Happy 11:11 on 11/11/11!!!!

WINNING!

So at work we have a raffle every Monday meeting for a $30 gift card, in the last month I have won that twice, won another $30 gift card for winning 2nd place for the Halloween contest, and won an iPad at a conference in DC. Yeah, so I'm pretty much out the door already to Vegas...lata

In order for me to post this, Emmy made me promise I would never do this to our kids

I have a lot on my mind and even though I don't think I'll be able to really express my thoughts and feelings, but it does help to blog them.

I love fall, we've been on a few drives to enjoy the foliage- the Nebo and Alpine Loops. Man the colors are amazing, and the pictures don't do it any justice. I've been in DC the past couple of days and have really enjoyed the scenery, experience, and feel of it. There's a familiar Fall smell that resembles the same smell in CB...it must be the humidity.

I've really enjoyed DC- the architecture and the feel remind me of my mission and living in some of the big cities in Europe. It'd be really fun to have the urban/metropolitan experience. My co-worker and I walked a few miles trying to find a restaurant and there's just something to taking an evening stroll in the city, enjoying the atmosphere, and thinking about what it's like to live here.

Jimmer made me real happy tonight. I called Emmy and heard Jimmer being fussy in the background. Emmy put the phone up to him and he stopped crying and made his funny little noises when he's excited. Me and Emmy talked a little more and then Jimmer was again fussy, she put the phone up to his ear and again the same thing, he got really excited. Man I love Jimmer and Emmy. I never could have imagined how much I could just love Jimmer and Emmy so much. That probably comes out weird, but man I just love them so much. I know Emmy loves me, and now it's special to know that Jimmer loves me too.

I've been really disturbed by some of the international political events recently. For one, I'm glad we're getting out of Iraq because I don't honestly think things will ever fully improve to where we could feel totally comfortable about leaving, but it's just frustrating because this feels like it's a political move only by Obama and that I think things could really get bad in Iraq with Iran next door. The Gaddafi killing has really disturbed me and I'm not quite sure what my opinion or feelings about it are. I mean he was a bad dude who did bad things. He killed a lot of his own people and deserved punishment, but how he died is really uneasy with me how he was captured and paraded around and then executed in front of the masses. It's just interesting and disturbing to me how a brutal dictator of 42 years is one day ruling the country and later is at the mercy of the people. Man, I think I'm probably not clear at all, because I don't even know what I'm really thinking. Maybe it comes down to just pitying him. I mean, he was a bad person, he did bad things to his people. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. Here he was pulled and beaten out of his hiding place, bloodied and shoved out of the truck...begging for mercy from the people he never showed mercy to. And then he was shot in the head and his body is still being paraded as a trophy. It's very disturbing to me, and I feel really really bad for him. Watching the footage on the news channels is disturbing, but also fascinated me because in that footage Gaddafi is not a leader/dictator of a country, but a person. Just a regular person, a child of God, someone as reliant on the mercies of the Savior as I am. He controlled billions of dollars, an entire country, navies, armies, but this did nothing for him in the end. He's just a regular person- nothingness. The whole thing also reminds me of the scripture about Korihor and about how in the end Satan abandoned him, like Satan does with all those who choose to follow him. It's just amazing to me, and I realize my thoughts are confusing and I'm probably feeling/thinking too much of this situation, but I pity Gaddafi. I pity him for going back, unprepared, to his maker, having to be fully accountable for everything he did. The whole thing is disturbing and creeps me out, but ultimately I'm just sad for him and his soul.

Emmy blogged by the way. She's trying to do it more regularly. Check it out:

http://kaseyandemily.blogspot.com/

Sky

If there's one guy who's gone through a lot, it's Skyler. Growing up he got like 3 or 4 broken arms that I was somewhat responsible for like when I encouraged him to be superman and jump off the pool table or when I chased him during a water fight and he tripped over something. I think I did something else to him but I forgot. Probably the worse thing I did was when we were playing basketball, we were both going after a loose ball and I fell on top of him, pushing his head into the corner of a brick wall. Yeah, it wasn't pretty, he could have died if it went a little deeper. I didn't push him on purpose though. Man I was cruel to him at times. We boxed once and I just took it to him, poor kid. When he had appendicitis on a band trip I was still giving him a hard time, I think I pushed him or something. We haven't lived in the same place for a few years, which is probably why he hasn't broken anything in awhile.

In college I really started noticing how laid back, chill, and fun Skyler is. We had some fun time together throwing pumpkins off a bridge, little vacation trips, going to basketball and football games. He has always been someone that I admire, because of how he treats others, and how he always is interested in those around him. He's a good dad, a good brother, a good son, a good worker, a good friend, a good Priesthood holder, etc. Sky's just a good guy.

Happy b-day Sky!

Little La

Kasey: Little La, why are you so little?

Kayla: I don't know

That's pretty much how most of our conversations started the first 10 years of her life. It's really crazy to me that she is 16 now! The baby of the family is driving and dating now. I remember Kayla's birth better than the rest of my siblings...obviously because I was 12. Kayla has the personalities of everyone in the family and she can easily turn one on and the other off. A couple combinations in the family are a little strange, like when me, Dallas, and Jamie went to Grandpa's funeral together in Virden, New Mexico, I think that was the first time just the 3 of us had been together...a little strange. We need a connecting person, I think Kayla can be that with every combination.

The younger kids definitely make the rest of us look bad. They're good at pretty much everything. Kayla is the fun one, good at sports, good at school, good at music, and solid in the Church. She's also a sweet baby sister. One reason why I like Kayla so much...or like Emmy so much is they both remind me of each other. Kayla needs love, and loves to give love. She loves Mom and Dad so much, loves cuddling with them and just loves being their baby. It's cute.

Happy b-day Little La!

Some little known facts about Mom

-Probably the biggest multi-tasker I’ve ever met. When I go home it takes me about 10 minutes to see what Mom is up to by looking at the 2 or 3 calendars in the kitchen of things going on, her to do list on the kitchen table, the scriptures she’s memorizing inside the cupboard, the stack of books she’s reading all at once. It’s pretty incredible…I’m very much like her except my lists are all online.

-Mom has a lot of faith and is very obedient. She does what the prophets say because…well, they’re the Prophets! It certainly wasn’t easy rounding up the 7 kids for FHE or to read to us as we ate dinner, but she’d always do it…while exercising at the same time!

-Mom’s a Richardson and loves to travel and have fun. It was important to her when we were little to take us all over the country, and we certainly did. She’s definitely kept that up. She also likes to plan fun activities.

-Mom was a heartbreaker when she was in college.

-Mom’s the oldest of 13 kids

-I honestly have no idea what Mom’s favorite food is. I don’t think it has to do with me not being very observant but more about Mom being very chill and accommodating.

-If you ever want to see how important family is to her just go to her house and you’ll see pictures of her family EVERYWHERE! When Colby and Dallas were on their missions she would call their cell phones a lot to hear their voices on voicemail. She likes for the family to be around and together. Sometimes she wants everyone to be around, but mostly she just wants to bask in the togetherness of her family being around.

-Mom’s a nurse and has done a pretty good job for them at Mercy, she’s made herself very valuable to them

-Mom loves the Church, loves her family, and is the best Mom ever

...That's actually pretty well-known

Happy Birthday Mom, love you!

Haha, this is hilarious, good find Russ

"Mitt is so Mormon..."

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/5103/how_mormon_is_mitt_romney/

Came home from my mission and this was the big thing in pop culture

This also changed my life...and my roommates lives, when we first saw it, probably for 3 days straight someone in the apartment was watching it

Haha, this never gets old

About a year ago I first saw this video. My life has never been the same.

DJ

Dallas was the first baby to be born in our family that I remember really well. I don’t really remember Carrie as a baby, probably cause I was only 3, and with Sky I was only 15 months. We were at a pool party at Bruce and Starr’s house in Mesa and Mom’s water broke. It was pretty exciting and was fun later getting to hold the baby and everything. From day 1 I thought I would make Dallas the mini-me. I taught the kid football, read the Book of Mormon with him, and got him all excited about BYU. I’m not sure if Dallas remembers me doing some of those things with him. It’s kind of a joke now, but in the family we have the older kids (me, Skyler, and Carrie), the younger kids (Colby, Jamie, and Kayla), and Dallas who thought he was an older kid, but really is a younger kid. But Dallas had it made because he got to be the oldest kid with the younger kids and the youngest with the older kids. He also got his own room which I was jealous of. We treated him pretty good, I don’t ever remember picking on him, Skyler probably did. They say that the middle kids are normally the peacemakers, and it’s pretty accurate in our family.

My junior high and high school memory isn’t that great, but fast forward to when I got back from my mission, Dallas was a stud- he’s always had his head screwed on right. He did well in sports, school, music, and is pretty good at dancing doing his Johnny Appleseed dance. On my mission I was pretty good at picking out the members “that got it.” Dallas “gets it.” He understands what this is all about and that’s very important. It’s pretty cool that he’s up here still, we’ve had some good times. Last fall we threw a pumpkin off a bridge. He’s also the only person that was around for the two events in my life (getting shot in the squirt gun war and losing the intramural softball championship) that just make me mad every time I think about them. He helps me laugh it off. He’s just a good buddy. Dallas is good to everyone around him. I really don’t think I’ve ever heard him say something negative about anyone. That’s pretty cool.

Firebolt - BYU's Divine Comedy

Haha, this is pretty funny

ksl.com - Builders bring 'Up' house to life in Utah

A little disappointed it doesn't come with balloons.

ksl.com - Builders bring 'Up' house to life in Utah