Some of our favorite people...

Even though our schedule in Utah was packed super tight, we couldn't leave without playing with some of our favorite people, the Fairbanks fam. They've been some of our nearest and dearest friends since we first got married and we just can't stand missing a chance to hang out with them! When they found out we were going to be in town they arranged their busy schedules (and Dave even took a day off of work) so we could hang out at their cabin and do some four wheeling.

 Of course the one day we picked to hang out, the weather decided not to cooperate, but we weren't going to let a little bit of rain stop us from having fun. 

We still got out there and ripped it up anyway!

The girls didn't last too long (check out Brinley's face in this pic, LOL!) But Dave and Jodi's twin boys and Camden were loving it!

So we dropped the girls back off at the Cabin with Jodi and baby Chase and took the boys out for another spin. It was awesome!

And then Jodi bravely volunteered to watch all 7 kids so Dave could take Taber and I out for some real riding in rougher terrain (She is a saint!) 

 We went through river beds, up rocky climbs and all over the mountains. I was amazed at what those machines could handle!

 It was wet and muddy which made it SUCH a sweet ride!!

 Taber and Dave were in their element. It made me happy to see them having so much fun.

 And you can tell by how wet and muddy Dave's shorts and shoes are in this pic that we totally earned road warrior status that day.

After conquering the mountain we packed up headed back to Dave and Jodi's place and grabbed some take out for dinner. It was so fun catching up with them and interacting with their adorable children.  

And somehow Jodi managed to escape my camera since she was on baby and kid duty, but I stole this pic of her and sweet little Chase from her blog so she could be represented in this post too :)  So glad we got to get our Fairbanks fix in before leaving Utah! Love you guys and thanks for treating us to such an awesome day!

We have an artist in the house...

Lately when people come to my house they can't help but comment on the vibrant display of artwork adorning our walls.  

I'm sure they wonder, "Where did the Riggs find such a vast collection of original art?"

The answer: We are housing a pint sized artistic prodigy.  Meet Cam, our budding little Da Vinci.

 This is one of his most recent pieces called: flight of the tornado. I really like how he captured the chaos of the storm. 

 And this one is called: "Uh-Oh" (he named it himself)

 There is no end to his creativity. He sees every wall as a canvas, every surface as a masterpiece waiting to be born. 

 Of course someday when his art is selling for millions,  he will owe us some serious cash for all the magic erasers we've been going through lately... 

Bless his sweet, mischievous, artistic little heart :)

Uh-Oh!

I'm going to interrupt my attempts to catch up on our summer adventures and blog about a sweet moment I had today :)

As I was bringing Cam in from the car he dropped a little toy in his hand and with some concentrated effort he grunted out the sounds, "Uh-Oh!" The word wasn't very clear but it was obvious that was what he was trying to say.

My heart swelled with pride and happiness. I hugged him so tight and started clapping and praising him, "YAY Cam! You said Uh-oh! What a big big boy!!" He grinned from ear to ear and we both just sat there beaming. I know for most kids his age saying "uh-oh" is not a big deal but for Cam it's a huge deal and I felt like the proudest mama in the world.

Cam is almost 20 months old and a few days ago, he finally said his first and only word, "Uh-Oh." At the beginning of July he was evaluated by a speech pathologist and she confirmed that his receptive and expressive language skills are significantly delayed. We've been to many doctors and specialists to figure out why and are still in the process of finding answers, but in the mean time he's going to speech therapy once a week and as I witnessed today, he's starting to have tiny breakthroughs.

As I was reflecting on the feelings I had today after Cam said that little word, it made me think about how our Heavenly Father must feel when we make little breakthroughs. Things that might not seem like a big deal when compared with what other people can do, but to our Father in Heaven, who knows each of us so personally, they are a huge deal. I imagine he must beam with pride and happiness as we overcome our personal challenges and make steps, no matter how small, closer to Him.  He doesn't compare us to anyone else or expect us to do more than we are able. He knows our challenges and limitations and He rejoices when we progress, no matter what our pace.

I'm grateful to my sweet little Camden for teaching me this lesson. I know that God cherishes each of His children and that he doesn't measure us against each other but against our own individual strengths and challenges.  He is proud of us when we do things that are hard for us to do, and He is cheering us on, every step of the way.

Parades, Presents and an Impromtu Talent Show!

Nobody does the 4th of July better than Provo Utah. 

Not trying to be all braggy about my home town but it's true :)

This was the first year our kids got to experience the Provo parade and they were loving it!

We all wore our family reunion shirts to be awesome and enjoyed front row seats on the curb.

It was TOASTY!! But These cutie pies did great even in the heat. 

One thing I love about the Provo parade is that they have floats with missionaries on them. So cool. :) And when the missionary float goes by everybody goes nuts like they're a bunch of rockstars. Love it!

 They also have the Living Legends! Holla! Brought back good memories from when Taber and I danced with them. 

The parade lasted about 2 hours and despite the molten lava temperatures the kids really did great!

Of course we had to let Cam ditch his pants and take over the iPhone but babies get special privileges.

