Christmas 2008

Santa came! He came! We had a very fun Christmas, starting with family over for Christmas Eve with pajama parades, Santa Claus look-alike contests, cookie decorating and the nativity re-enactment. On Christmas morning, the kids awoke to stockings filled with fun treats and then a Christmas tree overflowing with presents. Some of the fun gifts included a car playset for Tanner, a Barbie extravaganza for Lauren, a digital camera and MP3 player for Ashley and a cupcake machine and Hannah Montana stage for Kaitlyn, plus a new playhouse in the basement and tons of DVDs, Wii games, Nintendo DS player and games, and toys toys toys toys. Tami got new luggage and a new violin case, while Melvin got a laptop, Wii fit and a puzzle of the kids in BYU clothes. It was a great day!

Candy houses

We ate more candy than actually ended up on the gingerbread, but had fun and sore tummies making our candy house. Lauren was the designated "frosting licker" and Tanner was the official "M&M taster" and a good time was had by all!

Cuddly Carter

Hard to believe that Carter is almost 3 weeks old. It's been a crazy 3 weeks with Tami recovering from a c-section and everything else, but Carter sure is a cuddly little guy and we sure love him. Tanner is still having issues with his new little brother and probably wouldn't mind if we sent him back somehow, but he's slowly adjusting.

Once there was a snowman

We got our first big snowfall of the season this past weekend and had fun with snowmen, snowball fights and snow angels.

Introducing the newest member of our family!

Introducing Carter Jay Richardson!

He was born yesterday, Dec. 1, 2009 at 3:58 PM and checks in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 19 inches long. He's got just a little bit of light red hair and is the cutest baby you'll ever see. We're so excited for his arrival!

Christmas Tree Picking

We made our annual trek up the mountain to cut down our Christmas tree at a tree farm in Mountain Green. We got a good one! It's a blue spruce and the girls had fun "helping" Dad pick it out, chop it down, load it up and set it up. We're getting Christmas decorations up and getting ready!

We Are Thankful!

Melvin is thankful for his eyesight! I underwent laser eye surgery 2 weeks ago and am enjoying adjusting to life without glasses. I had to have PRK (instead of the more common Lasik surgery), and it has taken a little bit of time to recover, but my eyesight is approaching 20/20 and it’s been fun to wake up in the morning and see my alarm clock and all those other things that make wearing glasses a nuisance.

Tami is thankful she only has a few more weeks of pregnancy left to go. He’s almost here! We can’t wait for little baby brother to join our family and are excited to have a Christmas surprise early this year with his arrival. Tami has enjoyed her bookclub and teaching violin lessons to a neighborhood girl.

Kaitlyn is thankful for bikes and scooters. She’s become an outdoors girl and loves to ride around the neighborhood and visit her friends and so forth. Kaitlyn recently brought 2 trophies home from school for her photograph and diorama entries into the school Reflections contest. She’s quite the artist!

Ashley is thankful for her violin. She has really done well in her violin lessons and looking forward to her upcoming recital with Kaitlyn on the violin. Ashley is still quite the reader, smashing class records for hours spent reading every month. She also brought home a Reflections trophy for her story about Nature Girl.

Lauren is thankful for preschool! She loves it! She is learning to write her name and play well with other kids and all the other preschool necessities and is having a great time with it. She has plastered our walls with her prodigious artwork output. She was also very excited to give her first talk in primary this past weekend.

Tanner is thankful for trucks. He always has at least one car or truck clutched tightly in his hand as he roams the house and loves to drive the car up couches and dad’s legs and whatever other surfaces he can find. Tanner started nursery this past Sunday, but wasn’t too sure about the whole thing. Hopefully he’ll warm up to it soon!

Fall Hike

We had a nice fall hike up the canyon to a waterfall and loved all the fall colors. Lauren walked about 5 feet on her own, then decided she was too tired, and had to be carried (along with Tanner) but the other girls did fine and it was a good time.

Leaf Us Alone

We went down to the school to ride bikes the other day and found a huge pile of leaves that provided lots of entertainment for us. We're having a fun fall!

Halloween Hauntings

We had a great Halloween at the Richardson house. The girls loved all the school Halloween parties and activities, and couldn't wait for the big day to finally come! Kaitlyn was Ariel, Ashley decided to be a '50s girl, Lauren was Little Miss Muffett and Tanner was the spider to frighten her away. Tanner wasn't too sure about trick-or-treating at first, but pretty soon he was shoving his way to the front to grab handfuls of candy. It was a fun night!

Soccer Stars

We just finished our 2008 Soccer season and all our girls did great! They loved their teams and coaches and had great seasons!

All I Need To Know I Learned in 2nd Grade

I took Kaitlyn and Ashley to BYU on Saturday for the BYU Football Game (Go Cougars!), and then walked with them around BYU for a little while afterwards, showing them the campus and so forth. Kaitlyn was pretty surprised by it all--I guess she thought BYU was just a big building like their elementary school or something. To be honest, the main point of the day was to start indoctrinating them in the ways of BYU and 'brainwash' them at an early age at how great all things BYU are.

