Mid-June Mayhem!

Finally found the camera!!! I added the picture to the 16 week pregnancy post, and I can finally do this post of all these pictures from the week before I lost the camera. Hooray!! 

Three weeks ago, one of my very best longtime friends, Kaci Cardon, came to visit. Her husband, Aaron, is currently doing an internship for United Airlines and was flying to Germany for a couple days. So instead of being left alone, Kaci (with the free flight benefits she gets from Aaron's internship) decided to come stay with us. 

I tried to have at least one activity planned for everyday that she was here. Monday after she first got here we went to Pizza My Heart for dinner and took it to Lighthouse State Beach to eat it overlooking the ocean and sunset. Not a bad way to start a visit, right? ;)

The next day we headed to Henry Cowell Redwoods to walk the Redwood Loop. Robert had work to do so it was just Kaci, me, and the girls. It was the perfect weather for a little outing in the woods, and the sun was shining through just right to make everything look enchanted.

Mary was the master at spotting the numbers this time around.

How picturesque is this??

The girls admiring the deer friend.

The Giant. I am awestruck by the amazingness of these
trees every time.

Lydia wasn't being very cooperative for this picture.
This is the best we could get.

The next day we explored downtown and went to the Boardwalk Beach.

My one buy from Downtown. When I'm pregnant, sour
belts will get me EVERY.TIME.

After Downtown it was off to the Boardwalk Beach. We stopped by the bathrooms at the Boardwalk before heading out to the water. Lydia took a couple of jabs at Laughing Sal, as she usually does. :)

Then off to the sand and water.

This is the picture I was saddest about losing. I think it's perfect!

Picture proof I was at this adventure

Our little water baby. Can't keep her away from it.

This was the first time we've been for the purpose of playing in the water (meaning not there just for a bonfire or something of the like) when Mary was old enough to want to go out in the water too. She was super nervous at first and then would love it and then get scared to death again. Her face was always a mixture of joy and terror at the same time. It was awesome :)

Eventually she fell and was swallowed by a wave. I thought she'd be done for the day, but once she coughed up all the saltwater she was happy again and just wanted to play in the sand, clothesless since her clothes were soaked and freezing.

Robert did this before we left. He's cute.

Thursday we ran a bunch of errands (exciting, I know!) And then went to the park for a bit.

Friday there was a Primary activity that somewhat overtook the day. That night we had Burger. for dinner. I got the D.A.C. (a burger topped with bacon, smoked cheddar, BBQ sauce and jalapeno aioli). It was DELICIOUS. Robert let me pick for him so of course I got him one of the crazier ones - the Luther (a bacon and american cheese burger between glazed donut buns). It was either that or the Kim Kardashian which is a double Phatty (a bacon cheeseburger between two grilled cheese sandwiches). In other words it would have been 3 grilled cheese sandwiches with burgers sandwiched in between. Maybe next time ;)

Aaron flew in late Friday night, so Saturday we packed full of fun. Aaron and Robert decided they would go surfing in the morning while Kaci and I got everything ready for the rest of the day's adventures. They kicked off their guys morning out with an intense game of Pretty Pretty Princess with the girls.



After they got back we headed to Lydia's birthday party. Lydia has 3 friends here that, including herself, have birthdays all within a few weeks of each other. Last year we all did separate parties and it felt like it was one party right after another, so we did just one party for all 4 this year. It was Pirate and Princess themed (there were 2 birthday boys and 2 birthday girls in the mix).

Video of the birthday song from Aaron's phone. If you can't tell, we didn't declare the order the names would be sung beforehand ;)

Everybody loves cupcakes!

Right after the party we headed to the beach again to roast hot dogs and s'mores. One of the girls' favorite things to do at the beach is bury themselves, especially Lydia. Mary lasted only a few minutes, but it entertained Lydia for a half hour or more.

Cute goobers!

Kaci and Aaron are so great. They went home the next day and Lydia has asked about them nearly everyday since. I was worried that having to work around nap time would limit our activities too much. And yes we didn't do everything I'd hoped we'd be able to do, but we did a good chunk and had TONS of fun. I'd gladly have them over every weekend for the rest of the summer if that were feasible. We can't wait to see them again!

