Family Reunion with Richey's & Platt's

First stop Carlsbad Caverns



Kevin where were you born?

Feeling a little"green"
Roswell, New Mexico



There's enough for everyone





Nick and Ryleigh soooo cute!

Hot chile suckers...only in AZ.


Bout' to eat some crawfish...yuck!




July 24 is Pioneer Day for our church which means it is the day the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and President & Prophet Brigham Young declared "this is the place". Many more companies of people traveled to get to Salt Lake after that first trip and many tragedies happened along the way. So we celebrate our great heritage and commemorate that special day every year on July 24th. There is nothing quite like going to St. Johns AZ. and spending the 24th celebrating with family and friends. St. Johns was an early Mormon settlement, the town puts forth a lot of effort to commemorate the 24th by having a week filled with fun activities for families and towns people to get together. It has been a great time for family reunions in the town, ours included.

We really enjoy seeing family and getting to know family we haven't met yet. This year we had a motor home so we were able to park in the back of Uncle Milford's home and enjoy the festivities. Some of the fun Richey activities we participated in was: eating together(of course), picture scavenger hunt of different important places, the campfire circle, and movie night.

We also got to see and spend time with the Platt family too. We had great fun riding on the the float in the parade that Patrice and family put together. It won 1st prize for "best family float". We also had shirts made this year which was nice and I'm sure time consuming for Jesse to put together. (Thank You) We ate a great BBQ at Grandma Platt's house thanks to Patrice, Kat, and all those that put that together.

Plus we can't forget going out to the ranch in the evening to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Brad and Jeremy's favorite thing to do is to go and look for petrified wood and remember the fun things they did on the ranch as a kids. There is something special about the ranch. We really just enjoy getting together now matter what we do, just hanging out is the best. Oh I forgot about the family swim night, I didn't go but Brad and Cole went and Cole loved it!

Five generations

Then and Now

Since it was Victoria's birthday last month I couldn't help but think of what a cute little baby she was. She probably always hears the bad stuff from me but she was and is one of the best things that has happen to me and Brad's life. So here are a few pictures of her in celebration of her 14th b-day.


Victoria in the hopsital with one happy Grandma.



Victoria 8 days old, her blessing day.

She's as goofy as ever and totally a teenager!

Playing Catch Up

You can click on the collage to see the pictures better.


For those of you who read this little blog or look at the pictures, sorry for not posting in 3 months, but life has been well...busy and so I am going to try to play catch up! Also sorry for the book to read here, if you don't want to read it then just check out the pictures.

May-was fun but busy due to dance rehearsals, recital and ball games, plus all the end of school activities that happen. Well we got through May and then came June.

On June 5th the kids and I left Brad for Utah and CA. First stop though was Vegas baby! We flew in to Vegas and my sister came to pick up Cole. Yes, we pawned him off on her for 10 days, while Victoria and I flew to Utah so she could attend EFY(Especially for Youth) at BYU. Cole was happy to hang out with his cousins and we were happy to let him, since his over excitement for trips and such can really wear on ya.

Victoria played at EFY while I played with my friend Michelle and her family in Orem, UT. It was really great to see the ole'stoppin grounds of my college days and show Victoria where we lived and where her Dad and I met. She absolutely loved her experience and all the neat people she met. She plans to go every year now and of course attend BYU (let's hope she gets in).

I enjoyed my un-interrupted sleep time and going to the temple in Provo which took 5 min. to get to, verses 3 1/2 hours. I also got to visit with some other friends but still missed seeing many more that I'll have to catch up with next time. Michelle and family were great hosts and it was such a nice relaxing week.

After Utah we flew to San Fransisco to hang out with my old friend Taressa and her family for a few days. They took us to the Golden Gate bridge which was so beautiful and the sky was perfect for pictures but the wind was a little cold. We went to church with Tares and her family and I ran into one of my best friends from Cypress, Kim Walker who moved when I was 15 years old. It was amazing that she happened to be visiting an old friend in Danville that same weekend. We had not seen each other for 19 years. We had a great time visiting with each other. Staying with Tares and her family was wonderful. Tares is an excellent cook and host too. My friends were really spoiling us.

After the fun in San Fran it was back to Cypress to be with Grandma & Grandpa, plus relieve Kara from her duty. Cole was great for her and she still likes us so that's good....phew! Visiting with my parents is always fun. We made several beach trips, shopping trips, and movie trips. We've pretty much given up on Disneyland since it's to dang packed, we only go in the winter now. We went to our neighbors wedding which was lots of fun because we saw all kinds of old friends. Because of Facebook I was able to reconnect with friends I had not seen since high school and so I had the opportunity to meet up with some of them too.

Well after a month of that we got home and 2 days later Victoria and I went to girls camp for 4 days. Victoria celebrated her 14th birthday while at camp. Camp was a lot of fun and many sleepless nights. The girls had a great time canoeing, going on a party barge, swimming, crafts and hanging out with friends. We went to Toledo Bend in Louisiana, like 4 hours from my house. The cabins are air conditioned so it wasn't really camping.

