Richards Family Reunion

This past summer we held our first (Gary) Richards family reunion in Sugar Land, TX which was followed by the (Derrill) Richards family reunion in San Antonio, TX. Gary's Dad started the Richards family reunions around 20 years ago. They have taken place in different locations around the country every other year and we always have a great time. This year was no exception. We all had a lot of fun ...course it was more fun for some than others. Mike and Jess had the longest drive to get here plus if you throw in a stop at the ER in Denton, TX where Mike suffered from a bout of kidney stones ...the trip took even longer!

Here are a few of the highlights of our get together in Sugar Land

Ben always has a lot of interesting things to say.


He was excited to discover we had found his Dad's old Star Wars cards up in the attic!

Grandpa, Eric, Whitney and Cody took the kids to play at the neighborhood pool and splash park.

While the kids were having fun swimming, Mike and Jessica went to the temple, then out to dinner.

Later that night Eric, Cody and Whitney went to the final Harry Potter movie that was just released. Mike and Grandma took the 3 oldest grandkids to the Sugar Land Museum of Natural Science for a Chemistry program. A good time was had by all.

Cody and Grace playing in grandma's old toy box.

Highlights from the Richards reunion in San Antonio:

Eric chowing down at breakfast.

The Lord of the Manor surveying his kingdom.

Everyone loved Diane's super star sunglasses.

Sabrina getting ready for a day of fun.

Jillian always had a smile for the camera.

Grace waiting to see what was next on the program.

Ben getting ready to go tubing down the Guadelupe River with his family.

Mike thinking deep thoughts ...now where did I leave my sunglasses"

Andy and Kimra's family


Jason and Julie

Ben checking out the flora and fauna.

What's so funny?!?

Pile on Uncle Eric!

Nap time ...for daddy!

Every night was movie and pop corn night under the stars!

We had a dinner to honor Grandpa's 84th birthday.

I had everyone write a letter to Stephen before dinner started.

Let the feast begin!

We got to ask Grandpa questions about his life after dinner.
It was really fun and interesting to hear about his different experiences.

We found a big map of the world in the recreation center so we had everyone point to where they served on their missions.

Their sphere of influence was very impressive!

Susan with her grandsons playing my favorite game.

Julie and Whitney

Whitney showing Andrea how it is done.

Gary, his brother bruce and their dad.

Gary, Susan, Derrill, Diane, Scott and Bruce.

After the reunion some of the family headed out to see The Alamo and the River Walk. Gary, Whitney and I went to see some local Caverns. Unfortunately those pictures are in my email file and I'm not sure how to access them for this blog, but trust me when I tell you it was awesome!

Sadly it will be two more years before the next reunion. The rumor is that Scott will be in charge. What ever he has planned I can guarantee one thing ...I'm sure it will be a blast!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Gary was in Arizona recently so I asked him to take some pictures of the very first house we every bought when we moved to Phoenix. I can't remember the number but it was on Aldine Street. It was pretty small but the perfect starter home for us as we were just starting out and begining our family. We had lots of plants, flowers, trailing vines, bushes and trees. Now not much of our hard work is left. We learned how to do a lot of home improvement projects thanks to our foresight in purchasing a 30 year old home. As a result we also learned that it's always better to buy new!
I was amazed at how tall the palm trees have grown over the years. Course that was a few years ago back in 1985 when we sold it to take a job a new state.

When we lived there we only had a carport so some where along the line it was converted to an enclosed garage. Sweet! I wonder if the washer and dryer are still in a shed off the patio in the back yard???

Even though most of the vegetation we planted didn't survive through the years, surprisingly the 2 palm trees have done very well. When we moved away the biggest one was just a little taller than the roof line of the house and the smaller one was more like a big bush!

That was the side gate to our 8 foot jaccuzzi though neigbors wall was natural brick ...not painted white.

There was an alley behind our house separating us from the backyards of the houses behind us where the garbage truck would drive down to empty the big dumpsters that 4 homes shared. I was always afraid to go back there to throw away our trash at night. It was spooky and kind of creepy in the dark! Not to mention the chance that I might run into a black widow spider or two. That's our lemon tree. It was big when we left but it looks like it's finally taken over the whole back yard! That's where we aquired our taste for fresh lemon aid. MMMmmmm!!!

This is the building where we attended church and made some awesome friends. We still keep in touch with the Ball and Hansen families.

This is the big baseball field behind our church building where Gary and I played on the ward softball teams, and where another members older son taught Eric (in pre-school at the time) his first swear word! Grrrr!

This was the stake center that we helped build through a financial assesment. We still remember the huge parking lot! It's amazing to realize how fast the years have flown by, and a little hard to believe that it was 26 years and 4 houses ago. Good times, good times!

Memorial Day

Today we had a big Memorial Day get together with our Texas family members and our special friends the Schaerrers. We invited everyone to come and swim at our neighborhood pools and have an early dinner with us.

We decided to have a traditional Texas BBQ with brisquit from the "Swinging Door" restaurant, on bread or rolls, with BBQ sauce, grandma Helen's fameous potato salad, pickles, sliced onions, green salad, fruit salad, lots of chips with french onion dip, and of course guacamole. For deseret we had pecan pie, peach cobbler & vanilla ice cream, and a pie that Whitney made that had a cream cheese filling in a graham cracker crust, topped with strawberries, (she also added blue berries), and drizzled with a chocolate that hardens. It's a heavenly creation that Jessica made for them on their recent visit to Kansas. What can I say ...it was a work of art and scrumptious too!

We ended up skipping the swim part of the get together and dove straight into the tasty food. Can't say that I blame them ...it was awesome! Afterwards everyone had a great time visiting and catching up with each other and relaxing in the post BBQ glow. After a quick clean up I stayed upstairs to keep an eye on the younger generation. Before dinner they started out playing in grandma's "toy box from the 70's". Which is a mix of classic toys that survived my kids early years. No batteries required, not a single computer chip driven toy in the lot, manual operation only. The kids love them!

They also played Crossfire an old "arcade style" game of Eric's which is still a family favorite. As always it required an early intervention due to 7 little ones all clamoring to have a turn all at the same time! Which is code for ...time to put the game away before great aunt Kathy goes bonkers! Post dinner they moved on to Jenga, Whack-Attack and ping pong. It was fun watching them play different games together and interact with each other and see each of their cute personalities shine. They are a lively bunch and very entertaining! When good byes were said and the last one headed out the door for their drive home the house was filled with a deafening silence! We can't wait to see them all at the next big family event ...The Richards Family Reunion. It will be awesome!

Unfortunately I didn't remember to pull out my camera until our friends had left and the party was winding down. So here are the few pictures I managed to capture of our fun day. Enjoy!