Family Pictures - Salem Pond

Here we are! The series of pictures were so funny. Grant was laughing at his "hilarious" Uncle Laren, so in some pictures he was doubled over laughing. It was really cute - he finds Laren just SO SO funny!

And here is my goofy family. We always have to do a silly picture - I think I love this picture even more than the serious one! This is just how we are!

Ok, here is the serious shot. It's almost impossible to get all 13 kids looking AND the adults, so we're happy with this one!

Here are the amazing Mimi and Papa, the two who started all of this! Thank you, Mom and Dad, for loving us and teaching us to love each other. Out of all the children in the world, they would choose their cousins!

Salem Pond

With Mom's surgery schedule for Wednesday, we had a family BBQ at Salem Pond. For the first time in YEARS, someone took a picture of Andrew and I. Sadly, the only picture that turned out was the one that best shows my crooked smile. I am a girl who loves to smile, but if I smile too big, it goes CROOKED! One of my flaws...oh well.

Then, we wanted a Girls-Only picture. This was a funny one of us "in-action", so I had to include it. Keep reading and you'll see the finished product.

From left: Danielle, Me, Mindy, Mom and Joanna. Oh, how I love my sisters! Thanks for a great night!

Candy, anyone?

For our first Cousin Camp of the summer, we visited the Sweet's Candy Factory! Sadly, I look pregnant in this picture - um...I'm not. Just need to lay off the CANDY!

Here's the whole crew after the tour. After staying in the yellow lines and NOT touching anything for 30 minutes, we made it to the end. It was SO interesting to see how they make cinnamon bears and MILLIONS of pounds of jelly beans. Of course, there were samples along the way, and the kids were in HEAVEN!

Oh, did I mention that we got to wear these adorable hats? Keeping them on the babies was a bit of a challenge, but we had a GREAT day! The Candy Factory is out by the Salt Lake City Airport and the tours are absolutely FREE!

Spirit Week!

Can you guess? NERD DAY! The kids had SO much fun dressing up and Faith sat completely still while I did this to her hair - very atypical of my daughter!

The next day was...CRAZY HAIR/HAT DAY! Clark wanted a spike like Lewis from "Meet the Robinsons". Faith wanted volcanoes all over her head. So, 25 minutes later, we had done it!

Grant's hair is so incredibly short after his self-inflicted reverse mohawk, that we couldn't do a thing to it. So, he wore a soccer cone on his head - not my idea, but he thought it was hilarious! This picture makes me laugh so hard! Each showing their personalities so well!

Faith's trick - cross-eyes. I hadn't seen her do this in ages, but when I asked to take a picture of her hair, this was her immediate reaction. Grant looks so cute in the background too.

Stay tuned for Pioneer Pictures. Although I'm not supposed to look 21st century, I"m going to insist on bringing my camera to This is the Place next week, where we volunteer on Fridays from 10-2. Come visit us in the Rich home - we'd love to have you!

Draper Elementary FUN RUN!

Boy, this was a long time coming. For the past month, Grant has run around the block (.5 miles) every day, trying to improve his speed. Not because he WANTED to, but because it was part of his consequence for getting an unacceptable grade on his report card (it was lower than D-). Which class you ask? COMPREHENSIVE READING! If you know Grant, you're laughing out loud right now, because he is a voracious reader! Just didn't feel like doing his book reports. Hmmmm...

Anyway, we challenged him to run as much as he could, and complete the race in less than 20 minutes. Result...he was RUNNING when I saw him, and he actually finished in about 21 minutes. MUCH improved over last year - way to go, buddy!

Here comes my happy little Clark, running with a smile on his face, as always! Clark doesn't need to run with friends, he's just having a great time and doing his best! I was proud of him---(don't tell Faith but he was ahead of her at this point)

Here is my little ray of sunshine named Drew-bug. We played at the park after the race, and I got ths cute one. It almost looks like he doesn't have hair, he has turned so blonde!

John on his last day of preschool. So, we did something crazy...we combed his hair! His teacher, Mrs. King, has been absolutely precious, and we have loved her so much. He has learned an amazing amount and is READY for Kindergarten in the fall! What will I do with only one child home every morning? Hm...I can think of about 46 things of the top of my head!

Dear friends make everything better!