That's about it for now we are heading out to St. John's AZ. for a family reunion which is always great, can't wait to see all the family. We are taking the RV out for the first trip so I hope it makes it, I'll post later on that.

Ashdown Whistle Stop Pageant

 
 
 
 
Last night Victoria was in a Pageant in Ashdown. Every year Ashdown has this festival called Whistle Stop Days where all the local merchants get together and close Main Street to cars and have street venders and games for kids. There were nine other girls in her division and she knew all of them from school. She had a great time getting all dressed up, and her hair turned out really cute, too bad I didn't get a picture of it from the back. She didn't place but of course we thought she should have. It was good experience for her and she wants to try another one sometime. We are proud of Victoria for all the things she does and tries, she is a pretty good kid.

P.S. Victoria counted how many bobby-pins were in her hair when she took them out and there were 32! The girl who did it made sure that hair wasn't going to move.

A Home Run Night!

 
 
 
 

Cole is playing baseball this Spring and it has been a little rough. Many times he has wanted to quit but mom has persevered. Well when he hit a base hit that then turned into a home run because of error he was on cloud nine, NOW baseball was fun! He was able to get on base again and get all the way home, which for those of you who know about little boys baseball is quite a feat. We are glad he doesn't want to quit just yet and are proud of him for hitting his first home run!

Hunting for Diamonds

During Spring break some of Jeff & Julie's kids got to come out for a visit. And of course what is a visit to Arkansas with out a visit to the the famous Diamond Mine in Murfeesburo about 40 miles away. The kids had a great visit and we are so glad Jeff was able to come out, maybe more can make it next time.

RV

Brad and I are officially old now, because we just purchased an RV! We are pretty excited about it. Brad and his brother Kevin have been searching for the perfect RV at a reasonable price. They both finally found what they have been looking for, after many looooong phone conversations and internet searching.

We flew to Indiana last Saturday to pick it up and drive it home so Brad could make it to work on Monday. Well not ever owning such a beast of a vehicle it took some explaining and figuring out what all the gadgets were to finally get on our way. We drove for a few hours that night and spent the night in a KOA camp ground in Kentucky. We lazily got up the next morning and started our 9 hour drive home. All went well until Little Rock. Brad was talking to Kevin and I pulled off to get some gas. After starting the RV I came out from the gas station and noticed something leaking from the engine area. Brad quickly figured it out to be diesel fuel that we just filled up with. Thankfully across the street was a 18 wheeler repair shop that also fixes RV's. So 2 1/2 hours away from home and the kids dying to see the thing we had to call and tell them we were staying the night because we wouldn't be able to make it home. They were very disappointed as we were too. We stayed the night in hopes that we would be able to get things fixed early and head out. But we ended up renting a car and going home, then traveling back on Wednesday to pick the RV up. I picked it up and oh yes it was fun driving home by myself. I still ended up with some problems related to the transmission, we are hoping it is only electrical but we'll see. Other than that I made it safely home and now I feel confident that I can drive almost anything. I'm sure some of you are thinking "why did you get this thing because it is so much trouble and cost". Well it was too good a deal to pass up and if we put a few thousand dollars into it, it's still a good deal. The economy has helps us out with being able to afford this luxury.

We look forward to many weekend camping trips to the many lakes our area has to offer. We have a family reunion this Summer in AZ. and can't wait to drive it out there. And then hopefully I can talk Brad into taking some time off to head to Destin, FL. and camp on the beach for a while and relax. Happy Trail to US!

Cole's Baptism

Well it's official Cole got baptised Feb. 14, 2009. It was a wonderful day. Victoria gave a talk on baptism and to my surprise got emotional talking about her brother. Also Garrett gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost which meant a lot to Cole. He really looks up to Victoria and his older cousins. Many friends and family came which made it extra special. After the baptism the family went to eat at "Smokey Joe's" and it was delicious. Cole was exhausted by the end of the day. His cousins from Ca. Weston and Garrett were here so he had lots of fun playing with them but he didn't get much sleep that weekend. Thanks to my sister & family for flying out here and to my parents too.

A thing For FEET

Victoria takes dance and one of the mom's in her class has 3 girls taking dance (hate to pay for that) anyway she gave Miss Lana (the teacher) the cutest Christmas gift, pictures of all 3 of her girls ballet shoes. So Victoria and I stole the idea and took pictures of her feet in all 3 dance shoes. I thought they turned out cute and we are going to hang them in her room and give Grandma a birthday present.

If any one wants to copy the idea, you should, baby shoes would be an adorable picture keepsake for any Grandma or mom and what an inexpensive way to decorate or give a gift.

Tip: Turn off the date thing on your camera before you start taking pictures.