2 Years ALREADY??? Unbelievable!!!

My parents are in Portugal right now to pick up my little brother from his mission. I just can't believe it's over! So much has happened in my family in the two years that he has been gone. Kamron finished grad school, Justin started Kindergarten, my brother in law Mike was baptised, my sister Meredith and Mike were married, Meredith graduated from UCI, and Brett and my new little niece Carleigh were born! It's crazy to think about. It's been such a blessing for me to get an email every week to update me on what "Elder Rindfleisch" has been doing these past two years. I will miss it so much! The next time there will be a missionary in the Rindfleisch family will be when it's our boy's turn to go. (Unless my parents go...that will be so cool!) It's been such a special time for my family to see the growth that has occurred in Adam. Having Adam out has been really neat for me as a mother. I have had countless conversations with the boys about missions and why Adam is gone and why it's important for him to be in Portugal to serve the Lord. It's really brought the whole purpose of going on a mission to life for Justin and Jake. It's made teaching them about this so easy.

I can't believe my parents are actually IN PORTUGAL! It's not so surprising for my dad....he travels all the time to Korea and China for work. My mom on the other hand, has never even been out of the country! Not even to Mexico while living in San Diego for the past 25 years! My sister put it best when she said " I wish I could see it in a way, the comedy value would be so high!" SO TRUE! For those of you who know my mom, you can understand. She's great, such a simple little lady and such a crack up. I really miss her!

Anyway, here are some pictures that my dad sent us. One is of my mom when they first pulled up to the mission office to pick up Adam. I guess he was waiting for them outside when their taxi pulled up. The other is of my dad and Adam touring around Lisbon, Portugal. So exciting!!!

Last Weekend-Random Pictures

We had a fun weekend last week. We didn't do much, but we enjoyed our time together. Here are some random pictures we took. There's me and Baby Brett, Justin and Jake eating some shaved ice from a neighbor's bday party, and Jake asleep after church with his "Star Wars Guys." Gotta love these kids!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Our little Jake turned three last week! I have let my blog go a little lately due to the new addition, so I thought I would AT LEAST touch on the fact that my little Jakey is now an official three year old. This kid cracks us up! He is so mature for his age (in my opinion of course) and understands so much more then Kamron and I like to admit sometimes. He is OBSESSED with Star Wars and loves his brothers. There really is no way to describe my little Jake. He is funny and sweet, caring and loving, while at the same time, he is a tough, determined, and extremely stubborn. It has been so fun seeing him grow up. He is definitely not a baby anymore, but I am constantly finding myself wanting to treat him like one. I guess I'm just trying to keep him as young as possible. I love this little boy more then I would ever think possible. Jake, you are such a blessing and perfect part of our family. I love you so much Jakey!

Classic Jake:

Sunday morning, we wake up and Jake is in our room trying to pull Kamron out of bed to get him breakfast. (After having Brett, Kamron is on his own in the morning. :) Kamron then convinces Jake to go play in the playroom for a little bit. About twenty minutes later, Kamron and I wake up to a familiar voice coming from downstairs..."I hungeee, I hungeee, I HUNGEEEEEEE!" This didn't stop until Kamron went downstairs to get Jake breakfast.

Justin's Favorite (NOT!!)

Jake's our little stinker sometimes. The classic line he always gives us when he has done something wrong is "I won't gonna do it again." Justin HATES it! Justy gets so worked up after Jake says this that all Justin says (or yells) now is "you're lying Jake!" It's kind of true.

Here's another:

Jake wakes up WAY too early! He is usually up when Kamron get out of the shower, so, depending on Jake's mood, he either chats it up with Kamron while he gets ready for work, or is crying in "agony" for Kamron to get him breakfast. This particular morning, Jake was in a cheerful mood. This is the conversation I overheard while trying to sleep.

Jake- "Daddy, are you going to wook?"

Kamron- "Yeah, I have to go to work today."

Jake (surprised)- "Oh, are you going to wear your nigh night pants to wook?"

Kamron (laughing)- "no, I'm not, I'm going to wear work pants."

Jake- "oh"

Might not be too funny to you, but I was busting up when I heard this.

Last one!

Jake thinks that he is such a big boy now that Brett is here. This is the line I hear Jake say at least once a day. "Baby Bett is so cute. He's so nice! He doesn't hit and he doesn't bite!"

I guess in Jake's simple little world, that is what makes you nice....if you don't hit and you don't bite!

I love you Jake! Happy Birthday!

Introducing: Brett Wells Riches

THE BOYS!



Justin and Jake were so cute with Brett! They always wanted to "hold baby!"

He's so little!

Poor baby needs some chapstick!

