Lucas John Richins

He was born on July 30th at 10:07 am. He came 6 days early and weighed a hefty 8 pds 5 oz, and 19 in long. The thought honestly never crossed my mind that I would ever have a baby much over 7 pounds. I have always wanted a chubby baby, hopefully he will stay that way. He came the day after Steve's b-day. Steve's b-day was a little bit crazy for me. I tried to make a special dinner, which turned out to be not so special, just got a little tired. Then we had some neighbors over for cake and ice cream. I ended up making two cakes, because my first cake turned out hideously ugly, but was surprisingly good. That night I had a hard time sleeping as usual so I went out on the couch. I woke up at about 4:30 after having a scary dream that I was in labor and no one would take me to the hospital. After getting up to go to the bathroom I started to notice that I was having contractions. I just thought they were braxton hicks so I tried to go back to sleep. I couldn't and decided to get up and finish the dishes I had left in the sink. I knew when I left them there the night before that this would be when I went into labor. I thought that maybe I should start timing the contractions just in case, they were about every 6 min. At 6 Steve woke up also, and saw the lights on and came out to see if everything was ok. By that time the contractions were stronger and at about every 4 min. I was still in denial that I was in labor, but Steve freaked out and called his parents to tell them he was taking me to the hospital. By the time we left for the hospital I was starting to feel some serious pain. When we finally got there a little after 7 am I was already at a 7, the nurse was awesome and got me my epidural and he was born 2 hours later. He is so adorable, we are so happy to have him. The boys love him to death, and they always make me nervous when ever they get to close. He has been such a good baby so far and I hope it stays this way. Here are some pics of him.

Sweet home California

We went home to my parents house for a week. They live about 45 minutes out side of San Francisco. It was kind off a crazy week. We were there during my birthday and Steve and mine anniversary. Kind off a bad week to go, but I wanted hurry up and come before it gets to soon to when our baby is coming. Steve took me to dinner and then to see Wicked in San Francisco for my b-day and anniversary. It was awesome!!! I loved it, and hope I can go again before their tour is over. We had 2 days alone with my parents before the rest of my family came. There is so many of us that parents always have to get a few hotel rooms. It was so fun to all be together, that doesn't happen very often. Sorry Jessica and Melissa I didn't have time to call, it was such a crazy week. We are hoping to come back later in the fall, and it shouldn't be as packed. I miss you guys and hope to see you soon. It is always so fun to go out, and seems like it goes by way to fast. Before I know it I am back home doing laundry.


This is pretty much what we do when we come to visit.

I was in the middle of getting Jackson changed out of his bathing suit when he saw Kyle and Steve laying out. He took of running before I could grab him then wiggled right in the middle of them. I debated weather or not to put this picture in, but I thought it was so cute.


We arrived in California on our anniversary, my mom was so cute and made us an anniversary dinner. She and my dad ate in the other room with the boys. She made us a 3 course meal, including my favorite dinner of Manacotti.


We were always on the go, and poor Jackson hardly got a nap all week. He must have been so tired to fall asleep like that. Hurts my neck just looking at him.


We were in California for my birthday. My twin sister came down that afternoon. It was fun to spend our birthday together, it has been so long since we celebrated it together. My mom was funny and made both of us different cakes, felt like I was five again.



Once everyone got to my parents house we realized that sleeping so many kids might be a problem. This is the solution, sleep them military style on the floor in the family room. The kids totally loved it!!!




We took Kyle and Jackson into the City so they could see the seals. We just spent a few hours at pier 39. Kyle tried crab and loved it. We got some good choclate and watched some guys break dance in the street. I never get tired of San Francisco.

