Graduation, Virginia, and a New Job!!!

There has been quite a lot that has happened since I last wrote.  In April we went back to Utah for Keith to walk in his graduation.  It was a short trip, we arrived late Wednesday and left Sunday.  It was a good trip and we were able to visit with family and friends.  Keith really enjoyed getting to see some of his classmates and professors one more time and get to share his experiences he's had at work.  After Keith's graduation I went with my parents to City Creek and it is one of the most beautiful shopping areas you'll ever see, we only walked around and it was amazing.  We also were able to go walk around Temple Square and see all of the beautiful spring flowers.  I really enjoyed seeing Gus and the baby horses.  One of the baby horses, Annie, was only a few weeks old when we visited and the night after she was born her mom died from internal bleeding that was caused from the delivery.  It was really sad, but it was so fun to feed her and play with her-- we became pretty good pals.  We also were able to see my Grandma and Grandpa Richins and they are doing well, my Grandpa R played his accordion which is always a treat.  And we were able to see my Grandpa Gary which was really fun, we played some games with him and enjoyed the visit.  It was really nice to be back at home and be able to relax and have some home-cooked food, my Mom is a pretty good cook!  Overall the trip was a success and we really enjoyed spending time with family and friends, we even got to see Linda for a little bit because she happened to be in town the same time we were.

Keith's Graduation

This is Annie

Grandpa Gary and me playing the golf game

This is Nilla (the other baby) and her mom

Nilla

Our poor bball hoop broke recently so we decided to have some fun

Our BFFs, Emily and Nathan Summers

Grandpa Richins and the accordion

About a month ago I received a job offer to work for Humana, the same company Keith works for.  I won't be working at the same building as him because I am working in the Specialty Insurance and he works with Health.  I will be an Underwriting Specialist and will be giving insurance quotes to businesses regarding dental/vision/disability insurance plans.  It will be challenging but I am excited that it is a real job and can be a career for me.  I start next week, I am a little nervous but anxious at the same time.

Since I realized that my time of not working was coming to an end I decided I needed to take advantage of this time and decided to go visit Linda and Davis and their family in VA.  I was there a Tues-Sun and had so much fun!  They moved into a new home in Carrollton, VA and it is a beautiful home.  I had never met her youngest boy, Hayden and hadn't seen Gavin since we got married.  It was really fun to spend time with them.  We were able to go strawberry picking, go to their community pool, feed ducks/fish, and go to a children's museum.  They were really cute little boys and it was fun to spend time with Linda.

Fun at the pool

Gavin and Hayden

This coming weekend we are going to the Wisconsin Dells with Mark and Janeen and their family.  I wish I have taken more advantage of living close to them while I could have because in September they are moving to Boise.  It'll be a fun weekend that we're looking forward to.

This past weekend we were lucky enough to have Elder Bednar come to our Stake Conference.  I was able to go to the Youth Session Saturday morning and he did a Q and A with the youth.  It was really cool and I learned a lot.  The youth asked a lot of good questions and I was able to learn a lot.  Some of the themes that I got from the three sessions I attended were how important it is to let the Spirit be the teacher rather then the actual speaker (he discouraged us to take notes about his talk because then we aren't able to be taught by the spirit, he encouraged us to write after about what feelings and impressions we got during the talks).  He also talked about how important it is that in our agency that we are agents rather then objects being acted upon.  He described many stories that were incredible and I really enjoyed hearing what he had to say.  The other speaker that was with him was from the seventy and I really enjoyed his talks and what he had to say.  He said that he felt like a Dixie cup and Elder Bednar's teachings were like a 500-gallon drum that was getting poured into it.

This apron is what I got for Mother's Day!

 Looking at most of these pics I realized I am wearing t-shirts in most of them, I promise I have cute clothes, I'll try and make sure I'm wearing them when I am getting my picture taken in the future :)