The Original

Charles Howard Richards

Since his birth there have been three more, my grandfather, my dad, and my brother. He is a family legacy. He was visiting my family this week, and I got a strong impression so ask Nicole to take some shots of him so we can have some beautiful portraits to remember him by. He had a close call last year, and I just don't know how much longer he'll be here. I'm hoping he can last a few more years so he can hold his first great-great-grand child, but we'll just have to see.

Of the shots I've seen so far, this is my favorite. I have to admit I'm a sucker for details, but this one just speaks to me.

His hands. Just think about the the almost 100 years he's been alive, and all those hands have been through. Those hands served our country in World War 2, they held the love of his life my great grandmother MaryBeth's hands, they held my dad's hand as he was a child, and so much more.

Even though he was sad he wasn't able to witness Andrew and I being sealed, he supported our decision and was there to hold my hand that day as well. He is an amazing man, with so much life experience. He'll always be remembered as singing, "A pretty girl is like a melody" and "Little boy with a baseball bat" and we don't know the rest of either of those songs. The baseball caps he loves to wear, his wedding band he won't remove even after his love passed over 10 years ago, and his Navy tattoo that he regrets getting now almost 80 years later. We'll all also remember his fear of Mexico, but that's a long story.

We all love you Papa! Thank you for being such an amazing man.

les crepes!

So Andrew picks me up from work tonight around 9:05pm. 

I ask, "what's for dinner babe?"

Babe: Crepes

Me: Like with food, or with chocolate?

Babe: Chocolate

Me: Nice.

This is why I married him! Anyone could have a normal boring dinner, but my man makes delish dessert crepes. Here are some pics of the "feast", enjoy because we sure are with our stomachs full!

Sin City

That was too short of a vacation, but totally worth it! We got to Vegas around noon (vegas time, I always forget there's a time difference) got to our suite, and it was just like the pictures! Luxurious! The bed was HUGE and sooo comfortable. I told my mom " it was so big, I didn't even touch Andrew all night!" which she said, "that's not good.." but I just meant I roll around A TON and always seem to smack Andrew. It was probably good for him too. Can I just say, when I have my real house, we are having a TV in the bathroom. I loved that perk! So we settled in, snacked, went out to the pool in their big comfy soft lounge chairs, and sweated. It was incredibly hot! After that we showered, went to Caesar's Palace, ate, shopped, watched the fountains at the Bellagio, and headed back. I promptly fell asleep after getting into my complimentary robe and flicked on "rebels and red coats" on PBS. That knocked me out.

Today we got up, watched a little "Family Feud" before we checked outta our suite, then went to the M&M and COCA COLA stores. Sadly we had to make our way back to Provo for a bon fire activity for church. It was great to get out of Utah for a day and a half.

I would recommend Vegas to everyone, at least day time Vegas. At night they have people flicking little cards with naked women on them at you. Ally said she was lucky because they'd try to give them to Derek, then see she was pregnant and stop. She was lucky! Hello! He's holding his wife's hand! He doesn't want "girls direct" to him! So, stay in the light!

Here are some pics Ally took, I was too lazy to take my camera.

Micro-Vaca

So this is the last week before I start school again. I had to do something! I have 3 days off of work at the end of the week, so we're going down to VEGAS with another couple we're really good friends with. I am so excited. Sun, Sun, SUN is what I'm looking forward to, it's been insanely dark and cloudy and rainy the past two weeks. Oh, and did I mention we're staying at the world famous VENETIAN resort? Ya, I'm pretty excited about that too! So, Thursday and Friday this week, this is where I'll be! Can't wait!

Here's the hotel's description of the suite:

• Approximately 650 square feet
• 130 square foot Bathroom
• Sunken Living Room
• Two 32" flat-screen LCD HDTVs
• 17” LCD HDTV in the bathroom
• Roman tub with separate glass-enclosed shower
• Full-sized sofa-sleeper (based on availability)
• Dining table with seating for three
• Oversized coffee table and ottoman
• Private work area with:
  
  – Dual-line telephone
  
  – Wireless high-speed internet access
  
  – Personal fax / printer / copier
  
• DVD player
• CD player / alarm clock
• Plush robes and comfortable slippers
• Remote-controlled Roman shades and curtains

he just HAD to

Andrew had a company get together yesterday. They had a taco bar, then played softball. Right at the end of the game, he hit the ball nice low and deep into the left outfield. We all knew it was coming, a home run! As he rounded 3rd, the outfielders had regrouped and were throwing the ball home faster than we thought they would. There was only one thing he HAD to do. Slide into home. You guessed it. He was safe.

Luckily he has me to bandage him up!

You're lucky aren't you babe? hm... Well, I also gave him a hair cut last week, does it look too bad? It was my first time ever giving a haircut. At least there aren't bald pieces all over his head!

experimenting

With my "talent" (more like lack there of) for sewing. I had a bunch of scraps left over from the pillows, so today a stumbled through making a scripture case from my favorite fabric. Not too bad for my first try! All hand sewn as well!

pillow project

So, I needed some type of change to our apartment, I can't believe we've been here for almost a year! I saw some sweet pillows at TJ Max but they were $20 each. Sadly, that's not in our budget at the moment. Instead of buying new pillows my friend took me up to this amazing store in South Jordan that had the cutest fabrics. I LOVE cute fabric, I felt like buying it all. But, I only bought what I needed to cover 5 pillows in the living room. I re-covered 5 pillows for the price of $17, pretty thrifty huh? I have two complete, but the sewing machine we were using broke, I'll post more pics when they're all finished. Meanwhile here are the two finished, and the other two patterns I got. 

PS- can you guess which one is my favorite fabric?

Oh and here are some pics of practice cupcakes for Ally's baby shower. My favorite is the brown one with the blue foot print to the far right.

You can tell Aaron loves having his picture taken!

Short & Sweet

I'm not going to write a whole long drawn out story about how much I love my mom, basically because I haven't cried (yet) from being separated from my family and disney, and I don't want to start. Here are the essentials, my mom is:

my best friend

hilarious

caring

giving

a straight shooter

honest

beautiful & hott

prime example of how a mom should treat her kids and husband

spiritual

and she could be a model if she wanted!

I love you mom. I know what you're doing!

Love in the Sun

Here are a random assortment of pictures I like from our cruise! We all had so much fun and loved every minute of it. From the amazing food (for sure one of Andrew's top faves) to our family dominating karaoke night, it was a blast! I would recommend everyone to do the Disney cruise, it has no comparison to any other cruise. This was top quality. We are planning our next one right now, right mom?! We had 15 family members there, it was awesome. I even got a bit of sun which is had for me! One of my favorite things was going to the spa with mom and gma. I was treated to 8 spa treatments. Can you relax and say, "ah"? Mom fell asleep during her massages. We pretty much ruled the spa too, going about every other day! I just love being with family, it by far is the best aspect of vacationing. It doesn't really matter where you are, as long as you're with family you can have the time of your life.    

Sun, sand, pina colodas, and family. That's what it's all about!