Kids are just funny

I don't usually post the funny things my kids say for some reason. However Kyle said something today that really made me laugh. We were driving home from having lunch at a friends house when he found a little toy he had gotten out of a cracker jacks box at Steve's parents house in his car seat. He was so excited to find " his prize ", and was loving playing with it in the car again. I had to stop and drop off a few RS papers to someone in my ward. It took a few seconds and when I got back in the car this was the conversation we had:

Kyle: Mommy, I am sad.
Me: Why?
Kyle: I broke my prize.
Me: ohh I am sorry. Let me see it, maybe I can fix it for you.
Kyle: Nahhh, I already recycled it. (which means he threw it on the floor of the car)

I am not sure where he learned about reycling. We've never really had recycling conversations. Just thought it was so funny. Makes me laugh also how easy he gets over things. He started off being sad and by the end of our 20 second conversation he was totally fine with breaking his prize. Arn't kids great!

Our crazy life about to get crazier

I started to feel brave, and thought it was time to have another child. I am not sure why because I feel like we have way too many near death experiences and most of them are me learning not to do that again, or to pay more attention. Now that we are actually pregnant I am starting to get a little scared. Arah you must be terrified for us, you've witnessed quite a few of those experiences.=) Mostly, though we are really excited. We are due August 5th. I am so excited to finally have a summer baby. Sounds so heavenly to not have to worry about the weather and RSV for a while. Kyle thinks we are having a little sister, I am relaying on his faith, mine waivers day to day. Another boy would be great too, we are good to go if that is the case.

The Christmas Tree

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year with Steve's family. Once the dinner is eaten we all immediately switch to Christmas mode. We got up early on Friday and went and cut down our Christmas tree. (I was lame and forgot my camera) In the past it has taken Steve a long time to pick out the tree. He loves Christmas and the tree has to be perfect. This year, thankfully he did in record time. We came home put on the lights and decorated the tree later that night. We decided to get it up fast so we could enjoy it before leaving for California for Christmas this year.

Kyle loved decorating the tree this year. He got so excited about all of his ornaments, especially any with his name or picture on them. I loved how he really got into it this year. I had so much fun just watching the boys get excited about the tree. It's amazing how your kids just make each holiday so much more special and enjoyable.

Jackson would look like this every time we put his ornaments on the tree, he just wanted to carry them around all night. Luckily each fit, and there were many, didn't last very long.

Finally understanding that the ornaments go on the tree.

The Finished product! Most of the ornaments were on the bottom of the tree, so we had even things out once the boys went to bed that night.

Girls can play football too!!

The leaves are changing, there is a crisp to the morning air, time for football. Anyone who knows me knows I love football!! (kami I still wish you were a BYU fan, just think of all the memories we could have) I haven't played powder puff football since high school, and thought it was a great time to play again. I had such a huge response from the girls in the original Cranberry Farms ward (before we split 2 weeks ago =( )! We had 20 girls show up to play!!! Thanks so much girls it was awesome!!! I have to give a shout out to our awesome referee Brady Fife. He was very brave to risk the possibility of making 20 women very angry at him including his wife. Steve took a lot of great pictures of everyone. Just a warning about the slide show, it has a lot of pictures, so I hope you have some time.

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Thanks to all who were able to come. We missed all who couldn't. Lets do it again next Sat at 10. If anyone wants any of these pictures just let me know and I will email them to you.

Halloween

This year we had a massive truck or treat with four wards. It was fun to see all of our friends who are no longer apart of our ward. We ran out of candy well before it was over and had to recycle some of the boys candy for latter trick or treaters. It was tons of fun. We later went over to Steve's parents house and ate chili and some fresh brewed root beer. =) Thanks to my neighbor Michelle Acree, Kyle actually had a costume. I procrastinated Halloween because Kyle's birthday party took so much effort, that he almost had a sorry looking costume. Thanks Michelle for putting him together.







Our neighbor Oliver is an umpalumpa (sp?) and Nicole was Willie Wanka Johnny Depp style. They win best costume!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

Steve's parents were generous enough to take the whole family to the circus last Friday. I am not sure who had more fun me or the boys. I just thought it would be a lot of really weird Carney people there, but a lot of the performers have some serious talents. I still can't believe some of the tricks I saw that night. It was so so much fun!! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a great night!!

