Oops Megan--Dad really does know that you spell Kalie's name this way not Kaile.

Tis the Season!

It's been some time since we've been able to write anything of note but the last few weeks has been an overload of memories and joy. This Thanksgiving we were blessed to have Marchelle and the kids for a week before Rahul was able to join them just before Thanksgiving day and we were doubly blessed to have Mom and Dad Richins join us as well. Indianapolis is very cold this time of year so we took advantage of being able to go to the park with the kids. As you can see, they thoroughly enjoyed being able to hang out and show us some of their 'skills'. Anika was perfectly willing to be calm as a winters' morn. The others were just glad to be with each other and play. Kaile was really excited to be able to have an older 'girl' cousin that she could hang out with.
Ethan and Maya were laying on the floor side by side so we talked Orland to come lay by them with his paws out in front like the kids were with their hands and he willingly complied and looked up at the camera with a look that said, "is this how you wanted me to look?" The dinner hadn't even been served up and, as you can see, people are already getting a little dozy eyed before that turkey chemical has even had a chance to work it mighty miracle! Hey!!........how did that picture make into this section??????
Will be back for session #2

Went for a drive

The other day, I decided to go for a drive. I headed the car north to see where I would end up. Guess what? Okay, so it was pretty much decided ahead of time.
This is what I wanted to do for quite a while but schedules didn't quite work out until now.
Just didn't have Maureen with me. She doesn't really like the noise. Whereas, the louder the better!! The best part of the whole deal was that I just walked in...it didn't cost me a single Obama cent!(or is that scent!!) I was too late for the funny cars and top fuel and so the rest of the qualifiers were on. Still pretty awesome and pretty fun. Next time, if any of the fam' wants to go we'll have to plan it in the future. Until then, we'll see where the car takes me next time.

A Choice to Remain Silent

Unfortunate events bring people to one of two choices, 1. Do I choose to follow what my heart and what the Savior would do or, 2. Do I choose to satisfy my troubled heart with more hurt and pain? The balance is fine and the line can sometimes be blurred affecting our judgment and our ability to see things for what they are. What is printed and what is payed out is all that is heard and seen and so, hastily, we assume that an injustice has occurred. But on the other side of the coin, those who have chosen to remain silent because of the genuine pain and sleepless nights relive the events over and over again. For all of the 7 times 70 good deeds that have been done 1 unfortunate event negates all before and after. So the swim against the current is overwhelming no matter which direction one is heading. For this very moment, I have seen the other side of the coin that I never knew could be so dividing. No one, who has not had such an experience, can know. And so, without all the facts, which only those involved in the unfortunate event can really and truly know, one cannot come to any honest conclusion. Everything else is at the very best, a calculated best guess. What ever is passed down is a feeble attempt to find justice.
One cannot discount the pain, the hurt and the sorrow which has been exacted upon family members. One cannot expect that it would ever fade as time goes on. One cannot know the loss one feels when a family member is taken in an unfortunate event, an accident. One cannot call for a redo on these occasions. But on this occasion, for this unfortunate event, one can look at the other side of the coin and appreciate the genuine sorrow and humility of those who choose to remain silent because anything said would result in further hurt and anguish. This much we want everybody to know, we pray for you, we love you and we support you. May our Heavenly Father's abiding love ever be with you, Paul and Lisa.

Just a little bit

So over the Labor Day weekend we decided that we "needed" to go to the beach. Hadn't been there for some time. Callled my brother, Kendall and hung out with him and his family, Evon(his wife) daughters, Kaitlin(l), Krista(r) and Kelsie(featured alone). Made it down to the beach about 12:30 pm caught some waves and was heading back to his pad about 2:30. Sorry no pics! but you have to trust me it was awesome....a lot better than being pulled by a boat, swallowing half of Bear Lake and then pulling yourself close enough to the prop to wonder if you were going to become part of the human food processor. Pure and simple, you and the wave. I had a smile on my face all the way home. I had forgotten what a wave does for your mental balance.

I happened upon a few old pics at my sister's house that I always wondered what had happened to them. Made a copy. Wow! Going waaaaayyy back! Me (t), Kendall (m) and John (b) at Laie Point, Hawaii in..........19__...........well, a long time ago. Pretty close to the beginning of our surfing days.
Check out the Beach Boy surfer dude Pennys Towncraft T-shirt! They had to be Towncraft and they had to be white or you were a real hodad or grimmie. Well so much for memory lane. Back to the present. Since Nathan will be in Salt Lake next weekend you can give him a hard time about this pic! They're both too small for him to be using!

Happy Anniversary!!

