monson mash

it's all on zuri's onesie

2012-01-09T00:06:00.000-06:00

we are having another baby : july 14th

happy birthday to marci

2011-07-29T23:45:00.001-05:00

happy birthday marci! wanted to tell you that we love you so much. it has been so much fun being back and having you close by. i (michelle) love being around you. love that you appreciate awkwardness and roll with it. you are so beautiful. you are hilarious. you are so smart, creative, delicious baker, incredible puzzle partner, amazing aunt, and the best sister/aunt a girl/boy/elephant can have.

hope that you had the best couple of days of celebrating the big 2-5. we love you so much. glad you were born 25 years ago.

seriously. you are the best.

2011-06-12T13:00:00.006-05:00

I had some time before church and sat down to watch tv and i chose to watch some talks of the most recent general conference (a biannual church meeting where the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints will address the Church and give messages of guidance, hope, and doctrine). I realized that I haven't shared spiritual thoughts to anyone lately and thought I should write something in my journal/blog.

There have been a lot of thoughts and things in my life the past couple years that have me questioning what I truly believe and if I am missing something—this is good to always be growing and learning and searching—and the great thing that I have found is the small yet powerful feeling I feel—a feeling i feel when I kneel to pray, listen/read the words of our modern day prophets, listen in church, read the scriptures, listen to uplifting music, do some act of service, participate in an uplifting community event, look at some inspiring piece of art, go on a stroll with nick holding hands, hugging zuri...this feeling reminds me of the truth that I know and I know that I am loved by my Father in Heaven and that He gave me this experience to come to earth and gain this opportunity to seek out truth and feel the feelings I feel of, what I can only describe as an ultimate love feeling and positive energy—I know these feelings come from the Holy Ghost and are for me to teach me and testify of truth. I know that my Savior gave His life for me—allowing me to learn in this life and repent and strive to be better. I know that Joseph Smith restored lost truths to this world and reestablished the Church of Jesus Christ. I learn of my Savior, Heavenly Father and their guidance for me through reading the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I know that I am here on earth to learn of my Heavenly Father and of my Savior, to love and serve others, to learn and grow from mistakes, have faith, be baptized, participate in church, go to the Temple and participate in the ordinances there, and then to continue to learn, love, and serve. I realize how blessed I am to have these feelings and that it is so important to remember why and when I have these feelings and continue to do the things that bring me the feelings of love and peace.

I am grateful for these feelings that remind me of truth and give me peace in this crazy life.
michelle

michelle lately

2011-03-20T16:17:00.003-05:00

Just returned home from the Utah Jazz sponsor trip to Kauai with my dad. It was so much fun to hang out with my dad and have not a worry or concern in the world. zuri stayed home with my mom and sisters (thank you for watching her and taking good care of her) and nick was left to do terrible hours at work (sorry babe). i gained 5 lbs due to the amazing fish dinners, fish tacos, virgin fruit drinks, amazing breakfasts, desserts, desserts and more desserts...nothing like enjoying a free trip with free food. i had the opportunity to meet some incredible people who are very successful. i was surprised to find how kind and funny they were. There are a few couples that i wish were close and could become my besties...one couple i am determined to go and visit in seattle. hope they were sincere on their offer! ha ha ha.

where was I when the world heard the devastating news of the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami in japan? i was getting ready for bed at the grand hyatt in kauai hawaii. i am so sad for those people. how horrifying to be able to watch the devastation take place—yes technology saved a lot of people, and yes it is amazing that they were somewhat warned and got the helicopters off the ground, but i hated every minute (couldn't take my eyes off) of watching the news and watching the monstrous wave taking out lives. why does their have to be tragedy? all those helpless children and animals that don't even know what was going on and the men and women not knowing it was coming to protect them and themselves. i feel sick inside that life goes on for all of us so far away and that we can laugh when such pain is occurring. kauai is the closest hawaii island to japan and we were under tsunami warning all night. luckily my dad and i were on the top level and we didn't have to move to another room like most of the others in our hotel (we later found out that those staying in the marriot (close by) were allowed to grab a pillow and then they had to leave the hotel and stay in the walmart parking lot in cars and the store. the tsunami was to arrive just before 3am. at first i was nervous and sick inside—i left my baby and nick and put myself at risk, but we soon found out the wave was to be only 6ft. we were totally safe and i wanted to stay up and watch, so dad and i put a movie on (we attempted to watch this movie 3 times throughout the trip and were never successful) but we fell asleep within 10 minutes. woke up at around 6am to hear the "captain" on the intercom announce that we were now under tsunami advisory. i woke up thinking i was on a cruise. some of the sponsors stayed up and they talked about how the news made the arrival of the tsunami like new years eve and they all stayed up and drank and waited for the arrival—which ended up being hardly anything. we were blessed. i am sorry japan that you aren't able to laugh off the warning. i am sorry for laughing. i am sorry.

