All in a hard days work

eating and stareing at your fingers sure takes it out of you

Uncle Sam Wants You!

I remember as a child seeing billboards that were all about trying to convince people to join the army (1960's). They all said, "Uncle Sam Wants You!" with Uncle Sam's finger pointing right at you. Well, it is hard to believe that one of my own has answered that call. As of January 3, 2012 Taylor is a soldier in the United States army. He will train as a medic. This is a huge thing for a mom to wrap her head around but perhaps over time I will get used to it. Then again, maybe not. For sure my prayers will be intense.

The first picture is the recruiter that came to pick Taylor up. Nice guy. The next pic is some of us that came together to wish Taylor well. We will miss him...for now. He may be back in 2 or 3 months before he leaves for the medic training. Young men that take this big step are one of the reasons we continue to enjoy our freedoms and privileges. Thanks soldiers!

Happy Birthday Bethany!

There is nothing like a fun birthday surprise. Russ and I recently made a surprise visit to Wisconsin to help Bethany celebrate her birthday. She had no clue we were coming to see her. If you want a good laugh take a look at the video.

Melanie Teresa Richardson

On Tuesday August 23rd our family welcomed Melanie Teresa into our clan! What an adorable little bundle of joy Judd and Caitlin have presented us. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz.

Below you will see Melanie as she poses with her grandpa, mom & dad, and uncle Taylor. We all stand in line to hold her. Soon enough she will be joined by 2 cousins (Heather & Doug's daughter due in early Feb. and Jordan and Nichol's baby in early March).

There are not too many things in this life that are sweeter than a brand new baby!

Travis' Research

For the past several months Travis has had the opportunity to work on a research team for ASU. He has gone to Ft. Leavenworth twice to do the research and they are hoping to go to West Point. Here is an article that was published in the Ft. Leavenworth Lamp that explains what the research project is about.

Ouch! Now There's a Pain That Lingers!

Stay doggie, stay away from me!

That is probably what Brigham was thinking yesterday when the neighbors dog decided to take a bit out of his back. He was riding his bike past their house and the dog ran after him, jumped up and sunk his teeth into Brigham's back. Can you see the bruising around the wound? He probably could have used a couple of stitches to close it up but he opted out of that. Sure hope our next post isn't a picture of Brigham getting rabies shots. Don't worry the dog had it's shots (or so they tell me).

Look at our Nook

Okay, so while I was away playing in Wisconsin, Russ was at home building a little nook for our computer. For those of you that are familiar with our casa, it is located where the family bulletin board used to be.

I just love the little light he installed that shines down on the work area.

This is the view from the hallway by the bedrooms.
And here is our master builder. Nichol you are right, Richardson men can build anything!

Max the Cool Cat

Today Max got a cool treat! With the help of a special brush created for pets, he lost 10 pounds...of fur. Well, it looked like 10 pounds of fluffy fur.

Taylor was the guy that made it happen.

Ahhhh, that feels delicious!

...and here is the nasty results. The best part is that nasty fur

won't be on me or in my house.

Thanks Taylor!

Zippty "Zoo"dah

Here is a little peek at our trip to the zoo in Madison.

Below is a picture of my favorite sight at the zoo. It is a black swan. So many lessons could be learned from this swan. Maybe someday I will share one or two of those lessons. Such a cute pic of Drake and Ivy. The "rooster" and the "chick". What a great fit.
How about this one: Drake and Brigham.
Brigham's head seems a little big for the hole!

Who doesn't love the penguin exhibit?

These flamingos or mingos as Ivy called them were very beautiful.

So that was our day at the zoo. We took our animals (whoops I mean kids) and went back home.

Just Another Fun Day!

Three strikes, you win!

Another fun day in Janesville! Bowling for $1 a game is what I consider fun. Total we bowled 18 games. Now that was a blast. Drake put us all to shame with his great scores.

Who could resist this sweet little face?

Drake enjoying his lunch

Silly boys!
Lunch was greasy but we enjoyed it anyway.
Tomorrow will bring more fun and you can view us enjoying our trip and the cool(er) weather. Just stay tuned here.

