Joseph the Ballplayer

Joseph is in his element here dressed in his Angel's uniform. During his league play this year he has really shown improvement. He and I can now go out and have a catch and I don't have to worry too much about throwing softly to him. He has developed his swing and can crank the ball regularly now.


Here Joseph is with his team prior to a game Wednesday, May 21, 2008 (5th from the left)

Yesterday the Salt Lake Bees invited the members of the "Knothole Club" down to the park for a free baseball clinic. Joseph and I were especially excited to interact with some great ball-players; David Austen, Coby Smith, Freddy Sandoval, Bobby Wilson, Gary Patchett, and Adam Pavkovich.

The clinic gave the kids the chance to pitch in the bull-pen, take some grounders on the infield, catch a fly ball, hit in the batting cages, and tour the locker room and home team facilities. They were able to ask the players questions and take a glimpse into the life of a professional baseball player. It was really fun to watch Joseph and be able to experience a little window of what the ballplayers do each day.


Finally, each kid was given a new baseball and the players stayed after to autograph the balls. Here Joseph stands with his new Bees baseball and his A-Rod ball from a few years back.

Andrew Graduates from Preschool

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Andrew is now done with Pre-School. He is so excited to start regular school with his brothers. We are so proud of the little guy. It was fun to see him in "his" element during the graduation. We always thought he was so shy, but he was a little ham on the stage.

Andrew is coming around

Andrew wasn't thrilled with the idea of a little sister. In fact, when the baby was born Andrew didn't want anything to do with Brooklyn. When neighbors offered to take the little princess off our hands, Andrew's face would light up and he'd exclaim that it was a great idea.

Little by little, curiosity seemed to get the best of Andrew and we'd see him inconspicously show interest in the new little girl. When called on it, he would deny any interest in his sister, and renew his position in wanting a new brother.

Yesterday morning, Shanda asked if Andrew wanted to hold Brooklyn after thinking about it for a minute and then stated "not today, maybe tomorrow." Later that day, Andrew finally relented and asked if he could hold his sister. In addition, I've noticed his increased defensiveness toward any and all who pose a threat to "the little sister."

This picture is just too cute not to post... Picture taken by budding photographer, Andrew Richey

1st Annual Richey Boys Campout

With Shanda's mother visiting to help Shanda with the new baby, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to escape the (mother-in-law) uh, er... I mean escape the first heat wave of the season and head for the hills. Just kidding about that mother-in-law bit... I really do love my mother-in-law... I really have the best one around. Anyway, returning to the story; Joseph, Matthew, Andrew and I loaded up the canoe and the camping gear and drove to Causey Dam. We had decided weeks earlier that the weekend after the baby came to go on this trip. Shanda agreed especially because her mom would be in town to help with the baby.

The idea for the trip was to canoe across the dam to a lesser known camp site, make camp and spend the night. Despite the foreboading warnings of too cold weather by others, we enjoyed ourselves immensly.

The boys were great the entire time. I tried to be as patient as I could while ensuring they were safe. It was fun to watch them experience certain aspects of camping for the first time. In addition there was something really fun about being so completely away from everything. For example, we were a 30 minute canoe ride away from vehicles, and that by itself gave the camping experience a different feel.

After getting camp setup and dinner out of the way, we canoed up the right fork to see how full the right fork river was. I was amazed at the amount of water that was pouring into the resevour, and though the dam wasn't completely full yet, I suspected that by morning it would be. Upon returning to camp we ate a few more s'mores and then started telling camp fire stories. The boys were very excited about scary stories until it started getting dark. Their brave attitude to being scared quickly changed to... what's that noise? And can we go in the tent now? Once in the tent and a few "regular stories" later, we were all sleeping restfully.

Morning came early, especially after sleeping on the hard ground all night, and sure enough the dam was now full. We enjoyed our breakfast especially the hot chocolate and bacon. Then we went for a hike in the hills above where we camped. It was fun to watch the boys hike and be curious about everything. After about 30 minutes we stopped and had a snack. After returning to camp, we broke camp, loaded up the canoe and returned home. Thankfully all the time on the water was uneventful, and very peaceful.

Sisters...

Brooklyn


Maleah


Brooklyn


Maleah


It took me a couple of days to do this, but take a look at these pictures of Maleah and Brooklyn. We've always felt that each of our children has used his/her siblings mold, but the resemblance here is remarkable.

Brooklyn Richey

Born May 12th 2008, at 1:29am Brooklyn made her way into our lives. She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and is 20 1/2 inches long. She is a beauty just like her mother and big sister. She's been kind of quiet but we are so happy that she is finally here. Shanda is glad to have her finally on the outside and is happy to have her organs back in their normal places.

Both Mom and baby are doing great. We are a little tired, but can't seem to put ourselves to bed.

So it begins...

I've enjoyed keeping in touch with my sister through her blog over the past few months via her blog... http://englanddavisfamily.blogspot.com/ so I decided it may not be a bad idea to start a blog for myself.

Now this big lady here is my beautiful wife, Shanda, almost 9 months pregnant. She will be giving birth to our 5th child any day now and will almost certainly be the object of my next post. We currently have 4 children, 3 boys and a little princess girl.