What's new?

Well, Zane is getting baptized on Saturday, so I'll post some pictures of that once the deed is done. Troy is baptizing him so that will be cool for them both. My sister Staci and her family are kind enough to make the trek down from Kaysville to Provo for it so that is much appreciated.

I made my plane reservation for my trip to California in May, so I'm really looking forward to that. Troy and I are going to Vegas in a couple of weeks to see Bon Jovi and Daughtry at the MGM so that will be way fun. You probably won't be seeing any pictures from trip because as we all know, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"...as it should be. :)

I'll try to post the pictures from Saturday this weekend...I'm being optomistic.

The Latest

So it's Sunday morning and all is quiet on the Richey front - except of course for Zack's walking. Zackary loves to walk a lot - back and forth and back and forth all over the house. It's his way of burning off all of his excess energy, thus the reason he can eat the way he does and yet still be in such good shape. Perhaps we could all learn something from Zackary - he also drinks water all day long. At night he comes up and down the stairs at least 10 times to fill his 16 oz. cup up with more water. Now how can you fault him for that? How bad is water for you, right? Troy and I are very grateful for Zackary; he needs very little help with his schoolwork and still gets excellent grades, he's very honest and respectful, and I could go on and on so I won't. However, just yesterday I asked him if he would wear flip flops when we go swimming if I bought him a pair. (Zack always wears tennis shoes and socks and doesn't especially like to wear sandals or flip flops, but I thought for swimming it would make more sense to wear flip flops...) So he said "That's okay, Cheri, I can just wear dad's, you don't need to spend your money." Most teenagers I know jump at any opportunity to spend their parents' money and get new things out of them, but Zack is always worried about us having enough money and is very considerate about that and appreciate when we do spend money on things for him. He is a very humble young man and we are very blessed.

Okay sorry to get off on a tangent about Zack... yesterday we all got to go to Cora's birthday party at the South Jordan Rec. Center. It's a really nice place, and the kids had a great time, so thank you to Chris and Jen's family for providing the fun activity and good food. I should have brought my camera and I could have shared some pictures but that's okay; I'm pretty sure no one needs to see me in a swimming suit anyway, so you're welcome everyone for doing you a favor. Granted, it's not nearly as frightening as it would have been two years ago, but still. More skin than flesh & bone is not a pretty sight. :o)

Our big news is that we just purchased a brand new travel trailer. We are all very excited to use it and be able to go camping all summer long with our whole family - Zack and Maya refuse to sleep in a tent, and quite frankly I'm not a big fan of sleeping on the ground with the dirt and insects myself, so we'll all be much happier with the trailer option. Troy can get in his fill of the great outdoors and fishing, and the rest of us will now be able to enjoy it as well thanks to the flat screen TV and built-in DVD player in the trailer. Not to mention actual beds with mattresses and oh, yes, air conditioning! SWEET! Man I'm getting excited just thinking about it... I just wish this dang snow would go away!! It snowed again last night, just when it had all finally melted and we thought maybe, just maybe, spring was finally here and we'd seen the last of it. No such luck. :o( I keep hoping! Until next time...and I'll really try to be better about that...peace out!

Finally an update!

So I set up this blog with the intention of being able to update it here at work during any downtime I might have (which lately is most of the time given the slow market). However, my company internet blocks me from being able to do that...until today when for some reason I was miraculously able to do so. I'd better take advantage of it while I can because who knows how long my luck will last (given the amount of money I lost in Vegas last weekend, not long)! So Troy and I had a great time in Vegas (despite the loss). For Christmas I bought him front row tickets for us to see Phantom at the Venetian, and it was AWESOME. I highly recommend it to everyone that has the opportunity. We went dancing and basically just had a really fun time together.

We all had a very nice Christmas; the kids got everything they could ever think about wanting, between our house and their mom's houses, so they are very fortunate children. We try to remind them as much as possible how very blessed we are. Troy was able to track down a Wii for the family and we've had fun playing the different sports together as a family. We also got lots of new board games to play together; that's one of our favorite things to do. Well, okay, maybe just my favorite thing to do as a family (thanks to my mom for my inheriting those Andrus game-playing genes). Anyway we have quite a variety to choose from now and we always pick one to play for family night. (Okay I make them pick one and force them to play it and like it, but whatever - no need to quibble over details, right?)

Maya's birthday is next week and Zack's is the first week in February, so we will be busy with parties for the next little while. Maya will be 6 and Zack is turning the big 16! I can't believe that he's that old already! We are so very proud of him and the great young man that he is. He is by far the most well-mannered and thoughtful almost 16-year old I have ever known. Kudos to both of his parents for raising such a kind young man. I will be sure to take pictures of both parties so that I can post them on our blog in a few weeks. Until then, adios amigos!

This is my first time, so be gentle...

Okay, so don't mock my blog page; I'm doing my best. I'm not very techno-savvy, but I'm trying. My sister Staci inspired me to create this family blog deal since hers is so cool and I have so much fun looking at it, so it's her fault. I will attempt to be somewhat interesting, but I imagine it will be a challenge for me.
Not too much is new with the Richey family. We're gearing up for Halloween. I'm not sure what Troy and I are going to be yet (we were Donald and Daisy Duck last year, which was fun, but I'm not sure what we're doing this year yet). Zack wants to be Spiderman again (a classic). Maya is going to be a cheerleader, and she loves to wear her cheerleading outfit around the house. In fact, she wore it to the Spanish Fork High School football game Friday night (with warm pants and a long sleeve shirt on underneath as it was pouring rain), and she had her pom-poms all ready to go and cheer along with the cheerleaders there. I just got the last piece of hockey equipment I am going to buy in order for Zane to be a hockey player (thank goodness for Play It Again Sports!). Of course he chooses the most expensive sport to buy equipment for... between the shoulder/chest pads, the padded shorts, the gloves and jersey we've spent about $60 on that thing so I really hope he enjoys it. Actually he really does love it; every time he comes over he puts on some or all of it and walks around the house in it. He even went to the grocery store with his shoulder pads on. Hey, whatever makes them happy.
Zack got 4 or 5 A's and 2 B's on his latest report card, and as far as we know Zane is doing well in 3rd grade and Maya is loving kindergarten. I made pumpkin bread yesterday and it was SO GOOD! I'm been in a real baking mood lately so I found this recipe online that sounded yummy, using buttermilk, corn oil, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, etc. Oh, it was divine! I just wish I had more time to cook and bake; I think I could get pretty good at it, and I love trying new recipes. Well this the end of my first official blog, as I've run out of even somewhat interesting things to say.