Mother's Day

I have to admit, I think this was the best Mother's Day I have had so far! :) On Friday, Amanda came home with her flower craft with her little picture on it. It was so sweet! She was so excited to show it to me.

Saturday, I was able to run 8 miles. I wasn't sure if I would be able to accomplish it since I hadn't ran that far since before I had kids. I was able to do it and was still feeling great afterwards! After the hardwork, Roy paid for me to get my hair done. :) I love getting pampered! :)

Then on Sunday, I wasn't really expecting too much, but after church was over Kaitlyn & Amanda both had something for me. Amanda had a rose with a tender little poem and Kaitlyn had a little poem also from Nursery...although really next month she will be nursery age. :) I have to admit, as I read these two little poems, I got choked up. They were so sweet. I thought I would share them with you.

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing up

I'll be grown up someday

And all those tiny handprints

Will surely fade away.

So here's a final handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was three feet tall!

Love, Kaitlyn

TO MY FRIEND

Oh Mother when I think of you,

I cannot help but smile.

I think of all the little things

That make my life worthwhile.

You're smile, your laugh, your gentle touch,

You make be feel so safe.

The way you tuck me in at night

And softly touch my face.

I know that I don't always do

The things I know I should,

But everyday I learn from

Your example what is good.

I hope you always know dear mom,

I think you're really grea,

And someday I'll be just like you

I can hardly wait!

But until then, while I am small,

With so many needs to attend,

Just know I loe you more each day

And I'm thankful you're my friend.

Love, Amanda

I also have to say, we stopped by my Mom's grave to drop of flowers on her grave. I have so much gratitude for my Mom. She is such a great example to me! She is an amazing woman and was able to raise 11 kids. Mom I don't know how you did it! But I know you are definitely gifted. I love and miss you soo much!

To My Wonderful Husband - 6th Anniversary

How do I begin to tell you how lucky I am to have you in my life? I'll start by saying what an honor it is for me to be your wife. Your my best friend in the good times and my rock in times of sorrow. You're the reason for sweet yesterdays and my promise for tomorrow. I never thought I could feel this loved until I became your wife. You made this year and every year the best one of my life. Happy Anniversary my Sweetie! I love you!

Eternally yours, Linda

Happy Easter!

Kaitlyn with her big grin!

Jessica with her stuffed duck wearing sunglasses.

Kaitlyn trying out the sunglasses with Daddy.

Amanda with her sunglasses.

Jessica showing off her sunglasses, although what was the Easter Bunny thinking? They are too small! :)

Ammon with his cute smile. :)

Kaitlyn & Daddy




Ammon checking out his Bakugan.

Well, as you can see the Easter Bunny came to our house! He delivered lots of candy, stuffed animals, bubbles, sunglasses, etc. The kids were able to have a little Easter Egg hunt between General Conference sessions on Saturday, watched "Peter Cottontail", and decorated sugar cookies while Daddy went to the priesthood sesson in the evening. It was a busy weekend with General Conference but made it even more special to remember the true meaning of Easter.

The Soft Sock Girls

The other day, Kaitlyn got in my sock drawer (which is happening more often lately). She loves my extra soft striped socks and walks around with them. She will always giggle and always puts them by her face and walks around with them like they are a stuffed animal. :) Well, this time Roy decided to put the socks on Kaitlyn and see what she would do. She thought she was pretty cool and walked around in them. :) Well, since I had my socks on and Kaitlyn, Amanda wanted to try on a pair. Well as you can see we ended up taking some pictures of our lovely socks. :)

Look who has Piggy Tails!

I was looking at Kaitlyn's hair this morning while she was eating and wondered it I would be able to get little piggy tails in her hair. Well, with her not being used to getting her hair done and a bit of a struggle, I was able to succeed! Yay! She finally has enough hair for little piggys! Here are photos of the very first hair do. :) Still waiting to get the first hair cut... :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well our St. Patrick's Day was quite the day! We normally do not celebrate it that much other than wear green, but this time, it was different. We picked up Jessica & Ammon from their mom's house and we were invited to go to Aunt Vickie's house...or Amanda says "Aunt Picky" lol. We normally have FHE on our midweek visit, so Vickie and her family invited us over for dinner and FHE. The kids were pretty excited. Well, we showed up and she had a "green" dinner. We had green salad, green rolls, green beans, Chicken Fettuchini with spinach noodles and even the sauce was green! :) Afterwards, Vickie prepared a wonderful Family Home Evening lesson on the resurrection of Christ (in flannel board story form). Afterwards for the activity, Vickie mentioned some leprechauns had been downstairs and the kids all ran down there and found chocolate candy gold coins all over. They all seemed pretty excited. Later we took Jessica and Ammon back to their mom's home.