back to fun parts of the trip (which i felt guilty for). the next morning we thought our zip line excursion would be canceled, but it was postponed a half hour and soon we were sleepily off to zip line. it was fun. i was able to meet some more people on the trip as well as the employees. it made me miss living in hawaii. i love the layed-back people of hawaii. the zip line was like a miniature golf course compared to the real golf course i had experienced in costa rica. still fun. went on a over 6 mile run along beach and a sunny dirt road, layed by pool, couple of hikes and suddenly the trip was over.

i was so excited to see my little zuri. i walked in to the house and zuri gave a huge smile—it was adorable. i couldn't believe how much she changed in 6 days. she is so beautiful and adorable.

miranda has been running for student body vice president for the past 2 weeks and i have been helping her with her campaign by screen printing tshirts, making posters and banners and giving her really bad ideas. she came up with a great slogan, "whoopee vote miranda for vp". she wore our halloween whoopie cushion costume during lunch, passed out whoopie cushions and other random stuff and it was hilarious. nice job mandas. Last friday from 3pm to 5pm she was to find out if she made it by either getting visited by them (which meant she made it) or a phone call of devastation. it was intense. all the girls sat in mandas room from 4:15 on to await the news and it was killing us. every phone call our hearts sunk. soon heather and i went to the window and we saw 3 random cars parked and some balloons exit one of the cars...hurray!!! jackie, heather, mom and myself ran downstairs and put on our past officer sweaters and cheered miranda on. hilarious. looks like viewmonters are smart people and know a cool girl when they see her. i do feel really bad that there have to be losers in life. miranda said that she met some really neat people on her campaign that were running as well.

that's the update. house is coming along. before my kauai trip, my sweet mom spent 8.5 hours working on a kitchen wall with me. i wanted to have an industrial cement wall in my kitchen and we attempted to create one ourselves. 8.5 grueling hours—after the first hour we were ready to scrape it off and not do it, but we persevered and it is staying there—whether i like it or not. i haven't seen it in person but nick sent me pictures. tomorrow is going to be a big work day on the house. really want to move in soon. ridiculous that we have owned the house for 8 months and still not living in it. yargh.

happy anniversary love

2011-03-12T01:39:00.006-06:00

look how sexy you are! man i married the hottest guy in the world. look at those lips! just got into bed and noticed the clock and it is official—happy anniversary! i've been thinking about you and thought about our song and how relevant the first verse is for me right now:

Hurry, hurry
Come quickly
And leave all logic aside
Don't say a word
Just listen carefully to me...

"The world is ours if we could only let it be"

Every move we make
Will trigger another
And every small mistake
Will be a messenger...

"The world is ours if we could only let it be
The world is ours if we would only let it be."

Our lives are weaving like a thread
Within each other, faithfully
Sharing in our joys and miseries
And all that the world can give

Always, always

In the depths of our souls
flickers of hope will show so clear
like a pearl in the sea
a pearl in the sea

(the smiles on faces born in farmilliar places
we'll build ourselves islands upon the deepest oceans)

For the last time
This could be the last time
To pull it from the water
To wear around our necks

"The world is ours if we could only let it be
The world is ours if we would only let it be"

hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry

("hurry" by sleeping at last)

i am the luckiest girl to have you weaving into my life. you have made me a better person, happier about life, appreciative of who you are and all the hard work you have put in the last five years for us. we have built something incredible! this past year has been really crazy—we have created the most beautiful baby girl that adores her daddy, but we have had some chaos with a new baby, living situation and schedules and i worry that you don't realize how passionate i am about you. you are my number 1, hands down. i think about you all the time—giddily. wish you were here in hawaii with me! i have the scenery but i am missing the most important part—you. i love you so much and miss you.

my little model

2011-02-04T17:02:00.005-06:00

husbands say the darndest things

2010-12-29T00:05:00.003-06:00

just got a new do. showing it off to the fam and got a good response. miranda said it was her favorite look on me...nick came in and said, "wow. didn't know i was married to a 70-year-old". devastated.

i think we can all agree that my baby is adorable. dare i say beautiful. beautiful.

rigby cousins

2010-12-21T18:41:00.002-06:00

cousins, fish, sock monkey and santa

2010-12-14T22:08:00.011-06:00

christmas is coming and zuri's getting fat. who would have thought that nick and i could create this cute of a thing. zuri is so much fun. she is constantly squealing, grunting and making new sounds. she is constantly wiggling her arms and legs and putting things in her mouth. she loves to eat the puff treats, drink from a cup, but she doesn't like baby food. she is already starting to do tantrums—when i take something away that she wants she does this high pitch squeal. cute now, but oh boy. in the last 2 days, zuri has started to get up on her knees. she will be crawling soon. she thinks her dad is the funniest guy. she loves to stare at miranda. what else...her hair is starting to fill in. it looks like she may have light brown hair. nick and i both had super blonde hair. interesting.

