hello, from the freezing cold

once again...i haven't blogged in a while. please forgive me...last week was insane with finals and papers and books...but it is OVER (at least until january).

one thing i will say that is good about Indiana is that it has seasons! the leaves turn these amazing colors and the trees are beautiful. even though fall has come and gone, i wanted to show you all some of the wonderful colors we experienced before the stupid snow decided to take over. also, i threw in a couple pics from the halloween party we had at youth group. Chris dressed up in 70's clothes and i was a Starbuck's barista. :D















over thanksgiving break, Chris and i went to my aunt and uncle's house in Charleston, Il. My family flew out to join us, as well as my other aunt and uncle from Ohio and my two cousins and their husbands and kids, and my grandparents. it was a full house, but so much fun. it was the first time since my 8th grade year that we were all together!
we took a picture of all of us, but i can't seem to find it right now.

now that finals are over, chris and i decided to put up some Christmas decorations. it's our first Christmas as a married couple, so obviously, we had to document the occasion. :D

our first Christmas as a married couple :D


our little tree...yes it's crooked...yes, we like it that way.


the nativity set that Chris' Grampa Knee built him
over multiple years


our two little trees : ]




can't wait to see you all so soon when we go out to CA.

~L

6 months ago today...

i married my best friend when we said, "I DO."







i can't believe it has been six months since our wedding! we have been through so much - both good and bad, but mostly good - in the last six months.
i am so blessed to have such a wonderful man to be by my side - to experience the good times with and to work through the hard times with.

we have had so much fun being married:
driving across country in 5 days
setting up/painting/fixing our house
watching 5 seasons of alias in 5 weeks (watching 7 hours of alias in one day)
fishing for our house keys through the window with a cb radio antenna
chris stealing my pj pants and putting them in the freezer
chris pushing me in the shower - clothed - and turning the water on
then me getting him back by spraying him - clothed - with the hose on the kitchen sink

trips to indy, ft. wayne, and kokomo
watching movies
cooking dinner - some good, some not so good
birthdays
surprises
date nights

it's been a wonderful six months. living with, laughing with, and enjoying life with your best friend is the best thing in the world. i can't wait to see what God has in store for the next six months - and forever after that!!!

- L

fall break...and more

wow, it has been a REALLY LONG TIME since my last post...sorry. chris and i have been really busy with school, work, church/practicums/working on the house, etc. we're having fun (as much fun as you can when you're up to your nose in papers, books, and projects).
a few weekends ago was fall break. chris and i worked on the house and got a lot done. actually chris got most of it done, but i helped. :D we did a lot of cleaning on that friday (kitchen, cars, powerwashing the house), and chris fixed a ton of little stuff around the house. (i didn't know somuch could be done on such a little house). Then on saturday, i went to work and chris and his friend, Nate, painted the kitchen. Chris painted to cabinets brown, and nate worked on the trim and our orange stripe. it's not done, but so far it looks good. right now, our house is in chaos because our cabinets on the kitchen floor, our kitchen table is in our living room, and our appliances are on the kitchen table (in the living room). we are hoping to at least get the cabinets back on and the kitchen table (with appliances) OUT of the living room this weekend.

on saturday night, chris and i got dressed up and went to muncie for a date. we went to olive garden and target (have to go whenever we can), then we went to applebee's for desert. it was fun to just get out of marion (and our crazy house) and try to relax.

Sunday was a relaxing day filled with sleep and food. :D

other than that, things have been pretty uneventful. my friend kati got engaged...super excited for her!

chris and i have just been trying to stay on top of things and relax and hang with friends in our "free" time.

