Thanks, and a little Hoops talk

We're running short of two things in our house at the moment: vases, and thank you cards. Micah received so many flowers from friends at her plays, that every vase we have is full of roses or daisies or tulips or who knows what kind of allergy-inducing fauna. Which brings us to the thank you cards... Between Micah and Kennan thanking people for attending their big events recently, and giving generous gifts for birthdays, baptisms, and play participation, we have about a billion people we have to thank. Actually, I should restate that...THEY have about a billion people THEY need to thank. That's not really my department... But I will send out a general thank you for all your words and thoughts of support during this time for the kids. We appreciated it all.

This is a great time of year. March Madness starts this week in which both our teams (BYU and Texas) are playing, as well as our local team (Stanford), and all have at least a reasonable chance of winning a game. It's fun as usual to fill out a bracket, trying in vain to predict miracle upsets, blowouts, survivals, choke jobs, injuries, buzzer beaters, Cinderellas, PTPers, and domination while constantly trying to assess if it's your heart or your head that's calling the shots.

Another amazing thing in the sports world right now is the NBA. Let me break it down: You have the Eastern Conference, with the best two teams in the league (record-wise), and pretty much everyone else stinks, where only 5 teams are even over .500 (and just barely for the fifth) and one of the playoff bound teams is 9 games UNDER .500 - seriously. Then you have the Western Conference where the WORST playoff team (i.e. the 8th place team) is 17 games OVER .500, only 4.5 games separate all the playoff contenders, and the top team in the West, the Houston Rockets, had to win 23 straight games to get there (streak will end tonight). A lot could happen in the final 17 games of the season...keep watching because it could get even more interesting. Let's hope the Jazz can stay in the mix!

pre-weekend meanderings

First off, thanks to all of you who comment on the blog. I'm not making a plea for more comments, just saying I enjoy the feedback when they happen. I realize that in order to get a lot of comments you have to be plugged into the "mom" network, which I'm clearly not, so luckily it's not a race to see who can get the most comments.

Not much new going on that you haven't heard about. One thing that has been somewhat resolved for us is the question of my calling in the bishopric. As a reminder, our bishop is leaving for a mission this summer, and thus our current bishopric will be released this coming Sunday. The question in my mind was whether or not I would be called in the new bishopric...well, I know the answer, but just in case anyone with ties to our ward is reading, I better wait until after Sunday to reveal anything. Either way it's nice to just know.

My running has been decent the last few weeks. I average about 4 runs a week, and am probably still averaging right around 20-22 miles. It's been a little extra tough since daylight savings kicked in, but seems ok now. I've been running with a new crew lately as my long-time running partner Jason is down with some injuries. I miss running with him, but it's a fun group that has developed with some other buddies over the last few weeks.

Great time of year: March Madness kicking into high gear this week; crunch time in the NBA's Western Conference to make the playoffs; awesome spring weather.

BaptismPeterPanVisitorsAndMore...

It's taken me a few days to get around to posting about our weekend activities, but don't let that trick you into thinking they weren't momentous and grand. What a bunch of neat experiences we had!

The most important event for us was Kennan getting baptized. She was so excited, and it really helped to have so many wonderful friends and family members (both sets of grandparents and Christine, Camille, Katelyn) come support her. Kennan was very well prepared, and was so happy about this being HER baptism - finally! The Spirit was very strong, and in fact there were quite a few tears shed during the program. Some highlights were: I got to conduct because Bishop was out of town, Micah's baptism talk, the actual baptism (water was cold, but Kennan didn't complain at all!), the girls and cousins singing Teach Me to Walk in the Light, Grandpa Richards' Holy Ghost talk, the confirmation by me and assisted by both grandpas, Angela's tearful remarks, and Kennan's own testimony. We were so pleased to have many ward friends, as well as many non-member school friends in attendance. It was very special. And, the food afterwards wasn't bad either - in fact it was great.

Another highlight was Micah's much anticipated opening night performance as Michael in Peter Pan. Wow was she ever great, and the whole production was so well done! She is such a talent, not because she's more talented than others, but because you can see how much she really loves to do it, and it comes out as this pure joy. Suddenly all the late nights and endless rehearsals seemed well worth it. She fit so nicely with the older kids in the play, and seemed right at home. We all enjoyed the evening even though it was a late one, and we were sorry for the babysitter because Brig wasn't too happy about being left home without all of us. We were really glad to be able to have our families be here for this event in addition to the baptism.

