Darling Little Lacey

Here are some pictures of Lacey at 6 weeks.

Wolves

After months of waiting to receive their award, Caleb and Carson were presented with their Wolf badge in Scouts. But before they could recieve their award they had to "be a wolf". They had to dig in the "snow" (whip cream) for the "rat meat" (jerky) and then eat the meat all gone.

Caleb was hesitant to dig in.

They thought it was fun and all the Scouts were cheering!

They said the jerky tasted pretty good!

Happy Birthday Calvin!!!

On the 16th, Calvin turned 7 years old! We had a fun day for him.

He wanted red frosting on his cake. I ran out of food coloring, so he got pink. Sorry son!

He only wanted one thing for his birthday: a building set. So that was his favorite present. It is a K'nex set where you build different insects. He already built a giant scorpion!
Just a few reasons why we love our Calvin...
He is a great builder
He is very dedicated to his piano practicing
He is very thoughtful (sometimes he surprises me by making my bed)
He is very smart and really thinks things through
He loves to read (The Magic Treehouse is one of his favorites)
He's a fun brother to play with
He has many friends (everywhere we go, kids are always saying "hi" to him)
He makes us laugh
He's a wonderful son and we are glad he is apart of our family!

Happy Anniversary!!

Ben and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary on the 14th! Where has the time gone?

We talked about different things that have happened to us.

We have lived in 6 different homes in 3 cities.

We have owned 6 vehicles.

We now have 6 children: 5 boys and 1 girl.

Ben graduated with his Bachelor's Degree in Biology from ASU.

Ben is now half way done with Medical School.

Briana received her Associate's Degree in General Studies from Rio Salado.

We started a Heating and Cooling business: Cobalt Mechanical, LLC

The years have gone by fast, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Ben made a delicious breakfast that morning: french toast made with homemade bread and bacon and juice. It was tasty. My parent's watched the boys while we went to Arriba's Mexican Grill and some fun shopping. We then had a little party that night with the family to celebrate our 'family's birthday'. We watched a movie and had treats. I loved the whole day! Ben is a wonderful husband and I love him so much. We are a great team together!

Calvin's School Program

The first-graders in Calvin's school did a cute little music program. All the boys wore bandanas and the girls wore poodle skirts. They all did a great job. Then the kids gave their mom's a flower for Mother's Day. It was really sweet and Calvin did a great job singing and dancing!

Cheese Crisps

Is it bad when your 3 year old knows how to make cheese crisps by himself?

Devin LOVES cheese crisps! After we had lunch and I just cleaned up everything, I came back into the kitchen and saw this...

I guess Devin was still hungry and decided to help himself. He could find the flour tortillas, so he just used corn tortillas instead. How resourceful! Funny boy! (The shirt he is wearing is one he "designed" himself with highlighters.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was wonderful! We did alot of visiting with family. The morning started off by the boys and Ben giving me a radio for the kitchen, which I am so excited about! I had one when we lived in Tucson and I loved it! I would borrow books on CD's from the library and would listen to books as I would clean. We then went to our church and then hurried over to listen to Judd (Ben's brother) speak in his ward since he just returned home from his mission. We went over to eat at the Richardsons and talk to Jordan (Ben's other brother on a mission). And then we went over to my paren'ts house to talk to John (my brother on a mission). It was a day full of fun! And I just wanted to tell both of our moms out there how much we love them and appreciate all that they do for us. We couldn't ask for better mothers.

Photography by Caleb

Little Lacey

Here are a few more pictures of our sweet, little Lacey. She looks so different every day!

Lacey Jane Richardson

Our precious, little girl is here! She is so beautiful and we love her so much.

Lacey Jane Richardson

born: April 8, 2009

weight: 6 pounds 15 ounces

length: 19 1/2 inches

time: 7:17 pm

Here is Caleb holding his only sister for the first time.

Look at all that hair! We're going to have to put a little ponytail in it! Cute! Cute!

Mommy and baby...

Ben is such a good dad! We still can't believe that after all these years, we finally have our girl!

Now the story...

I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, April 8 at 10:30am. They weren't sure if they would really induce me so they checked me and got the doctors go ahead. They started potocin at 12:00. Nothing was happening, so they doctor said the nurses could start me on some gel. Before they took me off the potocin, the nurse decided to check me and my water broke! Yea! That was at 6:00 pm. My water never breaks on it's own and once it is broken, I go really fast. At this time, I was about at 4 cm and then the contractions started fast and hard. They went from nothing to 2 minutes apart! I told Ben that this is going to be fast. So he called my mom and his sister, Heather, who is a doula. It's a good thing they came fast because she was born at 7:17pm. Only 1 1/2 hours of labor! What a blessing! She is so perfect and beautiful!

I've never been induced before and I was really nervous about it. People always say you can't do it naturally because the contractions are too strong. But I just felt like everything was going to be OK. (Even if I did cry on the way to the hospital. Poor Ben!) Ben's Spring Break was that week and we really wanted to have her during the break so he could be there and help out when I got home. Anyway, the labor and delivery was great! The nurses and doctors were great! Everybody was fantastic! I really believe that it was a blessing that I got induced when I did because the whole time I was pregnant, the head wouldn't drop and come to find out, the cord was wrapped around her neck and had to be cut immediately before she was born all the way! Everything has worked out perfectly! I feel so blessed and feel that Heavenly Father was really watching out for our little family!

Thanks to everyone who helped! We really appreciate it!

Doctor Carson

Every once in a while Carson will dress up really nice and walk around the house with his stethoscope (it's Ben's old one from years ago). He really wants to be a doctor when he grows up and I think that he'll make a mighty good one!

Cookies and Lots of Fun!

Here are just some random pictures...

Devin loves to climb the fences at my parent's house.

Calvin loves exploring and collecting things. This boy has a collection for just about everything!
Here are some of the cookies we made and took over to my parent's house. Devin loved to hold them and especially loved to sneak an M&M or two every once in a while.

The New and Improved Carseat

Here is my most recent project...

I made a new car seat cover for our little girl. And here is the finished result.

I took the old cover and cut the new material and sewed it together based on what the old one looked like. I did have to make some modifications because I wanted the canopy to be lined. That was a little more difficult. But after a lot of thinking and praying and visualizing, it all came together!

I think it's appropriate for a girl, don't you?