Parenthood

Garrick and I are gonna be parents!! It's still so weird to say but we have a bun in the oven that's due January 17th! It's such a bizarre feeling, knowing that something is growing inside of you, I can't wrap my head around it. But baby is doing well, we've heard its heartbeat a couple of times now and were able to get an ultrasound pretty early on. I love how excited Garrick is, he's ecstatic! And looking at our baby picture makes all the sickness and exhaustion worth it! 

Kayla just got hired on as a photographer/videographer at her work so she was really excited to put a video together for our announcement. That girl is so talented, I'm glad we have her in the fam!

May, June, July...

Now that Garrick is home and done with military and MCAT the summer is starting to fly by! I don't know if I've mentioned yet, but Garrick took the MCAT and applied to Medical School! It's crazy, I thought this day would never come. But it came and went and now we wait! Garrick is now taking summer classes and enjoying his free time. He joined our ward's ultimate intramural team!

This is the best picture I had of him to document the game...

We've also done more hiking and are loving it! It will be really hard to leave the beautiful Utah, it is so nice being able drive to the mountains and find gorgeous hikes in minutes!

We hiked Stewart Falls with Race and Aly, we love them!

The Payson temple was newly dedicated and we loved going to a new temple. That's another thing we'll miss about Utah next year, so many temples! We're trying to take advantage of our time left and are going more often. 

 Ever since we've been married Garrick has talked and talked about the Independence Day in Provo. He would talk about the fun traditions he had with his family and how he couldn't wait until we got to experience it together. Unfortuntely it hasn't worked out the past two years. But once we figured out that we'd both be home for this fourth of July Garrick started planning! He had planned the ENTIRE day. From 6am hot air balloons to 11pm stadium of fire fireworks. It was such a fun day, we loved every second of it. We spent the day with new friends, old friends, and family. Garrick had a huge smile on his face the entire day. I'm glad he loves this holiday so much, it's fitting because he loves America so much!

And then a picture to remember free slurpie day! We love summer!!

The Marine Corps

 

Garrick was gone for a couple weeks in June for his LAST military training. He was in Twentynine Palms, CA and had spotty cellphone service the entire time. I was very happy to have him come home. This is the third summer he's done this while we've been married and it doesn't get any easier. This last time dragged on forever, I was so ready to have him home for good. While it was hard for me to have him away, Garrick did awesome during his training! He got a huge award at the end of the training for his leadership and combat skills. He received a plaque and a medal to put on his uniform. Everyone was congratulating him during the family picnic, it was pretty neat to see the respect he everyone gave him.
It's easy for me to forget that he has experienced so much in the military since I've only known him for a small part of that time. So whenever I'm around other marines I get to see this completely different side of him. In this environment he changes modes and becomes Sergeant Gaffney.
Garrick has loved his time in the military and it was a really hard decision for him to be done and move on. As I'm writing this Garrick is at the base turning in all his gear, checking out for good. It's so weird to think that this won't be a part of our lives anymore. I know Garrick will miss this, it has played such a vital role in the man that he has become. I'm so grateful that I've been able to experience a small part of it with him. I have grown so much respect and awe of the men, women, and families that sacrifice for our country. I'm grateful that Garrick has served our country and now has the most patriotism of anyone I know! I'm glad our kids will be raised in a home where their dad served and loves this country!

I was able to visit him on the base because of the family picnic. It was my last time ever going on the base since his contract is up so I made sure to get some pictures of him. 

We Have a Graduate in the House

I graduated! Technically I didn't officially graduate until June but I was still able to walk in April with Colby and Kelsi so it was nice. Kayla and I skipped one of the ceremonies and she took some killer photos of me on campus so I'll remember BYU forever!

Good riddance to the Testing Center!

Lots of Richardsons graduated so we had a party at Uncle Kens to celebrate!

Kayla has become super talented overnight in her photography and videography skills. She made this sweet video of my graduation. Love that girl!