Tis the season!

Thank you Martha Stewart. I had a fun time constructing this wreath this Christmas season, jingle bells and all!












My cutie pies in front of the Christmas tree.


















All the cousins in their new jammies at the Richter family party.








Ella opening presents on Christmas morning. She loves her princesses and barbies.








Yar, matie! Jeffrey had to follow the clues on a pirate treasure map in order to find his Christmas present.








Shiver me timbers, a playmobile pirate ship! That be some excellent pirate booty.

Fun in the snow

We had lots of fun in the snow this winter, and it wasn't nearly as cold as we had expected.








Jeffrey and Ella were very proud of their snowman.

New craft closet!

During November and December, Dave and his dad built this craft closet in our basement. We love it!

All smiles

Jeffrey, Ella, and Ty are growing up fast. Lots of cute smiles.











Here is Ty with his two twin cousins Maggie and Ruby at Thanksgiving time.

Trick or Treat!

The kids were so excited about Halloween this year. They couldn't stop talking about all the candy that was coming their way. We all got tired from running down the street, chasing Jeffrey from door to door....







Ty was a ferocious lion and Ella a cute little kittie. Mindy was a pirate and Jeffrey a black bat with vampire teeth.

SNOW!

The snow has begun for the year. I was hoping to make it to November, but no such luck. The kids are so excited to go out and play in it. Unfortunately, everyone came down with the flu this last week, so the kids will have to wait a few more days.

Killers live

Definitely an anticipated event for us this year: the Killers live at Royal Albert Hall DVD/CD comes out Nov 10. Getting stoked for this goodie! We got to see them again this year, at the E-center in September with Kurt, Jules, Lin, and Andy.

Dancing queen!

Ella is excited to be in ballet with her teacher Miss Ruth. She likes to show off her ballet gear and her new moves.

Jeffrey turns 5!!

Since his birthday is near Halloween he usually likes a ghost-themed chocolate cake. He was very spoiled this year. Ella will be 3 in just a week or so! These munchkins grow so fast!!

Family Pictures

On October 4th, Dave's sister and brother-in-law took family pictures for us.


Our cute family







The entire Richter crew









Dave and Mindy







Oh, how romantic.

World Cup bound!!

In September, Dave and his Dad sat on the front row at the US national team's World Cup qualifying game at Rio Tinto in Sandy. The US beat El Salvador 2-1!!

Summer Kickball

A big smile for the camera. Jeffrey gets excited about kickball!








Showing some mad base running skills.










Thinking about stealing home plate.

Cascade Springs Hike

Our last fun outdoor activity of the summer was a hike at Cascade Springs in American Fork canyon. The kids loved crossing the bridges and dipping their feet in the water.

Preschool

Jeffrey loves his preschool! His favorite time of day is playing outside.

Kids

Ty is almost 12 weeks old. At his doctors appointment last week he was just under 13 pounds. He also slept 11 hours last night. Yeah!!!






Crazy hair Ella! This is what happens when you don't take out hair elastics until the next day.











Jeffrey loves zooming around the new neighborhood on his bike.

Moving to Providence

We just bought our new house in Providence, UT. It was a little weird for me, because I didn't get a chance to see it before I owned it. Dave came out alone because it was such a last-minute trip.






Our new neighborhood with a view of the mountains. The new neighbors are mostly younger families with two or three kids and are very friendly. Jeffrey and Ella have found friends to play with and love riding bikes on the sidewalks.





The kitchen. I love the island.









The Logan Temple is only 5 minutes from our house. It is so nice to be so close to a temple again!

Moving Days

You always hope for the best when making a long trip. Unfortunately we had a few "bumps" along the way.
Day 1
On moving morning, everything went fine in Grinnell. The closing on the house was pretty quick and by 9am we were on the road. I drove the Highlander, Dave drove a truck, and Dave's dad drove another truck and pulled Dave's pickup. After driving for 45 minutes, the check engine light came on in the truck Dave was driving. Luckily we were close to Des Moines and the Penske truck place, so we detoured. After waiting an hour for the truck to be fixed, we were back on the road. We cruised along about 70 mph, max speed on the trucks and stopped for lunch. After lunch and back on the road, Ella threw up her lunch. So, I stopped and the trucks continued on. I cleaned up Ella and fed Ty and 30 minutes later I was on the road and trying to catch up with the trucks. As soon as I got close to catching up, Ty needed to eat and have a diaper change. Also, around 6 pm, Ty was done being in the car and cried until 10pm when we finally stopped in Chyenne, Wyoming for the night. What a long day!

Day 2
So, we headed out around 8:30 am. I was determined not to have to play catch-up and since I knew I would have to be stopping to feed and change Ty, I just took off on my own. About 45 minutes after leaving, my change engine oil now message came on. Since it usually just says change engine oil soon, I was a little worried. I didn't want to burn up my engine, so I thought maybe I needed to add a little oil or something. The first exit with a gas station put me into Laramie, Wy. I had talked to Dave about waiting for him at the gas station, but there wasn't room for the big trucks. So on I went, when I came across a Toyota Dealership. I pulled in and found a very nice sales guy. He looked at mychange oil message, checked my oil level, went with me next door to the gas station, told me what oil to buy, and put it in my car. He didn't charge me anything. He just told me to get a oil change as soon as I got to Utah. Well, back on the road I went, just as Dave was passing me. The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful. We got to our parents houses around 5 pm. So glad that long trip is over. Now, I just have to wash Ella's carseat.

Bye, Bye Grinnell, Jewel of the Prairie

Grinnell, Iowa has the nickname of Jewel of the Prairie. Now that we are moving away, it will always hold a special place in our hearts. Some of my favorite memories include: watching the combine harvest the corn, driving around downtown, watching the kids play at Merrill park, and being with the wonderful friends that we met there. We will really miss our friends!




We loved our Iowa house! It was fun to play outside and in the basement with the kids. We loved having our first garden and eating our own potatoes, green beans, peas, carrots, and spinach.







We loved having guests come and stay with us and having people over for parties or just to visit for a few minutes.