Grandpa Snyder

In October we went to Utah to visit my Grandparents, after the recent string of deaths in the family we had a feeling that one of my grandparents was going to pass soon, and that it would be my Grandpa Snyder. It was a great day, he was able to be awake for a couple of hours and during that time he gave Mikhail his steel guitar, saying that he will be able to play that much better than an regular guitar. 

3 weeks later he passed away. When we went to the funeral I wasn't sure how the boys were going to handle it, but once again they surprised me. Mat latched onto my cousin Lizzie that is a couple of years older than them, and Mikhail spent the time either holding my grandma's hand, or looking at all the things that were laid out. When his emotions got to much he went outside and threw snowballs. 

As my grandpa was in the Army during WWII he had a military funeral. When it was time to close the casket after the viewing, the funeral director had Mikhail drape the flag over the casket. As we walked into the chapel for the funeral, he had to hold my grandma's hand, and be her support. He sat beside her and held her hand throughout the entire funeral. 

My siblings, cousins and I were all the pallbearers and had the privilege of carrying his flag draped casket, as we stood beside his casket while Taps was played holding the flag over it, as he is saluted by two soldiers, one of whom is Lacee's husband Luke. 

It was one of those moments that forever changed me and my children. 

Reflecting

As I have thought about this year and the changes that it has brought our family I can't help but think that the Lord has very much had his hand in everything that has happened.

When we left Albuquerque we knew thought we knew the road that we were on was the one that was going to take us in the direction that we had always wanted to go. I was going to be a teacher and Mike was on his way to getting on as a Marshall. How quickly those plans went up in smoke, leaving us floundering.

One year later and we have found our balance and are heading in the direction that we both feel is the one that we are suppose to be on. No it isn't the road that we thought we were going to be on, but it is one that we are very happy about.

I am not teaching I am the office manager of a seafood distributor and yes my doctor isn't happy about it as I am HIGHLY allergic to seafood. However I am really happy about working there. I love interacting with all the different people that call in.

Mike however has made the biggest change. The man that I nicknamed the anti sport has fallen in love with a sport, that he started out coaching as a parent volunteer. He has taken to coaching so much that he is going back to school and will be getting a degree in Sports Training. He has a goal to get on the national team as a coach and I have a feeling that he will reach that goal.

Overall it has been a year of changes and struggles and though I know that struggling is a part of life I for one will be grateful when this trial and struggle is behind us.

It has been a while...

So I just noticed the other day that I have not updated this in almost three months and that is a lot of time to cover with two growing boys. It has been a great summer for us. We have been on an oceanography cruise were we saw a pod of dolphins and a blue whale. We have been to the beach and the boys fell in love with that and can't wait to go back. We have been to Disney (we earned free tickets by doing service). I have been to Denver for a romance readers convention.

As always there is rugby. Mike is coaching and loving and will be applying to UNLV to earn a degree in Sports training. Mike and Mat have gotten so much better, they have been able to meet Jamie Roberts of the Cardiff Blues, and Jamie Heaslip from Ireland this summer.

That is what we have been doing here in blazing hot Vegas.

This never happens in regular sports

Thursday was just a normal day in our life, I worked the boys went to school, Mike looked for a new job, and we had rugby practice. Not so out of the ordinary, then we got to rugby practice and it wasn't so normal anymore.

As we got to practice we were told that a pro rugger (professional rugby player) from France was in town and was going to stop by the practice. I was then faced with the deliema of running home to find the camera or using Mike's phone because I had left mine at home quite by accident. 

A little while later I was called over to translate as there was not one but four pro players there to play with the kids. They played a pick up game of rugby with them and the kids loved it. I got some great footage and will shortly be posting it to fb and on here. They guys are from the Montpellier France rugby club. 

As we were talking after the practice all the parents that were there were saying that this never happens in other sports, where the pro's just drop by a little league team to play with them. The main coach is now trying to see if he can get some All Blacks (that's New Zealand's team), little Mike is wanting some Sprinboks players, and big Mike wants some Irish. Me I just want a little warning before hand so that I can have my camera ready. 

Sneak Peak

So our favorite photographer that we were very sad to leave behind in Albuquerque had a convention here in Vegas last month and so we had a session on the strip. We had a great time, trying to beat the rain, we thought it was a little ironic that two years in a row it has rained on our sessions. During the session I left my purse at the Bellagio and then lost the boys when they went to try and find the missing purse, we found both really quickly. Over all though I have to say that we had an awesome session, even if I have only seen two pictures, one where I think my face is huge, and one that is probably one of the best pictures of the boys that has ever been taken.

Here is a sneak peak of the boys picture and I can hardly wait to see the rest of the session.

