Tanner Boy

Hard to believe Tanner is 2 months old! He's a very good baby. He's been a good eater and sleeper, and just this past week discovered his smile. He loves being held and occasionally will sit in his swing, but usually Lauren tortures him when he sits in it. He gets more attention than he knows what to do with from his 3 big sisters, but generally tolerates them well.

Summer Fun!

So I haven't posted for awhile. Too busy with summer activities and a new baby, I guess. Or at least that's my excuse.

We're still waiting for our house to get finished (looking like mid-August right now), and so we've been living with Tami's parents for the past 2 months. It's worked out well and they've been very kind to let us invade their house with our 4 (!) kids and all the clutter and noise that comes along with that. It's been fun to slowly watch our house take shape. With each step, it transforms itself a little bit more and slowly is becoming what we've been picturing in our mind for the past 18+ months that we've been working on this thing.

Here's some summer pictures of the girls. This is at the Handcart Visitors Center at Martin's Cove in Wyoming. (We were in Casper for a medical meeting).

Kaitlyn turned 7! Hard to believe! She had a fun birthday party taking her friends mini-golfing.



Here's Lauren playing ball with me while at her big sisters' T-ball game.



And Ashley trying to cool down during one of the hottest summers in Utah history.

It's a Boy!

We are thrilled to welcome the newest member of our family! Tanner Kent Richardson was born yesterday, May 14, 2007, at Davis Hospital in Layton, UT. He checked in at 7 lbs 15 oz., and measured 20 inches long. He's got brownish-reddish (too early to really tell) hair and people think he looks kinda like his dad (poor boy!).




Everything went pretty well with the delivery and we couldn't be happier! His sisters are all very exciting and welcoming. It's taken Lauren a little bit to warm up to him (mainly just wanting some attention from her mom more than anything), but gave him some kisses tonight and seems to be happy he's here. Kaitlyn and Ashley are thrilled and have both taken many long turns holding him and drawing 'Welcome Home' signs for him and everything.

Easter Beauties

Here are some pictures from Easter on Temple Square. We took the girls down to see the flowers and were amazed at how many there were. The gardens were all in full bloom and the girls did a good job posing for some fun pictures in their Easter dresses, but also enjoying the beauty all around us.

G'day from Down Under

I just got back from a week-long adventure with Ray in Australia. We had a great time, with lots of interesting sites, sounds and experiences as we toured New South Wales. We did a little bit of everything as we covered almost 2500 kilometers in our rental car, from hiking remote bushtrails in the Budawand Mountains to walking across the Sydney Harbor Bridge with a thousand of our closest Aussie friends. We rode bikes through vineyards in Hunter Valley and spelunked through the amazing Jenolan Caves, camped with kangaroos and survived a downtown youth hostel with even wilder animals. We were amazed at the Snowy River's beauty, confused by Aussie slang, and befriended by nice people all around us. Some of the highlights:

-Wildlife! We were amazed to find animals and birds of every description, from the most colorful and exotic birds ever imagined, to kangaroos hopping across roads and past our tent early in the morning. We especially enjoyed a dolphin-watching cruise in Port Stephens and the amazing Sydney Aquarium, which showcased fish and wildlife from across Australia including sharks, giant turtles, penguins and exotic fish from the Great Barrier Reef.

-Driving on "the wrong side of the street." It took some courage and some constant vigilance, but we both figured out the whole driving thing. The trickiest part was remembering which side the turn signal and rear-view mirror was on (opposite than US cars) and mastering the ever-present Aussie roundabout.

-Hikes. We went on several walks and trails, but also tried our skill at two day hikes. We hiked to the summit of Mount Kosciusko, the tallest mountain in Australia and also Pigeon House Summit, and enjoyed many scenic views and vistas.

-Sydney. Wow! What an amazing city! We were excited to see the famed Sydney Harbor and iconic Opera House, but also enjoyed many other parts of the city, including Darling Harbor, the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Government House, the Rocks, Bondi Beach, Botany Bay and so forth. We were lucky to be there as the Harbor Bridge celebrated its 75th birthday and joined in with a giant party across the city to celebrate. We also had great Thai and Japanese food and had a great time in Sydney.

