A Made From Scratch Snell Family: Graduation

This summer has defiantly been a whirl wind adventure that is for sure! In the month of June it was so crazy I took a leave of absence from school so that I didn't fail my class. We started the month off with our week long trip to NYC, and then went for a drive to Filmore/Orem/Provo, UT, and then I flew to ROC for a week. It was a blast. Very tiring, but a blast.

Our trip started off crazy, we thought that we would be ok with taking a direct flight from SD to JFK the flights looked good and we were all set to go, until jetBlue calls and says our flight is cancled. YAY! So I get on the phone and frantically call my Mother to find out that no other direct flights are good anymore. They are all completely pack with paying customers and with standby. This was not looking good for us, but after about 5 hours we figure out a way to get us to JFK. Jay and I flew 6 hours to BOS where we then found a bus that would shuttle us the 4 hours to NYC. Once there we joined up with 10 of Jay's high school friends and our adventure began. We got see the Empire State Building, The Bodies Exhibition, the Statue of Liberty, FAO Swartz (you know where the big piano from the movie BIG is), we saw the financial district, the fashion district, the Guggenheim (spelling is not right), the National Museum of History, the Met, and we saw a Mets game. We also saw three Broadway plays, Wicked (of course), In the Heights (my favorite!), and The Adam's Family (coolest stage effects!). There is so much other stuff that we got to see that I can't even remember. We stayed until Saturday morning, and it was just a blast! I even enjoyed the part where we woke up an hour late on Saturday, making it so that we got to the airport only an hour early... normally an ok thing, but not in JFK where there are MASSIVE lines that take an hour to get through. Thankfully we got our tickets with a less than a minute to spare, and made our flight home!After that adventure and we safely made it home, we had some time to rest but not long because that weekend we drove up to Orem/Provo/Filmore for a family reunion.

We left Thursday night after Jay got home from work. I took the wheel first and drove from SD to St. George (with a couple of stops for gas), and then Jay drove from there to Orem where we crashed for a couple hours at a friend’s house. We then were able to visit with a couple of Jay's good friends from BYU, we had lunch and then William, The Pie King, invited us over to his new pad, for pie :) yummy! After our short break from driving and with an additional passenger (my SIL Squeaks) we drove for another 2 hours back down to Filmore where the family reunion was. We reunited with my awesome in-laws by playing Canasta (THE card game), and Rock Band. I think my favorite part of Filmore was playing Canasta while being serenaded by the beautiful voice of Itsy my SIL. I love how easily I can be myself and fit in with Jay's family it is just great! We then left Sunday morning to Orderville (ya, didn't know it existed either) where we went to church with one of the coolest people I know, Lora VDB. I haven't seen this girl since the wedding and have tried 3 times to see her since all unsuccessful. However we got to see her!!! So all is good! She was also wearing the most amazing yellow dress I have ever seen! I miss laughing and joking around with this girl. She is great! Sadly we had to part so Jay could get to work then next day and so that I could get rested for the rest of my adventures. We arrived home late Sunday night, and I left for ROC, this time by myself :(, on Monday night to visit home for a week.

ROC was great fun. I swam in the pool with my niece and family, played Frisbee with my old YSA group, and got to hang out with Sarah :), and I got to be there to celebrate my little big brother graduating from high school. I say that I got to celebrate because I didn't actually see him walk across the stage... I don't know how I lucked out on that one. Sorry little Bro but graduations are BORING, with a capital everything!! It was also really nice because my Grandpa & ma Griffiths were there and we got to hear them tell cool stories. Another great thing about visiting my family was that I got to take lots and lots of pictures. I was the designated photographer for the graduation, for my sister Chantle’s maternity pictures, and her family pictures, for my parents who are working out and looking great, and for the recording of my time there through pictures. I got to feel artsy again, and it was fun! I love taking pictures; it’s something that I would love to do freelance someday.

I am glad that all that traveling is done. NOW it’s my parents turn to come visit us! My sister Veronica just had her first baby. And boy is he cute! Oh and did I mention that he is also the first grandson too? Well, he is. So that just intensifies his cuteness. He has my dad’s nose and Lloyd’s cheeks. He is adorable and we are all so excited! However we are still waiting for Chantal’s little one to come too but we don't mind the wait. (Livianna, you can stay in that belly until you are good and health and ready! We want you here safe.) I just love being an Aunt and having a nephew come and another niece on the way just adds so much more fun to the summer! :) Well I hope that you enjoy the pictures, they took a lot of work to get on to this thing!

The bus from BOS to NYC