Rock Aqua Jays

If you look up in the top left corner of this pic you will see 3 skiers who just flew off the ramp and did a flip. It was awesome. These and the other 50 skiers were members of the Rock Aqua Jays that perform in a river in Janesville. What a great way to spend the evening. We had a great time watching their performance. If you ever visit Janesville in the summer I recommend this event!
P.S. Now for the good part. One of the boats that pulled skiers had 3 engines each with 300 HP. That is a total of 900 Hp and it was FAST and LOUD. Just my style.

DINOsaurs

Tuesday we visited a dinosaur museum that has the largest collection of meat eating dinosaurs.

I wouldn't want to be attacked by this guy

or this guy

Trying to get everyone to pose for a picture can be a beast of a task!

Brig and I enjoying a moment.

Jelly Belly Fun

Welcome to the Jelly Belly Factory in Kanosha Wisconsin

Here is the little train we road in around the factory which was really a warehouse full of jelly beans.
Here is a picture of Elvis created from Jelly Beans.What would a trip to the facory be without visiting the candystore. We ate so many JB's we all felt gross!

When Grandma Comes to Visit

If you check the map just above Rockford you will see Janesville WI.

That is our destination! Brigham and I will be visiting Bethany and her clan for the next week. We are so excited!!

I promise to post pictures of our adventures.

So, stay tuned to this blog to follow our fun.

Welcome Home Annie

It seems like Annie has been gone more than she has been home this summer (lucky!). She returned last night from Snowflake (again)

where she was helping with her nieces while their parents were away.

It sure is quiet when she is not home. And who is going to keep Brigham

in his place while she is away? Good thing she is back!

We love you Annie.

Music to My Ears

I love beautiful music and today I heard some I couldn't resist.

We found this beauty at a garage sale! The price was right . . . $75! That was the steal of the day, maybe even the year. And to think I wasn't in the mood to go garage selling!

Is There a Doctor in the House?

Ben graduated June 3, 2011 from A.T. Still University with his MD. We are so proud of Ben and Briana for enduring this long journey...which isn't over yet. How many doctors do you know that have graduated from medical school with 7 children (2 born during school)? We love you and hope to visit you soon in your new residenc"y" in El Paso TX.

P.S. Ben, I really wanted to post a picture of you from Halloween but I love you too much to do that!

Am I Too Wordy?

Have I ever mentioned how much I despise blogging? Oh yeah, I love to read them but I don't enjoy creating them. They can be so time consuming. Well, I have had an epiphany (one of my favorite words) regarding blogging. I am just to dang wordy. As I blog I tend to put way to much into my posting. So, perhaps if I back off I will not hate it so much. I want to tell a story about being too wordy but it would be too wordy. Maybe some other time.

Although I hate myself in this "old" picture, I love the rest of the folks. So Enjoy...they are good people. Brigham and Annie are twice that size now.

Our Visitor

Never in my life did I think that I would be the hostess in my home to a General Authority from the First Quorum of the Seventy. Elder David F. Evans was our visiting authority for our stake conference this weekend. He asked if he could stay in our home and of course we were delighted. We had to do some rearranging to make a place for him to sleep but as always he was so gracious and grateful. It is so special to have such a humble servant of our Heavenly Father as a guest in our home.

Elder Evans has served as a Bishop, Stake President, Mission President in Japan and as an area authority also in Japan. He told many interesting stories from his life and shared with us details about his family. We had such a wonderful time visiting with him.

We have had a few other General Authorities stay in our home and each one brings a special spirit with them. My favorite thing is listening to them share stories from their church service or tell about their personal knowledge and relationship with the prophet. What a great privilege it is to have them in our home.

Finally...

Well Gram has lived in her house for 4 years and today the outside was finally painted! Hurray for Seville Park Ward High Priest Quorum. They wanted to do a service project and gram's house was the one they chose. I have posted some pictures. They were also kind enough to paint my school. I am so thrilled. I have before and after pic's of my school but only the gram's house after it was painted.

This last picture is our wonderful Bishop (on the ladder) and a member of the Quorum that came to help.