our house has started to move, since we hired a contractor. we've finalized on our kitchen cabinets, appliances and our hardwood floors. we love our contractor, but english is his second language, therefore nick is the one that communicates what we want, because when i try it gets funny. i had a nightmare that we went into our house to find all the wood things we had discussed with our contractor the previous night was done in ornate italian style carvings. it was intense and horrifying. suddenly nick appears with a huge letter explaining to us that he was going to jail and he needed to collect this money to support his family and that he was sorry. ha ha ha. good thing it was just a dream.

nick, my mom and zuri and i took advantage of the free day of the living aquarium in sandy. we pulled up (after making an illegal u turn with another car in front of a police officer—luckily nick turned into the parking lot the police car was and the other car was pulled over. sad for them. good for us. whew. the aquarium looked super ghetto from outside, but they did a good job inside. loved seeing the big turtle, penguins, sharks, octopus, and touching the stingrays. nick basically forced my mom to come with us, but i am really glad she did because it was a fun memory for us. thanks mom. the photo where i am totally cheesing it, is because my mom kept taking pictures of us and cutting off nicks head again and again.

i love sock monkeys. my mom has spent some good money for me on them and just bought me this awesome sock monkey hat for zuri. she looks adorable in it. i took her to the jazz game and she wore it and when i walked into the court and started walking through the row, the next 5 rows up stopped watching the game and started oohing zuri and talking about her. it was hilarious. people couldn't get enough of her for the rest of the night.

zuri finally met santa. my mom's hairdresser puts on an annual party with santa claus that we were able to go to. rex and rylin came with us and were jumping out of the car to see santa. rexy was a champ and grunted his way through the questions. rylin was up next and put on santa's lap and instantly started screaming and jumped off santa's lap and face-planted into the carpet. it was hilarious. sad, but i don't think that image will ever leave me. ha ha ha. i put zuri on santa's lap and she immediately fell asleep. nice.

nick started a month long rotation in medicine and we will not be seeing him much. he has to do a 30 hour shift starting on christmas day. boo. no worries. we have decided to celebrate our christmas in the middle of january. therefore, you are all welcome to join us. i have always thought christmas should be celebrated in january—the longest and most boring month of the year. just sayin.

well, i am off to wrap some presents and watch "". merry christmas you filthy animal. (name the movie)

oh. i want to give a shout out to my sister jackie. awesome. you made my day today.

boogedy, boogedy, boogedy, BOO!

2010-10-31T02:38:00.013-05:00

happy halloween! zuri and i tricked grandma capeners house this afternoon and then treated ourselves to seeing nick at the hospital. my mom got zuri this costume that i saw online and thought "wow. that's rootin tootin cute". i like to talk as if i am an old gold miner to myself. we got it and she is adorable. i watched, with my mom, the movie "carrie"—which was more disturbing than scary. i had a huge scream at the very end because my mom screamed and it startled me more than scared me. we did manage to wake up zuri. he he he.

thought about last year and going around beggars night with the roses and i miss you liz, bob and co. hope you had a spooky halloween.

oh. last night i forced my parents to stay up and watch an old time favorite of mine. i watched "mr boogedy" on the disney channel back in the day and it spooked me to my core. i found it online and bought it and it did not disappoint. it was hilarious!

while uploading the photos to my computer, i noticed nathan and carries costumes and i have appointed them best costume this year. nice work. way to be inventive and awesome.

side note: doesn't my mom look beautiful. she's the best.

another side note: the few times i answered my parents door i was surprised to hear "trick or treat" and a bit disappointed to not hear kid jokes. oh iowa, you've tainted my halloween.

the vacation continues and my random thoughts

2010-10-28T00:35:00.019-05:00

i am going to do this pretty choppy, but there is a lot to cover.

since we have moved to utah we have been living with my parentals while we found a house (check), fixed it up (not check) and move in (i wish). my parents have been amazing and so hospitable—that is why i still feel like i am on a long vacation. i keep having the thoughts while i am hanging out with family that i have to enjoy before i go back to utah and then i realize that this is my life.

i have loved being back in utah and having nathan and carrie back too. it is so much fun to hang out with the fam and spend time with my nieces and nephews. i am a huge fan of each of them.

