Camden's baby blessing

We blessed our sweet Camden Taber Kekoa Rigg in Utah, where many of our family and close friends could be a part of his special day. It was amazing to see my first born son encircled by his father, uncles, grandfathers, cousins and closest family friends, all righteous priesthood holders and all men who love him and I hope he will look up to and strive to be like as he grows older. There was such a beautiful feeling in the room as Taber blessed our little boy. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude to have the gospel in my life, to be married to such a good man, to be surrounded by loving friends and family, and to have 3 beautiful and healthy children.

Walking into the room and seeing faces we haven't seen in a long time was an amazing feeling. Every person in the room was someone dear to me and it was hard not to get choked up seeing their faces again. It made me feel grateful for the knowledge that families can be together forever. As I looked around with a full heart, I thought this must be how we'll feel after we pass on to the other side. I'm sure we'll see many faces of people we love and the reunion will be very sweet.

Following the blessing we had a luncheon with an delicious spread of Hawaiian food, all made by my mother. She is amazing. We also had homemade Texas sheet cake for dessert, thanks to my awesome sister Rachel (who somehow managed to escape all the pictures).

Thank you so much to everyone who came and made this experience so special! We love you all so much!

Some pictures with the Fairbanks Family, Matagi Family and Taber and Brett

Our good friends the Draschils and their sweet little girls.

Ioane's, Beardsley's and Tresners.

Peter, Angela, Eric and Ashley, Justin, Taber and Tau.

Riggs, Murdocks, and Udas.

And just for fun here are some pictures of me and Taber with each of our children on their blessing day. Looking at them makes me think of when my dad used to look at all us kids and say, "I am a rich, rich man." Now I know what he was talking about. : )

Living Legends Reunion

One of the highlights of our college years was performing with the Living Legends at BYU. Taber did it for 2 years and I did it with him my senior year. When we found out they were having a huge 40 year reunion we knew we had to find a way to get out there and revisit our glory days.

And speaking of the Glory days, here's a little sampling of us back when we were young, skinny and tan. (I have to say, looking at these old pictures REALLY motivated me to start burning off the baby weight. Nothing like pictures to give you that extra motivation ; )

So yes, we decided to bless Cam out in Utah so we felt a little more justified about flying our whole family out for the reunion. It worked out beautifully and even though it was an extremely packed trip, I'm glad we made it out there to be part of the Living Legends reunion.

One of the events we attended was the current Living Legends group performing at the DeJong Concert hall. My brother is in the group for his 4th and final year so I'm really glad I got to see him perform one last time. After the show they had a reception for all the alumni who came to the show.

One of Taber's old dancing pics totally made it on a poster. Look at the intensity on his face, he still gots his mojo ; )

And Cam looks pretty interested in following in his Daddy's footsteps.

It was awesome running into so many old friends who we spent many many hours practicing, traveling, and performing with.

And it's always awesome to see Janielle, the Living Legends director and Ed who coordinates all the tours and travel.

Later in the week we ran into Dusty and Chauma at the Wilk during the pow wow. Chauma and Taber were head man and woman at the 2003 Pow wow so it was fun to meet up there again 8 years later!

One of the best parts of the whole reunion was the Alumni showcase performance. They had alumni doing numbers from all 40 years of Living Legends and Taber got to dance in the native segment showcasing 2000-2005. (Someone took this picture of him practicing, pretty cool!)

The show was the same morning as Camden's blessing so it was a little stressful trying to get all the kids bathed and ready and down to provo to watch Taber dance. I was on the verge of a breakdown and at one point seriously thought we were going to miss it. Thankfully miracles do happen and we made it just as the 2000-2005 section was getting on stage. (which meant I also got to see my sister and her husband dance and they were awesome!)

Taber's dad made it down for the show too which is amazing considering everything that was going on that day. He's always been supportive like that and when we were in the group he would even fly in from Alaska to see our shows.

