Papa Rigg's 80th Birthday Bash

One of the highlights of being in Colorado for Thanksgiving was celebrating Taber's Dad's 80th birthday. It was wonderful to see how many people came to celebrate such a great man and inspiring to see how active and vibrant life in your 80's can be!

It was the first time in a LONG time that all of Papa Rigg's children were together. Bob has 6 children from his first marriage (one who has passed away) and 3 from his marriage to Taber's mom. Here's a picture of both families all together.

And here is a picture of Papa Rigg with 18 of his soon to be 26 grandchildren. (There are also 6, soon to be 7 great grandchildren not pictured)

Grandkids from Karen and Bob (minus baby Rockwell)

And a big group shot of all the relatives who came to celebrate

It was nice for the girls to be able to hang out with their Rigg cousins who they don't get to see very often. Teya, Skyla and Brinley Rigg.

More cute cousin pics.

The party was at the Bookcliff Country Club. Mama Rigg worked VERY hard to put together a wonderful celebration. Papa Rigg is know for the Pith hats that he wears everywhere. As part of the decorations everyone got their own little pith helmet to decorate with duct tape electrical tape just like Papa's.

Each table was also decorated with popping eyeballs since Taber's Dad is an eye doctor. The boys had a BLAST with those! (and not just the little boys ; )

There was also a really neat display table with scrapbooks and pictures covering Papa Rigg's life over the last 80 years. It was really neat to look through them and see all the amazing things he's been through and done.

And of course it wouldn't be a party without a cake!

We spent the evening eating, laughing, and talking about our favorite memories of Papa Rigg. Taber's mom put together a powerpoint with pictures and each of the children got to go up and talk about memories with their Dad. It was a very sweet and special night and I just feel so blessed to have such an amazing father in law. Happy 80th birthday Papa Rigg!

Family Pictures!!

I just got the pictures back from our photo shoot in Michigan and I am in LOVE! Laurel did an amazing job and captured some really sweet moments. Here are some of my favorites, I tried to stop at 5 but I just love them all so much! I'm sure I'll post more later but I had to put these up now because they make me so happy!

Brinley Grace

Miss Teya

Mom and Dad (and baby brother : )

My sweet Brin Brin

Pretty little Teya

This is what they do to my belly all day long. It is probably the most hugged and kissed belly on earth.

The two biggest Daddy's girls I've ever seen!

Brown eyed girls.

And I'll end with Brinley's squishy little cheeks and a very loving sister hug : )

A million thank you's to Laurel for taking our pictures! If you get a chance you should check out her facebook page and become a fan. She really does amazing work! www.facebook.com/laurelphoto

Good Times at Rigg Ranch

This year we got to spend another Thanksgiving with Taber's family in Grand Junction, Colorado. We love his parent's property, even in November when the leaves are gone and winter's approaching it is still so beautiful. Here are some of the things we love to do at Rigg Ranch.

Horse back riding with Grandma Karen.

This year Brinley really got into it and looked so cute up in the saddle with Grandma.

Teya got to ride with her Aunt Sarah and enjoyed it so much she asked for a second turn.

The kids also love playing in the dirt pile that Papa Rigg made with his tractor.

Here's Teya with her cousins Landon and Parker.

They literally spent hours digging and playing there.

Fishing on the lake is Taber's favorite thing to do.

The day we flew in he hopped out of the car, grabbed a pole, and was on the lake within 10 minutes of our arrival. I saw him out there with the girls a couple of times. And one day he just went with Brinley. She was pretty excited to be out on the lake fishing with her Daddy.

She wasn't as excited about the fish they caught. You can tell by the way she's looking at it she's not too sure about that thing.

Teya on the other hand LOVED the fishies and was happy to carry them around and couldn't wait to eat them. She is her Daddy's daughter.

Many hours were also spent shooting guns. I'm not a huge gun person so it's not really my thing but Taber and his brothers and nephews went through their fair share of ammo. They did a lot of skeet shooting and also had some stationary targets to blow through. Now Taber thinks he wants a gun for Christmas. hahaha!

