 times today. It’s a very catchy song!

If you haven’t seen the movie, I strongly suggest you give it try. It’s not for everybody though. My mom said, “Yah I saw it, it was weird!” She’s more of a Wild Hogs/It’s a Wonderful Life movie watcher.

If you’ve seen any great movies lately…I am open to some suggestions to add to my See-List.

A few on that list include:

- Casablanca (nope never seen it)
- Requiem for a Dream
- Gone Baby Gone
- American Gangster
- Secretary
- Hotel Rwanda
- Sweeney Todd

Shake It Like a Salt Shaker

I finally have a chance to write about the earthquake from last Friday. Unfortunately we slept right through it. I don’t’ know if it’s because we already toss and turn all night anyway or if it’s because of our abnormally loud fan that we didn’t notice. I did feel the aftershock that happened later that day…so I was happy that I at least got to feel something. My co-worker crawled under her desk after it happened! It was very entertaining!

I did happen to come across some great stories that others shared regarding the Earthquake at 4:30 am. Here are a few of my favorites including comments from the local online paper…

1. That's the first time MY headboard has banged in years :) (Thanks for sharing lady!)

2. Thats God warning the pedophiles they better repent because He is serious about his Children and their will be a judgement day (WHAT?)

3. Make me glad I drive a big Ford F-250 and vote Republican!

4. I don't so much mind the shaking, it's the strong winds after the quake that bother me. I opened the windows to reduce the air pressure, but the dang wind blew down my beer can collection.

5. The quake actually woke my man whom I claim could sleep through a hurricane...guess not :-) Now I'm wondering why he doesn't ever get up for the baby?

6. Here I am.....ROCK you like a hurricane! I think the Scorps made a comeback at 4:37am.

7. But, I just thought it was some restaurant's breakfast buffet opening!

8. Called my neighbor, I thought she fell down her stairs. Just wanted to know if she was ok!

Cluttered Desktop Art

Oh and Ben found this. I thought it was awesome!! Somebody must have been very bored at work...maybe I will try it when I don't want to wash the piles of laundry laying around. Here's the site if you want to check out some cluttered desktop art.

Bowling Insurance

My husband likes to look for ways to spice up an event. At our latest bowling trip he decided to give the bowling ramp aid thingy a try...but not before he crouched down in front of it and turned around backwards. I don't know if it is because he doesn't want kids, but here's a picture of his attempt. He luckily walked away without an injury and I think he might have even knocked down 7 pins. I'm so proud Honey!


We also had a lane next to these H.S./Early college aged boys. They liked to do the ghetto dances from music videos every time a rap song came on. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty entertaining. I don't have a picture of them, but here are a few other pictures from our evening. Oh and Christen's Sister in-law (who is prego) beat us all! We decided it wasn't fair though, since she was bowling for two. I didn't get a picture of her though. woops.

7 Different Words for Vomit

If you are one of those people who get queasy when you hear about vomit, don’t read the rest of this. I figured I would go ahead and tell of my adventures from this past weekend.

I woke up Friday feeling fine. I even got up early enough that morning to grab a mocha cappuccino on my way to work, which never happens. It wasn’t until 10ish that I started to get the feeling that my stomach wanted out of my body and it was going to figure out how to do it. I hate being sick in public places, especially bathroom sick. So after about 3 trips to the bathroom at work and not feeling like there was any end in sight, I decided to go home. I had felt fine earlier that day, so I had a feeling that my boss might think I was faking... but I didn’t really have an option. He was pretty good about it and I headed straight home. I visited the bathroom a few more times and then went to try to sleep it off.

I woke up about 2 hours later and I felt a lot better. I met my friend Jennifer for pizza and was feeling great. I was going to take it easy with the pizza, but only got about 3 bites finished before I started getting really hot and slightly dizzy. I apologized to her and headed back home. This is when it really started to go downhill. I then visited the bathroom every 10 minutes and didn’t think there could possibly be anymore in me. This is also the time that I started getting really queasy and I threw up a few times. I insisted that Ben still go out to eat with our friends and that I would be fine.

