Family Pictures

We splurged and had a local professional take our family portraits. Her name is Jana Graham and she did such a wonderful job. We had so much fun getting them done and we had it done at the perfect time because within a few days it turned to below zero weather and stayed that way for 3 weeks. So we were very fortunate. Anyhow, we love our pics and I will post many so you can see them and enjoy.

We're Back!!

Hello, It has been such a long time since I've blogged. I have to say, I've been horrible about taking pictures lately. We've had a lack of pics to post, and I've also been lazy about posting. We have been excited about getting ready for Christmas around here and things are going great. Brityn is getting so big already. We can't believe how fast she is growing and how much so adores her sisters. Niah and MyKenzie have been quite a kick lately. Niah never fails to make us laugh each day and MyKenzie is really developing her funny personality as we see her mature and crack jokes on her own. Life has been fun and we're enjoying each other very much. We are really looking forward to Aunt Brandi, Uncle Jamie and Shantaya to come to our house for Christmas. Niah calls Taya daily, even though Taya can't talk yet and talks to her about coming to her house. Well check out our pics, my favorites are the pink build a bear wig that fits Brityn perfectly.

Check out our slideshow!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

George carved these pumpkins. Sorry the pics are a little blurry.

Niah loved getting down and dirty with cleaning out the pumpkins. She wanted to be able cut it as well. I can't wait until we roast the seeds because she is gonna love them. It was so cute to watch her get all dirty and then keep asking to get her hands washed.

Brityn the little flower child

MyKenzie, our little Diva Witch

Niah our little bumblebee

Happy Halloween everyone! We were blessed with a really nice night, for once in the first few years, it was actually pretty warm out at night. The girls and I went out and hit the town. George had to work so he didn't get to go with us. Instead he'll be in on the not so fun part of the night when he responds to all the wrecks and drunks,fights, etc. out there. Thanks for keeping us safe G. We really appreciate what you do!

Let it SNOW!!

George got stuck on shoveling duties. There was over a foot of snow on Saturday morning. Overall, we got 22 inches of snow in a few days. And guess what... by Tuesday, most of it was all gone. And here it is Friday and it's 60 degrees outside.

Niah has started to potty train and she looks so darn cute in her "big girl pannies"

TWO PEAS IN A "POD"?

Trip to Aunt Brandi and Uncle Jamie's House

It has been quite some time since we posted pictures, but we do have some cute ones. It was so fun to see how similar Brityn and Shantaya are, and how fast they are growing. Brityn will be 6 months on Oct. 20th. The two girls are only 3 weeks apart. And little Shantaya was so intrigued with Niah, I think it was the whole idea of seeing a little person that could do so much. Shantaya was like, "wow, we can do that stuff!! That's amazing, show me how!!" We had such a great time and really enjoyed staying with Aunt Brandi and Uncle Jamie. And most of all, I enjoyed having my sister's cooking. Oh yeah, and I had my 30th Birthday while in CDA. Niah was helping Brandi make the whipped topping for the cake and she was throughly enjoying the taste testing.

NO CAMERA!!!

I am so sorry to all of you who may wonder what the Richards have been doing the past 2 months. Well, I have an excuse..... Our camera broke. So I have pics on it that I can't download. I tried all different ways of fixing it and finally I just decided I was never going to fix it and I needed to break down and get a new one. So that is just what we did. I finally got one last week and I've taken a few pictures on it. So once I learn how to operate this new little thing (my old one was 6 years old, huge, and a different brand) then I will post some of our new pictures so you can see how we've grown. Until then, thanks for your patience and stay tuned....

