Richardson Report

 July was a whirlwind and I have so much to catch up on. We started with Fourth of July, which was honestly kind of tame for us.  We'd just finished the funeral for grandpa and girls camp was coming up, so we stayed home and kept it simple.  Girls camp was its own adventure to be remembered though.  We drove up on Monday and started getting unpacked and oriented.  It had all the makings of a great camp.  We got right into it with classes and boating and everything else. Along around 4pm a storm started to blow in. We could see lightning across the like and there was some pretty loud thunder.  I love mountain storms but this felt like we were IN it.  No rain, just clouds, thunder, and lightning.  They decided to gather us all together for a group photo in the amphitheater.  Personally I was feeling a little uneasy about being out with lightening going on around us.  Erica Ledesma is the photographer.  They brought the kitchen cr...

 June was a mixed bag for us. School ended!  Everyone was glad to be out and done and ready to enjoy summer.   My friends and I had a tea party! We started summer with a trip to Idaho to visit with our Idaho family and see the Sants, who drove out from Idaho.  It was fun to meet Darwin as an interactive toddler!  All the kids have really grown up. Following that we went straight to Sunriver for a week and that was pretty restful.  We finally introduced Brynne to OUR happiest place on earth. While we were in Idaho, though, we got the news that my Grandfather had passed away June 11.   My mom and uncle couldn't get ahold of him all day on and sent Jim (gardener) over to check on him.  He was alive and talking, but not acting quite himself.  My mom and Dad drove down the next morning and found him deceased on his bed, apparently having passed away early evening on the 11th.   Knowing he was more than ready to go and probably went painlessly...

 Can you believe that the school year is over!  It ended with some good things! Kenna's golf team qualified for State and placed 7th overall.  Way to go girls! Faith won the Youth Rising Award for the Josephine County Food Bank for her years of service. We took her school on a field trip there and they loved it. Natalie participated in her vocal recital and she did such a nice job - we've seen tremendous growth in her as a singer. We helped paint a pavilion for ServeGP Faith promoted from 5th grade to 6th grade.  Say what???!!!! It was a lovely little ceremony and my favorite part was as the kids walked past their classmates they were high fiving them all the way down the line. We got Murphy bunk beds for our grandkid room!  I'm so excited!  Josh assembled them and he did such a good job. Also - I am apparently not the only one with an ice cream problem.  Ahem. Brynne was featured in a BYU Alumni magazine story and we had so many lovely people offer us...

 Happy April!  What a lovely month! The highlight was that Brynne is officially a college grad!  So proud of everything this girl has accomplished in the past 9 months.  It's been quite a ride but she's risen to the challenge. Josh and I had a great weekend in Utah with Brynne.  It was beautiful weather and we got to do fun things and eat good food.  One highlight was hitting up the tulip festival at Thanksgiving point - Barry and family joined us and we had such a lovely day together! other fun April stuff: Hannah has a cute boy who turned 2! Happy Birthday Darwin! Easter!  Brynne was with Barry's fam. Ummm, kind of the cutest little family ever! Faith got to dress up as a book character - Hello Sherlock! And they dressed up as 80s kids for a youth video!