Now this is podracing!

Christmas Video

2012-01-17T13:25:00.002-07:00

With school started and us getting settled back into our nice routines, I think it's time to share the video footage of our Christmas this year.

Click here to see the video from our Christmas travels in Florida/Georgia.

Last Clogging test and Floral arrangement

2011-12-07T17:33:00.003-07:00

So I had my last clogging test today. It went pretty well I thought. I really love clogging, but this semester has been long and I am glad it is over.

And here is my last floral design. A nice christmasy one (our house is very nicely decorated also- very seasonal!) and my last plant that I got from my indoor plant class. It is supposed to turn into a bonsai. If it survives, then in ten years it will look cute and small and great.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T10:52:00.004-07:00

We wanted to make sure that Cambria, Quincy, Rocky, Daisy, Jonah and Eleanor all felt special on this Thanksgiving Day! We love you!

Another clogging test and Flower arrangement

2011-11-18T14:17:00.003-07:00

This weeks flower arrangement was wedding bouquets. They are a lot harder than they look. I didnt get to choose my flowers either. If I had, I probably would have chosen different colors.

And I got another houseplant. I cant remember what they called this type of arrangement, but it is basically one with several plants to use as a centerpiece.

And also my clogging test.

11/11/11

2011-11-17T12:36:00.004-07:00

So on November 11, 2011, Eric and I decided to watch a movie (We watched Simon Burch which by the way has to be one of the saddest movies ever. I cried like... well lets just say I cried pretty hard). Someone had taken a picture on facebook at 11:11 on 11/11/11, so I told Eric we should do that too. So we stopped the movie and tried to get some pictures. You couldn't see the clock too well with the flash.

The next picture we tried had such a long shutter that the clock changed half way through, but I thought it was a cool picture because it showed 11:11 and 11:12!

We documented us in bed as well. At the prime of the day :) As usually I couldn't keep my eyes open with the flash.

Also I have been trying to do some nitrogen analysis and things havent been working out super well. (the picture is sideways) But the standard curve looks really pretty so I took a picture. The first four lines(the green) are test out an ammonium standard curve and the last two (the purple and pink) are testing nitrate. The ammonium worked great but the nitrate didn't. I got some strange black precipitate in it.

Now you see it, now you dont.

2011-11-11T15:53:00.003-07:00

My pumpkin started to melt and mold and drip all over, so I took out the flowers that were still good and made a little arrangement on the table with our veggies as well.

And Eric decided it was time for the beard to come off so he shaved it. But before the big shave he got some quick pics out in the yard and a before and after picture. I think he looks handsome either way- with or without a beard- but someone told him the next day that the beard was just him and that he shouldn't have shaved it. Oh well. Luckily if he really wants it again he can just grow it again! Thats the thing with facial hair. It keeps growing.

Clogging test

2011-11-02T21:15:00.001-06:00

Had a clogging test today. Here is the video from it.

Don't forget to read the previous post from yesterday if you didn't see it yet. Don't want you to miss out on our Halloween!

This is Halloween!

2011-11-01T20:37:00.010-06:00

Halloween this year was a blast. I (Debbie) personally got to carve/decorate three pumpkins, although my mummy one is a little messed up now since it poured rain all day.

On Saturday we went to Jenny Wall's party and had fun seeing everyone in costume. We also played with Quincy, Cambria, Jonah and Eleanor. And watched some X-files with Indee and Hayden (and Cami and Toad). Hayden got a little scared, but Indee loved the thrill of the scary movies.

This was pumpkin #3 that I carved.

My mummy pumpkin (thanks Martha Stewart for the idea)

Quincy is so cute these days. I think she looks a lot like Daisy personally. She was so good all night. She just sat in her little chair and hardly made a peep except for saying bob. Ill babysit you any day.

Eleanor still has a head of hair. She is good too.

My vampire pumpkin. I think this one was my favorite. Cambria drew on the back and made her own vampire pumpkin but I thought mine looked much cooler so I didn't even get a picture of hers.

Cambria was in kind of a silly mood, but we still had fun with her.

For our costumes Eric was Paul Bunyan

And I was Babe the blue ox.

We took three of the primary girls from our class trick or treating which meant that we have successfully gone trick or treating 3 times together now. Every Halloween that we have spent together. It's pretty fun still getting a bag of candy.

In case you didn't see the previous flower post, these were my two Halloween flower arrangements. This one is stationed in our bathroom.

And this one in our kitchen. They are SO beautiful!

This is Eric's pumpkin. It didn't quite get finished.

Bonus pics:
We got to go to the sealing of our friends Robbie and Tiffany to their adopted son Daxton. We had some fun at the temple while we were at it.

Some wedding type poses since we didn't get married there like (it seems) every other LDS couple.

PS. Didn't Eric do a pretty good job growing a beard for his Halloween costume.

Survey opportunity

2011-10-31T10:09:00.002-06:00

I know some people like it when they can make a few bucks from taking surveys. This is my #1 recommendation. I have made at least $50 from them, probably more. You get $3 for each survey you complete and you get about a survey every other week or so.
They want more people, so if you are not flaky, and would like to do it, here is the info they gave me.
Dear DEBBIE:

PineCone Research is growing and we invite you to help! We are offering select members the opportunity to recommend membership to a friend or relative who is NOT a member of their household.
Do you know of households that would like to join the PineCone Research Panel? If so, please FORWARD A COPY of this email to each household you would like to refer so that they may click on the registration link shown below. That household should complete the registration form themselves and submit it. REMEMBER THAT ONLY ONE PERSON PER HOUSEHOLD MAY REGISTER. Multiple registrations of the same Household will void all registrations.

Here is the link to the registration:

www.pineconeresearch.com/signup/linkPink152.htm
As a member in good standing, you've already seen the benefits of being part of PineCone Research. So please, share the benefits of membership with a friend. Don't forget, please don't tell them about any of the products that you have seen in our questionnaires or tried in your home. Remember, it's important that your PineCone Research survey and product testing experiences remain confidential.
If your referral has any questions, they can email us at scott@pineconeresearch.com or click on the attached links to learn more about PineCone Research.

http://www.pineconeresearch.com//about.HTM

http://www.pineconeresearch.com//policy.htm

While this is not a paid referral program, we genuinely appreciate your help in spreading the word that PINECONE IS GROWING!

More flowers!

2011-10-27T18:19:00.002-06:00

I took these pictures for kim, but figured Id just put them on the blog too so that I dont have to take more pictures. Here are my two flower arrangements for this week. A little table on and a big table one. Halloween colors are apparently orange and purple this year so lots of purple. The big one in the pumpkin turned out pretty cool and I am excited to put it on my table at home. Smells good!

Now I have to figure out how to carry this to my car without my arms breaking all in one run! Wish me luck!

Apple Pie!

2011-10-16T17:20:00.005-06:00

So yesterday I made my first ever all from scratch apple pie! I went next door and picked the apples, found a recipe online, and made it. I usually don't love the homemade version of apple pie (The store bought version is my favorite pie), but I think that my pie turned out really great and I am pretty proud of it.

(This shirt was one of my lost and found purchases- Price $1)

This new tablecloth was also a lost and found purchase (Price $1.25) I'm pretty happy with it. I think it might be the exact same one my mom has and always uses. I had to fold it in fourths to fit on our table.

You might have noticed on the table my beautiful flower arrangement? This one is by far my favorite one that I have done so far by far! It is a cube design and I think it is absolutely beautiful!

Since I am the last lab of the week we also get to take home extra flowers. I was able to get enough flowers to make 3 more bouquets. So I gave two away and kept one for us. So FUN! (Eric if you read this, please remember how much I love flowers for future years when Im not bringing so many home)

We also went to see Thriller. The oddesy dance company does a dance all around Utah with halloween themed dances. It was really fun and neat to see. The picture is a little fuzzy, but oh well.

Im also trying to learn the wheel in ceramics and boy is that frustrating. I had no clue how hard it would be! But hopefully all this time I spend throwing will make me good at it and I can get some good ceramic pieces out of it!

Felindee Rap

2011-10-12T07:39:00.006-06:00

So we tried so hard to have this done before the end of Feliz and Indee's birthday (Eric's two sisters), but Debbie didn't get out of school til 7 pm and we finished filming and editing at 11:38 pm. We made it! But then it took 75 minutes to upload onto YouTube so it wasn't ready for sharing until Oct 12th. Oh well. We tried!

Happy Birthday Feliz and Indee! Hope your days were magical!

Love,
Eric and Debbie

P.S. On a sidenote, Eric went out this morning to drive to school and someone had stolen his windshield wipers! Ridiculous! I hope stuff getting stolen doesn't become a trend!

Carol's baby

2011-10-09T17:02:00.005-06:00

So I guess I never got around to posting about Carol's new baby Kohen. She hasn't posted a new blog yet either, so I thought I'd beat her to the punch. He is already two weeks old. Good Job Carol! He is cute as a button! (Just as your baby shower suggested he would be!)

We took her donuts and flowers.

This is the arrangement I made of the bird wings that I brought home from hunting. I think it looks kinda cool and is a great Halloween decoration.

After we found the conference tickets.

And this is our primary class minus one kid (Jason). I gave them all flowers either for their hair or boutonnieres. You can tell each of their personalities from this picture I believe. Also as a side note, they are sixth graders! Crazy! Don't they seem tiny?

