We have a lot to talk about!

Before I say anything else, here is the news of the day. Or maybe the year! Lexi is potty trained!! And she basically potty trained herself. Last week, she decided she wanted to start wearing panties and that was it. Every time she needs to go, she tells me. She's only had one accident and that was only after drinking a ton of pop on a Saturday outing. Mommy forgot all about the pop and sure enough she didn't make it in time. She tried though. So, overall she is doing great! She's been a little nervous about going #2 in the potty. She wouldn't do it for me, but the other night while we were at the church getting ready for the scouts' blue and gold banquet, she and Lizette went to the bathroom together. Sure enough, Lizette got her to go #2 for the first time at the church! :) I was sorry that I missed it but proud of both of them. Lizette is a great big sister and was so happy to have helped her.

Lexi is growing up in other ways too. She is less inclined to make trouble with Lizette these days and more inclined to want to play with her. She follows her around everywhere and wants to be just like her. She calls her "Sissy" and she thinks "Sissy" is just about perfect.

Here they are playing in the snow in January:

The first part of this year has been good. I've been volunteering in Lizette's classroom each Monday and I love it. Kindergartener's are so cute! And I still love her school. :)  She comes home singing all the time and they have created so many fun art projects. Every day when I pick her up she still says "Mom this was the best day ever!" She has made some great friends and is really thriving there. I think we've also reached a milestone where her teacher has now surpassed me as the coolest person in the world.

I've had so much fun watching Lizette's personality develop as she makes friends. She is so tenderhearted. The other day one of her classmates had a toothache and she came home wanting to write him a get well note. Another friend had a bad day at recess and Lizette felt really bad for her. She wrote her a note telling her that she was sorry she had a bad day and that she loved her so much. When one little boy lost his cookies after the Christmas party, Lizette wrote him a note the next day too.  :) Almost every note she writes to her friends includes some sort of I love you message. It's funny that as shy as she is, she expresses so many feelings in these notes.

We had a treat later in January when Diane and Phil came to visit! We celebrated Hailey's birthday while they were here and we all had a blast. Spent most of one day at Wahooz and the girls loved that. The rest of the time we pretty much just chilled out and visited which was great. The girls played and it was so nice to spend some time with Diane and Phil. It's fun to have them close!

Lizette and Hailey having fun dressing up as Lalaloopsies. Hailey just turned 7 and they have a great time together. 

If you've been on Facebook, you've seen that we are redecorating our kitchen! I could not be more excited. I love home projects. I love decorating. I love everything about it and this transformation has me over the moon excited! We decided to treat ourselves for our 10 year anniversary this year and instead of going on a trip or something, we thought we would re-do our kitchen. We are doing all the work ourselves. Well, I am painting the cabinets and Jeff is doing everything else. Lawrence, being the great father in law he is, came and helped us with the floors this week. Aren't they beautiful so far?!! I smile every time I look at them. I think I get overly excited about these things. I couldn't even sleep the other night.

And here they are hard at work!

The girls and I went to a Valentine's Dance at our church on Saturday. Daddy missed out because he was working on our floor. Lizette boogied all night! And Lexi joined in too. When "Call Me Maybe" came on, Lizette freaked out and said "Mom! This is my favorite song! We have to dance!" So funny. She made Valentines for two boys in her Primary class. She says that she loves one of them and he is her boyfriend. I didn't realize she was so up on the boyfriend stuff yet.

If I've been bad at keeping up my blog recently, I can only imagine it will get worse with our kitchen remodel going on! But I will try to post progress and other happenings along the way! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Year end wrap up...a little late!

Oh blog, how I have neglected you! I'm so sorry. I just can't seem to get motivated to get on here lately. I apologize to all of you have been dying to hear what the Rigby's have been up to! This must have been difficult for you to wait all this time.  :)

Well, the end of 2012 was very fun. We took off to Utah in early December to go see Abby, Diane and Phil and Hailey, as well as Emma and Andrea! It was super fun. I was hoping to get to see Kim too but they were in Park City celebrating birthdays. Darn them. Of course we did lots of shopping. :) Ikea. I love that place. Diane and I hit a great sale at Downeast and I love that place too. We also found a fantastic new outlet mall that was having a great sale at Banana Republic. I love that place too. It was fun to see Diane and Phil. They live in the cutest neighborhood in South Jordan called Daybreak. Love it! It was fun to hang out with them and visit for the weekend. It will be fun to have them closer! Then Abby hosted a family gathering at her place and we got to see Andrea and her little cutie, Kelsie as well as Emma who goes to BYU. They are all so cute and it was so fun to get to see them. Love my nieces! It was soooo cold that weekend and Jeff and I were the only ones brave/dumb enough to go downtown and see the lights at Temple Square. I begged to go and then once we got there I really wanted back in the car. He was getting into taking pictures and I was like "LETS GO! Enough with the pictures!" Anyway, it was fun. ;)

Above at Diane's house with Diane and Hailey making a gingerbread house. Lexi loves Diane and tells me so all the time. "Mom, I love Diane." It's so cute. :)

Here are the girls with Kelsie just before the Choir broadcast at Temple Square. Kelsie is the cutest little girl. So much personality! Glad she lives closer now too.