Talk in Sacrament Meeting on Father's Day

I was asked to talk in sacrament meeting this past Sunday for Father's Day. I try to share parts of my beliefs on this blog whenever I can, so I figured I'd go ahead and share my talk. Here it is copy and pasted from the word document it was saved in (sorry the format is a little funny after crossing over). It was in more of an outline format, but anything that's italicized is what I've written in after the fact from what I remember saying during the actual talk. Happy Father's Day to all!!!

Sacrament talk given on June 16th 2013:

Coming to Know the Father of Us All

·         Introduction of me/us

·         Introduction of topic - Fathers

o    As I prepared the Primary for their musical number and for this talk, this Father’s Day,  I felt I should focus - instead of on earthly fathers - on the father we all have in common, our Heavenly Father.

o    Most of my talk is made up of quotes from past conference talks instead of personal stories of mine. To somewhat “justify” this I’d like to start off by quoting the first part of Bruce R. McConkie’s “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane” talk where he said, “In speaking of these wondrous things I shall use my own words, though you may think they are the words of scripture, words spoken by other Apostles and prophets.

True it is they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine, for the Holy Spirit of God has borne witness to me that they are true, and it is now as though the Lord had revealed them to me in the first instance. I have thereby heard his voice and know his word.”

So even though a lot of what I say today will be from others, I believe in these word as much as if I were saying them myself.

I used out of the True to the Faith book, the section on God the Father subsection “Coming to Know God the Father” as an outline for this talk. The first paragraph states, “As children of God, we have a special relationship with Him, setting us apart from all His other creations. We should seek to know our Father in Heaven. He loves us, and He has given us the precious opportunity to draw near to Him as we pray. Our prayers, offered in humility and sincerity, are heard and answered.”

Elder Hugh B. Brown, who was an apostle from 1958 to 1975, illustrated this closeness we can have with Heavenly Father in a talk he gave to some BYU students in 1967 titled “Father Are You There?” He told the following story.

·         “I remember when I was quite a lad… I remember my mother said to me when I left to go on my mission in 1904 she said, ‘My boy, you’re going a long ways away from me now. Do you remember when you were a little lad and you used to have bad dreams and get frightened? Your bedroom was just off mine and frequently you’d cry out in the night and say ‘Mother are you there?’ And I’d answer, ‘Yes my boy, I’m here. Everything’s alright. Turn over and go to sleep.’ And you always did. Knowing that I was there gave you courage. Now you’ll be about 6,000 miles away and though you may cry out for me I cannot answer you.’ … ‘there is one who can. And if you call to Him, He’ll hear you when you call. He’ll respond to your appeal. You just say, ‘Father, are you there?’ And there’ll come into your heart a comfort and solace such as you knew as a boy when I answered you.’

He goes on to tell of several times throughout is life where he did this and found it to be true. I first heard this story when I was in Young Women’s and have many times since then recalled it when I’ve been going through different trials when I’ve felt alone and scared. I’ve just thought to myself “Father, are you there?” and every time, as long as my mind and heart are open to the spirit, I am overwhelmed with peace that only He can give.

Now I’ll go on to the 2^nd paragraph in the True to the Faith. It says, “We can also come to know our Father by learning about His Beloved Son and applying the gospel in our lives. The Savior taught His disciples: “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. . . . He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:7, 9).

Bruce R. McConkie was a great example of how when we strengthen our testimony of and relationship with Christ we also become closer to our Heavenly Father. I feel you can easily see this when you compare 2 of his most memorable talks side by side. First his talk “The Testimony of Jesus” that he gave in the April 1972 conference, the conference before being ordained an apostle, and second his talk “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane” from the April 1985 conference which he gave 13 days before he died. In the first he reads his poem which we all know now as the hymn "I Believe in Christ." It is one of my favorites hymn, and I’d like to read the last verse. 

o    I believe in Christ, he stands supreme;

From him I’ll gain my fondest dream;

And while I strive through grief and pain,

His voice is heard: “Ye shall obtain.”

I believe in Christ; so come what may,

With him I’ll stand in that great day

When on this earth he comes again,

To rule among the sons of men.

