Cheese Curling and Clinton Lake

We had an eventful Labor Day weekend!

Saturday we went with our friends that just moved in, the Savages, to the Arthur Cheese Festival and participated in the cheese curling contest.

Each team got 3 rolls (6 if you count one practice roll for each roller) by 3 different people. Each team also had a sweeper to "guide" the cheese towards a target. A bullseye earned 4 points, 3 points in the next cirlce and so on.


Jeff was our sweeper and did such an amazing job, he was later recruited for another team (little did we know there were recruiters watching).


On our practice rolls, Brittney and I did alright,
but Jeff's wife, Emily got a bullseye.


Then it was time for the real thing...


Brittney rolled and got us 3 points after it veared slightly off course. I rolled and, whoops, majorly off course...
good thing my buddy, Jeff was there. He came through with his sweeping skills and got...a BULLSEYE!


Then it was Emily's turn, if she got a bullseye, we would be tied for first place with our friends from our ward who had 11 points. Unfortuneately it rolled off course and we ended up with 7 points. Too bad we couldn't count Emily's practice roll.

It's alright, we still got to take the cheese...

home and make some tastey cheese sandwhiches!

Our friends went on to become the International Cheese Curling Champions!

Monday we took our yearly Labor Day trip to Clinton Lake with the Hills.

The wind would not stop the whole time we were there! We had to hold our plates down for our picnic lunch and make sure our food didn’t blow away.

The water was warm, but it was sure cold to get out! We dried quickly however. Frisbee didn’t work so well…but Spencer had lots of fun being a superhero!

Hopefully we’ll be able to keep the tradition going next year, we’ll just have to find a different lake, maybe Lake Powell…

New Callings All Around

Bruce already posted about his call to be the early morning seminary teacher. He has been enjoying it a lot, and is grateful for the opportunity to teach seminary. I have also received a new calling. Two weeks ago I was released as the 1st counselor in the young women's presidency. I will really miss young women's meetings on Sunday, and attending mutual every week with the girls. We have some truly amazing and talented young women in our ward that I have enjoyed getting to know and be a part of their lives. I remember when I was first called - I was actually really nervous. I remember my young women leaders fondly, and attribute much of who I am today to their example and the things they taught me and helped me with. My young women leaders were the ones who influenced me to attend Utah State University which I have such fond memories of, and where I met my future husband. I knew the role my leaders played in my life, and I was apprehensive and unsure if I could measure up to the status with which I regarded that calling. I am not the right person to judge whether or not I made a difference in the lives of the young women in our ward - I can only hope and pray they will remember the lessons I taught and stay true to the gospel.

My new calling still allows me to work with young women - just on a much broader level. I have been called to the the 1st counselor in the stake young women's presidency. I must admit that this call came at great surprise. You see Bruce was supposed to find a job this summer, and we were supposed to be moving somewhere. Now that Bruce is a seminary teacher and I am in the stake YW presidency, I am beginning to wonder if there is still more "work" for us to do here in Champaign/Urbana Illinois before Bruce will find a job. It also makes me wonder if the stake presidency knows something about our future that we are not aware of yet. :)

I am excited and grateful for my opportunity to serve. I am grateful that I get to work with all of the young women in our stake and pray for the inspiration I need to serve in the way the Lord would want me to serve. I do already know most of the Young women because of the 2 years I served as assistant stake camp director. Since I've had my calling, I've already "trained" one ward young women's presidency and we have two more to do this month. (I will have to get used to traveling on Sunday). I have my first stake activity this month.

I'm still not convinced that I am necessarily the best person for this calling, but I seem to be the right person right now, no matter how humbling the call is.

Picture of the whole family

Here is a picture of the whole family at the ranch. Can you tell which ones are my brothers and sisters and which ones are my nieces and nephews?

Richards' Family Vacation - Rexburg, ID

In July we spent an amazing week with all of my family, Dad & Mom, Bruce & Brittney, Blake & Suzanne (and Suzanne's brother Josh), Angeline & Dan (and Blake, Becca, Abby, Caleb, Ammon, & Linda Mae, their children), Neal & Riki, Rachel, Clay, Jenifer, Luke, Camille, Paul, Kendra, Amy and Seth. My great-great grandparents left a ranch in Rexburg, ID that is now used for camping and family get togethers, so we went and stayed there for a week, as you can see from this picture taken from the ranch, it is near the Rexburg Temple.

We took a day trip to Yellowstone, where Brittney let off some steam...

Or maybe that was Old Faithful.

It was as busy as a city. We had to stop for lunch along the side of the road with no picnic tables, cuz everywhere else was full. And the rolls for lunch were left behind at the ranch, so we all got one slice of bread to go with all the fixings we wanted:) No one complained though.

We spent a wonderful morning at the temple where I was able to baptize my brother Paul in behalf of my Aunt Shirley's late husband, Uncle Dick. I was also able to baptize several of my other brothers and sisters in behalf of those who have gone before who did not have the opportunity to be baptized in this life. And my brother, Clay, who just returned from serving a mission in Mexico, Leon, baptized me. One of the temple workers was surprised to find out we were all one family, and not a youth group. Then we did an endowment session with all my brothers and sisters who were able. Moments like that give you a glimpse of heaven and eternity.

When we got back to the ranch from the temple, the ranch managers had decided to flood irrigate (they warned us not to put tents up there). Some campers may have complained about all that water, not my family...

Playing in the water must run in the family, I wasn't even the one who suggested it or the first one in.

Sister Sandwhich...

We took a river rafting trip down the Snake River. Everyone had a great time, even my mom who was nervous to go wanted to do it again when we got done.



We stayed the last night in a hotel, my brother Neal got the prize for the biggest splash when he did a cannonball that sent the water to the ceiling. (Still need a picture of it).

I love my family!