we went to disneyland with my family during nicks one week of vacation. my parents got us a beach house right by balboa pier. it was so much fun to have nick around the whole time. we drove down and stayed in las vegas. zuri love love loved the lights. sensory overload. nick and i had a lot of fun driving down with heather and sean. in california, we spent a lot of time on the beach, surfing for nick, getting hurt trying to surf for me and trying to keep zuri sand free. disneyland was a lot of fun and california adventure was even more fun. it was great to be at disneyland for halloween and see the haunted house as nightmare before christmas. awesome. not awesome was my favorite ride, space mountain, great ride but the halloween approach to it was an anatomical man with no skin—nothing to do with fantasy cartoons or walt disney. we also went to an angels baseball game and had the pimped-out seats right on the field. it was amazing. not amazing—my dad and carrie getting hit by the foul baseball. luckily they were ok and a guys hand was the first contact and then their heads.

jazz games have started and it is the best to be living here and getting to go all the time. thanks dad.

i finally became a true monson and experienced the guy fawkes party at my in laws. it only took over five years to be a monson. it was a crazy party of eating delicious food, pies—my father in law made a banana caramel pie that left me speechless, and then throwing our own personal guy fawkes' in a fire. oh british holidays.

i would like to take this time to do a shout out to my sister marci. i love you. i love hanging out with you and it is great to be in utah hanging out a lot. can't wait to live in slc. i love that i make up the most random games with you and that you play them.

ok. lets talk baby talk. i love zuri. she is adorable. she has the biggest gummy smile and her eyes light up. all i have to do is look at her and she melts me with her smile. she thinks i am awesome. she recently found her toes and it is adorable. she has started to sit up and is grabbing everything (glasses of water, my hair, a random womans necklace we saw at church...). she also does this 2 finger sucking thing and somehow one other finger finds her nostril at the same time. she stays up til past midnight with me (like she is now and sucking her fingers smiling at me) and then we sleep in until 11am. she laughs for nick, my dad and my mom. she spent all day staring at my sister miranda. she is beautiful. i am obsessed with her. i miss the moment i have to leave her to go work on our house and i get so excited to see her when i get home. she is a perfect distraction for me with nick being stuck doing long hours at work. her favorite toys: the wet wipes, glasses of water, my cell phone, a baby ball toy that looks like a cat toy, and her baby princess ariel doll. she looks amazing in pink. yes pink. she is already growing out of her 6 month clothes. she loves being outside and looking around. if she starts to fuss, i take her outside and she immediately stops and we could sit out there for hours. she also loves the stroller ride runs we go on. she is very interested in jenga's ears and jenga has been so good to let her pull. the best thing is that she loves to snuggle with her mom.

nick: i miss you. i love you. thank you so much for working so hard for us. i can see that it isn't that fun right now, but just know that i appreciate you and i think about you all the time.

house update. i spent yesterday and today finishing the demo of some ceilings and walls. tried to clean it up for the furnace people to start soon. we have this huge old coal furnace that has been made into an inefficient gas furnace and we are having it totally removed along with all of the ductwork-starting fresh. i had my kitchen planned, but was not happy with the monotony of it and went to home depot and talked to the employed kitchen designer that i think is fabulous and he brought up all of my concerns i am excited to see where we are going with the kitchen. i need to post some pictures so that i can see the changes made.

this post is really boring. i think i have said what i needed to say. i miss you iowa friends. still think about you and the good times in iowa.

love spending time with family:

my nieces princess birthday party—happy birthday caroline

zuri working construction at the kids science museum in salt lake city

california and las vegas

baby blessing

2010-08-24T02:57:00.004-05:00

zuri was blessed with her cousin (who is only 2 days older) kennedy toone. they were blessed on sunday at the old rock chapel in farmington. nick gave a beautiful blessing--blessing her with love for her family, nature, charity and humanity. there was more to the blessing, but that was something i picked out. :)

we had brunch afterwards at my parents. i wanted a theme for this rendezvous and tried to think of what we could do between zuri and kennedy and what i came up with was clever to some and to others weird. ha ha ha. zuri is the name for the new baby elephant in the slc hogle zoo. kennedy is the name of a democratic president. therefore i thought it fun to have them be the elephant and the donkey of the two major political parties--branding them for life. we sent out a quick invitation i created, had red and blue as the colors, i made an elephant and donkey onesie for the girls, had lots of delicious food and played family fued (since both families were put together). i hope people enjoyed themselves. i know i did.

we are just so thankful for all of our family and friends support. we feel very loved. i love zuri so much and hope that she will grow up knowing that she doesn't have to be a republican :) (i also hope she knows how happy she has made me and how much i love her).

better website yet lower self esteem

2010-07-20T19:42:00.021-05:00

found a website that allows you to move the hair to shape around your face instead of plopping your face in a window. i feel like crap. note to self: take a good picture of you at a time when you got ready for the day--it might look better. ha ha ha. i also like how one of my arms is huge.