And here are Mr. Rigby and I in the freezing cold at Temple Square. Whose bright idea was that anyway?!!  Of course it was worth it because the lights are amazing but it was soooo cold!

The lump...

After we got back from Utah I wasn't feeling so well. Thought I might be coming down with something and it did turn out that I had strep throat. Well in the midst of this, I discovered a lump under my arm. A lump! I wondered if it might be related to my cold somehow. Like my lymph glands being all out of whack or something. But then I learned that when it comes to lumps, I am a complete hypochondriac. I immediately jumped to thinking cancer and then jumped right ahead to who was going to take care of the girls when I go to chemo and the whole bit. I was just sure that I had lymphoma or something. I'm so silly. I guess with my family history it's sort of hard not to be. Anyway, I went in to have it checked and it turned out to just be an abscess that they had to drain. You know what? NOT FUN! They had to give me a shot in my arm pit and then drain the thing. You would think that I was undergoing a major operation because I almost passed out right there. The nurse had to stay with me for quite a while to make sure I didn't. My family better pray that I never do get anything serious. It won't be pretty.

Christmas...

Christmas was great as it always is. The girls had so much fun this year. They are at the cutest ages right now and it is so fun to experience the wonder of Christmas with them. Lizette wanted a sleeping bag and a cash register this year. Lexi didn't really ask for anything but she loves, loves babies so we guessed that would be a hit. And it was! We found a baby that looks like an actual newborn and she loves it. They had both received 18" dolls for their birthdays. Not the real deal American Girl dolls but cute alternatives. ;) I asked Abby if she would make them some clothes for them for part of their Christmas too. I should have known that Abby would take this assignment and go all out! She made them soooo many cute clothes! These dolls have a better wardrobe than I do. They are so cute too. I want a doll now too just so I can play with them and dress them up. Seriously! The girls love them and are having so much fun with them. I love that they play with them. They play with them together and it just seems like such fun and such a great thing to do as sisters. Love it! It was funny because Lizette has caught on to the fact that her doll is not the real American Girl doll and we told her if she wanted one she could earn one by reading 100 books. She thought about it and then told us that she would rather just earn the money. She said she likes her doll just fine. I thought that was funny. I guess if she's happy with it I won't argue.

Christmas Eve...opening our pajamas, the girls special gifts and some family games. Jeff got some awesome Avengers PJs this year. A big hit! 

Oh, and the girls special gifts are a tradition where we give them something to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas or something to remind them of Jesus. This year I found some really sweet pictures of Jesus with little girls that reminded me of them and I framed them and that was their gift. My mom used to do a similar tradition for me and I like to carry it on with my girls. 

Lizette sporting the adorable scarf that Grandma Rigby made for her. Lexi got one too. Love them! And Lexi with her treasure box from Grandma and Grandpa Rigby, full of fun things. The girls loved them! Aunt Abby gave Lexi a full on Doctor uniform. Lexi loves playing doctor so this was a big hit!

This is Rosie, Lizette's doll. Rosie is wearing the Christmas dress that Aunt Abby made for her. Yes, they even have their own Christmas dresses!  

And Lexi with her sweet little baby. Isn't it almost kind of scary how real she looks? :) 

This was my Christmas breakfast creation. A french toast recipe from the Pioneer Woman. Yum! I even made buttermilk syrup to go with it. Double Yum! 

Alright, next post I will try to catch up on what we've been up to since the beginning of the year! 

Let's Spread the Good

Once again, we've been doing lots and I have much to catch up on. A fun trip to Utah. Many fun Christmas happenings and fun events. However, this post is not about that. I will catch up in the next post.

My mind cannot get off of the events of last week in Connecticut. When I heard the news, like everyone else I was heartbroken. For those children. Those families. The entire community that will be impacted for months and years to come. What is this world we live in? The violence and evil that seems to be so prominent that our kids aren't safe in school?  Our little ones even? I was sick.

The next day our family had a Christmas activity planned and my heart was not in it. Angel had a fun service scavenger hunt all mapped out for us. Then we were going to do a Pinata and lunch and games and dinner and it was to be a fun day for us. But I really was not in the partying mood at all. I think my family could tell. My game face was definitely not on. The last couple of months have not been easy for me and the news on Friday was breaking my heart even more.

I must say though that when we got out there on that service scavenger hunt an amazing thing happened. I began to feel better. We did things like paying for the people behind us in the drive through. We left dollars in the dollar store with notes attached to them telling people to spread the Christmas cheer. We took Poinsettias to nursing homes and visited the people there. We left quarters on vending machines, candy canes on windshields. We picked up trash. Bought a toy for Toys for Tots. We did all sorts of fun things. By the time we were done, I felt a little better.

Yes, there is so much bad in the world. There will always be. But there is so much good too. We can't let the events like Friday discourage us to the point of giving up hope. There is good all around us. We need to take that good and try to make a difference. We need to try to help those that need it.

