DVC Jello Wrestling

To raise money for the "Make a Wish" foundation, the residence life students at the college I teach at sponsored jello wrestling the Saturday after classes ended before finals started. You can imagine how hard they had to twist my arm to get me to participate. Dr. Li, a chemistry professor was fascinated that anyone would do such a thing and decided to give it a try...so it was Dr. Richards, professor of dairy science vs. Dr. Li, professor of chemistry.

Dr. Richards got the first take down...
But Dr. Li managed a reversal... It wasn't long before Dr. Richards was back on top...
Dominating...
Eat Jello!

It was clear Dr. Li was having a good time...

Until Dr. Richards finished him off with a pin!

Brittney missed my first match, so I did it again when she got there, this time against a student, Jimmie, that was closer to my size than Dr. Li. He won the first round, I won the second round, the third round came down to the last second, when they declared Jimmie winner. I congratulated him with a handful a jello rubbed in his hair.

It was fun! Dr. Li told me at graduation that he is training for a re-match next year.

Bike Ride in Peace Valley park

It still kind of amazes me that in the midst of all the city, there can be a forested area just around the bend. We drive past this park every week on the way to church, so we decided to check it out one day. The weather was perfect - not too hot with a tiny breeze - an absolute beautiful day.
We rode our bikes around the lake.


Bruce was a little distraught because of all the no swimming signs posted around the lake. He wanted to jump in anyway. In his words, what good is a lake if you can't swim in it. I told him there is probably a reason the signs say no swimming. Up close, the lake was dirty, probably infected with all kinds of strange disease, and I saw two different water moccasins swimming around. I know I would avoid putting my body in contact with the water.


I did consent to letting him put his feet in off the dock.


After the 5.5 mile ride around the lake, up and down hills, I was plain tuckered out.


We're grateful there are so many outdoor type of things to do here in Pennsylvania - this state park is only ~10 minutes away.

Talk given by Bruce on Mothers' Day

Supporting Daughters of God

I am excited for the opportunity to speak on Mothers’ Day. It was just 6 years ago, the week before Mothers’ Day that I first took Brittney home to meet my family. The occasion was the baby blessing of my youngest brother, Seth. I invited Brittney to go with me and was delighted when she said “yes”. On the way down, I asked Brittney if it would be OK for me to put my arm around her while we were sitting by each other. Again to my delight, she said “yes”. She later told me how impressed she was that I respected her enough to ask. Really I was just scared she’d punch me if I didn’t.
Brittney was impressed with the way I interacted with my 12 younger brothers and sisters and especially with my mom. I got up in testimony meeting and said something about how much I love my mom. Brittney noticed throughout the day that I meant it and noticed how much I respected my mom. She later told me this is one of the things that helped her decide it might be OK to marry me. There is a lesson in this for you young men. After you serve your missions you may want to find a woman as beautiful, wonderful, and talented as Sister Richards…you are out of luck, because there is no woman as beautiful, wonderful, and talented as Sister Richards, but you might be able to find a nice girl if you respect your mothers.
Today I am going to speak about supporting the 3 most important daughters of God in my life: my unborn daughter, my wife, and my mother. I will rely on the Spirit to help you apply the principles I speak about to the women in your lives.