oh how the computer knows how to make a girl look good

2010-07-20T19:03:00.013-05:00

tomorrow i am getting my hair cut and colored and decided to go online and check out the "virtual makeover" and see what celebrity style would make me look good. this is what i got. my self esteem meter is really high today.

time is a fly i would like to squash

2010-07-18T17:05:00.013-05:00

i can't believe how fast the last two months have gone. i don't have enough time in the day to do all the things that i need to do. zuri is beautiful. i love this little girl so much. i am busy feeding her (i feel like it is hourly) and watching her smile. the evenings are rough--this is the time zuri decides to fuss.

we have been busy finding a house and have found a great deal with a great deal of fixing up. here are photos from the appraiser. i have spent the last couple weeks getting excited and dreaming up what we are going to do to make this house amazing. the house has been rented out for the past few years and as you an see they are not clean. also--check out the original coal fireplace that they have repurposed and using as the furnace right now. we will be removing it and putting a new furnace in, but it is so cool. need to get some good pics before it is gone. our only indoor staircase is a spiral staircase--we will be replacing this one with a nice modern spiral staircase (hopefully).

still missing our des moines lives. missing des moines friends, our house, running trails, art festival...

nick is enjoying his residency. we have met some great people who are interns with nick and their spouses/significant others. i think we have some future friends in the making, but most of them are busy with their doctor schedules (most of the interns have doctor wives).

[pics: zuri during fathers day, nicks graduation, new house pics]

photo shoot

2010-05-26T23:23:00.007-05:00

this morning my talented mother-in-law took pictures of zuri--while my mom and i assisted (one of the photos is mine). we had a lot of fun. thanks moms. some of my faves:

2010-05-19T16:01:00.002-05:00

Zuri has birthday wishes for her Grandpa "Bob" Monson

2010-05-15T10:39:00.006-05:00

Okay, don't forget to read Michelle's awesome post below, but here are some pix of the beauty.

my thoughts

2010-05-15T08:32:00.002-05:00

so i did it. i made it through the scariest thing i ever thought possible to go through--labor/delivery/breast feeding--and what i have now is the most beautiful thing in my arms. I AM SOOOO HAPPY. babies are sure funny looking and tend to look like old men, even when they are baby girls, but i love her so much.

yesterday was crazy. we got to the hospital at 6AM and i was so nervous. amanda hancock was incredible. nick and amanda tried to keep me entertained, because i would go through moments of nervous crying or freaking out--i was not excited to see dr fagerland show up, because that meant that things would begin. i will be honest, i am very private with my body and hated that it was going to be so exposed, but it is amazing how quickly you get over that. i had to start joking about it at first to get through, but realized that it was not a big deal to anyone else, so it shouldn't be for me.

dr fagerland go in around 7:30AM and broke my water. i was waiting for the flood gates to open and a tidal wave to come, but once again my imagination had overly dramatized what typically happens. it wasn't comfortable sitting in wetness, i must say.

nick and amanda became my posse in the hallways of the hospital. they were great to go along with all the things i kept telling them to do. we walked the hallways until 10AM and then amanda checked me--i was barely a 4--so we got back to the walking, after she stretched me a bit. after that things started to pick up. i started to feel the pain of contractions and by 11AM i was hurting. amanda had me sit on an excercise ball and roll my hips while she gave me the most incredible back massage through each contraction--which helped a ton. nick was doing great by holding my hands and encouraging me. i thought i was tough and that i was going to be strong, but when the contractions started to pick up all i wanted was relief. luckily amanda checked me and i had progressed enough that we could get the epidural in the works. amanda gave me some fentanyl and i was happy from that moment on--i felt weird--but i was happy. it made me super sleepy. the anethesiologist came just in time as the fentanyl was wearing off. i was super nervous about getting the "huge needle stuck in my spine" another thing i had overly dramatized--but it wasn't that bad. the only bad thing was that my bladder was soooo full from all the fluids i had been given that i ended peeing the bed a bit while the epidural was occuring. how embarassing. no control. the warming sensation on your legs with the numbness was so weird. especially on your "bottom" area. weird.

i was so lucky that my body kept progressing and i felt no pain. i took a couple naps to prepare me for the big moment--good thing because i did only 4 sets of pushes and was exhausted at the end. i became very nervous again, because the only thing left on the list was to do the actual birthing. once again dreading to see dr fagerland. got checked and was a 9. i wanted to keep on staying in this limbo moment, because i wasn't in pain and i was dreading the birthing part. we hung out for awhile and pretty soon i started feeling pressure down in the nether regions and amanda checked me and her face was classic--she notified me that the babies head was easily felt and that i was a 10. amanda was great and let nick glove up and check. he was so cute during this whole process. so excited and amazed. he kept pacing, which was so cute. tried to get video of him pacing, but not a success. just picture the classic hospital scene with the husband pacing--that was nick.

