"I want one!"

A neighbor out at the new house has baby goats.  She invited Jen to come over and see them so Jen brought us with her.  We walked through her back yard past, horses, donkeys, chickens, and rabbits.  We finally came to the goats.  One of the momma goats had twins just three days ago.  She picked one of the babies up and handed it to Bridger.  He said "I want one!"  The baby was so soft and cute.  Ardell was over at the house helping Matt, so Charlene came with us.  It was so fun to have her come with us.  She loved seeing the animals too. 

Chase's 14th Birthday

Maddie had a rough week at school so she came and stayed with us on Saturday night.  Mylissa, Julie, Caleb and Grandma came up on Sunday for dinner and to pick up Maddie.  We celebrated Chase's birthday  Mylissa made delicious marshmallow brownies!!!  

At the last minute, Chase said that he would be ok with bringing a treat to soccer practice to celebrate his birthday.  (That made me happy because last year he didn't want to bring a treat).  We quickly ran to the store and picked up donuts. It made me so happy watching Chase pass out his treat.  He seems happy!  What a difference a year makes.  I feel like he's settling well up here.  Maddie told Chase that if he didn't tell his friends that it's his birthday, she was going to tell his friends through Instagram.  Chase was brave and told some of his friends at school that it was his birthday.  Last year he didn't tell anyone so that made me happy.

Chase's birthday was a busy day!  Chase had soccer practice, Matt was working at the house, Bridger had baseball practice, and I had a presidency meeting at 8:00.  At 7:00 we ate dinner together.  We didn't have enough time to eat out because Chase wanted to go to Logan or Brigham City.  So I told Chase I would fix dinner.  I asked him what he wanted and he said "Olive Garden Alfredo."  So I looked up their recipe online and made it.  Luckily the recipe was pretty easy and it turned out really well.  Chase was happy with his dinner!  Then he opened up his presents.  The main thing he wanted was clothes.  Tanner gave Chase a new book.  Bridger gave Chase the XBOX game FIFA17.  Matt and I gave him lots of clothes, cologne, and new soccer cleats.

Chase requested the yellow cake with chocolate chips and the chocolate frosting.  It's one of our classic cake recipes.  We were all too full from dinner so we sang "Happy Birthday" and then I went to my meeting.  Chase had a piece of cake before he went to bed.  We're hoping to do something fun for Chase's birthday over spring break.

Chase had a couple of friends, Cael and Carson (Stack) that posted birthday wishes to him on Instagram.  They're really nice boys.  I'm grateful that Chase has been able to make friends up here.

Women's Conference

Rob received 7 tickets for the General Women's Session so we planned ahead and made it a priority.  Marilyn was preparing for a health procedure so she couldn't come.  In her place, Aliyah came even though she's a few months shy of 8.  We met at Little America for dinner and then hopped in my van and drove over to the conference center.  I dropped everyone off at the conference center except Mylissa.  She came with me and we parked over at City Creek which was a big mistake because afterwards we were stuck in a parking lot for over 35 minutes.  Other than that it was a wonderful night!  Our tickets were on the main floor,  center section and back about 13 rows.  The talks were great!  It was such a wonderful night being together.

The Best Electrician

To save a lot of money, Matt tackled the huge project of doing the majority of the electrical work on the house.  We didn't realize it was going to be such a big project.  We were hoping it would take him a month, but it's going to be closer to a couple of months.  Luckily Layne and Michael have been so kind and have spent hours helping Matt.  Without their help, Matt wouldn't have been able to do this project.  Ardell has also been such a big help.  Matt has spent every waking moment working at the house (when he's not at work).  I'm so impressed with what an amazing job he's done on the electrical work.  Matt also installed the central vacuum tubing.  Kirk came up a couple of times and helped Matt install it.  Matt couldn't have done it without Kirk's help!  Our friends have been wonderful to help Matt!.

Bridger's Winter Artwork

This is Bridger's version of Van Gough's "Starry Night."  He wasn't happy with how it turned out but I think he did a great job on his picture!

