Looking back on 2018

Where in the heck did 2018 go?  I’m pretty sure I say that about every new year that rolls around, but time keeps speeding up and I swear I keep blinking.  If anyone knows the secret to slow it down a bit, please let me know.  As for now, I’ll just keep holding on to this high speed crazy train. 

I like to do a year in review because I suck at journaling.  This way I just do a brief write up about each month and find it works for me.  I need to be better about it, but this will have to work for now.  So here’s the Richman’s life in 2018.

 January was pretty quiet.  Kyla became a SUNBEAM in primary! I had a few photoshoots and Casey worked. 

February we saw Carlos Mencia in Pocatello with my brother, and I worked at the Flower Shop for Valentines Day.  I try to go in and help out on the big Holiday’s each year. 

March rolled around and I was able to make it to Pomerelle a few times to Snowboard.  One thing I look forward to each year is going with Quintin for his Birthday.  I attended my first “Paint N’ Sip” and didn’t realize how much I love to paint.  Easter was in March this year and of course loved spending it with our Spencer Family in Yost for our annual “Easter Picnic.” 

April was a tough, yet amazing month.  I started a fertility diet after having struggled getting pregnant for about a year and half.  Helped my Dad Brand cows.  Actually, I basically supervised.  One thing about your nieces and nephews getting older is the fact that jobs become sparse.  I had another Birthday!  I celebrated the day by going back to work one day a week at the flower shop.   Best first day back EVER! 

May…well that fertility diet I had started in April worked!  Baby #2 was on the way!  Happy Mothers day to me!  We had a racoon problem for a little while, and I started getting sick. Quintin graduated High School, and Case and I celebrated 7 years together!  When I say celebrated, we stayed in because what do you know...I was sick.  Casey and Kyla put up with my miserable self for a looooong time.

June- I was sicker than a dog.  Two trips to the hospital for fluids helped for a brief second, but Hyperemesis Gravidarum is HELL!  Pure hell!  I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.  Well...maybe the people spreading rumors about us.  (This will make sense in October.)  The only thing that helped take my mind off of it for short spurts was reading books.  It’s such a vicious cycle because we wanted to be pregnant so bad and once I was, I complained.  I’m not proud of it, but I did.  Casey and Kyla went on a side by side/4 wheeler ride with some friends up to Almo while I laid on my parents couch sick.  I drove truck for a bit during hay harvest, and basically puked my guts out every time I made it back to the field.  The little blue bags from the hospital were my close companions for a while.  The end of the month was spent at the 1^st ever Malta Car Show!  Casey and Lonny made the trophies for the show and we set up a TMM plasma booth for the day.  I hope it becomes an annual thing because it was so much fun!

July means the 4^th which was spent at the Albion park set up with Casey and Lonny at the TMM plasma booth.  We lost Kyla in the park.  Most kids get scared when they lose their parents, nope..not her.  She had settled in with a random family under their umbrella and was sitting in one of their chairs saying “HI!” like she knew them.  Scared. Me. To. Death!  I love that she loves everyone, but it really is a terrifying thing.  That evening we ended up in Almo to watch the fireworks and lets just say I sure miss living there.  Casey and a few close friends went to Boise to watch the UFC fights.  I had to shoot a wedding so I missed out this go around.  Sounds like it was a good thing for this pregnant lady though because the AC quit working at the fights and I’m sure I would have complained the entire time. I had my 10 year class reunion, and it was great catching up with classmates.  We were able to go boating once, which is a shame to summer, but Kyla loved making the semi's honk as they crossed the bridge by the KOA.  

August we were able to go to Utah for the Shinedown and Godsmack concert.   We also made it to Logan as a family for a little getaway while I had a wedding to photograph.  Kyla of course LOVED the swimming pool at the hotel and riding up and down on the “escamater” otherwise known as the elevator.  We made it to the zoo while we were there and picked the hottest day of the year to walk around.  Casey had another Birthday! The County Fair happened somewhere in there but with no nieces and nephews showing livestock this year, it just wasn’t quite the same.

September means fall harvest is here!  Started chopping and trying to manage photoshoots along the way.  Kyla started clogging lessons and we just think she’s the cutest dancer ever!  