oh, and i funny story: i was at work, when a lady and a man came in to the store. i was checking her out - she was buying $85 dollars worth of boxed cards. this kind of surprised me, but i thought, "whatever. if she has the money...by all means...we'll take it." when it's time to pay, she uses two travelers checks. we don't get a whole lot of those here in marion, IN, and i didn't know how to use them. i called about 5 of my co-workers, and finally figured out how to do them. (the customers were getting a little frustrated at how long it was taking me). unfortunately, i accidently rung them up as 50 cents, not $50. i felt so bad. now they were getting really frustrated. i offered them some free coffee while i figured it all out. i did get it all figured out and sent them on their way. i felt really bad for taking so long and delaying them, but the thing that really killed me was that the woman was Jeannette Oke, as in the AUTHOR! yes, Mrs. Oke was in our store, and I screwed up her traveler's checks. :D i felt horrible because it wasn't like she was having a bad experience at a restaurant or clothing store. no, it was a CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE! oh well. i just kept laughing at myself the whole night. as bad as i felt, i also thought it was REALLY FUNNY! :D

so, sorry for the novel i just wrote. hope i was able to catch you all up. and i'll try to better stay on top of blogging. :D

Please be praying for Shay as he is in Europe working with missionaries. He left on October 28th and will be there until November 26. Please pray that God will use him, and give him the confidence to be outgoing and loving to the people he encounters. his blog is

shaybogear.blogspot.com. he's good about updating it, and it can help you better know how topray for him.

pics from fall break:

beautiful sunset on the way to muncie
(they're a bit blurry because we were driving)




our kitchen with no cabinet doors




our cool light we put in the kitchen


our pumpkin orange stripe (it was supposed
to be burnt orange, but whatever)


nate, painting the trim


painting the cabinet doors


cleaning the over - he's so good


fixing the shower faucet


chris working on his car


love,
~L

light bulbs and bumble bees

a couple of stories from the snider home:

So our house is really close to our neighbors house (kind of annoyingly close)...like - have to keep the blinds close and lights off when changing so as not to seem indecent - kind of close.

anyway - our neighbor is a sweet old widow and her driveway separates our house, but she has an apartment above her garage that she rents out. there are new renters...these renters have this habit of having friends over and then leaving the porch light on until all ungodly hours of the night. did i mention our houses were close together? our bedroom window just happens to face their apartment which means our entire room is illuminated by this ridiculous porch light.

one night, we had just had enough of waking up at three 0'clock in the morning to this stupid light. Chris went into Jack Bauer mode, grabbed his flashlight, and trekked (although not a long trek) over to their apartment, and unscrewed the bulb. the funny part - he only unscrewed it a little, so they probably think the bulb broke when really, it's just not screwed in all the way. needless to say, we've been getting good sleep - in the dark, i might add, for nearly a week! :D

Then the other day, i came home from class and was in the middle of microwaving my lunch. i saw this bee on the window sill and spent the next 5 minutes attempting to shew it (gently) out of the house. he was a stubborn little bumble bee. in the middle of my shewing i opened the microwave to stop it from cooking, and just left the microwave door open since i was a bit distracted with my little tormentor.

with cup in one hand and a papertowel to trap the bee in the cup in my other hand, i was determined to 1)NOT get stung and 2) get him OUT of MY house. well, this little guy proceeded to fly on over to the microwave and crawl into the little whole where the door latches. so he was not just in the microwave, where you cook the food, he IN the interior of the microwave - where the light bulb is. once he realized how hot that light bulb was, he wanted to get out, but couldn't figure out which way to go. (dumb bug).

so that little bumble bee DIED in my microwave, and we can't get it out. there's these stupid screws on the back so you can't take your microwave apart, and so there the bumble bee stays. any one know anything about bumble bee decomposition? should i get the bee out of the microwave or just let it burn? :D

- L

"The Shack"

"The Shack" by William P. Young is an AMAZING book that i think you ALL should read. basically, it is theology in a novel. it's about a murder that leads a man to have an unusual and incredible encounter with God.

this book challenged my view of God, it made me see him in a different light. it explained many questions and elaborated on concepts that i was familiar with already. it helped me to see God in a way i had never seen him before - a God who, although is complex, wants to have a relationship with me that is quite simple - a close, growing, and loving relationship. it also challenged the way i live in relationship to other people. my relationships with others should mirror my relationship with God. to simply love and serve someone (without expecting something in return) and have them love and serve you is to be in a relationship the way God intended it to be.