Such beautiful words and a powerful testimony! But then we read his final testimony from his talk 13 years later, or especially if you watch the videos of the two, which, if you don’t know, on lds.org they’ve been slowly adding all of the conference videos and you can watch the video of any talk as far back as 1971. Anyway, if you watch and compare both videos, in the first one he kind of just reads the poem and is somewhat fidgety, for lack of a better word. Whereas in the second one he stands unmoving, looking straight at the camera and with amazing strength and surety says…

o    "I testify that He is the Son of the Living God who was crucified for the sins of the world.  He is our Lord, our God, and our King!  This I know of myself, independent of any other person.  I am one of His witnesses.  And, in the coming day, I shall feel the nail marks in His hands and in His feet and shall wet His feet with my tears... BUT I SHALL NOT KNOW ANY MORE THEN THAN I KNOW NOW, THAT HE IS GOD'S ALMIGHTY SON;  THAT HE IS OUR SAVIOR AND REDEEMER.  And, that salvation comes in and through His atoning blood and in NO OTHER WAY!  God grant that all of us may walk in the light, as God, our Father, is in the light, so that according to the promises, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, will cleanse us from all sin.

What a perfect and powerful example of how when are testimony of Christ grows, it also draws us closer to God our Father.

Now going back to the final paragraph in the True to the Faith, it says, “We draw near to God the Father as we study the scriptures and the words of latter-day prophets and as we give service. When we follow God's will and live as He would have us live, we become more like Him and His Son. We prepare ourselves to return to live in their presence.”

I have a strong testimony that when we give service is when we can feel closest to Heavenly Father. To illustrate this I have 2 personal experiences, the first having to do with this past ward Christmas party. When it came close to it the Bishopric gave me the opportunity to head up the program for it. They didn’t find out until after they had given me this opportunity that I was having health issues that was leading to the brain surgery I had in January. The day they found out, which was at church on a Sunday, Bishop pulled Robert out of Primary to sort of gently reprimand me through him for not letting them know sooner what was going on and if I for sure was able to handle everything for the party (and in my head I can hear my mom saying, “And rightly so!”). But I needed that opportunity right then. I needed a project, a way to serve, because I needed to feel that closeness with my Heavenly Father through that trial that I only feel when I am serving.

The second experience I’d like to share is from when Lydia was born. I always expected that “moment” that everyone talks about of how when you hold your first child for the first time it’s the most amazing feeling in the world. I mean it was pretty awesome, but for the most part when I held her it kind of just felt unreal and my thoughts were more along the lines of, “This is kind of weird. It actually happened and I don’t know what to do now. I’ll just hand her off to the nurses.” But that “moment” did happen for me after the nurses cleaned her up and handed her to Robert for the first time. As I watched him hold our first little girl for the first time, stroking her little hospital cap, and crying happy tears that he was finally a Daddy. It was almost as if I could see him accepting the mantle of service and love that fatherhood entails. And I will never forget the sweetness of the spirit in that moment. It was as if Heavenly Father's love had encapsulated the whole room.

I’d like to close by saying I know we all come from different situations with our fathers - some good, some bad. I’m fortunate enough to be in a really great situation and have a close relationship with my dad and I’m so thankful for that. I can’t do a Father’s Day talk without saying that I couldn’t ask for a better Dad than he is. But regardless of what our situation is, we all have a perfect father through our Father in Heaven. He is always there as a perfect example, protector, and comforter for us. I know that as we try to gain a closer relationship with Him, men will be better fathers or at least fatherly figures to anyone who needs it, and we women will be better people, mothers, and father supporters.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Materials I used:

True to the Faith - God the Father subsection “Coming to Know God the Father”

Hugh B.Brown (apostle from 1958-75) “Father Are You There?” – October 8, 1967 to BYU 

The Testimony of Jesus - Bruce R. McConkie (Apostle from 1972-85) – April 1972 (Conference before called to 12 [After 26 years as a 70] 

The Purifying Power of Gethsemane - Bruce R. McConkie – April 1985 (13 days before he died)

Pregnancy Update: 16 Weeks

We've been up to a ton of fun these past 2 weeks with the start of summer, friends visiting, birthday parties and more! Unfortunately posts of that will have to wait because I can't find our camera. I'm hoping it'll turn up and we didn't leave it at the beach or on one of our other adventures. Cross your fingers!

