Halloween Festivities!

This year we had a very busy Halloween with 4 costume events to attend before actually going trick-or-treating! We had our trunk or treat at the church, a General Mills Halloween party, a playgroup party, and a preschool party. Teya was way excited about her pirate outfit on the first night she wore it. By the time her preschool party rolled around however she was OVER it! I managed to wrestle her into it for school, but on Halloween night, as you will shortly see, she had her own plan in mind. Here is a little recap though of some of our Halloween festivities!

Teya got to bring one of her really good friends, Maddie, to the General Mills party. This was the day after our trunk or treat so she was still pretty cool with the pirate costume. The party was held at the headquarters and there were tons of neat booths, games, treats, and activities for the kids. Teya enjoyed the candy and the chaos, but she had more fun just running around and chasing her friend.

Brinley traded out her monkey costume for a bunny just to keep things fresh. Maddie was a bunny too so we had to take a bunny picture.

They had a costume parade lead by Count Chocula and Franken Berry

All in all the General Mills party was a huge success, Teya had a great time, collected more candy for mom, and still got home in time for a nap!

Another part of our Halloween festivities included pumpkin painting. We carved pumpkins last year, but Teya couldn't really be involved with that. This year we thought painting would be more hands on, although it got a little more hands on than we intended. What can you do? She's a two year old!

When Halloween finally rolled around Teya simply would not put on her pirate costume. Luckily Grandma Rigg had bought matching monkey suits for the girls so Teya had a back up plan. We thought it would be cute if they were both Monkeys but Teya wanted the monkey spotlight to herself so Brinley went as a bunny. We went trick-or-treating with Teya's two best girlfriends and their families. Teya enjoyed herself but after two or three houses she just wanted to sit down and eat her candy. After every house she would say, " I eat this now?" When we got home I think she had more candy in her tummy than her bag, but she had fun and at the end of the day, that's what counts right?

Monkey Teya with her bunny and fairy friends

Weekend Visitors

For the past three weeks our guest bedroom has pretty much had a revolving door! First Taber's parent's and my dad, then my little sister Naomi, and just this past weekend my youngest sister Liz. It's been awesome having family in town because as I've said before, it makes us get out and do things we normally wouldn't do.

On Saturday night Taber graciously offered to be on kid duty so Liz and I could have a girls night out. We hit the Mall of America and played a round of mini-golf. We were behind a big group of people that was really slow, so we spent our down time taking goofy pictures. Liz is 8 years younger than me and definitely brings out my younger silly side. We were laughing so hard with our lame poses, we even changed outfits at one point. I totally kicked her trash on the golf course, but she definitely kicked mine in the "modeling" department!

On Monday night Taber's boss hooked us up with some sweet tickets to an NHL Hockey game. When we told Teya we were going to a hockey game she kind of got confused. She likes to put a "Y" at the end of words, like cold-y and snack-y etc... So when we told her we were going to see a hockey game she said, "Oh! I like see the squirrel and the hawk-ys and the birdies!" It was pretty funny. At the game though she really got into it. She was leaning over the edge and yelling to the players "come on guys! it's okay, get the ball!"

Teya was too hyper to be in this picture

Rigg fam with Liz at the Minnesota Wild Hockey Game

Teya got to meet Nordy the Mascot and as you can tell from her face, was pretty thrilled.
Besides having a great weekend with Liz, we also had another fun surprise visitor pop in! Taber's best friend since 2nd grade was going on a business trip Saturday and had a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis! We were so excited we drove down to the airport, picked him up, and took him over to the Mall of America for dinner and roller coasters! If anyone ever has a layover in Minneapolis, call us!! the Mall of America is right by the airport and it sure beats sitting in a terminal eating peanuts!

Taber, me, Brinley and Nate (thank you Liz for being our camera girl!)

Taber and Nate after conquering the Sponge Bob roller coaster

So this morning I took Liz back to the airport and although it was tons of fun having all our visitors, we're pretty excited to have our house back and to get back into a normal routine! Thanks again to everyone who came out! We love you guys!

Good-bye Orange Jumpsuit and Ahoy Pirate Riggs!

When I started dating Taber he wore an orange jumpsuit to a Halloween dance we went to. I thought it was a pretty cool costume at the time but after 7 Halloweens together with him wearing that SAME orange jumpsuit, it has officially lost it's coolness factor. Here are a few examples of Taber in his favorite Halloween costume:

This year I wanted to do something different, so after Teya decided she wanted to be a pirate, I jumped on the opportunity to ditch the orange jumpsuit for some pirate garb! I must say, I was very excited to see Taber in an actual costume, and it was fun to get the whole family in on the theme. We couldn't find a pirate outfit for Brinley so she is the ship's monkey. Our dog Monty was in on it though and he looked quite dashing in his pirate gear.

Pirate Riggs with captain Teya in the center (very true to real life)

Our little Monkey Baby

Poor Monty wasn't thrilled to be dressed up

So last night was our church's Trunk-or-Treat and it was extra fun because my baby sister Liz flew in yesterday to join in on the party! I think I'm the luckiest girl ever to have so much family come and visit me! Sure makes living far away a lot more bearable! Liz looked beautiful in my Grandma Uda's Kimono.

Here are some fun pics from the Trunk-or-Treat. One of my friends and her husband dressed up as Dora and Diego (bottom right of the collage) Teya of course was thrilled! She totally has a crush on Diego so it was cute when after it was over and we were in the car she said, "where Did Diego go?"

Teya loading up on goodies.

(sidenote: I love Minnesota but I definitely miss Halloween in Tennessee where you can actually see people's costumes outside because they don't have to cover up with a coat!)

