Earthquake and Halloween

Last night we were at home, Ang was helping the younger kids with their bath, Micah and I were sitting at the kitchen table working on her math homework, when our house started to shake. We have been here for almost 3 1/2 years, and we keep hearing about earthquakes, but we hadn't felt one until last night. It started for Micah and me by the laundry room door beginning to rattle and shake noisily, followed the room moving for no apparent reason. My first thought was that it was a couple of big trucks rolling by right outside our house (we live in a parking lot after all), but we didn't hear the noise that would have accompanied that event. It lasted only a few seconds, and then it was over except for a couple of very brief aftershocks. Micah was a bit scared, but other than that it was no big deal. I was surprised to see it on a lot of news outlets today, but I guess it was a 5.6 quake down close to San Jose, which would be big enough to make the news.

Anyway, we're fine, and we can now say we've felt a real earthquake (although that wasn't exactly something we were looking forward to). We're glad it wasn't a bad one!

Ang and the kids all came to Google yesterday afternoon for the big Google Halloween party for the kids and families. It was really fun - they got their faces painted by very talented artists (pictures hopefully by tomorrow); we ate good food; and just had a good time. The adult Halloween party is today (not sure I'm going to make that one as I'm a bit swamped with work - yes, work). I'll give a full Halloween report tomorrow after all the festivities have ended and the sugar high worn off.

Everybody stay safe tonight!!!

picturesofthereallyfuntriptodisneyland

Herding cats ... waiting in line the first day

The obligatory family picture in front of the Mickey garden - it was made out of small pumpkins this time instead of flowers

Grandpa with all the grandkids (Grandma came that evening)

Hard to be sad at Disneyland

The girls with Mickey in his Halloween costume

Morgan in her demolition derby car

Brig and Dad on the Dumbo ride; he is saying "all done!"

Mommy and Brig on a ride in Bug Land

These are our normal faces

Ang and the girls getting soaked

The results of the soaking

In front of the "California" sign in the matching shirts the kids wore on the second day

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a great trip!!!!!

Kennan finishing off the trip by blowing Disney wishes to everyone

The Magic Kingdom

Wow, what a great trip to Disneyland last week! The best part for our family was definitely seeing the majority of our cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, and it didn't hurt to have a place like Disneyland as the backdrop. We were proud of the kids for being brave in their own little way, and being generally happy even when they were so tired from the long days. Here are a few highlights as told by the kids last night at dinner:

Micah: favorite rides were Space Mountain, Matterhorn, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but in typical Micah fashion, she had a hard time narrowing the list to just those three. She loved being buddies with close cousins Elle and Jane, and being with everyone in the family.

Kennan: favorite rides were of the gentler variety like Peter Pan and some of the shows, but she was proud of herself for going on the very scary Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Matterhorn, although there was a bit of persuasion happening to get her through the gates to those.

Morgan: favorite rides were Matterhorn and Grizzly Gulch River Raft (we got drenched!). She was very brave, and ended up riding the Matterhorn three times.

Mom & Dad: favorite rides were Soarin' Over California, Maliboomer, California Screamin', Tower of Terror, and any park bench in the shade.

Brig: favorite ride was definitely the horsies on the carousel, followed closely by the stroller at times that he didn't want to be running freely through large crowds.

Ang and the girls also really enjoyed a fun little show and event at the American Girl Doll store in L.A. This was in lieu of friend birthday parties for this year, so they really had a fun time that was much anticipated, and they each got a fun outfit for their dolls. Brig and I walked through a Beverly Hills swanky mall and chuckled at all the people trying to look fashionable.

All in all, a fabulous trip. Which is a good thing, because I'm being totally swamped at work today. There's a lot going on here and I'm right in the middle of a lot of it - very good! We're looking forward to the Googleween tomorrow, where the kids get to dress up and come to Google for a fun party, and then we're all excited for our very fun annual family Halloween party with a lot of our school friends. Ang and Micah have a "growing up" program tonight, so I guess Micah will now know more than we are comfortable with when it comes to certain "things". Oh well, at least she doesn't have to go to the 5th grade maturation program with Great Grandma Richards like her Dad did......

Disneyland pics when I get the time...

More on the trip...

With all the talk about the Southern California wildfires, I thought I would post some info I found on the web. The two links below are to recently updated maps and images showing the locations of the fires that would affect our Disneyland trip.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117631292961056724014.00043d21dedd02f5ae1f7&ll=33.651208,-118.146973&spn=2.199313,4.405518&z=8&om=0

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/fireplots/cgb2007296_0700.jpg

It's really sad for all the people who are losing their homes, and worse, but I think the fires won't affect us too much other than potential traffic problems with a couple of the fires burning close to relevant freeways, and with air quality. The CDOT doesn't indicate any fire-related freeway closings at the moment, but you can call 1-800-427-7623 for updated road closure info. I also checked the Disneyland websites and there was no mention of closures or changes to park hours or operations due to fires.

Ironically, a fire engine just pulled up outside my building here at work...they're probably just here to use the gym (hopefully). Speaking of work, we had another cool visit yesterday - from the band, Matchbox 20. They played some songs and answered some questions, and it was really cool. I love the live music visitors the best, although the politicos are interesting as well.