      October was spent in a truck.  The one great thing about harvest is getting to work together as a family.  We lucked out with Kyla because she really does like getting to go to work with us.  Along with working harvest, I still managed crazy picture season, and Casey kept up on the plasma table.  Casey and Lonny had set up a booth for the Minico Craft Fair which Amy and I were able to help out with for the day.  We’re grateful we get to work with our friends.  Casey took Kyla and I to Lagoon for a little weekend getaway, and we tried to soak up all of Kyla’s excitement as she rode ride after ride.  We only had one meltdown when she was told she couldn’t ride the bumper cars because she was an inch too short.  It was great to get to spend some extra family time together before the baby showed up. Casey and I discovered that we’re “Pot Head’s” through the Declo rumor mill, and I quickly realized that High School never ends.  People will drag your name through the mud and judge you however they please and you know what…there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.  People are entitled to their own opinions, so keep thinking what you will folks.  We’re here to ride this crazy train so stop on by and we’ll roll ya a joint.  Smoking’s not for you?  Well no need to fear, we have some brownies that will rock your world!   We ended October with Halloween and our little Pirate had a full candy bucket after 4 stops in Declo.  Sorry if you tried trick-or-treating at our house.  We just knew no one would dare eat the cookies I baked for fear they were laced with Mary Jane.  We ended the night in Almo with Grandpa Clark and Grandma Jane scaring us.  Kyla just stood her ground and new Grandpa was the man behind the monkey mask.

November entailed Kyla’s first ever clogging performance at the festival of trees.  TMM plasma set up a booth at the Elba craft fair and Kyla turned the big FOUR!  Sadly, her birthday was spent at our cousin Corbin’s funeral, but Uncle Tadd & Aunt Jalene tried to make up for it with a little Birthday shindig at their house.  I spent that afternoon/night shooting a wedding so I was grateful for family to help make her day special.  We celebrated her birthday on the 18th and my mom made Kyla an AWESOME cake!  I’m so glad she has both sets of grandparents around to love her.  She may be spoiled, but that’s what grandparents are for right? We ended the month with Thanksgiving, and celebrated with the Spencer clan at my parents Shop.  Little did we know it would be the last time some of us would all be together, but I’m glad I had brought my camera to snap some family pictures for some of my Aunts and Uncles.  (I love you Uncle Bob.)

December.  The last month of the year was already here.  Reality started setting in that we would shortly be adding a member to our family.  I frantically worked to finish editing some last minute photo sessions, all the while being huge and exhausted.  Thanks to Casey, my Mom and Elaine for taking Kyla when they could so I could sit in front of my computer.  Lots of  extra time was spent programming orders for the TMM clients who wanted customized Christmas gifts.  Casey busted his butt getting everyones stuff done in time, along with finishing Kyla's Christmas present.  We attended family Christmas parties and were able to spend some time with friends.  This was the first year we didn’t spend the night in Almo on Christmas eve, and were excited we got to celebrate Christmas Day in our own home with no place to go.  We did all go to Chelsey and Kenny’s on Christmas Eve to play games and eat good food and spent most of the evening sitting in the dark because the power went out.   Kyla got spoiled and the slide Casey built her was definitely the highlight of the day, along with the 3 inches of snow that showed up.  The last day of the year rolled around and baby Ally made us a family of 4.  We definitely ended the year with a bang and are so grateful for our health and many blessings we have seen. 

Through it all we continue to learn that life is short.  So hold the ones you love and make sure your family is a priority.  It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of every day life, so just don’t forget what is truly important.  We hope your 2019 is off to a great start and wish you happiness above all else.   

                           Love, The Richman’s, Casey, Keely, Kyla & Ally

        

Keep that hole in your face shut.

I have been meaning to write this post for a while now, and after dealing with this mess yet again,  I thought it was about time.  Now I am in no way shape or form trying to make this entry about me.  I am simply writing this to help every human out there that is willing to read this.  Put on your big kid underwear because I'm going to be honest.  Here we go...

Have you ever noticed how people are so anxious to spread the news when someone dies?  It honestly BLOWS MY EFFING MIND!  Why?  What is programmed inside of humans to get this news out to the public so fast?  Is it because it's not a normal thing?  Death?  No...that can't be it because people die every day.  Is it because it's something to talk about?  You have some extreme news to share with the world and you want to be the first to get it out there?  I don't know what it is, but when someone has the answer I'd like to hear it.  If you're completely confused at what I'm rambling on about,  here's a few personal examples....

In the last 2 years I've had a lot of people I was close with die, and I've had a few close friends deal with the same thing.  When my Brother died I got a phone call from my Dad at 11:30 that night. 10 minutes later 2 of my friends were at my doorstep because they had heard the news.  TEN MINUTES!  Can you imagine how awkward that would have been for them had I not gotten that phone call from my dad.  Jump ahead to my sisters death.  I was in Sun Valley that day with poor cell service.  I glanced at my phone when I got in the pickup to see a text message.  "Keely I am so sorry for your loss, if I can do anything for you or your family please let me know." WHAT!!!!???  I literally stopped breathing in that instant.  Who in the hell has died now, and what the crap is going on!?