 Bridger drew a beautiful tree using only a pencil.  He had great detail and shadowing on his picture.  Around Valentines, Bridger brought home the heart picture.  Tanner looked at it and said "he forgot to color this" as he pointed to the white pieces.  I loved this picture!  Bridger is quite the artist.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  The leprechauns must have stopped by during the night because when we woke up, there were chocolate gold coins and green candy hidden throughout the house.  They turned the boys' milk green and our toilet water was green!  Bridger found most of the candy before he went to school.  I made him save the front room for Tanner.  So when Tanner woke up, he was thrilled to find the remaining candy.  Sophie was also a helper because while we were taking Bridger to school, she ate A LOT of chocolate coins.  

Tanner got a new dinosaur shirt which was perfect for St. Patrick's day.  I was heading into work so Charlene was going to babysit Tanner.  Ardell was going to go over and help Matt at the house.  It was perfect timing because they were able to watch Tanner find the candy.

Basketball Game with Angie and Mikayla

Angie coordinated it with Matt to meet him at one of his Jazz games.  Angie came with her boyfriend John and his two kids and then Mikayla came too.  It was supposed to be Bridger's game with Matt so he sat in the good seat during the first and fourth quarter.  He was very kind and let John's kids sit in the good seat during the second and third quarter.  Angie thought that it was so kind of Bridger that she bought him a basketball.  Bridger was very happy with how the evening turned out. 

 Chase came too but sat in the nose bleed seats with Angie and her gang.  Before the game, everyone met at Crown Burger for dinner and then headed over to the game.  I didn't want to wrestle Tanner during the game (that didn't sound fun for me) so I stayed home with Tanner.  

Lots of Smiles!

Tanner loves to eat oatmeal for breakfast.  Sometimes he'll request it for dinner.  Matt joked "how is it that he won't eat typical kid food like chicken nuggets or a grilled cheese sandwich but he'll eat what most kids hate....oatmeal!"  

Tanner's hair was getting really long and out of control with the curls so I attempted to trim it while he was in the bath tub.  No one noticed so I must not have trimmed very much but it looks a little better.

Tanner is eating a chocolate cupcake.  As you can tell from his face, he really enjoyed the cupcake.  

Tanner wanted to play with "biggey beads."  So I got them out for him but I made the mistake of going downstairs to exercise.  When I came back upstairs after exercising, this is what I found!  Tanner had his binoculars and was just looking around.  He didn't see anything wrong with the mess that covered the room.  It looks like he had a great time throwing every biggey bead in the container.  I texted the picture to Mom, Mares, Shan and Mylissa.  We have a love-hate relationship with biggey beads.  

Chase's Winter Basketball Season

Chase wrapped up his winter basketball season.  His team played in a Weber County league on Tuesday nights and then in a Layton league almost every Saturday night, plus practices twice a week.  We have been very busy with basketball!!!  Chase enjoyed the season.  He loves to play basketball.  He's been struggling with his shot but towards the end of the season he was improving.  He took more shots!  The second to last game he had a PR and scored 6 points!!  Chase is a great defensive player!  He just understands where he needs to be and understands the game.  

Chase really likes the kids on the team.  His coach Nate did a fun thing this season and had each boy take a turn at being the team captain for the week.  While they were captain, they were in charge of coming up with an activity for the team.  During the high school basketball season, the team captain would choose for the team to go to the game together.  When Chase was captain, the high school basketball season was over so he chose to go to the Pie Dump before school on a Wednesday.  

Easton, Josh, Kace, Reis, Chase and Devon

Coach Nate J, Jace, Chase C, Josh, Easton, Kace, Reis, and Chase

This is the most of the team at a high school basketball game.  The parents joked that the coach, Nate, sitting on the end looked like he was having so much fun.  They're a great group of boys!!!

During half time or any time outs, Tanner and Bridger would run on to the court and practice shooting.

Back row:  Mike, Amy, Matt, Grandpa Richins, Grandma Richins
Front row:  Mikayla, John, Angie, Grandpa and Grandma Adams, Tanner, Aliyah, Lilly, Shantelle and Sammee

With the League in Layton, it made it very convenient for our families to come to the games.  They were wonderful to support Chase!  Chase had lots of cheerleaders.  One weekend I took Shan's girls home for a Friday night sleepover and then she met us at the game and picked up her girls so even Shan came to a game.