Spring Break in Kentucky

We had a fabulous week with family in Kentucky!

 

When PaPaw is in charge...

1) It is going to be fun.

2) It is likely to be messy.

3) It might verge on dangerous.

4) My boys will love it.

My kids. No lack of personality here.

Madison with Gran-Gran, her Great-Grandmother and one of the sweetest women to ever walk the earth!  Gran-Gran is legally blind, walks with a cane, and yet still cooks dinner for us every time we come to visit!  AND it is as delicious as ever!  She delights in her family and enjoys her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren more than anything else in this world. No matter how long we stay, she always says, "You don't have to go already, do you?"

 

Madison and Uncle Mike

Uncle Mike and Aunt Vicki always take time out of their busy schedules to come see us when we come into town. It means so much to us!

That's my fish!

Each time we go to Kentucky, the boys insist on a fishing trip, and PaPaw always delivers. This time I insisted they clean them and that we fry them up for dinner (we usually don't do that). The boys were all about the cleaning process, but I only talked Brendan into one bite of the fish.

They are civilized. I promise.

A Kentucky fan from birth, just like her Momma!

March Madness (Richards style)

Madison's first date

Who: Grant Douglas

Where: His house

What: Relief Society Meeting (pretty innocent)

I don't either one of them was too into it...

Cute tongue

Love a baby right after a bath! 

Cute hint of a smile, 5 weeks old

Big Brother Hadley wants to hold Madison every chance he gets!

 

 

 

TELLUS MUSEUM

We decided to finally get out of the house and enjoy another family adventure before Daddy had to go back to work. We planned to get to the Tellus Museum around mid-day and stay until it closed at 5.  Well, diaper changes, feedings, needing to stop along the way for lunch, etc. caused us to arrive around 3. We almost decided not to go, but in the end kept the plan. We were so glad we did!  It turned out to be Family Night (happens once a year!) and was open until 9 PM!  We stayed until nearly that late and had a blast!

 

 

 

 

 

CUTE OUTFITS, CUTE BABY

Basketball sneakers in honor of Kentucky Basketball and the NCAA Tournament!  GO WILCATS!

 

Whoops. This is what happens when a 2 year old and a 4 year old look for fun while their mommy is upstairs feeding the baby for a little longer than usual...

 

Madison's first NBA game! 

Our gracious friends invited us to join them in a private box. Therefore, Madison's first live basketball game was quite a royal experience!

Dan Richards, CPA

CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. Daniel Richards, CPA!  This happened quite a while ago, but of course I am catching up on the blog (theme of the year) and refuse to leave out such an important moment in our family's life! 

Dan had to pass four grueling exams within eighteen months.  As soon as he would take one, he would start to study for the next one.  With very few breaks, he studied/tested for 18 months straight.  This, unfortunately, coincided with multiple "busy seasons" at Deloitte (the seemingly official name in the tax world for the time when you live more at the office than at home).  During these times our sweet husband and daddy would leave home around 8 AM, work for Deloitte until around 10 PM-Midnight, then stay at Deloitte for 2-4 more hours each night studying for the CPA exam.  He would often come home around 3 AM and then go back again at 8 or 9 the next morning. It was brutal.  On more than one occasion, he came home at 6 AM, showered, took a nap, and went right back to work.  Needless to say, this took a great deal of dedication and we were THRILLED when he passed the final exam and was declared a Certified Public Accountant. 

This lead to a great blessing -- goodbye Deloitte!  Deloitte was good to Dan in many ways and allowed him to gain an incredible amount of experience in a short amount of time, but it also dominated all of his time. 

In February he was hired by Koch Industries, the company that owns Georgia Pacific which makes Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, etc.  It is a wonderful company with a much better work-life balance, it offers Dan continued opportunities for professional growth, and it is more profitable for us -- YAY!  We are excited and feeling very blessed.

So, CONGRATULATIONS are certainly in order for our hard-working, dedicated, smart, talented husband and father. We love you!

Madison's Baby Blessing

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we give our babies a name and a blessing a few weeks after they are born.  It is a beautiful, very special ordinance and has been such a sweet, spirit-filled moment for me with each of our children.  This time it was extra special because BOTH sets of grandparents were able to be there!  It was a wonderful reunion of both sides of the family and shared with some of our dear Atlanta friends who feel just like family to us.

Here is a bit from our church handbook about blessings: Men who have the priesthood can bless babies, usually a few weeks after the babies are born. They must have the permission of the bishop or branch president to do this. The baby’s father can bless the baby if he has the Melchizedek Priesthood. If he does not have the Melchizedek Priesthood, he cannot bless the baby or be in the circle with men who bless the baby. He can ask someone who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood to bless the baby. The father, if he holds the Melchizedek Priesthood and is worthy, or another person who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood, holds the baby in his arms, assisted by others who must also hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, and says a prayer. In the prayer, he addresses our Father in Heaven, says he performs the ordinance by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and gives the baby a name that is chosen by the parents. He then blesses the baby as the Holy Ghost inspires him.
Scripture references:
Matthrew 19:14-15: "But Jesus said, ^aSuffer little ^bchildren, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence."
Doctrine and Covenants 20:70:  “Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name”

After the blessing we had a reception at our home with a few of our close friends. We feel so fortunate to have such loving, wonderful friends in Atlanta!