Well, today is mine and Dennis' 33rd wedding anniversary so I just wanted to tell Dennis Happy Anniversary and that I love you. We have had 33 mostly great years and hope to have many more. Tomorrow we are going to the Il Divo concert at Mandalay Bay and I am excited to hear them. Thanks for the surprise, Babe. Love, Maureen

Late but....oh, well!

So I decided to get up early one morning and head down to the lake. So I was out the door at 4 and at waters edge at 4:30. It was peaceful and quiet. It gave me time to reflect and just be thankful for moments like this. The water was lapping at the sand, the sun was about to come out from behind the ridge and the only sound to be heard was the gnats buzzing around my head!! Sometimes we all need quiet time alone to gather our thoughts and put things in perspective. In this picture, you can see the light diffuse through the fishing line from the top middle going across diagonally towards the water.

One thing is very evident at this time in my life! I need a magnifying glass with a lot of light to tie on my hooks!!!! It was way to dark to be able to see anything!!...where are my boys and their young eyes when you need them???!!! Ha!! I was praying that I didn't snag anything or catch anything that would break off my hook because I would have been waiting until the sun came out. As you can see there were others who were on the dock and had been there probably overnight.

So the morning started to break and there begans to be more signs of life. Just when you think that it couldn't be any better, a truck backed up and a couple of young bucks pulled a jet ski out of the back and started it up, breaking the peaceful solitude and my kumbaya moment!! They started racing up and down the beach in front of all us quickly replacing any thoughts of peace and quiet with pure contempt and hate. Mind you, I love the sound of people enjoying what nature has to give us but during the appropriate time. Am I getting to be an old craggy gizzer?.... I hope not, but you never know....I guess we'll see when Bear Lake comes around. So after awhile I decided it was time to go home. Life had been balanced, everything was good!! No fish!...but it wasn't fish that I was really after...... it was the experience!

I feel really good after moments like these and on the way home I turn up the tunes really high and sing to the songs that are playing not paying any bother to who's around me because I'm in the feel good zone! Hope you all get there every so often because it's a lot like 'Milk'....it does a body good!!! Until next time!!!..........

Shoutout to my kids

As I was reading in my scriptures this morning I came across a scripture about how the Lord gives us all temporal blessings according to the circumstances he wants for us. I knew early in our marriage that we would never be blessed with a lot of temporal wealth and I have always felt bad that our kids didn't always have the best of things or everything they wanted. However, I have always realized that we have been truly blessed in many ways other than temporally, and the biggest way that I always remember is the blessing of our children and now their spouses and our grandchildren. We are so blessed to have the wonderful children that we have. They are doing good things in their schooling, careers, homes and wards. We have been blessed with wonderful sons and daughters in law and beautiful grandchildren. How many people could say that their posterity more than doubled in one year? As a mother I often think how many things I would do differently with my kids if I could do it all over. However, they have become wonderful adults in spite of me and I thank them all. So, I tell our children, Marchelle, Nathan, Derek, Shaun and Megan that I love you and am proud (even though we are told not to use that word) of all you are doing in your lives with your spouses and your children. Always remember though, that no matter how much money you will have, the most important thing you can do for your children is teach them the gospel and spend time with them. You know your dad is a great example of that and I love him for that.
Love, Mom

Who's there?

Well, I thought I'd better get in a few words. Since the last time that I had entered anything was quite a while ago. Much has happened since that time...events that have been memorable and moments that can only be considered manifestations of our Heavenly Father's love for us. Of note, we were blessed with another grandchild, Anika and then another, Kyna and looking forward to another with Nathan and Bridgette and then news of 2 more one to Derek and Rebecca and one to Shaun and Jamie! All coming this year!! Both Maureen and I are absolutely overwhelmed and know that our prayers and the prayers of many within "the family" have been answered realizing that the Lord has his own timetable for when he responds. As much as we would like to move his response forward, humbly we see his wisdom in all things. I know some people, maybe most people would pass that off as just the normal course of life and perhaps some people today would question even the thoughts of bringing children into this world considering the current state of affairs globally. However, my thoughts are that there has to be a rising generation taught the laws of God. One that unashamedly proclaims the truth not only in word but also in deed and does not cower in the face of opposition. This is our blessing, not only in our immediate family but also reaches out to the extended family on both sides. We will write down, just as our fathers did, those things which are of good report because that is what will be passed on. We will witness to them, the rising generation, our love of our Savior and the priviledge of being able to serve our fellowmen. The world, would have us do otherwise and think only of ourselves believing that this is prudent thinking when in actuality the rationale for such acknowledgement generates from a source where people are ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

The next few weeks and months will bring families together in a spirit of gratitude, love and respect. We will have joy and rejoicing in all of the triumps, successes and accomplishments but also be humbled by loss, uncertainty and the unknown. Through it all we will have each other to gain strength from, a heartfelt hug and a hand to lift because in essence we are all we have.