Brett being held by Daddy.

Right after his bath in the hospital.

He's Here! He's Here! He's Here!

We are so thrilled to welcome this new little addition to the team!

Brett Wells Riches was born on July 3, 2008 at 1:28pm weighing in at 7lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long. We love this little boy! He had a little trouble breathing consistently at first, but his first bath in the hospital solved that problem quickly! He hated it! The boys love their new little brother so much! It's really cute. I have to protect him from Justin and Jake at times, but we are all really enjoying this little man. He is such a blessing to our family.

It was fun having him on July 3rd. I was in the hospital until the 5th, which meant that we watched the 4th of July fireworks from my hospital room window! It was actually a memorable experience. Just our little family enjoying ourselves together. We've always been close to family when we've had our babies, which was wonderful and such a blessing, but we've never had time together like this after a baby is born. It was new for us, and we missed everyone, but at the same time, it was really special for us. We really enjoyed the quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) moments of "just us." It was something that we won't soon forget.

Seriously about to POP!

This is me three days before I had our new little Brett! I had to get this picture because:
1-This is by far the biggest I've ever been when I am pregnant
2- This was the first day in weeks that I had done both my hair AND makeup on the same day! I figured, if we are going to get a picture of me pregnant, today's the day! Looking at it now (post baby) it makes the skin on my stomach hurt. I was in so much pain and agony at the end of this pregnancy...I know blah blah blah, but seriously...owe!

Kamron loves taking pictures like this. He loves to "document" things. We are the worlds WORST people at organizing our pictures. Hence my gratitude to those who introduced me to blogging. :) But Kamron is always snapping pictures of things he thinks we need to remember.

A little side note on Kamron. I know there might be some women out there who feel that they would like their man to experience pregnancy in order for them to truly understand. I don't feel this way about Kamron. He's the type of husband who is fully sympathetic, will certainly help me out when I need, and interested in any and all gory detail. He's the type of person who would volunteer himself to wear a pregnancy suite for nine months just out of curiosity. He's bummed out when he isn't allowed to watch me get an epidural, super interested in every step of the way, and asks any and all questions that come to mind DURING the procedure. He's really funny about pregnancy...but he doesn't try to be. I think that's the funniest part! He's just super interested. I'm sure after reading this, he will insist that I remove this paragraph, so those of you who are reading this, you should feel lucky....this won't be up for long I'm sure!

Yummy Jakey

It is SO HOT here in Colorado! It's in the 90's almost every day! Way too hot for me. (I know you folks in AZ or anywhere humid are rolling your eyes, but I'm from San Diego....that's hot to me!) So I decided that we needed some cool treats to help us all beat the heat. The kids wanted fudge-cicles (is that how you spell it?) and awesomely enough, they were buy one get one free! YES! When we got home we tore into them and, well, this was the result. Completely blog worthy I thought. Our sweet little Jake. I could just eat him up! HA!

Kamron's Graduation

Wow! We made it! After two years of school, Kamron graduated with an MBA in Finance from SDSU. It certainly was a day to remember that's for sure. Kamron worked so hard. He went to school at night while working full time during the day. At times, it felt like an unbelievable sacrifice for him to be gone so much, and I'll admit that I had a few pitty parties myself. We made it though, and like most things, we are stronger now as a family because of it. We know for sure the Lord helped us through it all. We are certainly in His debt for the strength and endurance we were blessed with every day.

Our time with "Daddy Home" is so priceless! Both Kamron and I feel that the lessons learned go well beyond what he learned at school. One of the biggest things I learned is that you can do almost anything with two kids! They only hold you back as much as you let them. (I don't know about three though :) I also learned what an amazingly hard working husband I have. Such an example to me of what hard work can do.

I think that through all of this the kids learned that everything is more fun with Daddy! I agree! It's amazing how the kids are so aware of what's going on though. There would be weeks where Kamron wouldn't see the kids from Sunday night to Thursday night. This being because he would leave before they woke up and come home well after they were in bed. (Don't even think I was mean for not letting them stay up and wait for him. I needed my sanity somehow, and that was through getting them in bed by the stroke of 8pm and enjoying some peace for a few hours.) After a while, I think they caught on....that is, to their never seeing Kamron. After a while, if there were ever two consecutive days where they wouldn't see Kamron, you could bet that on the third day, BOTH kids would be up and all over Kamron by 6:00am. Then of course sobbing when he left. It was really funny though how they did that....and both at the same time! Amazing!

We are all so proud of Kamron! Of course, we'll see what the future holds. Somehow it doesn't feel like we are completely done yet. We'll see what Kamron has up is sleeve next. This was sure a huge step though, and the kids and I feel so blessed to have him be the Dad around here. We love you Kamron!

