Excuse me, do I live in the United States of America?

So my wife and kids were in the office of a well know government agency that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent. When I got home from work I asked her how her appointment went and she said that it was okay. She then proceeded to tell me how she was the only "white" person there and that the workers weren't the friendliest bunch (I know, I know, hard to imagine that government workers wouldn't be friendly!). She then proceeded to tell me how when she asked the workers some questions regarding the program, rather than explaining how the process works, they handed her a pamphlet to read. Well normally I guess that would be okay, except for one VERY LARGE problem this time...the pamphlet was in Spanish. When Chelsea saw this she asked the lady for one in English, and here is the kicker....they didn't make them in English!! Hello, what country am I in again? You are telling me that our own government, you know the one here in the United States of America, the one that has a national language known as English, doesn't even print the pamphlet in English! WOW! That is about all I can say. And people in this country don't think we have a immigration issue!? I was livid when I heard this and almost went to this place just to give them a piece of my mind, but then cooler heads prevailed and I let it go. But it still really bothers me that my wife couldn't get an English pamphlet from our own governmental agency. Ridiculous!

Spiderman and his Best Friend Brooklyn

Caden is currently known as the super hero Spiderman. Thanks to Grandma Pam and Grandpa Richard he got some Spiderman pajamas for Christmas. They were a huge hit. He was so hyper once he put them on and he instantly pulled out all of his Spiderman "moves" as seen above. He gets pretty intense with it and it makes us all laugh.
Cade is also into hats lately. We've heard that if you read while wearing a helmet you are able to retain quite a bit more information. Wish that were true. Cade even wore Heath's bike helmet to bed the other night. It was classic, I should've taken a picture.
One of the assistants at the VA Clinic made these hats for the kids. Everyone there is so nice to our family. She did a great job and the kids love wearing them (even though it's been 75 degrees). This picture is a good representation of the friendship that Brooklyn and Cade have. Of course they have their moments, but they really do love to play with each other. The other day Cade told Brooklyn that she was pretty like the clouds and that she was his best friend. They are good at giving hugs and saying, "I love you." They are so much fun and Heath and I feel so blessed to have them!

Princess Dreams

Brooklyn woke up this morning all excited to tell me about all 6 of her dreams. She goes into pretty good detail for a 4 year old. Her first dream was about visiting the play place in IKEA last weekend in Austin. That apparently was a short dream because she wasn't too enthused about it. The princess dream on the other hand, was definitely more exciting. Her eyes got all big when she told me that in her dream she was a.....(she kept me in suspense) Princess! She talked about how pretty her dress was and what color the "sparkley's" were and that there was a prince too. To top it all off, she got to kiss the Prince! And who might the handsome Prince be you ask? None other than her brother Caden! I had to laugh. She was so excited about the whole thing. Cade followed up by saying he only had 4 dreams about Lion King and Diego. It's fun to hear the kids tell me their dreams and stories they make up. Brooklyn usually talks about a Barbie or a princess and Cade's stories involve Spiderman and/or bad guys. They are too funny. We'll see what tonight's dreams hold for them. Hopefully they are all about sharing and talking kindly and cleaning up. It could happen right?

Texas High School Football

So this happened a week ago, but with Christmas and all I didn't get around to posting so I thought a week late post would be okay. As many of you know we are living in Texas right now, and everything in Texas is BIG, right?! Also, as many of you know, I am a football nut. Another thing that many of you might know is that I went to the best high school in the state of Arizona when it comes to football, Mountain View (Go Toros!). So needless to say, with all of the previous facts about me and Texas it was only fitting that I had to go see the the State Championship game for 5A High School football here in Texas. I didn't want to go by myself so I thought Brooklyn would be a fun companion. Her and I made the trip downtown to the Alamodome and watched Trinity (from Dallas) defeat Judson (from San Antonio). We had a great time but I think Brooklyn was more entertained by jumping over the chairs and doing gymnastics on the railings than she was in the football game, it was still fun to have her as my date though. Here are just a couple of pictures.

Santa, are you there? Here's My Christmas Wish

I know there are only a few days left till the big day, but I think I still have some time to get my wish list out to Santa. So if any of you feel like playing St Nick this year, my official request is for this...If any of you have an extra $400 lying around your bank account and that Christmas spirit of giving is touching your heart, now is your opportunity to act on that urge!