A few hours later I decided that I might need some Gatorade or something to drink so he brought me some home and decided to stay and take care of me. He was only in our place for about 5 minutes before I had to run back to the bathroom. I started getting really dizzy and when I came out of the bathroom my hearing got really faint and the tunnel vision crept in on me. I called out to Ben, “I’m going to pass out!” I started to lay down on the floor and the next thing I knew Ben was frantically saying “Heather…Heather can you hear me?” while I laid passed out on the floor. When I came to all I was able to say was yes before the rest of the contents of my stomach decided they needed out now! I got up on my hands and knees and proceeded to vomit, up-chuck, hurl, Ralph (feel free to put in your favorite word here) all over our hardwood floor in the hallway. This is graphic, but needs to be said so you know how awful it was. It was so watery that it just kept expanding on the floor. I had to crawl backwards while spewing so I didn’t get my knees it in. I couldn’t catch my breath and then remembered how much I hated to spew. The vomit started to go under the linen closet door and got all over some bags in there. I was finally able to crawl to the bathroom where I laid on the floor and tried to catch my breath.

Poor Ben. Poor poor Ben. I know it should be poor me, but he just had to stand there and watch all of this. I can’t even begin to imagine what it looked like or how helpless he must have felt to see his wife passed out on the floor and then see her start regurgitating everywhere. He was wonderful though. He made sure I was okay, got me a change of clothes, and cleaned it up.

I would like to say that because I felt a little better after that… the night got better. BUT it didn’t. The queasy feeling returned while I was trying to sleep it off. Oh and I forgot to mention that I was getting these awful cramps in my legs and feet during all of this. I couldn’t sleep because the tops of my feet were cramping so bad that my toes were spreading. It was more than annoying! Finally, at 3:30a.m., I asked Ben to take me to the Emergency Room. I couldn’t take anymore of this nausea.

There they gave me an IV and pumped me full of 2 bags of fluid. They said I was severely dehydrated and when they made me stand up I almost passed out again. I had to be wheeled in a wheel chair. I looked pathetic. After some blood work and peeing in a cup…they said I should feel a lot better after I rehydrated and took some nausea medicine. They just thought it was a flu bug or something. Oh and while peeing in the cup I accidentally got my gown in the toilet. It was pretty much all of the back of it…soaking wet! So I had to ask for a new one…so that made me feel oh so cool! Our nurse was very nice though and the ER even called yesterday to check up on me to make sure I was feeling better. How nice was that?

I felt a lot better when we left and gradually I was able to eat some of the BRAT diet. (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, & Toast). I slept a lot and took it easy. Tuesday I returned to work where I was able to tell my boss, “See I wasn’t faking!” ha.

Ben didn’t end up getting sick so that’s a huge blessing! It might be because he soaked the house in Lysol about 3 times.

I heard that this Saturday is supposed to be 61 and sunny. We plan to make the most out of this weekend to make up for the crappy crappy crappy weekend we had last week.

I did get to watch a lot of movies though. That part was awesome.
I watched the following...

No Country for Old Men
3:10 to Yuma
Dead Poets Society
Blood Diamond
Being John Malcovich

Oh and I feel 100% better now, but I might be giving up Cappuccino for awhile.

Photoshopping

I've been playing around more with Photoshop lately and here's some stuff that I've come up with. Oh and just for the record, the following photos are not mine.

First, I figured out how to make my own lightning by rendering clouds and then placing difference clouds on top of those. Here is an example of my experimenting with tutorials. I altered some other aspects of the photos as well to match the mood that the lightning created.

(Before)

(After)

I have also been very intrigued by HDR photographs lately. If you haven't heard of or seen example of a HDR photos, I strongly suggest that you Google it or click here.

Here was my attempt to make a replica of an HDR photograph. I tried to keep the shadows, but increased the highlights through out the picture.

(Before)

(After)

This final one was of me trying to do the overlapping photo effect. It was really easy to do and didn't take long to figure out. It could come it handy for something someday.



As you can tell I am ready for warmer weather or a trip to the beach. I know some of this might be a little too beginner for some people, but it was fun to learn some new tricks for myself.

Only time when we call 50 degrees warm weather

I love warm weather. Warm weather usually means 75ish, but right after Winter it means 50+. I definitely saw some Plastics at Sonic tonight in booty shorts and flip flops. They of course were complaining that it was cold. Oh brother!!
Anyways, it has been in the upper 50s here the past few days and it has put me in such a good mood. There are just so many things that I love about warmer weather...I know you are saying to yourself, "What Heather? What?" Wait no longer, here are some of the things that I love about "warm weather".

