Cooper & Paul

These two crack me up! They always have the funniest conversations. This is one of the latest. I wasn't there to hear it, but my friend Lou lou took great notes as she heard them. Here it is...

Paul: "Bella (darling little neighbor girl) wants to marry me. I'm serious."

Sydney: (Paul's little sister) "I'm going to marry Ethan (Bella's little brother)."

Leslie: (Paul's mom) "Coop, do you have a girlfriend?"

Coop: "no"

Paul: " You know Cooper you can't make to the Celestial Kingdom unless you get married."

Coop: "I know."

Paul: "I want two kids, a boy and a girl."

Coop: " Me too, but I don't want the girl to be older because older girls play pranks. Did you know that Paul?"

Coop: "Peiton has a boyfriend--it's Cole (Paul's little brother)."

Paul: 'Hey if they get married we can be related."

Ha, ha, ha...Where in the world did Cooper find out that older girls play pranks??? And the fact that they are talking about marriage...what??

Another camping trip...

We went camping again, yes again! Thanks to Holly (for taking Bode) and to great, fun friends, it was a blast! We have had this trip planned since like April, you have to plan it that far in advance if you want to get a spot. We got the camp spot up American Fork Canyon at the Timponoekke (sp??) campground. It was beautiful! We had the perfect spot. We got two group spots and we had our own little culdesac, it worked out great. Like I said before, my mother-in-law took Bode for us. That was such a relief! I felt bad leaving him home, but he had a much funner time with Grandma and Grandpa than he would have had camping. It made our trip much more enjoyable too. We got up there Friday night and enjoyed some Cafe Rio under pine trees. Spent the night eating smores and just talking it up. The kids played their little hearts out. There was a fear of bears, this was the campground that the little boy was dragged from his tent last year. The kids had all been prepped and once night time came, I think they got a little nervous. We only had one encounter with a bear, that was when Ali stuck her hand out her tent door and touched it's fur...crazy!!! (It really didn't happen) What a cutie.

On Saturday we ate a yummy french toast breakfast made my the Jones' and just lounged around until we decided to go to Silver Lake. We had a great time there, I am so glad we went. The kids played in the water, some of the adults played in the water, and some adults tipped over the raft fully dressed in the water. If it wasn't for Lou lou trying to surf on the tiny 2 person raft, I still would have been dry. :) It was all worth it though, having to swim her and the boat back to shore because we both couldn't get in the middle of the lake. I think the main problem was we were flooding the deflating boat which made it very difficult to get in.

We got back to camp and played some games, and the Johnson's, Myer's and Olson's made us delicious Taco Salads for dinner. More smores were made, and more chit-chattin was done. We woke up Sunday morning made breakfast burritos and packed up and headed out. It was a great trip and one we will do again. We missed those that couldn't make it...until next year!

American Idol

On Tuesday, we were so lucky to be able to go to the American Idol Tour. I have always been a big fan of American Idol and I watch it diligently and I even vote...yahoo, and the man I voted for the most, WON! (Although I was pretty fond of Adam too, not his screaming and weird, yucky dancing, but his voice was pretty awesome).

This was SO awesome, we had such a great time. I don't know what was funner, listening to all the cool music and their great voices, or screaming like a teenager seeing Zac Efron in person (well I would be screaming too if I saw Zac Efron in person, what a babe).

Charlie, Holly, Aunt Julie, Court, Kelly, Collin, Me, taking photo=my mom

Collin and I

Collin, me, Mom


Charlie, Holly, Aunt Julie

Court and Kelly

This is one of the many commericals they played before it started and during intermission. Every time Adam's face would pop up, the crowd would SCREAM...it was hilarious.



Here are some of our favorites....(my camera doesn't zoom in very far, so the pictures aren't the best).

Megan- not really my favorite, actually not my favorite at all. Collin sure does like her though, I think it might be the hot pink dress she was wearing.

Matt - He was one of my favorites, I always like what he did. He was pretty fun to watch too.

Danny= This would be my Mom's and Aunt Julie's fav. Go Danny!

Adam= I sure did like Adam, I liked him at the beginning of the competition and then he kind of got annoying, but I still think he is pretty awesome. He sure does know how to put on a show. The crowd was wild when he came out.

Kris= Oh...Kris, what a cute guy. I could sit, watch, and listen to him sing for a long time. He did a great job. I was kind of bummed that he didn't sing my favorite song of his, but he did a great job anyway.

Thanks Holly and Charlie for the great night! We had so much fun and it was an awesome show!

Richards family camping trip

Last weekend we had our annual Richards Family camping trip. We went up to Tanner's flat up Little Cottonwood canyon. I have fond memories of this place, we use to go here all the time as a family growing up. It was still as beautiful as I remember, although not quite as relaxing and exciting....:)

I would have to say it was kind of a crazy camping trip. Oh my goodness. Bode and Peiton gave Collin and I a run for our money...crazy! Not that they were crazy, well Peiton's scream got a little crazy because of the lack of sleep, and Bode was just crazy Bode. The first night I think I got about 2 hours of sleep, that might be exaggerating a little bit. Peiton wasn't quite sure what was going on and she is one to sleep very well in her crib, not in the mountains, in a tent, sleeping by 4 other people.

