Mom and Dad's extravaganza

Hey family! I just received an email from Mom and Dad telling about their vacation. They told me to try and email it on to the rest of you, so I'm in the process, but I thought I'd post it as well. Here it is!

Dear Children of ours, We are in Rutland, Vermont tonight and have had an awesome trip so far. We have visited Plymouth Rock and a pilgrim plantation, Lexington, Concord, the Boston Temple, the White Mountains of New Hampshire (which sit about 20 miles from Lake Winnipesaukee), the Simon Pearce glassblowing factory, Sharon Vermont where the prophet was born, and a few other places. We are having a blast and may never come home. I am sending this email to see if I can get your email addresses. The only one I have is Amanda because I can remember hers, so I am wondering if she will forward this on to the other children in the family. Let me know when you all get it because I would love to send you notes along the way. All of our motels have wireless, so it is kind of cool to hook up the computer each night and write about our day. It has been so fun to be together with Dad's family and to make some new friends. There are 40 of us on the bus and we are some of the youngest, in fact Dad is the youngest man, so that let's you know what the age groups of the people is. Our guides are awesome and funny. Amanda, our bus driver played us a Joshua Creek song today called "What Kinda car?" It was hilarious. I am going to have to get a copy of it. We miss all of our children and grandchildren, but will have awesome stories to tell when we get home. Hope all of you are doing well. Let me know if you get this. Love, Mom

The Secret Life

Hey family! seeing as how i have finally come to grips with the fact that i am a hard person to get ahold of, i just wanted to let you all know that i now have a personal blog, so now you can know what's going on in my dull and boring college life (he he he...) If you'd like to visit my blog, go to heyamanda3.blogspot.com. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Born with Cougar Pride

I realized that I hadn't been able to e-mail this video to Shawn & Annie, and it was too cute not to be shared. Shawn & Mike came to a football game with Buddy & I last year and I must say the little Cougar was quite a hit, especially with the row of girls behind us. As seen here, he was ra-ra-ra-ing with the best of them by the end of the game. GO COUGS! (Of the BYU variety.)

MORE KOOL AID MOM!

I just have one thing to say. Does this picture bring back any memories of another Richards child about 20 years ago????? Love you Brandon!!!!

Just a few Limburg photos

Here's two of my boys--cute as can be! Can you tell where Eric's loyalties lie?

Ben wants to be just like Aunt Mandi! People wear heels with just about anything these days, right?

We love you all!

AMANDA'S HOME . . AND GONE!!!

I just realized that Amanda has come and gone and I never posted any cool pictures of her on the blog. Now that summer is over and we are all separated again I need to be better about writing here. So . . . here is Amanda arriving at the airport

And here is the group who met her:
Here we are all together:
And here is Amanda (the Pied Piper) with all the children following her. She just seems to attract them!!!
And one last hug!!!
And now she is gone and I miss her already. Have a great year at BYU Amanda!!!

Jake's Big Day

What a wonderful day! We are so proud of our Jacob. One of the highlights of Jake's Baptism: The spider who was also baptized that day. (I guess there was a spider in the font when it was being filled--Didn't bother Jake!) Thanks to all who came and to those who didn't--We know you would have been there if you could. We love you all!

And check out Jacob in his birthday suit! Well . . . . I guess I should say a suit he got for his birthday. He was proud to look just like his Dad.

OUR LUAU

I thought those of you who didn't attend, and those of you who did, might like a look at a few luau pictures. Brandon and Michelle, we really missed you. I could just see Brandon teaching the hula to the kids--or playing catch with the tiki torches. Thanks to all for a wonderful evening. First of all, here are the grandchildren in their splendor. Note that it is Caleb, not Meg, who is not a happy camper.
Then we have a group shot of the three families who attended. Here are the Skinners:

The Limburgs:
And the Richards:
And last of all--some crazy man came and crashed our party kind of like the skier in our Christmas pageant each year. Maybe someone can tell me who he is!!!


Hope you are all well and happy!!!!