- Driving with the windows down
- Not wearing a big puffy jacket that makes me feel like I am 50 pounds heavier.
- Basketball during my breaks at work. Thanks for playing Hippo with me girls!
- Walks
- Wiffleball
- Washers, Bocce ball, Lawn Jarts, Hillbilly Golf, and other lawn games
- Being able to run outside and not on a treadmill
- Spring clothes & flip flops

I could go on and on, plus of course there are more activities for when it gets a lot warmer out. I really do think I was wired to live in California, Texas, or at least somewhere a bit further south. Hot weather does not bother me at all. Cold weather, however, makes me want to drop kick the snow and punch those stupid snowflakes in face...if they had faces of course). For those winter lovers out there, I apologize...but I think it's miserable*.

Want to know what's not miserable...Warmth!

* I really wanted to use a word like sucks or even freaking sucks. Sorry Mom. :)

We're Getting Bunk Beds

Okay so not really, but after what happened I am thinking they might not be a bad idea.

Two nights ago, around 5am or so, Ben suddenly put his hand on my back while we were sleeping. It wasn't quite a slap, but it woke me up none the less. I was thinking that he was going to put his arm around me or something...so I started to fall back asleep. He then grabbed the top of my shorts. Then he started pulling them up...then he yanked them up really hard giving me an atomic wedgie. At first I was thinking it was odd, but it wasn't until he really yanked that I said OUCH! He let go, rolled over, and kept sleeping. I couldn't believe what he had just done. Surely he was awake for that...not that it would have made since for him to do it if he were awake either. I was going to say something, but fell back asleep.

I told him about it the next day and he said he didn't remember that at all. I told the story to my Grandma when we went out to eat for my Mom's birthday...she almost fell out of her chair.

This story definitely tops him calling me Mom or when he actually told me that he couldn't hear me talking because he was sleeping. You're not sleeping if you're telling me you can't hear me.

I might pay him back some night and give him the wedgie of death in his sleep. I'll let you know how that goes.

Chi-town Friends

So this is a late posting for this, but our friends Lindy and Bob came and visited us. We had a great time and it was definitely great to catch up.

Lindy and I got great pleasure out of schooling the boys at Euchre and Darts. Maybe next time guys. Suckas!

Okay so they did beat us in Mario Tennis though...big woop!

Thanks for your friendship...you're wonderful friends!

A few pics...

Color Series

The Next 7 Days a friend and I will be doing a color series. Keep an eye our for the following colors to be represented...

(no particular order)
Red
Orange
Yellow
Blue
Green
Brown
White

We thought it would be fun!

Mad Skills

Ben and I have been playing in this soccer rec league for most of the winter. I haven’t really played since 7th grade, but I pretty much enjoy any sort of athletic or competitive activity. Ben has never played soccer in an organized manner, but he picked it up really quickly and has made me proud. Sometimes my mind thinks that I have these mad skills that allow me to juke around players and score the game winning goal…my body however likes to push people when I’m trying to get the ball or “wimpily” kick the ball toward the net. Maybe my skills in the 7th grade weren’t as mad as I thought they were.

Regardless of our skills, we enjoy playing. We have met some new people and some of my co-workers play on our team as well. One of them got into a fight on Saturday that turned into a much bigger ordeal than it needed to. Almost everybody ran over to get in on the action and to help pull people off of one another. I didn’t feel like being one of “those” girls so I just watched from a few feet away. Two girls chest bumped each other, which I have always hated…why would you do that? It’s so unattractive to me, and doesn’t it hurt? Poor Ben was the closest person to the chest bumpers so he had to break them up and keep them from fighting one another. Finally the Ref blew his whistle and people started to split up. I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that 20, 30, and 40 year olds just had a brawl. Wow.

Last night we got a bunch of people together to play volleyball at our church. Nobody threw down while we were there…so that’s a plus. One girl did get hit in the face twice by some pretty hard spikes. She was a trooper though and just kept on playing. Ben had this really sweet shoulder hit, where he didn’t even try to use his hands…he just jumped up in the air and swiveled his shoulder to hit the ball. It was hilarious.

After playing all these sports I am definitely ready for Spring. Spring means we can play Ultimate Frisbee, Wiffleball, Bocce Ball, Washers, and Softball. I can’t wait!!