Are you catching my drift here...news travels quick you guys, and people shouldn't be so anxious to spread HORRIBLE news.  It's quite sickening the more you think about it.  Facebook is the worst culprit of all.  People feel the need to post news that can and DOES spread like wildfire.  A good indicator to look for is the immediate family.  If they post news for everyone to see,  you're probably ok to share that information with others.  But if no one is talking, please don't start running your mouth and spreading information that isn't yours to be spread.  Heaven forbid you wait for the funeral home to post the obituary.

I want to help but I don't know what to do?
When my Brother died I ended up turning off my phone because that's the first thing that people do when they hear the news.  They want to call and tell you how sorry they are. They want to send a text that says they are praying for you.  They want you to know that they are thinking of you.  It's seriously programmed into people.  I had 34 voicemails that I didn't listen to for days because I didn't want to hear people crying and feeling horrible for me.  Don't.  Please just don't.  You want to help?  Help by not doing anything.  Don't call.  I just wanted to crawl into a hole and wait for people to leave me alone.  The people that I really wanted to talk to, I called.  I talked to them.  You surround yourself with people that make you feel better.  If I want you here, I'll call you because there is a line.  There is a line drawn for close family and the right friends that you want to be around.  If you aren't on the right side of the line, don't try and cross it.  A lot of you do, and a lot of you can't help yourselves because you feel so bad and want to help, but just don't.  Emotions and feelings are on OVERDRIVE during this time, and it's easy to piss people off and offend them even if that wasn't your intention.  

You want to help?  Here is how you help...
Stay on your side of the line.
Send flowers to the service with a nice card that doesn't include the words "our thoughts and prayers are with you."  You can send flowers to the house if you wish, but have the florist deliver them.   There is enough family around the house.  They don't need MORE people showing up.  Uncle Buck and cousin Eddy are about to push them over the edge as it is.  You don't want to contribute to that.   A week or so after the service, stop by with a meal.  Maybe at this point whoever it is will be ready and willing to communicate with you.  It's after the Funeral when everyone goes home and life slows down that you begin to realize just how empty the house is.  This is when you can do the most good.  Please be patient.  I know that death is hard on everyone, and it affects everyone differently, but please...PLEASE just mind your own business.  I promise you will survive, well...you'll survive at least until you die.

Merry Christmas ya filthy animal!

Here's my Christmas card for ya!  I put a lot of work into it so you'd better appreciate it.  The cost of stamps about killed me, not to mention licking all of those envelopes.  Just know I sacrificed a lot for you!  You're welcome.

Really...this is the thought that enters my mind when I open my Christmas cards from some of you.  Thanks for taking the time and spending the money on me, but the least you could have done is enclose a short personalized "Hi Keely, Love you!" message before I throw it away. ;)  I always think, man...they must have a lot of money to be mailing out Christmas cards!  But lets face it, I'm cheap, and sometimes practical, and don't want to spend money on something people are just going to throw away the day after Christmas. 

In case you were wondering CHRISTMAS IS IN THREE DAYS and honestly, it feels like mid January.    

"Charlie Brown...you're the only person I know who could take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem.  Maybe Lucy's right....of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest."

I had to laugh watching this the other night because I've maybe, kinda, sorta turned into Charlie Brown. I have found the older I get, the more I tend to lose the Christmas spirit.  It could be the fact that my family and friends keep dying, or maybe my kid isn't quite old enough yet to bring back the magic.  (No pressure Kyla)  But either way, Christmas just isn't what it used to be.  

It was exciting as a kid.  You would be soooo anxious for Santa to come that you could barely sleep at night.  You started counting down the days with your cool homemade paper chain tracker, that it was all you could do to refrain from pulling an extra day off  just so Christmas would get here sooner.  December felt like YEARS waiting for Christmas.  Now I don't have any countdown to Christmas and I swear the month of December is 6 days total.  

The older I get though, the more I realize the work that my parents put into making the holiday what it is.  For instance, we wouldn't put our tree up until the week before Christmas.  This was one of my favorite days to look forward to through the month.  Why so late you ask?  Well...my dad always loved to keep the spirit of Christmas lingering through January, and you can't do that with a fresh cut tree if you put it up at the beginning of December. 