Daughter
I am not very experienced with supporting my own daughter. Before the last general conference I prayed to know what would be the most important thing to teach my daughter. I received three answers: teach her she is a daughter of God, teach her to pray, and teach her the importance of the temple.
The family proclamation says, “All human beings-male and female-are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose. In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life.” I remember my mother teaching me I was a child of God when I was young. When I woke up in the middle of the night with a bad dream, she told me to sing “I am a Child of God”. Knowing that God was aware of me calmed my fears. I still use that strategy when I encounter fear today.
I love to hear children pray. Many times it seems they pray about “unimportant” long lists of things. However they are just having a conversation with God, telling Him what is on their minds. That is what we should do in our prayers, talk with God.
In the last general conference, President Monson encouraged us to hang a picture of the temple in the bedrooms of our children to point them towards the temple from the time they are young. I think it is also important for us to show our children by our example how important the temple is to us. In Illinois I have a good friend who was called to be a veil worker in the St. Louis temple. He is also working on getting his PhD in electrical engineering. Don’t tell him I said this, but it might be harder to get a PhD in electrical engineering than in animal science. You have to work hard and you have to be smart. My friend is also married with two daughters. However he fulfilled his obligation to serve in the temple every month. It was important to him that his wife have the opportunity to worship in the temple every month as well, so every month they would load their two little girls into the car and take them on that long journey with them. Can you imagine what effect that will have on their daughters? Already, their oldest daughter is anxious to go inside the temple. The last time we were there with them, Sister Richards was walking around the temple with her. When they got to the entrance of the temple, she was very upset that she couldn’t go inside. She already has a great desire to enter the House of the Lord.

Wife
Next I will talk about my wife. In the last general conference, Elder Cook said, “Women are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves them. Wives are equal to their husbands. Marriage requires a full partnership where wives and husbands work side by side to meet the needs of the family.”
I will address 3 things to do to support your wife: fulfill your priesthood responsibilities, listen to her, and encourage her to develop her talents.
Elder Scott said in the last general conference, “Brethren, do you lead out in family activities such as scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening, or does your wife fill in the gap your lack of attention leaves in the home? Do you tell your wife often how very much you love her? It will bring her great happiness.” Brethren, it is your priesthood responsibility to call the family together to study the scriptures, pray, and hold family home-evening. You need to do it.
There are two ways listening to your wife can be taken, and I mean both of them. One is “take correction” and the other is actually sitting and listening to her. Elder Christofferson spoke in the last general conference about taking correction. He told of how Elder Scott’s wife told him lovingly years ago that he needed to look people in the eyes. He would look at the ceiling, the floor, everywhere, but in people’s eyes. Elder Scott took that correction, and today you can feel the power of that characteristic of his whether you are listening to him speak in conference from Pennsylvania, Spain, or Illinois, I know. I have used this principle in my own life. A few months ago while we were doing a session in the temple, Brittney noticed that every time I sat down, she heard a loud “whooshing” sound. She told me afterward that I need to sit down more softly and quietly. At first I thought she was being overly critical, telling me how to sit down. Then a few days later as I plopped down on our bed and heard a loud clanging sound as our bed fell apart underneath me, I realized she might be right. I decided I better start sitting down more softly. Brittney demonstrated how, and practiced with me, and assures me that I am doing better now. While I may not ever be known the world over for sitting down softly, like Elder Scott is known for looking you in the eyes, at least we should save money on our furniture bill.
The other meaning of listening is to sit down and listen to your wife. I don’t know if you have noticed, but men and women are different. I hope that is not new doctrine to any of you. Men bond by doing stuff together. They like to play basketball, move someone, or just beat each other up. That is how they bond. Women bond by talking. It may be against a man’s nature to sit and listen to his wife talk to him, but it is important. When she talks to you, she is telling you she loves you, she wants to be close to you, she is giving you a gift, accept the gift. Take the time to sit and listen to your wife.
Encourage your wife to develop her talents. A couple years ago President Uchtdorf spoke to the relief society about developing their talents. He started off by talking about the difference between his cooking and his wife’s. She will make beautiful, delicious meals, and always find something wrong with it. Meanwhile he will make runny eggs and burnt toast and feel like a champion. He says “To me it appears that our splendid sisters sometimes undervalue their abilities – they focus on what is lacking or imperfect rather than what has been accomplished and who they really are.” It is our job brethren to help our wives feel good about themselves. President Uchtdorf then suggests two antidotes: creating and being compassionate. He encourages the sisters to develop their talents. I have seen this work in my own marriage. A year and a half ago, Brittney was working on her personal progress as a young women leader. She told me she wanted to take voice lessons. I first I wondered, why? She already had so many talents. But I agreed to let her. I had learned to give her room to fly. It amazed me how much easier my job of making her feel good about herself became while she was taking voice lessons. Her confidence increased, not just in her ability to sing, but her confidence in herself.

