Going back in time.........

I forgot to post some things that we did this year and LAST year! How could I have forgotten! I'm so ashamed! So I'm going back in time.......

I'll start with our trip to Washington that we took the beginning of August this year. Our first day driving went pretty well, we drove through Flagstaff, stopped in Page for lunch at a park. We didn't stop very much because we just wanted to get to my sister's house in Orem Utah as fast as we could. We got to her house around 7 or 8 pm and it was still light out so we ate dinner and Jake showed off his flying skills with his plane. Everyone loved it, they thought it was the coolest thing ever! I just knew the planes would be a hit with my family! Then we visited some more with my sister Emily, Mark, my brother Cody and Jillian and all their kids. Woke up the next morning not having much time to visit because we had a long trip to Washington. Our trip to Kennewick Washington seemed really LONG! Its actually a shorter trip than the one from Phx to Orem, its just that there's nothing to see between Utah and Wash. mostly just fields and cows! So it feels longer. When we finally got to Kennewick we were relieved and happy to be there!  My sister Sharlee just got back from the Ukraine and brought home this furry hat, so everyone had to try it on along with the funny nose and glasses!

Samantha

Kayla

Ben

 Nathan

The next day we drove to Hermiston Oregon to go swimming. It was nice to cool off and we had lots of fun. I got to see my dad jump off the diving board! He's 68 years old and he did a dive off the diving board,  twice! Go dad!  Later that day we took a little trip to see the windmills near my dad's house. The windmills are on this hill that gives you a great view of the town and the Columbia river, it was pretty awesome!

Getting a closer look at the windmills

After looking at the windmills, my brother Nathan took Jake and I to see the Harry Potter movie that I was DYING to see! It was awesome, awesome, awesome just like I knew it would be! The next day was our all day trip to see Mt. Rainer. It was a long drive but it was worth it! It was so beautiful! We started seeing snow about 1/3 up the mountain! Crazy!

The top of Mt. Rainer

We stopped to look at a visitor center and then we hiked to the top of this hill in the snow! Samantha and I were the last ones to make it to the top. We were slipping and falling the whole time!

This is the view from the top of the hill, the visitor center is to the right.

We saw a fox roaming around looking for food. We got  really close to him!  He stayed a long time, he didn't seem afraid of the people at all!

 

 

 

 

We had a fun time being around the beauty of Mt. Rainer! It was a long tiring drive home! We slept like babies that night.

The next day we went hiking in the afternoon, it was me, Jake, the girls, dad and Randee. It was so hot! But we toughed it out! Jake, Kayla, dad and I made it to the top! Randee and Samantha only went half way and played at the park near the hill while waiting for us to come down. Later that evening we went to the Columbia river and went boating. A friend of the family took us out on his boat and let us use his tubes and water skis. We all got a chance to go tubing. I rode with my sister n law Nina, Jake went with the girls one at a time, Ben and Nathan went a couple of times, Nathan and Nina and their boys, Nina and Ben went water skiing, everyone else just watched. It was a lot of fun!

Daddy and Samantha, this was Samantha's first time riding on a tube and she loved it! She kept wanting to go again and again! She even wanted to try water skiing but we had to say no to that!

Kayla and her dad, this was Kayla's second time tubing in her life, she loved it too!

Sharlee and Kayla

 

 

This is Rooney, Sharlee's dog. The girls took her for walks, brushed her hair and played with her! They love Rooney!

Samantha loves her uncle Ben!

Samantha loves her aunt Sharlee!

On our way home from Washington, Kayla found interesting things to do to keep herself entertained! It was a fun trip and can't wait to do it again!

Halloween

Our Halloween celebration started Oct. 22nd with our ward's Trunk or Treat party. It was early because the other wards were using the building Halloween weekend. Lots of fun with great food, activities and of course the kids trick or treating around the parking lot getting candy from everyone's trunks! Jake and I decided to dress up as Princess Buttercup and Westley from the Princess Bride. Kayla was a angel and Samantha was a black cat for a second time(1st time was 2 years ago). I was worried that no one would guess who Jake and I were but I was happily surprised that most people guessed right! So that made me feel good that we did ok putting our costumes together. 

Our scary pumpkin! It was a challenge carving this face because I didn't have the right kind of knife. I messed up in two places but I don't think anyone can see it. I think it turned out pretty good!

We painted these small pumpkins for FHE. These two are Kayla's and Jake's .Kayla's is a devil angel, she did a great job! Jake's is a creepy face.

These are Samantha's and mine, mine is the Harry Potter one if you can even tell its supposta be Harry Potter. Clearly I'm not a good pumpkin artist! Samantha kept changing her mind on how she wanted her face to look, finally she chose this face, not sure what it is but its cute!

"As you wish...Is this a kissing book?"
I think Jake looks kinda funny with the mask on because it doesn't form around his nose so his nose looks flat! I look nothing like Princess Buttercup but I had fun dressing up from one of our favorite movies.

So angelic!

Cute kitty! Meow

Having a little fun

Don't we look awesome!

Our outside Halloween decor.

All ready to get some candy!

The 411

Well I guess I should update on whats been happening in the Richardson household. Lets see....

Homework, (well not sure if that counts cuz there's always homework), painting the kitchen and currently painting the upstairs, Samantha's 7th birthday, Fall Break where we celebrated Samantha's birthday, Samantha losing her teeth, Samantha getting her ears pierced, decorating for Halloween and getting our costumes ready, theres stuff in between that I can't remember. I probably could of blogged sooner but either forgot about it or just didn't feel like it. This past weekend we bought a camera since our other one was donated to Jake's sister who is on her mission. The camera is like 6 years old but we don't care, its a camera and it works fine. We also bought a new dresser for our bedroom! I only paid 80 dollars for it and its huge and in great condition! We've been needing new bedroom furniture for a really long time so thats why I'm so excited! We played with our "new" camera, don't let some of the pictures fool you, we are a perfectly normal family!

Christmas dog with pumpkins?

Sparky!

My new dresser! Bad lighting on that one!

 The next 11 pictures below were taken with my camera phone.

Samantha's birthday party!

The ones below are from the "new" camera that I just took.

 Thats it folks! Have a happy Halloween and enjoy the cool temps! Bye!