Camden Turns 3!!

In January our little Cammer turned 3!

This was a a pretty big birthday for him because when you turn 3 you graduate from the early intervention program.

The Friday before his birthday he said goodbye to his amazing occupational and speech therapists, Ms. Karen and Ms. Allie. I definitely shed some tears saying goodbye to these wonderful women. Ms Allie especially had a huge impact on his life. She gave him his first words, and opened the door to communication for him. She taught him to say "Mama," and "Yes!" and "help!" Those words did not come easy, she worked with him for months, but the first time he said them we jumped for joy. She truly loved him, and he knew it. 

 With the early intervention program behind him, Cam's next step was to continue his therapy through the school district, so on his birthday, he started his first day of preschool!

Bus driver Ron came to our house to pick him up. He'd never gone anywhere without mama or daddy, so it was pretty hard loading him on that bus and waving goodbye!

I was so nervous that I actually followed the bus to the school so I could greet him when he got off. He was all smiles! Ron said he was singing the whole time!

His teacher Mrs. Juergens helped him off the bus and took him into his classroom.

I got a sneak peak before the kids got there and it looked like a a great place for learning. His class was the special education class, so there were only 6 kids and 3 teachers. He also would still have sessions with a speech and occupational therapists each day. 

After school his teacher called me to say he had a great first day! I couldn't be happier for our birthday boy. 

When he got home he took a nap, and then he woke up and discovered his birthday decorations which he was pretty excited about. He kept shouting, "IT'S THOMAS!!"

When Daddy came home from work we played pin the whistle on Thomas.

Then we had birthday cake and ice cream

It was a simple celebration but perfect for Cam. He doesn't like big crowds or lots of noise so a cozy family party was just how he likes it. 

Besides, his cake had a Thomas the Train on top…What more could he ask for? :)

Teya's 6th Birthday celebrations!

Teya is 6 years old!!

On her actual birthday we celebrated as a family by taking her to Chuck E Cheese

The kids had a blast as always. It's so fun to see them go crazy in there.

 We bought a little cake and sang happy birthday

Cutie BFF sisters

Teya was super duper excited about her new stamping kit we got her. This girl is the queen of crafts.

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On Saturday after play practice she had her friend party.

With the craziness of our schedule lately I didn't have as much time to plan or work on it as I would've liked, but I still think it came out pretty good.

The theme was Rainbows and Unicorns, with a little fashion thrown in because that's what the girly girl wanted.

We started with makeovers by my cute neighbor who is a beautician.

 She put feather extensions in their hair and cute makeup on their eyes.

 Once the girls were dolled up they were feelin' sassy and wanted to do a photo shoot.

Little fashionistas

 Rockin' the sunglasses from their goodie bags. 

We also dipped "unicorn horns" aka ice cream cones, in white chocolate and decorated them with frosting and sprinkles.

 Then we opened presents while we waited for the pizza to come. Teya got lots of great gifts including a stuffed unicorn which she was immediately smitten with.

Then it was time for cake

 My friend Darby made this scrumptious rainbow unicorn cake with the most delish buttercream frosting.

 The best part though were the rainbow layers inside. The girls were just giddy when we cut it open.

 We finished off with a rainbow pinata (because it's not a Rigg b-day party without a pinata!) 

Brinley was excited about the candy. (btw, if you're wondering why I filled it with such gross candy, I had to buy stuff that wouldn't tempt me, otherwise I would've eaten it all before the party ; )

It was a great weekend of celebrating our little Teya. Happy Birthday to my sweet girl! We are so blessed to have her in our family : )

1 year, 16 Teeth, and Two visits to the Emergency Room

Our little Cam man turned 1 year old last Friday.

He loves his bottle, soft blankets, giggling at his sisters and wreaking havoc around the house (i.e.  unrolling all the toilet paper, pulling out all the DVD's, pulling things out of cupboards and off of shelves, you know, typical 1 year old mayhem. : )

 He is busy busy busy. He army crawls so fast it looks like he's swimming across the floor. He's not walking but he pulls up on everything he can get his hands on, and knows how to climb up and down the stairs like a champ.

One of his big accomplishments this year was sprouting 16 teeth in 12 months.  8 on the top, 8 on the bottom, including 4 molars. Made for some rough nights and lots of drool, but I sure love that toothy little grin.

Despite all those pearly white chompers he still prefers mostly soft food. Baby food, yogurt, canned peas, canned green beans, bananas, mushy sweet potatoes and oatmeal are his go to favorites.

He is really, really, ridiculously good looking (gets it from his Dad) and even though he has yet to say any formal words, he fills the house with his adorable low belly laugh.

Besides sprouting lots of teeth and learning to climb and crawl, Cam has also given us a couple of scares this year. In September he had a febrile seizure that landed him in the hospital for 3 days.  Our doctor told us that from now on we'd have to watch him because a spike in fever, or a high fever over a sustained period of time could trigger another seizure.

We experienced that today when his fever spiked and his whole body began to tremble and seize. His lips and fingers turned blue and his skin became blotchy. I called 9-1-1 but this time I was able to stay calm (for the most part) and hold it together until the paramedics arrived. Cam's seizure lasted around 5 minutes but he didn't lose conciousness. He did throw up in the ambulance from the high fever and when we arrived at the ER his temperature was 106.

It was very hard to see our sweet little man in such a scary condition. Thankfully the doctors were able to get the fever down by layering Motrin with prescription Tylenol with codeine. They also discovered the cause of the fever, a double ear infection, and took care of that with a shot of antibiotics.

After 3 hours in the ER we brought our sweet guy home and he is doing much much better. I have an appointment with his pediatrician tomorrow and hopefully I can find out more about what we can do to prevent these seizures and also how best to handle them when they happen.

