Viva (University of Nevada) Las Vegas!

It came to my attention yesterday that we haven't been great about publicizing our latest good news:

WE'RE MOVING TO LAS VEGAS!

Brandon was accepted to UNLV's Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program, starting in June. Don't be upset if you hadn't heard anything about this, it only became official today when Brandon mailed off the "Thanks, but no thanks" to the University of Kentucky (much to Shawn & Annie's chagrin...sorry!) We're currently looking for housing and I'm "looking for a job"...Buddy tells me that as long as I make a profit by the time we leave, I can just hit the tables and forget the 9-5. We'll see. We're looking into 2 bedroom places and there are no Little Richards in sight (we'll save that for another post in the future) so come on down and see us!

Spring Breakin'

This week was Spring Break. Les decided to get the kids' energy out in a positive manner- so they headed to a local amusement center. (I spy Tyler- do you?)

On another note, thanks for all the posts on this blog and your own personal blogs. We love reading about your families and especially the pictures. G&G have done such a great job of keeping us all connected, I hope we can keep it going.

Have a great week!

Brant

Easter has come

For some reason I'm unable to post pictures today (probably because I've gone unpublished for so long) anyways , I updated our 'other' blog spot for even more fun. So until I can re-figure this out take a look at some good ol' fun.(wwwittakesavillage.blogspot.com)

Sweet Home Alabama

Just in case you have missed us, here we are. Okay, here Noëlle is. She misses you too and wants you to know that there are not one, but TWO spare beds in her room, if anyone wants to come and visit Sweet Home Alabama. We promise to provides fried green tomatos and okra of some kind. If that isn't enough, I think they have bronzed the actual bus that Rosa Parks wouldn't move to the back of and I think you can get in it and sit wherever you want: back, front, even the driver's seat. What I am saying is, Montgomery is not to be missed. Neither is Robert E. Lee High School located on Rosa Park Avenue. We love the South.

The future Dr. Richards doing what he does best...

Washington State T-shirt: $20
Maroon Furniture Center Recliner: $350
Nap: $20/hour in lost wages
Taking a nap wearing a Washington State T-shirt in a Furniture Center recliner with your child: Priceless
Taking a nap wearing a Washington State T-shirt in an Furniture Center recliner with a different child and having pictures of both incidents documented for posterity on the extended family blog: Public humiliation.

One of These Things is Not Like The Other...

I thought you all might like a little riddle. "One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong." Can you tell which one of these people is not like the others? I know it is hard, but try.
We sure enjoy having Grandpa here to celebrate birthdays. Thanks Dad, for being such a good sport. I just wonder where all the other adults were at this time. We must have gone to the mall!

You Haven't Heard From Us In Awhile

We're still here.

GRANDPA IN HIS SECOND CHILDHOOD!

Just thought you all might want to see a picture of your grandfather as he reverts back to his second childhood. This picture was taken Sunday afternoon as I was trying to get dinner on for all of us. We peeked into the living room and there sat Grandpa quietly reading his Dr. Seuss. He seemed to be quite enthralled with the story and we gave him a bad time about it. I figured after all the pictures he has shared with us in them, we owed him one. We love you Grandpa!!!

"...preach the gospel to every creature." - Mark 16:15

We got this picture from Hermana Richards this week and I couldn't help but post it. (Sorry you've heard from me so much lately). She inspires me in so many ways, but most recently she's inspired me not to cry about the tiny spiders that frequent our apartment. It took Buddy & I a few minutes to realize that the world's largest bug is actually on Manda (shudder).

OUR NEW ADDITIONS

Just thought you might enjoy seeing a picture of our latest two arrivals. And as you can see, they love to have their pictures taken. For those who are colorblind, Jessa is on the right and Landon is on the left. (I am going to blackmail them with this photo when they get older. )
I think they are mad because I bought them matching outfits and they don't like it. (Maybe when they turn sixteen we can get them matching convertibles--just kidding. )

Happy Valentines Day to all!!

I still love to see the temple.

I have the opportunity to teach a Relief Society lesson on temples a few times within our Stake here at BYU. It's been a real blessing to have the temple on my mind as of late. I had my best temple experience to date when I attended focused on the blessings promised us from faithful temple service.