As we walked by several of the buildings, I mentioned what they study there ("if you study biology, that's where lots of your classes will be," etc.). As we passed the Talmage Building, I pointed out that if they wanted to keep studying math, that's where lots of their classes would be and Ashley stopped dead in her tracks with a look of extreme alarm. "You mean there's MORE math even after I learn the times tables this year?!?"

Days at Disneyland

We had a great family trip to Disneyland! We were there for four days (three days at the park, one day at the beach) and did it all, from lunch with the princesses to Kaitlyn's first time on Space Mountain. It was Tanner's first time there and he especially liked the carousels and the train, while Lauren loved the Winnie the Pooh ride. Ashley loves the Peter Pan ride most of all, and Kaitlyn still puts Splash Mountain at the top of her list. Tami did great, trekking through three Disneyland while 7-1/2 months pregnant, and we had a fun time together.

Teton Trekking

My brother Ray and I just got back from a backpacking trip through the Grand Tetons! Wow--it was gorgeous! We had a good trip and saw some beautiful country. Here's some pics...

Whew....

For whatever reason, a little while ago I was worried about Tanner growing up with 3 older sisters in a house filled with Barbies and Polly Pockets and Strawberry Shortcake things. With all the girly things everywhere, how would I make him "manly" enough? My fears were layed partly at ease when I got him a toy truck the other day, and almost instinctively, with no prior training or teaching, he knew exactly what to do with it. He started pushing it all over the house, making made "vroom-vroom" noises for hours on end as he played and played with his toy truck. Fears were squelched--he's all boy!

Slideshow of East Coast Trip

We had a great trip to New York, Baltimore and the East Coast 2 weeks ago. We flew in and out of JFK and rented a car to drive down the coast, stopping at some of our favorite spots from when we lived there. Tanner stayed home with Aunt Tricia and the girls had the time of their lives and such hotspots as the American Girls store, Mary Poppins on Broadway, the beach at Ocean City, New Jersey, Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster County, the Hershey Chocolate Worls, picking blueberries, touring Washington DC and everything else. Here are some pictures from that trip!

Summer 08 Alphabet Soup

A is for the American Girl Store in New York, where our girls were excited to have a tea party with their dolls on our big family vacation to the East Coast.
B is for biking, which Melvin has been trying to master on his mountain bike, despite a few big spills, and enjoyed on a Moab camping/biking trip.
C is for candles atop several birthday cakes this summer including a train cake for Tanner, a pioneer cake for Kaitlyn and a Strawberry Shortcake cake for Lauren.
D is for dance recital, where the girls were all spectacular!
E is for excited to watch the upcoming Beijing Olympics!
F is for fishing, which we attempted with dubious success at East Canyon Reservoir.
G is for Girls Weekends, which Tami has enjoyed with both sides of the family.
H is for Hershey, Pennsylvania, the most anticipated stop on our big East Coast trip.
I is for insane, which Melvin thought he would become while trying to put together a large outdoor swingset.
J is for jamming, which we did with Margie and Lucy at a fun Peter Breinholt concert when they came to visit us.
K is for Kaitlyn’s baptism, a very special event for our family! We were blessed to have Mom and Dad Richardson come and join us for the special event.
L is for Lagoon, the amusement park. We splurged on season passes and have loved going there often—it’s only 5 minutes away!
M is for Mary Poppins, which we absolutely loved watching on Broadway.
N is for Number 5 Pregnancy, which Tami has been doing well with—we’re told it’s a boy!
O is for the Opera Festival that Melvin and Tami got to enjoy in Logan, Utah.
P is for Park City, where we enjoyed a week-long vacation with Margie and Lucy and had a great time swimming and hiking and playing together.
Q is for quiet—a rarity at the Richardson house with usually lots of neighborhood kids over to play.
R is for running, which Melvin has been doing a lot of as he ran a half marathon and several 5Ks and 10Ks this summer.
S is for swimming, which our girls have loved doing in swim lessons and on vacations.
T is for tomatoes in our garden outside. It’s been so much fun!
U is for underwear—Lauren is (finally) potty-trained!
V is for violin, which Tami plays in a local community symphony orchestra that has had several summer concerts.
W is for walking, which Tanner finally started to figure out after being taught by his cousin Lucy.
X is for the Xango Triathlon, which Melvin trained for and completed this summer!
Y is for our new yard, put in this summer. It’s been fun to finally have grass to play on!
Z is for zephyrosaurus, among many dinosaurs we’ve admired at the Ogden Dinosaur Park.

Kaitlyn's baptism

Saturday was a big day for our family--Kaitlyn's baptism! She was very excited to take such a big step, and hopefully had a wonderful day. My parents came up for the weekend to take part in the festivities and we felt a lot of support from both families. Several of Kaitlyn's friends and teachers also came and took part in the event. We had a little get-together at our house afterwards and had a great day! Hard to believe my little girl is old enough to get baptized!