9 Years and Counting

March 1, 2002

Damon and I were married in the Mesa Arizona LDS Temple

We celebrated our 9 year anniversary by sending the kids to Nonna and Papa's house. Then we went shopping. Damon and I both bought new shoes. Then we hiked to the waterfall at the White Tank Mountains. It's only a two mile hike (one up and one down) so we ran it.

After going home and getting ready Damon took me to The Melting Pot. That was an amazing meal. Because the kids spent the night with Damon's parents we got to go to church by ourselves and actually listen to the talks. It was an awesome weekend.

Here are some pictures. You can see my awesome new shoes. Damon wasn't very willing to let me take pictures of him but I was able to snap a few.

Sister Weekend

Here we are. All of us together for the first time in several years.
To get 7 sisters who live in Litchfield Park, Mesa, Yuma, Colorado, Idaho, Virginia, and New York to leave their work, families, and crazy lives even for a short weekend is almost impossible, almost but not entirely. The moon and stars must have been in alignment for this small miracle to happen. And I am so grateful. I love my sisters like nothing else and a few days together was practically theraputic. So how did this miracle happen? Rebecca (long dark hair in the bright green) who lives in Mesa decided to run the Del Sol Ragnar race. Her team was in need of a few more members so Tera (short, short hair in the orange skirt) from Virginia decided to seize the opportunity and bring her two girls out for a long visit before they start school next year and run the race with Rebecca. Well, Leslie (shoulder length hair in green sweater) who lives in NYC is also a runner and couldn't pass up the opportunity to run with two of her sisters. Since LaNae (short red hair) would obviously be coming up from Yuma that left Stacy (blue shirt) from Colorado and Amy (short blond hair) from Idaho. Of course they didn't want to be left out so they did what they needed to do and made it to Arizona also. That's how the sister trip came together and we were all together over President's day weekend.


We took the opportunity of being all together to take some family photos!


And this is us and the cousins having fun. One of my favorite parts was Damon and Amy's dance competition.

Tay Tay's race

On January 29th Damon, Jackson and I went to Irwindale CA to watch Damon's brother, Taylor, race. We decided to leave Lucy with my sister and ended up leaving Harrison because he was sick, poor guy. So lucky Jackson got to be the only child for an entire weekend. He LOVED it (or maybe it was the whole race experience that he loved).

Taylor qualified to race in both the late model race and the K and N pro series. He was the only one to qualify in both. He started last in the late model and finished 7th out of 25. In the K and N he started 22nd out of 40 and finished 18th. He did great!

Jackson loved everything about the races. He got to sit in Taylor's cars and he got to race remote control cars with Dad, which he won.

Barrett Jackson Auto Auction

Damon and I had the amazing opportunity to go to the Grand Opening of the Barrett Jackson Auto Auction. The highlight of the night was seeing William Joseph perform. We got all dressed up, enjoyed lots of great food and, of course, William Joseph's concert! His stage actually rose into the air, he had a full choir and fire works. It was quite amazing.
I also enjoyed the Smart Cars. My kids are fascinated with Smart Cars so I was thrilled to see the Smart Car exhibit. Of course I took many pictures to show the boys. Damon liked the Corvette boat. (I think that's what it was. I obviously was more impressed with the Smart Cars.)

To My Brother

Today marks the third "anniversary" of the day that shook my world. January 9th 2008 I received a phone call from my dad. He started out telling me to sit down. It was one of those calls you see on TV and think they are being overly dramatic. But no actor can begin to express the pain that one phone call can bring... the phone call telling me my healthy, happy, 37 year old brother was gone. This is in remembrance not of the sadness that still consumes me but of my brother, Luke. Luke was truly one of the greatest men I knew. Not just because he was my brother but because he was truly great.

What made him great?
His sense of humor

His love of family

His love of the Lord

His never ending service

His hands that could make anything

His bountiful garden

His perpetual singing

His perpetual teasing

I could keep going and I could give many, many, many examples. Remembering Luke makes me rethink my life and wonder if I am living my life in a way that would make him proud. I hope so because he made me proud.

Luke Tener Short

October 28, 1970
January 9, 2008

Sand Dunes

We spent the week after Christmas at the Sand Dunes and had a GREAT time. I think this was the best Dunes trip ever. What made it so great? Going on family rides. This was the first year Harrison and Jackson have been old enough to go on rides on their quads, and they were awesome. Jackson even jumped his (accidentally) and got mad air. He said, "when I went over that little hill I was flying!" He fell forward onto the handle bars but righted himself and kept riding. He was so proud of himself. It was freezing cold but we had so much fun watching movies, drinking hot chocolate, and riding.

Family Photos

For Christmas Damon's brother, Brandon, put together a slideshow with pictures he took of all Damon's family. We took them at Grandma and Grandpa Richardson's house. They turned out great and we had fun doing it, as you can see by the last picture. Thanks Brandon, they turned out great!