Fulfilling Lifelong Dreams

We all have them. At least I assume we do. Some of them have personal meaning, like revisiting a mission area. Some of them are educational, like seeing all the capitals of Europe. Some of them are spiritual, and I won't speculate as to what these might be, because they are so different by person. And some of them are just silly. For example, one day, I want to be able to do a Tuesday afternoon seminar in the BYU Statistics department. This will have to be after I do some research that would qualify me, so I don't expect it any time soon.

But I have had another dream very closely related to that one that has now been fulfilled. Or at least it will be starting in January. I'm teaching Stat 221! Ultimately, this is what I would like to do with my life. Of course, this is all dependent on my husband having a job, so for now, it's more of a part-time avocation than a career path. I'm just excited that I get to start so much sooner that I expected. I'll be up at the BYU Salt Lake Center once a week on Mondays. I don't know a whole lot more than that, but I'm sure excited!

Beginning of December

For the past seven months or so, I've been telling myself that I don't have to think about having a baby until at least Christmas. After all, he's not due until January 11th, and that's ages away. But yesterday, I woke up and realized that it's really not that far away. Less than six weeks, in fact. I was born earlier than this.

I guess it really hit me that I should probably think about what life is going to be like when we have a baby. And that Andrew and I should really invest some time in putting together a place for the baby to live. And we should probably buy some things like, oh, onesies, diapers, wipes, binkies, and all those other strange items no one would consider buying normally. I'm sure there are at least another thirty absolutely essential items I'll need, but at this point, I can't even think about those. My whole concentration right now is to get a dresser of some sort, so all of the stuff we do have for the baby will have a place to live other than our living room sofa. If I can accomplish that, I'll feel good about my month.

Some color

If I write, I will end up ranting on the sad political scene in which we find ourselves. I will therefore add color to the page.

Ok, so its been ten months since the Rose Parade, but hey, we were there throwing marshmallows at the cars at night and cheering on the bands during the day.

Becca was in the middle of morning sickness (all-day sickness if you ask her) but she did a sprint triathlon anyway with Mommy and Daddy Richardson. Apparently she does not find this funny.

Hiking in the San Rafael Swell, contemplating the futility of life.

We're stoked to have a little dude around. Becca thinks she'll be a better pregnant lady if she reads lots of literature on the subject. I don't complain, she looks happy to me.

This was taken from our front yard. Seriously.

Update for October

I look forward to the day that these posts become more regular. And maybe even include pictures, but let's not hold our breath for that one. It would require us to have internet at home and for me to write an entry at home, and neither looks likely at the moment. It's now October 2nd, and between now and my last post in either July or August, we found out that we're having a baby boy! We don't have a name yet, but I'm sure that in a year or so, that too will be posted.

As far as life goes, I think things are going pretty well. I'm working still, and probably will be working up until delivery, so that keeps my mind off of things and lets the time go by pretty fast. Andrew's at school with 18 credits, but he is in his last full semester as an undergraduate, and all of us who've been through that semester know that it is a good feeling. Right now, he's preparing for medical school interviews. He had one interview in September, and three lined up for October. I know we'll both be happy to have at least one acceptance, because then we can be a little more picky about flying around the country. Right now, it's eating into our savings quite a bit.

In the meantime, we're both excited for Thanksgiving, to take a quick break from our lives, and for the next BYU football game. Go Cougars!

Doctor's Visit

I went in on Tuesday for a doctors visit. Since this wasn't the first appointment, it was very short, and the only real purpose was get the baby's heart rate. With that purpose, out came the doppler. We found the heartbeat in the first few seconds, but then I heard this really loud noise and the heartbeat was gone. My doctor started to look for it again, and we kept hearing these really loud noises about every six to seven seconds. After about eight of these, the doctor looked at me and told me that those loud crashing sounds were the baby moving around inside of me. He continued to look, but after a few more minutes of constant movement, he gave up and told me that the heartbeat was obviously strong and that the baby was very active. Great - just what I wanted to hear when I'm tired just being pregnant.

How is it July?

