Devree Promoted from 6th grade!

We're heading to junior high! And Devree is ready. She told me today she plans on having the cutest and cleanest locker in the 7th grade. A little about my Dev....

She is a fabulous student. Each week in 6th grade she had spelling, vocabulary and "parent" homework where I or James (mostly I) as well as Devree had to interpret the quote of the week. It was due each Friday. MONDAY night we had to get it ALL done. One week I didn't get my quote done until Thursday night and the next Monday I got a lecture on how nervous that made Devree and that I should take a minute and get it done immediately! This is her approach to life. She doesn't put anything off, often times jumping into things before anyone is ready or able to supervise or assist.

She's going through a difficult phase of helping when no help is needed. Like storing the ice cream cake in the fridge-not the freezer, turning on the dishwasher while James has the drain disconnected, things like that.Her intentions are good but.... we're just hoping that this is a phase and will soon pass.

She always smells good & has perfect hair and recently she has lost 11 pounds! We're on a weight loss challenge her at the Richhart house. (We'll some of us!) and Devree has taken it to heart! This is hard (as anyone who has or needs to lose weight can attest) and Devree loves to bake cookies and she's fabulous at it. Also, her teachers in school and church seem to reward their students will full size candy bars and soft drinks. So she has to have extreme will power.

I am so very proud of her and look how cute she is:

You can all thank my cousin Michelle for this TAG so here goes....
1. What is his name? James or when he's acting old man like I call him Raymond which is his middle name as well as my grandpa's name!
2. Who eats more? He eats more volume, I eat more variety & often
3. Who said I love you first? I think he did?
4. Who is taller? He is unless I'm wearing heels!
5. Who is smarter? I'm smarter at common sense/trivia, he's way smarter at math/science and how cars run!
6. Who is more sensitive? It's a toss up, he tears up at chick flicks and horse movies, I cry when I'm mad and for no reason at all!
7. Who does the laundry? I DO!
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me!
9. Who pays the bills? Me! Once I left if up to James and he missed the house payment!
10. Who cooks more? ME!
11. What meals do you cook together? BBQ. I send him out with the meat, prepare everything else, set the table and then we wait.......
12. Who is more stubborn? Oh....probably...me?
13. Who is first to admit they are wrong? James. I'm wrong but I average about twice a year!
14. Who is more clean? Hum...he's clean but I do the cleaning!
15. Who has more siblings? James by far, he has 7!
16. Who wears the pants in the relationship? He always wears pants; I wear pants a lot (jeans, Capri's, etc.) except on Sunday. (That was my cousins answer and I thought it was just too funny not to copy!)
17. What do you like to do together? Eat & sleep!
18. Who eats more sweets? Oh for sure....ME!
19. Guilty pleasures? Mine or James? Mine is chocolate and racy books. James I cannot print on this family friendly blog.
20. How did you meet? We met at a singles ward. I was sitting on my boyfriends lap in the lobby.
21. Who kissed who first? James kissed me first...on the cheek!
22. Who proposed? He did.
23. His best feature? His big guns, handsome face and two different colored eyes.
24. What is his greatest quality? There are so many so I'll name a few: His faith, his zest for life, that he's a great dad, the fact that he loves me....
I'm tagging Amy, Sara, Kim & Kristy!

Just blogging....