Christmas Cards

We have now received several wonderful pictures of friends and family for their annual Christmas Cards. I must say you all have beautiful families, and thank you so much for putting us on your mailing list for these pictures and cards. In lieu of this new blogging explosion, I have talked Chelsea into allowing me to post our Christmas Card on the blog for all to enjoy. I know there are several of you that are going to be disapointed because now you can't hang our bright, smiley faces on your fridges, but if you are so inclined I made the picture large enough for you to print it out and do with it what you like. Merry Christmas to all. The Snell Family.

Sea World with Grandma and Grandpa

As you saw in the previous post we were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa come and visit us last weekend. On Saturday, we decided to brave the cold winds and make our way to Sea World. We have been there a few times now, many of which we have blogged about, but of all the times we have been there this time it was like we had the park to ourselves. I guess there were very few people crazy enough to endure the cold windy day just to get a glimpse of Shamu! Even with the winds and cold, we all had a good time.

The best part of the whole day was when we were walking into the park a random lady handed us her ticket and told us that her husband had gotten sick so he was unable to come, and she had this extra ticket that she wanted to give away! So that saved us $50! Thank you to whomever you are that was so kind to just give us your ticket for free!

Enjoy the pictures!
Brooklyn getting kissed by a Beluga Whale
Grandma getting kissed by the Beluga Whale

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATH!!!

We celebrated Heath's 29th birthday on December 14th. His parents came which made for some great company. The kids were so excited it was his birthday. They had fun decorating the apartment for him and putting the candles in the cake (upside down). I'm sure most everyone knows what an amazing person Heath is but I'll just point a few things out. Without a doubt Heath is a wonderful father. The kids are so excited when he comes home from work. They love to wrestle with him and I always see them giving him hugs and saying, "I love you daddy!" As far as being a husband, he's perfect for me. Yeah, that may sound cheesy or whatever, but it's true. He is so thoughtful and so fun to be around. He always makes me feel good about myself and makes me want to be a better person. I am so thankful to be married to my best friend! I love you Heath!
Cade celebrated his dad's birthday by shaving for the first time. This was an early Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Snell (Thank you!) and he loves to shave "just yike daddy!"

Politics vs. Poo Poo Platter

While those two things usually go together in most people's minds, that is not what this post is about. I just find it interesting at the response that our last two posts have received. Based on the number of comments it appears that our society is more interested in poo than politics! In a matter of days our poop story had over 10 comments and it has been five now that my declaration for Romney has been out there and only 7 comments (2 of which are mine)! C'mon people, you don't have to agree with me when it comes to what candidate to vote for, but I sure hope the lack of comments isn't a demonstration of a lack of interest when it comes to voting for our next President of the United States, especially this year when another Clinton might be stepping into the oval office (and might I add that she is by far the scarier of the two)!

Great Book. Even Better Candidate.

I am reading the book "A Mormon in the White House? 10 Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney" by Hugh Hewitt and am absolutely loving it. Now I must admit that the book is a little biased towards Romney since Hewitt really likes him, but since I myself really like Romney I guess I like that bias. In this crazy political season, almost as crazy as the college football season, I hope everyone takes a good look at all of the candidates and picks one that you feel best represents your beliefs (and oh how I hope that none of you are voting for Hilary, Obama, Edwards, Giuliani, or McCain, but if you are there is still time to do more homework and change!) If any of you are curious about Romney, I suggest reading this book to learn more about his views and where he stands on the issues. I know a lot has been said about Romney, by his naysayers, that he is only a flip flopper and can not be trusted. I'm sorry, but I just don't see that. Yes it is true that he has realized he was wrong with his stand on abortion and has since changed, but in listening to him and more importantly seeing his voting record as governor, I truly believe that he realized he was in the wrong and thus decided to change his mind, and to me there is no fault in that. Romney would be great for this country, just as he has been for several companies, the Salt Lake Olympics and the state of Massachusetts.
Since this is a political post I guess you do have the opportunity to disagree, but if you do please post your comments for all to view. Also, please take the time to visit Celeste's Conservative Corner for excellent reading (Celeste is a friend from dental school and she has an excellent website devoted to conservative views).