Wendy comes to visit!

2011-10-05T17:38:00.004-06:00

We were privileged this past week to have a visitor! WENDY! We had a lot of fun. We went camping, hiking, eating, visiting, and to general conference. Overall it was a GREAT week! Thanks for coming Wendy!

We had tin foil dinners that turned out really divine!

And the leaves were changing colors and the weather was nice! (Not the cold and snowy 30 degrees that we have now!)

We got some new cool pink and green camp chairs. Now we own 6 chairs total. Thanks Wendy.

We also hiked bridal veil falls and I thought the picture needed a little something to make it more valuable in 30 years.

And Conference was fun and we got to sit really close. I had a horrible cold, but it was minimal during conference. A great blessing! Im sure those around us would have been really mad if I was coughing and blowing my nose every 30 seconds (Which I WAS doing right before and right after- and still am doing even almost a week later!)

Come visit again!

Requests for a new post!

2011-09-22T16:11:00.009-06:00

So my girlfriends and I (this is Debbie writing by the way, not Eric) have a girls night every month and yesterday was my turn. We did some Papier-mâché and some other stuff like fixing my hair- I love it when people play with my hair! Other activities included looking at Carol's belly. She is due any day now and is about to pop!

After Kasey did my hair I slept in it and wore it to school today. It still looked good on day two. I wore the twist but next time she'll need to leave me with the braid because that one is pretty too.

And today was my first floral arranging class! We made bouquets but I brought it home and put it in a vase. If Carol has her baby really soon I'll make a bouquet for her. Would you like that Carol? I didnt arrange it in the vase really yet since I might split it but the flowers are so pretty.

And Kasey requested that I add these pics from the last girls night.

Also I am loving my classes. I am taking ceramics (I can't stop thinking about clay!), floral design, indoor plants, clogging and environmental microbiology. Clogging is truly the best exercise out there. I dont have a video of me doing it, but I taped someone else in the class doing our first solo dance. Here it is. (I cant seem to get the words to line up with the pictures so hopefully you figured it out)

Eleanor Rigby - The Newest Niece

2011-09-18T12:26:00.008-06:00

My older brother Derek and his wife Aynna just added to their family with a baby girl: Eleanor. She is cute as a button but has much more hair than any button I've ever seen. Debbie was on a pheasant (or was it peasant?) hunting trip in Colorado this weekend so I went up to the baby blessing alone, but it was fun to see her and to hang out with Jonah.

Jonah was being a stink on the playground, but this picture makes it look like he's just some sweet little angel.

Me and Eleanor.

What a little baby. Literally.

That's what I'm talking about.

I got video footage of Eleanor's earliest signs of vanity: she smiles when I compliment her. Press here to see it. Or die.

This is a bonus video of the booger Quincy ignoring me and looking good doing it. Click here or also die.

Shark!!

2011-09-10T16:03:00.005-06:00

So for Labor Day weekend we thought it would be fun to make a movie. Eric came up with the idea to do a Jaws mockumentary and so we got an HD camera from BYU and made this. Hope you think it's funny.

Have you ever heard of a FREE FARMERS MARKET?

2011-09-06T11:08:00.001-06:00

So I already posed the question, but I will re-ask: Have you ever heard of a free farmers market? Farmers markets are really fun. They have so many different types of vegetables, that are fresh from the garden, and are sometimes cheaper than the grocery store. The thing that most people like about them is that the food is grown locally and is organic.

Well to answer the main question, Yes, I can now say I have. Mike Rigby's garden. He is the most generous gardener I think I know and extremely talented. His veggies range from the traditional to the uncommon. The free farmers market is now located on my kitchen floor! I picked veggies for about 2 hours (with the help of Cambria, Mike and Aynna) and brought home at least 200 lbs in veggies. Our car was a little weighed down. I have already given between 1-5 shopping bags full of veggies to 14 people and still have a little bit left.

So if you want some, get creative- learn a new recipe and try something new. Grab a few veggies and try it out.

I made salsa two nights, and it was so delicious we already ate it all.

Now for the pictures!

Not bad eh? It was probably worth at least a couple hundred and was at least 200-300 lbs.

Specials thanks to Mike, Aynna, Eric, Jordan, Jordan's roommate, Hillary, Stacey (and her 3 friends), Caleb, Chris, two of our nieghbors, us and Ligia (for being vegan and taking a lot!) for helping us eat this food!

Paragliding

2011-08-27T18:25:00.000-06:00

SO we got a few videos, but looking back we taped more closer to the beginning of our lesson so we definitely look amateur in the video. By the end of the lesson he said we were getting about 200 feet off the ground! Anyways, here is the video.

But we got some pretty good pictures. Here are the prize winners.

One of the funniest parts was when you would fall and get dragged for a bit. But luckily the ground wasn't too far and you only fell during landings.

And the way that the straps hit your arms gives you bruises on your biceps. So now it looks like Eric abuses me. Of course it looks like I abuse him too. Or maybe he abuses himself??? :)

And btw, it was really fun.

Oh, and look, I found MORE zucchini! MONSTERS!!!

Da dal lad dul da!

2011-08-25T21:51:00.000-06:00

Due to the fact that it is like a sauna every night in our apartment, I am sort of looking forward to winter where I will freeze every night instead.

Well I realized my blogging skills have been sort of lacking lately so I thought I would do a catch up blog. Make sure to look through the whole thing as a lot of different topics will be covered. Lets start with...

My garden. Bugs basically ate everything in my garden but the zucchini survived. I would check the garden on Saturday and pick anything that there was. Then I would go camping for work and come back to find monster zucchini! It grows so fast. I have gotten about 15 zucchinis from two plants and enjoyed sharing them with friends and the ward.

Also did I show you my grill yet?

We grilled steaks for my birthday and have grilled hamburgers so far, but that is it. I got it to smoke stuff, but I havent gotten around to that yet.

So on my birthday my big toenail finally fell off! I lost 5 toenails from the marathon- and sure, you pro marathon runners are thinking "thats rediculous! She must have had horrible shoes!" But rest assured I had great shoes. I just didn't really train all that well...but it kind of is my pride and joy. I always wanted to lose a toenail growing up since my siblings lost them a lot in soccer. but my toenails held fast. I am happy to say that I have lost toenails now. I know what it is like.

It has been growing in weird, but hopefully it is fine in a few weeks or so.

On my birthday I also got lots of fun presents from Eric.

He made me delicious green blueberry waffles and gave me wonderful presents.

My favorite was the map he drew me. I have been wanting a map for a really long time, so he drew one!

Later that day we had a party at our house. It was a lot of fun and we had lots of cake and ice cream and some other goodies. I shared some produce too.

Then on the following Tuesday we went to Thanksgiving point for $2 Tuesday. We chose to go to the dinosaur museum and had a lot of fun.

Saturday started out big road trip. We first went down to Vegas to see our friends Tiffany, Robbie and Daxton Hale. We went to Circus Circus and played some carnival games. Eric won me a cute stuffed animal. A horse! And Robbie gave us the fish he won.And I won one too.

On Monday morning we went to the Ethel M Chocolate factory. The factory wasn't the greatest, but the chocolate sample was great! The cactus garden was also really neat.

And Daxton was really cute. Super smiley and chunky.

We then headed up to St. George to see "The Little Mermaid" at the Tuacahn. It was a really amazing show and very impressive.
(sorry it is fuzzy)

We also saw the St. George Temple and took some artistic photos at 25 Main, the restaurant that Cara recommended to us. We had paninis that were very delicious and a cupcake each.

It was a very fun trip that we will always remember probably.

Then to top it all off we went up to Layton. We had a hang out with Kathy and went to lunch and saw "The Help". Then Mike let me take some veggies home. I brought home a whole trunk full and gave most of it away to about 9 different people.

The selection is very impressive. Im excited to go back for another picking!

Do you see all that variety?
Lets see if I can list it all. Asian eggplant, the egg shaped eggplant, Armenian cucumbers, Asian cucumbers, regular cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, cantaloupe, corn, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, butternut squash, several kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow straight neck and crooked neck squash, bell, banana, jalapeno, habanera, and some other really spicy peppers, onions, and green beans. Im sure I missed something and there were some things that weren't even ready yet, but Im so excited to have it all. Next time I go up Ill take orders if anyone would like me to bring you back some.

Oh and something else, I finally got the published version of my book I wrote. It is about 180 pages and is all the emails that I wrote as a missionary. It's called Vampire Emails. It turned out wonderful. And as a plus, I found a coupon code that made it free!

That's about it for the update. We had a wonderful summer and the last few weeks have been jam packed. Tomorrow is our last adventure. Paragliding. We'll tell you how it goes.
Bonus picture:

We didn't want to wait in line to get our pictures with Ariel and Prince Eric

Dave Barry

2011-08-19T10:36:00.000-06:00

My (Eric) life is now complete. I am married to an elite woman, the New York Giants have won a superbowl in recent years, and now I have met Dave Barry, my favorite author of all-time.
Dave and Ridley Pearson came to the Provo library last night to promote their new Peter Pan book and we were able to hear them speak and then have them sign two of my books after. They were both very nice and fun to listen to and I can only hope that they had a good experience here. The best part was when Dave Barry was telling a story about the beginning of his and Ridley's careers together and how he went to get a cup of coffee and a small market and he paused and said, "Is that bad that I would even mention coffee here?" And everyone chuckled, and then he continued with, "I was only drinking coffee because they were out of heroin." Funny, funny man.
Here are the pictures to prove it:

They read a snippet of their new book to us, which was very funny.

