Valentine's, a graduation, cute girls and jewelry...

I've got some updating to do! I'll try to keep this short and to the point since I have much to blog about. (Oh, who am I kidding? When do I ever keep my blog posts short and to the point?)

Let's rewind back to Valentine's Day first. I think we have begun a tradition at our house. We all celebrate Valentine's Day together with at least two essentials, balloons and chocolate covered strawberries. The girls were also thrilled to get their annual cards and treats in the mail from Grandma and Aunt Abby. So, the build up of excitement for Valentine's Day went on for several days. Lizette was very concerned with what all of us were going to wear. She was not happy that I was planning on wearing jeans and a red shirt. She really wanted us all to wear dresses in pink, red and purple colors. I negotiated jeans by promising to wear lots of make up and jewelry. She and Lexi wore matching outfits which pleased our little event planner. 

Early in the day, the girls and I went shopping for our Valentine's necessities, which included balloons, chocolate, chocolate covered strawberries, steak filets (Daddy's request for dinner), and some pink plates. Once we had the balloons, we went to Daddy's office and took him the two that the girls had picked out for him. We got to parade around his new office and meet his new team. It was like trick or treating for the girls because several on his team gave them candy. They were in heaven. Lexi was not shy at all about taking it and began to expect it as we would go to each new desk. After eating lunch with Jeff, we got the rest of our supplies and went home to begin decorating and preparing for our Valentine's party. It was a fun night!

    

To top off the day, Jeff treated us all to candy from Goody's candy store. Yum!!

On February 17, Lizette completed her reading lessons out of this book:

I was so proud of her! This was sometimes a very grueling process for both of us. With many stops and starts, interruptions with things like Summer when neither of us had any interest in doing reading lessons, I consider it no small feat that we finally finished! She is doing great too and I think she actually enjoys it now. Being able to read sentences and often being surprised at the words she just knows now has been fun for her. To mark this event Lizette and I went on a date yesterday morning. Our first stop was Krispy Kreme, then on to Wal-Mart to pick out a few treats for her. We were going to get pedicures but she said she would rather have a blanket instead. We ended the date at Craft Warehouse. We were going to end with lunch but she decided she wanted to go straight home and work on her craft.  It was fun to have some one-on-one time and celebrate something that we had worked on together. Love this little girl!

Enjoying her Krispy Kreme with sprinkles and at home with her  new dress and blanket.

And on to more about the girls. I love watching them interact. Lexi is still the aggressive one, but so loving at the same time. It is so funny to watch them play. Lexi wants to do everything Lizette does. She tries to copy most everything she says and does and where ever Lizette is sitting, is where Lexi wants to be sitting...right next to her. Lizette sometimes loves this and sometimes not so much. I love that they have a true love/hate relationship like most sisters do. They love each other more than anything but get so mad at each other too. It's hilarious.  I'm trying to cherish all of the little moments with them. The time is going so fast. I can't believe Lizette is going to kindergarten next year! She keeps talking about when she is going to get married and move out. Already?! 

And finally, more about my new jewelry adventure. :) In the last week and a half, I have gone from just signing up to sell the stuff to pretty much having a full on jewelry and accessory store in my home. I now have an inventory of jewelry and hair clips with more on the way. It's a little crazy, but so far a lot of fun.  It's sort of like being a kid in a candy store with all the fun accessories I have access to. Jeff built me some displays so that I can use them at parties and when I do fairs and other shows. I was experimenting with how to display the jewelry on them and I pretty much just made a little display that has now taken over part of our living room. It looks a little tacky right now with my hot pink tablecloths, but I think Jeff did a great job on my displays. He's been helping me figure out the actual business side of things too. I'm glad to have him on my team. I've never been good with money or business matters. But I love the cute accessories. I've been wearing them and getting compliments on them too! I went to Goodwill the other day to look for jewelry hangers to use in my display. The lady checking me out complimented my necklace, so I told her about my business. She asked for a card and of course I didn't have one, but then she took my phone number down. It made me feel good that my necklace spoke to her. :) 

So, some time in the next couple of weeks I will be having my first open house and you are invited! I'll post details when I get the actual date in place. Since this is a new product to Boise, I'm excited to show it to people. I think their stuff is really great and especially for the price. Am I sounding like a salesperson? I have to say that talking about accessories comes a little more natural to me than talking about plywood or glulam beams. I'm actually really excited about doing this. I love that I can do it on my own time and that it's a fairly new product to this area. I love that it is affordable so I don't feel like I'm asking people to spend a lot of money on something they don't need. And honestly, who doesn't need jewelry? It really is a need. And for $5, it's a great deal! Okay, now I sound like a salesperson. :) 

Signing off for now...