continued to feel pressure and amanda had already called dr fagerland and was notified that he was heading to mercy to perform a delivery of a girl that was having her 3rd baby. i was told to not push on any condition--but it was so hard because the whole day i was shaking and when i would start to shake my body would tense up. i kept feeling pressure and amanda gloved me up and i felt at a fingernails length her head. zuri hung out in that spot for a good 45 minutes, until dr fagerland showed up. he is a great doctor. he suited up quickly with his face shield (had no idea that is what they wore) and was standing behind the table with all the tools and i thought he looked like a japanese steak house chef ready to entertain us by tossing us shrimp.

amanda talked me through what i needed to do during my contractions--hold onto my knees, take a deep breath and push. sounded so easy, but when the first one came, i kept pushing in my face. it took a total of 4 sets of pushes/contractions and suddenly zuri's head popped out and then i stopped pushing and dr fagerland pulled the rest of the body out within a second. i thought the hard part hadn't happened--thinking that her shoulders would be the widest/hardest part, but was happily surprised to see that i was done.

instant love. when i saw her i was so happy. she looked like a cone head alien, but she was my cone head alien. i was teary eyed, nick was teary eyed. it was amazing.

things have been going too fast since that moment. so many firsts and i just want it to slow down. i was very happy to eat some food--loved the fruit/granola/yogurt dinner i had. so cute to see nick holding this small baby in his hands. throughout the pregnancy i talked to zuri about how she needed to stick to the 7lb limit. i guessed 7lbs, nick thought 7lbs 4oz, and amanda was kind (or i thought being kind) to guess 6lbs 14oz. we were amazed to see that she weighed only 6lbs. what a good, good girl. i think we are going to be a good team. she is 19 in long with her cone head, so we will see what she is today with her cone head quickly disappearing.

so she is getting so much cuter. she is a monson. i think she has nicks nose. i love her so much. i am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving her to me. i am so relieved that she is healthy. she hasn't cried hardly at all and she is good at sucking, besides the fact that she falls asleep instantly within 3 sucks.

thank you amanda for everything you did. thank you bob rose for stopping by and bringing food. we felt so blessed with good friends. thanks mare, bobs and emery for stopping by. we were so excited to share this moment with you. thank you everyone for your calls, texts, comments. we have never felt so much love.

my mom just walked into the room. have been so excited for her to be here. she had a crazy flight day/night to get here. let the party begin.

we love you all.

2010-05-14T19:17:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I don't have the camera cord to put up still pix yet, but here is a video of our little sweetie. She kind of has the old man thing going for her with big eyes looking all over the room giving people smirks and the stink eye. Atta girl.

2010-05-14T17:38:00.002-05:00

TOUCHDOWN:
Welcome to the family Zuri Monson, we love you. 6 lb 19" beautiful coneheaded sweatheart. Pix to follow.

2010-05-14T17:03:00.001-05:00

Doc will be here in 10, then it should only take a couple of minutes of pushing. OH BOY...girl

2010-05-14T16:17:00.001-05:00

2010-05-14T16:08:00.002-05:00

10 folks, a perfect 10. We're all set, but now we have to wait for the doc to make the magic happen. Could be a while before he shows up since he's delivering at Mercy hospital right now. I can't stop pacing, this is so exciting. Still looking great.

2010-05-14T15:44:00.000-05:00

Just as a quick update, we are now to a 9! Looking great.

2010-05-14T13:53:00.003-05:00

Michelle is at a 7-8 now, sleeping like a baby, and feeling great. Just a matter of time now.

2010-05-14T11:31:00.005-05:00

Michelle just got a little fentanyl on board, so it knocked her pain out, and put her to sleep. She's doing great at around 4-5 cm. Epidural was just placed, and she is feeling groovy.

2010-05-14T10:31:00.002-05:00

Michelle is doing great, still no need for ptosin as she is continuing to advance. The contractions are going well, but she is definitely feeling the pain a little more. She'll be getting the epidural as soon as they've seen she's advanced enough to know that it won't slow her contractions down too much. All is well.

2010-05-14T08:02:00.003-05:00

m
So Michelle is under way. As weird or odd as this may be, we figured it would be fun to keep everybody updated with her progress throughout the day on the blog. We got a new little pocket video cam that can catch the non-explicit material at its best. It's still rated PG-13 though, see for yourself.

Metamorphosis

2010-05-11T20:46:00.011-05:00

So as we are about to have our first little baby, I have been amazed to see the changes that occur in both Michelle and the little duder growing inside (this is Nick writing by the way). It started off as just a little swelling in the belly and some nausea, and now is an actual human being living in my wife's nethers and knocking on the door of her abdomen to prove that she's there. There's nothing more insane than to be looking at Michelle's stomach and see the outline of a hand make an outdent? on her stomach. I'm so excited to meet my little daugher.

