Since my camera is broken...

I thought I'd do a random post on some of the pics I took before it's demise. Here's our little update:

the weather has been nicer, fickle at times, but we packed away our winter coats and haven't had to get them out again, so that's good!

On a particularly sunny day we played in our front "yard" (aka patch of grass) and did side walk chalk in our drive way. It was a little bit windy and Brinley got a kick out of having her face blown in constantly.


With the good weather that means more running outside! Taber has done a couple runs with Teya in the jogging stroller and her reward for staying in and not complaining is a stop at the park! She is a huge fan of that deal!
And speaking of running outside, we are getting pumped about starting running season! This Saturday we have a 5K, in two weeks is our half marathon and we have some more big races in June and August. (more on those in another post I'm sure) Here's a fabulous picture of me looking oh so lovely after my first double digit run. We did an 11 miler and even though I looked pretty bad after I felt like I needed my picture taken to document that important moment in history. : )
Another fun thing we did a couple weekends ago was hit a Twins game in downtown Minneapolis. Taber got 4 tickets from work so we packed up the kiddos and headed out for some fun family time.

Outside the stadium (notice we are wearing short sleeves! Yippee!!!)

Everyone around us was thoroughly entertained by Teya and Brinley. At one point they started playing that "Do a little dance, get down tonight" song and Teya got up on the stairs and starting shaking her little hips like she meant business! Everyone was cracking up! The girls expired during the 7th inning but apparently after we left the Twins scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to come back and win the game. We were bummed we missed it but the truth is, the girls had fun so that's what counts!

Birthday Celebrations!

For Taber's birthday my friend Jacey did one of the sweetest things I could possibly think of. Not only did she volunteer to watch our kids so we could go out on a date (and keep in mind, she already has four kids of her own), but she also insisted on bringing them back to our house at bedtime, putting them to bed and staying with them so we could stay out as late as we wanted!! There are not words to describe how overwhelmingly grateful we felt for her wonderful service. Because of her we were able to go out to a fabulous restaurant, go see a movie, and then go to another restaurant afterward for dessert! All without worrying about the kids. HOW COOL IS THAT?! So yes, thank you Jacey, you have no idea how much that meant to us!

Here are some restaurant pics. Buffalo shrimp, Brushetta Salad and a fat juicy steak. Doesn't get much better than that! (yeah, I'm a foodie, can you tell?)

The next day we had a little family celebration with the girls. Teya insisted that Daddy have a Deigo party So we made some Diego cupcakes, blew up some balloons and put up some birthday signs around the house. Unfortunately, right before the party Teya was taking some pictures of her handy decorating work and dropped the camera on the hard kitchen floor, resulting in a smashed up and non-functioning camera. : ( So all I have is this picture from my phone. I guess Taber will be getting one more present for his birthday, a new camera : )

Happy Birthday Taber!

Happy Birthday Taber! The world is definitely a better place with you in it! I'm so glad you were born because I can't imagine how incomplete my life would be without you! In honor of your birthday here is a list of my top ten reasons I'm glad you came into this world!

1) You laugh at all my lame jokes.
2) You encourage me to reach for the stars, and make me feel like I can do anything!
3) You are an amazing hands on father with our girls.

4) You have an incredible work ethic and do an amazing job of supporting our family.
5) You honor your priesthood and through your example bring the spirit into our home.
6) You tell me I'm beautiful, even when I'm nine months pregnant and haven't showered for 3 days.

7) Instead of finding reasons why we can't do things, you always look for ways that we can.
8) You never talk bad about anyone and are such a positive person to be around.
9) You are an excellent listener, even when I'm rambling about obnoxious topics like teenage vampires named Edward ; )
10) You are the best friend I could ever ask for and are ALWAYS there when I need you.
Happy Birthday Babe! Love your ever adoring wife, Becca.

