Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Biker Babes and Diabetes Easter Egg Hunt


Maleah and Brooklyn both put on this little hair cover that I used to wear when I had my motorcycle.



And here are a few pictures of the Diabetes Easter Egg Hunt...





Sunday, March 22, 2009

Messy Baby & Princess Maleah


Now isn't this just precious? We've found that if we give Brooklyn anything with a chocolate cover, that it will soon end up all over the little girl. Brooklyn loves to smile like this also, Shanda calls it her "cheesy" grin.

This picture is from a few days back; chocolate treat + Brooklyn = same result (cute sticky baby girl... with a cheesy grin).



Here is Maleah getting for a Princess Birthday Party. She talked about this party for a full 2 weeks prior to the actual party. The way to this girl's heart is definitely the Disney Princess.



Finally a picture of the beautiful Shanda. We don't have too many shots of Shanda without her braces.  She isn't too excited about the mess on the counters behind her, but to be honest I didn't even notice cause I was looking at that pretty face!  I mean seriously, she's hot!

Monday, March 16, 2009

You had to point that out? Seriously!?!

So I walk in on Shanda watching the popular show, Dancing with the Stars. Just finishing their dance was this couple:



Now I don't remember what I said, but she pointed out that "he" was the star. I had to stop and ask her, "really? you had to point that out?... really!?!"

Lol, too funny!  As if the gorgeous brunette was in the gentle instructive care of this large bodied hunk of love.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Shanda and Joseph Carriers of the Month


So much for getting Shanda to pose with her newspaper recognition. Oh well, I hope you don't mind the nasty looking hairy arm.

This morning while attending to... uh, duties, I turned the page and was somewhat dumbstruck to see a picture of my family in the newspaper. It seems like months ago that Shanda asked me to forward a picture to the standard examiner because they chose her and Joseph as carriers of the month. Well, I wasn't prepared to see it, but it was a fun surprise anyway.

Shanda has done an excellent job and is always working hard to provide good service to her customers. We are both thrilled that Joseph began about a year ago to work and earn money for his various needs. I've also been grateful that my involvement has been more limited, the occasional sick day, and stuffing a few papers on Sunday and holidays.

We are even more pleased that Joseph has been getting himself up and out of the bed without too much prodding, and in some cases no prodding at all! He's learning some valuable lessons early in life. Joseph has wanted to see his shinning face in the paper for years now, and I thought he might faint upon not only seeing his face in the picture, but the great big bold/red letters Shanda and Joseph Richey!

I'll have to get up early tomorrow and take a picture of the hard workers in all their early morning paper-route glory and include it in this post. What do you think?

The Joys of having a Dog!


The kids sure are excited to be back out of doors. I got a kick out of watching Andrew and Katie enjoy the sun. Poor Katie when around the block about 15 times and by the time evening came she just crashed and slept. Andrew really does enjoy taking care of this little pup. It has also been fun to watch Joseph try and train the dog to do little tricks.

Oh the days of carefree life, how nice would it be to return to those days? Imagine where your biggest concern is making sure your brother doesn't get more ice cream or a longer turn on the Wii... oh wait, we didn't have a Wii when I grew up (Atari 500?). I definitely remember the endless hours of playing with my Dad's dogs and puppies, good times.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Dark-Eyed Junco

Having been overwhelmed by House Sparrows and wanting more variety to my feeder this year; my brother Craig recommended a new blend of bird seed without as much millet.

Today when I got home from work, I noticed a lone Pine Siskin slowly eating from my feeder. As I approached the window, I noticed about 8-10 Dark-Eyed Junco birds below the feeder eating away. Most of the seed from the feeder had been completely eaten. Shanda mentioned that this group of birds had been at it most of the day. At times, attacking each other as they gobbled up the seed.

Hardly able to contain myself I grabbed my "Birds of Utah" book and quickly identified the Dark-Eyed Junco's. While admiring them, I was surprised to see a House Finch stop by for a quick grab. The Finch wasn't as trusting, and only stayed long enough to fill her beak once.

I raced outside with my camera, but between the snow fall, and not being able to zoom in close enough the pictures I took weren't the best quality. I wish I could have opened the dining room window to sit and wait patiently for a good shot.  It is amazing to me how well they blend in with the surroundings... except when they are sitting on snow of course.



Sunday, March 8, 2009

Do We Dare Hope... Spring?


I took the opportunity to walk home from church today, as I had to finish the "Friends of Scouting" collection. I was amazed that when the sun was out I was actually hot, and when the sun was covered by the clouds I was actually cold! I suppose this is how Spring in the Rocky Mountains goes. Later in the day I took the picture above to catch the first glimpses of growth in Shanda's flower garden.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Valley of Fire

Our return trip home from Henderson, NV took us through Valley of Fire.  (Thanks again to Aunt Addie, Uncle Daryl, Aunt Donita and Uncle Stan for hosting us).


Valley of Fire has become a fun spot for my family and this marks the third consecutive year and fourth trip for our family.  I love that the kids can burn excess energy climbing and allow their minds to wander as they explore the beautiful rock structure.


We were pleased to meet up with Tami Clove and her boys for a small part of the time, we wished we could have spent more time with them.

I'm hoping that one of these times we'll be able to get a camp site and spend the evening, but until then, these 3-4 hour time slots in the valley will have to do.

After the fun of climbing and exploring we pushed back through to Ogden, making just one stop in Cedar City and pushing through to home.







Sunday, March 1, 2009

Horseback Fun


Lots of fun.  Look at Maleah, the ham!  All the kids had the chance to ride, and Joseph got several chances to go around on Cody and Shanni.  Uncle Daryl is awesome to make all of this happen.  Shanda took some pretty good pictures...

Some Pictures from the day...

Goofy Kids, not sure what they are doing here, but the looks on the faces of these boys, priceless!
Princess Rider
Andrew looking like a genuine Cowboy while riding Dixie, quote of the day "Cody, I really like you... you're a great horse! Cody, you are in a movie, only you're not a horse."
Here I am on Apache.
Here is Joseph and his friend Matthew Neyland.
Matthew got to ride the horse without being led.  He was really excited about that!