Mayes Reunion

The Mayes family had a reunion, the first in 17 years, in Island Park, ID. We had around 75 of us there and we had a great time. It was wonderful to see our family members and to share fun times together. Aside from the fact that we passed around a flu bug while we were there and I happened to catch it, it was a lot of fun. We were able to take 4 wheeler rides, play at the beach, go swimming, and have family games at night. It was a good time and we hope to do it again in 5. Below are some of the pics that we took. I especially love the ones with Brityn, Amani (my cousin Heather's little girl born 5 weeks before Brityn) and Shantaya ( my sister's girl-born 3 weeks after Brityn). Those are my favorite pictures cause they are just so darn stinkin cute. Enjoy

Mayes Family Reunion Pics

Trip to South Dakota

We had a Richards Family Reunion in South Dakota a week ago. We rented a huge, beautiful cabin outside of Lead S.D and all 18 of us stayed there. It was great fun and in the afternoons we would drive into Rapid City and take the kids on various excursions. We had a wonderful time and were so glad to see all of the family, especially those from Michigan and Kansas that we see so seldom. So here are a few of the events that took place. ( I tried to put them on a slide rather than showing a billion pics in a row, but I can't figure it out so we get to see them the normal way on the blog. Maybe someone who knows how to do a slide show can give me some pointers.) ENJOY!

We visited Storybook Island, a fantastic place for children. MyKenzie thoroughly enjoyed this place. You'll notice that Niah is not in the pictures. She was not willing to have her picture taken and was less than thrilled to be there. We have decided that someday Niah is going to ask us if she went on the vacations with us and we'll have to explain to her how she was there but not willing to get in any photos, she is opposite of mom. I'm always looking for someone to take the picture to include me in and she is always running away from the camera. What a goofball.

Raggedy Ann and Andy

MyKenzie made a stop at the 100 Acre Woods as well, where she climbed in Poohs play house and sat on Eeyore's back!

Next we moved on to the 3 little pigs,where MyKenzie got to go play in the brick house.

We did so many things in Storybook Island that we don't have room to show, but I suggest that if any of you visit Rapid City and you have children, this place is a wonderful place to take your kids. And the best part of all is that it's FREE!!!

More from the trip to South Dakota

We made a stop at Reptile Gardens where the girls got to see an 86 year old tortoise.

As you can see we "Squeezed in a lot of fun" on this trip!

We took a trip to the one of the funnest waterslides I've ever been to. We all had a ton of fun, we managed to convince MyKenzie to go down the slides with us, she was very reluctant to at first. She kept saying she wasn't having fun and she didn't like the slides, but now at home when she talks to her friends she of course tells them how much she loved the slides. Mom and Dad had so much fun, we love to go on waterslides. Niah was a real trooper too, she actually went down with George and had a good time until they went super fast on this one and went under at the end.

This slide had a bump at the end and it was inevitable that you catch air coming down. Super fun slide. We happened to go on the windiest day of the year in South Dakota so there were virtually no lines on the slides. It was our family plus about 10 others, it was a tab bit cold but when you forced yourself to bite off the chill and get back in line, it was well worth it.

Family Pict at an old Fire Truck, We can't pass those up!

The Girls

Niah's First Pigtails-FINALLY!!

Grandpa Mayes found a gigantic beetle and decided to show Niah because she is obsessed with finding bugs. Every little spec of something on the floor or ground is a bug in Niah's eyes and she has to show them all to mom. So we decided to see what she would do when Papa put it on her. She handled it so well, not even freaking out, while in the background MyKenzie was screeching about how disgusting it was. It was so funny, she was completely calm until it got closer to her face. Way to go Niah!!

MyKenzie and Brityn. Boy is she growing fast!

"Listen here young lady!!"

Niah thinks it's fun to sit in the babydoll carrier and rock back and forth. It's pretty funny!

ESPECIALLY FOR GRANDMA & GRANDPA RICHARDS

THIS IS A VIDEO MADE JUST FOR GRANDMA & GRANDPA RICHARDS SINCE THEY HAVE NOT YET MET BRITYN. SHE IS 8 WEEKS OLD IN THIS AND GROWING BIG. SHE IS SUCH A HAPPY AND GOOD LITTLE BABY. I HOPE THIS GIVES THEM AN IDEA OF WHO SHE IS. FOR THE REST OF YOU LOOKING AT THE BLOG I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS TOO!!

Some updated pictures of our new beauty

ALL SMILES!

PEACEFULLY SLEEPING!

ANOTHER TORMENTING FROM BIG SISTER!

