August 2009 Newsletter

Cody Layne Richins was born August 16th, 1979 to Carol Simper and Dale Richins in Idaho Falls, ID. He is the youngest of 4, having 2 older brothers and 1 older sister. Cody came to a family who lived on a large farm on Lewisville Highway near Idaho Falls. He has always lived around a lot of animals, and has had lots of exciting experiences. Cody had a dog named Tippy who was his best friend from when he was very little to when he left on his mission when Tippy died. Cody would share his ice cream and food with Tippy, go everywhere with him, and play by the hours with him. When Cody would get spanked, he would go outside, put his arms around Tippy’s neck, and with big tears in his eyes, tell Tippy all about his problems. Tippy would sit and listen and howl into the air showing his compassion for Cody. Cody liked to ride horses, go on roundups with the “big people”, and had many chores around the farm taking care of all the animals. He had many “close calls” while helping with the chores and doing the grown up work. Once, when he was around 7 years old, he was helping take down a fence. He swung his sledge hammer, hit himself in the head, and knocked himself out. Another time when he was about 4 or 5, Cody was riding on the back of his dad’s horse while they were herding cattle, and the horse starting bucking. Fearing that Cody would get bucked off and hurt, his dad picked him up off the horse and threw him into a ditch of water so the horse wouldn’t land on him. Another time, Cody was riding on top of a sleeping bag while riding on the back of a horse with his mom. They were on their way up to a high mountain lake and moving along a steep ledge up the mountain. The sleeping bag that Cody was riding on started to dislodge from the horse and went down the Mountain. Cody was rescued by his mom before he went over with the sleeping bag. All of this happened before Cody even started school. Cody had another accident during his elementary years in which he was knocked out by a pipe that his brother was taking off a trailer. Cody was always very quiet. He was easy to buy for when Christmas came along because he always wanted the same thing, toy horses. When Cody started Elementary School, he began participating in other activities. He started basketball, baseball, wrestling, and doing rodeo. He competed in the Little Britches Jr. Rodeo doing mutton busting, roping, and transferring flags from one bucket to another. He won many contests. He also became active in Scouts. Even though he quit most of the activities when he started Jr. High, he continued to wrestle (90 lbs.) until his Freshman year in high school and he always did rodeo. While in High School, he won several competitions and earned some huge belt buckles for wins in roping and cow cutting. He continued to rodeo during college. When Cody was in high school, he had a chance to go to Netherlands as an exchange student but he turned it down. He always had very good friends in high school and even though their likes and interests were quite different, they always supported each other in what each enjoyed doing. He also met Sheandi during their sophomore year in a zoology class. (I don’t know if that had a bearing on his decision not to go to Europe???) Cody’s favorite subject in school was biology or the sciences. Because of that, when he graduated from Bonneville High school in 1997, he went onto Ricks College and majored in animal science. He went to Ricks for one year, 1997-1998 before leaving on a 2 year mission to Indianapolis, IN. While on his mission, and while in a home teaching, the place was raided by a SWAT team because the investigator had just robbed a store at gun point. This was just one a several similar incidences while in Indiana. When he came home in September of 2000, he went back to BYU-Idaho, and finished his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Business and Economics, and minored in Animal Science. He graduated from B.Y.U.-Idaho in 2002. Cody and Sheandi married in July 2001, 10 months after his mission return. They lived in Idaho Falls, St. Anthony where he worked for the Fish and Game for 1 year, and then to Ammon, ID. where they bought a home with some property where they could have animals, in 2003. Cody has not only worked on the family farm, but he has rogued peas, helped a rancher feed cows, worked at BMC West, cleaned sheds Sun Glo Potatoes, and worked at a Grain Elevator in Iona. In 2002, Cody secured a job with Green Giant and then Eagle Eye Produce, in Idaho Falls, in 2004 where he currently works as a raw purchasing broker and potato consultant with farmers all up and down the valley. His mom said that he has always been the most considerate of all her children. He was always very concerned about her and her needs and always cleaned up after himself. He has a dry sense of humor that one has to be quick to pick up on. Professionally, he is very good at what he does and is an excellent father and husband. He and Sheandi have 2 children, Skyler 2, and Sydney 5 months. He takes care of the kids, home, and cooking 2-3 nights a week while Sheandi works nights. His dream in life was met when he married Sheandi (his words) and he would like to travel and take some big vacations in his lifetime. He is awesome

