Riding Family Christmas Card 2010!

2010 Christmas Card Cover!

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! On behalf of the staff of Riding Magazine we wish you a wonderful holiday season. We’re proud to announce a new addition to our family – a baby girl in April. Mom and baby are perfectly healthy and both are excited for the baby to be out of Cassie’s belly! We have had a fantastic year and are so grateful for being surrounded by loving family and friends. May we all remember the true reason for celebration this time of year; the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Chelsea D’Gol
Fine Arts/Sports Writer
As heard in recent conversation at the dinner table. Dan prodding Lydia to eat her dinner.
Dan: “Lydia, do not eat your dinner. If you do you’ll grow up and I don’t want to see that happen.”
Lydia, matter-of-factly while taking a bite: “That’s just the way it is, Dad. We have pictures and you can look at those.”
Despite our attempts at thwarting her growth Lydia keeps on growing and will soon celebrate her fifth birthday. Lydia is a Joy with a capital J and can even spell and read the word JOY to you! She loves learning and is counting the days until kindergarten starts. She soaks up morals while she attends joy school and learns much more than letters and numbers as she spends a few minutes each day with her computer-based preschool. So, what’s this four year old going to be when she grows up? None other than, and we quote, “a princess-ballerina-soccer player- superhero!”
Our little princess continues to dance on the stage and around the house and has even pulled some sweet moves on the soccer field. She was a member of the Green Dragons soccer team (fierce enough for 4 year olds?) and managed to score a couple of goals this season. We’ve come to accept that Lydia will keep growing and we will enjoy every move she gives us as she dances through life and is our little superhero princess.

 

Bernie Holmes
Home Safety
Ask him what his name is and every time you’ll get the response “I’m Emmett Daniel Riding.” Since January Emmett has learned to speak in complete sentences and has learned letters and numbers as taught by Lydia. As far as his parents are concerned these are major milestones for his 2 ½ year old brain. But, if you were to ask him what the best part of his year was it would hands down be the fact that he got to ride in a fire truck! How would we know this? Because EVERY DAY since he rode in the jumper seat of engine #1 of the Ivins Fire Dept. he has announced it to everyone. On more than one occasion someone has knocked on the door and he runs to announce to our guest that “Guess what? I rode in a fire truck!”
Don’t forget that Emmett is two and sometimes is sad, but even then mom insists that he use good manners. Often in a tantrum he’ll scream “NO THANK YOU!” Perhaps the most entertaining line coming from Emmett was when we were all looking at the ultrasound of the baby and after the doctor announced we were having a girl he closely studied the monitor and made his own diagnosis “I see boy.”

 

Imana Cruise
Travel Editor
The travel section belongs to none other than Cassie. Her travels took her to the coast of northern Mexico as she and Dan celebrated their ninth anniversary in style by going on a cruise. Warm Springs, Nevada was the next stop as she accompanied the youth as the Young Women’s president for their annual conference. After leaving the oasis in the desert it was off to the sunny coast of California with the Riding girls for a much-deserved break. She greeted Logan, UT as she ran with her sisters in the Top of Utah Half Marathon.
Cassie was spotted in Salt Lake City as she met Dieter Uchtdorf of the first presidency in the LDS Church in honor of earning her Young Women’s Recognition Award then it was to Arizona for our niece’s wedding. Despite all of these travels she managed to accomplish her goal of taking the national interpreting certification test. Although the trips have been fun, her best trips are the ones that take her home to her loving husband and beautiful children.

 

Forrest Pharmer
Outdoors
Gardening. Backyard chickens. Homemade bread. Deer hunting. Hand crafted furniture. Apparently Dan is trying to find his pioneer roots. The day the city ordinance allowed for chickens in residential areas Dan started building the coop and is now the proud owner of 11 healthy hens that lay an abundance of eggs. Once the coop was done it was time for the third annual garden to be planted. If that wasn’t enough he “rose” to the occasion and perfected his bread making skills. The family hasn’t purchased a loaf of bread since.
Later this fall Dan went with his brothers on Pine Valley Mountain and has since enjoyed plenty of venison dinners. After providing the family with food he moved his operation into his “man cave” and for the last 3 months of the year spent countless hours building a mission style bed for Emmett. Now Dan’s daily routine includes bedtime stories for the hens, lullabies to the vegetables, one final sanding on the hardwood, tucking his kids in bed and enjoying a few minutes of peace with Cassie. So, Dan, was it worth it? Have you saved anything finding your roots? He just grins and says the satisfaction is “priceless.”