Our plan was to get more of a candid shot while they were signing other books but they were so nice that as soon as we stood behind them they both looked up and smiled.

This is in one of my favorite Dave Barry books, which is now priceless.

This was the first Peter Pan book that they wrote together.

Layton Triathlon. Eric Style.

2011-08-14T22:09:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Eric, Brandon and Caleb ran the Layton Triathlon.It was a sprint triathlon. It was horribly organized and was a weird race where they did everything twice. But overall it was fun and good family bonding time. Eric and Brandon had special outfits of mustaches, cutoff shirts and fun colors.
Almost time for the race!
Getting in the water.
Perfect form :) Go Eric GO!
Eric getting ready for his second ride.
Not too bad of time for having to do everything twice. Transitions add a lot of time and when you have to do them twice, well, you get the picture.
The mustache Eric grew for several weeks to match his brother Brandon. We had to put a little eyeliner on it so it was a little more visible.
Eric crossing the finish line.
Here are all the boys from the race.
So Eric had some pretty long hair from growing it out all summer, but I cut it. But I thought this picture was pretty funny.

Kannas Visit

2011-07-25T20:31:00.000-06:00

Thanks for coming to visit Chrissy, Randy and James!
Here is a Video just for you

Chrissy Visit and Rigby Reunion

2011-07-22T17:03:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful visit from Chrissy, Randy and James. We hiked the Subway, went white water rafting, hiked to the Timpanogos caves and much more. Randy had to leave on monday but Chrissy got to stay til wednesday and meet eric's family and participate a little in the Rigby reunion. It was a load of fun. Here are some picture from the fun week.
Click Here

Wilcox visit!

2011-06-29T14:42:00.000-06:00

Here is the link to look at our pictures from our wilcox visit! We had a ton of fun and went to Bridal Veil falls, Antelope Island, Bryce Canyon, the dollar theater, Zions National park and the Coral Sand Dunes. And some other places like church and the park and Eric's parents house. Thanks for coming!
Go here to see the pictures!

Stuff

2011-06-25T18:41:00.000-06:00

So a few days ago our neighbors who we shared internet with moved, so no more internet for us. For a while. We'll see when we get new neighbors if they want to share.

We just got called two weeks ago to be the teachers of the 10 year old Valiant primary class. We have a roudy group of about 8, but hopefully we can win them over soon!

We also had a lovely visit from Sage and Troy and family! It was a magical 5 days together. When we get internet or when I remember to bring my computer to work Ill post a few pictures and give a few more details.

Other than that things are good. Today was REALLY hot and I finally remembered that braiding my hair makes it crimpy. I hate blogging without pictures so Ill take one real quick. Here is day two of the crimp, so it doesnt look that spectacular but better than frizz. It also helps that I finally got some Bed Head shampoo (one of the only kinds Im not allergic to and that I can use the conditioner on.) Now my hair is soft and smells like Kiwi! Yum!

MARATHON! UTAH VALLEY! FINISHED!

2011-06-12T20:45:00.000-06:00

3 am prepping for the marathon.
Cara and Quincy waiting for me at mile 21 1/2 with Eric. Cara came with Cambria and Quincy. Kathy, Feliz and Indee came also. Thank you so much! It made running easier (slightly) to know that I had support! Eric was there too of course and Elizabeth (my good friend) also showed.
Also thanks everyone who made a motivational track for me. I loved them all!

Here is Cambria.
At this point I might have been smiling but I was in pain.
You can see my head just over this guy in the front here with the hat.
Cambria helped me find the creamies and snacks that they give at the end of the race.
Feliz made this cool shirt for me and had everyone's name on it. It made me happy! Oh and Im showing off my cool metal I got here. It now rests next to Eric's plaque that he got from his marathon. Of course his says 3rd place male for age group 20-24.
Left foot blister.
Elizabeth was a great help. She rode her bike along next to me for the last two miles which helped me to keep going. She was originally flexing in this picture and it looks like I tried to flex too, but she stopped and so I just look like a silly little girl.
These are the two toes that hurt the most. And the right foot blister. The blisters hurt yesterday, but I popped them and so they feel much better now.

Also, I didn't really get that great of time. I did it in 5:35 minutes and got 1,519th place... but I beat 116 other people! Not too bad! I was just happy to have finished and now that its over I believe it was my first and my last.

I felt great for the first 15 miles but the last 11 were killer. So next time I run a long race it will just be a half marathon.

Buildup

2011-06-04T15:18:00.000-06:00

So first things first for an update on Debbie's marathon training. Something exciting happened and she got an interview with ESPN. Sadly they decided not to air it, but we had least were able to write down everything that was said.

ESPN: So are you ready for the big race?

Debbie: Well, sort of. I guess I'm really as ready as I'll ever be. I mean, I was probably more ready a month ago.

ESPN:What do you mean you were more ready a month ago?

Debbie: Well, I think as time goes on I get less and less motivation to get ready for it because it is a lot of work, and so luckily the race isn't at the end of the summer!

ESPN: So do you think you can do it?

Debbie: Absolutely!

ESPN: Do you have any tactics that will help you to get through the race?

Debbie: Yeah. From the email I got from the race people and the course map it looks like people aren't allowed to cheer while I am running in the canyon. That's about 2/3 of the race. So I'm having people make motivational cheering tracks for me to listen to on my ipod randomly while I run. I think that will help me to want to keep going.

ESPN: Can anyone make these tracks?

Debbie: Yeah, Just tell them to send it to my email! Anyone cheering me on is great!

ESPN: Anything else?

Debbie: Yeah, the whole course is downhill. It goes from an elevation of 6,000 feet to 4,000 feet. I'm really good at running downhill. That is definitely my strong point, so I think that will be a big help in allowing me to run to the best of my abilities. And I just want to give a shout-out to all my friends and family, especially my husband Eric for supporting me this whole time during training.

ESPN: Thank you Debbie! Good luck to you and if you would like to cheer Debbie on and you are in the area, the race is this next Saturday and you can cheer off of University Ave. And if you aren't in the area you can send her a motivational track to put on her ipod and hear while she is running. Thank you.
-----------------------

Pretty cool! So Im adding the other blog to this, so it will be long, but that way no one misses this extra stuff.

So we had a little scare the other day.

As you can tell from this picture, this is Eric's new bike. The other day (tuesday to be exact) we went on a bike ride to Utah lake. I was trying to show Eric the free entrance to the lake but I couldn't find the road off of Geneva road (turns out they took out the road. No wonder!). So we decided to head back. It's all uphill on the way back and since now Eric has the fast bike he was way ahead of me and good thing. We were in Lindon and Eric has already gone past the intersection. I was about 50 feet away from it when these two girls weren't paying attention ran their red light and slammed into a truck going through his green light. Luckily no one was hurt and the cars weren't badly damaged. But what if I had been closer and been right in the middle of the intersection? Yeah, I would have been smashed! Or the two pedestrians who were right next to me. We even had the white walking man! There were about 10 of us who saw it who were right there in the intersection.

A couple weeks ago I decided we should start wearing bike helmets as much as it pained me. We do now, but luckily we haven't had to experience their main use.

We also had a few visitor drop by. Robbie, Tiffany and Daxton. It was fun to finally meet baby Daxton (they live in Vegas and were able to adopt Daxton just a few months ago)

Also, I finally caved into getting Eric a real candy jar. And I finally laminated our souveneirs from Romania.

And we went on a hike down Adams Canyon with Hayden and Indee a few weeks ago.

And saw some baby horses on our way to the trail. Sadly though, they were napping on the way back when we got out the camera.

Lots of new things!

2011-05-16T18:46:00.000-06:00

So today was the most exciting day of my life! I ran home from work (one of my ways of getting some of my runs in is by riding my bike to work, then running home afterwards, then the next day I run to school and ride the bike home. Somedays I run both ways. It's 3 1/2 one way) and when I got home Eric showed me a flyer from on our door. We got a recycling bin! Actually its a recycling DUMPSTER! I asked our manager for our apartments if it was possible to get one and we got one! I am so happy!

Then we went on a hike a little while ago. Here are some pictures from that. We went to bridal veil falls.

Look how high the water level is for the Provo River! Its really deep and fast right now.

Next, for my inside garden. Here are one of my little plants from last week.

And then from this week. They grew a lot!

And then for my garden that I worked on for about 3 hours on saturday. I planted zucchini, yellow crooked neck squash, green beans and yellow beans, peas, okra, bell peppers and tomato. Only one plant is not from seed (tomato) because already established plants were too expensive. And the onions in the garden were already there so I left them so that I can eat them.

And last but not least, I splurged and got a 0 degree sleeping bag so that I hopefully won't freeze on my camping trips anymore. Also you notice that little thing in my hand? Its my new jacket! Im so excited about it. I have wanted one for a really long time and they finally went on super sale. Im real sad though because they only had one left so I wasnt able to get one for Eric. Hopefully soon though. Its a rain/ wind jacket that only weighs 4 oz and is perfect for backpacking, camping, hiking and traveling. I hope to use it a lot.

