Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Contact Info Update

Good morning fellow bloggers. As part of my 101 in 1001 I'm trying to create a birthday calendar as well as send out more cards. PLEASE send me an email with your contact info, including your address, email, phone #, and birthday. And please send me not only your birthday info, but everyone in your household (for the kids, include the year). THANK YOU!

*You can either leave it in the comments, or send me an email at jrichins278@yahoo.com.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas

We had SO much fun for Christmas this year. Rhett and I typically open presents early in the morning, drive to Vegas to have breakfast with my family, drive to his parents for lunch, and then back to my parents for dinner. This year his parents had Christmas weeks early and my parents decided to do everything on the 26th, so we didn't have to go anywhere. This year Rhett and I slept in a bit, got up, made some orange rolls, and opened presents. I'm pretty excited about the iPod Rhett got me as well as some hand wraps (for boxing) and a new tripod and a new dry blender...he did WAY good this year. I pretty much stuck to his list, but I was excited for him to open his chess set that I found for him. He's been looking for a set with dragons for years (seriously...since I've known him). 

We invited our friends, Dan and Tiffany, out to Logandale to spend Christmas with us since they don't have any family around. They brought their Rhino out and we spent about three hours riding around Logandale/Overton, finding new trails and braving the rain (and mud). It was cold, but SO much fun. When we got back we tried going out shooting, but after about 20 minutes the rain really started picking up and we had to pack up and head home. At home we popped in a movie and fixed some dinner. It was great to spend the day with friends and just relax. 

The day after Christmas my family got together for presents and dinner. I love spending time with family. The kids are getting so big and each one is developing such a unique personality. My camera died after about five minutes, so I didn't get too many pictures, but it was great hanging with the family and watching all the kids interact.

Xander loved playing with the earless Bugs Bunny Jack-in-the-Box. It's totally falling apart, but the kids LOVE it. This Jack-in-the-box is seriously older than I am!

Our view when riding the Rhinos around Valley of Fire.



Dan, Tiffany, and their dog Taylor, with a little bit of mud from the ride.



Saturday, December 13, 2008

Richins Christmas 2008

Last night the Richins celebrated Christmas at Rhett's parent's house. I think it was probably the most memorable and fun Christmas I can remember. There was the typical food, family, and presents, but this year we sang, read and acted out the account of Jesus being born, had a talent show, and even had a visit from old Saint Nick. I can't believe how much we squeezed in to one evening. 

The talent show was either showcasing a talent or a show and/or tell. Grandma Richins did a show and tell of the first lights she had on her Christmas tree after getting married. It was 60 years ago and she still has them! It was such an amazing story of how they didn't have electricity for nine years in their first house. Her husband (I never had a chance to meet Grandpa Richins) ended up getting a bunch of globe bulbs from car tail lights and painting them different colors and cutting out foil to go around each one. Then he strung them around the tree and wired them up to the battery in their tractor. Christmas morning he woke up and asked her to stay in bed for a moment. He crept downstairs, started up the tractor and then went upstairs to get her. They then walked out of the bedroom, where she saw the Christmas tree lighted for the first time. It was such a touching story (maybe you had to be there). Anyways, so later in the evening she gave us all a present to open and it's a book that she wrote about her life. The stories in there are great, one of which is the christmas lights story. It's always so amazing to hear stories like that and realize how much we take for granted. Can you imagine 9 years without electricity? Unbelievable. I love that she took the time to write all of these special memories down and share them with us.

Anyways, the whole night was just awesome. We all draw names and my incredible mother-in-law drew my name. She made me the most AMAZING quilt. Seriously. I don't even want to venture a guess at how long it took her to make. It's an underwater adventure quilt with crabs and a seahorse and fish and a turtle. And there's waves and everything. I don't know if you can really see all the detail in the picture, but it's beautiful! 

One thing that the Richins have always been great about is personal preparation. Every year in our stocking we receive something to put in our 72 hour kits or food storage. This year they got each family a wheat grinder! How cool is that? I know, it probably doesn't sound that cool and I'm probably weird for being so excited about it, but I love that their gifts are not just something to give 'cuz it's Christmas. They're heartfelt and practical and really have each of us in mind. I wish I could have captured the feeling and sentiment of the evening to be able to play it back each time I need a little pick-me-up. 


This is the book that Grandma Meeks gave to each of us:


Here's a picture of the tree we cut down last week:



Here's the AMAZING quilt that Welene made for me. How cute!



Here are the kids playing in the wagon that Rhett made for Bradley:

*Pictures continued in next post.

Richins Christmas

For whatever reason I can only upload four photos. Here are a few more photos from the evening.

Chad brought his girlfriend, Amy, to the party. 


Doesn't it look like Allison is trying to convince Santa that she's been good?