Christmas eve has always been my favorite.  You would think the Queen of England was invited to the Ward family Christmas eve bash with the sea of amazing food my mom prepares.  Games with the family, and lots of good food is how I will always remember Christmas.  My mom works so hard to make sure it's perfect, and now that I'm older, I recognize the time and effort she puts in to make it special for the family.

I may sound pretty selfish in all of this, talking about the worldly side of Christmas.  I know what Christmas is all about, and nobody says it better than Linus... 

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

My most favorite Christmas song is Judy Garlands version of "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" from Meet me in St. Louis.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be
out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yule-tide gay
Next year all our troubles will be
miles away
Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon, we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

I'm going to have myself a merry little Christmas, even though I'm muddling through somehow.  I feel like it's part of being the adult.  You have to deal with problems that your kid version didn't have to worry about, or didn't quite understand.  Just know you're not alone.  The adults just have to work that much harder to keep the kid in us alive.   So here's hoping next year all our troubles will be miles away.  If Judy Garland says so then it must be true.   

My dog turns TWO TODAY!

Watch out folks, the terrorizer turns TWO TODAY!  It's hard to believe I have a two year old.  I'm sure it's even weirder for my parents to have a 26 year old.  Thank heavens you only get older a year at a time.  More has happened in these past two years, than has happened in my entire life.  So here's hoping things are a little less eventful in the years to come.  That'd be great.

Besides pooping and peeing all over the place, my kid can be pretty darn cute.  She is getting the hang of talking.  "Oh NO!" is probably my favorite thing she says, along with "wuv you," and "ohhh boy!"  Ok, so basically anything she says is adorable.  Her favorite thing to do is have us chase her through the house.  We generally hide and scare her,just to see how fast she runs.  We may have a sprinter on our hands but looking at the Ward and the Richman genes, I'd say that's pretty much impossible.  But maybe the odds will be in her favor.  However, I can guarantee she will be a dancer.  Her little tap shoes are her most favorite thing, and her wicked awesome dance moves can stop anyone in their tracks.  Yup...America's Got Talent, here we come!

She keeps us laughing, even through the frustration of her horrible listening skills.  Hopefully those improve over time.  I won't hold my breath though.  For her Birthday we are going to attempt to take her to the movie "Trolls."  She will be securely locked in her car seat the entire time, and I am packing enough fruit snacks to keep her mouth full if she starts whining.  I am hopeful it will go 85% as planned.  I'm sure I'll have some wild story after the night is through, so to be continued.....

Happy Birthday Kyla!  Thanks for finding us and teaching us a ridiculous amount of patience.

That one time I raised a dog...

My blog is my journal because I'm really fast at typing, and I don't really have the time or patience to sit and write on paper.  Sometimes I do, but this is not one of those times.  Plus, if reading about my life helps make yours just a little bit better than that's an added bonus.

It's no surprise my life is in complete and total chaos right now.  It's a mess.  My life is one big MESS.  Between harvest, (which has now ended for me and my red wagon) crazy picture season, losing my sister, and my kid now starting into her terrible two's, my emotions are COMPLETELY JACKED UP!   Yup, just in time for Halloween too.  This chick doesn't need a costume.  Throw me in the nut house and call it good.  

With my emotions being in complete disarray, my patience has also become non existent.  Yesterday was just one of those days.  Lets face it, in a battle with a almost 2 year old, the 2 year old will always win.  I hate losing...HATE IT, but I'm finding out it's hard to argue with a person who can't even wipe their own ass.  

I set myself up for failure right from the start.  I have taught my kid that the toilet is the "no no."  Well... it's more like the "NO NO!"(insert crazy eyes and arms flailing)  Why did I do this?  Because every time my kid goes into the bathroom she instantly runs for the toilet, not to sit on it, but to play in it.  Every time!  So yes...I, being the genius that I am, told my kid NO every time she runs for the toilet.    

I'm kind of getting off track here, but this is the problem I am going to have to deal with shortly when potty training season arrives.  But, back to last night....

So I was already frustrated from Kyla getting into everything she shouldn't and touching everything she shouldn't and eating a tube of chapstick that she shouldn't. Don't judge.  She's quick, and I'm slow.  Well bath time arrived...YAY!  We are always happy during bath time.  Well, except when she decides to poop in it.  So as she's doing...well....her business, I try to run her to the toilet.  The NO NO!  Ugh....well, that doesn't work out well, and I end up with a huge mess.  I don't know why I didn't just let her finish in the tub, but whatever.  I clearly am not a react on my feet type of person.  So I now have her out of her dirty bath water. Well....  I'm cleaning up the mess to find she's over in the corner now peeing on her dads clothes. (I'm obviously raising a dog.)  At this point I SNAP and start punching the wall.  Word of advice...don't do this.  Don't punch anything, except for a soft fluffy pillow that will cushion your hand.  Casey runs in to see what the heck is going on, and starts laughing at the whole scenario in front of him.  Poop...everywhere, and pee.  A little dog in the corner, and me sobbing.  