we so often put God in a box. the Sunday school version of who we think God should be, how he should act, what he should look like. Although Jesus is fully human, he is fully divine, and therefore God (the trinity) is not bound by our human limitations. however, sometimes He limits himself to be on our level to have an intimate relationship with us - wrap your mind around that one. :D

all this to say. this book was incredible! i couldn't put it down. i borrowed it from the bookstore i work at, but i want to buy it so i can mark it up and write notes in the margins. i would recommend buying it so you can mark it up and refer back to it later. and after you read it, i'd like to know what you thought of it, so leave a comment or e-mail (lauren.bogear@student.indwes.edu) or facebook me.

the sniders (all four of us)

chris' parents came out to IN for a week last week. we celebrated chris' 21st birthday, then on friday we went to Chicago. we ate at Giordano's Pizza - delicious! then we found an old italian restaurant to get some canollis - again, delicious - although not as good as the one's in Boston in Little Italy. on saturday we hit the Magnificient Mile - a huge strip of shops and restaurants. being that it was a saturday, it was quite busy and more than a little overwhelming. Chris and i went into the Apple store. it was HUGE! it had two stories, with a really cool glass staircase. then we went into the 4 story Gap. Cheryl and i went into a store that only had bags and purses. i was very excited about this store. but i was not so excited when i saw a bag ON SALE for $70 and another for $80. needless to say, we didn't get anything. :D

we then headed for IKEA. chris and i bought a couple of dressers and a couple other fun things for our house. we were there until almost 10pm. we were intending to go home, but we would have gotten home at about 2am. so we decided to go to dinner and then only drive half way and stay in a hotel. ironically, because dinner was so long, we didn't get to our hotel until 2am. oh well. :D

kevin and chris worked on the house throughout the week. they put in a vent in our bathroom, a spicket outside the house for a hose, installed a fan in the kitchen and rewired it so it would actually work -*breath* - fixed things on chris' bronco, potted plants, cleaned the gutters, got a propain tank for the grill, and went to Lowe's so many times that i'm pretty sure they knew them by name. :D

it was a spectacular week. we really miss them being here, but while they were here, we had the realization that this house was definately built for two people. :D our poor parents had to sleep in the living room and didn't really even have a place to put their luggage. :D *note to self* buy a bigger house that is NOT a fixer-upper.*

that's all for now. enjoy the pics of our week.

COMING SOON: pictures of our BEAUTIFUL house! :D

chris and i at his birthday dinner at Los Nopalas


Giordano's - mmm, deep dish pizza!


waiting to go SHOPPING!


CHICAGO. obviously.


cool buildings in the Mag Mile


the awesome Apple Store


the sweet two-story apple store
with the glass staircase


we were very excited about the apple store
(apparently, every album needs one of these
poses) :D


on the Mag Mile some organization dressed up
manicans and put them in the bushes...


this one was made out
of coke cans - it was named
the "Sexy Can-Can Girl"

espresso and shifting

so i started my new job at Tree of Life (a Christian bookstore) on monday. today was my first day to train in the cafe part of our store. let me just say...he is INTENSE! he's a really nice guy - young, married, cool - but, boy does he know coffee. not only does he work in the cafe at T.O.L., he also works for a coffee company that roasts beans and trains people on how to make coffee, etc. AND he does competitions - like manually making perfect espresso shots and doing latte art - kind of competitions.

i didn't realize how intricate and sensitive coffee is. it's a whole other world - an art form. i'm excited to have been introduced to this wonderful world of coffee, however, it is quite intimidating to have a pro stand over your shoulder while your trying to make you first espresso shot. and don't even get me started on steaming milk!



shifting is also another world i have been recently introduced to. rather, driving a manual car. since chris and i sold my car, we now only have his bronco and the honda (which is a stick shift). i've been learning, and i can drive the car by myself, however, i'm not very good at it. there is a lot of jerking and jostling going on - whip lash kind of jerking. :D it has been an adventure, but i will get the hang of it - i hope.

