movies to see during christmas

when the holidays come around i get so excited to snuggle up close to nick, family and friends next to a lit tree and watch a great movie while drinking mexican hot chocolate and dipping a conch (mexican bread with sugar flour on top). i have lately been thinking about what movies to watch and decided to create a list for myself to have on record when i want to watch something and my memory fails me.

the christmas list:

white christmas
holiday inn
a christmas carol (1938)
the muppet christmas carol
christmas vacation
elf
it's a wonderful life
miracle on 34th street
how the grinch stole christmas (cartoon)
home alone (1 & 2)
the santa clause
a christmas story
jingle all the way
frosty the snowman (cartoon)
mr kruegers christmas
ernest saves christmas
four christmases
fred claus
the grinch
the best christmas pageant ever
gremlins
the holiday
while you were sleeping
you've got mail
the shop around the corner
funny farm

feel free to help me out with my list!

beggars night has taken over halloween

oh iowa. how you have messed up my favorite holiday. i love halloween. ask my friends. halloween is still great in iowa, but you don't celebrate it on halloween but whatever day closest to the 31st that works for the community. they celebrate beggars night because they think it is safer for the kids. i think it just gives them all a reason to party twice. (the light just went on) this is great! i get to celebrate my favorite holiday twice! it hasn't worked out that way—halloween night typically is a dud for me. hmmm...i am rambling.

on beggars night i hung out with the rose family—thanks roses for letting me hijack your beggars night. my costume was a cave woman and i roamed the streets with my dinosaur beast jenga. basically it was a good costume, but nothing compared to what liz created for her family—homemade with incredible detail—i think she should start a business. i will now take 10% cut for the brilliant idea.

we went around their neighborhood and got back to their house by 8PM. here's the deal with beggars night: it goes from 6PM to 8PM. if you choose to participate you turn your porch light on and the kids come to the door and tell you a joke instead of the traditional "trick or treat". it gets awkward. i get sick of fake laughing.

back to the story—liz's kids were feeling like i felt—sad that it was over so fast—so we jumped in the car and began to make a scavengar hunt. our goal was to hit up the "soda house—not to be confused with the "soba house" or the "so the house" chanting in the back of the car (thanks creed), and then we were on the hunt for a house that would give out full size candy bars (check), doughnuts (not check), apple cider (not check), and we had to play a prank—which we were successful at; we trick or treated at the get-n-go gas station where the employee was cool enough to be in costume and gave out treats, instead of a bewildered look which we were expecting.

i had a lot of fun. because we were unsuccessful at getting doughnuts (too bad we weren't in arkansas because i just found out that my sister-in-law is awesome (already knew that part) and makes doughnuts (this is why she is more awesome)) we stopped off at hyvee and bought some doughnuts.

thanks liz, robert, jack, creed, and stella for letting me come along.

side note: when i got to the rose house, stella came up to me and said, "want to hear my joke? promise me that you will laugh because my parents said it wasn't good."

her joke: "why did the candy cross the road? to get to the chicken" (i think that was it—hope i didn't slaughter this hilarious joke)

the coveted secret message

as a kid i loved getting the cereal boxes that had coded messages that i needed to reveal over a bowl of sugary delight. here's a secret message you don't want to miss out on. you're welcome.

_ _
23 5

_ _ _
1 18 5

_ _ _ _ _ _
8 1 22 9 14 7

_
1

_ _ _ _
2 1 2 25

_ _
15 14

_ _ _
13 1 25

_ _ _ _
a i 20 8


key:

1 : a
2 : b
3 : c
4 : d
5 : e
6 : f
7 : g
8 : h
9 : i
10 : j
11 : k
12 : l
13 : m
14 : n
15 : o
16 : p
17 : q
18 : r
19 : s
20 : t
21 : u
22 : v
23 : w
24 : x
25 : y
26 : z

new puppy

i got a puppy for my birthday. we miss soba so much, but it has been fun to have a puppy to keep me company. she is a handful, but adorable. we haven't come up with a name, so if anyone has any suggestion, let us know.

she is a puggle, like soba, and i found her on craigslist. a college student has an 8 lb all black pug that got pregnant from a 12 lb beagle. i got to choose between her and her sister. i fell in love the moment i saw them.

i do miss sleep, but she keeps me laughing with her big floppy ears and her belief that she can do all sorts of things and falls all the time.

life is in dreary gray

soba passed away. i miss you so much soba. nothing will be able to replace that part of my heart.