Photography done by the amazing Laurel Hogge at Laurelphotography.com

9 month update

Nicknames:
-Brinns (Teya calls her this the most and we've picked it up too)
-Brinster
-Cookie
-Munchkie

9 Month Stats:
Weight 18 lb 2 oz: 34th percentile
Height 26 1/2 inches: 14th percentile (she's a shrimp like her mom :)


What she's up to:
-Still no hand and feet crawling but this little girl is the inchworm of speed. She can get anywhere she wants (and pretty quickly) with her wormy skills.
-She can pull up on things and especially loves to pull up on the stairs and Teya's kitchen stool.
-She's eating more solids and her favorites include bananas, peas, Cheerios and pumpkin bread.
-Drinking out of sippy cup all by herself
-Feeding herself with a spoon (VERY messy but she's pretty decent at it)

First words:
-Dada (her favorite word, she says it all day long but especially when she see her daddy)
-Mama
-Dah (dog)
-Uh Oh! (Said every time she throws her spoon down during a feeding)

New Temperment:
She is still as sweet and happy as ever but she's definitely getting a little more attitude as she gets older. She has a little fake cry that she's pulled out a couple times when we've taken something away. Guess they learn these things young!

Love this girl and love all the new fun things she's up to! I'll try to get some video up for the Grandma's and Grandpa's soon!

Happy Belated Easter

Our Easter was a little bit scattered this year because we were traveling the day before and didn't get in till late Saturday night. Still we managed to at least get the girls Easter baskets and then were lucky enough to be invited over for Easter dinner and an Egg hunt with some friends.

Teya exploring the goodies in her Easter basket

Brinley sitting with her goodies

We didn't actually let her eat the candy but she sure loved playing with it!

Love the raggy orphan hair

Here are some of the pics from our Egg hunt with the Ayllons. I love the first pic because it shows how excited Teya was.

Pink Eye, Uda Time and Mini High School Reunion

Pink Eye:
Half way through our trip Brinley woke up with her eye swollen shut and full of green gunk. (you can't really tell in this picture but her eye was nasty!) I was all panicky since we were hundreds of miles away from our regular Doctor. My mom saved the day though and scheduled us an appt. with her trusted family Doctor.
What was even cooler, my mom called me later in the day and said she would meet me at the Doctor's office so she could be there for moral support. I haven't lived in the same state as my family for the majority of our married life so getting that kind of support was huge! I love my mom!!!
Brinley was a champ at the Doctor's office. He diagnosed her with Peri orbital cellulitus (sp?) and said she was going to need a shot and a 10 day dose of antibiotics.
Luckily Brinley has some killer juicy thighs to obsorb shots. She only cried for a minute and then got lots of Grandma loves to make her feel better. The shot worked wonders and by the next day her eye was almost 100% better! Gotta love modern Medicine!
Uda Time!
Most people who know the Uda's know our mild mannered pleasant side. But when we get together, our wacky alter egos come out.

From left to right: Becca, Sarah, Liz, Mom, Rachel, Jake
These are just a FEW of the many funky faced shots we took while hanging out. One of the many reason I love my crazy family : )

We also hit the Bean Museum and Los Hermanos with my family. Bean Museum is always a favorite with the kids and Los is a Utah staple that we can't miss eating at.

Mini High School Reunion!

This year is my 10 year high school reunion (Class of 99!!) but since I'm not going to be able to fly out this summer I decided to throw together a mini-reunion with some of my old friends. My mom made a delicious Hawaiian spread with all the classics and my friends brought plenty of sides and desserts. We even rented a bounce house for the kids to burn off energy.

It was so good seeing my friends and how they've all grown up into such accomplished and wonderful people! It was also crazy seeing all of our kids together. I know I'm getting older but are me and my high school friends seriously parents? Weird!!

Anyway, so that is the final summary of our time in Utah. Thank you to all our family and friends for making our trip so memorable! We love you guys!!

Adventures in Utah

We've still got three more days to go of our super packed trip to Utah but I thought I'd try to get up a post to summarize some of our adventures.