Mother
Because of time, I will speak briefly about mothers. I think the word “mother” is next to the word “God”. I don’t think I’m too far off because years ago when we were studying the teachings of Heber J. Grant he said, “Reverence is profound respect mingled with love.” I have great love and respect for my mother. We all need to thank and love our mothers.
Jesus set the example for caring for our mothers. In John 19:25-27 we read: “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother…When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home.” In Jesus’ darkest hour, He was concerned about his mother and taking care of her.
Sisters are incredible because they are like Christ. President Uchtdorf said, “You wonderful sisters render compassionate service to others for reasons that supersede desires for personal benefits. In this you emulate the Savior, who, though a king, did not seek position, nor was He concerned about whether others noticed Him. His thoughts were always turned to help others. He taught and lived by this doctrine: “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.””
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and perfect example. I know that the women in our lives are daughters of God. We need to love and respect our wives and mothers, and we need to teach our daughters that they are daughters of God, because they are, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

30 Weeks

You probably noticed my growing belly in the Mother's day pictures. But in case you didn't, Voila - 30 weeks. I feel like I have hit a milestone. Only 10 weeks to go - I can hardly wait.

Mother's Day

Bruce went out of his way to make sure that I had a great first mother's day. He made me my favorite breakfast - waffles and bacon. He even gave me an extra piece of bacon than is usually allowed. Bruce was asked to talk in sacrament meeting today, and although it wasn't his main focus - he did make a tribute to me as the most important woman in his life. He even told the young men in our ward if they wanted to find a wife as beautiful, wonderful, and talents as Sister Richards then they were out of luck because there is no one else. However, if they wanted to find a nice young woman to become their wife, then they should show respect to their mothers.
In fact, it was Bruce's attitude and treatment towards his wonderful mother that attracted me to him in the first place. I knew after I saw the way that Bruce interacted with his mother that he would make an ideal husband for me. I also knew he would be a respectful husband when he asked me if he could put his arm around me at church the Sunday I first met his family. Bruce truly is the epitome of a righteous man who has a deep and profound respect for womanhood and motherhood. I'm so lucky to be married to such a man.
For dinner, Bruce made these awesome Shiskabob's. Although they were tasty - he is already talking about improvements that need to be made the next time we have them.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous as it has been all week, and we took that time to take some family pictures. I am sporting the new clothes I was given for mother's day.


(Grandma, you can click on the picture to make them larger)

I also took some pictures of the blossoming trees just to prove to our mother's that we really do have them here as we indicated in the original poem we wrote to them for mother's day.



I hope everyone had as wonderful a day as I did. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women out there. Every woman is a mother; after all, it takes a village to raise a child.
Thank you Bruce for making me a mother!

Easter Weekend

Bruce had Good Friday off of work, and we decided that we wanted to spend the weekend in the Washington D.C. area. We forgot to bring our camera, but I found some pictures on the Internet that pretty much sums up our trip. This is what we saw:

Once we finally got into the city; we drove around for another hour trying to find a decent parking place. This is what we found:

Needless to say, we didn't actually see much. We did find a parking place on the road somewhere by a museum. We hopped out and started walking towards the Holocaust museum (that's what we really wanted to see). A nice man told us that we could only park there until 4:00, and then the city would tow us - really quickly. Drat!! It was 3:45. I walked up the street to see if there was some sign posted. Sure enough, facing the opposite direction and hidden by a tree, there was a sign that indicated the man was speaking the truth. Thanks man, you saved us a lot of money and a huge headache. We drove around for another half hour, and fortunately came upon a metered spot. We put enough money in for the 2 hour parking limit that was imposed and headed off towards the capital building.

