Christmas.

I love Christmas. It is always so magical and this Christmas was no different. We spent Christmas down in Cedar City with my parents. On Christmas Eve, we braved the terrible snow storm and kept with our tradition of dinner and movie. We saw Moana in theaters and then partook of food at Applebees. You know the movie is good when Quincy aka the world's biggest wiggle worm will sit still and watch the whole thing. I was amazed! That evening we played games, read the Christmas story, and opened PJs. Surprisingly enough, the girls went straight bed. Because Christmas landed on Sunday and my parents has 9 am church, we had to wake the girls up to get the party started on Christmas morning. Kennadi loved her presents and had a permanent smile on her face during the whole thing. We had to push Quincy to open her presents and she got skipped a few times due to her lack of interest. I loved watching the girls light up when they opened their presents. We all felt really spoiled; the girls got enough presents to last all year! 

Winter Festivities.

Sledding.
When it started snowing, Kennadi couldn't wait to so sledding. Unfortunately, it took a couple of snow storms before we had a decent amount of snow on the hills so we heard about the desire to go sledding very frequently. Once we went, Kennadi had a blast. She had no fear of going fast and loved seeing how far she could go. Quincy just loved playing in the snow, she could care less if she was sledding or not. Austin and I got exhausted pulling the girls up the hills. We definitely got our workout for the day.

Drive-Thru Lights.
We didn't make it down to Spanish Fork to see their drive-thru lights this year, so we opted to try another venue a little closer home. We went to the Christmas In Color Lights in Kearns and it was pretty stellar. It was a constant party in the car as we drove through the lights and rocked out to the music. 

Luminaria.

Thanksgiving Point started a new Christmastime event called Luminaria. The event is a walk through of the Ashton Gardens while being completely immersed in Christmas Lights, delicious scents, and holiday spirit. I don't think there are words that could adequately describe the event, it was simply incredible. I was in awe the whole time. Quincy couldn't stop saying "whoa" every time she turned her head. Kennadi loved running around, anticipating what was next, and seeing real reindeer. You best believe we will be going back every year, this is a must-do, new, family tradition in the Richard's household.  

Disney On Ice.

When Disney on Ice came back to town, I knew I wanted to take Kennadi. I didn't tell Kenndi about it until we were getting ready to head out the door. She was pretty grumpy during the day because I was "So boring" and she wanted to go do something fun. When Madison came over to come with us, she grew even more grumpy because she thought Austin and I were ditching her to go have fun. Once she found out it was a Kennadi, Mommy and Madison date to Disney on Ice she sure perked up. The show was featuring "Frozen" so Kennadi loved getting dolled up like Anna. She was intrigued throughout the show and loved singing along. I love how obsessed and excited she gets when it comes to Disney Princesses. She sure makes it fun being a mom to girls.

Fall Fun.

Before the weather gets snowy and freezing, we have tried to take advantage of the beautiful, fall weather. Our favorite fall activities were the scarecrow festival at Ashton Gardens and Cornbellys. The girls loved looking at their favorite characters made out of pumpkins and hay. And the hayrides were a big hit at Cornbellys as well. 

Halloween.

I used to loathe Halloween, that is until I had kids who make it so darn fun. Kennadi was very insistent she dress up like Elena of Avalor. She had her mind made up, and no matter what I tried, her mind wasn't changing. Since I wasn't sure how much trick or treating Quincy would actually do, we just reused the owl costume Kennadi used when she was little. Kennadi couldn't understand why we couldn't do trick or treating all day. She asked at least a dozen times throughout the day if it was time to go. We started the evening off with a neighborhood potluck. Emily, Scott, and the boys then came down to our place to do some trick or treating. I took Quincy to a few houses and then we turned around and just handed out candy at our house. Kennadi really enjoyed trick or treating with her cousins and getting a bucketful of candy. I really enjoyed the sugar crash she experienced later that night too!

Washington DC.

I did it. I finally went to Washington Dc. And I already can't wait until I go back. Dreams come true folks!


Since I was a young girl, I dreamed of visiting Washington Dc. I wanted to see with my own eyes all the important aspects of our nation's political system. I wanted to be totally immersed in history. And most importantly, I wanted to see my future residence, The White House. When I started working at a hotel, I knew I needed to take advantage of the hotel discounts and the first place I wanted to go was DC. There were no other options. Luckily we had some free flights, I found some great hotel rooms for $29 a night, and most of the items I wanted to tour was free. It wasn't hard to convince Austin to take some vacation days and play tourist with me.

We dropped the girls off at my parent's (thanks guys!), and then headed to beautiful, humid Washington DC. We flew in late at night, spent 3 full days there, and then flew out in the morning. It rained the whole time we were there, but that didn't put a damper on our trip. We were constantly on the go. There was so much to do and such little time! We didn't rent a car so we relied on the Metro. On our first day, we started the day walking around the National Mall. The National Mall is huge so we walked A LOT. We went to the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, and Vietnam War Memorial to name a few. We then spent the afternoon touring some Smithsonian Museums and paying our respects at Arlington Cemetery. That night we braved the rain and did a night tour on the double-decker bus. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I loved seeing the sites lit up in the dark. 

The next morning we continued on visiting the Smithsonian Museums. We were fortunate enough to snag some tickets to the Museum of African American History. It had only been open a couple of days and it was packed! My favorite museums were the American History Museum and the Holocaust Museum. We also went to the Pentagon to see the 9/11 Memorial. That night we called it quits a bit earlier than usual and headed back to the hotel to swim and watch the BYU football game. 

Our last day, we woke up bright and early to tour the White House. This was a dream come true! Security was brutal but it was well worth it. I loved asked the secret service questions about each room, seeing where press conferences are held, and just dreaming. This was definitely another highlight of the trip. After the White House, we toured the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and then got a tour of the Capitol. I will admit, I was pretty disappointed in the Capitol tour. It seemed like it was an hour tour on the art of the building and that was it. And they didn't even show us the floor where they argue and vote on issues. That is what I wanted to see most. #FirstWorldProblems. The afternoon we toured the National Bureau of Printing and Engraving aka see where money is made. To end the trip, we headed to a Washington National's Major League Baseball game. Of course they were on a rain delay for hours, We tried to stick around but we were getting wet and it was getting late. So we left before they even started playing. Of course, not long after we left, they started back up. It was still fun to be in the stadium and walk around. 

I was so sad to see the trip come to the end. I may or may not have looked up jobs in the DC area once or twice since our return. I loved the hustle and bustle of the city. I loved being in the midst of history being made. I loved people watching on the metro. I loved the purpose behind each building. I just loved it all...

Lincoln Memorial

White House

Museum of African-American History and Culture

Washington Monument

WWII Museum and Washington Monument

Pretty Architecture everywhere. 

Arlington Cemetary

Supreme Court

Nationals Baseball Game