We parked at the conference center, steve's brother got us all tokens so we could park for free. We took traxs from there. Kyle was so excited to ride the train to the circus. He told everyone who would listen that we were going to the circus. It was cute. Jackson of course loves anything his big brother does.


We were only on trax for a block or two, but the boys still loved it.


Jackson and dad


Family pic


We got to meet the animals before the show started. They had a ton of tigers too.




Lots of little boy eye candy. Tigers, elephants, horses, pirotechnics, dogs catching frisbee's and etc. Can life get any better.

4th of July

This 4th we decided to stay home. Why leave when you happen to live by fireworks that people from all over the county drive to see. We had a quiet dinner with our friends Dustin and Nicole. The boys just ran around stepping/falling on each other's food while we ate. It was great! It's fun to watch them be so active and crazy. Love how Oliver is right in the middle of it. We unfortunately didn't get any pictures with the Lesueur's, thanks for a fun evening.

After dinner we all went to some neighbors house for dessert and firework fun. The guys there were so hilarious. It was almost as good as a monster truck rally. We had fireworks, daring stunts, and even a parade of fire. Luckily nobody got hurt, and we all had a good time. The fireworks were great, and we had a great view. I love fireworks reminds me of all the fun memories I had growing up on this day. Lots of water skiing, eating ice cream with my cousins and stay up as late as we wanted too. Here are a few pics of all the action


Kyle and Cannon just taking in all the action, at least for a few minutes. These calm moments never seem to last very long.


Spencer Dent jumping over the fireworks. It's funny to see guys get a little crazy once they start playing with fire. Reminded me of my brother, he would have totally done that too.


A few of the guys ran down the street with these in their hands, and I have the picture to prove it, well sort of.


Here is a close up view of what they were holding.



Jackson wearing Spencer's hat. It was so funny watching him run into things.


The magic!!! LOVE FIREWORKS, I just think they're pretty.

FINALLY LEARING TO RIDE A BIKE!!

My neighbor and I have been trying to get our boys to ride a bike for forever. They both insisted they never wanted too! A few Sunday's ago we were outside talking about it and the boys decided they were ready to give it a try. We were not about to let this moment pass, we got their helmets on and surprisingly enough they caught on pretty fast. They are still very slow, but they are peddling on there own. (I tied a rope to kyle's bike last year and pathetically ended up pulling him everywhere)


Just a little push


He's doing it!!!




Kyle and Gavin having a 1 MPH hour race, meaning the first to go 1 MPH wins. Just kidding we are very proud of his new accomplishment, and it did take a lot of effort on his part. We just need the rain to go away before we have to start all over again.

Cancun

Steve and I were able to get away from the snow, and chill on the sunny beaches of Cancun last week. We weren't sure we were going to make it there at first. We got a flat tire on the way to dropping the kids off at Steve's parents house and it set us back a 1/2 hour. When we finally got to the airport every high school kid in Utah was apparently going on a spring break international trip. With the huge school trip the line was so long. Once we finally made it up to the counter we realized that my passport has not been changed into my married name. I didn't bring any id except for my passport, so we had to pay 50 bucks to change my name back to Brandi. We are however grateful that we did in fact make it safely to Cancun.

The weather was beautiful, in the high 80's all week. I saw people swimming as early as 7:00 am in the ocean. The nights were very warm too. While we were there we did two different tours. We went to chichinitza (sp?) which is some of the ruins near by. They took us to a sink hole and an modern day Mayan village along the way. The sink hole was just this beautiful hole in the ground that opened into a large well. There were tons of foliage, birds, and fish; it was awesome. We got some bad information and was told to not bring our suits, so I was bummed when we saw everyone swimming in it. Chichinitza was amazing! I just kept thinking about the lamenites and Nephites the whole time we toured it. Our tour guide really new his stuff and I was just amazed at how creepy the Mayans were. It seemed like everything involved human sacrifices. Some of it was pretty gory, but in the same note they were very intelligent people. There architecture was amazing, and there understanding of math and astronomy was remarkable. I couldn't believe how many of their structures are perfectly in tact after all these years. It was very interesting and we really enjoyed it.