And then here is a picture of Eric from our date night to Nickel City. Eric did really well on this game. Of course he did well on all of them actually. At least much better than me.

Our finished puzzle.

And a bonus picture.

Puzzles and a Garden

2011-05-07T13:26:00.001-06:00

So here is my garden room as of late. Indee helped me to decorate my tomato plant holders and I hung them up to the ceiling.

I just put some seeds on the soil on wednesday night and they are already sprouting.

Today our neighbor was having a yard sale and I went and talked with her because they were selling the cutest little miniature pincher puppy and I had to just sit and play with it. Anyways, I commented on how its cool that she has a bunch of square foot gardens in her back yard and she said I can use one of them to plant my own garden! Sweet! I think Im going to take her up on it. It looked like it was about 6 x 6 feet. So the big question is... what should I plant in it? any suggestions?

So it looks to me like this picture must have been taken early in the morning. Eric and I (but mostly Eric) worked on this 500 piece puzzle for a little while this week. Took us about 5 days to do it. It was tough because of all the snow. I've had the puzzle for about 5 years, but this was the first time it has ever been put together. We got two new puzzles from our neighbor Julie's sale as well. They look like they will be more fun than this one was. We have some finished product pictures, but they aren't on the computer yet. We'll see if I remember to put those on later.

Summer + fun books that aren't for school = happy

2011-05-02T21:32:00.001-06:00

As my way to celebrate the beginning of summer/end of the fall semester, I read a book. Not just any book, mind you: a neverending one. Apparently the term "neverending" really just means about 380 pages. If that's the case, I've read LOTS of neverending books.

I was excited to read this book because the movie was one of my favorites growing up. I cried along with Atreyu each time Artax died in the Swamp of Sadness (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, because wouldn't Atreyu die too because he's crying?) and ran with him as he bolted past the Sphinxes with the electrifying stares. Boy, was I in for a letdown.

Luckily, life goes on, because "NeverEnding Story" by German-born author Michael Ende (or is it Neverende?) was a waste of my life, which could have been wasted learning Ryu's upside-down kick on "Street Fighter II". The movie follows the book pretty closely, up until where the movie ends. The book doesn't end there, in fact it goes on for an extra 200 boring pages. Overall, the book gets a low "C" grade while the movie stays up on my list with a shining "B+".

And, for anyone who has seen the movie but still has no idea what name Bastian yells out at the end (I always thought it was his mother's name, but I guess not), the name is: Moonchild. Explain that one to me, Atreyu.

Nephi's Car

2011-05-01T18:19:00.001-06:00

Nice Sunday Activity!

April fools!

2011-04-30T11:24:00.000-06:00

The weather tried to play one last April fools joke on us this morning. We woke up to snow!

Then I also wanted to show you my tomato plants. Here they are soaking up some sun.

And here is the first version of the garden room. I still have some work to do on it.

It looks much better than last week. It was a storage room, but then Eric's friend Caleb needed a place to stay for a bit and I felt bad that he was so crowded in the room, so I organized and put basically everything in the closet. Then moved the dishwasher in there since we dont really use it and the washer and dryer now take up its spot in the kitchen. More updates to come on that room.

Additions to the house

2011-04-27T14:25:00.001-06:00

So we got our washer and dryer! Can you tell where they go?
We already did two loads and there were no leaks or other problems. I think Im in love. We got a really good deal. Only $100 for the set! The lady gave us this pedestal looking thing to make the dryer higher and we werent sure we were going to use it because the dryer would have to stick out further, but it turned out really good that she gave it to us because the cord didnt reach the plug without it! And Im already happy because it means less bending. And we were really lucky because with the pedestal it was a tight fit, but the washer fit without needing to take out a saw.

Anyone have any decorating ideas on how to make the wood from the pedestal nicer looking or covered up?

As for the living room I thought Id show you what it looks like with the lovesac.

I did a little rearranging. Its a little like stadium seating. What do you think? Does that make you want to visit?

Ok here it is!!!!

2011-04-23T14:31:00.000-06:00

So I thought, "its been quite a while since a post". This led me to want to post something, of course! Well it just happens to be perfect timing to let the big secret out. But lets see if you can guess it first with these clues.

1. Why in the world would Debbie buy a nice new pair of shoes as seen in this picture?

Nope, I didn't buy them to be comfortable in Romania and Hungary!

2. Why are Eric and Debbie getting a washer and dryer?

(We got a whopping deal on it! But we don't get it til Tuesday.) Well to tell you the truth we have hook ups for some and we are getting tired of running low on clothes before we go up to Layton and mooch on Eric's parents and use their washer and dryer. But that's what parents are for, right?

3. Why does Debbie feel like her toenails are about to fall off?
(OK OK, sorry for the picture. My foot almost cramped up taking this picture because I didn't want to get the camera out. But luckily my toenails are painted, so they don't look super ugly. But you may have noticed the blisters and calluses on my feet? Maybe? Don't worry about looking too hard.)

4. Why did we rearrange our living room? (Well,You'll just have to believe me on this one- Cant get a good angle for a picture. But just so you know the answer to this question is because we got a giant lovsac for the summer that takes up half the room)

Answer:
Well if you guessed that Debbie is running in a race you were right (great clues huh?)

Yep. I'm not known for being a runner really at all, but I decided to go big or go home and my first race I will ever race in will be the Utah Valley Marathon on June 11, 2011. Yep. A marathon. Today I ran 16.4 miles. Plus I paid the $80 fee for the race so I'm for sure doing it. Its a life goal and I thought, now is as good as ever.

So mark your calendars! Everyone is welcome to come and cheer me on!

Daisy: the Movie

2011-03-29T21:13:00.001-06:00

When our niece Daisy came for a trip from Oregon last week we got some award-winning footage of her in the wild. This short film (nominated for 3 Best Picture awards at foreign film festivals) portrays Daisy, the most elegant flower of all.

Here's what you've been waiting for...

2011-03-28T21:30:00.001-06:00

A week or so ago my companion (Debbie) and I (Eric) went back to the Country of a Thousand Dogs, the Land of Gypsy Palaces, the Kingdom of Cruddy American Rap Music: Romania.

It was the first time for either of us to go back since our missions, and it was magical. We met up with members, roamed the streets that we both knew so well, we had dinner and conversation with the mission president's family, and we also took a day out of the Romania portion of the trip to see Debbie's parents on their mission in Hungary.

Debbie modeling at a metro stop

Debbie chillin' with enthusiastic mannequins

Here is a video compilation of our extravaganza (not sure of the exact meaning of the word), and Debbie will put up pictures later. The video:

Also, if you would like to see the rest of the pictures on facebook, here is the link
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=283457&id=550776157&l=f2f498d31a

Preview

2011-03-24T15:08:00.001-06:00

Our Romania trip was a whirlwind of fun. Don't have time to blog about it now, but I think Eric plans to later in the week. I just wanted to give you a preview of a picture or two.Here is Eric soaking up the Romanian air.
And here am I on my first visit to the Black Sea. I finally made it! It was really chilly on the beach because the wind was blowing like crazy, but it made my hair look pretty in the picture!

2011-03-12T18:23:00.001-07:00

So today has been a really busy day but I just wanted to quickly put up these pics before the excitement of Romania takes over our blog. First I wanted to mention our faithful bikes. Ferav is my bike. I should have taken some closer up shots but the handle bar grippies are disintegrating, we have to cover the seat so our bums dont get soaking wet and it looks really pitiful, but we absolutely LOVE this bike. I try to ride it to school at least 2x a week and since the snow stopped have been completely successful. It is technically my bike, but Eric and I sometimes have to beg each other for the chance to ride it since it is the better of our two bikes.Ferav has a long line in our family. Chrissy owned it while here at BYU, then gave it to me my freshman year. I rode ferav every day. Then when I went on my mission I let Wendy use him for two years, and now Eric and I share him and love him.

Our other bike Michi Sensei (Roadmaster in Japanese since Wendy's roommate Candice gave her to us and she went on her mission to Japan) hasn't been quite as faithful as Ferav. She likes to throw fits and get flat tires a lot. In fact she got one just this week so now Ferav is our only usable bike. We think maybe instead of fixing the tire we will just look for a new one since she is slow and hard to ride anyways.

And this picture is for Mom and Dad. We live exactly one mile away from where they lived after they first got married. They lived in the top floor and had Carrie while living there. In fact it is across the street from where we have church, so we see it every Sunday. Looks great!

Shoes update

2011-03-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well everyone, I just wanted to quickly update you that my new shoes work amazing! I can comfortably run 4 miles in them. Ok, actually I'm sure the shoes could go further, but that's all my body can do comfortably.

And to leave you not hanging without a picture here are some new boots I got. Actually, they are the only boots I own. I have been wanting rain boots for a LONG time (at least over a year) and I finally buckled down and bought them. Problem is now the weather is clear and beautiful. Probably should have waited a little longer. Maybe they would have gone on sale. Oh well. I'm still happy.

And while I was taking a picture of the boots I found some pictures of Abby Gonzales that I never posted with her wearing the cute onesy that we gave her. Oh the adventure of babysitting. Does she look like she is having more fun or me? She is now 7 months and WAY to big to fit into it. But I was happy to see today that Tiffany and Robbie's new baby Daxton has been wearing his onesy.