So, James is going to take a job that will require him to be gone for two weeks and then home for two weeks. What the heck? I'm suppose to be without him completely and then with him completely? How will I adjust?
We should know for sure next week, the awesome thing is it pays so well that for the first time in our marriage, I won't HAVE to work. I know I will work (cause I love what I do) but the idea of not working is something that I just can't wrap my mind around. For the past 5 years, I have been the major bread winner. With the real estate market taking a nose dive these past few months, it's a good thing we're shifting gears. The first thing I did when he announced that he's a pretty sure thing for this job is I went and auditioned for Footloose with Kambree. We both got call backs and we're just waiting to see what parts we get. Last year was so great doing Peter Pan together and it makes me so happy that Kam doesn't mind me being in these shows with her. It makes me sad to think we probably only have two more summers before she heads off to college. I can't think of a better way to spend our summer than at rehearsals and performing. And can I just say, the boys at call backs were so dang cute! I think she's going to have a blast!
Speaking of Kambree, she has huge news.....SHE MADE MURRAY HIGH DANCE COMPANY! And she is so excited. She worked so hard. I've never been so nervous for an audition for anyone (besides myself) in my life. Who knew being a mom would bring that rush and butterfly in the tummy feeling when it's not even your audition! I am so proud of her. Her best friend, Sami convinced her to tryout. It's so important to have good friends.
Austin is now taller than me! In December he was 5 foot 6 now he's over 5 foot 8. He's going to have a tough time adjusting to James being gone. They're always wrestling and goofing around and honestly, he's just to big for me to wrestle with. He wins!
Devree took charge of Mothers Day this year and ordered me an apple peeler that the children have wanted forever. She even sent me on a scavenger hunt through the house. It was so fun. My favorite clue was the one that went something like this "Midnight eats and then in an hour go the place where she pushes with power!" Which is the utility room where the kitty litter box is kept. Ha! Ha!
Rylee brought me breakfast in bed. Rice Chex's and milk. Yum! She also made the most hilarious book where she finished the end of cliche's. My favorite ones; "When you lie down with dogs....they might lick you up the nose!" And "People that live in glass houses... must live in a snow globe!" She also went to the David Archletta party @ Murray High with Kam and Dev and she cried four times. Tears of joy @ seeing David. What a funny girl!
Well, I'm blogging from James laptop as my computer got some terrible virus complete with bugs infesting my screen. (Yuck! I'm still itchy, even though I know they're just computer animated bugs....it freaked me out!) So my computer is a the computer doctors.
And I don't have any pictures to post although my kitchen is looking beautiful. I love it! It is so nice to have running water. You just don't know what you take for granite until you don't have it anymore. When my computer is well again I'll post kitchen pictures.

Marathon Saturday!

Some women run marathons with their running shoes on. I run them in my car!

This was our Saturday:

9:30-11:00 Rylee @ rehearsal for dance recital with Murray Community

10:00 Kambree @ work

10:30 Rylee @ Midvale for Cinco De Mayo Parade (luckily I was sitting at rehearsal and it got out early and we rushed over to the parade start.)

11:00 Luncheon @ my cute cousins house on the parade route! (Thanks Jen & Paul)

12:15 Rylee performing @ Cinco De Mayo Days

1:00-2:00 Run to Home Depot to buy ceiling fans for the 4th time!

2:00-4:00 Rylee @ birthday party

4:00-5:00 Dinner and hair and makeup for Ry

5:00 Rylee @ Dress Rehearsal

6:00 Kambree Home from work

7:00 Dance Recital
We missed a soccer game, my temple group and a primary party on top of this! Normally we don't have both dance groups scheduled on top of each other, I guess we just got lucky!

Unfortunately, I didn't burn a lot of calories running this marathon. Just a tank of gas!

Ry in the parade

Dancing on Stage

Singing her solo!

Isn't she cute?

In her dance outfit!

With Rachel & Ashtyn

This cute boy brings Ry flowers to every recital. His name is Sam and they are just good friends.

Rylee is in purple third from the right!

James's Tag.....

James here. I don't know how I managed to get here, but here we go.

4 Jobs I've Had:
Waiter, Plumber, Car and Furniture Sales, Medical Managed Care Account Exec.

4 Movies I own or would like to see over and over.
In this order: A Time to Kill (R) but you really learn to love all people regardless of race, especially our African brothers; Sea Biscuit, there is just something about the spirit of certain race horses; Toy Story, I just love the part when Sid gets his; and lastly the Apple Dumpling Gang.

4 favorite foods:
Lobster, Lemon Bars, Chile Relleno, Lime Sherbet with Sprite

4 Places I have lived
Maryland, Utah, Heaven, and Hell for just a few brief moments here and there.

4 People who email me regularly
Wendy, Ken Garff Volvo Dealership, Amazon and a guy at work whom I just found out was gay.

4 Places I'd rather be
Asleep in a closet in the afternoon hours, under water holding my breath for as long as I can, getting a massage from a woman, and with my wife, most the time not in this order.

4 Things to look forward to this year
Putting on my last piece of siding, putting on my last piece of trim, installing my last ceiling fan, and installing my last outlet receptacle.

4 People I Tag: Sorry I only know a few people besides the ones who have already been tagged: Jerry Lewis, Gene Simmons, Don Knotts, Tina Turner. I am hoping this will all end here!

Oh my heck...I've been tagged!