just yesterday, i pulled into the gas station to get gas. i stopped before pulling up to a pump becuause i didn't know which side the tank was on. i figured out it was on the driver's side, so i began to pull forward. the engine stalled. so i start up the car again - put on the gas - stalled again. i do the process once again - stalled a third time. i thought the car wouldn't start because it was completely out of gas. i was thinking - NO, i am 30 feet from the pump, don't die on me now! then i look down to find that i am in 3rd. with a frustrated sigh, i put it in 1st and pull up to the pump. *note to self - make sure you're in 1st before putting the foot on the gas when you are at a standstill* i realize this is pretty much the #1 rule in driving a stick - but like i said - it's been an adventure. :D

inspired.

kim anderson arts

ever had those friends that do amazing things? they may be simple things, but you think they are amazing? well i do. some write, some act, some sing, some take pictures, some dance, some study and understand the Word well, some raise families...
these are the ones who inspire me. not necessarily the "great" ones such as celebrities, politicians, world leaders, talk show hosts, etc. - these people can be very inspiring, but i'm talking about those people that are not famous - that don't do what they do for fame and fortune, but simply because it's what they love - it's their passion - the desire in their very being that God has placed within them.
i want that desire, that passion. i want to use the gifts God has given me. i want to develop the gifts i use often, and work on the ones that often are forgotten. i want to develop my creativity. strengthen my weaknesses and use my strengths. i want to do things not for fame and fortune, but because i love them. and maybe, just maybe - whether through my words, actions, creativity, or gifts - i can be an inspiration.

ode to my little blue friend

we sold my '92 chevy corsica yesterday.
it was my first car (that my parents didn't own). i'm glad we were able to sell it, but it was bittersweet because it was MY car.

bye little car.


- L

p.s. the picture isn't my car, but close enough :D

family

the three cousins and their husbands :D

left to right: aubrey (cousin), dan, beverly (aunt),
evie, dave (uncle), grandma, campbell, chase,
grandpa, amy (cousin), and mitch

Chase and Campbell


Campbell

Evie (Evelyn) and Dan (her dad)

being so far from home, it's good to see family whenever possible.
well, chris and i got a BIG dose of family this weekend.

my uncle (dad's oldest bro), aunt, cousin/her husband/2 kids, and other cousin/her husband/i kid - all came to my grandparents house last night. today was the Soultz (grandma's family) family reunion (that they have every year). :D our group hung out at grandma and grandpa's last night, then today we went to the reunion together. you see, grandma is one of twelve kids (only two have passed away)...so the reunion consisted of about 90-100 people who were all related to each other in one way or another. talk about good home cooking. MMM. :D

after, we went down to the park and took some pics (mostly of the kids) and then some of the family.

i really enjoyed seeing family again and chris met some of them for the first time. he seemed to enjoy himself, too. (for the most part) ;D

house update.

*update* the bedroom is pretty much set up. but we still don't have a bed or a dresser and it's just not done, so i will post pictures when it's ALL done. :D

warning: no pictures yet.

so i finished painting our bedroom today - FINALLY! i'm going to move our bed and furniture into the room tomorrow and set it all up. it needs a bit of organizing and cleaning first, but hopefully i can make that happen tomorrow. :D
once the bedroom's done, we can finish the living room...THEN i can post pics of our cozy little home. :D

i miss you and love you all.

- L

July 23, 2008

IT'S OUR 2 MONTH ANNIVERSARY!

yes, we've made it two months. actually, last night i was thinking it was our three month anniversary, then i did the math and realized it was numero dos. apparently, it feels like more than two months. :D we love being married. we've been through a lot as a married couple, both good and bad, and we're enjoying every minute of it!

we love you all and are so grateful to your prayers and support.