Have a great day.

Family Reunion

The term "family reunion" doesn't always conjure up the most pleasant of thoughts, but this week, it's the greatest! The majority of the Richards clan is headed down to Disneyland for a few days of fun together, and we can't wait! The girls have been counting down for weeks now, and we're amazed the time is almost here. We've been so busy that it's come upon us somewhat suddenly.

A few things that will be great about this week's trip:

• All but Dan and Hailey will be making the trek to SoCal. We'll really miss them, but considering they have a very new baby and a tough first semester of business school going on, it's understandable that the timing didn't work perfectly for them. It'll be awesome to hang out with everyone and relax together.
  
• We'll all be on vacation at the same time...I know, you're thinking "duh", but when we go to Utah to visit, we're typically the only ones on vacation, so we have to sort of weave our vacation with everyone's normal lives. They do a great job of accommodating us, but that's just the point - nobody will be accommodating anyone, we'll all be on vacation together.
• Disneyland: if you do this place right, it can be great. This is the right time of year, and I'm guessing it won't be overly crowded, so we should have a great time. Also, from what I hear, the hotel is very close to the park (i.e. walkable), which will give us a lot of flexibility with tired kids and dads.
• The weather: here's the forecast...Thursday - Sunny, 83 degrees; Friday - Sunny, 77 degrees...... ah yeah.

We're really grateful to Grandpa and Grandma Richards for putting this together. They're the best!

Quick hitter

A couple of cute things Morgan has said recently: the other night she
had a splinter in her foot and she said we could get the "twizzards"
to get it out. Also, she told Angela the other day, "Mom, I can't wait
til I'm a mom." Angela, who had just watched conference and was
thinking how great it was that her daughters are being raised well,
asked Morgan why she was excited to be a mom. Morgan said, "so I can
have all the power." ... One problem I see with that - how did she
think moms have all the power?! What a crock!

Micah ran for student body president this week and unfortunately she
didn't win. She's a little sad about it, but the 6th grader who won
has tried twice already unsuccessfully, so it's really good for him.

Went on another bike ride today ... Sweet!

Littla Dis, Littla Dat

Brig helping make rolls - he would NOT give up that rolling pin...

Brig wearing the Big Man's shoes

The family with the Disneyland countdown paper chain - before Brig destroyed it

Brig doing his "ooooooh, poopy" face

Post-marathon lounging in St. George

At the zoo

A rare tranquil moment...

We're slowly catching up with the general conference sessions we missed the weekend of the marathon. It's so great to be able to either watch them on our DVR whenever we want, or watch them online. We're still formulating our list of favorites, so we'll discuss more when we get through them all.

Our family had a really fun bike ride on Saturday. We borrowed a bike from a friend that had a baby seat attached to it, so we could all ride together. Brig loved riding behind me - he thought it was pretty cool. We're now thinking about getting our own baby bike seat, although I'm expecting Brig to start riding a two-wheeler any time now, so maybe not.

And speaking of bikes, I renewed a torrid affair with an old flame over the weekend. I rode 25 miles through the hills above our house, and it was a glorious experience. The weather was perfect, the bike worked great, and my legs didn't fall off, although they felt like they were going to. It's amazing how different it is on your legs riding a bike vs. running. But it was really great to get out again, and as soon as I can stand to sit in the saddle, I'll be back on the road.

A few friends and I watched the BYU game online until about 1am Sunday - a bit of an ugly game but a win's a win. You can imagine that my Sunday am meetings came pretty early that day...

Angela went to parent-teacher conferences for all the kids today and they all got high marks. They all have areas in which they can improve, but generally are doing well. We're proud of them and we love them.

Mobile blogging

This blog post represents one more step into the technology world. I'm
posting from my cell phone - the first of probably many interspersed
with regular posts.

It's raining today - lovin' it! Downpours have been quite intense,
which is fun. Unfortunately that means our ward service project
tomorrow has been cancelled, and probably the soccer game in the
morning as well. Nothing going on tonight, so probably a family movie
night. Should be fun.

Some Interesting Stats

John's family statistics:

• Grandkids: 20
• Granddaughters: 11
• Grandsons: 9
  
• Grandkids on the way that I know of: 1
  
• Grandkids living outside of Utah: 7
• Estimated cumulative years in college so far: 98
• Estimated miles driven by Dad to help kids move: 8,725
• Countries served in as missionaries: 9
• Estimated miles flown to mission destinations: 58,362
  
• Estimated BYU games watched or listened to: 270
  
• Estimated number of sports played competitively: 11
• Marathons run: 19

Any other contributions to the list?

Yankees are OUT!!! (sorry Clint, couldn't resist)

OK, so I admit I don't care as much about baseball as I used to. Given that, there are still a few constants that can easily get me interested...

1. Somebody beating the Yankees
2. The Red Sox winning (because it ticks off the Yankees)
3. Somebody beaning Barry Bonds
4. The Giants not re-signing Barry Bonds for next year even though he wants to come back
   

Not sure who I actually want to win this year. I was a Cubs fan forever, but have recently lost track of most of their players and hence don't have as much fervor for the brick and ivy of Wrigley Field. Maybe I'll become a Cubs fan again and bust out my old crusty size 7 1/4...

