A Visit from Grandma Karen

Last week Grandma Karen flew in from Colorado for a quick visit over the 4th of July weekend.

The girls were pretty excited to wake up and see their Grandma at the table with brand new coloring books.

Since it was a sunny day we decided to brave the holiday traffic and go to the beach. It took us 2 hours instead of the usual 1. Totally worth it : )

 The girls showed Grandma all the best ways to dig in the sand.

 And Koa enjoyed his new upgraded beach tent. 

(side note, little chub chub has lots of names but lately we've been calling him Koa, short for his middle name Kekoa, and it's kind of starting to stick. Anyway, just in case you were wondering who the heck Koa is, now you know : )

I took a similar picture to this last year. Brinley's a little bigger but still loves being tossed up by daddy.

This picture just makes me smile. Kids + beach = happiness

3 Generations

A lot of people think Karen is my Mom when they meet her.

 I think I could pass for her daughter ; ) 

Sand Mermaids

Warming up in the beach chairs.

It was the perfect day with Grandma and I'm so grateful we had that time together. 

Sadly her trip was cut short when we came home from the beach and found that Taber's Dad had been in a serious horseback riding accident that left him in the hospital with 6 broken ribs. It was really scary and Mama Karen made arrangements to be on the next available flight to be with him.

Before she left she gave the girls each their own special book and sat down and read with them. They are so lucky to have such a special Grandma.

Papa Rigg is out of the hospital now and at home recovering. The ribs will take awhile to heal but we're just glad Mama Karen was able to get back there and be by his side during a tough time.  

Even though her visit was short, we were able to make fun memories and enjoyed every last minute she was here. We love you Grandma Karen! Thanks for coming to see us!

A Rigg Ranch Thanksgiving

We were very fortunate to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with Taber's family at their ranch near Grand Junction Colorado. Their property is just off the Colorado river and they have a little lake stocked with trout right in their back yard. Behind them stands the Colorado National Monument, a beautiful backdrop of plateaus and canyons. It is one of the most breathtaking and serene places to be. Before this trip we hadn't been back there in two years. It was so nice going back and introducing Teya and Brinley to such a beautiful part of the country.

For weeks before we went out all Teya talked about was riding Grandma's horsey Ben. It didn't take long before she was up in the saddle.

Brinley got to sit in Big Ben's saddle too and even took a brief little ride with Grandma. Her favorite thing though was just petting the horses and feeding them grass. She called the horse "buddy" because that's what she calls Monty and I guess horses and dogs are the same to her. Anyway, it was cute to hear her say, "Er-go Buddy," every time she fed him a bite.

Here are some more horse shots from a different day. You can see the monument in the background. Gorgeous. Teya and her cousin Sklya got to ride with Grandma this time.

Taber's brother Brett and his wife CJ came in from Arizona to be with us. They have 4 cute kids and Teya and Brinley loved being around their cousins. Here are some shots with Aunt CJ and River on Ben, and the 3 boys, Landon, Paker and River on Mindy.


Besides riding horses the other main attraction was fishing. I think I saw Taber out in that fishing boat more than anywhere else the entire trip. First thing in the morning and the last thing before the sun went down was fishing. He helped Teya catch her first fish and she was pretty proud of herself.

Here's Taber with the girls and his parents on one of their many fishing excursions.

Teya and Skyla getting ready to go out in the boat.

Some of our fine catches.
I even caught one once Taber let me use the lucky fishing pole.

And Brett and his boys on a walk down to the Colorado river.

At night we stayed busy too. One night we built a fire and sang songs and roasted s'mores. Another night we set off a pretty impressive display of fireworks. And one night we just jumped around and took funny airborne pictures. It doesn't really take much to keep us entertained : )

On Thanksgiving morning Taber and I went into town to run a Turkey Trot 5K. He beat me by 9 seconds but I set a new PR and finished 10th out of 77 in my age division so I was happy : ). It was a nice way to prepare for the feasting ahead!

