The Apple Pie King

After a year of successfully baking custard-dish apple pies with Dad's leftover crust dough, Jer has graduated to the big leagues! This morning, he got up and made crust, from scratch, by himself, and cut, filled, and sealed these delicious little babies all by himself. Move over, McDonalds! Jer's the new apple pie king!!

Fishing on the Ranch

City Slickers

For Mike's 39th birthday, he took his friends Mark and Cesar to Colorado for some quality cattle ranching time at Chico Basin Ranch.

His caption for this photo: "I'm 39 and I brought in my herd!"

Looks like he's "found his smile". It was in Colorado--"It's always the last place you look!" --Billy Crystal, a.k.a. Mitch Robbins

Richards Family Reuion '11, part 2

1st Day of Kindergarten!

Jessie started kindergarten...

...and ballet, today, too!

(Mom, Dad, and Jen came to watch the first class!)

1st Day of School 2011

Jonathan, 8th Grade

Jen, 6th

Jer, 4th

This year, for the first year, I'm letting the 2 "middle" kids walk to school while the weather's nice. Here's the elementary school walking group from today!

(p.s. Jess starts Kindergarten next week. Pics to follow!)

Garden Joys

The roses are blooming for the second time this season--LOVE 'em!

This is my favorite new design this summer--cosmos (just starting to bloom), giant marigolds, lavendar, and giant sunflowers!

Jen planted the sunflowers in several areas this year. They are so amazing! (Thanks, Gram, for the seeds!)

This (above) is in a planter on my lower patio. The blue flowers smell like candy!

Here is Jonathan's patch for his gardening merit badge. He's got some very successful tomatoes (just coming on...), green onions, and basil, as well as some little flowers tucked in...

I love my zinnias. I have grown them from seed for the last couple of years. They're so colorful and showy!

...And from my deck, a little patch of color that just makes me happy. I love my garden!