Happy Valentines Day

I was feeling under the weather today...so I stayed home. Christen came over later and made some valentine's cards with me. Here are a few that we made.



As you can see Christen loved craft time at Aunt Heather's.

Oh and here's a picture of the delicious cookie tray that my mom delivered to me! Thanks Mom!! You are so creative...I really do think you should do something like this for a living!

Hope you all have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

Don't tell Ben, but one time he wrote me a Valentine's day card and kept saying I'm glad I get to spend February 16th with you. ha.

Weekend Retreat with the Snider Family

A few pics from this past weekend. As you can see Simon got plenty of attention! My favorite new thing about him are his dancing skills. I sat him on my lap and bounced while Ben and I provided a infectious, but clean beat for his enjoyment. He then would wiggle, giggle, and jump to our tune. How cute!

3 Songs That Make Me Smile

Love Love Love by Tristan Prettyman

Pretty the World by Matt Nathanson

Love is Free by Sheryl Crow

You should check them out ASAP. I can’t help but smile when I hear them.
Enjoy!

snow/sleet/rain/snow

I'm very surprised that our basement isn't an underground pool right now. We have had so much precipitation lately, not to mention some crazy weather. There were almost 12 inches of snow last Friday, then it was about 55 on Sunday which brought freezing rain/sleet, that night we had some thunder and lightening. Then Monday and Tuesday we had more thunderstorms and a butt load of rain. Yesterday there were flooded roads everywhere. Oh to live in Illinois. Oh and today we had more snow.

Snow is only for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. So what is it doing snowing in February... and where is spring? I don't know how much longer I can wait for warmer weather. We had a 63 degree day a few weeks ago...it was amazing, but made me even more depressed when it got back below 30 degrees.

Texas, Alabama, & southern California are all calling my name!

Oh and I need to learn more about politics...I hate politics, but people talk about them often and sooner or later they will figure out that I know NOTHING about them! I can only bend down to tie my shoe or excuse myself to the bathroom so many times before they start to catch on to me. ha. maybe I need better ways to get out of talking about it. Next time I might try the old chest pain bit or cough attack.

That reminds me of an Office episode where Michael asks Ryan to go out to eat with him, Dwight, and Jim. Here's the quote...

Ryan Howard: I'm not feeling so well. I've got a ton of work to do here. MSG allergy, peanut allergy, I just ate there last night.
Michael Scott: [feels Ryan's head] Alright, feel better.
Jim Halpert: Wow, thanks for taking all the excuses, dude.
Ryan Howard: Doctor appointment, car trouble, plantar warts, granddad fought in World War II. Use your head, man. I keep mine in here [shows Blackberry]. Look alive, Halpert. Welcome back.

When Ben gets a hold of a scanner

What a great invention!

After a rainy day this is the place for you.

Snow and Spray Paint

Our yard after I got done spray painting things for my photo-op.

Heck Yes It's a Snow Day

I felt like a little kid last night when I kept saying, "maybe, just maybe they will call of work tomorrow!" They have only called off work once that I have ever heard of. Just in case though, I put my cellphone next to my bed. 6:59am I get a call from our Exec. Director, "The office is closed today!"

OH YAH!

So I turned to Ben and said, "Ben, see...no work today!" He replied in a very chipper manner, "Sleeping, can't hear you." ha thanks for the enthusiasm there buddy.

I had to resist the urge to sleep until noon and ended getting up a little after 10. That's really good for me.

Ben went outside to shovel snow with our neighbor a little before 11. He is still out there and is now shoveling our neighbor ladies drive. What a sweet heart! He requested pancakes...so I am going to go make some of those here soon.

Oh and I wanted to go outside to get some pictures and realized that I do not have very good snow clothes. My outfit consisted of 2 layers of wind pants, a hoodie, a coat, stocking cap, my cousin's gloves, a scarf, and my new target boots. They are free with any purchase...you better hurry and get yourself some before they are all out.

Ben of course thought I looked lamo and wanted a picture. So here you go. Say what you want, but they kept my shoes nice and dry as I trekked through about a foot of snow.

I'd show you some of the pictures I took, but then what would I put up for my photo of the day this weekend. Okay I'll show you one of the pretty snow.


I am off to make some pancakes now. Then I might watch a movie, read a book, edit photos, paint a picture...the possibilities are endless! I love snow days!