On a different note, I thought I would mention a couple of new Gmail tips I found out about recently. One of the main complaints I have had with Gmail is that when you are typing a new message or responding to an old message, you can't access your inbox to refer to other emails...or so I thought. Turns out you can. Just hit Shift + "C" (or "R" to Reply, or "A" to Reply All, or "F" to Forward) and you can compose in a new window. You can also click on the icon in the top right corner of the compose box for the same effect if you forgot the key strokes. Also, if you're tired of clicking "return to inbox", just click "U" instead.

Hey There

Well, I think it was a successful trip to St. George. We drove out there Thursday night, arriving around 1:30 in the morning, and enjoyed sleeping in on Friday morning. We relaxed Friday, hitting tennis balls with the girls in the morning before the high winds came. The marathon expo in the afternoon was fun, and it really made Angela wish that she was running. I can relate from times I've been there in a supporting role...although during the race I wondered why anyone would want to do that...

We had a great pre-race dinner on Friday night of pasta, chicken veggies, salad, and bread with a lot of fun aunts and uncles and cousins. It was so fun to be with them - probably the best part of our trip overall.

To the race: I did fine. Of course it was hard, and I got tired, but I was able to run the race without the severe leg cramps I usually get, and my time of 3:43 was actually faster than I had predicted I would run this year. The best part was running with a couple of old friends - Matt for the first 1/2 of the race, and Darek, who I unexpectedly ran into at mile 16 and we ran the rest of the race together. It was so fun to see people I only get to see once a year at most.

The hardest part of the whole trip was being away from Micah. We were so sad to receive her homesick calls Friday and Saturday night as she had returned tired from her week field trip and just needed a family and parents to be with her. We felt miserable as we wished so badly we had planned a little differently. Our friends with whom she stayed were all so kind, but it's just not the same as family. We left early Sunday morning, drove faster than I should have, and got home around 5pm Sunday to give huge hugs to our Micah. It was so great to be together again. The other kids traveled amazingly well, and it was a fun trip.

We have some catching up to do on Conference, but at some point I'll give some of my impressions of this year's talks and my feelings. We're so lucky to have this semi-annual opportunity to be uplifted by the church leaders.

I'm very sore ... thank goodness we live on the ground floor.

Roadtrip Weekend!

I woke up this morning early, stomach churning, palms sweating, mind racing...and that was just for the drive today. I've still got two days before the real pain even starts. We're all excited about our trip to St. George - so much so in fact that we decided to leave a day early and drive out there this afternoon instead of tomorrow. It's about a 9 1/2 to 10 hour drive, so we'll get there very late tonight, but it will still be good to have a day to relax and get ready tomorrow. We have every conceivable thing you could want to keep yourself awake and occupied in the car: DVDs, CDs, books, magazines, toys, books on CD, iPod, Diet Cokes, snacks of all variety, and one antsy and screaming Brig...should be fun!

I packed all my stuff last night and it took me an hour to get everything together that I need for the run - I'm going to be a regular general store out on the road. I wear a cycling jersey for the run because I like to have the big back pockets to store stuff I might need. We'll take some pics and maybe even some video and put it up here when we get back. My goal: to relax and have fun. My secondary goal: try to stay under 4 hours.

We're excited to see friends and family who will be there as well. There are a surprising number of Bay Area friends who are making the trek, and many of our old running friends and family members from Salt Lake will be making the exodus. That's the best thing about the whole experience.

We miss Micah. Reports are that she's doing great, but we sure wish she was going on our trip with us. It seems like every year she has something that prevents her from going to St. George - oh well, maybe next year.

This is how I'm going to feel after the race

My running partner

Overnighters

Kennan had her first Brownie campout over the weekend. It was in the brownie leader's back yard, which was fine with us, and she had a good time. We let them use our new tent, and when I went over the next day to break it down I was surprised how big the tent is. We need to go on a family campout! It was a bit cold for all the kids, but they all survived and we surprisingly didn't get any phone calls in the middle of the night.

Micah is now on her 5th grade week-long field trip. It's supposed to consist of a bunch of hikes and science projects, and she was really excited for it. Dad made the first mistake of the trip by sending contraband with her - the rules apparently said "No iPods", and not knowing this, I thought she would really enjoy listening to mine so I put it with a note in her bag...hope she doesn't get in trouble on account of me. They're sleeping in cabins, and her teacher informed us that she was one of the lucky ones who got a cabin with its own bathroom.

Brigham continues to have his own little fun overnighters in our bed. He's been a real stinker going to bed lately, and now that he's realized that one of his parents is a softy and one of them is not, he only lets the softy hold him when it gets close to ni-ni time. The softy parent has a hard time hearing him cry, so she will go rescue him against her husband's orders, and so now he knows he can rely on his mom to save him from his prison crib. You can probably tell this is a sore spot for the non-softy parent...

3 days 13 hours to St. George.