winter tolo 2007

last night i went to tolo! (its a school formal dance where the girls ask the guys.) it was so much fun. i got to go in a group with all my best girl friends. my date was really cool too. his name is jonathan ross, he's in my english class this year. we had a pretty crazy time. we had a limo for three hours, so that's where most of my pictures are from. here's a picture of jon and i and another one of me, jon, and my friend melissa in the limo. it was an awesome night!

culter connection

Even though we both kinda thought that Scotland was crep both before and after we arrived, I must say though that both Char and I now like living here because of the surrounding area close to our flat. We live in a small village called Peterculter which is just on the edge of the highlands and along the Royal Deeside, which we think is somewhat protected because it leads out towards the Queen's pad in Ballater. It's kind of a secluded little place with a strong village identity and is not known for much other than its pipe band (from what we hear) and the Rob Roy bridge which apparently was the place from which he escaped from his captors by throwing some evil Englishman off of it in a noose. Because the evil Englishman was hanging from a noose that Rob Roy created from his own rope they had to cut the rope and he escaped by hiding in a dead cow - or so the story goes in the movie. That story was confirmed by a local but whether or not his real source was from the movie remains unknown.
Anyways here are just a few shots that might capture the essence of the countryside near us!

Dorm Pictures

Ok so everyone wanted to see what my dorm looks like. So here are some pictures, sorry no one is in them.
My desk is usually pretty cluttered.
Nathan and I put our beds together so we would have more open space by the door. Things are going well down here in Provo.

Rico

Mary Poppins

Here's some pics of the people I've been hanging out with. Heres a group of us going out for juice after we did baptisms for the dead at the temple. The guy from India is named Ash and he's a new member. The couple are a law student and physicians assistant, and then there's a girl from the Ukraine... we've got a very diverse crowd here in LA. We had a nice time together. It was wonderful to do baptisms because it's such an involved ordinance. It's so physical.

This other shot is of the group of us who went to the MARY POPPINS sing along. my favorite thing about it was all the excited little kids who were near us. we really got into it and had a nice time. KC's a singer, so it was nice to sit beside him. He tried to pull this move on me where he almost held my hand.

Taking an interest

This is a picture of Oliver on the edge of his seat listening to one of my facinating and greatly amusing stories. After I finished he clapped his hands and said "Oh mum, what a delightful tale, please tell me another."

Well....maybe that's not quite how it went. Oliver does occationally take an interest in me during my singing/talking/dancing performances created especially for his listening enjoyment however, he often seems much more interested in... well.... walls, doors, light fixtures, blinds, yes, I often feel as though I'm in the way - I'm not exactly sure what it is that captivates him so but he often looks as thought he's in a flury of visual excitment and just can't take in the scenery fast enough. This is sometimes subdued when he finally finds something truly astounding and then is fixated for a little while. What I wouldn't give to know what's going on inside his little world.

The New Digs

So my company is moving offices and I got a chance to visit the new space today. It is, probably, the most expensive location in Los Angeles and amazingly cool. As I walked around the space and the surrounding area my jaw kept dropping. Fiscally, I wouldn't have chosen this particular spot, but I'm going to enjoy it! It is a beautiful new building in what is becoming the center of the entertainment industry. Two of the major talent agencies are in our building and 20th Century Fox is literally a stone's throw away. Its going to be fun. Even though all of these points are pretty cool, the best part is, I believe, a view of the temple from my office window!

retreat/more snow day pictures

well, i just returned from an awesome retreat i had on vashon island with the kids from global visionaries! that's the group i'm going to guatemala with in february. we had lots of fun getting to know each other, playing games, having meaningful discussions about opression, salsa dancing, and much more. unfortunately, i don't have any pictures, but you can count on me having a ton from the actual trip. but here are some from the snow day i took with my friends.

Hi All you Schneid Remarks bloggers,

Hope all is well. I'm just trying out the blog, so just let me say that I'm very proud of all of you and I look forward to much happy blogging in 2007. You're the greatest!

Luv, Gramps

new years and Christmas

I recently downloaded all of my photos from New Years and Christmas and came across some momentous scenes: Caleb helping Beej get ready for the family photo shoot, Julian helping Nana pound out carols at the piano, Caleb helping everybody have a good time on New Year's Eve by swinging on the chandelier... wow, I didn't know that Ian and I had such helpful little boys! There was also a scene when Rico and Beej helped clean up some of the leftovers from the family feast... hmmm....