Speaking of my iPhone, we lost it after the parade. Luckily we have an app that shows you where it is so we looked it up and someone had taken it to South Provo. We called the police and gave them the coordinates and they went after it! When they arrived at the address we gave them, sure enough, my phone was there! They totally would've arrested the dude that took it BUT.... it happened to be my innocent brother in law who was visiting friends in South Provo and unknowingly had it in his bag. hahaha! So yeah....at least we know the app works :)

After the parade it was back to the Uda house where my auntie Diane showered us all with presents! She has all boys, so she likes to spoil her nieces with girly gifts. She bought us necklaces, bracelets, lipstick and cute purses.

Naomi and I showing off some of the goodies we got from auntie. We were excited :)

We also tried to take an informal family reunion pic. My Dad is holding up the family tree in the background. He painted the tree and then we each added our thumbprints for the leaves . It came out really neat!

Here's a closer picture of the tree. There are still lots of empty branches for future grandbaby thumbprints :)

The rest of the day was filled with BBQ, games, hanging out, and even an impromptu talent show (video posted below.) We ended by watching the fireworks from my parents driveway. Awesome way to spend the 4th of July!

And now for your viewing pleasure I have included some sample clips of our talent show. It starts with a little dance by me, my awesome 5 month pregnant sister Sarah and her hubby Tau.  Sometimes we like to pretend we're hip hop dancers :) There's lots of dancing by the kids, a hula by Liz, and even an interpretive dance to Swan Lake.  If the embeded video doesn't work on the blog you can also click HERE to watch it on youtube. Enjoy!

4th of July Freedom Run 10K

Is there any better way to kick off the 4th of July than running a 10K? 

This is our second year doing it and I am a fan!

 This year was awesome because we got to run it in UTAH!! And we had Granny Nanny to watch the kids so we could run TOGETHER!! Naomi, Kevin, Jake and Munro ran it too so it was just one big family party.

The course was on the parade route so it was really cool having a crowd cheering us on the whole way. It was also awesome running side by side with my man :) We weren't going for time so it was super nice to go at a comfortable pace and enjoy each others company.

The miles just kind of ticked by and by mile 5 we still had plenty left in the tank to push it in for the last mile. The race ended on a hill and since that's all we train on, we totally owned it! We were passing lots of people and feeling like Wheaties champs :)

 As we sprinted in for the last 100 yards, Taber reached out and grabbed my hand and we crossed the finish line together.  It was a really sweet moment, so when the race pics came online, I totally bought this one because I didn't want to forget it. :)

After the race we got shiny new medals and big fat water bottles full of Gatorade.  The race shirts were super nice too, definitely had some good swag for this one!

 Everyone did awesome, several PR's and I think Ro and Kevin placed 9th and 10th in their age division! So yeah, proud of my siblings and brother in laws, and glad we got to start the holiday in such an awesome way!

Uda family pictures

If you're going to have a family reunion, there's no escaping family pictures. It's always a major effort but I'm happy we did it and love that we have these pictures now.

My beautiful extended family. 

Mom and Dad Uda with all their grandbabies. I love this shot because that is pretty much what Cam looked like for the entire photoshoot. He's not really into sitting still for longer than 2 seconds:)

 

My Momsie and Popsicle. Aren't they the cutest?

Mom, Dad, and 7 of the 8 kids (Chris couldn't make the trip from Thailand but we missed him!)

All the grandbabies. 

It was sooo hard to get this shot. Cam would make a mad dash out of the picture every time we lined them up but we finally got a pic with him still (sort of) in it. 

Uda siblings!! You can kind of tell we're related.

Especially in this picture. :)

My precious little family

And I had my brother take a few with my camera that I thought came out cute too, like this one.

And this one. 

Yeah for family pictures!! And yeah for 2 blog posts in 2 days!! I'm on a roll people!

Udas Udas Everywhere!!

Once upon a time a Japanese island boy met a sweet sassy southern girl and they fell madly in love and had lots and lots of really ridiculously good looking babies (that would be my siblings and I, of course :)

The the babies grew up and got married and some of them moved away and started having babies of their own, and everyone missed each other so much they decided it was time to officially organize an Uda family reunion!!

Udas Udas EVERYWHERE!!! 

Uda's from Chicago! (Naomi and Kevin, top row)

Uda's from L.A.! (Liz and Tony bottom row)

Udas moving to Hawaii! (Rae and Ro, who are living in Oahu now)

Udas from New Hampsha! (Me and the Tabester)

The Udas came from far and wide to celebrate the awesomeness of being an Uda.

We took the party to Seven Peaks and worked on our Uda tans.

Then we held a big fat Uda family home evening. Mama Uda gave a beautiful lesson about eternal families, Jake played the ukelele and the My sisters and I sang kanaka wai wai. The spirit was so strong, reminding us of the blessing it is to not only be brothers and sisters through birth, but brothers and sisters in the gospel.

 And of course, we couldn't have family home evening without doing the hokey pokey. It's tradition!

 Ah...good times :)

 For the FHE activity, my brother Josh busted out his laser tag guns. The boys were in heaven. 

And for the FHE treat, me and Taber snuck off with Sarah and Tau for a little milkshake run. I never would've guessed it, but I'm telling you, Taco Amigo has THE best fresh strawberry milkshakes in the entire universe. Seriously changed my life.

And that is the end of chapter one of the Uda family reunion. More to come soon...or, considering my pathetic blogging consistency as of late, more to come...eventually :)