back in the hospital

was so excited yesterday nursing soba back to health with my mom. think i smiled the whole time—even when i had to hold her to go the bathroom which would get all over my hands. she was really sleepy, but thought it was good for her to rest. my wonderful mom and i went on a beautiful walk on the reilly trail and got back to find soba's eyelids swollen. i got worried and called nick who suggested that i should call the vet. we had to take her in and they examined her and she was showing signs of liver failure. so she is back in the hospital. they did blood work and it is liver failure, so she is back on an iv and she had a plasma transfusion.

she is in serious condition. i am so sad. i need you soba. please get better. pretty please. please keep soba in your prayers.

soba is home

soba has come home! i have been very blessed. thanks again for everyone's love and support. her surgery went better than expected (said the surgeon) and it didn't cost as much as was estimated. soba had some great doctors. i was very impressed. she is on 3 types of medication—2 of them are painkillers. she has been in a lot of pain.

i am so glad my mom flew out here to help take care of me and her. she has been incredible! thanks mom & dad for helping out with the costs too. wow—really wish we would have bought dog health insurance.

the photos of her are somewhat sad to see with all the bruising and the stitches, but i am so happy that she made it through and that she is home.

chalk the last two days up as good days.

soba the fighter

yesterday i received a phone call from the emergency pet hospital—thank goodness for microchips—unfortunately there was bad news—soba was hit by a car two nights ago and has suffered serious trauma to her pelvic bone. she was in critical condition up until this morning. soba will be going into surgery in the next couple hours. she has been a fighter.

thank you everyone for your support, your love, your prayers, your phone calls/emails/comments. soba, nick and i have felt a lot of love in this hard time. she is so important to us. for those of you who have had the chance to meet soba, you know what an incredible dog she is with the most incredible personality. she has been such a great companion for us—being so far away from family and going through medical school.

continue to pray for her. the main concern is her nerves in her back leg, her brain function, her pelvic bone and her ability to control her potty parts.

we love you soba.

i am not amused.

life sucks right now. i have run into a lot of bad luck as of late. nick left on sunday for a whole month to do a rotation in harrisburg, pennsylvania. i came home late monday to find a bat in my house—which i tried to get rid of until 3 AM. yesterday (tuesday) made a total 4 hour drive to pick up a new vanity ensemble at menards—got home to find the dog was missing and that the store forgot to put the mirror in the car. have spent the last 10 hours looking for the dog. hello cruel world.

yargh.

we all have a hero in our heart

what is a hero? a hero is part human and part supernatural. a hero is born out of a childhood trauma, or out of a disaster...that must be avenged...

oh dwight. great episode.

happy fathers day father o'hera and mon pere--my two biggest heroes with the coolest alias'. i love you both so much. i love that we all got to hang out in mexico together. i miss you both so much. wow. i am feeling the love. :)

my dad has always been my big hero. i loved doing our daddy daughter dates (especially the nerd party that we won best costume. i have a visual of my dad now wearing suspenders that are giving him a wedgie and fake glasses and an expression of trying to see far away...oh how i wish i had that picture to share with all of you). i loved going down to the rock church gym and practicing layups with you before my basketball tryouts. i loved hearing your talks/speeches at church or at a function, especially grandpa rigby's funeral...you are inspiring and have a way of captivating people when you talk. i love the places you have taken me--you have shown me the world and have given me an appreciation for it as well as a humble attitude for the blessings of the opportunities. i loved italy--what an incredible trip and time with family number one. thank you, thank you, thank you. (and now i am tearing up) i love that you gave nick a pearl when he asked for permission to marry me because i was your pearl. i love that you made and presented the titanic cake at my wedding dinner party. i love your frequent calls with no purpose but to let me know that you love me and that you support me. i love that you call nick too. i love that you came to mexico with us--the trip would not have been the same without you. i love your testimony of jesus christ and your willingness to serve in church callings and give it your all. now that i work full time, i love and appreciate your hard work and discipline as well as humility--you are an incredible businessman. i love you so much dad. you have provided for me the most incredible life and have given me an example that i hope to live up to. i love you so much. thanks father o'hera.