-L

day-o-blessings

on saturday, chris and i were going to indy to get some more things we needed from bed bath and beyond and target and to celebrate my birthday.
however, before we even made it out of the neighborhood, we saw a garage sale and thought we would stop. at this garage sale we got a couch! it's an apartment size couch (between a full size and a love seat) that is a sleeper. she also included the slipcover and 4 pillows all for $20! woo hoo! she even let us leave it at her house until we could come pick it up on sunday.

there were a couple other garage sales going on so we thought we would take a look. chris got a grill for FREE! yes, that's right...a BBQ for Free.99. :D it just needs some cleaning up and a propane tank. needless to say, we were feeling pretty good before we even got on the road.

then we got to bed, bath, and beyond. we found a comforter (for the bed we don't have yet) that matches the sheets we got the last time we went to BBandB. we thought we had forgotten our 20% coupon that we got from our registry...but when we got to the register, we had it! yay! :D

after BBandB, we went to Old Navy. well, at this particular store ONLY they were having a 50% off sale on all their clearance items through saturday. so we made it for the clearance sale on the last day it was offered at the only store it was offered. we love clearance on clearance!!! so we were able to get some new clothes. :D

then we went to dinner at chili's and paid with gift cards. ha. God truly blessed us on saturday with much needed (and even wanted) stuff! :D

then yesterday (sunday), we had lunch with my g-parents, which was nice.
afterwards, chris went and got our couch. we moved it into the living room and are very proud of it. :D unfortunately, the living room is very crowded now since we are sleeping in their on our airbed (as a mentioned, we don't have a bed yet), until i'm done painting our bedroom.

we even got to watch a movie while we were sitting on our NEW (to us) couch. however, we did have to deflate our bed in order to see the tv since the tv is on the floor because the living room isn't finished and set up. HA! but we enjoyed it. :D


i must be honest, monday was not as good as the weekend. i don't want to forget God's many blessings, but today was a rough day. Chris' job is a real pain, although it is money. it's just taking a toll on him. painting the bedroom didn't go so well for me today. oh, and we had to completely take my computer apart last night and work on it for about an hour and a half because a peice of my charger broke off and got stuck in my computer. we got it out, but it was very frustrating. ok, thanks for letting me vent. i love sharing all of our good times and funny stories on this blog, but sometimes, i need to be honest with you, my friends, and share the not-so-good times.

i also am asking for your prayers. Chris really needs a new job. this one has been a blessing when we were desperate for a job. but it's only a seasonal job, and it's a real pain for him. also, please pray for a new job for me as well. my job at the video rental store is fine for the summer, but it's not going to work great with my school schedule. also, please pray that chris and i will be able to have the time and energy to finish setting up/painting our house before school starts.

thanks, friends. i love you all.

- L

a locked door, an air conditioner, and a 10 foot antenna

a story from the snider home:
Chris and i went to dinner and grocery shopping saturday night. when we came back to the house we realized that we didn't have a house key. (the key ring we had didn't have either of our house keys. the keys were on our other two key rings. yes, we have three key rings). anyway, luckily, chris had just installed a window air conditioner, but he had not bolted it to the window. so he opened the window, and pulled out the air conditioner. unfortunately, the window was too high for either of us to climb into, and we didn't have anything to stand on. we could see the keys on the kitchen counter, but we couldn't reach them.

my husband to the rescue...he remembered he had a CB radio antenna in his bronco (and we DID have the bronco keys). so he went and got the 10 FOOT LONG ANTENNA! so imagine if you will, both of us standing on the outside of out house, our air conditioner on the ground, holding a very long antenna, attempting to fish out our keys. HE GOT THEM. chris hooked the key ring onto the antenna and pulled out the keys.

it was such a funny experience. it took chris a while to actually hook the key ring because we would just start laughing. :D

as far as the house is going...we are progressing. i started painting our bedroom today, and we moved a lot of boxes and whatnot into the attic which cleared a lot of space. it feels like things are moving slowly, but we got a lot done in the last few days. i will post pictures when the painting is done and our house it put together (at least somewhat). :D

love you all and miss you tons. i hope that this blog is helping to bridge the distance and keep you all apart of our lives.

