Here are a few pictures of a trip we took to California over the summer, it was a for a soccer tournament that Kylie was in over Labor Day.

Look at the intensity on her face, I just love it.

Here Kylie is doing a great job at using her body to knock the ball down and control it.

Here Kyndl is posing from the balcony of the hotel room we stayed in. We had one of the scariest hours of our life this day, when we lost Kyndl at the beach for about 30 minutes. She decided to take a stroll about 300-400 yards down the beach by herself. I do not want to go through that again.

Other then loosing Kyndl for that 30 to 45 minutes, we all had a blast at the beach.

Kylie's 9th Birthday Party!!!

you can click on these collages to view photo's better...

WE HEADED OUT TO LAKE MEAD AGAIN FOR KYLIE'S BIRTHDAY..

AS TRADITION WOULD HAVE IT WE RAN INTO A FEW BUMPS ALONG THE WAY...LIKE DEAD BATTERY AND A SHORT IN THE WIRING ON THE BOAT. BUT AFTER A PERSISTENT MECHANIC WE WERE UP AND GOING .
THE KIDS HAD A BLAST WITH MUD FIGHTS, BEACH BALL SOCCER ON THE BEACH, AND JUMPING OFF THE BOAT INTO THE LAKE! IT WAS A HOT DAY BUT ONCE WE SWAM IN THAT COOL WATER IT WAS PERFECT. KYLIE HAS A GREAT GROUP OF FRIENDS.(A LOT OF WHOM ARE HER COUSINS)WE HAD 3 BOYS AND 10 GIRLS WITH TWO TAG ALONG SISTERS. IN ALL WE HAD 20 PEOPLE ON THE BOAT! THATS GOT TO BE A RECORD.
NOW OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT GRANDPA RICHARDS! SO WE WANT TO GIVE A BIG THANK YOU FOR A GREAT BIRTHDAY!
THANKS DAD!
AND A
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLIE!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

WELL I'VE HAD MIXED EMOTIONS ON THIS WEEK. IT IS NICE TO HAVE MORE TIME TO DO THINGS, BUT MY LIFE HAS BEEN SO SCHEDULED IN 2 HOUR INCREMENTS THAT ITS BEEN A WEIRD ADJUSTMENT.
I'M WORKING IT OUT BUT THIS SLOW MOTION DAY IS KILLIN ME!
ON THE UP SIDE I'VE BEEN ABLE TO UPDATE 2 MONTHS OF MISSED BLOGGING.

Summer has Come and Gone......

Wow! This summer flew bye! Just to play a little catch up...We had a great time this summer with our Family and Friends. From hiking caverns, visiting Yellowstone(multiply times) fishing, floating the river, the kids even had training on becoming a Smoke Jumper. There aren't very many dull moments when your at the cabin as most of you know. We enjoyed all the company and hope all that visited had a fun time.

Photos

MY BIG FISH

PAINT POTS

BAKER COUSINS

MESA FALLS

THE PAST MEETS THE PRESENT....

THIS IS THE GIRLS WITH THERE FRIENDS THE BENSONS ATTENDING SCHOOL

OLD SCHOOL WASHING....

KYNDL FOUND A NEW HOME IN NEVADA CITY

ALL ABOARD!

KASSI GETS LOOSE AS KYNDL PLAYS THE PIANO IN VIRGINA CITY

Kassi loves to eat her fish...This one wants to reverse that!

Cabin Fun!

We have been having a great time at the cabin this summer! First Kelly and Lori headed up with the kids and hung out for a couple of days. Later in the week most of Mickey's family came up and we enjoyed going to Yellowstone, Mesa Falls, Virgina City, and BIG JUDS...Which Mickeys brother Bo attempted a triple Big Jud, he made it through about 3/4s of the burger. We have also done alot of 4 wheeling and FISHING!!! In fact Mickey caught 17 fish fly fishing one night. We have seen many animals like, Moose, Bears, Elk, Antelope, Deer,Buffalo, and even a family of racoons. My friend Heather is up here now with her 4 kids and we have enjoyed floating the river, fishing and riding quads...It has been a fun summer and we are looking forward to our other guests that will come for an adventure in the weeks to come!

Enjoy every minute you can.