We got up there Friday afternoon and set up camp, we had a great camp. We cooked tin foil dinners that night...yummy, one of my camping favorites. Cooper had fun with his cousins playing on scooters and just enjoying getting dirty. We took many walks up and down the campground and enjoyed each other's company.

On Saturday we just had a lot of down time (well everyone else but Collin and I) and we were visited my a few rain storms, which actually cooled it down quite a bit, it was pretty nice. Court, Matt, Cam, Grandma and Grandpa J came and visited us that day, Nicky we MISSED you! Holly and Charlie made a delicious dutch oven dinner that night and I think I got my kids in bed by 8:00, which was awesome!! They were wasted.

Even though it was a little crazy, it was great to be with family. Thanks for putting up with our crazy kids...hopefully we are invited next year, and hopefully we come. :)

Bode graduates...again!

Bode had his 2nd preschool graduation a couple of weeks ago. I know it is a little behind, but since I am using this blog as somewhat of a journal, I thought I should get it on here. I was on my Tuacahn trip so I wasn't able to see it, but I guess he wasn't the most pleasant kid, at least compared to last year which does make me feel better since I did have to miss it.
Even when he is a grouch, he is still a pretty cute kid.

Thanks to Grandma and Court for helping out!

Here is a little video of the fun things he was able to do. Watch him struggle with the teacher to get away...poor teacher, he is one tough kid and never stops until he gets his way (yes, we are working on this).

Congrats Bode, so proud of you!

Milestone in the Richards family

Yes, we have hit a milestone in our family...Cooper can ride a bike! When he was about 4, he had a accident on his training wheels and it has scared him to death until now. I think the trigger was telling him that he HAD to ride a bike in the block party parade. I think it got him kind of thinking. I had worked with him a little bit and then the day before the block party he still couldn't ride the bike. I said "why don't we take your bike to Grandpa Charlie's and see if he can help you." That we did and guess what??? After about 10 minutes of practicing, he was riding a bike! Grandpa is a pro!

He now just turbos around and can't get enough of his bike. I do think we need to upgrade a little bit, this bike was the bike he biffed it on and it is a Power Ranger bike...he outgrew the Power Rangers about 2 years ago. Go Cooper!

4th of July!

Wow, I can't believe the 4th of July weekend was over a week ago, where is July going?? We did have a great 4th of July though. We weren't able to go camping with my family because of Bode's speech and Collin's job, but we were able to have fun anyway...although we did miss some of the VW fun.

We started the holiday off with going to the parade on Friday night...how I love a parade, I really do. I think they are so fun. My kids usually do well at them and just have a blast. We grabbed Subways and ate them while we waited for the parade to start. Bode crashed, which made it really nice so we did not have to chase him around. I woke him up in time for the horses and he always loves the horses. Coop of course had a blast trying to get as much as candy as possible, which I was happy about too, the more candy for him, the more candy for me...I can't get enough of the salt water taffy. Peiton was a big girl and sat in a little girl chair and enjoyed some candy of her own.

After the parade we headed over to our friends the Peck's and watched some seriously awesome fireworks! They were quite a show ;) Bode got sick of them after about 15 minutes and walked himself home, he thought a movie might be a little more interesting...crazy kid!


The next day we headed back over to the Peck's for a yummy 4th of July breakfast! They fed the neighborhood and it sure was yummy and a lot of work...thank you so much!
We decided to chance it and take all the kids to Ice Age 3, I was able to watch about 30 minutes of it and then Peiton had it so we left and did a little sight shopping at the local stores. Bode and Cooper loved it.
That night we headed to Heber for a great bbQand some more fireworks. Little did we know that we would be eaten alive my mosquito's. My grandparents live right by Deer Creek reservoir and they have a little canal that runs in the backyard that I think attracts all of the mosquito's, they were sure loving us that night. I think we all came home with 10+ mosquito bites and that was with repellent. But is sure was fun. It is always a good time and grandma and pa's!
That is about it for our 4th of July festivities, we all had a great time.

Tuacahn

A week ago I was able to go to St. George with my mom, sisters, Grandma Zenda, Aunt Peggy and all of her girls. This is the 10th year that we have done this. I have been to all of them but one. Every year it gets better. My Grandma has a house down in St. George and she buys us tickets to see both of the Tuacahn plays that are showing. We make it a super long weekend (not long enough) and head down on Wednesday night, while the husbands are left home with the kiddos....ahhh heaven! No packing kids in the car, buckling them in car seats, no waking up in the middle of the night (just to Jacki snoring), no screaming (well unless you are a Mckenzie girl) and no crying (unless you are me). We have a blast!

Mom, Rachelle, Jacki, Grandma Zenda, Peggy, Cobi, Angie

Hollie, Stacy, Preslee, Me, McKenzie, Denni

We spent the weekend shopping, at the pool, eating, seeing a movie, more shopping, more eating, seeing another movie, plays, games, giggles, more eating, more shopping, another play, games, and more eating....

I am so glad that my Grandma does this for us. It helps us get to know each other better. I feel that if we didn't do this we wouldn't be as close as we are. So thanks grandma again and again for letting me spend time with you and everyone else. And thanks Collin for always being willing to take the kiddos! Your the best! Alisha we missed you this year!!