The lucky winner

so here is the picture that we decided to use for the invitation:




It was way hard cause there were so many good ones, but don't worry we'll use a lot of the ones you see on facebook at the different receptions etc cause they are too good to not use 8) It was so funny, picking this one- First we each went through all the pictures seperately and wrote down all the ones we liked. Then we went through that list and fine-tuned it and picked only the ones that REALLY made us excited. Then we compared our lists and only wrote down ones that we both selected. Then we went through and selected ones we thought would work for an invitation-since we're most likely doing an invitation with a single photo now and not the costoco/collage technique. We got it down to 6 photos. Then we each had to pick 3 favorites of the 6 and wrote them down on seperate pieces of paper without letting the other see- we picked the same 3, so then it was down to 3. Then we picked our favorite 2-again, the same ones. Then we picked our favorite and walla! we picked the same picture. Thanks to being naturally unified in our opinion it was easy and we're both happy with it 8)

Summer Splash

it's amazing how much easier it is to get over swimsuit shyness when you have new cute swimsuits ;)





My goal is to be tan...ner....by the wedding...ok my goal is to have people be able to look at me directly without blinding themselves with my translucent skin.

In other news we picked the picture we'll use for the invitations! I'll post some engagement pictures on facebook. 8)

Gary Sholund Richards

Where to start, where to start...if any of you know my dad,you know that there are layers there. So sit back and relax as we peel back the layers that make my dad the man who can easily scare any young men and then turn around and coo at babies...ok, he doesn't coo...but kids love him.

So the initial layer-the visible layer....scary I know, haha jk. So while growing up my dad had quite the reputation for sternness. I think it's a combination of things. He is a go-getter. He likes to take charge and get the job done and can be incredibly focused-skills he has acquired over the years by providing for us I'm sure. Also, he isn't the type of person to wear every emotion on his sleeve. Don't get me wrong, the better you know him you can read his expressions-they're just more subtle than other peoples'. It's like....ya know how there are some people who are very animated, will laugh at things that aren't funny? well...dad will give an appreciative smile but he's sincere. He's not going to act a certain way if he's not feeling it.
While growing up I prolly felt that dad was too strict/had too many rules etc...but looking back I see that everytime he gave me the choice while still letting me know how he felt about it, and I did what I wanted-it ALWAYS backfired. It was actually pretty annoying (ya know how kids hate it when their parents are right.)

Some things that you may not have realized about him:
-he's an AVID BYU sports fan. ok...so this is an obvious one. (football, basketball, volleyball being the 3 biggies, but also watches rugby and enjoys challenging members of the racquetball team to play when he's in town).
-he is athletic having played golf earlier in his life and now has moved on to racquetball going 3 times a week and playing all guys way younger than him and beating them for the most part.
-he is a lover of musicals. Every sunday since I can remember was game night (which brings me to my next point: he loves card games) we would play games and listen to musicals. I grew up on: Les Meserables, Pirates of Penzance, Guys and Dolls, 1776, and others.
-He will at times walk through the house and sing along quite loudly and sill..ily? to the songs
- he is a lil OCD-and REALLY likes cleanliness. Once my parents were out of town for a few weeks one summer and I had some friends over for 4th of July and as they were leaving I mentioned how I had to start cleaning up and they all stood and stared at me in shock. "but...your house is so clean!" yeah...I cleaned for a few hours and then dad got home, looked around and said..."Whitney, will you sweep the kitchen-it's a wreck" 8)
-on that same note he is a germaphobe-won't touch hand rails in public, use public restrooms, and doesn't exactly love shaking hands. (he's kind of like Monk...only not so bad as that)
- My dad has that dad ability to just know where he is or where to go or how to get somewhere. I don't know what it is...maybe it's a guy thing, but honestly if we are on a roadtrip dad just magically knows/has a sense of where to go-even if he's never been there before, and he's not checking the map every ten minutes and just has the confidence that everything will work out...which..is prolly why it does.
- my dad was always very supportive/protective of mom. I remember once one of my brothers said something or was disrespectful in some way and let's just say we learned really quick that that would not be tolerated.
-he was always an example to me of quietly doing what was expected of you in regards to church. He isn't one to toot his own horn and frankly he doesn't like being overly praised, but will always fulfill his callings and I was really impressed by that. I know he doesn't love small-talking with people, whenever a meeting is out we are out the door-we don't mingle, but as a bishop he would smile and talk with everyone around him. That taught me that it doesn' matter if you feel shy or socially unmotivated, that's no excuse.