I am writing this post to express feelings I have about my family. I just spent the last 12 days in beautiful Idaho at our cabin with my family. We had a blast enjoying their company and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins. These are the times that we need to take in and remember. I am so thankful that my in-laws are kind enough to let my family stay at their wonderful cabin, and that Kelly and I and our girls are able to use the cabin as often as we do. Now as many of you know, Kelly spends almost every July up in Idaho enjoying the outdoors, and escaping the heat in Las Vegas. The last couple of days I spent up there, it was just me and my 4 girls relaxing and enjoying the time together. As I flew home last night by myself, I realized that the last few hours I spent with my girls, I was not the happiest or nicest dad and husband that I should be. I can never get those few hours back, and I regret all of my actions. As a dad and husband I need to take a few moments and remember that time is precious, and doing things with the kids and Kelly are times that need to be positive and happy. I guess what I am trying to say is that time spent with family should be precious, and that we need to make them the best they can be. I wanted to also tell Kelly and the girls that I regret being grouchy the last few hours that I spent with them, and that I apologize, and love them so much. I can not wait to see them in a few weeks, and promise to be a happier dad and husband.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKEY!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !
WE LOVE YOU DAD! THANKS FOR BEING SUCH A GREAT DAD AND HUSBAND. THANKS FOR ALL THE BASEBALL YOU PLAY IN THE BACK YARD WITH US. THANKS FOR ALL THE Wii YOU LET US WIN ! AND THANKS FOR ALL THE LAUNDRY YOU HELP MOM DO!
THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO!

YOU ROCK!
WE LOVE YOU!

Older Pictures of our Girls

Here some random pictures of our girls through the years.

10 great years

This post is a little walk down memory lane dedicated to my lovely wife. It was 10 years ago today that we were married. It seems like just yesterday, we were wondering if the weather was going to clear up for our special day. And what do you know, that day was awesome, the weather, the company, and the entire day. I had a smile on my face that lasted forever. We have been through alot of fun times in the past 10 years, traveling to different places, learning new things, and meeting new friends. We lived in Idaho for a couple of months after we were married, and had a good time doing that. We vacationed in Hawaii while you were 6 months pregnant with Kylie. We went to Minnesota in March to visit your brother, in the freezing cold. Going to Mexico and carrying back chairs that we bought over there, with the help of friends. We have made numerous trips to Arizona and California to visit family. And we have spent many summers at the cabin enjoying life and adventures up there. And for this anniversary we went snowmobiling in Yellowstone, which is something I would like to do again someday. Kelly you have made my life an adventure, and I am sure there are many more to come for us and our girls. I know that I am hard to live with sometimes, but hey your stuck with me and thats that. I cannot wait to grow older with you and experience many more fun times. I love you Kel.

Snowmobiling in Idaho

Kelly and I were able to get away last weekend for an early 10th anniversary. Kelly planned an awesome trip to West Yellowstone to go snowmobiling. Grandma Richards helped us out with watching the kids along with a few babysitters and Kelly's good friend Lisa. (thanks everyone who helped out) We flew to Idaho Falls on Thursday and stayed with Kelly's cousin Joe and his family. (thanks to you guys also) Friday we drove up to West, stopping by Big Judd's to get a burger. When we got up to Island Park I was amazed by how much snow there was. We stopped by the cabin and guess what was in the river, a baby and mamma moose.

That was exciting. Then we headed to West Yellowstone to check into our hotel. We looked around that day and relaxed that night. Saturday morning we wook up early to go into Yellowstone. You can only go in with a guide during the winter. Once we went in to the park we stopped at an eagle's nest to take pictures. Well guses what happened, I packed the camera, but forgot to put the battery back in. So we had to buy a disposable camera to take pictures in the park. We have yet to develop them, but once we do we will try to post them. The park was so beautiful with all the snow, and we passed the buffalo that were 5 feet from us. One time we were in the middle of a heard, and Kelly turned the sled on it's side, that was kind of freaky, but the buffalo just stood there. We got a good laugh from that. So al lthat day we spent in the park, and then went to the gusher for Pizza dinner. Sunday morning we woke up to about 4 inches of new snow. We had 2 snowmobiles rented that day, and so we took the trails to Macks Inn. We ride these trails all the time during the summer, but it looks totally different in the winter. It was so much fun, it stinks though, cause Kelly had a headache, and wasn't feeling good. We took a few pictures, and so here are some of them.

We had to hurry back to West, cause we had a flight at 7:15. We hurried back, and Joe took us to the airport, we pulled up and as we got out they announced over the intercom that our flight was delayed 5 hours. So we headed back to Joe and Hailey's, had a good dinner and relaxed, then Joe took us back to the airport around midnight. We landed in Las Vegas around 1:00 a.m. and Matt, Kelly's brother was kind enough to pick us up that late. (thanks Matt) We finally got to bed at 3:00 but were glad to be home and were excited to see the girls. Well sorry about the novel, but that was our trip. Thanks again everyone that helped out, and thanks to my beautiful wife for setting up a great weekend.