Catching Up

Where does the time fly? So the last time I updated this was in February while we were at 7's. That was a lot of fun and we were excited to see the USA win, they didn't win the big prize but they won the best for their division. As the team went around after they won and received their award they remembered Mik from when they had met them before the games and pulled him down to walk with them for their victory walk. Mat flirted with all the girls around us. Mik was excited to see his team South Africa go as far as they did, even though they had to play Fiji. The big winners were Somoa, they beat New Zealand.

Rugby continues to rule our lives as they boys season has gotten under way. Mat plays for the Blues and Mik the Chief's. Mat's team has won every game, which doesn't make Mik very happy. Mat scores at least 2 touchdowns with at every game and has been team MVP once. Mik scores most of his teams touchdowns and is team MVP every game. Mike is now one of the coaches for the boys team, I am the parent liason, for the league, and am playing for the womens team the Lady BlackJacks.

Mike and boys are also in the play Savior of the World, which will open at the end of this month and run for a week. Mike is a Roman Soldier, a townsman, Samuel the Lamanite, and the apostle Matthew. It has been a great experience for us as a family. We are hoping to make it an annual event, like a lot of the families have done.

I FINALLY finished my masters degree and am now just waiting on the final audit of my degree to be awarded. The starts the job hunt all over again. With all the budget cuts and NV's requirements for a teaching license I am going to be looking in the private sector and the colleges for jobs.

It has been a crazy month and April is looking to be just as busy. We were just looking at our schedule and realized that we don't have one free night this month.

USA 7's Day 1

Today was the first day of USA 7's Rugby Tournament in Vegas and we had tickets. It was definitely an experience. Everyone was so nice we exchanged names and visited through out the day. We saved seats when we went to get food and to go to the fan festival. The games were 14 minutes and very intense. Unlike in football when you constantly stop the game there is no stopping in rugby. There were several times when a player went down hurt and they played around him, or moved across the field and played away from them. There was no stopping of the game at all, no matter what. They only time the game stopped at all was at the end of the quarter. The most intense games, were between South Africa and Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, and Samoa and Kenya. England and Wales were also great teams. Here are some of the pictures that we took today, and some from yesterday also when they got to meet the USA Eagles and also happened to run into the team from Fiji. I'll post all the pictures and the videos on my facebook page.

Rugby

Last Saturday as I was sitting with the other moms at rugby one of them told me that I should start playing with the women in Tue and Thurs nights. I laughed them off and told them that I was to old to play. However as I thought about it, and remembered my goal to get back in shape for 2010 I decided why not.

So last night I went thinking that I will do my best especially considering that I don't know much about rugby beyond what my kids have taught me. Well last night they brought in a guy that used to play professionally and with one of the worlds best rugby teams. He did the teaching and the drills last night and we had a scrimmage game.

I LOVED it. Yeah my body ached a bit but it was one of those feel good aches. I am excited to go back on Thurs. Next week I can't go at all as we have commitments those nights, but every other time I will definitely be there.

The acting bug

At the beginning of January there was a flier in the Sunday bulletin for the play Savior of the World to be performed at the Henderson Pavillions in April. We had been told by a couple of Mik's teacher to get him involved in the theater because he does so well at it in school. So handed him the flier and asked if he wanted to do it. He said yes so that night I signed him up for an audition, I then though I had better ask Mat if he wants to do it also and he said yes but he only wanted a small speaking part so I signed him up also. We then got a copy of the script and spent the next two weeks going over the parts that they wanted to do.

Then I came down with the nastiest flu leaving Mike to have to step in and get the boys ready. The night for auditions came and Mike very grudgingly took them, when they got there they found out that all the boys were reading the same lines and these weren't the lines that we had been rehearsing. After the boys were done they called Mike in and informed him that if the boys are in the play than a parent has to be in the play, and he had to audition.

They handed him a hymn book and told him to pick a hymn. He choose The Spirit of God as that is in his key. Now Mike likes to pretend that he can't sing, but he has a beautiful tenor voice. As he was singing one of the people doing the casting jumped up and ran out, he came back in and handed Mike the lines for Peter and told him to read them.

As he told me all this when they got home (remember stuck on the couch with the flu) I had to jump up and down inside because this is something that Mike can share with the boys, he loves the theater and still talks about his theater teacher Julie to this day. The really cool thing also is that it works with his work schedule so he can do it.

Now we are waiting for the callbacks to see if they got the parts.

Flashback

Yesterday Melanie and I went to the movies and there was this preview. The first 45 seconds of it gave me a serious flashback to when the boys were babies. One of them even looks like Mik did at that age. I have to share this.