as for superhero monson...i am so lucky to have my father-in-law. je t'aime mon pere. you have the most incredible smile that is so infectious. not to mention your personality--i love how happy you are. i want to be like that. i started thinking of you as my hero way before nick and i got married--your personality, ethics, lifestyle and working at the middle school with everyone telling me how much they loved you...i had to become a fan. i love that you run. i love that you are up for anything and willing to try. i love and appreciate your hard work and willingness to take on a challenge and see the good in adversity (whether the adversity is a person or trial). i love your answering machine greetings. i love your jokes and that nick has your humor. i love hearing nick talk about you. he loves you so much. hands down you are his hero. i loved that before my wedding day i already felt apart of the family because of you. i love that you brought my lingerie to our hotel on our wedding night...ha ha ha. i loved our adventures in mexico. i loved when you guys came out to des moines for thanksgiving and that we experienced black friday. i love how intelligent you are--i am blown away every time we play knowledge based games. i love the funny after midnight mike. i love you. thanks for being so easy to love.

happy fathers day to all the other father-like figures in my life--grandpa tilley, grandpa rigby, grandpa capener, grandpa monson, uncle craig, uncle ron, uncle bruce, uncle gary, uncle david (you felt more like a cousin), all my best friends fathers, uncle bob...ok, this list can go on for a long time...happy fathers day dads. lots of love goin on.

love my mom and i love my pa, but i just love ol' arkansas

we took our sixth trip down to arkansas to hang out with the fam -- jackie, heather and miranda flew out -- so it was the rigby siblings reunion. no battle, next reunion we go to greece and ryan has to be there. have to give a quick shout out to the parentals for putting this together and funding our fun. let's just say there was a lot of laughing.

most of these pics are at the park where i ripped heathers pants (sorry!) and at the cool zoo that has a petting area and a safari drive. random, but cool. there was one part in the safari drive that we were checking out the camels and a camel approached us and nick fed him a cracker and then the camel stuck his head in mirandas window and took a huge bite at our head rest and he's pulling and the car is rocking from him pulling, but the head rest won that battle and came out unscathed with some extra gnashed up food all over it. hilarious.

thanks nathan and carrie for letting us come down and for spoiling us rotten. we owe you.

this post is brought to you by walmart.
(go to the freezer section of walmart and purchase an apple pie pastry -- delicious)

happy mothers day mom and mom

i just have to take a moment to thank the two most incredible women that i get to call mom. i don't know why i was blessed with them in my life, but i am thankful for their love, support, example and mainly friendship.

i was born into the coolest family with so much emphasis on love and family. a lot of that passion comes from my mom. she would do/give anything for my happiness. she is one of my best friends. i love being around her. i hope she knows that she doesn't have to spend money for me to appreciate her. my favorite things about her is her smile, enthusiastic and spontaneous personality, loyal friendship, willingness to do something fun or to just relax, openness to anyone and their ideas, and her killer back tickles. she is beautiful. i am so grateful to her for all the fun things she planned for my family to do and continues to plan for us--i know that all my great relationships with each of my siblings and with my parents is because we had annual family vacations and family parties. my mom is very talented. she is so creative. her parties are fabulous. her home is incredible. i love my moms testimony of the gospel of jesus christ and in the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. through her love and example came my own personal love and testimony. as i grow older, i find myself doing things or acting like she does--many times as a kid i would roll my eyes at these things--but now i laugh. i want to grow up like my mom--so there.

i basically married nick because his family was awesome and i wanted in. :) i love my mom monson. i had no idea it was so easy to love and be loved by two people (mike and kris). it has been so natural to think of her as mom. my favorite things about her is her zest for life, runs marathons--therefore i run marathons :), always on the ball and one step ahead of the game, active personality, photography, thoughtfulness (nothing gets past her, i love the phone calls, cards and packages), her food, and raising the most incredible guy. she is beautiful. she is so talented. she has become one of my best friends. i hope that i can become like her and achieve the things that she has.

i love you both so much. thank you, thank you, thank you. i know i haven't been very good at calling--but i want you both to know that you mean so much to me. happy mothers day!

recognize anyone?

this is a website i worked on at work. we hired some extremely attractive models--recognize anyone? this website is for a grocery store here in des moines that has been around forever and hasn't changed much. incredible customer service and business ethics--like you are dealing with a grocer from the 1900's. a difficult design because they have an interesting choice of branding. this website works for them and looks like them. enjoy.

check out these links:
fareway homepage
fareway meat section
fareway fresh foods

funny thing

i woke up this morning and looked around the kitchen to find that nick and i seperately went to HyVee last night and bought the exact same stuff--a bag of pink lady apples, bananas and cereal. i laughed a good 10 minutes about it. i keep hoping to walk home tonight and find that we are wearing the same thing.