- l

food frustrations

so "becoming 'wife'" has been interesting when it comes to cooking dinner. let me explain...
monday night: i thought chicken, rice, and broccoli mixed with teriyaki sauce sounded like a good meal. however, i forgot to defrost the chicken. luckily i can put frozen chicken on my george forman. :D unfortunately, dinner was not ready when chris got home from work. i was stressing because dinner wasn't ready at 7pm, and we had to be somewhere at 7:30. my loving husband calmed me down and helped me finish dinner. we didn't make it to the place by 7:30, but it wasn't a big deal, and it actually worked out better to be late.

tuesday night: it was really hot and i was tired...mac and cheese it was. cheryl, chris' mom, gave us a recipe book that is "101 things to do with mac and cheese." i thought i would get creative and try one. i found a casserole that sounded good, and i thought we had all the ingredients. so i begin... things were going well until i dropped the salt and pepper grinder into the milk/cheese mixture and ruined the salt and peppercorns in the grinder. then chris came home, dinner no where near being ready. i get ready to put the macaroni into the milk/cheese mixture, and i realize i made two boxes of mac and cheese but had not doubled anything else in the recipe. now i DON'T have enough ingredients. by now i'm so upset, i just start crying.
here i am trying to be a good wife by having a good meal cooked for my husband before he gets home from work. instead, we end up at walmart buying the rest of the ingredients to finish the meal. so remember when i was hot and tired, so that's why i chose mac and cheese for dinner. well, dummy me chose a recipe that required turning on the oven for 30+ minutes, which inevitably heated our entire house! the kicker of this whole thing was that i didn't really even like the meal. i had to doctor it up just to taste decent. luckily, chris liked it and has been eating all the left-overs. :D

wednesday: i wanted to try one last time to redeem myself. i talked to my mom to make sure i had the recipe right...i didn't. i got all the needed ingredients. and i made chicken al a king (sp.) it was actually good (one of my favorite meals). unfortunately, it needed some salt and pepper, but i ruined that the night before by dropping the grinder into the milk (and i forgot to get more at the store). well, you win some and you lose some. i'll get better. at least that's what i keep telling myself.

tonight: grilled chicken sandwhiches...easy and full proof...right? let's hope so! :D

when i was sharing these stories with my mom, she was laughing quite hard, and i couldn't help but laugh, too. in retrospect, it is pretty funny. but this whole "wife" thing takes some getting used to. i'm trying, and i think i'm doing pretty good (minus the dinners the last couple nights). :D

thanks for letting me share...hope it was humorous. if you have any suggestions, words of wisdom, or recipes - feel free to comment. :D

lauren

mmm...cake.

hey all,
sorry it's been so long since my last update...we have no internet at our house...so we have to go to the school or a near by hangout to get it.
we're starting to get settled. the living room is painted, although we haven't set it up yet. and pretty much everything is put away in the kitchen. the bedroom is next to be painted. :D
i got a job at Family Video (a movie rental store). it's such a blessing to have a job! :D chris is working 10+ hours at the radio station at school. he has his own show, "Cruisin' with Chris" from 5-7pm, monday through friday. and starting wednesday, he is working for TNT Fireworks for a couple weeks now that the fourth is over. talk about being blessed! hopefully startbuck's will be hiring again in august so he can start there before the school year starts. please be praying for that.
so on the 4th of July chris and i decided we wanted to bake a cake. don't know why, someone had just given us the mix and we felt like it. so we did, and it was the saddest cake you've ever seen! :D i took it out of the pan before it had cool, so it broke. so we ended up frosting an upside down, broken cake. but it was good and fun! i couldn't resist taking pics of it. :D just thought you would like to share in the cake-ing experience. we did eat some before taking these pics.
we miss you and love you all. please be keeping us in your prayers. i'll try to be better about posting. :D no promises though, ha!

:D


funfetti frosting!


love you all,
lauren