Abby's Blogging!

Most of you who read this either know, or know of, my sister Abby. Well, she is blogging now and her link is on my sidebar. "I'm thinking of..." is the name of her blog. Check it out for some fun inspiration and humor. Welcome to blogging world Abby!

Reflecting on 2011

As this new year begins I find myself very excited! It's always fun to start the new year fresh with plans and goals. I've been thinking back on 2011 and I would say it was a great year for our family.

Lizette had so much fun with preschool, gymnastics, art projects and play dates. She has come out of her shell so much this last year. All of her social interactions have been a big positive in her life. She has taken on more responsibility at home in areas such as making her bed, setting the table and helping with Lexi. She has become very independent and much more confident. And she is reading now! Still not done with the lessons, but she is reading. And finally, she got her very first bike and loves to ride it.

Lexi made so much progress with her speech and is doing great with it now. She also learned to count, color, ride a tricycle, go up and down the stairs, run the iPod, and many other great developmental pursuits. She is an absolute sweetheart with a strong personality. I think this will be a great combination for her in the years to come.

Jeff had a productive 2011. His job went very well for him. He tackled some house projects. Got lots of photography practice in. (I like this new hobby of his. Comes in handy for my blog posts!) And as always fulfilled his role as a great husband and father all year long. He began a new job with Idaho Power which will keep him very busy this coming year. He has taken on a temporary assignment as a supervisor in their customer service center. This is a great opportunity for him because at the end of the year he can go back to the job he had before which he absolutely loved. But in the mean time, he gets to learn some new skills and find out if management is something he wants to pursue in the future. We see him much less as his days are long. This has been particularly difficult for me! I didn't realize how much I depend on him when he is around. Now he leaves very early and gets home late and I hardly ever talk to him during the day. I miss him! I guess these experiences are good to make us realize how much we appreciate each other.

As for me, 2011 was great overall, but came with a few ups and downs. The ups came from my beautiful family which I adore and am so grateful for each day. The downs came in the form of migraines and a bit of depression. I really struggled to feel well so much of the time and this got me down. Not being able to do a lot of things that I wanted really got to me and it was frustrating. But, the beautiful thing about life is being able to make progress. The migraine situation has improved very much and I am very grateful for good doctors and medications. Once the migraines began to get under control, the depression got better too. I still take my St. John's Wort just in case. :)  I think the overall feeling I ended 2011 with was being so full of gratitude for my family. Both immediate and extended family. We are blessed to have so many in our lives who love us.

Other highlights from 2011:

- Widman family reunion in July
- Jackie's 20 year reunion in August
- The girls' first friend birthday party in October
- Rigby family party in November
- Re-decorated the girls bedroom which included Jeff putting up Wainscoting.
- Re-painted the living room
- Jackie and Lizette got short hair cuts
- Lexi got her first professional hair cut
- Jeff and Jackie got iPhones
- Jeff got a new Mac
- Jackie and the girls met Donny and Marie!
- Tons of trips to the park
- Lots of swimming in the summer
- Jeff and Jackie hired a babysitter and had many date nights. Woohoo!
- We tried out many new restaurants on these date nights and I began my Restaurant Review section on this blog.

2011 was a fun year!

As I said at the beginning of this post, I am excited to begin a new year. 2012 is full of possibilities!

Christmas 2011

I am going to post Christmas in several sections. If you are planning to read this entire post, be warned that it is long! I'm playing catch up a bit here.

First, with Jeff taking a couple of days off, we had some great family time. The weather has been so nice here. Very warm and sunny for a December in Boise. We made a trip to the park one day and the girls had a blast. Jeff caught some cute pics. Once again, he was taking all of the pictures and was not in any of them. We have none of Jeff from Christmas morning either! We need to do better at remembering to get him in the pictures.

Oh no...mud in the tunnel! Get me out of here!

I must post some pics from our train ride on the North Pole Express we took on December 23rd. It was great. Many Rigby's were in attendance and Aunt Abby came too, which the girls loved. The whole North Pole Express idea would have gone off better with snow, and I think their Santa may have thrown back one too many egg nogs that day, but otherwise it was a great time.

