Here is your next "American Idol".

Happy Birthday- a little late!

This past week we celebrated our little Rexy's 1st birthday. Can you believe that he is one year old?! It is pretty shocking to our family, but we couldn't imagine life without this little guy.

Rexy's big day was spent at the doctors office and sleeping. That morning I woke up feeling like something just wasn't quite right. I decided to be a party pooper and take him in to see the pediatrician. Turns out Rex had an ear infection and Bronchitis/RSV. Poor little guy.
After his visit I decided that it might be smart for myself to go in also. I had been down the whole week, not being able to get rid of my painful head cold. After about two more hours of doctors, they diagnosed me with a sinus infection and strep throat. No wonder all I could do the whole week was lay on the couch and let my kids go wild. Literally my house was a disaster because I had no energy to be a mom. Nathan was so good to us. He would go late to work and come home early to help out. He even missed the opportunity to go to the jazz game in OKC just to take care of us. That is is definitely a huge sacrifice for Nathan, he is amazing.

Rex on the other hand never let on that he was sick. I only thought something might be wrong because of the runny nose and the tugs on the ears. He is such a sweet, happy, content little guy. He truly brings such an amazing spirit into our home. Thank goodness Rex has a dad who pulled through for him on his special day. Nathan bought a cake to celebrate and made it a fun night for the kids. Happy birthday Buddy Boo, we love you.

Here are a few of Rexy's favorites right now: He loves to follow his sister around where ever she goes and because of that gets pushed around a lot. Rex is learning to balance and is pretty close to walking. He loves climbing up the stairs, turning on the water in mom and dads bathtub and pulling out all the plates in the dishwasher. He loves balls and buckets. He is also our human vacuum cleaner(He will eat anything if it is on the floor). Rex can say "momma", "dadda" and "uh oh". We are so happy to have this cute little cuddle bug!

Just some pictures

All Star Weekend

We had such an amazing weekend. Mom and dad took our family to the all star weekend in Phoenix. What could be better than family, warm weather, basketball and food all at the same time? We stayed in the beautiful Biltmore hotel that had amazing pools and the grounds were just amazing. We were able to see different people like Magic Johnson. It was cool.

The main court yard

The slam dunk contest was really fun, especially because our niece Hannah was sitting with us. It's always fun when Hannah is around. I also have a new secret crush and I think Nathan does too. His name is Dwight Howard. That dude is a fun guy and made the night very entertaining.

If only this were for real

Nathan and Dad were able to listen to one their favorite business writers and then we had a special treat. John and Chad's families came to our hotel to swim with us.

I love these girls!

Caroline with the cousins
I was very spoiled because mom watched my kids all weekend. I feel a little bad because I really wasn't much of a parent. She is amazing and was very kind to let me go and spend time with Nathan. Thanks mom!

Can you tell she loves her grandkids?

Mimi and Grandpa with the kids

The all star game was so much fun. We were center court, row 16. Couldn't get much better than that. It was fun to see the basketball greats of our time, too bad that we couldn't get any jazz players there. Maybe next time. After we went to the NBA jam session which had a lot of fun activities and games.

Too bad Nathan has his eyes closed

Hangin' out with the star wars crew

The best pic we could get of the court and players warming up

We love each other

The Rigby boy's

To end the weekend we went to John and Ali's home to spend a few hours with the family before we flew home. It was a weekend that was nothing less than fabulous. We are so grateful to have family who we love so much.
Thanks mom and dad for allowing us to create such a wonderful memory. We love you and miss you already!

XLIII

After almost a whole week of being stuck in the house we have finally been able to go outside and feel the warm sun. The great thing about this area is that it doesn't stay cold for long. Who would ever think that it could go from 30 degrees to 60 in one day! Caroline loved playing on her big wheel and throwing balls into the street with her dad. Nathan and I just loved getting some fresh air. I love warm weather. To top the weekend off we had all our friends over for a Superbowl bash. We had about 20 adults all watching the game in our house, and then a ton of kids running all over the place too. We took the Rigby Superbowl tradition and made it our own. We ate way too much food and way too much fun.
We really missed the party in Utah, but I have to say this was just as much fun. We feel so blessed to have found such incredible friends. They are our family out here. It's nice to feel like we have people to rely on and who care for us while away from family. I feel at home here!
P.S. I some how deleted half of our pics of the whole weekend. Bummer.

Dad and Caroline enjoying the sun

Just Chillin

All the kids attacking the food

Only picture I have of some of the friends.

Winter Wonderland

While living in Utah we were able to enjoy incredible snow filled with skiing, sledding, snowball fights and all the fun stuff that you do. Here we are experiencing our first Midwest winter wonderland. Snow? I think not! Rain? Not quite. Sun? No way. Here, we are in a full blown ice storm. Yes that's right folks, an ice storm. I have only heard rumors about these things, but it's true. The streets, grass, trees, plants or anything outside is now covered with ice. Walmart sent everybody home at 4:00 pm yesterday, and now the kids get their dad and I get my hubby! We made some delicious, warm cookies and are comfy cozy while stuck in the house.

This our grass and one of our plants in our front yard

A view from our front porch

Close up of our tree

Caroline and Rexy watching the storm. They love to play with each other.

Caroline was so excited to see dad when she woke up.

Enjoying our cookies.

Christmas first

The Christmas tree is now up, the gifts are put away, the snow is gone and the schedules are back to normal. It gets a little lonely now that we are without family and friends, but it means life is moving on. I have to say I loved coming home to 60 degree weather and getting my kids down by eight again. Other than that, we miss Utah. We really loved and enjoyed the time we had in Utah. It was an eventful few weeks filled with many first:

Rexy's first Christmas morning shared with Grammy, Papa, cousins, Caroline, dad and mom.

Caroline's first barbie(we are obsessed with any kind of princess right now)

Rexy's first truck

Caroline's first tantrum of the day happened with the 20 cousins overcrowding her

Rexy's and Rylins first Christmas together

Caroline's first experience of whip cream in a can. (thanks daddy!)

Carries first jazz game of the year experienced with Nathan, Nick and Michelle. Go Jazz!

Caroline's first sledding experience with dad where no crying was involved. Thanks to all the uncles and papa for such a great sledding run.

After Caroline's first taste of snow. She kept saying "delicious!"

Nothing better than your first nap of the day taken in your daddy's arms.

And Rexy learned to crawl. Now he gets into everything!
We hope everyone had an amazing holiday season just like us. Thanks for all the good times everybody.