Sometimes I'm In The Mood to Blog and Sometimes I'm Not.

It's official. I've received the maximum amount of crap a person can receive for not blogging. Hey, what can I say? Sometimes I'm just not feelin' it. And the more I got behind, the less I felt like it.

Let's go back in time, shall we? Ya know, when it was still summer. Before school started. Before the Christmas decorations were being proudly displayed at Costco.

It was the annual family reunion at Bear Lake. Ideal Beach. Or, as John likes to call it, 'Ordeal' Beach. Because after all, it is a family reunion. And there has been drama in the past. ER trips, broken toe nails, bawling, etc. But this year? It was surprisingly ideal just like it's supposed to be. I won't talk about the time a few years ago that I was rushed to the ER an hour away from Ideal Beach and when we got there, I was being video taped in all my agony and glory by a person who shall remain nameless. Heh heh. That's a funny story.... now.

Nope. This year was as close to perfect as it gets.

My mom and step-dad are very generous every year and provide us with a fun, comfortable condo to stay in. There are so many of us, that they usually have to get three every year and use up all their points. It makes it so worth it to have your space and a place to go to unwind and sleep after a long day.


There was lots of time at the beach. So much so that I tricked my husband into building all the sandcastles with the kids so that I could be a lazy slug and watch. Bat your eyelashes, ladies. It works every time!


Levi had an exceptionally good time this year. We stayed in a condo with my sister, Joyce, and her family which include their 4 boys. Talk about heaven for Levi! See how happy he is?!

Back when I was growing up, spending time with my cousins was a real TREAT. I remember trips to Lagoon and sleeping on my Grandma's floor the night before. And I remember the yummy 4th of July breakfast tradition that still continues to this day. I hope my kids have just as much fun with their cousins as I did with mine.
A few of the boy cousins:

Here is a picture of my beautiful sister, Charlotte, her husband, and her youngest child. Charlotte's fun times in life are few and far between. She has six children. One of whom is severely handicapped. It's so nice to see her taking a break from it all.

Faith found a plastic 'Little People' hippo on the beach. It totally made her day. I let her steal it because I'm a horrible example. Plus, I was pretty sure the owners weren't coming back any time soon. It was buried two feet down.


I love the beach. I realize that Bear Lake is sort of a sorry excuse for a real 'beach', but hey... I'll take what I can get! Water+sand=yay!

We had lots of time to hang out outside and play games and eat.
And I had time to practice my closed and open mouth smile.
Camera ONE:

Camera TWO:

Go ahead and laugh. I'll let you. This whole 'braces' thing is quite the DEAL. Sure, sure. I knew I would have braces on my teeth. I just wasn't prepared for all the gaps, and weird spaces and strange angling and shifting. And I am SOOOOOOO glad no one told me. And don't even get me started on the 'You look so different!' comments.

A reunion is not complete until all the boy cousins, strip off their shirts and start making fart noises with their armpits.

And armpit smelling. There MUST be armpit smelling!!

Also, what's a reunion without a really clingy toddler yanking and bawling on your leg all day long and pulling your shirt down so far that you show everyone your goods?

Don't even get me started on how fun it is to watch the three amigo cousins (all the same age) eat otter pop after otter pop. Oh, the sticky drool...

But hey... the clean up ain't so bad. And it's FUN! (I kept telling myself that over and over again. Sort of a mantra, if you will.)



Nothing and I mean NOTHING captures the moment of fun like this picture of Joyce and I. Just TRY holding us back from all the celebrating!! Just TRY!

Family Bonding. My brother Grant, cousin Heather, sister Laura, ME:

A few of the Girl Cousins!! (*ahem* and babysitters!)

The lucky individuals without little kids crawling down their backs got to attend the Pickleville Playhouse dinner and play. I heard it was really fun. Ya know.... HEARD.

One of the highlights was FINALLY meeting my future sister-in-law. She'll be joining our family in a couple weeks time. I can't wait for the BIG DAY!!

If you made it this far, I applaud you
To reward you, I'll give you two of my favorite pictures.
I don't know which one is funniest.

This one:

Or this one:


Next year, we're in charge of ALL the reunion planning. If you don't see me for a while, you can assume I went into hiding to avoid any and all responsibility of doing so.

The Ordeal After the 'Ideal'

I just got back from Bear Lake yesterday from another family reunion. We had a lot of fun. Pictures to come later...

We always go to Ideal Beach Resort at Bear Lake for my mom's side of the family. It seems like in years past, something always happens to someone there to make it hard. Usually this 'someone' is ME. Like the time I was rushed to the hospital for a kidney infection and they almost removed my appendix instead. Or, there was the time I ripped my toenail off under the door. That same year I ripped my toenail off, three other people did the EXACT same thing. Anyway, you get my drift. John (because he thinks he's so hilarious) has renamed the place 'ORDEAL' Beach rather than Ideal Beach. Funny, ha ha, right?