I'm not going to put captions with all of these pictures. I think they pretty well speak for themselves. Family, fun, bonding. It was fantastic.

Thayne posing...

Sometimes there are just no words.

:)

Christmas Eve...

We had a great treat this year to have Aunt Abby and Lawrence and Marsha in town. They, along with Thayne, Angel and family, joined us for a fun Christmas Eve dinner. Angel brought this:

This was stunning! And full of yummy treats too.

Not to be out done, I provided a pumpkin pie from Costco. :) 

From now on I know who to call on when I need an awesome dessert!

Unfortunately, we didn't get any other pictures from our Christmas Eve gathering. It was a great memory for all of us though. The kids played. We ate too much. We enjoyed some egg nog and sparkling cider. Watched the annual Rigby Family slideshow that Jeff puts together. We opened a few gifts. And then called it a night! Lawrence and Marsha headed over to Thayne and Angel's and we stayed home and opened our annual Christmas PJs. 

                                  Hammer Time!                                                   Christmas Eve PJs

Christmas Morning...

Abby joined us for a fun Christmas morning. The girls slept until about 8:00. Church did not start until 1:30 so we had plenty of time to open presents and have breakfast. Abby made us a fantastic breakfast including Creme Brulee French Toast with Buttermilk Syrup, hash browns and scrambled eggs. YUM! The girls had a great time and it was a sweet memory with them. And yes, we went overboard for the girls. As I said to my father-in-law as he gave me a big grin with his eyebrow raised, "Don't judge me!"  :)

After going to church that afternoon, we headed over to Spencer and Jamie's and had dinner. Greg and Lora were in town from Georgia and it was awesome to see them. Again, no pictures from this event. I think we were sort of in a Christmas coma by this point and forgot our camera. We had a fantastic dinner (Jamie is a great cook!), and enjoyed visiting with everyone. Greg is going to come back to Boise in June to participate in a triathlon for his 60th birthday. Seriously! Triathlon. 60 years old. This is inspiring and I will definitely be there to cheer him on.

And finally some Christmas tidbits...

--- Lovely gifts I received:
- A Sodastream home beverage maker from Jeff. I can make just about any kind of soda you can think of with this baby. Love it! Jeff spoiled me with lots of fun gifts.  He also insisted that I go out and buy some new clothes to update my wardrobe. I love this man!
- Pillows, pillow patterns and fabric to make pillows from Abby. I've been talking about my plans to make interchangeable pillow covers for all of my decorative pillow needs in the house. I have a serious vision about how fantastic this is going to be. Abby, being aware of my lack of sewing skills, put together this awesome gift for me. She made several for me, then used the patterns to cut some out for me and gave me the patterns and instructions so that I will be in pillow making heaven. Such a thoughtful gift. I think I am going to have an open house soon to showcase my pillows. :)
- The cutest framed photo from Diane of she and I and our girls at the coast. The frame says Sisters are Forever Friends which is the perfect description of us.

--- Lovely gifts I gave (if I do say so myself):
- I did the 12 days of Christmas for Jeff and gave him clothes. He really liked it and is looking so hip these days.
- I put together a photo book for all of the Rigby's which included photos from the last seven years of slideshows. It was pretty simple, but a lot of fun to look through. So much has changed in seven years!
- Jeff helped me transfer some cassette tapes into digital files for my family. These tapes included many of my mom talking and brother Andy who also passed away several years ago. Hearing their voices again meant a lot to me and I think it will be a nice piece of family history for everyone to have.

---Fun gifts the girls received:
- The cutest pillows made by Grandma Rigby. They have pockets that hold a journal for Lizette and books for Lexi. They are so cute! Marsha is so talented and always makes the cutest things for the kids. The girls love them and love having them on their beds.
- The scooters! We've been having scooter races and the girls are both getting the hang of how to ride these things.
- Barrel of Monkeys from Aunt Abby. Abby has one at her house and the girls love them and play with it every time we go. They were thrilled to get these for gifts and have their very own barrel of monkeys.

-- Once again, I got too caught up in all of the frenzy of the holiday season and did not enjoy all of the simple moments as much as I should have. Don't get me wrong, I had fun and loved every minute of watching my girls enjoy it. It's just that by the end of Christmas day I was exhausted and ready to have it be over. I wish I wouldn't get to the point of feeling that way. I need to simplify much more and take time to enjoy the true spirit of this special day.

I am going to quit typing now because I realize that this post is very, very long! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a very Happy 2012!!