For the big Thanksgiving dinner we went to Taber's older brother Jeff and Kathy's house. Kathy made an amazing meal and in true Thanksgiving fashion, we all ate way more than we should. My camera actually died at this point so here are some pics from Mama Rigg's camera of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins!

The rest of the vacation was filled with black Friday shopping, visit to the dinosaur museum, birthday celebration for Papa Rigg, game nights, tractor rides, and of course more fishing. On Thanksgiving there are so many things I am thankful for, but most of all I'm thankful for family. I only wish we lived closer so we could see them more! Here are a few more of my favorites with Teya's cousins.

Teya and Skyla. 4 years apart but total best buddies just the same.

Parker and Landon. Both as sweet as they are good looking.

All the Grandkids on Papa's tractor. We sure will miss seeing these cute faces!

Wolf Girls...and Dad

Why do I love Twilight? Same reason I like junk food. It's good, it's addictive, and it's fun to enjoy with other people. Nothing wrong with a little junk food every now and then. Moderation in all things right?

While I was in Utah last week I indulged in a little New Moon brain candy with my mom, two of my sisters and our friend Kristen. We all wore Wolf Girl shirts, even my mom because she's awesome like that.

Somehow my Dad ended up joining our girls night out. He made some excuse about how he never sees Mom and something about date nights and blah blah blah... We all know he's big time team Jacob. Just own it Dad. Own it.

We got to the theater an hour early so we could have the perfect seats. It was actually great that Dad was there because then he could take pictures for us. And since I am me, I made him take a lot of pictures. I guess everyone was making weirdo faces in the other ones though so here's one with everyone normal (except for me, but I was pretty excited that night I guess this one works.)

So I have to say, I totally loved the movie. I thought it was TONS better than the first one, and I loved that one too. So yeah, I was pretty happy. Acting, script, makeup, all of it was better. Yes there were some laugh out loud cheesy moments (flash forward of Bella and Edward the bohemian vampires running through the forest, hilarious!) But I thought the Wolves were awesome and the Volturi were exactly how I imagined them. The Facepunch movie scene was SO funny and the Edward, Jacob, Bella love triangle was well played. Great movie, great night, and everyone had fun (especially my Dad : )

Coming Home

Last week Taber was recruiting from the MBA school at BYU. I can't stand for him to go to Utah without me so the girls and I bought some tickets and tagged along on the trip. I have a lot of great memories, wonderful family and many friends in Utah. Every time I go back a little piece of me wishes I could stay, but we love our lives in Minnesota and I couldn't imagine giving that up either. So I guess as long as I can visit a couple times a year I'll be content. : )

I came out a few days early with the girls and thankfully they did really well on the plane. It also helped to have the fabulous Sit and Stand stroller that can double as a Smart Cart for all our luggage. : ) Here are some of the highlights from our trip:

1)Teya and Brinley getting to play with their cousins. They were in kiddie heaven with all the cousins around and the endless entertainment they provided.


2) Meeting my niece Malia for the first time. She was born 5 weeks early in June but didn't spend one day in the NICU because she was already so healthy and strong. She's such a sweet little miracle baby.

3) Watching the kids jump on the tramp with their uncle Tau. He's a pretty big guy so you can imagine the air they got when he bounced around.

4) Taking my mom out for her 52nd birthday. We went to a great Japanese restaurant and had such a nice time chatting and catching up without the kids. Thanks to all those who pitched in to babysit!

5) Going to Living Legends rehearsal and participating in the devotional. My little brother is now the president of Living Legends so it was fun to see him in action and also to catch up with our wonderful director Janielle who we hadn't seen in almost 5 years!