Congratulations, Jake!

Sorry Uncle Brandon and I couldn't be there yesterday, but we thought of you! Congratulations on your baptism, we're very proud of the choice you made...and sad we couldn't be at the Luau! How was the pig? Anyway, I thought it would be fun to show you pictures of when we both got baptized.

Here's Uncle Brandon with Grandpa.Here's me with my Uncle Steve when I was 8 (yep, I'm totally missing teeth!)Congratulations Jake!

Thought you all might like an awesome picture of Dad to remind of the great time we had on the cruise. We miss you all!!! Have a great week!
Oh, and for those who were sad they couldn't come to the cabin for Memorial Day Weekend--don't feel too bad. It is flooded and it looks like we can't go up. Dad, Brandon and I will go up tomorrow and see what is happening and take a few pictures. I guess the water is clear into the bottom of the storage under the house. This might be interesting.

WELCOME HOME TO ALL!!!

Hi family, I wanted to thank you all for a wonderful trip. I know it was exhausting for those of you with young children, but it was so fun to be together. We love you all and appreciate what you each contribute to the family. We will have to do that again sometime.

This one's for Dad...

On our most recent trip to Vegas, I stumbled upon a restaurant I thought Dad might appreciate. Do you think they cook on regular grills or motorbike engines? We'll find out soon enough...

Tourney Time!!!

All right everyone, here's how it works.

1. Go to msn.foxsports.com
2. Click on Bracket challenge - it should be obvious
3. You will have to create an account - it's pretty easy and the only sensitive info they want is birthdate and email address.
4. Click on groups - our group is "Richards Family" and our password is "Mexico"
5. Fill out your bracket by Wednesday night (I think).

The prize this year is an all expense paid trip to Ireland, paid for by Mom and Dad. They will also babysit all of your kids and potty train them while your gone. OK, so they haven't actually offered this yet, but I don't think they will mind.

Don't Wake Daddy!

Washington State T-shirt: $20
Maroon Furniture Center Recliner: $350
Nap: $20/hour in lost wages
Taking a nap wearing a Washington State T-shirt in a Furniture Center recliner with your child: Priceless
Taking a nap wearing a Washington State T-shirt in an Furniture Center recliner with a different child and having pictures of both incidents documented for posterity: Public humiliation.

A Dam Good Trip!

Well, we thought it was about time to post some pictures of our dam visit. (Buddy told me no one would be offended by the loose use of the word, so any complaints can be directed at him). We stopped of at a dam on the way home from Flagstaff. We wanted to take a picture especially for Manda, as she sent a "Dam Card" to Buddy for his birthday, and wanted to share it with you, because who wants to be excluded from a dam good time? Here are a few snapshots from our 16 hours in the car to spend 18 hours in Flagstaff.Arizona: you've basically just seen it all.We thought quite seriously about hiking the "P" instead of the "Y". Looks slightly easier!A dam picture. We had to do it.It's already been said too many times.Although there was ample room in the car, Buddy insisted upon driving as though he was in a clown car. I think this a few hours before we arrived in Utah and he exclaimed "Now I know how the pioneers felt!" I highly doubt that.

Leaving sunny Arizona. By the way, it also rained in Vegas when we were there...what are the odds?

The New Emma

I've been meaning to post this for some time now--Sorry, Michelle. She absolutely loves her new haircut! I can tell she feels like a million bucks. And she is most excited about looking just like her Aunt Michelle (that's what she thinks anyway!). I am most excited about not having to listen to her whine about getting her hair combed in the morning. It' s amazing the difference 7 inches can make.

Ummmmm???

OK, for a second there I forgot that Landon was a boy. In my defense, I haven't slept in a month and he does scream like a girl.

Pictures of us

Aaahhhhh!!!! Now the girls are winning. They are pretty cute though.

Here are the Kentucky twins. Can you tell which is Shawn and which is Michael?

Here is one of Millie dressed up . . .

. . . and dressed down. She can do it all!