The flight was pretty successful. I flew out by myself with the girls a day early but it wasn't too bad thanks to movies on my iPod, lots of kids snacks, markers, crayons, stickers, and of course, Teya's cursed binky. Why is it that my baby doesn't need a binky on the airplane but my three year old does?

The next day we had a super Alaska Friends Rendezvous. Taber's brother Brett drove in from Arizona with his wife CJ and their 4 kids, his partner in crime and best buddy since 2nd grade Nathan came out from Michigan with his wife Laurel and their 3 kids, and his best man from our wedding Dave (another AK friend) and his wife Jodi who live in Utah all joined us for a night of Brazillian food at Tucanos. It was so much fun catching up with old friends. And Best of all, we had the night kid free thanks to my AMAZING sister who was kind enough to watch our TEN kids while we went out : ) She is a saint!

Sarah holding down the fort with all of our kids

The next day Taber's parents came in from Colorado and took us (and our many children) out to lunch where me, my sister in law CJ and my "sister friend" Laurel hooked it up with some awesome desserts! Then we herded the crew over to the Kangaroo Zoo. (bounce house haven) The kids went nuts and burned up a lot of energy.

Grandma Rigg ran around with the kids while Grandpa took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on some sleep. ; )On Sunday Taber's family and friends took off and we spent some time with the Uda family. My Mom made some Kaulua pig, Teriyaki Chicken, Chicken long rice and some awesome desserts (including her world famous fudge!) Between Tucanos and my mom's cooking I've probably eaten enough to feed a family of 10 for a month. So worth it though!

It's been especially fun seeing my youngest siblings Jake and Liz who are the only kids not married yet so I can relish all the juicy details of their dating lives. Liz's boyfriend was actually visiting from CA for the weekend so I got to meet him and see in person how head over heels he is for my sister. Ah young love! Jake also has some good prospects so I've been giving him all the tips an old married lady can give ; )

Yesterday we took the kids to Thanksgiving point to ride the ponies and feed the goats. Teya had a blast with her cousins and watching her a little piece of my heart ached knowing that in 3 days I have to take her away from them. : ( Thank goodness we have such great friends in MN to ease the pain of living far away from family!


Anyway, that's a little bit of what we've been up to in Utah. Stay tuned for more to come...

Piggies!

Brinley's hair is finally long enough for pig tails!
This is a big moment at our house.
Now we have two little Riggies in Piggies!

Our little Sunshine

How can I not be happy with this pint sized ray of sunshine living in my house? Brinley is almost 9 months and her personality remains cheerful and sweet as ever. Here's an update on the latest and greatest with little miss happy : )
Since January 27th She has had back to back ear infections. She was treated with antibiotics for three of them. She finally broke the chain last week and escaped having to get tubes put in her ears! Despite some night wakings she has still been remarkably pleasant through all this.

If the earaches weren't enough, she has also finally decided to break her first tooth! (better late than never right?) Teething has brought out her drooly slobbery side and we see a lot more of her tongue but it's good to know that she does indeed have teeth under those gums.

She's not crawling yet, at least in the traditional way. She is quite capable of getting anywhere she wants with her super inchworm skills, but she just kind of likes to take her time inching from place to place and I guess doesn't feel hurried enough to actually crawl. She does great in the tub though and takes baths regularly with Teya. In fact, Teya now refers to the right side of the tub as Brinley's side.
Her hair is really starting to come in on the top and it's totally out of control! Even when I wet it and comb it down it still ends up spiked out in several places.

And finally, she LOVES music and will "dance" anytime she hears a song with a beat. When she's sitting up the dance consists of her rocking back and forth and side to side with a big smile on her face. When she's on all fours she rocks on her hands and knees till she gets tired and then collapses to the floor and does the floor rock 'em dance (see video) It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Anyway, here's a little clip to demonstrate some of her moves. Enjoy!