MERRY CHRISTMAS friends and family!
Thanks for visiting our blog for our annual update.
I keep this blog as my online scrapbook. I thought this year, I'd link you to some of the major events/trips/experiences of the year. (Click on the blue text to be redirected to a blog post about that event.)
Wow. Were to start.....
Let's start the day after Christmas last year. Because I took a "little part time job" working for JetBlue, the day after Christmas we took a trip to
Long Beach.
I no longer work for JetBlue but while I was there we managed to get in a few trips:
- Kambree and I went to New York for the day,
- I took Alex and Rylee to Disneyland to see Austin and Devree sing with their high school choirs
- James and I took a quick trip to Alaska
- We managed to get ALL SEVEN of us passports and to Puerta Plata in the Dominican Republic. You can read about it here and here.
- And Rylee and I took a quick trip to St George.
Then I quit in August. I miss the flight benefits but I sure don't miss answering phones and getting yelled out for the tiny hourly wage I was paid. I just didn't realize how free and easy my life was until I was tethered to a phone and clocking in and out with military precision.
No, I never quit real estate- I love real estate! I just did both for almost TEN long months!
James....
...is still working (thank goodness) for the gas and oil field industry. We have adjusted to his 16 days on and 12 days off schedule pretty well. I mean really? How many husbands get 12 days off in a row every month? We love him when he's here and miss him when he's not. He has also added to his fleet of motorcycles/toys. We are now up to FOUR. (Granted one is for the kids but the other three?)
He serves in the Elders Quorm presidencey and is still working on manufacturing the Glummy Bag. He just finished up inventing a lift for his pick up to get his snow mobile (or other heavy items) into its bed.
James is never idle. (Well, maybe at work? But at home he never sits still.) He followed Austin's lead and had his deviated septum repaired this year and is looking forward to cataract surgery this month. (I am much too young to have a husband needing cataract surgery! In his defense, it has everything to do with his Fuke's syndrome - and the reason he has one blue eye and one hazel eye.) Immediately after his nose surgery he was out painting
Dev's car. I'm just wondering how I can keep him down after his eye surgery? Maybe I'll have them patch BOTH his eyes!
Kambree...
...is back at Snow
college for her third year. She is dancing on their drill team (again) and in the Western Swing presidency.
She is finishing up a few more pre-requisets next semester and has started applying to nursing school.
She worked hard all summer long waiting tables and selling jump ropes at the farmers market and now she's working hard at school and her social life.
She served in her Relief Society presidency in her student ward last year and is serving as a FHE group leader this year. She is considering serving a LDS mission if she doesn't get into nursing school immediate but my worry is someone will sweep her off her feet? She's come close this fall but decided he just wasn't Mr. Right. Whew.
And we are all breathing a sigh of relief. It was touch and go there at the end due to his excessive U's for being tardy. He assured me he'd get it taken care of...and he did.
He struggled to find employment all summer and finally got a full time job in the fall. He is working with disabled adult women in their group home. He works the swing shift and sleeps over usually once a week. He helps them make dinner, clean their home, takes them shopping and out to eat and he even takes them to church on Sunday. I love to hear his funny work stories and see how kind and sweet he is to these special women. He's heading to Salt Lake Community College in January to take a couple classes in addition to working full time.
He has recently taken up snowboarding and made his first sky diving jump this year.
He still rides his long board and decided to take a sabbatical from driving cars for a couple of months this year. He wanted to prove he could do it but mostly he wanted to get out of doing a daily chore - one of the requirements of us providing a car and car insurance. He's back to driving.....and chores.
Devree...
....made
drill team and it is pretty much what she eats, breaths, and sleeps right now. Competition starts this month.
She turned
16 in July and started driving herself places. (Thank goodness!) She has a very active social life and is such a driven child. As a first year drill member she has made ALL THREE competition dances. A pretty impressive accomplishment - especially considering she played basketball last year.
She is a fabulous student and sings with her high school A'capella choir.