Faith received a Principal's Pride award for a silly poem she wrote about the ice cream that they stored in the bathroom. She has quite an imagination!

Our dear, sweet friend, Heather, got married to her sweetheart, Jed. We were thrilled to be invited to all the festivities! We love Heather like she is our own. She has been THE favorite babysitter since we lived in Indiana, and we are so grateful to live close again! Love you, Heather!

My Clark is a CHARACTER with a capital C! The Kindergarten class was putting on a ZOO, each child dressing up as the animal of their choice. During this song, he's doing a little jive, and really hamming it up. Maybe he got this from his Mimi!?!

Here are the desert animals. The children designed their own habitat background, and used household items to make into the scenery. Miss Ipson is just so darling - Clark has learned so much, and really had a GREAT time at school this year!

The Basement Project

Here is the progress on the basement. Kellert (our amazing Contractor) has all the wainscoting up, and will work this week on the stairway up. You can see in this picture the little Kids Clubhouse that Kellert built under the stairs - this will be just so fun for them to have their own little space. Even the light switch is lower for them. I think I might put my cousin Ann's Solar System vinyl in there. Might as well learn something, right?

At the end of this room will be two benches and a short entertainment center with a TV on the wall (maybe by Christmas).

This is the doorway into the bathroom, and the continuing into the BIG room. Because it's a walk-out basement, it will be really light and useful space - not feeling like a basement. EXCITED!

This is the nook for the desk, and then on up the stairs. Stay tuned. In about 4 weeks, this should look MUCH different!

It's a SNAKE!

I was outside using the Weed Whacker in the front yard. As I headed around to the side of the yard, I saw a snake staring at me between the wheels of Grant's bike. It took me a second to figure out what it was, and then I RAN inside and screamed to Andrew "There is a HUGE snake in our front yard!" His reaction? "COOL!" My reaction? "Get him out of here!"

My brave Prince Charming went out to battle the snake. He was over 4 feet long, and was not happy about us bothering him. At one point, Mr. Slither tried to get away, but Andrew reached into the bushes, grabbed his tail and yanked him back out onto the driveway! Not long after, we had a whole crowd of neighbor kids over looking at the snake.

What do you do when you find a snake? On Saturday? We called the POLICE! The first cop said with no hesitation, "I am NOT touching that thing!" When his backup arrived, he was a bit more brave. We got the snake into a pillow case, and they took him to "relocate" him.
SCARY! The biggest snake either of us have ever seen in the wild! But, we are now safe again!

Here's a cute picture of Drew after church today. He loves bread!

And Clark and Faith? Um...Let me just say goofus on the roofus! Love those kids so much!

The Many Faces of our Drew-bug

Our little Drew-bug is 14 months now, and I am just enjoying every single day. People often ask "Aren't you sad that he's growing out of this stage, or that stage?" Honestly, NO. I'm not. I try to have no regrets and spend as much time as I can with my little miracle boy, and then let him grow up to the next fun stage!

He loves to scrunch up his nose and make funny faces. During this photo "shoot", he started to really perform, pulling all these funny faces, and loving every click of the camera!

Just plain silly, that's what he is. And I love every inch of his squishy little body!

Drew knows where his head is. He also knows how to say: All done, ball, a version of "dog", and he sings "Pop, Pop" (Popcorn Popping). The great thing about having Drew is that every one of the children get to enjoy each phase with us! None of them remember any other baby in our family, so this is their first experience and they LAUGH, oh how they LAUGH at the darling things he does.

Faith's Baptism

Oh, what a special day we had on Saturday! Faith was surrounded by SO many loved ones on her special day. Thank you to each one of you who came to share your love for Faith. She truly felt it, and so did we.

The only way we could get a "real" smile out of Faith is if we let her do her "sassy" pose. So, here she is in her truest form! Oh, how I love that not-so-little girl!

Daddy was beaming with tears in his eyes almost the whole morning. So pleased with the activities of the day. He gave her a beautiful Confirmation and blessing that we will always remember - she truly HAS blessed our lives and I have learned so much from this spunky little gal!

Our dear, sweet Grandma Mix, who turns 91 this month - with Grandpa Jack & Grandma Rosemary. We were so touched that they would come. Thank you for loving us as your own!