Camryn turns 5

My big girl, Camryn, had her 5th birthday earlier this month. This post is all about her, my sweet girl at the age of 5.

She still loves many of the things she has loved for years, like music. She loves to sing. She also loves the radio. She can pick up songs she has only heard once or twice and sing them. This means we have to be extra careful when the radio is on, because there is a good chance she will sing it.

She still loves horses. She has several toy horses. She has also found a fascination with snakes. When we went to a reunion, someone caught a snake, and she followed that person around as much as we let her. She really loves just about any animal though.

She is really into "super heroes," and she loves action movies. Any action movie she gets the chance to watch, she loves. Iron Man was a favorite of hers for awhile. Right now, she loves Transformers. We don't let her watch them much. I think she has only seen Transformers twice, but that is enough. She loves Optimus Prime and talks about him as a super hero.

One of her favorite TV shows is Diego. He is an animal rescuer. That puts two of her loves together.

She does still like some girly things too. She has barbies and ponies. She loves lipgloss and getting her nails painted.

She is very outgoing. Anywhere we go, she will find a friend.

I can't believe how big she is getting, and how much she has matured over this past year.
She missed the deadline to start kindergarten this year by 6 days. We have recently started working with her more at home. She now has "homework" from her school/daycare and we work on some other stuff too. The main thing we recently have been working on is writing her name. We let her trace it, and practice just writing too. This is one of her practice sheets. At this point, she had only a couple weeks practice. She actually likes doing "homework." Hopefully this will last.


At this point, she also like to help me clean. I had to get this on tape.



She also like to help vacuum (I got her a little hand-held), mop, and dust. The only thing she seems to dislike is putting away toys. She says that makes her tired. Yes, she got more than just the dishes wet in that video.

Birthday Pics

We got her a horse and cowgirl. The horse makes horse sounds. She loves it!

We had a birthday party at a later date. That will be another post.

Words can't express how much I love my Camryn. She is my big girl. She has such a special spirit. I am so blessed to be her mommy.

Playing Catch-Up

I am WAY behind on blogging. I haven't even had time to log on at all lately. Life just gets too cRaZY. I will be playing catch-up, and doing a post when ever I can get one in. If that means I post more than once a day, well then that's what will happen. I have lots to blog about.

Husband Tag

Kent
from my point of view

5 THINGS HE LOVES

1. Talking politics. He is conservative and loves Glenn Beck.

2. Fast cars. Right now, he has a Honda S2000. When I met him, this picture was labeled "my baby" on his profile.

He is actually selling it to better our financial situation so he can go back to school in January. I guess other things have moved up to "my baby" status in his life. I did have to promise that, in the future, he could save up for another sports car. The girls love rides in his "car with the convertible top" just as much I think.

3. Camping and fly fishing, which is great because we all love camping and Camryn loves fishing.

4. Flipping houses. I don't know if he loves it, or if he's just really good at it. It has made him quite a bit of money in the past. He hasn't been doing it since the market crashed, but he's too busy fixing up our house right now anyway.

5. Last, and most important, his family. Us three girls and the baby on the way. He does so much for us. Service is most definitely his love language. He is always working so hard for us. I also am amazed at well he has taken on the roll of being a dad. He is AMAZING and we are all so lucky to have him.

5 THINGS ON HIS TO DO LIST

1. Finnish school. He has gone a few times, with a few different majors. Seeing my career, he has decided to go into pharmacy. He will start going full time in January.

2. Get this house fixed up. This is a HUGE one. He is working on it all the time. Recent projects:
-New addition laundry room. It looks AMAZING. All he has left in there is trim. I will post pictures as soon as it is done. Here is a peek at the tile. -French doors in our master bedroom, as well as a walk-in closet. The master bath is on the to-do-list.
-Replaced our old boiler with a central heating and ac system. He actually hired this out, but it is such a huge improvement that I had to mention it.
-He is preparing for new siding right now, which is planned for the end of this month.

This is some of the big stuff, but he is fixing up little things all the time. A complete list would get way to boring.

3. Get out of debt, completely. He was practically debt free when I met him. Now we are working on all my crap from my previous marriage. He likes to listen to Dave Ramsey, who says, "the paid-off mortgage has replaced the BMW as the status symbol of America." He is very budget oriented and very frugal.

4. Travel. We really would both love to travel as much as possible.

5. Take me through the temple. This is a big goal of both of ours. We are working/hoping for this spring. We really want to take the girls too, hopefully someday we can make that happen.