Michelle has really taken it for the team on this one; she comes home from work with kankles and puffy toes, but yet she has never stopped smiling or being her same beautiful self. I would not be handling this nearly as well as she is! I really am the luckiest guy to have found such an amazing wife.

Of course, it should be pointed out that she's not the only one who has been undergoing some "special" changes. I have undergone a slow process of beautification that is appreciated by very few, but should be recorded for posterity's sake. I am under strict orders, that there shall be no metaphorsososing when the baby is born, and that no remnant should be present when the delivery takes place. That means that there is some quick clean up work necessary since Michelle will be induced this week. We are both super excited, but realizing that with an induction date set, it's no longer "when?" but "Oh!"
I realized that being done with clinical rotations, and having no patient interaction until late June left me with ample time on my hands that I decided to dedicate to grooming. It began with a bushy beard:

This eventually led into my own personal favorite, the colonial soldier/motorcyclist:
To be honest, things went downhill from that beauty and turned into this...disco nick:

After that phase lost its awesomeativity, I decided to buy a van with no windows and give out free candy...yikes:The final touch turned me into a circus ring leader or patisserie owner. Either way, it has taken way too much time to keep it trimmed correctly.

These pictures are further proof that Michelle is the most amazing wife. She has let me have these last 2 months of painful transformation, though not without lots of embarrassment. True story, we were on a walk when a random lady decided to start up a conversation with us. In the middle of the conversation, and without any transition, Michelle abruptly changed topics to explain to the lady that "his face doesn't usually look like this, he's just doing it as a joke." I guess I missed the joke because the mirror tells me it looks awesome. Just sayin'.

house = sold

2010-04-25T15:07:00.007-05:00

booyeah. we just sold our house...well, it is somewhat pending since it depends upon the house inspection, but it is as good as sold.

oh house. how i will miss you. we have great memories here in des moines and in our house. nick and i have put some intense blood/sweat/tears into updating it and it is fun to be rewarded for our efforts.

this is such a cool house. it has so many neat old features. best neighbors ever—become family. i will be so sad to move. never thought i would get so attached. i love when prayers are anwered. we are very blessed.

moderncraftsmanhome.com

now on to the next adventure and possibly new house...

hello cruel world.

2010-03-22T11:18:00.004-05:00

"hello cruel world" : this is what i would scream out of windows of moving cars to the pedestrians passing by when i was in high school.

i am screaming it now.

we have been put through a huge upset/surprise/excitement. nick and i thought we most likely had a year left in iowa to get our house ready to sale, put up the house for sale, have a baby, become accustomed to being parents, and prepare our minds for the reality that iowa will not be our home. we have loved living in des moines.

on thursday, the big match happened and we found out that nick got a great residency—family medicine at university of utah. we have to be there by june 14th. (let me remind you all that my due date is may 19th, nick graduates may 29th, we have to sale our house, find a new place to live and then make the move). i am freaking out with how much i need to do for each of these things. guess all this stuff will make it so i don't have time to freak out that i am going to give birth to an estimated 8 lb human (one of my greatest fears).

the last few days, we have been working on our bathroom. we have painted, re-tiled parts of the tub, removed the old vanity/toilet/floor, and have placed the tile in our bathroom. tonight we get to grout and put our toilet back in (hurray! i am so sick of having to go to the grocery store a block away to go to the bathroom).

we have been doing a lot of driving around and i have found myself become very nostalgic. i will miss you downtown des moines. sad we won't get to stroll our kid through the streets during the art festival. will miss the sculpture garden, the blue bridges, ingersoll (especially ingersoll live), our neighbors, our friends, my young womens calling (leaders and girls), hopes of my baby sporting a gross mullet and taking her to the horse races at prairie meadows, bobs/mare/emery/baby, our little house, greys lake, living driving distance from nathan/carrie/caroline/rexy/baby, the midwest (we have been able to take a lot of road trips to see places we have never been), the farmers markets all over town, spring/fall time in des moines, and most of all my running trails.

bring it next few months. i hope you are kind to us.

my due date : may 19th : not like any other day

2010-02-26T15:21:00.002-06:00

be my valentine nick

2010-02-14T00:26:00.004-06:00

perhaps the best valentines day gift i have given, was on nick and my first valentines day together, when i made nick a ginourmous milkshake. i basically took a big flower vase of my moms and filled it with deliciousness. wish i had that to give you this year, but our circumstances are different this year, therefore, i am left writing you this blog post.

here goes. see how this tastes on your palate. hope it goes down as smooth.