Well, today the nickname rang true and there was another incident. Not so funny.

I'm heartbroken to say that it was an incident with baby Faith. She was climbing my shelves in the living room (they're actually part of the walls) and on the second shelf there's a glass rooster. Faith went to grab it and the rooster came down and shattered on her head and face. I've been reeling from it all day. And I feel a lot of guilt over it and the fact that she will now have a scar on her pretty little face. I keep thinking about it and crying. Please give me a story of hope to make me feel better.

I'm grateful that it's not worse. But I'm still so so sad about her cute little face.

I had my cell phone with me and took some pics. I can't believe how good my cell phone camera is. I really need to use it more often.

Here's Faith as we arrived at the hospital:

I blew up a glove and that seemed to help...

The guy with the gray hair was so so nice. He was so cute with Faith and held her hand until he had to help another patient. Here she is getting all wired up and monitored.

They sedated her with a conscious sedation. She was still awake with a glazed over look, but she was still whimpering and really fighting with her legs and arms. She was so stiff. It made me so sad and to see her like this. So helpless.

Getting stitched up under the sedation. I think we got a good doctor. He used really fine stitches and said that if we're careful with sunscreen, etc., then it shouldn't leave a horrible scar. He said that time will lighten it. I hope he's right.

The after...

Another angle...

She's still beautiful...
But I'm still sad.

The Richey Reunion 2008

First off, let me just say how much fun the Richey Reunion was. We had an awesome turnout. At least 150 people! Everyone was happy and everything went without a hitch. It was a miracle! Looks like all our late night meetings really paid off. I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to plan this with my sisters. It was really a neat experience (though I promise I won't be doing it again, he he) and it really made me feel closer with both my immediate family and my extended family.

There were lots of laughs...

That's the back of my brother, Grant's head in the brown. It's about as close as I can get to a real picture of him.

Angela and Uncle Tom

Lots of FOOD!!!!

Lots of eating as one GIGANTIC family!!

Minimal food preparation since we made everything before hand (thank goodness!!!) ...

The breakfast may have been one of my favorite meals. Uncle Preston's family really knows how to DO IT!

Uncle Preston

Lots of family bonding...

My brother-in-law, Darin and husband John

My sister-in-law, Diana and my sister, Laura

My brother, Clark who came at the last minute. YAY!

Hey, check out those awesome t-shirts! The t-shirts were THE BOMB. Everyone loved them!! Aren't they great??! I bet your reunion t-shirts aren't as cool as these bad boys. Thanks for all your hard work on the T-shirts, Darin and Joyce!!!

My Dad, my sister, Charlotte, my step-mom, Bette, my Aunt Louise

My sister, Laura and I

Lots of family photo opportunities!

My Uncle Blaine and his family

One broken bone. Sorry Craig!

Good times with family ancestry stories. It was my ancestors that grew up on Cherry Hill and planted the cherry trees! The family stories were by far the best part.

The night time camping was so much fun even though we were totally exhausted by the time we got to our tents.

Here's mini cousins Levi and Samuel...

Me, Levi and John

Me and my amazing sisters. We did it!!!!

If you made it through this and you're not family, I'm so proud of you. The reunion was a really great experience. Totally worth all the hard work and planning!! A special thanks to my sister, Joyce and Uncle Stephen for all the pictures. I didn't take one blasted picture the whole time there!

My Aunt Georgia sent this awesome e-mail to all of us who planned it. It was so nice!! Here it is:

Good Evening,
On behalf of our family, may I express our appreciation to each of you for the part you played in creating such an outstanding reunion. You were so well organized and there was such a wonderful spirit throughout. You were a great team and it was obvious that you had every detail covered. Thank you for all the time and effort and planning. This will be a reunion that will never be forgotten. There were a lot of tender stories shared that kept me in tears both evenings. I truly feel that there were lives changed and strengthened because of this reunion. The location, the awesome shirts, the directories, the food, the activities, the happy children, and the evening events were so incredible. There had to have been at least 150 of us in attendance. That is remarkable. Thank you so much for all your hard work. Love, Aunt Georgia and Family

Thanks, Aunt Georgia!!!

Everyone worked really hard to make this reunion what it was. Thanks to my sisters, my Dad and Bette, Diana for the craft and everyone else who put any work into this. We couldn't have done it without you!

Yup... more Bear Lake

My brother, Clark and Faith
Me and baby Ian
My mom and my cousin, Sonja
My Grandma and Faith

Cute baby!!!