Happy I Love You Day!

The Fun-O-Meter at our house has dipped dangerously low these last few months since buying our new house.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel, since it will not take the rest of our entire lives to remodel this house, so we may have a shot at some kind of happiness again before we die. 
Ok, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but when your beloved writes you a poem like this for Valentines, you know that life could really use a pick-me-up. 

Especially, when that particular beloved spent a few hours of his precious Sunday off dealing with a water-spewing washing machine.  Technically, the only water oriented device in our basement that has yet to throw a fit and flood our space is the dishwasher.  This winter we’ve gone a total of about one month without some sort of flooding. 
Needless to say, starting off our hip-happy day of love like this was not ideal…


So today the kids and I did our best to clean up the mess and make the place look nice for when our Knight in shining armor dragged himself home from work (did I mention he caught the sickness the kids and I tried so hard to avoid giving him?).  Without a car our options for decorations were sparse, but I think we did ok. 
Valentines pillow cases doubled for chair covers, doilies became center pieces, and I even found some nice candles in our emergency preparedness kit (Hey, rescuing Valentines is definitely an emergency!).  All in all, I think things turned out alright.
 


(This picture is my favorite, because just as I was taking the picture, Gavin rushed in to strike his favorite Yoga pose.  How cute is that!  You should see his face, he is so serious!)
We ate strawberry pancakes with sausage and opened valentines from each other, our wonderful Grandma Carolyn, and my brothers in New York.  Poor Troy barely made it through the dishes before he passed out.  What could be sexier on Valentines than a dear, sweet husband who works himself nearly unconscious for the family he loves?  Happy Valentines day sweetie!

Second Annual Black & White Party

A year ago monday, Angie invited us over for Black & White bean chilli she had made in honor of Dr. King, and to welcome her new goldfish, christened "The King" because she had bought him on MLK day.  Being the goofy bunch we are, Troy, the kids, Troy's mom and I all showed up on their doorstep in mis-matched black and white clothing blasting "It doesn't matter if you're black or white" and dancing our hearts out. 
Thus was born the Annual Black & White Party.
 I've always been a huge fan of the esteemed Dr. and can't thank Angie enough for providing a fun way to celebrate his legacy with my family.  I am so thankful to live in a country where my children are free to dream, restrained in success only by their willingness to work!  And I am especially grateful for the men and women past and present who fight so hard to keep our children's dreams alive.

This year for the party, I made newspaper wigs for my family, and Troy's dad and his family joined us at Angie's. we played silly games, ate black and white food, and had a wonderful time!Thanks Angie!

Miss A. checkin' out her new 'do

Dont really know what to call Gavin's style-
But doesn't he look cute?!

Me sporting a little 40's throwback

Of COURSE he wanted a Mullet.
Of course he did.

Another fine wardrobe choice

What's a party without a
marshmallow eating contest?

Especially when it turns into a

marshmallow-throwing contest.

which it did.

Making Happy New Year

By an unexpected twist of life, I ended up stranded at home with my two kids last night.  One had cabin fever, the other the flu.  Troy was using the day off from work to knock out more walls in our new house and forgot he owned a cell phone :).  As the sun went down and parties got into swing, I started to feel very lonely.  Our current situation with Troy working up by our new house, and then going to work on our house after work (it's not liveable yet) with our only car, I'm used to being stuck home, but it was a holiday and I was feeling sorry for myself.
Finally, I got tired of feeling bent out of shape and remembered that it was completely up to me whether or not I had a "happy" new year.  So the kids and I got dinner in the oven, and started making some fancy new years hats.  While I was digging for doo-dads to glue on them, I found some old sparklers left over from 4th of July.  Carolyn came home just as our hats were finished and she took some pictures of us out ringing in the New Year. 

I guess that's one thing I've really learned this year.  I can choose my own happiness no matter what goes on around me.  There is something good in everything, and usually more than one something.  I just have to make the decision that I will see it, and let it lift my heart.  This New Year will be a good chance to practice better what I've learned. Happy New Year! I can't wait to see what I will have learned 364 days from today!

Happy Halloweeeeeeen!

I love, love, love, love, love this holiday!

Here's our Halloween Highlights.....

The PARTIES

Carrot-Almond Witches fingers

Boo-tiful Chips and Salsa

Pizza that bites back!

Mummy Dogs

Halloween Bingo!

The PUMPKINS

That was fu-u-un!



Hungry!



What is that guy eating?!

 The PUNKINS



What's Trick-or-Treat without Grandma?



A Gypsie, Lightning McQueen, Cinderella and a Medical Assistant/Truck Driver man



Vampire-Ella

The GHOULS

Every year Carolyn (my mom-in-law) and her friend Candy get all dressed up in coordinated costumes and hit the neighborhood for some trick-or-treating.  The neighbors look forward to their visit, and their always the talk of the neighborhood the next day.

Lately....

So much to tell, so little time.  I have been spending all my free time lately learning to be a publishable writer (or at least trying to...) and haven't blogged too much.  So in a nutshell, here's what the Richardsons have been up to:

We bought a SNAKE!

She's a red-tail columbian boa named Sunshine, or Sunny for short.  She is around 40 inches long and will grow to be around 8 ft long over the course of 10 years.  The kids love her too much and are having serious lessons on how not to freak out a potentially grouchy snake.  It's quite the process.

4th of July

We spent with Angie and James at the Sandy City freedom gig, which was fun.  They flew in a rescue helicopter the kids got to sit in, we watched police dog demonstrations, and the kids got to dress up in Police uniform and attack a punching bag thingy with a mean guy face on it.  Very cool.  Too bad Gavin could hardly walk with his gear on, much less run.  He still enjoyed the tackling bit though.

This Weekend:

We went camping to our same clandestine camping spot we hit over memorial weekend with Angie and James, and it was awesome.  We found an even cooler spot than last time, which I never would have imagined possible and had a great time. 

I also got to shoot my very first weapon, and didn't too bad if I do say so myself.  Then, when we were going home, we got to see one of nature's weapons.  There was a rattlesnake crossing the road in front of our car, and I had Troy keep it on the road with a (very) long stick so I could look at it.  Just as we were leaving, a truck pulled up with some very portly rednecks in it who asked if they could have the snake.  I don't know what they wanted it for, but I'm assuming dinner was long and lean that night! Oh to live in Utah!