the best is yet to come...

It's a BOY!!!

2010-04-15T18:08:00.003-04:00

We just got in from Knoxville…baby Richards is a BOY!!! The ultrasound showed 10 fingers, 10 toes and everything looked great…heart, kidneys, spine, lips, brain, etc. He weighs 10 ozs!

This little guy is a holiday baby!

New Year's Day: discovery of little man

Tax Day: it's a boy!

Labor Day: due date (September 6, 2010)

We're having a baby!

2010-04-15T17:52:00.002-04:00

Chuck and I had been trying to expand our family for a while but had run into a few road blocks and had some unfortunate luck-on January 1, 2010 we learned that we were expecting!

New Year's Day, I took a pregnancy test and I was not expecting a plus sign…what a great surprise! What a great way to start the new year!

The Chinese birth calendar says that we should stock up on pink…

Went to several doctor's appointments….on March 30, the ultrasound was not clear enough and baby Richards would not "pose" for the good shot! However, we were told that something looked "suspicious" but not to run out and buy everything blue quite yet!

Tax day, April 15, 2010…the "BIG" ultrasound….

So, am I carrying a baby boy or a baby girl?

Hitched

2009-02-24T16:10:00.001-05:00

Saturday, March 19, 2005 2pm
Beth Wilhoit married Chuck Richards

First United Methodist Church
Sevierville, TN

Reception at church immediately following ceremony. Celebration at our house later that night!

Wedding Party
Maid of Honor: Brooke Wilhoit (sister)
Bridesmaids: Sarah Edwards Bharti
Mindy Parker
Mandy Bivens Neill
Maria Huskey Cutshaw

Best Man: Rick Richards (dad)
Groomsmen: Chad Richards (brother)
Matt Belcher (brother)
Hank Knight
Ben Everson

Honeymoon: We spent a couple days in Los Angeles, CA. We went on a one week cruise to Baja, Mexico where we had a blast!

We're Engaged!

2009-02-24T15:50:00.000-05:00

Chuck took me back to the Atlanta Zoo, where he had made big plans for us! We made the trip to Atlanta and what I did not yet know would change our lives forever! Chuck had already been to ask my father for my hand in marriage while I was at work.

We went to the Atlanta Zoo (that was the location of our 1st date) and walked around. I took the video camera because Chuck wanted to get some of the animals on video. What I didn't know is that he had made arrangements for someone to film what would be his best performance yet!

The video camera stopped working and I could tell that Chuck was pretty upset and all that I could think to tell him was that we could buy a dvd of giraffes from National Geographic if he really wanted one!

Later that day, it started to rain...it was so hot and we had been sweating with other people and smelling animals all day so the rain was a good excuse for me to get in the car and head to Chattanooga to spend the night with friends! Chuck insisted that we go to the elephant show. I was thinking, what is wrong with this guy? Whatever.

We, along with every other guest in the zoo went to the elephant show...remember, it's raining and the show was under cover! So, here we are, packed in with a couple hundred people in an area that smells like elephant poo! (not my ideal Saturday afternoon!)

The show began and the trainer asked for audience participation. Kids were waving and screaming to be chosen as the trainer asked for an out of town helper. Chuck raises his hand and says, "we're from out of town!" I was thinking, I am going to kill him, thank goodness that the trainer would NEVER pick us to go on stage.

Boy was I wrong! We were chosen....dear Lord, I was going on stage at an elephant show in front of children that would have given their favorite possessions to be in my place. Not cool. Not cool at all.

So, we're up there and we pet Kelly the elephant, then we get to feed her. My hand was dirty from petting her and then she really got my hand nasty when she sucked apples and carrots from my hand using her trunk. I had to keep a happy face b/c of the kids that were amazed by Kelly...it was not easy!

Kelly did a few tricks, the crowd cheered. Kelly held up a sign that read, "Please give to the elephant fund." Then, I heard the crowd gasp....I looked over my right shoulder to see the sign that Kelly was holding...it said, "BETH WILL YOU MARRY ME? LOVE, CHUCK"

What?!?!?!? I could not have read that correctly! I turned back to my left to look at Chuck and there he was on one knee and asked me to marry him!