Well, it had been a long day. I hadn't been home since the morning and we opened the door to find little leprechaun feet wandering throughout our house. Some feet headed to Amanda's room with a box of "Lucky Charm" cereal, and some little presents for Amanda & Kaitlyn with a note. I have posted some pictures of the feet and some pictures of the kids being excited. Thanks for our friends, The Brau's & Aunt Vickie, they made our St. Patrick's Day a blast!

Utah Valley Half Marathon Here I Come!

Well, I am not sure if I am crazy but I just signed up for the Utah Valley Half Marathon! This is one of my goals for this year and I am actually going to do it! I am a soo excited and ready to challenge myself! :) I was looking at my last half marathon and it will be almost 5 years ago. I have been doing smaller races in between that time and having babies. lol Now is the time to get my last 10 pounds off and enjoy being more physically fit. :)

I figured a half marathon is more fitting for my schedule than a full one. Training for the Ogden Marathon was very time consuming and energy zapping. Knowing how limited my time is now with work, church callings, 2 to 4 kids running around, making dinner, cleaning, all the duties of a wife and mom etc. a half marathon would be more workable. :) If we set our minds to do something we want...we can do anything! :)

Dancing Twister! :)

Even Roy gets competive in this game. lol

It's the Dancing Twister! You know our family hasn't played this game for quite some time but I had to take pictures of this! lol We just play the normal game, but Jessica starts playing her music. We all have to keep dancing while we have our arms and legs on the appropriate dots. It always gets the kids excited.

On Wednesday nights, we usually have Jessica and Ammon for about 3 1/2 hours and it is our Family Night. We get lots done in that time frame, to doing homework (if they have some), cooking/eating dinner, and then have our Family Home Evening. If we have enough time, we are able to have an activity...well this past Wednesday we didn't have to take the kids back that night so we were able to have our activity. The kids were pretty excited. This time even Baby Kay was having a blast playing and dancing around. It is amazing how just being goofy and having fun can make good family memories! :)

A Valentine's Weekend to Remember

As many of you may know, my Mom passed away almost 4 years ago. It will be 4 years on May 9. We haven't had an official headstone placed on her grave. I think it has been an emotional thing for Dad, plus trying to come up with the perfect headstone for both of them, one that they deserve! :)

We have been blessed to have a cousin who has a business making headstones, Paul Baliff. He was able to produce a headstone we never thought was possible. He did an amazing job! When my parents had their 50th Anniversary we had a special picture made that was unveiled. My family came up with an idea of Mom and Dad's wedding picture, putting it in front of the Salt Lake City Temple where they married and then had pictures of all of us kids up in the clouds. We have always pictured us up in heaven cheering for our parents on their wedding day and making us an eternal family. :) Definitely a special day! Well, Paul was able to get this picture carved in our parents granite headstone. We were able to have Mom's headstone placed on Saturday morning, February 13, along with my Uncle Lynn Richardson 's and cousin Mark Richardson headstone. It was Mark & Lynn's 22 wedding anniversary on Saturday! It was Lynn's anniversary gift for her wonderful hubby. It was so wonderful to see most of our "Richardson" family including aunts, uncles, and cousins there. What a wonderful Valentine's gift to give our loved ones who we dearly miss!

Inspirational New Year

This morning I woke up a bit late so I missed my personal scripture reading time...so as I was driving to work I thought about some of my favorite scriptures and ones that have inspired me lately. I realized there was a couple of scriptures that stuck out more in my mind and they could be a focus for me this year...little reminders that Heavenly Father is here for all of us and is just waiting to give us more blessings if we allow him.

"Thus God had provided a means that man through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings." Mosiah 8:18

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; as he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Psalms 37:4

DRESS REHEARSAL
Listen! Music fills a room
Like soft sunlight through sheer lace curtains
And those simple youthful melodies are played
Time and time again.

At first with fumbling fingers
And then with practiced perfection
The work soon becomes second nature.
The notes have not changed but the student has.

With each lesson learned another page is turned
And the cycle begins anew.
The young ones observe those older
And follow in their path.

Each maestro has their mentor
And each pupil their faithful fan.
There is pleasure in each performance
Be it childish or complex.

And we seem to enjoy the recitals most
Not when judged in a contest,
But rather when shared in a concert,
Where every soul resonates with a music uniquely its own,

A music which becomes richer
As it harmonizes with that of others.
Our life is but a picture within a picture,
A single note within a score.

Let us use it well.
Let us seek to learn and then learn to share
So that each day is a dress rehearsal
For a grand performance yet to come!
Greg Olsen, 1993

I feel I have received a big hug from Heavenly Father this morning. :)