I personally find so much comfort and hope in the Savior. His love and knowing that there is so much more beyond this world brings me so much relief. If this world was it, it would be sad. But there is a beautiful Heaven waiting for us all and I know that is where all of those 26 victims are right now and they were immediately greeted by a loving Father in Heaven when they passed. As awful as it was how they died, as soon as it was over, I know they were taken into the most beautiful place imaginable. That brings me comfort and I hope it does their families as well.

I saw this picture on Facebook and as soon as I did I felt so much better. I want to buy it for our home. The title of it is 'Security'. So appropriately named. That is exactly what I feel when I look at it.

Thanksgiving, Family Photos and an Overall Catch Up!

Where do I begin? It's been so long! Well for me anyway! I consider myself a regular blogger and lately I've really fallen out of the habit. Life has been busy.  Priorities have changed I guess. But I do want to get these memories down so blog I must!

I'll attempt to fit as many things in as I can without typing a novel!

Okay, first I have to rewind to before Thanksgiving and say for the history books that I was bummed that Romney lost! I will leave it at that because I do very much respect all of my readers political views. However, for our blog book that is printed someday I want it in print that this bummed me out. I like the guy and I wanted him to be our next president. I don't hate Obama but I don't like his policies. I am a Republican and that's just how it is. Okay, that is all the politics I will include in this post. Harmless, right? :-) Anyway, good luck to you Mitt! I think you are a good man and you have a great family. And you would have been a great president!

On to Thanksgiving!

Oh Thanksgiving. I have no pictures to prove that I actually cooked some delicious food! Angel can be my witness though. She was there and tasted it! She brought some very yummy food too. She always does. Angel is the most creative cook ever. She and Thayne came and she made cranberry salsa that was to die for. She also brought rolls, munchies and yummy pumpkin cake. She always makes great variations on things. Never just boring old pumpkin pie...pumpkin cake instead. It was so good! Oh and did you hear that Angel had her baby? Yes, little Rockwell was born a month early! He and mom are healthy and doing great. He is so tiny and cute! Look at him! Isn't this about the cutest picture you've ever seen?

Okay, back to Thanksgiving details. Even though we didn't have a big crowd, I went a little crazy on Pinterest and tried some new recipes. Stuffed mushrooms, Brie en Croute, Ruth's Chris Sweet Potatoes, Loaded Mashed Potatoes, and Pumpkin Dip. Then Jeff made the turkey on the Traeger and we made a ham and bacon wrapped little smokies, spinach dip, a bunch of other munchies, apple pie...we had lots of food! And the Turkey turned out great! Good job Jeff!

I even decorated the tables fancy. No pictures of course! I had gold chargers with white plates. Then gold centerpieces and LED candles going. I don't know what got into me. I just felt the need to go totally overboard (for me, at least). It was fun though...sort of. I had planned to do most of the cooking the day before but I was sick! So I ended up doing it the night before and staying up late cooking. Even then I still was glad I did it. Watching my girls play with their cousins and making these great memories made it all worth it. It still would have been fun without all the Pinterest dishes but I felt the need to make it special and so I did. Sometimes, that's just how us mom's roll. :-)


Family Pictures...

Remember me telling you how Jeff is going to be our family photographer from now on? He bought a camera a couple of years ago but has been a little bit on again off again with taking pictures! I think he does a great job so I would like him to take us out more often! We went out to Albertson's park a couple of weeks ago to take a family photo for our Christmas card. The girls were in a great mood and the weather cleared enough that day that we were able to get some great shots! Shandy helped him out afterward with some photo editing tips and that made a big difference in the final results. Seriously! It is amazing what photo editing can do. Smoother skin, whiter teeth, brighter eyes. We all look way better in the "after" photos. I love modern technology! Here are my favorites:

The girls and I went to Disney on Ice this week. It was so fun! Thanks to Becky for the tip on getting tickets! The girls loved it and thought they were in princess heaven the entire time. :-) I loved it too! I thought the show was actually really well done. I was expecting a majorly cheesy show, but I was pleasantly surprised.

In other news, we have begun preparations for Christmas. I've been decorating like a mad woman around here. It's a little out of control this year. I think my experience with Candi has made me realize how much I want to make special memories with my family. I think I'm going a bit overboard this year. Right or wrong, that's what I'm doing. So I've made pillow covers for my couches in Christmas colored fabrics. I purchased gold chair covers for our dining room chairs to match the centerpiece. I covered one of our iron wall hangings in clip on poinsettias. I did this last year too, but it didn't work out very well because some of them were taped on. This year I went all out and bought the rest of the clips that I needed. I made an arrangement to decorate our porch outside. I've made several new decorations/craft projects. When do I find the time to do all this you ask? I have no idea! I stay up late doing this stuff and it's a stress release I guess. I'm obsessed with decorating for Christmas. It's a little insane. I'm a little insane really. I have a combination of OCD along with being completely emotional over this situation with Candi and so I'm trying to divert my attention toward Christmas. I probably could use some therapy. Or I'll just keep on making crafts instead.

Well, we are onto another busy week. I will try to do better at keeping up with blogging!