Oh my! And I almost forgot to mention that right now are cooking the most delicious little thingys ever. They are actually called Chicken Bacon Thingys. Well at least thats what Katie Loveland gave me for a name when she told me the recipe. They are simple and the PERFECT appetizer or throw in some rice and make it a meal! Here is how it goes...

boneless chicken (uncooked)
bacon
honey
brown sugar
Cayenne pepper hot sauce (Franks or Tabasco sauce)
Toothpicks

Basically I cut up the chicken into little cubes. Then I wrap them in bacon (usually about 1/3 piece of bacon for each chicken chunk). Then you stick the toothpick through it to keep the bacon on (if it is good quality bacon though I just lay the chicken on the ends of the bacon and dont use a toothpick). Put the chicken bacon thingys in an oven safe dish like a glass pyrex. Then I pour honey all over it (as much or little as you like), then pour the hot sauce over it, then I pour LOTS of brown sugar over it. I like to add lots of those last three ingredients so as it cooks I get a yummy sauce that can be used for dipping or putting over rice.

Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes (really just until they look done and chicken not pink. Sometimes I cook them a lot longer to brown them a little or because in todays case Eric doesnt get home for another 45 minutes)

These are sure to be a hit and they are easy! I make them with different amounts of sauce's and sugar each time and they always taste great.

2 New things

2011-03-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

So recently two significant things have happened in our household.
1. I bought a new pair of running shoes. They are very comfortable.

2. The plant that Wendy gave me died. It doesnt look too bad in this picture but this morning it was light yellow and the stem is rotting and black. Sorry Wendy.

That's all.

For old times sake

2011-02-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Eric just sent me this in an email and it made me laugh again. He made this before I even got back from my mission. He is such a good dancer. Seriously.

Not sure if you like these but...

2011-02-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

So I dont know if my readers are interested in doing things like my last post (online surveys) was about, but I think they are fun and I have another one to recommend. I have been trying out quite a few and I am starting to get to the point where I can say whether I like some of them or not (2 are still pending). But this one I just joined a week ago after hearing quite a bit about it from some trusted saving sources and it is called swagbucks. Basically it is just a toolbar that you download (and can uninstall at any time) and you get points for searching the web as normal. They have other things that you can do on their website as well like games, polls, surveys etc. I just downloaded the toolbar 1 week ago and already have 192 points. (I still have my google searchbar though and I use that a lot still because I like that search engine better) When I hit 500 points I can cash out for a $5 amazon gift card. Its a way to get some extra money while doing what I normally do. If you are interested in trying it go here to sign up. If you are one of those people who constantly play games on facebook, why not do it on this website and get free giftcards in the process?

Also this next weekend is Swag bucks 3rd birthday so if you enter the code: BirthdayFun when you register you will get extra points.

Also, Friday is Mega Swagbucks Friday. Your odds of getting high value Swagbucks (SB) added to your account are higher on Friday than any other day! You can win up to 10,000 SB on fridays! Check Swagbucks out, download the toolbar (which can be uninstalled at any time) and start earning FREE giftcards!!!

PS. If you use the link that I gave you then I get referral points, so if you do it, use this link. Swagbucks

Side money

2011-02-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends,
If you know me you know that I like to take surveys for money. If any of you would like to get some extra cash here is a survey place that I recommend and they are taking applications right now. They pay $3 per survey and you get the money right after you take the survey. I have been very impressed with this survey site and have tried quite a few survey sites, but this one is my favorite by far. They are the most reliable and they never send you surveys that you can't do. If you are interested here is the info.

Only one member of each household may register. If more than one person of each household registers, it will void both memberships.
Here is the link to the registration:
www.pineconeresearch.com/signup/ds632.aspx?&sid=BGR

If your referral has any questions, they can email us at scott@pineconeresearch.com or click on the attached links to learn more about PineCone Research.
http://www.pineconeresearch.com//about.HTM
http://www.pineconeresearch.com//policy.htm

I had to leave Eric all alone

2011-02-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend my friend Tiffany had a baby shower thrown for her (They are adopting. I hope the baby comes soon!)! I wanted to go so bad, but the only catch? It was in Vegas. So of course I went. We drove my car to get good gas mileage (my car meaning Eric's car meaning Wendy's car meaning Kim's car. Thanks Kim, We love you, hope you are having fun in Australia. Thanks Wendy, We love you hope you are having fun in Russia.) So we got good gas mileage and made good time getting there (meaning no traffic or car problems). When we got there of course Tiffany, Robbie, Yoko and I had to stay up really late having fun and giggling. Then the next day we had fun at her shower

These were the only pictures that I took from the shower. We had lots of great food at the shower (btw Tiffany- Dont forget to get me that Artichoke Dip recipe. It was so divine) and the house was a really fun house as you can see from the living room/music room/front room.
That night we went to the strip. We went and saw the "Bodies" exibit. It was really cool. If you dont know what this exibit is, basically it is a whole museum showing all the parts of the body using real humans who have donated their bodies to science. The only time it was a little creepy was when they hadnt taken the skin off their face and you remembered that these were real living people at one time.

We took lots of pictures in front of the Luxor Casino because thats where the exibit was.
Here is Gio showing her stuff

And Yoko attracting all the hotties

And me showing my 8 month pregnant belly... Just kidding. I've always been pro at pregnant pictures. One day I'll really be pregnant and then maybe Ill magically learn how to take pictures where I dont look pregnant.

And all of us striking a pose.

And some other photos for your enjoyment

In the end we all came home, but due to the lack of sleep over the weekend my left eye has been constantly twitching over the past 4 days. I've tried sleep, multivitamins and bananas, but nothing has worked so far. Hopefully something will soon though.

Gainesville FL Stake

2011-02-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

Was going through my gmail and I found this. Its a little fuzzy but you can still recognize people and it was fun to watch.

plants

2011-02-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

This post is for Ligia and Gio. They asked me why we don't post more, well it's plain and simple I said. Because I have nothing to post about! Well, they told me they just wanted to hear about anything! So the way that I spend a lot of my time currently is memorizing plants. I have memorized 63 so far this semester. Yesterday I got 22 more.I will memorize a total of 250 this semester. I have to memorize the Tribe, Genus, species and common name and every test is comprehensive. Its kind of intense. So where I used to have quite a bit of "do whatever I want time", that has now turned into study plants time. I still work at the temple Wednesday nights and it is really great. Other than that... Gio made me really good tacos today for lunch? Yes she did. Here is a picture of some plants for you. Anyone have any guesses on what these plant names are?

I chose easy ones for you. Any guesses?

We got a new calling!

2011-01-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

So this past sunday we both got a new calling in the ward. When he told us I was kind of like "what? are you serious?" It was a calling I never really thought that I would get. At first it sounded a little intimidating to me but now (we got the same calling) Im really excited about it! It is.... Ward Employment Specialist! Fun huh? Well we have already started full speed by starting a ward employment blog. It is pretty cool with links to some really cool websites that have job opportunities (the LDS one is the best- we searched jobs within a 5 mile radius of our house and it came up with over 300 openings!) I plan on doing financial tips in the blog posts and other fun random opportunities for people like me like surveys (when I find them) where you get money and stuff. Here is the link for you to check it out www.byu174jobs.blogspot.com its not perfect yet, but I just started it, so it still has a way to go!

Eric's Birthday Party

2011-01-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

This post is a little late, but it comes as part of the celebration of a wonderful day in American history: Eric's b-day.

The family came over to have dinner at our place in Orem and we had a good time. Debbie made a great Filipino dinner and some birthday cake. She even made a small heart-shaped cake for Cambria and Jonah to share.

Cambria helped Eric open his presents and even saved him the trouble of opening a few by just telling him what was inside! Afterwards, she and Jonah had fun in the cardboard box that the conga drum came in. That's right: conga drum! Apparently it's actually a djembe drum, but conga is more fun to say. Debbie bought Eric the drum and he has been irritating the neighbors for days now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugx6_lUBGkY

Merry Tropical Christmas!

2010-12-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Since there isn't a Florida Christmas for us this year I thought it would be fun to at least pretend we went to a tropical place. We took our snowman friend and recorded the fun!

Tour of the Apartment

2010-12-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

We moved into our new apartment this week. It is much grander in every way. Thanks to those who helped us move, namely: Brandon, Caleb West, Jake Slater, Gio Velez, and Beth Ward. Here is the apartment tour of our new place, plus some extra footage of fun in the snow. Merry Christmas!(oh and as Becky pointed out, it is only 4 minutes- just disregard the last minute of black screen)

NEWS!

2010-12-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

So very sad news in Provo, Yesterday the Provo Tabernacle burned down. I guess it caught fire in the middle of the night. I feel blessed that I got to perform in it just last Sunday and none of my equipment was burned up. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13693318

O Holy Night

2010-12-12T21:02:00.001-07:00

I would like to thank those who posted on my last post. I really appreciate the support! :)

SO a couple of weeks ago I played o holy night at a fireside. This is a recording from a rehearsal. I tried to make it have just sound but couldn't figure it out. I made it low quality video though so that it is fuzzy and you just listen to the sound. Tonight I played a duet with an oboe at the stake fireside. I played the flute part of My Shepherd Will SUpply my Need with the stake choir. It turned out very nice. And I got to play with the orchestra. Not the best orchestra in the world, but it was still phun!