5 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT HIM

1. He was a dancer. This started with the high school dance team. He says the teacher kept coming to wresting practice and trying to get him to join her team. She asked him to come in one time, then she would leave him alone. So he went in. Once he saw all the pretty girls and that he was going to be doing lifts and stuff, he signed up. This later lead to a job as a German dancer at Busch Gardens. I think he was also on the dance team at BYU. Too bad I don't have any digital pictures for you =(

2. He served in the Army. I think for about 2 1/2 years, maybe 3. He helped develop a missal program.

3. He is a planner. This works well, because I am a planner too.

4. He is a big movie buff. Our date nights usually involve a movie. I will also add his two favorite actresses: Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, The Traveler's Wife) and Charlise Theron (sp?) (The Italian Job, Hancock). He has seen every single movie either one of them was in, and owns most of the one's Rachel McAdams was in.

5. He is a BIG tease. If you have met him, you already know this. For those of you that have not, but may meet him in the future, beware. You cannot believe everything he says. As he and my dad both say, "It's all about the reaction."

5 QUIRKY THINGS

1. He has a toy poodle, that is now ours. I put this under quirky, because you see this broad shouldered, muscular guy, you wouldn't guess he owned a toy poodle. I was told he dog sat two toy poodles for a friend for quite a few months, and he fell in love with the dogs. After they went home, he missed them and went and got one of his own.

2. He hates tomatoes. This, I do not understand. I love tomatoes. It grosses him out to see me eat one like an apple.

3. He likes to shop. He's not absolutely crazy about it, but he does enjoy it. He actually waits outside the dressing room and gives me feedback about clothes, and he actually seems to enjoy doing it. He likes to shop for himself too, but it seems easier for him to spend money on me than on himself. I love shopping with him.

4. He doesn't have the best sense of smell. Sometimes I am surprised when he says he can't smell something. If I listen to him breath through his nose, I think he needs sinus surgery.

5. You know those flushable wet wipes? We have a container in each bathroom. He explains, if you got poop on your arm, you wouldn't just wipe it off with toilet paper, you would wash it off. He has converted our whole house. They really do work better than dry toilet paper alone.


I love him, more than I can express. I am so happy to be his wife.

I am not going to tag 5 people, but do it if you want to, or if you need somethig to blog about, or if you just want to share how wonderful your hubby is, do this tag.

First Ultrasound

We had our first doctor visit last week, and we got to see our tiny baby on ultrasound. I'm surprised the tech was able to get this shot, with how much the little thing was moving around. If it was any indication of future activity levels, we are in for it.

Our Little Gummi Bear

Approx 10 weeks

We also got a 3D image, but this early, I think that is an image only a mother and father could love. I think those 3D images even look scary at 32 weeks, but at 10 weeks you can barely tell it's human. Still, I love looking at it--my little baby.

Okay, I changed my mind. I just love looking at both images so much, that I decided to post the 3D picture too. Tiny, tiny baby, with a lot of brains. I think this must be what Tweety Bird was designed after.

Reunion Family Pictures

My Richardson Family

This is everyone that made it to the reunion this year. I already wrote about some of the things we did, but I didn't really talk too much about my AMAZING family. I have always felt loved by every single family member, truly. I know that if I was stranded anywhere, and one of these family members were within 2-3 hours drive I could call them and they would be there for me. In my opinion, this is why we all look forward to these reunions so much. Who wouldn't want to be surrounded with LOTS of people that absolutely love them?

Those of my immediate family members that were able to be here:
Camryn, Mickell, Dane, Mom, Jonathan, Me, Kendra, Kent, Nicole, and Kaydence.
We missed you, Taylor, Amanda, Travis, and Dad.

My cousin, Catherine, took these pictures. She is amazing. It sure looked like a lot of work to photograph all of these people. She took individual family pictures for anyone that wanted it. What a sweetheart!

BIG news

The key word here is BIG.

I am at work today. Michele is the main pharmacist here. I usually only work here one day a week, so not all the customers know me. I am helping a man. He asks me where Michele is. I told him I gave her a day off. He asked me my name, and was very polite. He then asks me how far along I am. I am a bit puzzled. I get a lot of customers that comment on how young I am and ask how long I have been out of school. So I ask him, "You mean, how long have I been out of school?" He says no, pointed at my belly, and says, "aren't you with..."

Okay, so yes, I am pregnant. Tomorrow I will be 9 weeks. Nine weeks, and some stranger can already tell I am pregnant! Granted, I am wearing a shirt that pouches a bit in the tummy, but still, there is enough of a pouch that a COMPLETE STRANGER has the guts to ask me about it, and acts like it is a given.

We were planning on announcing this soon, but I figured I better get it out there since it is COMPLETELY OBVIOUS anyway.
Really though, most people we talk to on a regular basis already know. With four people in our house that are all extremely EXCITED, we haven't done a good job keeping quiet. By the time I was 5 weeks along we had already purchased a crib, stroller/carseat combo, and high chair. I'd say we are pretty excited.

The baby is due in March.

To those of you who have tiny tummies, to those who are further along, but I will soon catch up to then surpass in size-- I will try not to be bitter. Just please be considerate of the fact the I am the ONLY one that can make comments about how HUGE I am.