I loved the tulip garden that surrounded the building and the beautiful budding trees. It's too bad we didn't have a camera. We didn't get to go inside because we didn't schedule an appointment. We probably would have missed it even if we would have scheduled it. It took us a lot longer to get there than anticipated. Apparently everyone wanted to spend Good Friday in D.C.
We trudged over to the Supreme Court building. We only got to go inside for 10 minutes before the building closed for the evening. (We are really bad with time out here)

We did by chance get to see the awesome spiral staircase. One of the security guards saw me marveling over the stair case and told me that he has always wanted to drop a penny from the top and time how long it would take for it to hit the bottom. He then told me that he would probably lose his job if he tried something like that, and it wasn't worth the risk. Maybe I should have done it for him. :)


After the building closed, we walked a mile in the rain to get to the Holocaust museum. I really wanted to see it. However, we could only stay for 30 minutes because after that, our parking limit was up. (It takes a while to walk a mile in the rain.) I know that I will definitely have to go back. I quickly walked through the Nazi propaganda display, the children's display, and got to glimpse the famous tile wall.

I know I will definitely have to go back. The cool thing about DC is everything is free - the museums that is. The big cost is parking (if you can find a place), and gas that is wasted while you are idling in traffic. DC is definitely more than a day trip. (Thanks google images for helping me document our weekend).

We spent the night at my Aunt Yvonne's house in Fredrick, Maryland. We enjoyed talking and catching up. (I haven't seen her in years). I beat my cousin Carson in ping pong, but unfortunately lost to Collin by 2 points. I'm going to find a way to practice and I will beat him next time.
On Saturday, we went back to DC to go to the temple. We met up with Blake and Suzanne. I watched Ezra while the others did a session, then we went out for lunch. We are going to miss meeting up with them when they move back to Utah sometime in July. We had to be back for Easter Sunday since I had to accompany all the musical numbers, play the organ, give a talk in sacrament meeting, teach primary, and teach sharing time. Yes, it was a busy day! I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to do all of those things for church though because I truly felt the spirit of Easter. I am grateful for the sacrifices the Savior has made, and for the numerous blessings I receive as a result. We had a great weekend!

Spring Break 2011 - Hershey Pennsylvania

I wonder how many people actually have this picture. We pulled off to the side of the road just to take this shot.
So spring break was March 14-18th (forever ago right, but better late than never). we decided we wanted to actually go somewhere and do something for spring break this year with just the two of us, since it will be one of the last times we do something together pre-kids. We used some of our blue green vacation points and booked a week stay at this resort.
It was the first time we used our vacation club points since we purchased them last July. We had the perfect week - excellent weather and very few people staying at the resort since it was the middle of March. We enjoyed our room.
All resort rooms come with a kitchen that is stocked with all the dishes you might need. We were able to make our own meals in the kitchen for the week which saved money on not eating out every meal.


The couch in the living room folds out to add another bed. We stayed up late watching game shows on the game show network - something that we never do.



The master bedroom had it's own jacuzzi tub which I sat in every night we were there. It makes me want to have a jacuzzi tub in my own house.
Who wouldn't utilize the pool at a resort.

Unfortunately it was too early in the season for the outdoor pool and hot tub, but I enjoyed the indoor pool as much as one can who doesn't like swimming. We absolutely loved the resort, and are happy with our decision to purchase the vacation points in the first place. We kept imagining how much fun it would be to bring friends with us next time. (The room has 2 bedroom and 2 bathrooms, and actually sleeps 8 people. Any takers for who wants to go with us next time?)
Not only was the resort beautiful, but the town of Hershey is...what can I say, magical. I love Hershey, PA. I don't even like chocolate, but I do have a deep appreciation for the man Milton Hershey and the things that he accomplished in his lifetime. I also love the city Hershey, and would move there in a heartbeat. The only thing Hershey is missing is a job for Mr. Bruce. Believe me, if there were a professor job in Hershey, we would be packing up tomorrow! :)


Chocolate world was a fun, interactive museum. You get to ride on this awesome boat that takes you through the chocolate making process. I never knew how cocoa beans were grown or harvested. The animated, singing cows explain that the most important ingredient in milk chocolate is....you've got it milk.


