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.

Beginning of August

I think this page might just publish letters written to the family with a few additions. So there could be nothing new. Or there could be something you haven't seen. You never know. So here goes:

Having missed several weeks of writing now, I can sum most of our time up with a single adjective: dull. Not that we haven't enjoyed the time. Most of our time, though, was taken up with normal tasks that don't merit mention. The 24^th of July is a holiday in Utah, so we celebrated by leaving the state. The Tetons were beautiful, the water in the lake was warm, the boat was thoroughly enjoyed, and we even managed to sing a few primary songs about pioneers in the morning. All in all, a successful trip.

After returning home, the next week passed in something of a blur. Oh, I forgot that we also picked up a copy of the last Harry Potter. I finished 15 hours later, and Andrew about a day and a half after that. I don't think we were very much fun during that time, and after finishing, we twiddled our thumbs until someone else finished and we could talk about it. I was probably the worst. Even my grandmother, who had stuck her nose in the air about Harry Potter, conceded that Rowling had done a good job with the last book. Now we're all in semi-mourning for the series.

Cassandra came and visited us the week before last, and our apartment was a disaster. It's never been quite that bad before or since. Let me explain. A cousin of mine is moving, and had a sofa and chair she wanted to give us, and we were more than happy to oblige. We picked up the truck to move the sofa Thursday night, but as we pulled up to our apartment, it started to rain. And it rained, and rained, and . . . you get the point. Great storm, with cool lightning. Needless to say, we didn't pick up the sofa that night. The next morning, we had to pick up the sofa, drop it off at our house, drop the truck off in Alpine, and make it to BYU by 10. By the time we got the sofa in, we just dropped it in the front entry and ran back to the car. So, when Cassandra came, the sofa hadn't magically moved, nor had the bed we had brought the night before. Everything is now put away, and it actually looks quite nice. Plus, the sofa is really comfortable. Hooray for hand-me-downs!

Last Sunday we sang in church. Doesn't sound to bad, does it? And it wasn't. But coincidences have a way of making fools of us all. Thursday night came, and we still didn't have a piece to sing for Sunday. We went down to my parents house to browse through her music collection, and picked out a piece at random. It was nice, and so we tried singing it. Miraculously, since neither Andrew or I have great solo voices, the piece sounded fabulous. There was only one copy, but no big deal! We live five minutes away from Day Murray Music, the source for 90% of the music owned by the church. Saturday, we made it down, only to find that the piece was permanently out of print. After trying to call the publisher and getting no response, we made a copy to be later destroyed. So Sunday came, and even more amazingly, we sounded good performing. It might be the only time I've ever been happy with my musical performance. Bad idea. Since then we've been the musical 'go-to' couple, on top of our other musical callings – primary, priesthood, and now backup organists. Just so you understand, let me describe next week to you. I'm doing the music for primary. My pianist is out of town, and his only suggestion of someone to play the piano in primary was Andrew. Then, during sharing time, we're off to Relief Society to sing for the teacher's lesson. Then Andrew's playing the organ in Sacrament Meeting. And we're speaking. We had to turn down the duet for the ward court of honor, since it's when Andrew's getting knee surgery. They think we're much better than we really are, and are going to be sadly disillusioned.

This Sunday, we had my brothers court of honor, and in keeping with our current plans, we sang with my mother and brother. It was ok. One other moment is worthy of mention. As the eagles' nest was assembled, they were standing in the same gazebo Andrew and I stood in when we were married. My grandpa, presenting the eagle, gestured to the eagles' nest and asked Spencer to join. My 11-year old brother blurts out, "It looks more like a cage than a nest". How true, how true. Almost immediately afterwards, Sam got up and ran around the "cage" and proclaimed that he was an eagle now, too. And that's why we like Sam.

Well, I apologize for the length of the letter. I seem to have made up for three letters in this one. Don't worry. I doubt it will happen again. Andrew's busy with finals, I didn't' get eaten alive in Primary last week, and I'm sure we'll make it through somehow.

Rebecca (and Andrew, in spirit)