A Great Week Comes to an End

Today I dropped my sister Naomi off at the airport to go back home after spending a wonderful week together. Omi is only 2 years younger than me and as a result we have always been very close. It was so much fun having her out here with her little daughter Booklyn and seeing what an awesome mom she is. She may be younger than me but I've always looked up to her and this week was no different as I learned a lot things about parenting from my little sis. She is beautiful inside and out and we will all miss her wonderful spirit in our home! Here are a few of the pics from our week together. Teya and Brinley loved having their cousin Brooklyn around to play with. She is almost 9 months old and the most mobile little thing I have ever seen! She also loves to make happy noises and Teya would laugh her head off at Brooklyn's enthusiastic "Woo Woo Wooing"

Enjoying the leaves at Weaver Lake

Naomi got to join me for "Super Saturday" at our church where we sewed little "I Spy Bags" and made designer wipe cases. I haven't touched a sewing machine since I failed my 7th grade sewing class so I was glad to have Naomi there to guide me through.

While she was here we got to take a tour of Taber's work at the General Mills World Headquarters. I took my dad there before he left so I threw in some pictures with him too. Taber's work is so cool because they have an on site fitness center, hair salon, General Mills grocery store, dental hygienist, pharmacist, concierge, gas station, oil changing place, you name it! We grabbed some cool Wheaties and Lucky Charms shirts at the gift shop but forgot to take our pictures in them!

Over the weekend we went back to the Mall of America but this time Taber and Teya were there. Teya had a great time on all the rides and even got to see her favorite person ever, Dora the Explorer! We ate at the rainforest cafe again and Teya got her picture with the tree frog.

And yesterday we went back to the Mall of America one last time to hit their underground aquarium. There were sharks and sea turtles and all kinds of awesome fish. Teya and Brooklyn got to touch some sting rays and they were both pretty impressed.
So that is about it for our time with Omi and Brooklyn. Thanks for coming out Omi and thank you to her husband Kevin for graciously letting me have both of your girls for so long!

Sight Seeing!

One of the cool things about having family in town is that it makes us get out and see the sights where we live! Before my dad left he wanted to go see the Mall of America, which is the biggest mall in the U.S. I've heard it takes like 4 days just to walk through the whole thing! It even has an amusement park with full on roller coasters right in the middle. We didn't have a lot of time with nap schedules to keep, but my dad was totally impressed with the indoor roller coasters and completely satisfied just to have his picture taken in front of the Mall of America sign.

The theme park was Nickelodean Universe. We actually didn't bring Teya (she had a play date) but I'll for sure have to bring her back to ride all the Dora and Diego rides!

After scoping out the park we ate at the Rainforest Cafe inside the mall. They put us right in front of a huge fish tank and Brinley and Brooklyn were mesmerized.

Our waitress asked us if we were twins. I guess I do look like the shorter version of my little sister. : )

So the Mall was on Monday. Then yesterday we went back downtown to St. Paul with some of my friends where they have this AMAZING chidlren's museum. Teya was so excited to be there with her two best girlfriends. And one of my friends has a little boy Brooklyn's age so even she had a little buddy. It was a little chaotic because two elementary schools were on field trips there, but the kids had a blast and were totally worn out when we got home. What more could we ask for?

Fun with Family

So this past weekend was a ton of fun with Taber's parents and my Dad and sister in town. Taber's parents got in on Friday night so on Saturday we took them to our favorite apple farm. The Riggs had a great time and we got a whole new giant bag of honey crisp apples. YUM! Teya had a great time with with the grandparents and Brinley mostly just slept in her Snugli.

Brinley was so funny zonked out in the Snugli!

Later that day my dad and sister flew in so I picked them up and we all went to Weaver Lake park to hang out and have dinner.

Papa Rigg embracing his inner child on the swings

Teya wanted us to push her high "like a bird"

It's been so fun having Naomi and Brooklyn here! Brooklyn is such a darling little girl and I'm loving getting to see her personality at this fun stage!

Could there be anything cuter?

We ate Famous Dave's BBQ at the park and it was AWESOME!

Yes, that's BBQ sauce on Brinley's blanket. She loves BBQ too : )

When we got home our Dad's were really anxious to watch the BYU game so while we got the kids ready for bed they went downstairs to watch it. I guess they wore themselves out during the day though because when I went back downstairs this is what I saw.

My Dad and the Riggs took off on Monday but Naomi will be here for another week! Yippee! We've already done some pretty fun stuff so be expecting some more fun posts to come shortly!

Baby Blessing

Today was Brinley's baby blessing. We were so fortunate to have Taber's parents, my dad, and my sister come out for it. The last few days have been awesome having so much family in town! We have a pretty full house, but it's been worth it to see Teya with her grandparents and also interact with her cousin Brooklyn. More pictures to come of all our fun with family, but here are a few choice ones from her blessing day.

Smiley Brinley

Seriously, this is one happy baby!

Proud parents

Taber with his mom and dad

Dad Uda, Naomi & Brooklyn, Me & Brinley, Taber & Teya, Mama Rigg, Papa Rigg

Twilleys

About 6 months ago Teya started making up words and one of them was Twilley. We have no idea where it came from and we had no idea what it meant until she started cupping her hands and petting her "twilley"

Through Teya's vivid imagination Twilleys have now become common place in our household. By observing Teya and her Twilleys we have learned that they are furry, can fly and are very small. Most recently she likes to throw them at our faces so they can cover our eyes. We get a kick out of watching her interact with these imaginary friends and play along by petting the twilleys, catching them in the air, and keeping them for her in our pockets.

Here's a little video of Twilleys in action. We went back to the apple farm this weekend and while we were there Teya suddenly lost interest in her surroundings and started chasing Twilleys.


Twilley from Taber Rigg on Vimeo.