While all this is lovely, I have some fun little tidbits to share with all you Zirkers. I started the lesson off asking the sisters to remember singing "I Love to See the Temple" in Primary, or when they first learned about the temple from friends or missionaries. I wanted them to remember how excited and enthusiastic they were about the temple at that point in their lives. Some of us lose that feeling of excitement and don't attend as much as we could, even with the temple here in Provo less than five minutes away. To remind them (and make them laugh) I shared some quotes from Primary children found in a sharing time from a few years ago about why they love the temple. Brandon & I were curious as to what our nieces & nephews might say if asked "Why do you love the temple?" So, we asked them. I won't share who said what, in order to protect the innocent (and hilarious) but it was neat for us and especially for their parents to see what they're learning:

• "The temple makes it so that we can be together as a family forever."
• "I love the temple because you get married in it to be sealed there forever and because it's Jesus and Heavenly Father's house."
• "I like the temple because we're sealed there."
• "I love the temple because it's special. Jesus lives there and we can go there."
• "I don't know, I forgot."
• "Cause Mommy & Daddy got married there. It's pretty, there's a tall thing on the top."
• "My feelings for the temple run deep. Knowing that my parents were married for time and all eternity in the House of the Lord lends me the greatest sense of peace imaginable."(Yes, there's a prodigy in the Richards line)
• Several children were napping and could not be reached for comment.

I thought these were really sweet, and parents told me it was really enlightening and reassuring to know that their children are indeed learning things from Family Home Evening and Primary. It might be fun for other parents to try...I know a few of you would get some great little nuggets of wisdom.

(This is a picture taken the day I went through the temple for the first time. A recent storm had resulted in poor Angel Moroni being struck by lightning and charred on one side. He's been fixed since.)

Hey Cousins!

Hello from some of the Denver Zirkers. Its good to see that all is well with your family. What do you do in your free time? We're looking for some ourselves.

Erik

Merry Christmas--A few months late!

We really meant to send out a Christmas card this year. We even got as far as taking the picture--It just never quite evolved into a Christmas card. So we hope you all had a Merry Christmas. We send you all our love--Ben (1), Meg (3), Emma (5), Jacob (7) and Eric and Tara, too.

Is It Still Winter?

We finally decided to buy a snowblower but alas there is not one to be found.

This is Seth and Lacey's little boy Weston (and Seth)

We just had a major snow storm blow through our area. Marty only taught one day this week and on Thursday and Friday they closed Washington State University and the University of Idaho. Today we are digging out and life is returning to normal.

We are enjoying life in Northern Idaho and anxiously awaiting the return of summer when we will all complain about the heat.

Hope you are all well and happy. Keep blogging - we love to hear about your families.

Oakley

No tax refund this year. Our little one decided to come on January 3rd, 2008. Oaklely was born at 2:02 Am and weighed 9 lbs 6 oz, 21 ½ in long. She's a capricorn, has dark hair and likes biking. Both Camille and Oakley are doing well and Camden and Kota are in love with little sister. It's amazing that something that precious can be half mine. She is the latest of our greatest inventions. We hope all is well with everyone!

A Little Taste of Cop Work in North Idaho

Last Saturday, while I was asleep, our day shift guys got to respond to a pretty interesting call. The story has now been picked up by some national news websites and talk radio programs. No I wasn't there, but I did get to see the pictures afterward.

Here is a link to the story at FoxNews.

Koper's Blessing

We blessed Koper today at church. Thanks everyone who was able to make it, we really appreciated you being there.

Peace on Earth

We have been up in Moscow visiting my folks. The weather has been perfect! We made it safely and then as soon as we arrived, the snow started dumping. The kids have had a lot of fun playing in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard. The other day we made a snow fort and shot the first picture. I like to call it "The lamb and the lion shall lie down together." I think as soon as we finished building, they were back to killing each other. The other is just a cute shot of Katie learning the family trade.

Have a great new year! (Great in O-8! Ha Ha, I kill me!)

Brant

I wanted to be the first one to wish you all a Happy New Year!

2011!

I'll be home for Christmas

First of all- school is out! Whoohoo! I've given exams, turned in final grades (having the happy opportunity to fail some of my more rotten students) and listened to the Mo-Tab Christmas concert (thank you Leslie!), which means it's finally Christmas time! And to top it all off, I leave tomorrow morning for NY, where Trav and I will be spending Christmas break with my family. Christmas at my house is a different experience than Christmas with the Zirkers (though both are equally enjoyable). It's much louder (hard to imagine, I know), much more chaotic, and involves stops for dinner at the house of every relative within 30 miles (which can be surprisingly unpleasant when you're forced to eat several plates full at each stop). But anyway- Trav and I were just wondering where (if anywhere) you all were going for Christmas? Do you have any coolies family traditions that you want to share?