Taber did a great job and it was the perfect way to cap off a wonderful reunion. Here's a little video I took of him dancing with my phone. He's the really hot guy on the far left wearing white. ; ) (oh and at about 57 seconds in you can hear Teya say, "He's even wearing a dress!" kids: )

Random Favorites

So like I mentioned earlier, I took over 400 pics while I was in Utah and even though I have two more posts to do (Living Legends Reunion and Baby blessing) I had a few extra pics that didn't fit in anywhere but I wanted to have for my blog book, so here they are in this random post.

Cam wins the super baby flier award. He handled the 5 1/2 hour flights like a champ and received many compliments from the people around him for being so sweet and mellow. Probably helped that Daddy has such a comfy shoulder to sleep on.

I know I've posted pics like this before but I seriously love our stroller! and this is the first time Cam was in a stroller pic so I had to put it in ; )

And while I'm showing the many merits of our sit and stand stroller, It also nicely accommodates Brinley's car seat (with Sleeping Teya inside), which turned out to be very convenient on a late night at the airport.

Trip Highlights:

My thoughtful little brother Jake and his adorable wife made a special effort to take the girls out on a date with their Auntie and Uncle. The girls haven't had a lot of interaction with Jake and Scar so it was really sweet to see them run up and hug them like they've lived next door all their lives. Family bonds are neat like that. : )

It was also neat seeing our nephew Eric who recently returned from a mission and just got engaged to the beautiful Ashley (soon to be) Rigg.

BYU made it to the sweet 16 and they were showing the game on the jumbo Tron at the Marriott Center. Taber went with Brett and his family to support our Cougars from afar.

Bread sticks at the Pizza Factory. A really happy moment for all the little Rigg kids

Eating at In-N-Out with Sarah. A really happy moment for the big Rigg kid (and Sarah)

I thought this was funny because we actually bought McDonalds for the kids and smuggled it into In-N-Out. (they're too young to appreciate In-N-Out's awesomness) So here they are posing with their In-N-Out hats and McDonald's Happy Meal toys. Awesome.

Love this pic of Noa and Brinley, he's totally doing like a prom picture pose. Such cute cousins.

And speaking of Cousins, Teya was beyond giddy to be able to spend so much time with two of her favorites. Skyla (Taber's brother's daughter) and Maile (my sister's daughter) The three of them were pretty inseparable and Teya already misses them like crazy.

Love this one of Taber and our kids his Parents and Grandma. So glad they were able to make the drive out from Colorado to be there.

And I'll end with Grandma Uda and her 3 littlest Grandsons. Cam all squished up against her just makes me smile. Yay for Utah and random picture posts :)

Cam Meets the Fam

One of the best parts about being in Utah was introducing Cam to our families for the first time. He was a very popular little guy and I think he got held pretty much the whole time we were there. Here are some pictures of Cam with his fan club.

Cam with: Top row: Aunt Sarah, Aunt Erin, Grandma Louise, Grandma Karen and Grandpa Rigg. Bottom Row: Grandma Uda, Grandpa Uda, Aunt Rachel, Cousin Skyla.

It was also really cool to get Cam together with his all his little boy cousins.

Here he is with my sister Sarah's boys, Noa and Micah. Watch out ladies, these boys are gonna be heartbreakers.

Cam and his cousin Micah, the two newest grandkids on the Uda side and just 6 months apart.

And here are the two newest grandkids on the Rigg side,

Cam and Rockwell Rigg, just 3 months apart.

Look at those faces, they're just babies yet they already exude cool confidence. Total Rigg boys.

And here's Cam with his 1st cousin once removed, handsome little Trey who is just 11 days older than him. My Cousin Ashley and I were due just one day apart!

What a lucky little boy to have so many cousins his same age and so many relatives who love him so much. I just wish we lived closer to everyone! *Sigh* maybe someday : )

Uda Girls Night Out

"There is nothing quite as lovely, as funny, as awesome and attractive, as an Uda girl"

--Anonymous ; )

Hahaha! Okay, seriously though, I love my sisters, they are my best friends and the coolest girls ever! While we were in Utah with all the Uda girls (minus Naomi and Pae ; ( sniff sniff) We left the 10 children we have between us with my Dad and our awesome husbands and went for an epic sister girls night out. Taber even insisted that Sarah and I leave our nursing babies so we would enjoy it more! (He is a brave man, and a stud)

We went to Noodles and Company for some yummy noodle fare.