As each passing day goes by, I seem to see with much better clarity those things which are actually important to me. I seem to hear much more clearly the patter of little feet on the floor or the innocent giggle of those sweet little spirits and I cry within myself when I consider a life without my grandchildren, my children and my wife. I have come to realize what I saw in my dad and my mothers' eyes when they looked at all their posterity....a contented peaceful look. Not that life will not come without it's trials and roadblocks of that I can guarantee but for the moment, at this very moment, heaven is very very close!!!

Start your engines!

Well, although this picture is from a couple of years ago, I did manage to go again to NASCAR qualifier's on Friday. For those of you who don't know or maybe don't even care, NASCAR is pretty big. The slump in the economy has affected it a little bit but it is still a pretty big deal when NASCAR comes into town! As I was trying to explain to my friend just before going out there, there are a couple of moments when it is an absolute rush and then, for the most part, just kinda hangin' out on the bleachers. One of those moments is just prior to the beginning of the race as the cars are going around the track following the pace or lead car. All of the cars are going at about maybe 25-30 percent of full throttle. The best description of the noise, at that moment, is comparable to the idling of Harley Davidson sitting next to you at a stop light with your windows up. When the guy, waving the flag to start the race actually starts the race and you see the pace car pull off the track, the combined energy with all of the cars pulling full throttle and the excitement and the rushing of the cars on the track towards you is pretty awesome! The decibles shoot way past the safe hearing zone, the rumble of all the engines together and the movement of wind created as all the cars are moving in unison are unbelievably transforming!!! You just have to be there to really appreciate the feel of power!

But the down side is....you then settle down and watch the cars go round and round and round. Your neck is pretty much stuck in one position with just the slightest movement when the cars go past you. They go by so fast that it really doesn't pay to try to follow them. I'm reminded of our dog and how he tries to follow his toy, he tries to anticipate the movement and snag it out of my hand as I am moving it around and around and around his head but to no avail and he is left snapping at air. And so you have to find other things to do as the race is going on.

Thanks to my good friend Jordan K.!! He always extends an invitation and this year I bit!!

A couple of weeks ago, my brother Mike brought a volleyball team down for a tournament and so they wanted to do something that was away from the strip. Going down to the dam was suggested and since I hadn't been down there for a while I thought I'd follow along. It was pretty impressive to see the span of work going across the canyon that will eventually become a bridge over which all vehicular traffic will travel. I was duly impressed with the dam again as it had been some time since I had done all the work on the Arizona approach side. I must say, that I feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at what were able to do along with all the other builders of the dam years ago!!!

Why not something new?

So Maureen and I decided to check out a little of the oscars last night as we enjoyed some pretty good movies during the year. At some point there was an oscar given for the screen play adaption or something along those lines. The winner was announced and during his acceptance speech, by the way the movie was 'Milk', didn't see, don't think we'll ever see nor do we have a desire to ever see it, anyway this guy then proceeds to say these words...I am so thankful that I my parents moved from a conservative "Mormon" home in San Antonio to San Francisco where I could live my life and meet and fall in love with my 'partner'. At that point, I decided that the whole entire evening was pretty much wasted! It would be refreshingly and absolutely righteous if somebody in the entertainment world would stand up and say these words..." I am so thankful that I grew up in a loving family that taught me about honoring the commandments of God and that moral purity was true happiness. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and am not ashamed of the way I was taught!" I believe it would be so refreshingly new that there would be many people who would say, "Wow, did that person just make a stand for right?!!" I am pretty fed up with agenda which is being pushed, rammed and slammed down our throats in the name of tolerance. I can feel genuine concern and Christlike love but that doesn't mean that I have to embrace and until I see some kind of doctrinal announcement from the First Presidency my position will never change. There I've said it!!!

Hot time in the old town!

Just wanted to chime in on the celebration last Sat. We were very fortunate to be there to enjoy everybody's company but more importantly to share in the joy of Dad's, grandpa's and great-grandpa's birthday. I for one, miss being able to call and talk with my parents whether or not I'm having a bad day or a good day. When they were alive, I treasured each and every moment that I had with them, whether a simple touch or words over the telephone like, "hi son..." followed by whatever was on their mind or where ever the conversation would take us because I knew that those moments would not last for long. They were joyous when we were joyous and were saddened when we were saddened. So I pray that there will be many happy returns and I must say to everybody, Maureen, Brenda and Lisa can continue to sing "fast" songs! Who am I? Randy Jackson????!!!!!