Codey and Wendy as shepherds in our nativity.


The cutest little angels: Elaina, Kaylee, and Allison.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Oh Christmas Tree!

Last Saturday we drove up to Cedar City with a few friends and went hiking in the snow to find our Christmas tree. Although the last two years we've had a tree that was cut down in the same manner, we've never actually been the ones to pick it out and chop it down. We've always been given left over trees from friends who've done it. So this year we decided to venture out and I'm so glad we did. We had a lot of fun and the kids LOVED the snow. I took a ton of cute pictures, but for whatever reason I can't upload them. So here are a couple of the kids in the snow and Rhett happy to have finally found the perfect tree. 


Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes!

The after-math of my poor decision making:



In May of 2007 I was looking for new hairstyles on the internet when I came across a super cute short haircut. The bangs were very short and the hair was kind of wavy and tossled and in between the chin and the shoulders. I printed it out and decided that one day, when I was brave enough, I was going to cut my hair in a similar fashion. I STILL have that picture and with my cutting of the hair a few months ago, I've been working up the courage to go even bolder. So last week I decided that it's time for a cut and why not go bold? Since I'll be in Vegas this Friday, I figured I can make an appointment and toughen up and just do it. 

I don't know if it was the endorphins from working out, or if I became possessed, but this morning I decided that Friday was too far away. I was running late for work and didn't even think twice. I grabbed a pair of scissors and started cutting! Yes, that's right. A woman with NO hair cutting experience, a woman who has never even trimmed her own hair before, a woman who has saved a picture for nearly 20 months just to work up the courage decided to put a pair of scissors in her hands WHEN she was running late and cut her hair. The logic just isn't there. I'm still a bit baffled. 

Needless to say, it didn't turn out quite like I was hoping. I kind of remind myself of Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber (I think that's the one where he has a horrible bowl cut). I think I like the concept of bangs...the execution just wasn't quite there. I cut a little too much. Okay, a LOT too much. I think I would like them much better if they were half an inch longer, half as thin, and didn't wrap around half my head. Seriously. They wrap half my head (Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber). I messed with my hair for 10 minutes to get it to look half way decent in the picture below...and it's dark. 



People at work just didn't know what to say. One girl said she liked it. But then a couple of hours later she told me that it makes me look older. The funny part is she thought she was giving me a compliment! Ha! That's only a compliment when you're 17! Nobody in there 30's wants to look older. 

Monday, December 1, 2008

Dumont Dunes

The day after Thanksgiving Rhett and I loaded up our toy-hauler and headed out to the land of the bountious sand...Dumont Sand Dunes. We've been there countless times and I never seem to find anything all that exciting to take pictures of...until now! I had the incredible fortune of getting to ride in a crazy top-of-the-line buggy, driven by a professional off-road racer. And not just any professional off-road racer. It was driven by BJ Baldwin, the number one racer of trophy trucks. I know, I know, it doesn't sound all that exciting. But believe me, it was! 

Rhett has prepped and pitted for BJ for years and we've both tried to score rides from him before. It's just impossible. We didn't realize that the magic ticket lied in our friend, Ron, who builds motors for half of the off-road racers. He drove me and a couple of my girlfriends over to BJ's camp and just asked him if he'd give us a ride. He said they were just heading out and maybe later, but it's difficult to say no to someone who builds your race motors, so he finally gave in. The three of us girls (it's a four seater) strapped in and waited anxiously for our ride to begin. I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew the buggy would handle amazingly (that's what $250,000 buys ya) and that the driver was more than capable to scare the bajezus out of us. But I didn't know how much he would hold back...or if he would purposely push it to the max to scare the bajezus out of us.

I seriously am getting butterflies in my stomach just remembering the first acceleration. It was like a roller coaster ride when your stomach is doing flip-flops and you're just waiting for that portion of the ride to be done so that you can breathe again, only it lasted longer. I forced myself to breathe and when I did I mustered everything that was in me to not let out a squeel. I didn't want him to think I was a wuss! He hit the hill and within a second we were at the top, launching over to the next hill. Not only did the buggy handle amazingly, but he drove it perfectly. He was fast and exhilerating, but always seemed in control. We jumped it a few times and he popped it up on two wheels quite a few times. It was by far the best ride I've ever been on and probably ever will go on. I had a perma-grin the entire ride (and therefore ate a bit of sand) and couldn't thank him enough when we pulled back in to camp. He totally didn't have to give us a ride and I'm so grateful that he took his time to show us a good time. My only regret is that Rhett wasn't able to go. He would have absolutely loved it. Next trip out we're going to have to finagle a ride for him!


That's us on our way back in to camp, popped up on two wheels.


This is actually a picture of us before we left on the ride. We hadn't even started and I already had a perma-grin.