Rachel (Uda) Murdock, Cindy Uda (my mom) Scarlet Uda and Erin Uda.

Sarah (Uda) Ioane, Becca (Uda) Rigg, and Liz (Uda) Mucci.

We had a blast dining out together WITHOUT CHILDREN! woohoo! Then we went shopping for a blessing outfit for Cam and something to make my postpartum figure look not so postpartum.

It was honestly so much fun shopping with my sisters! We made it a little competition and they each put together an outfit for me complete with shoes and accessories. I tried them all on and the one I picked to wear at the blessing was the winner. All of them have such different taste so it was fun trying on things I normally wouldn't wear.

Here's one of the sassy little outfits Scarlet picked for me. There were so many cute one's to choose from but in the end I went with something more springy (and nursing friendly ; )

Thank you again to my mom and sister's for such a great night out! And a million thank you's to Taber, my Dad and the all our hubby's for making it all possible! Love you guys!

Some Utah Favorites

My parent's live really close to some awesome kid places so we try to visit them every time we're in town. High up on the list of favorites is the farm at Thanksgiving point.

What kid doesn't love feeding stinky animals and riding a pony? We've been going there for years, and it never gets old. Just look at the picture below:

Hasn't she gotten big? I think that might be the same pony in both pictures...crazy!

The saddest part about going to the farm this year was that poor little Brinley couldn't come. She was miserably sick and running a high fever. It broke my heart because she LOVES animals and has already requested a "Horsey party" for her 3rd birthday. Poor thing! She would've loved the pony ride and those crazy goats.

I think Cam enjoyed his first farm visit. He slept through most of it, but he did open his eyes to peak around a bit during the wagon ride.

My sister Sarah and her son Noa came with us and it was great spending time with the two of them.

Teya and Noa were all smiles after their farm adventures. Next year we'll make sure Brinley is there too.

KANGAROO ZOO

Another favorite Utah spot is the Kangaroo zoo which is basically just a building full of bounce houses. This year was great because both girls are big enough to just run loose on their own.

Brinley spent a fair amount of time in this little kiddie bouncer but she also had no fears going on the big slides and climbing by herself up some of the bigger obstacle courses.

Taber's brother Brett and his kids met us there and it was so fun seeing the kids go wild in there.

Teya was lucky to have two of her favorite girl cousins there, Sklya and Maile. The three of them were pretty inseparable all week. It was awesome watching them play together.

It was also fun to see the two newest Rigg's together for the first time.

Taber and little chub with Brett and his son Rockwell who is just 3 months older than Cam.

And the proud mommies who did all the work to get them here : ) fun how me and CJ are both in red and the babies are in blue. Totally didn't plan that. Great minds just think alike ; )

DINOSAUR MUSEUM

And last but not least is the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. This year Taber took the girls with his brother Brett while I did some shopping with my mom and sister. Divide and conquer!

I like this picture because my little Nephew River is totally climbing over the baricade into the dino display. Total Rigg boy : )

And Brin Brin looks so unfazed by the massive shark head poised to swallow her whole. : )

Fun times at our favorite Utah spots. Can't wait to hit them up next year when Cam is big enough to play!

Future Cougars

We're back from Utah! It was a jam-packed crazy awesome trip and I took over 400 pictures so I'm sure there will be a few Utah posts to come. : ) For now though I had to put up a few pics of our future BYU cougars. Doesn't get much cuter than this!

Taber, his brother Brett, and the baby cougar cousins, Camden and Rockwell Rigg.

Future BYU cheerleaders? I would cheer for these cute faces! Teya and Brinley with their cousins Skyla and Maile.

Cougar cousins taking over the Wilk.

GO BYU!