A few days later we went on a snorkel tour. They took us to a reef that was 1 1/2 hours outside of Cancun by boat. It was located a few miles off of a little island now used as a bird sanctuary. I was so scared of sharks, but really excited to do something that to me felt so crazy. The boat had to anchor 100 yards from the reef as to not disturb the habitat. It felt so far away. I kept thinking 100 yards is far away when say a shark is circling around you. Of course nothing dramatic happened, it was a lot of fun and we saw lots of interesting sea life, including a sting ray. Steve happened to see a shark and an eel resting underneath a reef. I however missed out on such a rare spot, it's probably better that way. Steve had a really good time also, and we have decided to snorkel around the world. (Actually my idea, Steve just smiled and nodded his head when I mentioned it to him) After the snorkeling they took us to the bird sanctuary and gave us a tour of the island. They also cooked us lunch, which was probaly the best meal we had the whole trip. They smoked some kind of Bass, it was delicious. The water at the island was so calm, hardly any waves at all. A Manta Ray kept swimming by the shore, and our guide went out and petted it. We really had such an amazing day.

The rest of the week was spent laying by the pool or the ocean just enjoying the serenity. Steve went golfing one morning and I tagged along and drove the cart and read my book. We went and walked around downtown Cancun a few times too. We had a great time together, and were really excited to see our boys once the trip was over. It was a really nice break for me, I didn't even get upset when Kyle randomly pooped his pants last week. I am glad I have such a wonderful and fun husband, and great kids. I think Cancun could help me remember that again, say sometime next year, anyone want to come.

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Tagged

So I never do these, but I promised Susan I would. It seriously takes me forever to think up something even remotely interesting. I have been thinking about this for a few days and nothing special has come to mind, but I am going to do it anyways. I really love reading others blog when they get tagged.

10 YEARS AGO: I was going to Ricks college in Rexburg Idaho freezing to death. I had never experienced a winter quit like that, I couldn't even walk anywhere without falling a hundred times.

5 THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST: Fold laundry, Make my bed, play a game with Kyle, thats about it, today is Saturday I really don't want to do anything.

5 SNACKS I ENJOY: Sprite, Sprite (I love soda), apple pie carmel apple from disneyland or rocky mountain chocolate factory, gushers watermelon fruit snacks, Black Forest gummy bears.

5 PLACES I'VE LIVED: Tucson, AZ; Danville , CA; Rexburg, Id; Malmo, Sweden; Lehi, UT =)

WHAT I WOULD DO IF I SUDDENLY BECAME A BILLIONAIRE: Pay off my house, and travel to Sweden so I could have their yogurt one last time, donate to charity? What could you do with a billion, seems like way too much. Although Mitt makes it look good. Maybe a house in the Hamptons.

5 JOBS I'VE HAD: MOM =), Human Resources @ SJC, Water dept @SJC, US Bank (loved being a teller), Whole Grain Bakery (ahh some good memories)

5 THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME: I have a twin sister that has blue eyes and blonde hair, I have a bad habit of biting my nails, (I am sure you all know that because you have seen me do it) I LOVE watching college football and the Jazz ( I hate missing a game), I am scared to death of Sharks (I have atleast one scary shark dream about every other week), I want to go on the amazing race.

Now I tag: Cheryl Wellman, Tari Brandi, Becca Brandi, Kami Adamson, Mindy Holman

Rest of Disneyland

Here are the rest of the pictures we took at Disneyland. Steve is not in a lot of these pictures. He decided he liked being the photographer rather than getting sick on all the rides. I should have taken more pictures of him when did ride them. We had such a blast as a family. This vacation is going on top as the best Vacation ever so far. I can't wait to go back. Disneyland anyone next February?

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