-People. We met several very friendly Aussies through our travels, including a very kind couple, Selmar and Lisa Nebalung, who rescued us from near disaster when our rental car had two flat tires within a couple minutes time on a deserted dirt road. Very thankful!

We had a great trip Down Under in Australia!
Melvin

For a slideshow of our trip, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjJOhDwyJpU

Ice Skating Princesses

We had a fun time taking the girls ice skating a couple weekends ago. They all did well on the ice! Kaitlyn is getting more and more comfortable on the ice, while Ashley is doing well on her "training" ice skates. Lauren surprised us all, though, by getting brave and trying some skating all on her own, without Dad's help. She had a few falls, but did great. Most of the time, though, she (like her sisters) did laps around the rink holding desperately onto Dad. A good time had by all!

Our house is framed!

I haven't posted anything for awhile, but wanted to "show off" some pictures of the much-awaited framing of our house. Here's a view from the front and the back. They plan to start the 4-way work this week (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, gas line etc) andso we're hoping to continue to see progress. It's been a slow process, but we're finally seeing some progress. We had hoped to be in the house before school started last August, but our hopes and expectations have had to adjust several times, and now we're just really hoping to be in before our baby comes in May. We'll see...

Snow Day

We had a big snowfall this week, and celebrated by playing lots in the snow. We made a snowgirl in our backyard. It's pretty pathetic, I'll admit. I'm just not able to put big snowballs together to pile on top of each other. I'm blaming it on Utah's "dry" snow, but I'm sure it's mainly my fault. But in my defense, I grew up in Arizona and have no idea how to make snowmen.

We also had a great time sledding down a nearby hill. Lauren was fearless and had a great time! She insisted on going sledding (and skiing in Kaitlyn's skis) again and again.

And on Saturday, I took Kaitlyn skiing for the first time. It was fun and she did pretty well considering it was her first time. She basically stood in front of me with her skiis in the middle of mine and held on to me. At first it was a little tricky, but we figured out how to do it. We had great skiing conditions with all the recent snow and had a fun time.

It's a Boy!

We had our follow-up ultrasound this past week, and it looks like we're having a baby boy! We're all very excited. Ashley at first seemed a little disappointed and a little leery of a new baby brother (having had some bad experiences with boys being mean to her), but has warmed up to the idea. We're going back and forth about names and so forth, but I think the "pre-birth" name for now is going to be Wilbur, at least until we think of something better that'll stick. We'll probably do something similar to what we did with our other children, and bring 2 names to the hospital and see which one best fits the new little one. We're about halfway through the pregnancy, so we're slowly getting closer to the May 18th due date. Can't wait!

Christmas Report

We had a great Christmas! It was fun to be around family after three years in Maryland, and we enjoyed great holiday activities, from countdown advent calendars to school at projects. Some of our favorite things were the "Savior of the World" play at Temple Square, decorating gingerbread houses, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert (be sure to catch it when they broadcast it on PBS next Christmas--it was spectacular!), driving around special neighborhoods all decorated in lights, and watching "A Christmas Carol" at a community theater. We've also had some fun game nights with friends and family and several ward/work/city/school holiday parties.

Eyes were aglow and tiny tots found it hard to sleep on Christmas Eve, but they did and Santa came and found us! We set up a video camera to catch Santa in the act (a la Mortensens) and had some amazed and excited little girls on Christmas morning. Santa came through with fun presents for everyone. Lauren's favorite presents were Ashley's dolly and Kaitlyn's roller skates (she kinda liked some of her own presents, too). Ashley especially liked her Mommy and Me dolly, a new video game player, Barbie Dancing Princess dolls and Lego blocks. Kaitlyn was thrilled to find an Easy Bake Oven from Santa, as well as a beginning knitting and sewing kit, a Barbie and a jewelry box. Melvin was excited to get a new bike and a new wedding ring (I lost my old one a couple months ago and it's now certain to show up now that we've replaced it!).

For Tami's Christmas gifts, I usually try to follow a theme. This year, the theme was an 80's song with the refrain "You spin me round, round baby, round, round like a record, baby." I tried to find things that spin round, round. Some of the items included a new CD and DVD and little things like that, but some of the bigger items included a blender, a can server, her KitchenAid mixer (repaired after being broken for over 2 years!), and so forth.

A Merry Christmas all around, I guess. Can't wait 'til next year!