It seems that the last months are a complete blur. Looking at my last post, I realized life has changed pretty dramatically. First off, in March I transferred from doing reporting for the finance department to working with the merchandising department. Once making that move, I was there for about a month and a half before I got offered a different job within the company. The best part? This job comes with the title of Statistician. I feel like I'm finally able to use my degree, which is great.

Other exciting changes? Well, we're expecting a baby in January! Exciting, but also the reason that I haven't done a single thing other than wake up and drag myself to work for the past two and a half months. Only in the past week or two have I really started to feel better, but I do. A sure sign? Probably when I voluntarily did the laundry after 7:30 pm.

Phil and I agree

February has begun, and with it, one of my favorite holidays has come - Groundhog Day! And at least in this instance, Punxsutawney Phil and I agree. We're definitely in the midst of six more weeks of winter. I don't think we've had more than two days in a row without snow. When I look out my window right now, I see mounds of snow with more falling from the sky.

Other that the continuing weather from December and January, February hasn't brought much of a change to our lives. School is getting more intense for Andrew, and I'm getting more to do at work. This is good news to me, but not such good news for Andrew. We're both getting busier, but only I welcome it. I was the one with time to waste before. Andrew, on the other hand, didn't have much time to begin with, and now the little free time he had is gone. It was a nice thought to begin with, but I guess we both knew it couldn't last. Studying for the MCAT is heating up, as we approach the three-month-to-test mark. I'm not sure it's fair that I'm at least as stressed about this test as Andrew is. Where's the justice in that?

Last Sunday, President Hinckley passed away. This was a sad event for the whole church, and it's suddenly changed the position of our family. People haven't really thought much about President Monson in years. He's been a constant in the church in the first presidency almost since I was born. But now, he's in charge, and people are starting to ask everyone in our family about him. It's a weird thing. Our relationship with him hasn't changed, but now people are going to get to know him, and think that we're important. Which we're really not. We're just privileged to know a prophet of God. Love to you all,

The Richardsons

Snow!

I will be the first to admit that I love snow. The past few years have been so depressing when it comes to snow. We'd go weeks at a time without any snow in the valleys, and the mountains weren't that much better. Skiing was done almost entirely on ice, or that junk they call "man-made snow". I personally consider it further proof that man cannot do anything when it comes to weather. But this year has definitely been different. We've had so much snow that even those who are snow junkies, like me, are starting to relish a break. The avalanche forecast recording said, "I don't know about you, but I'm kinda ready for a break from the snow." That's got to be a first.
As pretty as it all is, all the snow we've had has caused a few problems. First, since we live on a private lane, we haven't been able to drive on a clear road into our apartment since December, I think. And at times like right now, that lane is incredibly slippery. I live in constant fear that I'm going to slide off the lane and wreck the car while driving eight miles an hour. Same goes while driving out the back entrance of the parking garage at work.
But looking outside our windows right now makes it all worth it. Everything is pristine and white, and looks like something from the fairy tale "The Snow Queen". At times like this, I'm willing to have winter go on forever, as long as I have a big, comfy blanket; a nice, warm room; and a good book.

New Post for the New year

Regardless of what you might think, our life has, in fact continued. I've quite enjoyed it, even. But with all the changes, there hasn't been a lot of time to post on the blog. Who am I kidding? I've only posted once before, so this is really just a fluke. Since the last post, which was, I believe, in August, we've stayed in the same house (surprisingly), I've found a new job, (not as surprising), and we've had a brother and a nephew leave on missions. Andrew's finished a semester of school and started a new one, changed callings, and we've decided to become vegetarians. Just checking to see if you're still reading. Can you see Andrew -- or me, for that matter -- as a vegetarian? I don't think so.
Winter has started here, and with it has come a lot of snow. That's a good thing, because heaven only knows that we needed it after last year's debacle of a ski season. So far, so good, and I know that a lot of like-minded people are crossing their fingers with me. Without children, it's difficult to know what sort of things should be posted on one's blog, and I can't think of anything else that's interesting enough to merit mention. Maybe someday, when we have an internet connection in our apartment, pictures will appear. Maybe. No guarantees, though.