Gilbert Temple Groundbreaking

On November 13, we attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Gilbert Arizona Temple.  It was such a neat moment to participate in.  We made sure to get there extra early to get a good seat.  I'll be honest with you, it wasn't easy with all 6 kids to get there an hour early without Ben, but I really felt like it would be worth it and something that they would always remember.  

After the meeting, they let everyone who wanted to use the golden shovels and dig part of the ground for the official ground breaking.  Each of the kids were able to dig for a little bit.  (It was hard to get any good pictures of the kids digging because there were so many people.)

Every so often we drive past the future site of the Temple just to see how they are progressing with the building.  The boys always get so excited to see how far they are coming, and I get a little excited as well.  :)

All Grown Up-19 months

Ashton's Birthday

We celebrated Ashton's 7th Birthday in November.  He was so excited!  He wanted some army guys like Devin got for his birthday.  So now we have lots of army guys floating around our house and car, they have even showed up at church in pockets!  

He wanted a cake that had a letter A.  It stands for Super A. (A super hero that he created himself.  He even has a cape that has an A on it as well.)  

Ashton is such a sweet boy and loves working with his Dad out in the garage (aka: the shop).  We are so glad that he is a part of our family.

All the kids watching the present opening.

Ashton is so excited to get the army guys!

The "A" cake.

Ashton blowing out the candles.

Halloween

We had a great time dressing up for Halloween!  Every year we go over to the Richardson's house and have dinner and the kids go to booths that each family is in charge of.  The next night we went to our Ward's Chili Festival for a Trunk or Treat.  We love going to parties! 

Ashton - The Rodeo Clown

Caleb - The Punk Rocker

Calvin - The Crazy Nerd

Devin - Mr. Incredible (with no shoes)

Carson - The Doctor

Lacey - The Little Ladybug

Wolves and Webelos

We had a lot of awards the last pack night!  Calvin received his Wolf award and had to be like a wolf and did through the "snow" (whipped cream) to find it.  Both Caleb and Carson received their Webelos Award.  They had to put "fangs" in their mouth and say "We'll Be Loyal Scouts" five times fast!  Everyone was laughing and having a good time.

Calvin digging in the snow.

He finally found his award.

Carson and Caleb getting ready for their challenge.

Caleb says it first.

Now it's Carson's turn.

1st Quarter Awards

The boys  all ended their 1st Quarter with a bang!  I had a very busy morning attending Awards Assemblies.  It wouldn't have been so bad if they were all at the same school, but that didn't happen.  And not only that, but they were at the same time at different schools!  

So I started with Ashton.  He didn't know it, but he received P.E. Student of the Quarter for the 1st Grade.  Every quarter, their Coach picks one boy and one girl from each grade and they become the P.E. Student of the Quarter.  He was so surprised!  He said that his legs were shaking so bad standing up there!  Now everyone of the boys have received that award and Coach even brought that up announcing it.

Ashton-P.E. Student of the Quarter for the 1st Grade

A very excited Ashton!

Right after Ashton received his award, I rushed off to Caleb and Carson's school.  Luckily, I made it just in time and their classes were next!  They started off with Student of the Month.  It was such a surprise to both Caleb and I when Mr. Trujillo announced that he was the Student of the Month for his class.  I was sitting way up in the stands, so the pictures didn't turn out so good.  Mr. Trujillo said the nicest things about Caleb. 

Mr. Trujillo's Student of the Month-Caleb

The reason I went to their school was because both Caleb and Carson were on the Principal's List.  That means that they both received a 4.0!  We were so proud of all their hard work!

Carson - a 4.0 student!

Caleb - a 4.0 student!

I after their awards, I rushed back to the elementary school hoping to make it in time for Calvin's award.  (I don't know how I could have planned it better, but I made it with a few minutes to spare!  I was really worried I would miss his.  Devin and Lacey were quite the troopers!  They did so good!) Calvin made the Principal's List as well.  Another 4.0 GPA!

Calvin - a 4.0 student!

As you can imagine, we are so proud of all our boys!  They worked so hard!  We celebrated by having Quiznos subs and some pizza and watching a movie! 

Happy Birthday Devin!

Devin and I both had a birthday in September.  We were surprised by Caleb, who played us a "Happy Birthday" song.  Devin had fun opening all his presents and blow out the candles on his cake.  He wanted a Batman cake so, that's what he got!  I can't believe that he is 5 now!  He's such a little man and we love him!

Caleb playing "Happy Birthday"

Ashton helping Devin

Lacey started eating Devin's treats.  Her favorite was the Kit Kat bar.

Devin's favorite present was the "Guys". 

The famous Batman cake.

!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Richardson

We love visiting Great-Grandma and Grandpa Richardson!  Whenever we visit, we always bring our instruments and play music together.  Our favorite part is when Grandpa gets his accordion out and plays a few songs.  I love playing "Faded Love" with him.  Ben plays the guitar and I play the fiddle.  Here are a few pictures from our last visit.  Grandma just sits there and smiles at everyone.  We love them!

Great-Grandpa playing his accordion.

Great-Grandma, Mom and Lacey (she's being just a tad shy).

Devin-looking mischievious for some reason

Mom just about to play another song.  The next song we want to learn for them is "Over the Waves".  It's a song that Great-Great Grandma and Grandpa Richardson used to dance to.  Great-Grandpa plays it so beautiful on the accordion.

Carson and Devin

Dad, Lacey, Great-Grandma and Grandpa

Ashton, Devin, Calvin, Dad, Lacey, Carson, Caleb and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Richardson

The Richardson Campout

Labor Day weekend we had a Richardson campout.  It was so much fun and so beautiful!  It was perfect during the day and we loved the fire at night.  Good food plus good company equals a great time!  We look forward to doing it again!

The whole Family (Expect Bethany and Flint's Family)

Lacey and Dad-She has him wrapped around her finger.

Uncle Jared and Kimber with Devin, Dad and Lacey.  They took a little walk on top of Greens Peak.

Calvin, Addie, Ashton, Carson and Kennedy with Caleb and the photographer.

Ashton

Photography by Caleb