BEYONCE!!!

Last Thursday I got spoiled beyond spoiled by my awesome friend Wendy who hooked it up with Beyonce tickets!!! Her husband got them from work and didn't want to go so it was ladies night out baby!! (And I'm sorry for the multiple exclamation points but 4 days later I still cannot get over how awesome it was so I'm still just a little excited!!!) Beyonce was amazing. Her voice, phenomenal. Her performance, incredible. Her stage presence, out of this world. I went home that night and totally downloaded two of her new songs. Thank you Wendy for a sweet girls night out and thank you Beyonce for coming to Minneapolis!

Me and Wendy trying to channel our inner "Sasha Fierce!"

No ladies night out would be complete without awesome food. Nachos supreme with all the fixins. We were turning heads with those nachos, let me tell you!

When she sang "single ladies" We made sure to change the lyrics to "married ladies" before we put our hands up. ; )

First steps and 12 month stats

Brinley had her 12 month check up yesterday, here are the stats:

Height: 28 inches, 16th percentile
Weight: 20 lb 5 oz, 36th percentile.

She is officially old enough and heavy enough to sit in a front facing car seat but since she's so short she still fits nicely in her rear facing carrier so we'll probably leave her in there as long as she's happy.

She also had yet another ear infection at her appointment but is scheduled to have her eartube surgery next week so we're definitely ready for some relief in that area!

She's saying a few words now, including Mommy, Dada, Eya (Teya) Da (Dog), No, dont! baby, and Mo (more)

Also in the exciting milestone category, she took her first steps yesterday. She's still very wobbly and I'm sure won't really be walking for awhile, but she's on her way. Here's a little clip of some of her first steps.

10 Reasons why last week ROCKED!

Okay, really it all comes down to one reason, Grandma Karen came to stay for the week which means total awesomeness ensued! Here are some of the highlights of her stay with us.

She taught Teya how to play hopscotch and Teya loved it!

We got to go see the sculpture gardens by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Here are a bunch of pics of us by the famous spoon and cherry, one of the most eye popping sculptures in the garden.

Teya actually liked the sculptures and had a great time running around and asking us if the "vultures" were going to eat her stuffed animals.

We also took Grandma to the Mill city museum and learned all about the flour plants that made Minneapolis the largest flour milling city in the nation.

The biscuits just looked too good. : )

Here's the fam at the top of the flour plant.

And one of the biggest highlights was that Grandma watched the girls for 2 1/2 days while Taber and I took a weekend getaway in downtown Minneapolis! While we were gone Teya and Brinley had so much fun with Grandma they didn't even know we were gone.

Here are some pictures that Grandma took while we were away. Stickers, goggles, slides, parks, push toys, bubbles, books, coloring, and abc's are just a few of the things that Granmda used to entertain them .

Meanwhile Taber and I thoroughly enjoyed relaxing on the beaches of Lake Harriet, hitting some great restaurants downtown, bowling, going to the movies, staying up late, sleeping in late, and exploring downtown without a care in the world.

A million hugs and a millions thank yous to a wonderful Grandma for a wonderful week!

Happy 1st Birthday Brinley Grace

Today we celebrated Brinley's 1st birthday.

She opened presents

played with her new toys

Ate her first cupcake

And graced us with her gorgeous smile.

Happy Birthday to our sweet little girl. Our lives are brighter and happier because of you!

All American Weekend

The 4th of July is probably one of my top 3 holidays. Maybe even top 2, especially when celebrated in Minnesota where the temperature stayed in the comfortable 80's, giving us some perfect summer days without scorching heat. Here's how we celebrated.

We started off by hitting the strawberry patch on Friday morning. Teya loved apple picking and it got her to eat apples, so I thought maybe the same would be true with strawberries. To my delight, she actually ate some! (she's NEVER eaten a strawberry before) So that was a big moment. Brinley ate some too and made quite the mess. It was lots of fun though and I made 6 batches of stawberry jam, should last us till the end of the year! Woo hoo!

After berry picking and making jam Taber wanted to go on a run. My legs are still recoverying from the marathon so I followed him on a bike with the girls in tow. It was awesome! We finally figured out how to "run" together without getting a babysitter. Now I just need to buy my own bike! (the one I used was borrowed ; )

Every time I looked back and saw those two it just made me smile! At one point Brinley got tired and laid her head on Teya's shoulder. sweetest thing I've ever seen!