Family Reunions and Amanda's Graduation

We have been busy the last two weeks. We had two family reunions with Amanda's Graduation in between.

The first was the Duersch Reunion in honor of Kent's late Great-Grandparents. This reunion is for their kids and their posterity. Not everyone makes it, but there is still a huge turn-out. They reserve most of the campsites in a campground in Logan Canyon, just outside of Logan, Utah.

Our trip started with the drive, and of course we had to have snacks. Our girls LOVE Cheetos.

Look at that face, and those fingers!

We camped with Kent's parents. The snacking didn't stop in the car. That is one messy girl enjoying a s'more.






Kendra got some time with Grandma Joy and Grandpa Howard took Camryn fishing. Camryn absolutely LOVED IT!!! She caught her FIRST FISH!

If you look closely, you can tell it is an albino rainbow trout. She had so much fun showing everyone her catch. She even showed her Great-Grandpa William Denning and his wife, Della, how the fished moved in the water.



We also played water kickball. These small pools were the bases. Those guarding the base had soggy wet things to throw at the runners to try to slow them down. This one was completely for the kids, and I think they had a blast.




Mickell also got to come with us. She is blowing bubbles for Kendra. She actually stayed with us for over a week and really helped us out by watching Camryn and Kendra when we were at work. She is such a big help. She played with the girls a lot. She is really growing into a young lady.

There was a big meal at the reunion that everyone attended, followed by an auction. The proceeds go to fund the next year's reunion. There were some AMAZING quilts and all sorts of other things that family members brought for the auction. It was pretty fun!


We got a few days at home, then we headed out again, this time to Pocatello for Amanda's graduation. She received a Master's in Physician Assistant Studies. We are so proud of her and all her hard work!

Kent was not with us for the ceremony, because he was watching all the kiddos for us so everyone else could go. Way to take one for the team, honey.

What a beautiful couple! We sure love them!

After the graduation ceremony we had a small party at the park for Amanda. Then our little family was on the road again, heading to the Richardson reunion. Kendra got good at sleeping the the van.

This reunion is in honor of my grandparents, Grant and Kathleen Richardson, and their posterity. This year, it was at Clear Creek Ranch, near Zions National Park in Southern Utah. My grandpa reserved three of these lodges for our family to stay in. I ALWAYS LOVE the Richardson reunions, and this year was no different. I have an AMAZING family and I LOVE to see them. There was a lake, with canoes for us to use. Camryn LOVED the canoes, and went out in them every opportunity she had.

This time, I took out Camryn, Kendra, and Josie.

I also had the opportunity to watch some wonderful children for a little while one afternoon while some of the adults hiked up the Narrows. I had my two girls, along with Nicole's little Kaydence, and my cousin Rhett's kids-- Josie, Sophie, and Samuel.

The younger ones watched a wonderfully entertaining Barbie movie with me while Kent took Camryn and Josie out on the lake. After they got back, we all went outside and played on the playground equipment.

Laying in front of me on the couch is Kaydence and Samuel. They are the CUTEST! With their parents gone, they both clung on to me. Samuel kept saying "I hold you," meaning he wanted held. I loved it. As soon as his parents came back I didn't matter, but I sure enjoyed it while it lasted.

Before their parents got back, we took the kids up for dinner. Aren't they cuties! That's Kendra with the carrot, then Sophie, Kaydence, and Samuel with Josie across the table.

Our last night there, we had a program where we shared stories from my Grandpa's life. He turned 90 this year. He is such an amazing man. I feel so blessed to have been sent to his family. We all look up to him and the wonderful example he has set for us.

My grandpa LOVES watermelon. He used to have a watermelon patch in his backyard. He and my two uncles used to have contests to see who could eat the most watermelon. In honor of this, we had a watermelon eating contest. Whoever finished their piece first won.

Nicole and I sat next to each other. Next to me is my uncle Jesse, one of the historic watermelon eaters.

This picture is at the start and we look pretty clean, but as we got into it watermelon juice was everywhere! I did not come prepared for this. My hair was down and kept falling in my watermelon. I would get a mouth-full of hair with my watermelon, it was great.
My brother Jonathan is in the green, next to my cousins Spencer and Jeff.

Here is the STAR, My gradfather, Grant Richardson.

They did pretty good!

Nicole and I did pretty good too! We are covered in watermelon.

We really had a great time. I wish I would have taken more pictures of my family. We did get some group pictures, and when I get those I will post them.

To my family--

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

P.S. Danielle--I stole a few of your pictures because I didn't take enough. I hope that's okay =)

P.P.S. Kent just brought in to my attention that he is not in any of the pictures. Sorry for not getting any pictures of you picking on those younger and smaller than you and throwing them in the lake, in their pajamas. You and Dane, both. Like I said, I just didn't get out my camera enough.