The good news is he's home and on the mend. It's been an eventful but wonderful 12 months, and now I'll end with a few cute pictures from last Friday's birthday celebration:

Didn't take him long to snatch the whole cake and ram it in his mouth.

Baby likes the Cakey

Happy Birthday little Cam!! Thanks for bringing so much happiness into our home!

Turks and Caicos final post: church, birthday cake and other randoms...

Okay, last Turks and Caicos post! Just wanted to throw in a few more random things:

First of all, the city we were in was called Providenciales but everyone called it Provo. We landed at the Provo airport and I was like, "Yeah! I'm a Provo girl!" I had to take a pic in this Provo hat to give a shout out to my hometown. Provo, UT may not be as exotic as Provo Turks and Caicos but I love it just the same :  )

Our second day on the island was Sunday so we needed to find a place to go to church. After a little research we found there was a branch of our church on the island and that they met less than a 10 minute walk from our hotel! We were so excited!

 It was a tiny branch and the meetings were translated into Creole since half the congregation didn't speak English. It was fast and testimony meeting so I got up to bear my testimony and it was funny having a translator because when I told I joke, half of the congregation laughed after the punchline, and the other half laughed a minute later once they got the translation ; ) The members were so warm and welcoming and we ended up staying for all 3 hours.  Then they invited us to a fireside on Wednesday night that a General authority was coming to speak at. We figured why not? We don't have any plans!

So Wednesday night rolled around and I think people were a little surprised that we actually showed up ; ) This is brother Willy, he is a new convert and was just full of excitement for the gospel. When he saw us again he said in a thick Creole accent, "I'm glad you are here! You are my bruddah and my sistah!"

I love that he said that because that's really how we felt. We had read a scripture in Sunday school from Ephesians 2:19 that said, "ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." It applied so perfectly because when we came to the island we were literally foreigners and strangers, but once we walked into the church we were fellow citizens, "brothers and sisters" and it was just amazing to know we have that connection everywhere we go.

After the fireside we swapped emails with a few people and on Friday one of the guys emailed Taber to see if he wanted to come play basketball. We were going out for my birthday dinner but decided we could stop by the court since it was close to our restaurant.  They ended up playing for close to an hour while I chatted with one of the wives who is from Canada, has two small kids and loves to run. We had plenty to talk about : )

When we left to go to the restaurant we bumped into another lady from church who said, "Oh my goodness! We've seen you guys so much if you stay for another week they're going to give you a calling!" I laughed but I totally would've taken one if they offered it. It's crazy how you can feel so connected to a ward after just one week.

 That night we celebrated my birthday and our last night on the island with some good eats and chocolate cake.

The next morning we spent a few more hours on the beach before we had to pack up and head to the airport. We were pretty sad to leave.

But I stopped being sad when I got home and was greeted with more birthday celebrations and the 3 cutest kids in the world.  It's hard to feel blue when you get a homecoming like that : )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TABER!!!!

Today is Taber's birthday and I'm so happy I can dedicate a post to him to let him know how happy I am that he was born! I think I will follow his lead from my birthday and do a list of the top 10 reasons I love my birthday boy!

1) He makes me feel safe. I'm definitely one of those girls who likes the "protective-take care of your woman type "and that is Taber! He's always looking out for me, making sure I'm warm if it's cold out, safe when I'm running, comfortable when I'm sick and rested if I'm tired.

2) He is an awesome cheerleader! Whether I'm running a race, giving birth, or just trying to overcome a daily challenge he is right there cheering me on and supporting me all the way.

3) He is a such a hard worker! He works so hard to support our family and it means the world to me that I can stay home with our kids thanks to him. Yesterday I was sitting on the grass in the warm sun, watching the girls play and enjoying the beautiful afternoon. In that lovely moment I thought of Taber, who was at work, missing out on that moment so I didn't have to. His sacrifice for our family does not go unnoticed and I'm so grateful for all he does to support us.

4) He is calm and patient, a great quality for a guy who lives with three emotional girls!

5) He is such a good Dad. I love that he jumps right in when he gets home and really plays with them. Watching him read them stories, give them piggy back rides and play chase around the house makes me happier than anything :)

6) He is smart with money and good at budgeting. Thank goodness because I'm terrible at it! I'm so glad he's helped me in that area so we can make wise financial decisions for our family.

7) He laughs at my jokes. Even if I'm not that funny, he makes me feel like I've still got it : )

8) He never questions how I spend my time, even on the days I'm not as productive as I should be. : )

9)He has a strong testimony and leads our family with faith.

10) He is generous with his compliments and is so good at making me feel beautiful and appreciated!

Happy birthday my love!

This is your 9th birthday we've celebrated together since we've been married. In honor of your special day I thought it would be fun to find pics from the 8 previous celebrations. It was tricky since our computer blew up back in 2007 and we lost a lot of old pictures. I was able scan a few in though so here's what I came up with, minus your 25th birthday which I could not find evidence of anywhere! (sorry babe!)

24th: Provo, Utah. 4 months after we got married.

25th: Provo, Utah. A week before we graduated from BYU

26th: Moorpark, California. Got you a boogie board and wet suit. Too bad we haven't been able to use those in a LONG time!

27th: Moorpark, California, getting ready to go back to Utah for Grad school (hence the BYU sweatshirt present)

28th: Orem UT. 7 weeks after you became a Dad!

29th: Orem, UT. Same week you graduated from Business School

30th: Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The one and only time I was able to convince you to let me throw you a big bash! Brinley was still just a bun in the oven.

31st: Maple Grove, Minnesota. Cozy family party followed by a hot date at Granite City Restaurant.

32nd!!: Nashua, New Hampshire. Today and the rest of the weekend are dedicated to you! Happy birthday! Love you babe!