So I was tagged by my friend Sara apparently, over a week ago. You can tell I haven't been blog stalking lately!
The funny thing is James got tagged by my friend Amy's husband Ryan. And James doesn't even read my blog. (Or at least I don't think he does.) I'll have to pass on the info that he's tagged.
So here goes.....
4 Jobs I've Had:
(I'm going list the most interesting one's-I've had over 20!)
1. Waitress at a lesbian night club (I didn't know it was a lesbian club until I caught the manger kissing another girl! Needles to say, I didn't stay there long)
2. Waitress at Rascals during male stripper night. (Didn't stay there long either-no I wasn't a cocktail waitress wearing fishnets and body suit-I served food and wore black and white)
3. Cleaned the stadium @ BYU after the WAC tournament. (Disgusting!)
4. Actress-TV movie. I played the part of a pregnant Mormon woman and I was a pregnant Mormon woman!
4 Movies I have or would like to watch over and over:
Pride & Prejudice (My fave!)
Monsters Inc (I just love Boo-she reminds me of Rylee as a toddler)
The Incredible's (I relate to Elastic Girl!)
A Christmas Story (We watch every year as a family and eat chinese food!)
4 of my favorite foods:
Mint Filled Cookies from Schmidts
Homemade Rolls (made by someone rather than me!)
Salads (All kinds, again made by someone other than me!)
Chocolate Donuts (The kind you get as gas stations!)
4 Places I have lived:
Murray, Utah
Provo, Utah
Salt Lake, Utah
West Jordan, Utah
4 People who email me regularly:
Linda
Sandi
Debbie
Hungry Girl
4 Places I'd rather be:
In a size five pair of pants and able to zip and breath!
Mortgage free!
Somewhere (anywhere) warm and tropical!
In my new kitchen with counters and a sink!
4 Things to look forward to this year:
Getting my counters and sink!
Summer with my kids!
Kids going back to school!
Kambree driving herself places!
4 People I Tag:
Michelle
Kristy
Kim
MY MOM (I know she reads my blog but she doesn't have one!)

Kambree as a Polly Pocket!

No, not really. This is Kambree (yikes!) but this is her in Romeo and Juliet as a Capulet. It was a modern, hip rendition with all the kids dressed as punks. She got to fight a lot and we had fun putting her costume together. We went to the DI (the night before the performance) and tried to find a Sid Vicious T-shirt. No such luck. We found a Blink 182 T-shirt and a well meaning huge Tongan man came up to us and said, "Those bad people!" I think he was trying to save our poor souls from the evils of punk music. Little did he know that that was what we were trying to achieve! I bought this pink wig at a garage sale years ago. You just never know when you're going to need a pink wig. She looked fabulous and did a great job!

We're getting there!

Well, it's finally looking livable! We still have a million things to do to finish and currently we're living without a kitchen or bathroom sink. (So dishes have been done in the tub-not easy on the back!) But I can see a light!

The best thing! I had my new dishwasher installed yesterday and James hooked it up without a sink! (Isn't he fabulous!)

So here's a view standing from the west end:

And the kitchen....note the plywood counter tops! (Did I mention the counters and sinks are scheduled for next Wednesday? Hurray!)

These are our lockers! I loved them! When the kids leave their things around I just throw them in their lockers! James is wiring a power outlet in each of them so they can charge their i-pods and cell phones. (Gee, that makes it sound like everyone has I-pods and cell phones, but much to my children's dismay, only Kam has a cell phone-which she pays for herself-and Devree has an I-pod!) The rest will just have to live with the hope that the power in their locker may someday be used for some electronic gadget!)

Cute green ladder hu? Matches my green wall!

Family Room.....

I just have to say....I love it! Even with plywood counter tops and no sink. I know where everything is, I have ton's of counter and cupboard space, and the kids don't give me claustrophobia when we're all in the kitchen together. There's room to dance, sing and box!

I have to give props, where props are due.....James! What a guy. He works on this kitchen every spare minute and never complains! I've complained but he never does, he just keeps plugging along. I have to say I just got lucky. Not only does he have two different colored eyes (so if you get tired of gazing into one color you can switch to the other) big guns, and a whole lot of patience.....he can build, fix, repair, create, rig, re-wire, muscle, move, paint, pound, hang, plumb, just about anything!

And he must love me to put up with me and build me this kitchen!

Life with Austin!

Banisters & Stairs!

They're not done yet. They still need the paint grade risers and side thing painted and the trim, but I think they turned out fabulous!