The only thing left to do at this point was laugh, but man alive....this whole patience thing needs to hold up a bit better.  I hate getting frustrated because I feel like crap afterwords, and the only one suffering from the whole thing is me.  

So here's my story that I want my kid to read one day when I'm telling her how she pooped and peed all over like a dog and she doesn't believe me.  Yes Kyla, you did, and I still loved you through it all, even if you were being a TURD.  You're welcome!

Love, your awesome, slightly crazy, Mom.

The Cassia County Fair

If there's one thing I love it's the smell of fair in the air.  (Yes, the fair has a smell.) It's a mixture of fresh sawdust, greasy food, dirt, with a small hint of cow manure.  If you don't believe me, go see for yourself.  There's nothing quite like it.  I always loved how the scent lingered once you arrived back home after the weeks festivities had come to a close. You'd pop open that show box lid to get one last whiff of the good ol Fair.  But besides the smell, there are a THOUSAND things a small town kid loves, that the average human could never understand.

For most kids, their summer consisted of taking the annual family vacation to somewhere awesome that was most likely out of state.  My childhood was a little different.  Our awesome family vacation was spent 50 miles away in big old Burley, Idaho living at the Cassia County fair.  I'm serious.  It was the best week of my life.  All of the Almo families usually stayed in the same motel so it was basically one huge party! ( Not that we spent much time in our rooms.)

Weigh in always consisted of someones steer getting lose, or someone getting mowed over, but there was always plenty of help to capture the critters. You quickly became an expert at "mixing drinks" because your animal couldn't stomach the awful taste of city water.  Therefore you tried everything in your power to come up with a concoction so your steer didn't look starved for the big show.  I found that tang usually worked, but as the years went by some genius discovered leading your animal to water did the trick.  WHO KNEW?! 

By the time you got your steer washed, dried, fed, and groomed,  you were so exhausted and hoped and prayed that the judge was fast so you didn't have to sit there while trying to lift your 1200 pound steers head up, because someone didn't tie him up as much as they should have throughout the year.  I was always competitive, but you were always competing against your friends, and you just hoped you all did good and got to sell your animal by the time Saturday rolled around.  

We always had "stall duty" which is just a glorified word for pooper scooper.  But this is what the average kid doesn't understand.  It was during the scooping of poop that all the fun was had.  This right here is where the magic happened.  Your parents were never around because it was during the middle of the day, when the heat of 1,000 suns wanted to melt your face off.  (I'm pretty sure kids under the age of 18 are immune to it.)  If you weren't old enough to drive, you'd find a friend who was and run to the DI to purchase the cheapest couch you could find.  One year it was yellow.  One was a bright orange.  We had plenty of brown couches, but the color never mattered.   Why?  Because these couches always served their purpose of bringing good friends together to sit and tell stories, take long naps, hold your fair flings hand, or eat your millionth snow cone.   The plus side was, we didn't have cell phones back in the day so your parents just trusted you were fine and were staying out of trouble.  By not having phones, we actually had to communicate with other human beings.  Weird, I know!

Water fights were always a must, along with wheelbarrow races and roping practice.  Nights were usually spent trying to sneak into the rodeo.  If you were lucky, you had connections and never had to worry about getting a seat.  The Wild Bunch was where it was at.  You'd get excited hearing Mr. Bells voice echo over the loudspeaker, and you knew the Cowboys Prayer by heart.   The hardest part of all though always came on Saturday night when "Happy Trails" played its last tune.  I may or may not have cried, but you always knew the fair was over.   Summer vacation had come to an end, and you'd have to wait another year to get a maple bar, and funnel cake, and turkey leg, and maple bar.

Fair was about hard work, but getting to have a little fun too.  I looked at fair as my reward for not killing my animal throughout the year, because lets face it....the Ward steers were usually a little psychotic, and I deserved a hell of a lot more than a week at the fair for taming those wild beasts!  

The fair will always hold a special place in my heart, and I am eternally grateful for those friends who sat on the couch together and talked about anything and everything.  We are the ones who know the true meaning of fair, and I thank my lucky stars I'll get to keep those memories forever.  Happy Trails friends.

-Keely

If you guys have any old pictures lying around I'd love to see them!