Nieces, Nephews, Grandpa, Uncles, Cousins and in-laws shooting 'em up at the Ranch.

Another highlight was catching up with all our relatives who live so far away. Here are the girls with their uncle Bob. We used to live 20 minutes away from him in California. Now we are on the complete opposite side of the country. It was so nice to be able to meet up again and spend time together.

Teya was also thrilled to meet her newest cousin, Rockwell Rigg, born just 7 weeks ago! I think it made her super excited for baby brother to get here!

Mom and Dad Rigg live down the road from a Dinosaur Museum so we always make it a point to visit while we're there. I love this picture of the kids staring at one of the dinosaur displays. Their faces are pretty concerned...

And this is why:

(I'd be concerned if I was a kid seeing that for the first time too!)

This year we also got a little dusting of snow. It was the girls first snow this season since we still haven't had any here in New England. It melted later that day but they were so so excited to go out and play in it.

What a wonderful week in a beautiful place. Every time we go there I think it would be so cool to build a house somewhere on their property and be able to enjoy those activities all the time. I'm sure these two wouldn't complain...maybe someday : )

Turkey Day

Besides all our fun adventures on the ranch here are a few highlights from the actual Thanksgiving festivities.

The day before we kicked things off by taking the kids to see Tangled in 3D. Seriously one of the best kids movies I've seen in a LONG time. It passed the 2 year old test AND the Taber test (meaning he actually stayed awake through the whole thing, and liked it!) Teya loved it and had a really cute moment at the end. There was an emotional scene and I saw her wiping big fat crocodile tears away from her eyes and 3D glasses. Finally she took off her glasses because they "stopped working." When I put them on to see what was wrong the lenses were covered in her buttery fingerprints from wiping at her tears. What a little sweetheart!

On Thanksgiving morning Taber and I got up bright an early so I could go cheer him on at his Turkey Trot. It was the same 5K we did last year but this year it was FREEZING!! 11 degrees at the starting line. That's colder than the Winter Frolic 5K we did in Minnesota in February!! I was glad I had my warm gear on!

Despite the cold Taber tore it up and finished strong in 23:17, beating his time from last year by over 2 minutes.

Papa Rigg was there to support him as well. What a good Dad to brave the cold!

After the race the boys went shooting while the girls finished the final prep for Thanksgiving dinner. All of Papa Rigg's kids were in town for his 80th birthday so we had over 30 people to feed! With so many people we had to split up into two rooms and Taber and I ended up at "kids table," which isn't too bad since most of the "kids" are grown up now : )

Our kids had t.v. trays on the couch. It was a tight fit but miraculously there was room for everyone and the food was yumm-a-licious!

Mmmm... Pie....

Like everyone else on Thanksgiving, we stuffed our faces till we could barely move and then chatted the evening away with all our fun relatives. So glad we got to be with everyone on such a great holiday.

Uda's in Grand Junction

To top off the awesomeness of our trip, my parents made the 4 hour drive down to Grand Junction to spend the last two days with us while we were in town. I was SO happy that I got to see them and they were able to spend time with the girls. I also feel grateful that they get along with my in-laws so well, they were welcomed with open arms to all of the Rigg festivities. It was just the perfect way to complete our vacation.

The day after they got in town I left the kids with Taber and went shopping with just my mom and dad. As one of 8 kids it always feels super cool to get one on one time with my parents, even if I am 30! I relished our time together and loved having them with me.

Then we met up with Taber and the girls at the Dinosaur Museum.

Dinosaurs are always a hit with these two.

Later than day Taber took me and my Dad out on the lake for some fishing. It was fun watching my Dad wrestle with the fish.

First catch, he's pretty proud of himself : )

Me and my Dadio on the Lake

Dad had a great time and brought in the biggest trout of the trip. Taber caught a few as well and I even managed to get one.

My parents also joined us for Taber's Dad's 80th birthday celebration. Again, having them there just made everything feel complete. I love them so much and am so grateful that my kids have 2 sets of amazing grandparents who love them so dearly.