The next morning Taber was up bright and early to put the pork on the grill. He got a new grill for father's day and under the tutelage of our amazing neighbor Taylor (who is pretty much an undercover gourmet chef) Taber is becoming quite the cook. Taylor lives right across from us so he was over every hour to check on the meat, help change the woodchips, gauge the temperature, stuff like that. Then they'd go over to his house and check on the ribs. All day back and forth, flipping and poking and smoking and grilling. I think Taber may have found a new hobby, He loves the grill!

When the meat was done we gathered with more friends at Taylor and Kara's place and ate the feast of feasts! The pulled pork and BBQ'ed ribs were the stars of the show. We also finished off with homemade apple pie. (yes I gained 5 lbs, but it was soooo worth it!)


Here's Brinley and her buddy Noah. I had to post these pics because this was Brinsies first watermelon. Kept her busy for AGES! It's also really cute because she just learned how to smile and say "Geeez" for the camera.

Also had to throw in this picture of Taber walking with Brinley because it makes me smile. Brinley's watermelon stained American flag shirt, her dirty knees from crawling on the ground, her bare feet and rolly little arms make this picture perfection!

After stuffing ourselves silly we went outside for a couple rounds of badminton. The kids kept running (and crawling) onto the court but we managed to get in some games without accidentally swatting anyone so that was good. : )

To finish things off, our friends Patrick and Maria (Who are like the cool aunt and uncle that kids always want to hang out with) brought a fat load of fireworks to light. Teya was so into the fireworks this year, she even held a sparkler and kept asking for more. My camera battery died after the sparklers but it was a great show and the kids loved it.

So yes, wonderful 4th of July and definitely beats last year when we didn't make any plans because I was sure I was going to go into labor that day. ; )

This is why Dad's are so awesome!

Taber is really good at coming up with entertainment ideas for the girls. He always does stuff I would never even think of. The other day he set up the web cam and put it on one of the special effects that morphs your face. Then he recorded Teya making silly faces in the camera. She was hysterical! Brinley got in on it too and the laughs got even bigger. Here's the video, my favorite part is about 1 minute and 20 seconds into it when Brinley starts doing close ups in the camera and her two front teeth make her look like a little rat or a chipmunk. I don't know if you'll think it's as funny as I do but every time I watch it I can't stop laughing.

Silly Faces June 28, 2009 from Taber Rigg on Vimeo.

Sisterly Love

My sisters are my best friends. Looks like the same will be true for Teya and Brinley. Now that Brinley is getting a little older they are becoming more and more inseparable.

Brinley wants to be wherever Teya is. Whatever Teya's doing, Brinley wants to do it too.

When Teya gets her hair done she asks me to do Brinley's the same way. Then she goes over to Brinley and says things like, "Look Dee Dee (that's her nickname for Brinn) don't I look gorgeous? Someday you'll have long hair like me and you can be gorgeous too."

In the moments where they express their love for each other my heart is full. And no matter what is going on outside our home, inside it there's love, and love = happiness : )

Father's Day

I know this is a little late but I just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to Taber, the most perfect father I could ever hope to have for my children. He is without a doubt the most popular person in our house. As soon as the girls hear the garage door opening they get all excited knowing that Daddy's home. Teya runs to the door, jumping up and down to greet him, and Brinley yells "DADA! DADA!" and crawls turbo fast through the kitchen to climb up on his leg.

When he leaves in the morning Teya always mopes around a little and when I ask her what's wrong she sticks out her lower lip and says, "I just miss Daddy soooo much!" Through out the day if she does something neat or draws a pretty picture she'll say "I can't wait to show Daddy! He's gonna love it!"

I'm so thankful to be married to a man who relishes his role as a father. He doesn't need to be asked to change a diaper, fill a sippy cup, read a story or kiss a boo boo. He just gets right in there and does it. He has a special way with the girls and can often calm them down much better than I. It definitely melts my heart to see how much the girls adore him. We're all very lucky to have such a wonderful Daddy in our home : )

My mother would be proud

After 7 1/2 years of being married and living away from home, I finally attempted my mom's famous recipes for Teriyaki chicken and Kalua pig. I don't know why it took me so long, maybe I was just intimidated by the fact that there is no recipe, just a pinch of this and a handful of that, and keep putting it in till it taste right kind of instructions. I practiced it 2 nights before the big event, and I'm glad I did because my first pig was a disaster. After making a few adjustments though I tried again and it was a huge success. All our friends loved it and Taber was very happy that I tried something new in the kitchen. : ) Most of all though I just kept thinking that I wished my mom was there because I know she would've been proud. : )

Taber and Brinley dressed up in their Hawaiian gear to help set the mood. Teya and I don't have any Hawaiian stuff so I guess we better get on that!