This is Michael speaking. I like Karate so much that I wish I could do it every day! Love, Mike

Here's our little bundle of occasional joy. Just kidding, he really is a great little kid and will be perfect once he figures out what sleeping means.

One of these kids is not like the others...

So Michelle and I have been looking at the recent grandchildren pictures and we have noticed a pattern in all of them. If anyone would like to play, please look for the one child that wasn't taught how to smile. It's a real toughy!!! I'll give you a hint: It's the only kid that looks miserable in EVERY family picture. Should we blame the parents or the camera? Happy Searching!

AND THEN THERE WERE TWELVE!!!

Just thought I would send a quick picture of the twelve cutest children in the world. (Now that all my children are adults I can say that!) It was like pulling teeth to get all these children in one shot, but I insisted and the parents tried not to act very annoyed with me. They all lived through it and I got a (mediocre) photo of my twelve beautiful grandchildren. I may not get another one until next year, so I had better enjoy this one, right?



I also insisted on a shot of the two new babies, but as you can see they weren't too excited about being immortalized in the Richards Blog, but then, who is? In case you can't tell by the color of their pajamas, Landon is on the left and Jessa is on the right. They will love this picture when they get older, won't they? All else is great here. The snow is melting and spring is just around the corner--I can dream can't I.

We love you all!!!

A Brandon by any other name would probably still smell bad.

Last night I finished reading Freakonomics (I'm several years behind on popular reading) and found it really interesting. My favourite chapter had to be the one on baby names. As you can imagine, baby names are a hot topic here in Provo where I feel like the only woman not expecting. But I'll save that for another post.

My favourite part of my favourite chapter was the list of examples of low-end vs. high-end baby names. We (and by "we" I mean "I") discuss potential baby names a lot (not hinting at anything, by the way) and as most of you know, I keep a running list in my wallet - with several crossed off after marrying into a family with such good taste in names. Brandon has come forward with a few, one of his preferred boy names being Cody (that will become important in a second). Let me enlighten you with a few of the authors' lists:

"Most Common White Boy Names Among Low-Education Parents"
1. Cody
2. Travis
3. Brandon
(I don't think their data was totally accurate...Dr. Richards)
"Most Common Low-End White Boy Names"
1. Cody
2. Brandon
Here's a shocker: "Most Popular Black Boy Names - 2000"
9. Brandon
"Boy Names Most Likely to Lead Your Child to Believe He is Superman"

1. Brandon (that was a joke, I couldn't help myself)

My name only showed up as the 8th most popular white girl name in 1980...Beatlemania a bit delayed? Not sure, but I do know Buddy & I can anticipate chubby children (evidence above and below). But in spite of the statistics, I think Brandon's a pretty awesome name. But as far as his input in our children's names go...we'll just have to see. By the way, I'm thinking about declaring dibs on certain names via the blog so it's evidenced in writing. Or maybe I should just jump in soon before all the good ones are taken!

Equal opportunity funny pictures...

To avoid perpetuating the theme of funny pictures of Brandon, and to prove that he isn't the only weird one in the family, feast your eyes on these: Although taken some time ago, this bedhead picture was too good to resist. The apple didn't fall very far from the tree...but it did just roll out of bed. Here's a priceless shot of dads watching the kids. I know mums have eyes in the back of their head, but does this mean dads are evolving as well? "Watch and you'll see, someday I'll be, part of your world!" Tara, your hanger strap is showing...as are your jeans. I am impressed at how far you got the zipper, though! So they haven't always gotten along as famously as they do now...
And they called it Puppy Love...three kids later and they've still got the heat. (reference to Cheaper by the Dozen, not based on actual events or feelings)
Well, I could go on like this all day, but we've got meetings to get to. Aren't Sundays supposed to be a day of rest? Look forward to more of this to come...and as a matter of curiosity, would you prefer for me to make this blog public so you don't have to sign in all the time? As one without children, I think the weight of the decision falls on you with little ones, I know the internet can raise some concerns. Just let me know (via e-mail or blog).