Africa

So, I survived my rumble in the African bush and now I am here to write about it (This is Nick by the way...not like John Bytheway, more like Nick pause by the way). It was an incredible experience with lots of memorable moments. In the short time I've been back, everyone wants to know favorites of the trip, but I can't really put my finger on them. Everything was unique and awesome. I can say that the trip down to Capetown and Kruger National Park/Graskop were huge highlights.
In Capetown we surfed a couple of days...in the same ocean that a day later we tried to go do a great white shark dive. The dive never happened since we had to turn the boat back after about 5 minutes because the waves were coming over the bow of the boat. Woosies. We did get to go and play with African penguins...funny story: We were told the best way to see the penguins was to not pay at the front gate of the penguins breeding grounds and get the boardwalk tour from a distance, but to go around and climb a fence. Sounded down my alley, so we jumped a fence and probably ruined the penguins' breeding cycle for a couple of years since we were right in the midst of them. Woops. Thought it was a great idea until someone called 2 of my buddies over from the other side of the fence...and he wasn't happy. Since the man hadn't seen a few of us, we ducked under the rocks and thought it would be smart to belly our way through some bushes and climb up onto the boardwalk nonchalantly like it was no big deal. Other than seriously confusing some tourists when we emerged from below, it was dynamite. So that's my up close and personal penguin story.
We also went to Cape Point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, really pretty stuff. It turns out that the most beautiful beach I've ever seen is right on the Atlantic side there, but the water temperature is significantly lower on the Atlantic.
Kruger National Park is Africa's Yellowstone where you can take safaris, stay in grass roofed bungalows and explore the terrain (in your car only). When we first got into the park we were giddy as could be every time we saw an elephant or cape buffalo. After a while, we saw so many elephants that we didn't even stop anymore. The wildlife was everywhere! We did a night safari drive and saw some amazing things, but no lions. We heard the lions roaring because they had just caught dinner, but we weren't going to be able to see them. We decided that we had better wake up early and go to the nearby watering hole if we wanted to see them in the wild. It made waking up at 5 worth it when 2 giant males trotted in front of our rental car the next morning.
After my first African safari, we drove into the jungle of South Africa and found a 220 foot free fall giant swing. It was an absolute rush. The setting was next to a massive waterfall with a rickety wooden platform set up next to it. You stand on the edge of it and fall backwards doing a huge free fall until the rope catches you and swings you off to the other side of the chasm eventually landing near the pool at the bottom.
The day we left, we spent the morning at a privately owned safari reserve. They had a lot of lions on their land which was pretty cool to see so close, but the highlight was playing with the lion cubs. We knew a person who knew a person, you know the story, and they let us into the cubs cage to play with them. Never thought I'd be doing that, but probably in the top 10 of coolest things I've done in my life. The cubs were like giant puppies, rolling over so I would scratch their bellies, nipping at my fingers and grabbing my arms with their big paws/claws. They definitely weren't out to harm, but we all left with a few scratches, some holes in Jed's shoe, and respect for their adult sized parents. Eat that Siegfried and Roy.
The medical part of the trip was mind-blowing. They use a socialized medicine system that made me grateful for the headache of ours. People would have to begin arriving at around 4 in the morning so they could be seen by a doctor that day, and often they would still have to come back again the next day. South Africa was a confusing mix of 1st and 3rd world. The hospital wasn't entirely horrible, but the patient care made us drop our jaws quite a bit. That made for a good time for us as the nurses frequently came up to us to take care of the patients. I did everything from resetting bones in orthopedic surgery to sewing up stab wounds to treating an insecticide poisoning. HIV was rampant there with somewhere in the 60-70 percent range of people in our province having the disease. I definitely saw things that most people have only been able to read about in textbooks. I'm pretty sure I made it home HIV free, despite having a hole in my gloves on several occasions while sewing people up. No promises that I don't have tuberculosis though, that's okay, that one is overrated. It felt good to be taking part in health care in a country where it was desperately needed.
South Africa is a definite must see for anyone. It was beautiful, fun, and super friendly. The dollar stretches a lot longer there, and now that Obama is our president, every African is stoked to talk to you. I had so much fun, but being back home with Michelle beats any day there. I sure missed her while I was gone, so I guess next time, I'm taking her with me!

i heart zay

he has new videos! grab some popcorn and prepare to be inspired.