Gospel Jr.

2010-12-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

So today we had our friends Beth and Brett over and we watched "The Mouth of Babes". Then to compete with that we watched our own "Gospel Jr" made by Chrissy and Randy, a Sunday favorite in our house. Then they told us about this other cute video on Youtube called Kid History. Its pretty hilarious. Tell me what you think about it if you like it. :)

Balloonshop

2010-11-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is our favorite YouTube video. Its pretty funny.

The Newest Rigby

2010-11-28T21:47:00.001-07:00

We stopped by the LDS Hospital tonight in Salt Lake to say hello to our newest niece, baby Quincy. I hope that I'm spelling her name right. The roads were devastatingly packed with snow, but the poor weather will never stop us from being among the first to welcome in a new Rigby. Here are some of the top pics of the night:

Babysitting Abby

2010-11-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

So a few days ago I got to babysit Abby Gonzalez! This was the second time I have gotten to have fun with her. The first time was several months ago. She sat and slept the whole time. This time we decided to copy Chrissy, sort of, and make a movie together! That helped us to get to know each other a little better since she didn't seem to remember the last time we hung out.
So here is the product of our labors!(I ended up having to upload it on youtube because it never seems to work on blogs anymore.)

Kim Kim KIM!

2010-11-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the fun hairthingy Kim. I wore it on sunday and it was a nice addition to my do. You're the Best!

Baby Claire Loveland

2010-11-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we received joyous news. News that was very pleasing to hear: our good buddies, Ross and Katie Loveland, had a baby! And not just any baby, either. They had Claire Danielle Loveland, a beautiful baby girl with a green bow glued to her head. Here is a video dedicated to baby Claire:

We hung out for a little while with Ross, Katie, and Claire and got some good pics.

This is my attempt to show that the computer monitor was easily the same size as or bigger than the TV. That, in my personal opinion, is ridiculous.

Debbie is very happy whenever she can hold a baby that doesn't cry.

Ross is a father. Incredible.

Katie is a mother. Incredible.

Together, they are an incredible family.

This picture shows off the incredible part in my incredible hair. Incredible.

I'll be a father someday as well.

Claire had a cool frown going on.

And check out the spread! Man, sign me up for having a baby if it means some country fried steak.

Back to a game after 3 (or 4) years!

2010-11-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

So this last friday Sabrina (my fellow masters student friend with the same advisor as me) called me up and asked if I wanted her football ticket. I said YES and was excited to attend another game since I haven't been to one since before the mission. I made sure to take my camera since dad sent me an email last week with detailed instructions on how to blog (bring my camera everywhere and take pictures while thinking of creative ways to blog it).

The Game wasn't the most fun game since we totally smashed UNLV 55-7 (they only scored in the last 45 seconds) but it was fun enough! About 20 minutes before the game I found some friends to go to the game with (Eric was working at Fanzz). I thought I was supposed to wear white since it was a home game, but was wrong. Everyone was wearing blue.

I made sure to yell and scream and get the most out of the day (I had nothing else really to do that day so I stayed for the ENTIRE game)

And we got to sing the fight song a whole lot (about 8 times to be more exact) and I still remembered all the words. I had a video, but I cant get it to upload. Maybe later. Or never.

And on Friday I went to take some soil samples and we saw WILD HORSES! So this extra pic is for you mom!

QUIDDITCH

2010-11-05T14:15:00.000-06:00

On Oct 23 we set up with some friends to play QUIDDITCH!!! It was so much fun. Well everything was going perfectly according to plan and then the day of, it poured rain for the first time really in months. It was cold and wet, but we played anyway and it was worth it. About 20 people still showed up even in the rain.

Debbie on her broomstick

Eric on his broom stick

Eric putting down boundaries to catch the snitch. We had a penny as the snitch and it was placed in the boxed area in the grass. The seeker played the game normally as a chaser for the first 15 minutes of the game, and then had one minute to find the penny. If no one found it in that minute, they then had to wait another 5 minutes and then had another minute and so on until it was found. Debbie was the first seeker and she found it on the second round winning the game for team Hufflepuff.

This is Eric preparing for the game

And Debbie preparing for the game

This is the best we've got of an action shot

And this is us all wet after the game. Would have taken pictures during it if it hadn't been so wet.

Our thighs all got really sore from holding the broom there so long but it was well worth it for the amount of fun we had. We plan on playing again before the new Harry Potter movie comes out.

Time for a new post. Thanksgiving decorations.

2010-11-03T22:37:00.001-06:00

So I went to a friends house and she had fun decorations in her house. She got them from an old friend, Vicky! this is her blog and these are the things she makes. She sells them, but she also gives them away. Its fun to get new decorations sometimes. Here's the link to
Vicky's Blog

Free Lasik

2010-10-08T13:02:00.001-06:00

I entered a video contest to win free Lasik eye surgery and I really want to win and apparently the way to do that is for people to go online to this website: http://www.hoopesvision.com/contest/video.html, watch the video and then click the "like" button underneath it. Mine should be one of the first ones, entitled "Lasik Contest Entry!.mov"

Thank you, good people. If I win free Lasik I promise to see more clearly for everyone!

We had Visitors!

2010-09-27T19:07:00.000-06:00

Ok, so it has been a couple of weeks now, but we really enjoyed out visit from Brandon, Marci, Rocky and Daisy. We did lots of fun things including strolling through the latino festival, going to the Bean Museum, Eating out at Applebees and going to the Storytelling Festival. Thanks for coming!

New Post!

2010-09-17T15:39:00.001-06:00

Ok, Im sorry that the latest update is slow. That is because I haven't taken any new pictures in a while and I haven't really done anything exciting except for sit in the car, sit at work, sit in classes, sit in my room, sit in the kitchen, etc. YOu get the point. Actually I did go to a Zumba class yesterday and it was a LOT of fun! Kim took these snazzy pictures of me too when we were skyping. This is my office. Its a little blah.

Marci Has Started a Trend

2010-08-23T12:27:00.000-06:00

Several weeks ago the actress Debbie Rigby was seen wearing a new stylish bag. Reporters cannot find the origin of the bag but she has been seen wearing it all over the city. If anyone has information on where she got this bag, please call 888-901-1234 so that mass production and distribution of this bag may begin.

Cute Baby

2010-08-06T10:29:00.000-06:00

It's always fun to see cute new babies at the hospital. It's even more fun to jump on a trampoline that's suspended over a lake of fire-breathing alligator-sharks. However, yesterday some of our time was spent at the hospital, visiting our friends Stacey and Nico, and not at the lake. Stacey finally had her baby, cute little Abigail.

We also had to get some cool action shots of the food that made the whole delivery possible. Behold the breakfast of champions:

Happy Abigail Day!

Oh, the MTC

2010-07-20T07:07:00.000-06:00

This last weekend was, to say the very least, a blast. We first picked up Debbie's parents on Thursday night from the SLC Airport and then treated them to dinner at Red Robin. Because it was Roger's 110th birthday (or something like that) we got a huge chocolate ice cream-cake to split. Thanks for having birthdays when you're in town, Roger!

On Friday we spent the day in Salt Lake visiting Aunt Gwen and Uncle Gene and other family. We visited Randy's Great Harvest store and got cinnamon burst bread. My mind explodes with happiness with each bite I take. Roger had finished his book, "Letters to Grandma", before coming out and wanted to have book signing parties with all of his relatives before he gave them the book.

On Saturday we drove to Dayton, Idaho to stay with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Reed and their family. It was extremely fun for me to get to know everyone. Caroly was in heaven because Aunt Kathy bought a pony and a carriage that you can ride in while it pulls you along. I think she was maybe more excited about the pony than the people.

We played games, ate great food, smelled the poopy cows from just up the road, listened to Aunt Diana's crazy stories and went to church. On the way home we stopped at the Logan temple and posed for pictures in admiration.

And then it was Monday morning. We started things off nicely with a breakfast of squash and eggs.

And then it was off to the MTC with 65 tons of luggage!

Debbie should be a model for the Sister Missionary Mall in Utah.

And here I am telling those missionaries to get off my property.

Debbie and I show how close Romania is to Hungary.

Elder and Sister Thompson showing how excited they are for Hungary.

They will be in the MTC for one week, we will have another weekend with them, and then it's off to Hungary!

4th of July Movie Special - Pop-Its Wars!

2010-07-04T17:21:00.000-06:00

On this our country's wondrous day, we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy. One of those many freedoms is the few fireworks that are legal in Utah. Pop-Its, to be exact. And this video is the result of those fireworks and another freedom we enjoy: making any movie we desire.
Happy birthday, Aynna. Here's your present:

Debbie's Work

2010-06-25T11:50:00.000-06:00

So I have had many people ask me what I do for work. It isn't too complicated. We leave at 7:00 am mon-thurs and usually drive 1 1/2- 2 hours to get to a site, where we then walk 5-10 minutes and set up tapes (sometimes we have to hike up and down mountains which isn't as fun, especially the 10th day you have to do it). The landscape is usually very beautiful. Each plot (30m x 33m) is taped off with 6 tapes down the middle. The tape on the 11 is used to clip all the vegetation on every other meter to see the rates of growth. The other tapes are used to number the shrubs (like sagebrush, cactus and other bush type plants), to take the volume of a certain number of shrubs, count the number of woody pieces of different sizes to measure fuels in case a fire came through, measure the distance between each perennial plant on a line, another experiment includes dropping a thin metal flag stick every 1/2 meter and saying everything it touches, counting all the native and non-native species and perennial plants in a 1/2 m x 1/2m square every other meter and naming every plant that is seen in the plot. Each plot takes about 1 hr 15 min and isn't too tedious, until the gnats come. Then everything is not fun. For the last three weeks I have been camping and on those day we did about a plots a day, but on a normal day with with 3-4 hours driving we usually do 5 plots. I actually really like my job and am learning a lot. It will set me up for my masters project which will sort of include these type of things.