Another fun thing was showing our family the house we're going to move into this summer. We didn't get to go through it, but it was still fun to drive by and show them the neighborhood and the front of the home. Thought I'd just show you a quick picture of our future humble abode........

A little March golf

I played my first round of golf of the year this morning. It was beautiful, warm, and very relaxing given that I played alone and had nobody in front or behind. I didn't play particularly well, but I wasn't as horrible as a 4-5 month layoff would suggest. I actually drove the ball pretty well, but my irons were erratic. Didn't matter though as I wasn't keeping score. By the way, that's not gray ski behind me, that's lovely blue with some light clouds...

T-minus 7 hours and counting until the family touches down this evening. We're all excited to have them, and even more excited that this means Kennan's baptism day is finally here (tomorrow). Also, this is Peter Pan Eve, with Micah's play preparations finishing up and the real deal starting tomorrow. We're so excited to see her, and all reports from other parents and helpers have been that Micah's singing and acting really well. Should be fun.

Book report time: I finished Breaking Back by James Blake. Really good book. I didn't find it exceptionally motivating or necessarily inspirational, just really enjoyed the insights into his character and the life of a pro tennis player. I thought he was very open in that he acknowledges his weaknesses, and talked about frustrations and failures. He also, importantly, gives ample credit to his family and friends as his real foundation, and describes his philosophy of hard work overcoming talent. I thought it was very engaging to get a mix of tennis, including his thought process behind matches, training, and his career in general, and his personal and family life, including the many struggles he went through during the course of one year. I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Have a great weekend!

That's my boy...

Brig has been proudly walking around lately wearing his big boy underwear over his diaper. He's more than happy to show off the basketballs, the cars, or the tigers to anyone he thinks might be interested - which is everyone. This morning he couldn't decide which to wear - tigers or cars, so he just wore both of them. Then he was excited to show me the "pocket", which you can imagine what he was talking about. So he just sat there with his hand in the "pocket", happy as can be, and watched me eat breakfast. As I said, that's my boy.

Happy Birthday Spencer!

So I go Molly's blog to take in her loving tribute to her husband on this special day, and guess what I find? Molly saying she's in love with another man...or should I say boy? Pretty sad, Molly, pretty sad.

Well, happy birthday Spencer! Great to have you edging closer and closer to middle age - maybe if you weren't a father of five and your voicemail message didn't say "You've reached Dr. Richards..." in a really dignified voice, I'd say you should start acting your age. But glad to know you're still the same fun-loving joke-around sort of guy most of the time.

Seriously though, I'm so proud of Spencer and all he's accomplished in his life. He's a great person with a strong testimony and has made good choices throughout his life, even when it would have been easy to stray. He's a devoted husband and father, and I'll give him at least a little of the credit for great kids and an orderly, nice home. He's successful in his practice and seems very savvy in thinking long term with a businessman's eye on what the future can be. He's a tremendous athlete - probably the best in the family, although Dave assures me all the time he's way better at ball than Spencer is. He's a real peacemaker - not judgmental, never one to stir up controversy or perpetuate ill feelings, and a real calming influence - but then, what's the fun in that???

Spencer, you're the shizz.

Weekend happenings

Angela and I saw a good movie with some friends on Saturday night: Vantage Point. I recommend it - very good action and film work. Word of warning to anyone who needs to see a movie progress from point A to point B rather than back-tracking - don't see this movie. I thought it was awesome how it showed the same event from a bunch of different vantage points, and how seemingly innocent occurrences from one view were important from another view. Great escapism.

Micah got a really short haircut this weekend. She looks super cute. Her friends at church and in the play couldn't keep their hands off her hair, and everyone said how cute it looks. We're sure she looks too cute to be 'boyish' in her play, but that's just us.

As you may recall, our bishopric is waiting (patiently?) to be released due to bishop's pending mission call. We were assured during January that it would happen that month; then February was definitely the month; and now I'm sure March will likely be "the month". It's strange just not knowing whether some of us will be retained or not, and when it will happen.

I had a lot of good quality time with Brig on Saturday as the girls were all off doing their things. Kennan was selling girl scout cookies at Trader Joe's and playing with friends. Morgan was playing at a friends house. Micah was, you guessed it, at play practice. So Brig and I alternated between shooting hoops, playing football, throwing the baseball, riding his scooter, and weeding. He's such a fun little kid. He's been doing great in nursery without us, which is very nice. He talks like crazy, and we can't wait to show him off to the grandparents this weekend.