Last year she played on the sophomore basketball team and served as co-captain..
She enjoyed EFY, girls camp and going on her first date this summer. She is looking forward to drill nationals at the end of February in Orlando Florida.
Alex...
...is starting basketball this week and has recently joined the swim team. (It wasn't really his choice but since he can't seem to find a positive outlet for his free time on his own - besides video gaming and lighting fire balls [paper towels soaked with hand-sanitizer] - his loving mother helped him find an alternate interest.)
He is still participating in
scouts, got his braces off and his
wisdom teeth out last spring.
He has grown about five inches this year and mastered the art of bathing and wearing cologne.
Girls are starting to notice him - much to his mothers dismay!
He is in the 8th grade, taking wood shop and boys choir and surviving! Which is no easy feat with less than four years of speaking English. He cannot remember hardly any of his native Ukrainian tongue but ever so often he remembers bits and pieces of his sad past and shares them with us. We are so glad he is finally home. He's a good boy with a good heart and trying hard to find his place and figure out his role in our family. We sure love him and don't know what our family would be like without him.
Rylee...
...
graduated from 6th grade and made
Starlett Dancers. Yes, that's right. We have daughters on a college drill team, a high school drill team and now a Starlett Dancer. (One class below the highest class possible in Murray Community Dance. She is one of the youngest members of the team.)
She is also starting basketball this month, singing in choir and LOVING junior high-despite the drama. She got her first 4.0 report card last term. She too got her braces off and has grown five inches. She and Alex are currently neck and neck or should I say head to head at 5 foot 5 inches?
She is a great babysitter and loves to bake. Her specialty is cupcakes and treats. Her brothers love that about her.
Wendy
I started cycling this year and completed my first 70 mile ride, the
Wicked Witch Ride in September. I've bought a new bike since then (I was riding James
' bike) and I'm loving this mild winter weather so I can still get a ride or two in each week. I'm registered for an 80 mile Goldilocks ride in the spring. I love riding my bike. However, I don't love flat tires OR cold, windy weather.
I am serving as a Sunday school teacher teaching the 14 and 15 year old kids.
I spend most my time juggling, plotting and planning. I juggle everyone's schedules and plot and plan who can be where and grab who at what time and when we can all be home for dinner or eat in shifts. Thanks to my cell phone, I can answer phones, texts and emails for work while taxiing everyone around. (Of course only at red lights and in parking lots!)
I am trying hard to give up refined sugars and eating a Paleo diet. I am also returning to school this January - not sure what my major is yet, I am six credits from my associates degree but have to take a math placement test and math classes over again. Oh. My. Stars!
I know our synopsis seems pretty peachy so in an effort to keep this update true to life, we have our issues: We girls have clothing issues, especially when the college daughter takes the high school daughters items to school and/or some unknown daughter leaves my clothes in a heap on my closet floor after trying on half my wardrobe or borrowing and not returning my conditioner, hairspray, hairdryer etc.! Austin is undecided on serving a mission. Alex has issues with video game addiction, organization and returning James tools to their proper place. Rylee cries when she does her math homework (I might be joining her soon.) and she and Alex can fight/argue/correct or contradict each other over anything and everything. Ella likes to chew up the bathroom garbage and barks like a maniac when anyone rings the doorbell, and James is overwhelmed with the maintenance of our fleet of vehicles and the numerous household repairs we save for him when he arrives home.
In sad news, my sweet
Grandma Lee passed away this year. I have been so fortunate to have a living grandma for my 43 years of life. Her presence is greatly missed by all of us. We are so grateful to know that families are forever and we will see her again in the next life.
We are also grateful for this season and for you friendship and love. Yes, we're busy. Sometimes overwhelming busy but we are so blessed. We know God lives. We know he loves us and we have each other this year and every year.
May we all take a minute to celebrate the birth of our Savior and love one another just a little bit more.
Thanks for stopping in.
Have a Happy New Year and the Merriest Christmas!
Love,
The Richhart's