6) Hanging out with old friends. We got to see a few of our friends while we were there (although there were many people we didn't get to see and hope to catch up with next time!) Joseph, one of my best friends from high school, and his sweet wife Melinda, who is pretty much like a professional chef, not only made us an amazing dinner and unbelievably delicious dessert, But they also hooked us up with tickets to the BYU game! Yeah, we love them. : )

7) Which brings us to the next highlight, Going to a Cougars game with some other great friends, Dave and Jodi! Dave and Taber grew up together in Alaska so we've known these guys for a long time. It ended up being one of those "guys night out/girls night out/couples dates" all in one which are pretty much my favorites : ) Good times, good company, and the cougs won!


8) Getting to hang out with Mama and Papa Rigg. Taber's parents live about four hours away in Grand Junction so whenever we go to Utah they drive out to say hello. The girls had so much fun swimming with Grandma Karen at the hotel, and Teya got to show off some of her new swimming skills which I'm happy to say she still has! We also went out to eat at Los Hermanos and relived some good memories of my days as a waitress there : ) (Had to include the classic picture of Papa Rigg taking one of his infamous cat naps ; )

Last night we came home and Teya cried and cried when we left. She kept saying, "I don't wanna go to Minnesota, I want to stay in UTAH!!!" (Which is actually kind of funny because the first night we were there she cried and cried saying the exact opposite! : ) She's happy to be back home now although she keeps telling me that we need to go back to Utah in two weeks. Not sure about two weeks, but I'm sure we'll be back again soon : )

Salt of the Earth

I'm going to start this post by saying up front that I totally hit the jackpot when it comes to parents. I adore my Mom and Dad. They uplift me, support me, and always make me want to be better. They were able fly out last weekend to watch the girls while we ran our race. In true grandparent fashion, they showed the girls the time of their lives. They had so much fun that when we came back, instead of being greeted with a "Mommy I missed you!" Teya took one look at me, clung to my mom and said, "I don't want Grandma to go bye bye!" Guess I can't blame her really. It's not like I ever take her to the Mall of America and let her ride all the rides, buy her matching bracelets and necklaces or let her pick out her very own slimy tree frog from the Rainforest Cafe. Yeah, I'm definitely not as cool as Grandma. : )

My sister Naomi came out too to help with the kiddos and to support her husband Kevin (who ran with us) at the finish line. There really aren't words to describe how happy it made me to have my parents and sister in town to support us. They are the kind of people that I hope to be. Just good, through and through.

After the race my parents stuck around for a couple days. I loved watching them with the girls and seeing them do all the things I adored as a child. Swinging Teya by both hands through the parking lot, giving her quarters for the gumball machine, singing songs in the car and my Dad's famous "buzzard" tickle finger.

I was also amazed at what a cleaning machine my mom is. I mean, I try to be pretty productive but my mom puts me to shame! For example, after I cook dinner, I'm done. I slaved away making it, I shouldn't have to clean it up right? Not so for my mom. She cooks it, cleans it, then follows us around and as soon as we put our glasses down they are rinsed out and loaded in the dishwasher. I felt like I had this cleaning fairy following me around. I got out of bed then turned around and she had already made it. Threw my clothes in the hamper and two hours later they were washed and folded on my dresser. Wow! the lazy part of me just wants to invite her to move in, but my better side tells me I need to take a cue from my mom and step it up in the cleaning department!

It was also cool being around my Dad. He is the embodiment of the Aloha spirit. He is warm, outgoing, friendly and fun. When we were at church I didn't need to introduce him to anyone. He just went from person to person, introducing himself and making friends. "Hi I'm Becca's Dad!" "How are you? I'm Becca's Dad!" By the end of church I found him in the hall hugging people. Love that guy!
When I was a teenager I was told that my parents were the salt of the earth. At the time I was like, "uh, whatever dude." (forgive me mom and dad, I was a teenager!) Now though I see very clearly that that is what they are. They are good, wholesome, humble, unpretentious, and just always seeking to lift others. I'm so glad my girls got to be around them and have their undivided attention for a few days. I'm also glad I got to be around them and to learn from their examples of how I can be better in every way. Thanks Mom and Dad, you guys are the BEST!