First we have a picture of a lizard. We see tons of lizards. This one is about a foot long and very fast. I think Joseph would love to see all the wildlife that we see out here.

These next few are just shots from the plots. Pretty view huh?

This one shows the transect lines that we set up.

We see a lot of snakes out here. I have seen probably 8 non poisonous snakes and 4 poisonous ones- rattlers. So this week we reached our half mark of the summer and earned a "career day", which meant that we went and did something fun. For our career day we went bird watching at antelope island and this is the snake we saw there.

We also saw this longhorned deer, which I learned is the same animal that everyone mistakes for an antelope, which the island is named after.

And this buffalo and many others.

And this picture shows the amounts of gnats we are dealing with at work. I used to think gnats didn't bite, but boy was I wrong. The girl gnats bite and I am covered in gnat bites right now and they itch! my ears, by my eye, my face, and my arms. I can't stop ictching! Also bug spray doesn't work on gnats which we have learned from experience and from reading. They say though that gnat season is only from may-june and june is almost over. Sadly.

Antelope Island was very pretty and we had a lot of fun lassoing and taking strolls and looking at lots of pretty birds.

So I think I might be getting close to becoming a professional bird watcher now. As much as I dislike it (not sure I like noticing that every bird that flies by is different from the previous one). The people I work with are pretty into it though, which doesn't help since they point them out every day. And the bird watching made me extra aware as we drove to Manti of every bird we passed.

On fridays I go into my other lab (where I will do a lot of my grad research) and am learning how to extract DNA from the soil (from the microbes) and do all sorts of cool lab stuff with gels and pipettes and stuff. It is really fun. This extra time at work each week is making up for the 40 hours pay I took to go on our trip to Costa Rica. Pretty fun stuff.

And an added bonus- We went to the Manti Pageant yesterday and it was really fun! Except for the fact that it started at 9:30 pm and we normally got to bed at about 10, so we were kind of droopy eyed the whole time. But we saw this crazy truck...

And took along Briana...

And saw the beautiful temple :)

DQ

2010-06-22T22:13:00.000-06:00

Graduations wouldn't be nearly as boring if you knew you were going to get such phenomenal gifts afterward like two gift cards from Brandon and Marci to DQ (Something Different). We finally put one of the cards to good use tonight and got a pair of dipped cones. Debbie regrets getting the small butterscotch cone whereas I happily got the medium chocolate. But let's have the pictures do the talking shall we?

The best part of the DQ experience was that we went through the drive-in and I gave the girl at the window four cents along with the gift card so that she could leave .75 on the card. She was already talking on her headset with another customer so she didn't hear me say that and when she gave us the ice cream and the card back, she also gave me the pennies back and apologized for not knowing why I had given it to her. I explained what I had wanted and she apologized again, clearly feeling very sheepish. She immediately asked if we wanted a free cone. I wonder if that happens a lot there? Alas, we did not take the free cone. It would have melted everywhere, just like the two that we barely finished.

It's Christmas in Provo!

2010-06-20T15:29:00.000-06:00

Well since I had a really hard time coming up with a Christmas list last year I decided that I had better start early this year. One of my top items was a mummy bag. I have been wanting one ever since freshman year of college when I slept in my sister Carrie's mummy bag and found it so enjoyable. This week at work (he last two weeks I have spent camping over at Minersville Utah by Beaver Utah for work) it got down to freezing temperatures twice and having only a nice sized blanket I froze to death. Eric, upon hearing this news decided that my Christmas present couldn't wait til Christmas and surprised me on my return home with this beautiful mummy bag. I can't wait to try it out tomorrow!

Three Day Weekend! Lets Make it Four!

2010-06-02T18:47:00.000-06:00

For Memorial Day Weekend we were invited by our good friends Ross and Katie Loveland to go to Vegas! They had received a weekend in Vegas in a timeshare as a wedding present and we were the lucky invitees!

We started our lovely trip with a stop at ESPN Zone to watch the final game of Orlando Magic VS Boston Celtics. The Celtics won.

The restaurant was INTENSE and so much fun!

The casinos were full of people wasting their money away and they all had big TV screens for bidding too. Thank goodness for a modern day prophet!

We explored a lot and even went as far as Egypt!

Eric even almost got bit on the head by a snake!

The Coca Cola factory wasn't quite all that it was made out to be.

And the flowers in the Bellagio were still as beautiful and fresh as ever!

We saw France and the Bellagio Fountain water show.

We saw the Lion King Broadway musical.

And an added bonus! We got to see and hang out with our other fabulous friends Robbie and Tiffany Hale!

We returned home to a fun barbecue at a park with other wonderful friends Kasey, Elizabeth and Chad (where we celebrated his birthday also), Carol and Nick and Katie and Sean. The food was delicious. Thanks guys!

No Wonder They're Proud People...

2010-05-25T17:49:00.000-06:00

I had always wondered why Texans were so proud of their state. It didn't seem like it was a whole lot different than other states, other than it was a mite bigger. Debbie had already been to Texas, but this was my first time. Hot-doggy, what a first impression I got.

Not only do Texans deep-fry just about everything

but they also have crazy mirrors that distort your body and probably make some people look better, like the strange 8-foot tall girl standing next to us that jumped into the picture.

Texas is also a fun place for children and for grown-ups who still act like children.

And there is a temple as well so that the arteries that are clogged up with deep-fried Twinkies, Oreos, Snickers, babies, artichokes, grape soda and vitamins can be spiritually settled.

So, I am darn tootin' proud to say that I am proud to have visited Texas. I can see now where the Texas pride comes from. Remember the Alamo.

Costa Rica

2010-05-24T08:19:00.000-06:00

Adventure is our last name. It's actually Rigby, but Adventure describes us pretty darn-tootin' well. We recently spent a week in Costa Rica and did many fun things, i.e.:

We shared cute hostels with cockroaches

We saw prehistoric animals like this iguana

We took good pictures of nice beaches

And we played around with the fam

We saw more animals

We went ziplining through the trees

We visited Jurassic Park

We ate great food

And we just saw some real cool stuff.

Mangos = Happy

GRADUATION!

2010-04-23T21:45:00.000-06:00

Boy, I look unusually happy here.

What special occasion calls for brushing one's teeth?

Could it be a worldwide Nintendo party?

Nope! That's not why we're so happy.

Maybe it's because our niece Cambria is usually cheesy in pictures?

No, that's not why either.

Perhaps the reason we are so happy is because thousands of college-age students woke up this morning and decided to dress in the exact same caps and gowns?

Yes, this is why we're excited. This morning Debbie graduated from BYU with her Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Soil Science!

See? Soil! Go Debbie!

The graduation started at 8 a.m. and was a stimulating event.

Luckily, Debbie smiled for the whole two hours. She looks so much happier than those children surrounding her.

Debbie had friends that graduated today as well. This is her with Briana Rae. Briana probably graduated in something cool like Dinosaur Bone Collecting or Astronaut Marrying Science.

I am so proud of my smart, pretty wife.

Debbie is really great at graduating.

Its time for a new ... CHAIR!!!

2010-04-10T19:13:00.000-06:00

Well, if you have taken the tour of the apartment then you have seen that our living room contains only one two person couch. Not too inviting to guests. But today, we swung by DI only to find the exact chair type that I have always loved. Qualities include comfy,rocks, doesn't squeak and ugly. But I have dealt with the ugly temporarily by covering it in some throw-blankets from our wedding. Come visit!

My husband is real cute

2010-04-02T22:43:00.000-06:00

So I don't know how many of you actually know Eric, but he really likes to flex. He is flexing all the time. Here is a picture of one of his better flexing days.

Chaco Man!

2010-03-29T15:34:00.000-06:00

Everyone knows the song "Macho Man" by the Village People, but what they don't know is that the real words in the chorus are: "Chaco, Chaco Man... I want to be a Chaco Man... doo doo doo do do DOO... Taco, taco stand... I want to eat a taco stand..." And so, in honor of the song and the famous footwear, Debbie saved up money from each paycheck to get me a pair of Chaco's. They are oh so comfortable and they make life great.

I never could have bent my leg up like this wearing normal shoes, but Chaco's are not normal shoes! Look at how happy I am! Thank you so much, Debbie!

Cambria's version of ABC's

2010-03-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

The alphabet seems a lot more simple with only half the letters in it. A lot different than I remember it being.

Day at the Zoo

2010-03-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Hogle Zoo is not what it used to be. This zoo was my second home as a child (my mother tried to leave us there periodically, maybe that had something to do with it) but it is sad to see that the exquisite exhibits contain hardly any animals nowadays. Debs and I took my siblings Hayden and Indee and our niece Cambria this last weekend and had a jolly good time, as you can see by the magical story that has been woven by our pictures:

Cambria was careful to pay close attention to everything in the zoo that wasn't an animal, such as this large, wet globe thing by the entrance.