Hershey actually started his career by making caramels. He failed in business twice, but kept at it until he was successful. He sold his caramel business for a million dollars. It wasn't caramel that made him rich though - it was his invention of using real milk (not powdered, artificial, or evaporated) in his chocolate. There he found a gold mine. Hershey chocolate bars used to sell for 5 cents - the cheapest chocolate bar around. For the first time, Hershey made chocolate affordable for all, not just the rich and elite. That is when his factory took off and he built the town of Hershey. He wanted to develop a town/community that would have everything his factory workers would need to live a full and productive life. He based his town off of the model of Cadbury (England). Hershey built the town and offered great benefits to his employees (including as many chocolate bars as they wanted to eat while on the job.)

I really hope no one ate that much chocolate - that's enough to make you sick. No we didn't spend $30+ on the world largest Hershey bar. That would take me a lifetime to finish off, and the chocolate probably wouldn't stay fresh for 40 years. :)

YUM!! I do enjoy Reese Peanut Butter Cups. There were actually invented by a man named Reese. He made them in his basement. He was successful, but thought he would be more successful if he could find a new way to market them. He sold the PB cup line to Milton Hershey for (I can't remember the amount - something in the millions). His sons still live off that fortune



As fun as it was to package our own Hershey kisses (the worker thought we were strange because it is mainly for children - that's why it was perfect for us, it was even more amazing to learn about Hershey's life at the museum.

Perhaps the most inspiring thing I learned about Milton Hershey was his establishment of a free school for underprivledged children. Milton and his wife were not able to have children of their own. He used his first million from chocolate sales to start a boarding school for orphan boys. These boys could attend the school free of charge. They were provided with homes, food, clothing, and house parents. They did chores on the dairy in the morning, chores around the house at night, and attended school during the day.


Here I am pretending to "wash" dishes in the old sixties style kitchens. The lady who gave us the tour told us that dish duty was her husbands least favorite chore. (Her husband attended Hershey's school as a boy, and it completely changed his life.)



Just chilling in the sixties style living room. This is where most of the boys completed their homework or played board games at night when all the chores were done.
Most of the boys were able to attend college upon graduation with full ride scholarships from Hershey himself. When Hershey died, he secretly willed his estate to the school to keep it up and running. They have since admitted girls and to this day approximately 2000 kids attend Hershey's school. These kids come from underprivledged families (poverty, orphans, etc.) and attend. Although there is no dairy farm anymore (Bruce was sad about that), the kids who attend the school still live with house parents in boarding houses of 15-20 kids each. They get free medical assistance, clothing, food, all basic needs of life provided for them. There is no tuition to attend, and most of the students improve their lifestyles simply by attending. What funds this school today? Simply the interest on Hershey's $64 million dollar estate. What an inspiration! Bruce and I have always wanted to run our own boys ranch, but we might have to settle for helping Hershey run his since everything is already in place. We thought about applying to be house parents, but I am not old enough yet. there are other restrictions, but we have thought about doing it later in life.

We went to the alumni house where we learned about the typical students life. There they have a cool exhibit where they teach kids all about life on a dairy farm. Bruce, being Bruce had to double check all of their facts - at least they were accurate. The silly boy doesn't seem to have enough pictures with him standing by cows, so we had to take another one.

This cow is actually not real, but you can pull on the teats, and "milk" will come out.

The campus was absolutely beautiful. I really could live there. (In fact, this is what I was imagining Pennsylvania to be like. Pennsylvania is beautiful and open - just not the area where we live.)

I don't know how many acres of land the school sits on, but campus is nearly the entire town.
There are so many fun things to do and see in Hershey, PA. Whether you like chocolate or just want to enjoy the perks of a quiet central Pennsylvania town - Hershey is a great place for the entire family. I really hope that I can leave a legacy either for the world or for my children as Milton Hershey did. Yes, he was wealthy, but he worked hard at it and kept trying until he succeeded. What I like even more about the man is what he did with his wealth - none of it really went to better his own life, but to better the lives of those around him. What an inspiration.

Hershey is only a 1:45 - 2 hour drive from where we are. If you ever want to visit, we'd be happy to come along.