Moms think their kids are the best but Nanas know that their grandkids are the bestest. So when little Oliver saw Nana getting ready for a dinner party that Wooz and friends were having for their Moms and he asked if he could come, Nana said "Yes!!" It was impossible to pass up on a show off op. He didn't touch a thing on his plate but he was the absolute life of the partay. Now Julian and Caleb have told N that they're coming for a visit too!!! They want to do more arm wrestling with Grandpa and N said she'd make them some rice cereal cookies!
The highlight of the family reunion was listening to the very special belssings that each of the Schneider grandsons received from their Dads. You really are the bestest!!

snow day...mercer island style

it is an exciting day when snow falls on mercer island! everyone gets out their sleds, finds their snow boots in a remote corner of the garage, and wears their little used down coats. even if only one or two inches have fallen and there's no ice on the road, school is canceled. we've had two snow days in a row, yesterday and today! mom, dad and i spent the happy morning walking through the woods over to the southend starbucks. after that, i met up with my friends phoebe and melissa and played and took pictures in the snow. that may account for my cold getting much worse today, but it was worth it! i'll post some of those pics later, when i get them from melissa's camera. until then, goodbye!

Great Scot this actually works, here is Snej with his shades, Granny's mantle provides a great back drop for our recovering Scot

Back to the Bitter Bitter Northland

Well, This is Beej reporting in. Another semester another flock of babes (babies that is, "supposed" triplets to be exact) I was looking over my pictures from the vacation and I noticed that the majority of them focused around the babies which is awesome. School is going well I am excited about my classes. Ashton gave me some more gifts which is very kind for instance a Arab headdress, some HOT sauce among other things. Pictures are forthcoming there.

Snej has successfully recovered from his lazer surgery which is good because now he gets to sport some niiiiice shades. I mean these shades very Beckhamesque and the sweet thing is he got them for free. I'm actually surprised that the advertisements for laser surgery do not mention the fact that you get free shades I mean they really need to work on their marketing. Once again, pictures forthcoming.

It's good to see the twins I wonder how much they enjoyed the game and I will see everybody soon

take me out to the ballgame... sort of

Hey there-

We went out for our first FHE last night. I mean, we've had FHEs before, but this was the first one that we did outside of the house with the boys. They each got a cute little baseball outfit from Carol Turley in our ward, so we dressed them up and went over to the Turley's with a bag of soup. Brent Turley recently got a quadruple bypass heart surgery, and then a terrible staff infection afterwards so we thought it might be fun to cheer him up with a little visit. No snoozing on the service project, Caleb.
Happy New Year!

Old friends

Jordan and I got to meet up with a friend of the Schneider family today - Dr Reese. She was happy to see Jordan again and to meet Oliver for the first time. She was so happy to see him she gave him a little present - a 10 day antibiotics prescription. Oliver is ok but he is a little sick. We stayed with Granny and Grandpa last night - so nice of them to let us stay especially since we are all sick (she offered a high five in lieu of a hug when we said good-bye).
I'm off to Saskatchewan tomorrow for my grandmother's funeral. "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?". My question this evening is this: If a woman dies, and no one loved her did she exist? Well, if the answer to that question is no, that there is no existence without love, I can say that my grandmother did exist. All of her children and so many of her grandchildren are making their way to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan to stand as witnesses of this woman's existence and of their love for her. I'm looking forward to being with the family.

pictas

here's some pictures from our lovely reunion in palm springs. my personal favorite is of caleb and molly... an interesting couple.

moma ella baby

momma ella

a couple days ago Jord, Char, Linds, me and the 'triplets' hit Roscoe's house of chicken and wings for some juicy chicken breasts buried in melt-in-your-mouth gravy and perfectly crisp waffles slathered with butter and syrup. mmmm. as we were diggin in, Caleb kept staring at our waitress, momma ella. She said 'we couldn't tell her those babies weren't triplets' and was smitten with Caleb and asked to get a picture of herself with him. to be fair, I think that she thought we were asking us if she wanted to take a picture with him (we were asking if she would take a picture of us) but anyways, Caleb and moma ella are now captured forever with the magic of digital imagery dancing cheek to cheek. i kind of freaked out when she picked him up- waitressing is not the most hygenic job- and after she left we gave him a good wipe down. then we went back to our delicious chicken and waffles.
not sure whey jord didn't make it into the shot ;)

fun

The fun continues. Char and Jord are visiting us here in LA and I got to help with the 4:00 feeding of little Oliver this morning, then Char and I fed him and Caleb at 7:30. It's fun to have the chance to visit with eachother at all hours of the day. They are SO CUTE! Char is singing to Caleb right now, about how there's no one else exactly like him. He's kicking his little toy to make it spin. What a delightful family we have. We are so blessed. Love you all!

so i'm testing a way to post an image. hope it works. by the way, this is beej, linds and i on a train from slovenia to vienna this september.

New Year's Rocks, our family is the coolest, we are all crazy. This is my contribution to the family blog for now hopefully there will be many more postings in the future by me and other individuals. It kind of hurts to type because I jammed my finger playing lemon ball so I am going to sign off, till next time.