Caroline and Jeff having what appears to be a very serious conversation

The kiddos on the deck

Friends, food, and fellowship! We love the Salmon girls!

Dianne added the flowers and table cloth and all of the sudden my deck furniture was presentable!

Sweet baby girl slept through most of her special day, but thanks to a mother addicted to photos, she will be able to review it later!

MaMaw Linda + Grandma Dianne = Lidia, Madison's middle name. What an honor to be named after such incredible women, and what a blessing to have both of them present for the blessing!!

Grandpa John and PaPaw Richard

Proud Grandparents

Hadley's never one to be dramatic... He must take after his father.

The Hecker family -- They moved shortly after this and we miss them so much!!

Mom and baby corner.  Madison is happily snoozing in Carol's arms.

Why are the men in the kitchen???

Our sweet family, partially barefoot

Richards side

Grandmas

Sleeping Beauty

Here is her blessing dress up close. We took my mom's wedding dress and had an exact replica made of it, just scaled down smaller.  Yes, this is my mom's actual wedding dress material AND it is made exactly like her dress. A big thanks to the talented Kathryn Tompkins for making this happen!

Both sides of the family

More

Fussing over the baby

If I can only do one thing right, I hope this is it.

I know I have a lot of blog catching up to do, but I wanted to record these thoughts before I forget them.

Life as a mom is never easy. It is full of joy -- absolutely -- but also stress, worry, and all those other emotions associated with having your heart wrapped up in three little people who you have the responsibility to mold and direct while also fostering independence. Often (okay, several times a day) I wonder if I am doing okay with this calling of motherhood. I can always find a million things to correct. Well, recently, my heart was lightened, just a little.  I want to share three things that made me smile; three things I want to remember; three things that allowed me to think I might be doing at least something right. :-)

Costco Performance:

Last week we were in Costco (yes, all three kids and me) when Hadley started singing, "This is the day! This is the day that the Lord hath made! The Lord hath made! Let us rejoice! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Glad in it! This is the day that the Lord hath made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord hath made!"

This song is particularly special to me because it was sung to me as a kid whenever my dad would come into my room to wake me up. Although I certainly had some animosity toward the song at the time (because it was my alarm), I also loved it.  I now torture my kids the same way (belting it when I go in to wake them up), and they have grown to love the song too, despite the alarm feature.

So, when Hadley started singing it, I couldn't bring myself to tell him to be quiet. Soon, people started hearing him and smiling, clapping, even stopping to say "oh how cute" and the such. This of course prompted Brendan to join him, and we soon had a loud duet for all of Costco. I shopped and they sang for the entire 45 minutes.

Who is your BFF?

We were in the car on the way to school this morning and Brendan said, "Mom, who is your BFF?"  I said. "Daddy is my BFF. Who is yours?"  He thought for a minute and then said, "Jesus is my BFF."  Hmm. Good answer.

"I will go, I will do, the thing the Lord commands":

This is part of the chorus to a song Brendan's primary class recently performed at church.  It is currently Brendan's favorite song, so he sings it all the time. Two weeks ago he was sitting at the kitchen table with his first day ever of homework. As he worked, he hummed this song.  It brought tears to my eyes because to me, this symbolizes what it really means to have a song in your heart at all times!

Although I occasionally hear Hadley chime in, I have never heard him sing it alone until today. He was marching around the house pretending to be a pirate on a mission, and as he marched he clearly sang every word of the chorus:

I will go, I will do, the thing the Lord commands.
I know the Lord provides a way; He wants me to obey.
I will go, I will do, the thing the Lord commands.
I know the Lord provides a way; He wants me to obey.

I assume he was a good pirate. :-)

Righteous Battling?

Before bed I let each boy pick a Bible story to read from a small children's book. Although I try my hardest to get them to branch out, at least once a week we find ourselves reading David and Goliath.  They just love the idea that little David could defeat the giant because of his faith and trust in God.

Recently, Brendan and Hadley were outside "battling".  I have a rule that they can only battle "sword to sword" or with pretend moves and are not allowed to make contact. When I hear them challenge each other to a battle I am about to run outside to referee when I hear Hadley scream, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I will defeat you!"

I was not sure whether I should fall over laughing or run outside and make sure Brendan was still standing.  I guess Hadley saw himself as the David in the situation...

What to remember...
Every minute will not be perfect. I will probably always end my night reflecting on how to handle a-z better the next day.  But I know my children are learning daily about the atonement of their Savior Jesus Christ, the love of their Heavenly Father, and the comfort and guidance of the Holy Ghost.  If I could pick only one thing to do right, that would be it.

Wild Animal Safari

Wild Animal Safari is AMAZING! Check out how close we were able to get to this incredible animals!  Dan was the bravest in the bunch, feeding anything that would come his way.  Hadley was a close second, whereas Brendan was a bit more cautious but constantly screeched in excitement with each new animal we saw. I was in the back nursing Madison while buffalo roamed inches away from us.  Awesome!

It was not too exciting for this lady, but at least she was appropriately dressed!