I could go on and on but mainly I'm just greatful for a dad that lived all of the convictions that he believed in and was a great example to me and my brothers. Sure he has his quirks and that's what I love most about him. I always know I can go to him with any problems and that he will help me/it will all work out.
Happy Father's Day dad! I love you.

for whenever I begin to take life too seriously

Baby Laughs And Falls Over

Mr. Happy | MySpace Video

roll 'em

I love movies. Always have...and most likely always will-though I wonder if they'll be able to come out with just as good ones as my childhood. I realized today one of the probably many reasons why I love movies. The ones that I love are always associated with memories and moments from my life.

There's Little Women- I would always watch this with mom-it was our time to cuddle and just for 2 hours feel like we were in a house of girls and not all boys. I also connected with this movie cause I always wanted a sister and felt like this was as close as I could get.

Twister...well...I grew up in Oklahoma and always LOVED storms/tornadoes and the feeling I would get when I saw one blowing in. (mom also shares this passion with me-once there was a tornado coming. we were all in our "safe room" and dad had to go outside and get mom to come in who was just standing and looking at the sky)

the Indiana Jones/old Star Wars series. These we ALWAYS watched when we would go visit Grandpa Richards on their big screen tv which always seemed cool. Plus all my brothers loved these movies which meant I instantly loved them as well. I even had a phase where I wanted to be an archeologist.

Father of the Bride (I & II). This movie always reminded me of dad. Very loving and protective of his family and very aware of finances ;) Being the only daughter I always knew we had a special connection/bond from father-daughter dances to now being the father of the bride.

Family Stone. This movie me and mom discovered-I can't remember now, who found out about it, but we both just LOVE to watch this movie. I love the feeling of family in this movie-it's very accurate. There are parts that make you cry, laugh, and it just reminds me of our family. Like in this family, teasing/joking is the main love language of my family. We obviously love each other but we're not afraid to call each other out on our stuff...and when ever we get together we just seem to fall back into our different roles as kids.

Though I don't have special connections to ALL movies...well...I have connections with most. I don't know why, it's just how my brain works...or at least I remember where I was in life/what I was doing when I saw a movie-so watching them again feels like when you look through an old photo album.

I know most people watch movies for entertainment and that's cool, but there is so much more to be gained by actively watching/thinking/applying things to your own life.

shrug, I dunno...I just watched family stone and it's like taking a quick trip back home again or seeing an old friend.
alright, alright, enough of the warm mushy stuff- go watch any of the above movies if you have not seen them-that's an order!

Everything is Illuminated

This movie always puts me in a nastolgic mood for my mission. This movie really nails the over-all mentality/personality that is so common over in eastern europe and the funny situations that arise when west meets east. A line that I like from the movie: Everything is illuminated in light of the past. It's our past experiences that give us understanding and that we are always connected with our past-carry it with us whereever we go to some degree. You want to see proof of this-just look at all the psychiatrists and how busy they are 8)

It really is another world over there, but a world that I slowly began to understand-maybe not in a concrete way, but I at least began to feel it/get it. Here are some pictures that I never get tired of looking at that seem to capture the essence of the land/people I met over there:

Hilarious-thanks Council Bluffs!

under-used yet over appreciated?

I've been thinking lately about how I don't really blog much anymore..and the little blogging I do do is more pictures than words. I'm sure no one is complaining about pictures-I personally love when people post pics on their blogs, but I was just trying to figure out why I haven't had that urge to blog like I have had in the past. It's probably just a phase, but also I think that as of late I have been both overwhelmed and...uh....underwhelmed all at the same time-if that makes any sense.

