How can this BE!

This week we celebrated our 4th anniversary of moving to Holdrege!!! What a day that was. We LOVE Nebraska and we have never regretted the move. Not ONCE! We just cannot believe we have been here four years. Where has the time gone. We are full of gratitude that the Lord took us out of the big city and allowed us to move to NEBRASKA! As Dad would say its the best state in the union!!

Well life continues to fly by and this week marks the 5th and second to last week of Summer Camp. Everyone practiced well and have continued to work hard! Keep up the GOOD WORK Graham, Isaac, and Marilee!!!

Tuesday evening we went to the local facility for the handicapped called the Mosaic and we played for their annual "dance". We played background music as the residents enjoyed eating refreshments and dancing and bouncing to the beat of our fiddle music. We got some of them to help us with the percussion instruments which they loved...

Joseph and Seth have been sweating gallons as they have worked outside everyday in the hot, hot sun. They work with a landscaping company and have enjoyed the manual labor. They are really looking forward to working in 100 degree weather this next week, right boys? (heehee)

Farmer's Market! We were asked to play a couple numbers with some of our friends that were playing at the Farmer's Market this week. In this picture, our friend Hannah and I had just finished a very fast and foot stomping version of Turkey in the Straw. Hannah is a fantastic accordion player and entertainer. She is also my accordion teacher. GO HANNAH!

HURRY HURRY to the RUCKUS JUNIOR PREMIER PERFORMANCE!!!

Marilee, Isaac, and Graham have started their own little bluegrass band. Right now they only have two songs in their repertoire, Cripple Creek, and Blackberry Blossom, but don't worry they have several others under construction. They performed both of their songs for the first time at the Farmer's Market.

THE NEW RICHARDS STUDIO!!!

Uh oh, what's going on here?

Ok I'll tell you... We have officially purchased the former E-Z MUSIC BUILDING!!!

We firmly believe that "cleanliness is next to Godliness" and so the first thing we did after we actually owned it was to tear up some of the dirtiest carpet in the building and start scraping the carpet glue off of the cement floor. (We forgot the camera oops)

Four years ago when we moved here, we had brought all of our food storage with us. Unfortunately, we found that the only available space for it was in the garage. We have worried that the extreme weather of the cold and hot temperatures in the garage would be detrimental to our cans of whole wheat, powdered milk, beans etc. When we found that our building had a basement we were overjoyed to finally have a place to move the food away from the broiling heat of the summer as well as the chilling cold of the winter.

We feel that having food storage is important in being prepared. "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30) Many times in the Bible the Lord counseled that His people store for the future crisis.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD STORAGE!

"Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to “prepare every needful thing” (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we can care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others. "We encourage members world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. "We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve."

So Saturday, we borrowed a truck, used our mini van, and put everyone to work hauling literally a ton of food storage to the building (we haven't named it yet).

WHEAT!!! It looks edible and we did not see any weevils...

Inspection passed!

What are you doing playing with water Joseph?

We're supposed to be working.

Well ok maybe its not water...

As Joseph was transferring some of the five gallon buckets from the back of the garage he grabbed one of the "empty" ones from the top row. He was shocked and surprised to suddenly find out that one of them was not as empty as he thought, it was however too late. He had accidentally tipped over a bucket of some clear liquid that smells suspiciously like kerosene. It did turn out to be kerosene though no one knows how it got there. It was NOT a very pleasant experience for Joseph as you can probably imagine... Its a good thing you had your sunglasses on Joseph...

Who's going down there first?

It was not as bad down there as we thought at first especially after we got a couple brooms going. Keep sweepin' Marilee!

The stairs to the basement are pretty steep and it was very daunting to think about carrying every box and bucket down those stairs. Thank goodness for inventive and ingenious brothers!!! Seth put this contraption together so that we could just slide the boxes down. OH SWEET RELIEF!!! It worked so well that none of the boxes ever fell off... Great thinking Seth!

It must be the dust!

It was amazing how quickly the stack of boxes grew...

Come on Kimball you can do it!!!

Mission accomplished... In less than 3 hours we had completed a job that I thought was going to take all day. Goes to show that many hands and strong brothers make light work!

Not the whole building is uninhabitable and since Joseph and Kimball are going to live there they moved some furniture in one of the rooms. It looked quite cozy and acted like a magnet to exhausted workers... right Kimball?

After moving the food storage we decided to try out the practice space in the building...

This is Graham's outfit for the song "Bib Overalls"...

There's a pocket for everything right Graham?

It passed with flying colors! We finally have enough room to dance, jump rope, flag poi and do every other routine we can think of.

We are very grateful to the Lord for giving us the direction and guidance we needed as we sought to know His will in regards to this building. We hope to be able to use it to magnify Him and to help accomplish the work He has given us...

Saturday afternoon was spent in Franklin at the Golden Living Center. We performed our 50s' program for the residents. It was fun to see them sing along with the songs that they had heard as they were growing up.

Bamba Bamba... Yo no soy marinero... Soy Richardo Soy Richardo!!!

We also tried out some new songs that we have been learning and La Bamba was one of them.

As we have looked back over the last four years, we realize again and again how much the Lord has directed and guided us through this maze of life. Without His guidance we would not be here today doing what we are doing. We are so full of gratitude as we see how sweet and good our lives are. There is nothing we enjoy more than to work together in something that the Lord has confirmed to each of us is the right path. Nothing can possibly be as sweet as a family united in serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

"Loyal families are the heart of the society. No nation will ever be stronger than the strength of its homes. No agency or institution can do what the home should do."

Elder Marion D. Hanks