Ward Campout

When Robert and I were first married we decided we wanted to be a camping family. The we outgrew our tent when Mary was born and life got busy, yada yada yada. We received a big tent for Robert's birthday last year, made several camping trip plans, but they all fell through. So when it was announced that there would be a ward campout. We decided this was finally our chance!

The only person that didn't sleep great in our tent was ME. Ha ha! I was stressing all night that the kids were too cold, but they all did great! Lydia and Mary even woke up and asked to go potty in the middle of the night which NEVER happens. They usually either wet their beds or don't go at all. And then after they were done going, they went right back to sleep. I was so proud of my kiddos!

As always, James cracks me up!!

Our awesome big tent! We love it!

We had a blast!! As soon as the seasons warm up again we have several places we want to camp before we move away from here. I can't wait!!!

San Fran Fun

My sister and her husband were doing the tourist thing in San Francisco for a few days, so we went up to spend one of those days with them.

Pier 39

Ghirardelli Square

I love that Golden Gate Bridge snuck into the background

Love my sis!

Random story, while we were walking to Ghirardelli Square we passed one of those statue men street performers. Lydia walked up to it thinking it was a real statue. When she got right next to him he moved toward her. She immediately took a ninja stance as if ready to karate chop him if he got any closer, and she froze like that for a good 10 seconds or more. Classic!

Always a good time with family!!

Instagram Revisited - October

10/3/2014 - My seminary teacher hubby just pointed out that seminary is on the path on the way to the temple. #ilovemyhubby #seminaryrocks #templetrip

10/3/2014 - I love the temple and this handsome man of mine #perfection #templetrip #ilovemyhubby

10/4/2014 - I spy a certain cousin of mine rockin the missionary look @grantlyman21 #ldsconf

10/6/2014 - This boy has been extra snuggly the last few days. The cleanliness of my house is suffering because of it. #snuggleorclean #ichoosesnuggle #ilovemykids

10/11/2014 - Late night sparkling cider to celebrate a successful first interview trip. Hopefully there's more to come. Robert feels it went well, and I survived the past 4 days as a solo parent. #goteam #ilovemyhubby

10/15/2014 - I love me an Arizona sunset! #home

10/25/2014 - Printed and laminated Robert's and my hourly schedule for the whole week. Each thing that is printed on the schedule is an individual piece that is printed on magnet paper so it can be rearranged. It makes my heart happy just looking at it #ocdmuch Some of the things Robert chose to put on his schedule make me giggle. #ilovemyhubby

10/27/2014 - Verse 24, great scripture to kick off my day. The Lord has my back. #dandc35verse24 #imamormon

Halloween 2014

Costume Prep

Where I normally have complete control over what our family is for Halloween, the girls have been saying since the saw Frozen last Thanksgiving that they wanted to be Elsa and Anna this Halloween (along with 90% of all little girls this year). So a Frozen theme it was! We were on a much smaller budget this year so I had to get pretty resourceful with putting together the costumes. 

James was Olaf, so for that costume I found a pattern at http://blog.peekaboopatternshop.com/2014/09/olaf-costume-tutorial.html and used some of Robert's old t-shirts and other things I had on hand. I think the finished product turned out even better than I hoped.

For Robert's Kristoff costume I found some of the cheapest shirts in the right colors at Goodwill as well as a fuzzy scarf and ribbon I already had, pieced them together and...

Voila!!

The wig was a lucky cheap find at Goodwill too. It was more of an A-line hair style, but I trimmed it until it looked a little more Kristoffish.

Ward Trunk or Treat

Knowing they wanted to be Elsa and Anna so far in advance had its perks. I waited for a good deal on the costumes and got them for Mary's birthday. They've been getting plenty of use for the money.

Robert's mom got Elsa and Anna wigs to add to Mary's birthday present. Unfortunately Lydia hated wearing hers, but Mary LOVED hers.

He's THE CUTEST!! I say this often, but IT'S TRUE!

And I was Sven. Cheapest antlers I could find online, and brown clothes that I already had. Simple yet effective.

The whole Frozen family :)

Preschool Halloween Parade and Party
Can I just take a second and say that it's so fun having kids in preschool?? And my girls absolutely love it! Their class had a little Halloween parade, and the parents were invited to come watch and see all the songs they've been working on then join them for cookies the kids had decorated. Both Lydia and Mary were in heaven.

Pumpkin Carving

Trick or Treating

Halloween 2014 was a complete success! Halloween is my favorite!

My Logan's Going on a Mission!

This is my youngest sibling and buddy, Logan James. This young man holds a very special place in my heart. He's taught me more about patience and enduring than almost any other person I've encountered.

Logan is autistic. He was classified as Asperger's when he was first diagnosed years ago but the Asperger's classification has since been eliminated and now is termed high functioning autism. But even with the struggles he has with his autism, Logan wants to serve a mission for our church. He went through the evaluation process, turned in his papers, and has been called to serve a 3 month mission in Gilbert Arizona. If the Gilbert mission president determines he could handle a full 2-year mission, he will be given a new assignment and finish 21 months in a different area. He is so excited and our whole family is excited for him.

I love this boy! I've been thinking about him a lot lately and it's made me very emotional. He reports this Tuesday - 6 DAYS!! - so the above picture is from when I was giving him a goodbye hug in October when we were in Arizona. My nerves are on edge for him, but I know that whether it's Heavenly Father's plan for him to serve for 3 months or 24, Logan will do amazing things during the time he serves and touch countless lives the way he has touched mine.

I love you buddy!! I can't wait to hear about all your mission adventures!

Aly's Homecoming

Mid-October, we ventured once again to Arizona to welcome Aly home from her mission in Brazil.

At the Airport

I love this picture for 3 reasons. 1-Such a sweet sister hug. 2-Lydia looking up in excitement at an Aunt who has been an amazing example to her. 3-Dad blubbering in the background ;)

LOVE!!

I was in charge of taking pictures so I grabbed a quick selfie with the RM.

The flight arrived early and word didn't get passed along to Uncle Dan, Aunt Monica, and crew. So though they missed her coming off the flight, they surprised her in the parking garage.

The Arizona skies put on quite the show to welcome Aly home.

Homecoming party

Vertuccio Farm

One of the many fun adventures we did while we were there was spending a day at Vertuccio farm doing all the fun activities they had there

Richardson Family Pictures

Since Robert's family was all together and we never know when the next time that will happen with so many of us living away, we took advantage of the opportunity and got family pictures done.

I can't decide which of these 2 pictures of our little family I like more:

This one because of James' face...

...or this one because of Mary's face :)

The behind-the-scenes work of getting the kiddos to all look at the camera ;)

Other Random Pics

Once upon a time Robert thought he would be able to go to Scout Camp, but it ended up being a week before his birthday so he missed the age cutoff. Robert was super disappointed, so his mom did several merit badge things at home with him including making this stool for the basket weaving merit badge. It's a cherished memory of Robert's, the sentimental value of which has kept this stool around for the past 15 years. Alas, the time had come to dispose of it, so we took a picture of it and bid adieu.

Lydia made this mask and was overjoyed with how it turned out.

The next 2 pictures are not the best quality since it was dark, but I love these pics of the kids and Robert's dad chilling in the grass and looking at the stars.

Painting our Halloween pumpkins

Aly's souvenir for the nephews were soccer jerseys. She also got one for herself so we took a picture of all of them in their matching jerseys.

We are so happy to have Aly back!!! She was an amazing missionary! A great example to her cousins, siblings, and nieces and nephews, but we missed her terribly and are glad to have her sweet spirit with us again.