Thank you Snapchat, for showing my memories every day and reminding me that it’s been exactly one year since we moved to Arizona!

In the last year I have: chopped my hair, gained some weight (literally too many tacos!), started a business and bought a business. It’s been an eventful year!

To be honest, it’s also been a tough year. With change comes growing pains. Financially, emotionally, physically… we have definitely had our ups and downs. Here are a few of the bullet points that have lead us to where we are now:

I started ZAZA by Richins. This has been an amazingly fun adventure, but has also brought it’s fair share of stress. We used our own money in invest in the purchase of our products. Starting a business means little to no income (typically losing money) for a couple of years while you are building up what you have. We have not been exempt from this, and I’ve had to talk myself in to moving forward with it literally every day.
Maddux started talking! This has been such a fun change. I am not sure if it’s simply because his age or because he is around so many people nowadays that he started really developing in his speech, but it’s been so fun to watch. His speech was extremely delayed before we moved and we were really worried for a long time. We still have a long way to go, but he has come so far!
We have had to reallllllly slow down on traveling, for two reasons. One: we own a restaurant in the town we live in (something that has to be managed full-time). And two: we both have church callings that demand a lot of our time. I am the Young Women’s President (something that has been a blessing and also tried me many times) and Seth is the Seminary teacher (YES - YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY - AND NO - HE DOESN”T GET PAID FOR IT 😳😂). We both have to be around basically all the time (him more so than me) in order to keep those things in line; it’s really affected how often we are able to get away.
We are still in the middle of renovating our home. When we first bought our home, it was one of the newest homes in town and was still 20 years old. The sweet owners who had it before us had animals and left things less than clean or pristine condition. We have worked hard to rid the home of all of the things that made me gag (haha - wish I were kidding) and also update a lot of the things in the home. I plan to share more of the before and afters as we go, but since we are living in the home (and also running two other businesses) it’s slowwww going.
WE LOVE BEING CLOSE TO FAMILY!! It’s been such a blessing. Sadly we don’t see Seth’s family quite as much because they are still a few hours away, but we love being around for holidays, being able to binge watch a whole season of Jack Ryan together and having shared birthday parties for our kids. What a wonderful life!

Overall, it’s been so challenging and also exactly what we needed. We wouldn't have it any other way (even if I have had several major emotional breakdowns trying to figure everything out 😉).

Happy Tuesday, and thanks for the support now and always 🧡