I said yes, gave him a big fat kiss, and the crowd cheered and clapped! We left the zoo for Chattanooga and I had never been more nervous in my life! I thought that I was going to throw up! What had we done?!?!?

Things worked out pretty nicely! Chuck and I were married close to a year later on March 19, 2005. We will soon celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary!

Sorry about the video camera, Chuck...if I had known I would have brought the charger on the trip! I love you Chuck!

~Beth

first impressions...hmmmm

2009-01-17T23:08:00.000-05:00

I met Chuck at UTC. From the first time that I laid eyes on him, I didn't like him very much-scratch that-I didn't like him at all. He was big, loud, and seemed downright rude-not quite husband material! It gets worse!

Chi Omega (my sorority) was having a date party...I went, it was great! Two guys I had gone to school with since the 2nd grade were members of TKE, Chuck was also a member. Josh and Joel, the lifelong pals of mine, insisted that I swing by their party...Swamp Party....after our date party. I didn't want to go, but they were like family so I caved.

I arrive at the frat house, which was crazier than National Lampoon's Animal House, much to my dismay around midnight. As I walked through the parking lot to the back door in search of either Josh or Joel, barbarians had blocked the entrance. As in barbarians I mean Juice, aka Chuck, and some of his "bros." They were yelling and swinging metal fold up chairs at one another acting as if they were hitting each other. One guy would swing the chair and make a loud noise by hitting the ground as the other guy would literally fall as if he had been hit. Did I mention that there was a crowd actually watching them? Yes, they were cheering and laughing.

So, I waited until I thought it was safe and boy was I wrong!!! Chuck, I mean Juice, pretended as if he hit me...only he really did hit me! Needless to say that I fell to the ground. Not cool! I realized that I could do one of 2 things:

a. get up and scream at him

b. get up, laugh it off and hopefully people would forget within minutes

I chose "b" thinking that would be it, I would walk in, find the guys, and get the heck out. So, that sort of happened. I got up, found the guys, then left. As I left, the barbarians were still outside. Lucky me. Thank goodness they had put the metal chairs away. Chuck approached me and apologized for the whole backyard wrestling incident. I was so ready to leave that I just accepted it and started toward my car.

I was about 2 feet from Chuck when he called my name again. As I turned to see what he wanted, he greeted me with a slice of pizza to the front of my dress-pepperoni side down! As if it weren't enough for him to ruin the back of my Cache dress by knocking me on the broken pavement/gravel 20 minutes earlier. He laughed and then said how sorry he was. Like an idiot, I turned around to accept the apology once more! What happened next, you ask? One more slice right at me! (A special thanks to Spartan for the pizza slinging idea)

Enough was enough! I lost all control and screamed at him to grow up and never even look at me again! I stormed off and avoided him like the plague on campus for the next 2 semesters! Eventually, I never even saw him again. I later learned that he had transferred to MTSU. Praise the Lord and good riddance to Chuck, Juice, Diesel, whatever the heck his name was at the time!

Years pass. We graduate. The TKEs were losing their house...shocking, I know.

So, Joel and Josh dragged me to their final Swamp Party. I had nothing better to do, so we made the trip to Chattanooga. After all, these college graduates were going to blow up the toilets and destroy everything they could at the house...I should tell you that I figured that part out upon arrival.

So who do I see but Mr. Chuck Richards?!?!??! I called him "Chairboy Chucky" and we laughed about him abusing me WWF style! He needed a ride to his car after the party, so I asked him where to take him. He didn't really know so I said, "How about Atlanta?" He said, "sure." Well, I wasn't about to be called out on my bluff so to Atlanta we went! We did the whole underground Atlanta and the Atlanta Zoo thing and since we kissed, we decided that it counted as our official first date.

The next thing I knew, we were talking everyday, visiting one another every weekend and he eventually moved from the Nashville area (Hendersonville to be exact) to Sevierville. We dated a year, were engaged a year and were married on March 19, 2005.

The engagement is another story in itself, I'll save it for another blog!

~Beth

PS-He still owes me a new dress from Cache! ;)

let the blogging begin...

2009-01-17T23:05:00.000-05:00

Hello friends and family! This is a first for us....the whole having our own blog thing. Until now we have only done the myspace or facebook thing. Myspace seems to be a site of the past for us...facebook has taken over!