Happy 2nd Birthday Niah!!

Niah's 2nd Birthday began with a trip to Zoo Montana. We were all personally escorted there by Niah's cousin Madilyn. Yes, the drive there was a little crazy but the adults were tired and wanted to rest in the back of the van. Madilyn was more than willing to take us so we let her.

MyKenzie, Niah and Madilyn all pose for a picture at the zoo.

This was a bit hard to capture, but after a few attempts we were able to get all 3 looking through at the same time and looking at the camera. Amazing.

The day ended with some cake and ice cream. Niah even blew the candles out all by herself (4 times)! She did great, had a wonderful birthday and is very proud to tell you that her name is Niah and she is 2!! Happy Birthday Mommy's Sweet Pea!!

Congratulations to our 1st Graduate

Way to go MyKenzie!! She has officially graduated from Preschool. Now our big 5 yr old will start kindergarten in a few months. Good job kiddo!!

Birth Story- for those interested in that sort of thing

My due date was April 20th. On the 19th, I was in the Big Lots parking lot with my mom and kids and I started to pee my pants, at least that was a question on my mind. As I continued to go and I had zero control of myself, I realized my water must have broken. This was around 6 pm. We headed to the hospital, where I was admitted but having very little for contractions. I managed to convince the Doctor and nurses that I didn't need Patossin, (SP) to get my labor going until 3:30 am. I was finally able to sleep from 4am until 5:30 when I woke both George and my mom up to tell them I could no longer sleep through the contractions and that I didn't want to go it alone while they slept peacefully by my side. Here's where it gets good.... at 6:30 ish am, the nurse came in to check my cervix before she got off shift at 7am. She told me I was dilated to a 7 and the head was still "up there a ways." So I continued on, disappointed that I wasn't further into this procedure, as it was getting old and I hadn't slept much in the past 24+ hours and was very tired. Well, maybe 3 contractions later, right in the middle of the contraction, I felt the baby's head drop down into position and I knew I couldn't wait any longer. I told my mom to go get the doctor cause I was ready. When he came in just minutes later, he frantically set up for delivery and told me, "When you want to start pushing you can push because you are very ready to deliver." So with 2, Yes I said TWO, pushes later the baby was out. What a relief!! What a great delivery. I couldn't ask for more. Then comes the announcement of gender. I asked G what we had and he said, "another girl." Puzzled, I said, "we had another girl? I can't believe we had another girl?" And yes, he wasn't tricking this time either, we had had another girl!! But God knows what He is doing and He gave us the perfect baby for our family. We are very happy to have "another girl!"

IT'S A GIRL!!!

BRITYN ALEXIS RICHARDS
Arrival Date: April 20th
Arrival Time: 6:54 AM
Weight: 7lb 5oz
Length: 20 in
Condition: PERFECT!

Mom and her three beautiful girls. Don't mind me, I wasn't looking so hot but I was feeling good. Everyone is very excited to have another little love around.

MyKenzie is such a proud sister, she wants to hold Brityn constantly and made sure she was the "first" to hold her new sister. She is always asking to hold and help with her.

This is our Brityn. Yes, she does look like her Daddy, at least that is what everyone says. It's sort of crazy how Mom does all the hard work of nine months and birth and when each of our children are born they come out looking like Dad and he gets all the credit. Oh well, I figure that if they have Dad's looks, they must have Mom's dynamic personality, right?
You can't tell too well, but she has lots of hair (compared to Niah) and it's sort of dark. Niah's was pure white and Brityn's is a light brown. It's very pretty, as is she!

Big Sister Niah is all about having a new baby. She is very excited and happy to have Brityn around. This was a concern of ours, as Niah can be a little jealous at times. She has so far been showering Brityn with hugs and kisses. This is how she holds her, of which she loves to do. She is pretty proud of her new little sister, she is already telling her stories all the time. She must be teaching her the ropes in our family. Too bad it's all in Spanish or something, I just hope she's telling her the good stuff! Oh what fun, having a new one around!! Thank you God for such a miraculous gift once again!!