Richardson Report

I recently heard about a podcast called "Leading LDS" and was intrigued by the title and started listening to it.  It is seriously super good.  I'm not big into podcasts.  They are like non-fiction books to me - I like to be able to skim through and pick up the good parts and jump ahead if I'm feeling bogged down.  That's harder to do with  an audio anything.  But this podcast - it's gold.  I've listened to probably 8 episodes.  My favorites so far are the interviews with Whitney Johnson (SO GOOD!), Dave Crenshaw, and Brad Wilcox.  I also like Brett McKay (founder of the Art of Manliness website - if you're familiar with that).  I've listened to several interviews with Relief Society Presidents that are pretty good - I've gotten some good ideas from listening to those as well.  And there was one more - I can't remember the name of the guy who was interviewed but the title was about bearing the counseling burden - that one surprised ...

Girl's Choice Dance... So grateful for Luke's parents who took pictures for us.  I was at a meeting when Brynne left to go pick up Luke and didn't get to see how lovely she looked.  Luke is a stellar kid from our ward.  He and Brynne have become good friends the past year.  So fun!

Last week I spoke in Sacrament meeting on the topic of developing a relationship with our Savior.  Tonight Josh and I are speaking in Stake Conference about receiving personal revelation for our family.  I don't know if we've figured out what the stake president had in mind, but we have our talk prepared and I'll be glad when it's over.  Too many talks for me this month!  I think I've earned a 10 year hiatus. The kids have been super busy.  Brynne's job at McDonald's was crazy this month - she worked 5 days a week, for two weeks in a row.  This week she got a breather and was so grateful.  Track and Field starts on Monday and both Brynne and Logan are participating.  Logan has developed an interest in pole vault and javelin - so that will be interesting to see.  Today Brynne had her solo ensemble event at SOU in Ashland and, lucky for us, Logan's Brain Bowl event was also at SOU.  So we spent the morning down there and got to see both ...

What with the wedding and everything, we planned for a quiet Christmas at home and it was exactly what we needed.  The award for best gift went to Logan - who gave Josh a box inside a box inside a box inside a box.  And that was it.  Josh loved it!

For some reason my last blog post didn't post and even though I knew it - I didn't have time to fix that.  So three weeks late for your viewing pleasure, that blog post is below. Now we are home from Idaho.  It was a good trip.  About a week before we left I was not sleeping and feeling highly stressed and after some conversations with friends and a few heart to hearts with myself, I determined that I was worrying about things I had no control over and resolved that I did NOT want to remember this wedding as a super stressful experience!  I wanted to be able to enjoy the day!  So with that end in mind, I went back over the things I knew that *I* needed to do, updated my lists, put my processes in place, and stopped thinking so much about everything else.  Prayer figured into this as well.  And I stopped feeling stressed.  I haven't slept great in months, but I slept better.  When we got to Idaho, I had very short to-dos for each day and fel...

3 weeks until W-Day.  It's feeling very surreal that it is ACTUALLY GOING TO HAPPEN that my eldest is going to get married.  Mom - I just want to apologize now for putting you through this at such a young age.  It's not until walking in your shoes that I fully realize what I did to you.  I'm sorry. On the good side of that coin, I think we're basically ready.  I have a little to-do list but mostly it's stuff that I can't take care of until the last week.  So I'm turning my attention to Christmas and my family for the next couple weeks.  We have two weeks to do all our pre-Christmas celebrating so the  Christmas season is feeling too short and rushed.  But I'm hoping that the actual Christmas Day will be quiet and peaceful.  We will get back into Grants Pass two days or so before Christmas when I will purchase a boatload of food to see us through the holiday and hopefully sequester myself with my family for a long weekend and just enjoy...

I did a post that had some pictures from our trip.  BUT our internet was having issues and who really wants to see photos of a vacation they didn't go on.  I know I only like it sometimes...but sometimes I would rather have gone myself.  ;-). Suffice to say, Josh and I had a great week together and our kids were alive when we came home - which is about all we wanted. I wanted to share some things today. First, we had our Primary Program.  If we could have videoed this we would have.  Faith does not sing Primary songs.  Instead, she head-bangs along to every song with a huge grin on her face.  It was hysterical. One of Kenna's friends has anxiety and had a full meltdown as she waited in line to say her part.  Tears streamed down her face.  It was so sweet to watch Kenna quietly whisper in her ear to comfort her, and hold her hand to cheer her up.  Kenna is a nurturing soul and she cares deeply for this friend who needs her. I had ...