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's (Both sets!!)

Before we moved, we spend one month with my family and one month with Kamron's family. It was nice to have that time with them before we moved. I think it was especially meaningful to the kids. Justin and Jake really got to know them well, and had so much fun every day! We sure miss them.

Kid Obsession

WE LOVE OUR BOYS!!! WE THINK THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!! People ask me all the time if I'm disappointed that I am having another boy instead of a girl. I am always so happy to say NO! Kamron and I are absolutely in love with our boys and I know that this new little baby will just be the perfect addition to our family. Their little personalities are so sweet, and Kamron and I are always either amazed or cracking up at what comes out of their mouths. We both feel like at this point, we don't know what we would even do with a girl...so the boys work for us. These are some pictures from Disneyland that I took in May. The day before we found out we were moving, we bought year passes to Disneyland. I tried so hard to make them worth it since we were only living in San Diego for three months after that. I went every few weeks, and really enjoyed my time with Justin and Jake. Of course they loved every minute of it. As I was growing and growing with this pregnancy, our trips became a lot slower. Kamron came when he could get off work, but most of the time it was just mom and the boys (and thankfully Uncle Carl came with us so Justin could go on the "fast rides") It was so much fun for us!

Shanna's Suprise Party

Kamron seriously ROCKS! He planned and executed a surprise birthday party for me while in the middle of a very stressful last semester of school, working really far away, and moving. He earned SERIOUS brownie points that night. It was SO fun to see everyone. I was especially touched by my sister and her husband driving down from Irvine, and our friends who drove from Chula Vista to be there. Kamron's parents were nice enough to let Kamron have it at their house. It was so much fun! Well done Kamron, you totally got me!

Farewell Nemo Fish

I know it's weird to devote an entire posting to a fish, but you don't just flush goldfish from Walmart that are alive for 3+ years!!!! Nemo was given to us from our niece Ashley. We got him before Jake was even born if that puts it in prospective. I don't know many goldfish that last that long, especially when your caretakers are toddlers. We almost lost Nemo Fish several times when we went on vacation, or when he was mauled by different visitors. :) When we were in the middle of moving, sadly, Nemo passed away. We were fully intending on bringing him, but I think deep down inside, he wanted to stay in San Diego. So rest in peace Nemo Fish! You had a seriously shockingly long life!

Snow??

In early February, San Diego was pounded with a ton of snow! It was even visible from our neighborhood which was a first for us. We dug around in our closets for "snow clothes" and were amazed that we actually came up with a few outfits for the kids to wear. They may not have been the most stylish out there, but Kamron and I were pretty amazed that we even had the stuff to put the kids in. It was an awesome day. Ironically, we found out a few days later that Kamron got the job that has taken us to Colorado and that this would soon be a"winter reality." It's funny how that works.

Riches Family Cruise

In early January, Kamron and I went on a cruise with his family to the Mexican Riviera. It was AWESOME! It was a gift from Kamron's parents, and we had a blast with everyone there. We saw some really beautiful coastline, and enjoyed some seriously delicious food. It was so nice to have some time with just the two of us as well. My parents were nice enough to take some time off and watch the boys for us. It really helped Kamron and I recharge our batteries for the last semester of school. When we came home, we were both ready to take on the next few months. Thanks Mark and Marie! It was great!

Meredith and Mike's Wedding

On January 26, 2008 Meredith and Mike were married! It was the most beautiful day I'd ever seen. They were sealed in the Newport Beach Temple, and then had a georgious ring ceremony and reception at the Dove Canyon Country Club close by. It was such a fun day, and especially meaningful to me. Justin and Jake were in little tuxedos, and in my biast opinion, were just the cutest things I'd ever seen! :) Meredith was stunning, and Mike was beaming. It was a really special day for everyone.

I know what you're thinking......FINALLY!!!!!

WOW! I don't even know where to begin! I know that many of my friends and family have given up on looking at this because nothing has been updated since.....I'm embarrassed to admit....November! We are in the calm before the storm here, so I feel like I've got a little bit of down time to update our family blog. Let me explain.....

We found out in October that we are having another baby! YAY! I'm sure many of you can understand that this also means a few months of really disgusting morning sickness. Our family only had the basic necessities during that time. The blog was put on the back burner. To make a really long story short, we found out in Feb that we would be starting a new adventure in Colorado! After renting our house out and spending two months living with both families and Kamron's finishing grad school, we are now here in Colorado, and beginning this new chapter for the Riches family. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newest addition to our family...thus we are now in the "calm before the storm!" He's due to arrive July 11. YAYYYYY!