So there is a baby bump pic that will be added to this post if it turns up, but until then here you go :)

Update 6/29/2013 - Found the camera!! So here's the picture!

Taken June 4th at 16 weeks. I try to get a little more gussied
up when I take these pictures, but no make-up and a pony tail
has been the norm these days so I might as well document it :)

How Far Along:

June 4th, 2013 - 16 Weeks
Goodbye first trimester!!!

Maternity Clothes:

Not yet, but definitely getting pretty snug around the middle.

Best Moment This Month:

We've been telling Lydia all along that after my tummy gets REALLY big the baby will come out, but it won't be really big until after Halloween. Well, it's big enough to the point that earlier this week she noticed it for the first time, so she thinks it's ready now. If only she knew! ;) Anyway, when she noticed she said "Baby's getting bigger!" and then laid her head on my tummy and said, "The baby's talking to me!" When I asked what it was saying she said. "Goo Goo Gah!"

Movement:

Feeling little flutters pretty often, especially when I'm laying down, but nothing strong enough to be felt from the outside yet.

Food Craving:
Completely random things at random times. Like there were a couple of weeks that Robert HAD to go and get me a turkey and black forest ham sub from Subway (with pepper jack cheese, olives, mayonnaise, and ranch on wheat and toasted :) once a day but that phase has passed.

What I Miss:

Energy! I'm one who likes to go without stopping all day long, working on a million projects all at once. There was one glorious month between recovering from the surgery and before the nausea and no energy hit from the pregnancy that I felt mostly back to my old self and it was WONDERFUL! The nausea has mostly passed now and I'm starting to get more and more of my energy back, but I'm not 100% yet. Who knows when I will be :)

Sleep:

What's that??? I toss and turn all night long and if I do sleep I have crazy weird dreams or horrific nightmares. My best sleep ends up not being until whatever I get after 5am. Thankfully my awesome hubby handles the girls most mornings so I can sleep in and feel somewhat rested.

What I Am Looking Forward To:

Finding out what the baby is!! The ultrasound is scheduled for July 15th!!!!

Symptoms:

I still have to eat and snack all day long or I start to get a little nauseated. And, as happened with both of my other pregnancies (and whenever I'm on my period for that matter) I have a little bit of headache all of the time that if I overdo myself surgery healing-wise the soreness in my neck aggravates that headache which then aggravates the nausea which is lovely :) As long as I'm careful that all stays under control.
Biggest complaint/symptom - DRY SKIN!! Dandruff, chapped hands, legs, face, you name it! It drives me crazy and nothing helps!! I've gotten a bit of the dandruff in the other pregnancies but nothing like this. I feel like an ape scratching my dry skin all over the place all of the time.

This pregnancy is flying by! I hope that continues!!

Piano Recital

Last March (2012) I started teaching piano lessons. I offered to teach for free or whatever they wanted to offer in return. Best thing I've ever done!! I've ended up with the best group of 12 students I've ever had, and some of the most supportive parents you could ask for. I had a recital scheduled in December, but had to cancel that since my brain was freaking out. So this past weekend we finally had our first recital and it went fabulously! I was so proud of all of my sweet students.

The sun tried to ruin the picture, but I think it turned out okay anyway.

Little bit clearer picture taken by one of the parents.

I don't feel it's fair to ask the kids to perform without me also performing, so Robert and I closed the recital with our Chopsticks duet. When we were practicing beforehand Robert asked how much we were going to ham it up. I said as much as he wanted... I need to learn not to say such things ;)

Can I just say how much I enjoy performing with Robert? As much of a ham as he is, it really is so much fun. We did a vocal duet in sacrament meeting around Christmastime, and another couple in the ward made the comment that that's something they'll never be able to experience - singing together. I just don't want it to go without saying that I am so thankful for the musical talents that I have been blessed with and that I was fortunate to marry someone that had a lot of the same talents. Some of our favorite moments together are sitting side by side on the piano bench playing and singing with and for each other. It's a wonderful thing that we are able to share :)

The Big 3!!

