White Sands

Last month we took a little road trip with Ben's aunt and uncle.  We drove to New Mexico and spent the day at White Sands.  I had never heard of it before, but it is a National Monument, and it is exactly what it says it is...a bunch of white sand!

We all had so much fun and stayed for hours!  There are large hills, where the kids spent racing down on "sleds".  They also built forts and buried each other.  Ben and Uncle Wade even built stairs into the sand to make it easier to go up!  And they worked great!

Calvin waiting for the trip to begin.

The famous sand staircase!

Devin and Lacey had fun burying Heidi and Calvin!

Here is our "campsite".

Carson and Alli building their fort.

Good times, good food, good company!

We had so much fun! And with it being just over one hour away, we will definitely be going back!  We had to pretty much drag the kids to the cars to leave!

School... Again?

Here are my younger boys getting ready to head off for school.  

Calvin is a 4th grader this year and is such a good student.  He already received his first progress report and he had mostly 100%'s.  I think his lowest grade was a 98%.  His teacher called and said that he finishes his work twice as fast as the other kids and then helps her tutor the kids who are struggling.  She wants him to get tested into the GT Program (gifted and talented).  He is nervous.  

Ashton is a 2nd grader and is very kind to everyone.  His teacher has told me over and over again about how respectful and polite he is.  I think that his favorite part of school is walking to and from school with his brothers and cousins: Chase and Colton.  Ashton and Chase love to make up little songs and dances.  They are hilarious to watch!

Devin started Kindergarten this year.  He is in full day (that's all they have here) and he was way beyond ready!  He has a great teacher and loves to show me his sticker for the day.  He is in the same class as his cousin Colton.  He gets his homework for the week done in about 5 minutes!  He's a quick learner and has started piano lessons.  He is following in all of his older brother's footsteps.

 The first week of school, I would get up Lacey and tell her it is time to take the boys to school and she would just reply, "Again?"  We have all adjusted to having school and scouts and everything else.  We are all super busy!

Middle School Days

Caleb and Carson started Middle School this past year.  They actually were in Middle School in Arizona, but this ain't Arizona!  It must be nice to have a best friend where ever you go!  

These boys are good kids and really loving school.  They are both 1st chair in their Orchestra, which is huge!  There are just under 300 kids in the orchestra at their Middle School!  Amazing!  So everyday they take their instruments to and from school.

They are also in the same school as their cousin Alli.  They are  all in 6th Grade and get along great!  How lucky to have family!

These boys love rockin!

Guess Who?

Is there anyone out there who knows who this is?  

One clue: it's one of my cute kids!

Lacey's New Apron

Check out Lacey's new apron!  She loves it and wears it all the time!  She must follow in her Mom's footsteps.  Check out the tutorial here.

And become a follower on my Sisters' Blog!  Thanks!

Calvin's Latest Project

All the boys have been acting out their own "Indiana Jones" adventures.  Calvin, being so creative, decided to make a satchel for all the treasures they find.  He did a great job designing and putting it all together.  I just sewed what he told me to sew.  The full description and more pictures are located here.

Our Weekend in Thatcher

One weekend in July, I took the kids and we headed down to Thatcher.  We stayed with my sister and her family, the Miners.  My parents met us there, along with Jared, John and Karlee, and Brooke came down with her kids from Amarillo.  We had a lot of fun.  Jared went through the Temple.  Ben's cousin, Maleah, watched my kids.  Thank you so much Maleah!

We also spent one day at Cluff's Pond.  We played and played and ate.  

The little critters there sure liked me though.  Before I got in the water I was stung by 2 bumble bees on my leg.  So I decided to go into the water, where a crawdad attacked me!  So then later, I was sitting under a tree visiting with the wonderful company and a lizard fell from the tree and crawled down my back.  Yikes!  We all had a good laugh about it!

All the kids and Uncle James and Uncle John played chicken fight, over and over again.

Weston and Aunt Brooke

Chicken Fight! Calvin and Uncle John with Ashton and Uncle James

Devin contemplating the meaning of life.  :)

Devin and Colton (cousin)

Darling Daisy

Aunt Brooke's little girl, Maddie

Aunt Brittany, I love this picture!

Mayley (Brittany's girl)

Weston (Brooke's boy)

Dirty=Fun, Landon (Brittany's boy)

Jayla (Uncle James' girl) Look at those eyes!

Maddie

Devin and Dayton (Brittany's son) collected bottle caps

Devin and Dayton

After the fun at Cluff's Pond, we went and watched the parade.  Uncle Wes drove an old fire truck in the parade and all the kids rode on the truck in the parade.

After the parade, we headed for the football field to watch the fireworks for the 4th of July.  We had some time to kill, so Grandma and Grandpa Reed played Red Rover with all the grandkids.  What fun grandparents!

We had a great weekend and look forward to spending more time with our Arizona families!

Here's another one!

I actually like this one better!

Movie Editing #1

My boys have learned how to edit videos on the computer now.  They are way better at it than I am!  Take a look!

Check it OUT!!!

As many of you know, I have 3 wonderful sisters!  We all live in different places: Queen Creek, Thatcher, Amarillo and El Paso.  We love crafting, talking, and having fun!  So we decided to make a blog to share all of those things with each other.  Head on over there and check it out! It's a work in progress and we are just starting, so stayed tuned!

Babblings and More

Having fun in El Paso with some cute kids!

El Paso has been good to us so far.  We are loving it!  You should see all the looks we get when we take all the kids places.  And some of the comments are classic!  One person just stood in awe and quietly said, "I've never seen anyone with 7 kids before!"  We have never received so much attention before! 

The weather is cooler than the Phoenix area by a little bit and cools down at night.  We've enjoyed the monsoons every night and the thunder storms are beautiful!  We miss our family and friends, but we will be visiting soon!  Watch out!

We (meaning Caleb, Carson and myself) snapped a few pictures of Lacey playing in our backyard and some of the kids at the park.

Lacey has so much fun dressing up and loves to have her fingernails painted by some of her favorite people.  You know who you are!

She would sniff the flowers and then wipe her nose as fast as she should.  Funny girl!

Daisy is growing up so fast.  All the boys are so helpful with her, I don't know what I'm going to do when they all start school!

Here we have Ashton, Carson and Caleb.  They love having a good time!

Now look at that smile!  So precious!  How can you not smile back!  

You know you are...

Congratulations Dr. Richardson!

Congratulations are in order for Dr. Ben Richardson!  After many long years, he graduated from Medical School on June 3, 2011.  He worked so hard!  Here are pictures of the festivities.  We had a graduation party for him that evening, but I forgot to take pictures.  We all had so much fun and want to thank everyone who participated and helped in this journey.

All the adults that attended the graduation: Grandma Stanford, Ben's parents, my parents, Lacey, and Grandma and Grandpa Bear.

Calvin, Devin, Ashton, Carson, Caleb. (I held Daisy)

Ben was a part of the first graduating class of ATSU: SOMA.

Ben had some wonderful mentors.

Our family

Grandma Stanford and Ben

Ben and his parents

Ben and Briana

Ben with Grandma and Grandpa Bear

Ben with my parents

The kids being so patient.

How many people graduate from medical school with 7 kids?

And they are good kids and very helpful!

Our family

Ben with Grandma and Grandpa Richardson. They weren't able to come, so we went to them!

We are so proud of all that Ben has accomplished and the wonderful example he has set.  Now on to new adventures in El Paso!