The Wisers: Annabelle's Baptism

This weekend was full of surprises and adventures. First off, we added a new member to our family. COOPER!!!! He is going to be our house dog and I am not allergic to him! Our hope is that it will help Zach not have allergies like me, and also act as his older sibling and make him patient. Who knows if it will help. We picked up cute Cooper on Wednesday and he was nameless for two days. It’s a scary feeling not having a name. You don’t exist till you have a name. Cooper is a Shih Tzu Mini Dachshund mix and is 6 weeks old. He is going to be no more than 8-10 lbs and is the sleepiest puppy ever! He will sleep anywhere. We took him up to Martin’s Cove this weekend and he was a trooper! He is going to be such a wonderful dog. Speaking of Martin’s Cove, we ventured that way on Friday because my super cute cousin Annabelle was getting baptized up there on Saturday and we wanted to spend a few nights camping up there. My more than incredible grandparents are serving a mission aswell at the Cove so it gave us a great excuse to go camping, hangout with my cool cousins and see my grandparents.

Ok now on to the adventure. Brian and I were contemplating on whether we wanted to spend the night up at Martin’s Cove or just drive up Sat because of the new pup. Well he did such a wonderful job Thursday night that we decided to leave Friday after I got off at work at 2 and go. Because we weren’t sure what we were going to do, we had to hurriedly pack after I got off work and go get edible items to help our appetites while in the middle of now where. By the time we got on the freeway and headed out, it was about 4:30 in the afternoon. Martin’s cove is 5 hours away. We had headlamps and figured we could just set up the tent in the pitch dark. Well the drive was great. Brian and I had a lot of fun. It’s a lot more fun when you take a 5 hour trip with your best friend. Cooper did great. He sat in our laps most of the time and slept about 4 of the 5 hours. Our trusty GPS lead us perfectly. Perfectly that is until 9:56 rolled around. It was dark. Very dark. And we were in Wyoming. Yippee. So we followed the GPS to where Martin’s Cove address was listed and guess where we pulled into….DUMBELL RANCH?!?! What do these missionaries do? Lift weights? Well we figured we needed to turn around due to the fact that we had passed signs that had said “Martin’s Cove Visiting Center here”. So we did, and what did we find? No missionaries or camp sites! By this time, the humor was dwinding in the situation. It was 10:30 and our butts hurt and we wanted to sleep. I was having illusions of having to park on the side of the middle of nowhere road and having an axe murder kill us and burying our bodies in the Wyoming desert. Thanks Martha. I attribute these illusions to your crazy creepy movies you have me watch. Anyway, we drove around the center for what seemed like hours and noticed a house with it’s lights on. So we pulled up and Brian went to talk to the owners. Luckily, he was a missionary. How did we know? Not the name tag no, but he opened the door in his garment top. That made me giggle. Anyway, we explained our situation and that we were here for the baptism in the morning and were looking for the Richards camp spot. They gave us directions that consisted of, “turn back the way you came, travel 10 miles and look for a sign and flag that said, Missionary Camp site. Awesome. This should be fun to find…

So we are puttin along in our 40 mpg corolla (yeah that’s right, we got 40 mpg) and pulled into this drive way area. There was a white car sitting there. GRANDPA!!!! He stayed up and waited for us so that we wouldn’t get lost! What a wonderful man. We followed him to the campsite we would be sharing with Michele and Troy and their awesome kido’s and Martha and Shad and their off spring. The tent was set up, cot’s up, air mattress blown, and sleeping bags laid out. Time for bed. And Cooped didn’t make a peep all night long! What a good boy. After saying our good nights and many hugs given to the best grandparents in the world after not getting one for 3 months, we were out.

The next day was the baptism and can I just say, if you get baptized outside, church attire should not be mandatory. Yet it was and we obeyed. Before we went to the river, we toured the visitors center with my grandparents telling us stories and showing all the exhibits to us. It was incredible. I am so glad I was born during this era, because I doubt I would have survived then. What took us 5 hours took them 17 days. Incredible. We ate a quick lunch and then headed to the river. It was a beautiful day, perfect for Annabelle! Pictures were taken, and kids were entertained. Tylor, the crazy outdoorsman he is, caught a frog that no one else could catch and all he did was scoop his hand down, snatch it and show it off. It was now 2 in the afternoon and we came to the conclusion that we all should hike Martin’s Cove. The trip was supposed to be 3 miles round trip, but we are Richards! We don’t skimp on the adventure part when it comes to escapades. So we packed the water, two hand carts, set the kidos in them and took off. 6 hours later we had hiked up to the cove, went around a mountain, took the long way home, crossed a river in hand carts and by walking and then arrived back at the center. It was fun, we all did it, and no one skimped out. I was amazed at how different it was hiking the whole time, which yes, came to be 8 miles, while prego. Everyone kept offering to pull me in a handcart or this buggy type thing, but I walked the entire time. I figured if they could do it 150 years ago without Nike’s, water bottles, spray bottles and mapped trails, I most certainly could walk 8 miles. Anyway, we all survived and the kids had a blast. I didn’t take my camera with me though, sad day. Figured we might get wet and I didn’t want to sacrifice the camera.

After our hike, to say we were hungry is more than an understatement, we were starving. Thank goodness for Martha’s cooking. We had pulled pork sandwiches, chips, jello salad and green salad. Delish. We just sat, chatted and enjoyed one another’s company. I had a good talk with my grandpa and he brought me to tears. I love that man. After dinner, some yummy cobbler was devoured with n minutes and a fire was created. There is something so incredible about sitting around a campfire with your family and not saying a word. What a special day. Brian and I got up on Sunday, packed up, and headed home. It was a wonderful, short get away and such a fun time to spend with our families.