New Spotlight: This family member was born in St. George and lived in Las Vegas until her 12th birthday. Her father passed away when she was 9 from cancer. She studied in London through the USU study abroad program her first year out of high school. She is the youngest of 6 children. Do you think you know who this family member is?
Family Birthdays: Celeste – 2nd; Jonathan-7th; Shannivee-14th; Cody Richins- 16th; Dennis-19th; Lyle (grandpa) – 20th; Jeremy-21st; Haley Cook (JRs)-22nd; Darlene (grandma) – 29th.
Other Memorable Dates: Morgan Cook passed away on August 3rd 2005.
Family News: Jen and Sheandi ran in the Bone to Back Relay in June. They weren’t on the same team however and they had a fun time. Each leg of the relay is 5 miles, up and down hills. Casey competed in the International Court Soccer Championships again this year, July 11th and 12th, in Seattle WA. There were 16 competitors from all over the United States, Mexico, and Canada. He took first place in the singles division. Indoor court soccer is like racquetball but the players use their feet instead of hands and racquets. Congratulations Casey.
I went to the blogs and tried to find information from other families. No one has much on their blogs anymore except I did find something on the Alldredge boy’s blog. Take a look .
v Brett Alldredge, a renowned Neuroscientist from Magna, Utah, will be the featured presenter at this years' annual International Symposium for Neuroscience hosted at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Alldredge, while a student at the Kansas City School of Medicine and Bioscience, has made break-though discoveries in his research on gap junctions and their role in selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. For questions regarding Mr. Alldredge's research, email him at touchmybody@kcmbu.com.
v Jonathan Alldredge of West Jordan, Utah signed a multimillion dollar deal with posh fragrance designer Giorgio Armani earlier this week. The contract grants Armani exclusive rights to Jonathan's persona in marketing their new fragrance line to be released this Spring. The new line is expected to be a hit among young single girls and will be labeled Aqua Jonnie O.
v Jacob "J". and Rachael "Ray" from Grantsville, Utah have been selected as one of five couples to be featured in a new reality show scheduled to release this Summer. The young married couple will race other marrieds 2,265 miles on motorcycles from San Diego, California to Miami, Florida for a one million dollar cash prize. The show will chronicle the challenges and triumphs they encounter as they make their way across the USA. Couples must finish together to win
Now once you have oooed and awwed, none of this is true about them. However, I thought it was so clever that I decided to put them in here anyway. Brennan is the author of this information. However, Jonathan is engaged and that is true. Please send any family news my way.
Joke: Putting on the Cowboy boots: A kindergartener asked for help in putting on his cowboy boots one day. Even with the teacher pulling and the student pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on. By the time they got the second boot on, the teacher had worked up a sweat. The teacher almost cried when the little boy said, “Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet.” It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. The teacher managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet. Then the child announced, “These aren’t my boots.”
The teacher bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, “Why didn’t you say so?” like she wanted to. Once again, the teacher struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off when the student said, “They’re my brother’s boots. My mom made me wear them.” Now the teacher didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again. Helping him into his coat, she asked, “Now, where are your mittens?” He said, “I stuffed them in the toes of my boots.” The teacher will be eligible for parole in 3 years.
Family Trivia: Which bill is larger, fuel for car or phone?
All of the following say the fuel bill is higher than the phone bill:
Derick and Ranay Jim/Kathie
Rachel and Casey Michael
Mikah Camille/Duston
Shannivee Jeremy/Holli
Brennan Celeste
Shaeleigh and Jared Brett
Shocis and Andy Judy
Lyle and Darlene Jacob/Rachel
Debbie and Randy
Jennifer and Dane
Cody and Sheandi
Corey and Cecilia Aimee Jo and Justin (he doesn’t know which one is higher)
Wendy and Jared say the bills are the same; and Andy Frasure, Diane and Dennis say the phone bill is higher than the fuel.

We are on the go people. Have a great start to a new school year and we’ll see you next month.