Yep, my firstborn is officially 3 years old!! We woke up to our power being out. Lovely, right? But our first event of the day was going to the "breakfast store" AKA Denny's. So we carried on, and hoped it would come back on soon.

She's showing me that she's 3. It takes a lot of
concentration (note the reason for the tongue)

FYI for Santa Cruz peeps, go to Santa Cruz Diner instead of Denny's. Especially if you have kids. Even though there was no other customers there in our half of the diner, they made it very clear that they did not like our kids being there. Our girls weren't especially wild either. Other than this short boogie session they stayed sitting in the booth the whole time eating and happy. Also the waitress totally messed up my order and was bugged when I asked for her to bring me the right thing (she brought me pecan pancakes instead of banana caramel french toast, and I hate pecans!)

Back to Lydia's day, after breakfast we went back home to open some of her presents (where we found there was still no power). We might have gone a little crazy with the presents this year. There were several things that in the month or two before her birthday that we'd think Lydia could really use fill in the blank but her birthday is coming up so we can wait and get it then. So she ended up very spoiled for her birthday :)

The highlight present was the new scooter that Grandma and Grandpa Richardson got her. Here's a video of her opening it/

After that and playing on the scooter for a bit Lydia was beat and I found her asleep in the corner :)

With the power still out I started getting really nervous. To Lydia birthdays mean cake. She had picked out the cake mix and frosting from the store and was so excited to help me make it on her birthday. So all day Lydia was not 100% convinced it was her birthday because we hadn't eaten chocolate cake yet. As the day went on and the power didn't return we were getting more and more nervous that Lydia's birthday hopes and dreams would be dashed to bits - the worst 3-year-old birthday ever! Just before 4pm our power returned. I taught a couple piano lessons, cancelled my later lessons and we finally made the cake. While the cake cooled we opened more presents that were delivered that day from Robert's parents and sisters.

A bubble gun from Kylee (Lydia had used up and worn out our last one)

A floor puzzle from Crystal

Finally the cake was cooled off enough to frost and at 8:00pm we partook. 

I think they liked it :)

Lydia asked to take this picture of me. I obliged :)

This also meant that both girls were hyped up on the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting at 8:00pm which is usually their bedtime. They wound down pretty quick though, and we had one very happy birthday girl! Here she is posing in her new PJs.

Hasn't quite mastered the hand on hip, hand behind head pose, still cute though :)

Happy birthday sweetheart! We are so lucky to have you!

Preston and Sharon's Wedding

My little bro  got married on May 4th. We made a quick weekend trip so we could be there for all of the festivities.

One of our very good, longtime friends, Jeff Ouzts also got married that same day to a wonderful girl named Annie. Their sealing was an hour before Preston's so we lucked out and were able to attend that as well first thing that morning.

Then it was Preston's sealing to my new sister-in-law, Sharon. The sealing was beautiful, and it was so amazing to sit in that room with my parents and all of my married siblings and their spouses. The most beautiful moments in life happen in the temple!

Waiting for them to come out of the temple

The happy couple!

Pics before the reception

Not sure why Lydia is grabbing her neck. Crazy kid :)

My awesome parents!

Beautiful couple!

My second oldest sister, her husband, and kids weren't able to get to the reception early enough for the pictures because they were sending the 16 year old daughter off to her prom. So they're missing from the corresponding pictures below.

The Bros!!

Glad Robert was there to be such a big help ;)

Love these ladies!! And glad to add another lady to the mix!

My huge family (minus the Tylers)

Preston and Sharon and the nieces and nephews.
21 pictured, 5 (the Tyler kids) missing, and 3 more to be born in the
next few months including my baby. We just keep growing!

"More pictures, Mom? Really?"

I love this kid!!!! He's been my best bud forever!

Cutting and eating the cake.

They were a bit sweeter to each other about this than Robert and I were. You might recall these pictures from our reception...

Anyway, back to Preston's reception...

My dad zerbeting Lydia's elbow. She loves her Grandpas!

Bride and grooms first dance.

It was such a beautiful day and they are an amazing couple! It just made me smiley all over again going through these pictures. I am so happy for them! Welcome to the family Sharon!!