zay creative

one week down : three to go

nick left last saturday with three friends to do a rotation in Polokwane, South Africa. he will be there for a full month. i suppose the purpose of this post is to let the universe know that i miss him. nothing like having someone you love gone, to realize how much you need them. i need nick. he is my best friend. i have had a lot of fun this past week--but if i start to think about nick, i feel as if i start to thaw and my heart starts hurting because half of it is missing.

so universe, bring him home safe and without aids.

this month, nick and i will be celebrating four years of marriage. awesome. i don't know if you know this, but i married my dream guy...

i was attending utah state university and walking down the taggart student center with a friend, jill. all the sudden, the crowd parts and this dreamboat starts heading toward us. yes, i had noticed him before. he was beautiful with his own sense of style--impossible to miss. he knew my friend Jill and they talked and i kept walking and thinking "wow, jill knows him. she would know him" [ jill is beautiful ] and then i started to comfort myself telling myself that it was his loss to not know me or want to know me--lets be honest, i knew i didn't have a chance.

a couple days later i was hanging out with my best friend mare and her current boyfriend, wayne wheeler. wayne talked me into going on a blind date with his friend that he thought was "perfect for me". i agreed, but when the date came--i didn't even bother getting ready for the date, because i was not anticipating anything special.

so, i sat and waited for my date on our stairs that was facing our front door that had a window. the door rang and i looked up, and lo and behold my dream boys face was in the window. i freaked out. couldn't believe my eyes--my dream boy was going to be my date. i said a prayer of gratitude and realized that i better live it up, because it was a once in a lifetime night. who knew that it was going to be a dream i would live forever. thanks wayne. thanks mare. fade memory...

four years. wow.

happiest moment: our first day being married. we walked around salt lake city hand in hand and i had never experienced such joy. nick was my husband and we were married in the temple for time and all eternity. i had goosebumps all day.

one of the many funny moments: doing the sister act from "white christmas" together for the ward christmas show.

our song: sleeping at last--hurry

favorite meal to share: cheesecake factory's bacon cheese burger

greatest adventure: last summer we went back to nicks mission, veracruz mexico, with his parents and my dad. incredible.

greatest purchase together: our dog soba--however, i did love our rides in our scooter with a sidecar

greatest project: remodeling our house

greatest feat: lets just say nick and me on a billboard in sunnyvale california

best date: surfing in california followed by a counting crows concert

random job: nick managed a team in california for dish network and i worked the office

scariest moment: driving through sardine canyon at night and we stopped for a girl on the side of the highway. she had jumped out of her boyfriends car and claimed that he was around and carrying a gun.


i love you nick. i could go on with this list and how much i love you, but i will save it for when you get back. plus, i am sure marci is begging me to stop--that is if she even made it past our "greatest feat".

be safe.

freaking out

what are you doing may 31st? i just signed my life away to the minneapolis marathon--less than 15 weeks away.

nothing like signing up for a marathon. i believe they purposefully make the race cost so much to test your dedication right at the start when you sign up--when i pressed the submit form button, i felt my left arm spazzing and my IT bands began to hurt.

so what are you doing may 31st? join me. you are welcome to come and run or come and hang out and we can party before/after in minneapolis, or as my mom calls it--minneanapolis.

do it.

humbled by a 5 year old

while at church yesterday, i sat by a 5 year old girl that during an hour time said these things to me:

1. can i smell your breath? (i breathe)...it smells bad
2. your hair looks itchy.
3. your hair is weird. why do you do it that way?
4. do you have other friends that have weird hair?

awesome. nothing like knowing the truth.

downtown scavenger hunt

a real estate company put on a 4 hour scavenger hunt that took us all around downtown. we went thinking it was going to be this dinky scavenger hunt to find an intense, well planned, competitive game. it was a blast. natali jolley brought her A game, the boys were good with the divas, and i was the weakest link--or should i say my bowels were the weakest link.

we were given a packet with cropped pictures and clever hints. each team had one digital camera and hopes of placing in the top 3. it was hard and we appreciate all the helpful hints from those we met along the way, natali's sister whitney, my co-worker courtnee and group, and tonya dusold (she was my phone-a-friend choice and her answer came too late, but i think she was right). we played all the way up until the 11:30 pm deadline and had all but one to show.

the places ranged from shops along the skywalk, bars (which was hard since we don't frequent those spots, but interesting to check out), peoples apartments, convenience stores, a dentist office, restaurants and east village stores. it was a great way to check out downtown and find new places to shop, eat or hang out. we will for sure be heading back to east village and farrels sandwich shop in the court district. can't wait til next year--next time we will come prepared. here are our photos: