Tuesday, May 17

Disney cruise






Thanks to my dad and Bev, we got to go on another disney cruise last week! We had a blast and it was great to see some family members that I don't get to see very often. Our first stop was Nassau and we went to the Blue Lagoon beach. The water was so blue and clear! I guess I am used to Galveston which is sort of gray and not at all clear! We played in the water, built sandcastles on the beach and played on the big obstacle course they had set up in the water. The next day we went to Castaway Cay which is my favorite stop. It's a disney owned island, so you can literally walk off the ship and onto the beach. We played in the water for awhile then we rented bikes and rode around the island. After lunch, Jason took Kate back to the boat for a nap and my sisters and I went to the adult side of the island. It was so relaxing! I got to just sit and read for an hour with no interruptions. The last day we were at sea, so after playing in the pool with Kate for awhile, my sisters and I went to the spa and used the saunas and these wonderful warming beds that they had. My dream house will definitely have one of those beds in it!
We had kid free dinners almost every night thanks to the awesome kids club on the ship. Kate got to dress up like a different princess every night and run around and play as much as she wanted. We also went to the theater every night because the shows they do are so fun. The music is familiar because it's all from the disney movies, and at different times during the show they would blow bubbles into the audience, or throw confetti at the end. The shows were a little loud for Kate, but she still liked going to them. We had such a great time. Thanks dad and Bev!!

Future photographer?






Kate has been loving to take pictures lately. It is always fun to look at them when she is done and she what she managed to capture. There are a lot of duds, but she does get a few pretty great shots. Here are a few examples.

Easter 2011




Just a few pictures from Easter

Tuesday, May 3

Mia Elizabeth Richardson





Jason and I are glad the baby is healthy. Kate is THRILLED it's not a boy!

Friday, April 1

Relaxing day?

Kate had a fever last night, so I found someone to cover me at work for today and since Kate has two birthday parties to go to on Saturday, I decided to make her sit around as much as possible so she could get better and not miss the parties. Well, relaxing was not on her agenda. Here is how our "relaxing" day went:
ate breakfast
painted each others nails
promptly removed nail polish
took a bath
played a board game
had a picnic lunch in the front yard
painted pictures
played another board game
washed all the outside windows
played in the sprinklers
played in the sandbox
had popsicles
took another bath (thanks to the popsicles)
played another board game

And the day isn't even over yet!



Whew! I'm exhausted, but Kate seems just fine!

Christmas 2010






Even though she didn't get to dress up in a costume, Kate was also very excited for Christmas. She loved decorating the tree, seeing all the lights on the houses, hanging up her stocking (and taking it down again) and drinking hot chocolate by the fire. Since we stayed in Houston for Christmas in 2009, we made the trek to Utah this time. It is so much easier to fly with Kate now that she will watch movies! Between the portable dvd player, Jason's itouch and ipad, and my iphone, she had plenty of media to keep her entertained. Kate must have been super good last year because Santa followed her everywhere! We had our family Christmas the morning we left, and then we stayed with Jason's sweet oma (grandma in German) for a week. Christmas Eve we went to my cousins house and I got to see my 92 year old grandma. She is still as spunky as ever! Christmas Day we opened presents at grandma and grandpa Richardson's house and that night went to Matt and Alicia's place to make dinner and open more presents. The day after Christmas we had dinner at my dad's and Kate built a snowman with grandpa (mostly a big blob of snow that she stuck a bunch of sticks into) and opened more presents. One day my dad and Bev were kind enough to take Kate for the whole day so I could go shopping with my sisters. They went to the aquarium and Kate had a blast. We also went to the BYU Carl Bloch exhibit with Jason's family while we were there and went to temple square to see the lights. It was such a fun trip and so good to see everyone!

Big girl bed


We kept Kate in a crib for a loooong time because she never tried to climb out and I figured "why mess with a good thing?". She finally did start climbing out when she would wake up in the morning, so we converted her crib into a toddler bed. The look on her face sums up how she feels about her "new" bed. Despite all new princess sheets and blanket, she still asks me if she can have her old bed back. I just can't bring myself to put an almost 4 year old back into a crib!! Poor Kate.