This song is dedicated to Brittany. When we lived in Snowflake we LOVED listening to this song. We thought Clay Walker was so cute! I think that he kinda reminds me of John. What do you think? Do we have a rising star for a brother?
My sister-in-law, Kobie Hatch, makes the cutest hair bows. She just started a blog for them and you've gotta take a look! I just have to pass on the news because I can't take advantage of it until I get a girl, and that's not happening anytime soon! :)
Here's the link: http://pattycakebows.blogspot.com
We visited the Mesa Southwest Museum towards the end of September because Ben's school, A.T. Still University had a special room there that taught about the human body. It was really amazing! Everything was interactive and hands on. Carson especially loved it because he was studying the human body in school. The day we went, the Museum let everyone in for free that was associated with A.T. Still University and fed us breakfast. 
Another highlight was the jail. I remember going to this same jail when I was a kid. I always tried to be a good girl so that I wouldn't have to go to jail and stay the night there. (That's where my Dad said the bad people go.) So needless to say, all the boys where very good the entire time so that they didn't have to stay the night there. (Are we bad parents. :) Ashton really had to work up his courage to walk into the jail cell and he forced that sweet smile you see.
Believe it or not, this is how the twins sleep every night. Even though we bought them bunkbeds, they still sleep with each other! On rare occasions, they sleep in their own beds and under the blankets. Isn't it funny how they still sleep in the same positions!Hey everyone! I just created a new blog for my parents. So if you are interested, you can give it a try. It's still being set up, but it's pretty much done!
http://reedsranch.blogspot.com
Right before we left to Church on Sunday, September 2, 2007, Caleb rushed into my room and had a panic look on his face. He said that something was stuck in his throat.
I looked at him briefly and said, “Well, then spit it out.”
He was more persistent and said, “No, Mom, I think I have a penny stuck in my throat!”
I looked at him in bewilderment. How could my 7 year-old child have a penny stuck in his throat? That is something that I worry about with my 2 year-old, but not my older boys! But I could tell that he was being serious and looking very worried.
“Why do you think that you have a penny in your throat?” I asked.
“Because I put one in my mouth and swallowed it.” He answered with such simple logic.
I knew that he wasn’t in immediate danger because he could still talk and breathe, but now he was starting to panic.
So I tried hitting him hard on the back trying to loosen it. Didn’t work. I tried sticking my finger down his throat to try to grab it out. Didn’t work. Caleb tried spitting it out. Didn’t work. Ben tried the heimlich maneuver. Didn’t work. Nothing we tried would work! So we decided to take him to Urgent Care. To make a long story short, the Urgent Care was closed so Ben brought him back home and finally convinced Caleb to get a drink. (This is something that we couldn’t get him to do before. And Ben knew that Urgent Care couldn’t do anything that we couldn’t do ourselves at this point. So I think that Ben was relieved.) Finally after about one hour of going through this whole ordeal, he swallowed the penny with a simple drink of water!
Caleb told us after it was all over and after we assured him it would be OK if he swallowed the penny, that he thought he would die if he swallowed it. Poor kid! The whole time of panic and pain he endured would have been shortened if we just knew his concerns so that we could have addressed them. I guess that is how life really is, sometimes people just struggle everyday to get by and we try to help, but we don’t know what their concerns really are and what is bothering them. But once we find out and gain some insight into what they are going through, help is easier to come by.
After everything was said and done, I asked Caleb what he learned from the whole “penny experience”. He said that he learned to “never look at coins or pennys, never go by them and never to touch them.”
I looked at him and tried not to laugh and said, "Well, what about putting them in your mouth?"
"Oh yeah...and don't put them in your mouth."
They started out by finding old horseshoes. It helps that James shoes horses and had a few lying around.
Then they pounded and pounded and pounded the horseshoes on the anvil. And let me mention that it was HOT!
And then they pounded some more. The boys got pretty good at using that hammer.
The finished product! They are so proud! James and the boys did a great job. You can't see it here but James welded sideburns on all of the men along with their cowboy hats. 
This is a picture of the house that we are living in while we are in Queen Creek. It's exciting and fun to be so close to our families. We are so fortunate to be able to live in such a nice house while Ben is in Medical School. Believe it or not, it was just as much to rent this house as it was to rent a small apartment next to the school. We live in my parents Ward and we live a block away from the boys school, so we just walk to school. I love it! Now we just have to sell our house in Tucson. Good luck to us in that venture! We need all the help we can get.
Right when you come out of the Temple, people are taking pictures left and right. It's hard to know who to look at, but every picture they took looked fantastic.
This is my Mom and Grandma Bear (her Mom). I thought that is was really sweet when they walked out from the Temple together, I couldn't let the moment pass by.
Carson was being a good brother and watching out for Devin. Caleb was helping to, but barely missed the picture.
Caleb, Carson and Calvin started school on the same day as Ben, July 30. They were all so excited! This is the first year that Caleb and Carson have been in different classes, they are in 2nd Grade. Calvin started Kindergarten. So all three boys go all day to school. They loved their first day of school. The house is really different with only Ashton and Devin at home. I get so many things done and everyday we have to play "Go Fish". Ashton looks forward to it and reminds me constantly until we play, it's his favorite game.
On Thursday, August 2, Ben had his white coat ceremony. It was really fun to see the whole class of 2011. Everyone was so excited and the program was really nice.
Doesn't he look so handsome!?! The nametag says "Benjamin Richardson - Student Doctor"
This is when they announced his name and put his coat on.
Then he walked across the stage and shook the Dean's hand and the President's hand. 