I've never felt so safe in my life.

Luckily the lions are kept behind bigger fences than these guys.

Everyone made such a big deal about King Kong, but he's much smaller in person.

The zoo keepers were extremely nervous when they saw that one of the gorillas had escaped...

...and then they realized that gorillas do not wear people clothes. Boy, were their faces red!

Giraffes doing time in prison. It doesn't take long before they lose their minds altogether and mistake the walls for the green leaves of the Sahara.

One of many of Lord Voldemort's followers that is now behind bars. Or at least glass.

I have the bad habit of sneezing really loud when I'm being eaten.

Debbie, Hayden, Indee, Cambria and the Wooden Elephant.

It was a lot of fun and we are happy that we do not live in such small, enclosed spaces, although if you watch our apartment tour video, you may think differently.

The post you have been waiting for

2010-02-25T21:51:00.001-07:00

So I know everyone has been asking when we were going to post a new "tour of our apartment" video and the day has arrived. This is the big debut! Our apartment. Well basement actually.

Intramural Basketball

2010-02-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Eric is playing in an intramural league at BYU (he is not going to BYU) and his team is really good. We got a video camera a few days ago and Debbie recorded a few random clips of the game and this video is what Eric considered the highlights. The best part is when the big guy slaps him and it echoes through the gym. Eric's team is 5-0 right now and they have good cheers when they come out of the huddles like, "Go Eric Rigby!" or "Eric's cool!" I wonder who thinks he's in charge?

2010-02-02T16:30:00.001-07:00

Our seats at the Jazz game.

Utah Jazz

2010-02-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Last night (Feb. 1) we went to the Jazz game. I am proud to say that I have married a Jazz fan. Debbie needed only taste the atmosphere of a Jazz game to find that not-too-deep-down she is very much a Jazz fan. She happily agreed that our first son can be named Paul Millsap Rigby. The Jazz played the Dallas Mavericks and it was a glorious victory. We even had pretty good seats: we could just make out which players were on which team from where we were sitting. Go Jazz go!

Avatar!

2010-02-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

We went to see "Avatar" for the first time last Saturday morning. Our lives will never be the same.
We sat next to an older couple who seemed to time their insanely loud comments with the parts of the movie that were a little quieter, just so everyone in the theater could hear their views of what was going on. Debbie tapped Old Man Talky after he shouted "Awesome visuals!" for about the 100th time and asked him to be quiet. He just waved at her but he must have been very intimidated because he didn't say much for the rest of the movie. I was so impressed with the 3D visuals that I thought one of the characters from the movie was going to reach out and slap the old man as well if he kept talking.
Anyways, I wanted it to be made known that we are proud to have contributed to the near 2 billion dollars this movie has brought in during its 6 weeks of being in worldwide theaters. Of all the cool blue creatures that I have come to know and love in my lifetime: Nightcrawler and Beast (X-Men), The Tick, The Blue Man Group, the Smurfs and Thomas the Train Engine, the ones in "Avatar" are the bluest. And coolest.

Married! December 29, 2009

2010-01-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

We were the happiest little clams you would have found that day.

2010-01-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

I clearly could not contain myself and was jumping around with joy while Debbie remembered that her audition for "Sound of Music" the Broadway show was coming up soon.

2010-01-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine what would become of the Dementors from Harry Potter if they accidentally strode on the grounds of the temple? They would be obliterated. Because everyone there is so happy, including us. This picture is taken right after we got out of the temple.

Almost our one week aniversary already...

2010-01-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

The big day finally came and went and we are now happily married. With all of the excitement beginning to die down, I just have to ask myself: Why did it take Aladdin and Jasmine three whole movies to get married? I'm sure it would help to actually see the second movie, but I simply don't want to.
On December 29, 2009, Debbie and I were sealed to each other for forever! in the Orlando, Florida temple. It was a remarkable experience. I couldn't stop smiling. We have tons of pictures but I am just putting a couple on here now, you can see more on Debbie's facebook page.
We are now residing in Provo, Utah, which, to our dismay, is cold. Why is there not a BYU Florida? Sure, there's Hawaii and Idaho which are basically identical to Florida, but still...

2009-12-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

Wow! it was great. we all got to touch the manatee

A6 - The Christmas Manatee

2009-12-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

One of my greatest dreams in life has always been to touch a manatee with "A6" etched into its head, and on Christmas day I went with Debbie and two of her sisters, Kim and Wendy, to Blue Springs to visit the Majestic Cows of the Great Sea Kingdom. We saw a healthy number of the whiskered mermaids and we found this last one when everyone else had left the park, so we were the only ones left. He seemed to adore us and kept coming close so we could touch him. It truly was a Christmas miracle.

Jordan River Temple and Volleyball

2009-11-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

So this morning we ran over to the Jordan River Temple to start our temple tour. We hope to someday have gone to all the temples in Utah.It turned out that afterwards I had a volleyball game and we had no time to go back to my apartment and get my tennis shoes and clothes. Luckily I had my sweats and Eric had his basketball shoes in the back of the trunk so I was able to borrow those.

The size of the shoes didn't hardly hinder my playing because I'm already not the best volleyball player.

2009-11-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

I figured we should have our first couple movies that we made together on the blog. This one was made right after we got engaged.

Happy Hunchbacked Halloween

2009-11-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Halloween is a kid's holiday. Our bodies may no longer suggest that we are children, but in our hearts we are just as immature as we were all those years ago.
On Oct. 30 we went to a party with Debbie's/Esmerelda's co-workers at a home in Lehi. Everyone was assigned to a specific theme for the costumes and ours was Disney. Our first choice was naturally Ed the hyena from "Lion King" and Flit the hummingbird from "Pocahontas" but the costumes were too hard to come by. We settled for Quasimodo and Esmerelda and won a single vote for "Best Costume". I suppose had their been a category for "Best Hunchback and Female Dancer" we would have won that as well.
On Halloween I wore my costume to work and people commented on it all day. I gave an older woman a good scare when she asked: "How did you make the hump?" and I looked at her with wide eyes and said, "I was born with it. Thanks for asking." She looked pretty terrified.
We went trick-or-treating with my brothers Gavin and Hayden on Halloween night in Layton and were rewarded handsomely for being some of the last trick-or-treaters of the night: everyone was ready to call it a night and so they gave us as much candy as we wanted. Lovely.

Troll 2 Party

2009-11-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

The best worst movie.
A true legend to behold.
The other night we watched "Troll 2" which was filmed in a small town in Utah in the early '90s and is now known as the best worst movie ever made.
The plot, the acting, the dialogue... absolutely nothing makes sense. One note of achievement for the film, however: the teenage daughter in the film, Holly, is played by actor Connie Young who later starred in the LDS-hit "Singles Ward" as Cami. You may argue that "Singles Ward" is the second best worst movie ever made. Not a very successful career, Connie.
"Troll 2" is priceless. We didn't stop laughing the whole length of the film. My eyes were watering within minutes and my tummy ached. Maybe my favorite line of the movie was:
JOSHUA (the boy, this is when he realized what the name of the city was backwards): Nilbog! It's goblin spelled backward! It's their kingdom!
I recommend this movie to everyone on the earth.

Desk job or mascot?

2009-10-25T19:19:00.000-06:00

There is something to be said about a real man's profession. If you were to think of a manly job, the following might pop into your mind: a firefighter, a heart surgeon or a bank robber. Take special notice that none of these careers are even closely related to my past two jobs: 1) Stan Bird.
As the 7 foot tall mascot for the Standard-Examiner newspaper I entertained people all across the Wasatch Front at parades, baseball games and such events. One of my favorite parts of this job was being able to meet the most influential leaders of our day, such as: Chewbacca, the mayor of Clearfield City and the pig from Famous Dave's BBQ.
2) Pumpkinhead
I don't know if this is the real name of the mascot, but that's what people yell at me from their car windows as they zoom by, some of them communicating with their hands as well, putting special emphasis on the use of their longest finger, suggesting that I am No. 1! The reason that I bring up the fact that I have had these jobs is because they are both unusual, somewhat immature positions, whereas that of my fiancee, Deborah M Thompson, is a position that scientists generally agree as being the most important in world history. Her picture shows her in her normal work garb as she dissects and examines the most important aspect of any culture: soil. Without soil, how could anything grow? How could there be mud when it rains?

Exactly my point.
Debbie and I are at different levels of maturity. My level is low and includes dancing for money (not to be taken in a wrong sense) while hers is much higher and includes saving the world.

We're Good at Being Engaged

2009-10-18T19:19:00.000-06:00

Being engaged, we decided it's time to take that next big step in our lives: to get a dog. But we don't have the money, time or resources right now for one, so instead we got the next best thing that rhymes with dog: a blog. On this hallowed website we will share our deepest secrets, our most horrid fears and our tastiest recipes. We are excited to be married in the Orlando temple and also excited to receive presents at not one, but TWO wedding receptions! We hope you enjoy watching how our lives unfold.

P.S. It may appear that I am more into Debbie than she is into me, but it isn't true. Our love is equal and makes us happy.