The wedding is getting closer and closer-AUG 21st!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and things are really starting to come together-we just did our engagements last week-I think they went well (cody's worried about his smile-haha isn't that cute?) and I can't wait to get them back this week sometime to look through. Of course I'll post them up here so people can help us decide which look better etc. The receptions are coming together-thanks A TON to Joy and Mom!!! they're finding/making a lot of the stuff for the houston reception and mom will just bring it out with her for the reception out here- translation: a lot of it is taken care of. The luncheon is less of a mystery now since we know the place and just have to pick the menu/decide on decorations for the table etc. So as you can see things are really going well all things considered. Invitations are a lil more of a mystery but I just got a tip from chels that you can do the greeting card/postcard style invitations with pictures at Costco for pretty cheap- I wasnt' sure if I wanted to do this style but the price seems right and it's WAY easy-less assembly and when you have 500+ invites to send out that is a must.


Now to my underwhelmedness....I still don't have a job. Granted, Andrea's boss said he'd contact me this week and Andrea has talked me up and I KNOW they are in need of a few more hires, still...nothing is for certain...
Also, I manage to spend the first half of my day over at my old mission president's house working in the yard so there's an ever-so-slight influx of cash which helps.

It's just so funny how when you're swamped with school etc. you sit around day dreaming about having free time and doing absolutely nothing/being lazy, but then if you have no structured time...well....after awhile it really starts to put you in a slump. And over-all "blah" useless feeling-even if everything else in your life is going great. I need to be busy-I thrive under having tons to do and the more I have the more productive/efficient I am...I'm being under-used.
It seems that we as humans need structure/some sort of organization or order to our lives. I mean, it makes sense since we come from a pretty organized being...(yes, that was a reference to God).
So anywho...I'm thinking of doing an experiment...super-hyper structuring my day. Making a lil chart where every hour is accounted for whether it's: job hunting, cleaning my room, cleaning the living/kitchen area, specific wedding planning, reading a book, starting a work out routine-this whole p90x intrigues me-that or yoga, buy and start working on my gifts to my bridesmaids (soon to be sister in-laws!!),etc.
I'm just so used to being a slave to my shedule that I never got good at self directing/controlling my own schedule. Cody works all day from 5 AM to 5 PM and is so productive/accompishes so much-I'm really proud of him, and seeing him do so much makes me even more aware of the stark difference in my own schedule. I want to have just as full of a day/accomplishments to talk about too-then at the end of the day I won't feel restless/blah, cause I've accomplished a day's work and can then play without feeling "blah". Cody's so great and supportive/patient/positive about the whole thing, but I think we'd all feel a lil better knowing that we're BOTH saving up for the future. I don't know what I'd do without Cody in the evenings though-I'd prolly be found rocking back and forth reciting the entire 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls to myself.
I just feel like being insanely productive! I mean, I guess not having a job yet has been some kind of blessing cause we've managed to get a majority of the planning done and we still have 70+ days so we definitely won't be as stressed towards the end, but let's face it, there isn't enough planning to keep me busy the whole summer....i'm too efficient for my own good....

hmm...I think I want to buy and paint a flower pot and plant some gerber daisies and hopefully they'll bloom in time for the wedding-like a count down or something....

any other good ideas I could do/learn to do?


p.s. I've decided I want to be a little girl (was at the mall looking for dresses for the neices and all of their clothes are so cheap! 10$ jeans, 15$ dresses etc.)

phew

man, it has been crazy lately. but crazy in a good way.

I think planning a wedding and trying to make 8+ different people all on the same page and happy is why most people tend to stress/freak out and wish for elopement. Though there have been stressful moments or times when I longingly wished to not have to have an opinion or make a decision, it's really not as bad as some say. The trick is keeping the proper perspective and to really enjoy the fun and novelty of all these steps because you're only going to live through them once and let's face it, at the end of the day (that day being August 21st) it'll all be a blur and we can begin the rest of our lives.
One thing that I can't wait for is to really save and not have any HUGE payments all at once like with this wedding (yes, my parents are paying for pretty much everything, but still that doesn't make it any less stressful).

Another good tip:
do nice relaxing activities in your spare time-if you don't have spare time, then make spare time otherwise you're going to have a melt-down. Some of our favorite activities of late have been hiking. We've done battle creek canyon-previous post and recently stuart falls (pics below)-waaaay pretty and waaaay easy (unless you have to carry a 180 pound guy with a broken foot down the mountain-don't ask 8)