you are hot. this evening when we were together and i looked over and i thought to myself, "dang he is sexy. i am so lucky" and then i gave you a kiss on the cheek and you did your usual squint because it tickles your face. remember when i use to think that meant you were grossed out by my kisses—only to find out that your face is incredibly sensitive and ticklish. i have loved spending the last 6ish years getting to know you and your ticklish face.

you are fascinating. i covet your brain. you are so smart. the way you connect with people so easily and can make anyone laugh (and somewhat uncomfortable). you are good at anything you try. don't know if you have heard this, but you are really lucky. if you went to a casino...ha ha ha.

i love that you love magic. the first time i sat in your sunday school class in college and you pulled out magic tricks...everyone was so entertained and all the girls were ogling you and if our life was made into a movie, you would have seen the character exclaim to those around "he's with me."

you are romantic. one of the top ten moments: we were living in california doing the whole dish network sales thing and we got back late one night and had to throw in some laundry at the laundry mat. once we had placed the clothes in the dryer we had some time to kill and you took me in your arms and started to sway—best dance ever. i was giddy in love with you that moment.

you are invigorating. the excitement you have for life was the first thing i liked about you. our second date, while we were driving up to the lake to wakeboard, you spoke so optimistically and i had been so cynical...you inspired me and continue to.

you are going to be an incredible father. the kids we know are in love with you. i don't blame them. you are funny and aren't afraid to play a british princess. i am so excited to be having a baby soon and getting to see you in her. she is going to be adorable because of you.

i love you nick monson. i am so happy you are mine. happy valentines day.

end of random thoughts.

celebrating the end of medical school

2010-01-26T21:18:00.010-06:00

for the past 3 years, nick and i have dreamed about taking a vacation to celebrate nicks conquering medical school. we made it happen and my parents joined in the fun. costa rica was our destination and we vacayed in luxury (yeah, i think i sound pretty cool having shortened vacation to "vacay"). our trip:

movies to see during christmas

2009-11-16T17:38:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-06T17:11:00.004-06:00

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

2009-11-05T14:09:00.004-06:00

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

2009-09-23T23:00:00.005-05:00

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

2009-09-08T19:27:00.003-05:00

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

back in the hospital

2009-09-06T21:53:00.005-05:00

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

2009-09-05T08:56:00.004-05:00

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

2009-09-03T08:38:00.004-05:00

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.

2009-09-02T09:15:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-21T18:31:00.005-05:00

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

2009-05-20T21:51:00.011-05:00

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

2009-05-10T11:40:00.007-05:00

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?

2009-05-10T10:05:00.007-05:00

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

2009-04-10T10:18:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-22T20:14:00.008-05:00

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

2009-03-10T09:53:00.005-05:00

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

zay creative

one week down : three to go

2009-02-28T21:21:00.006-06:00

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

2009-02-13T09:34:00.003-06:00

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

2009-01-19T14:32:00.004-06:00

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

2009-01-18T22:21:00.011-06:00

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:

young womens

2009-01-18T22:11:00.003-06:00

so i was found out. the folks at church realized i was a beehive so they have sent me back to young womens--which is awesome. i was called a while ago as the young womens teacher/advisor. i have gotten to know some incredible girls and have made new friends. these picks are of our "new beginnings event" and the "night of dependability". good times.

a great way to end and begin

2009-01-18T21:00:00.007-06:00

happy new year cruel world.

so life is good. it is so great to be able to go home and pick up where you left off. what a great christmas/new year break. i got to see so many people that i love and have missed. i unfortunately didn't take most of the pics--let those around take the pics. therefore i do not have a whole lot captured. m.b.

my holiday started off just right. i woke up extremely early to get to work, because my flight was in the afternoon and i had to get in some time. i was out scraping off the 2 inch ice off of my windshield at 5 am (at that time iowa was in severe cold weather) when i hear this manish nonsensical yelling. lo and behold i see this naked man running down our back alley. he scared me and i felt bad for him (i am pretty sure he was not in the right mind at the time) but it was hilarious and a great way to start off the day and my holiday. merry christmas naked man.

i flew with soba and she was a jem. way to go pup for surprising all of the peeps on the plane.

when i got into slc--i was walking out of the secure area and quickly checked out the folks entering the secure area and suddenly realized that the girl i was watching retrieve her newly scanned luggage and watching me was my friend kasi french--who i talk with on the phone but had not seen for four years. what a great surprise. we freaked out--it was funny.

miranda came to the airport and went around shopping and to get my haircut with me. every time i see her, i am amazed at what a woman she is becoming. when i am in iowa, i keep thinking she is my adorable eight year old sister that i need to watch over. boy do they grow up so quickly. we met up with sara and ate some soup at a soup kitchen. i love my sara gilmore. what a great friend and an incredibly talented hair guru--yes, that is what i shall call her--i don't know what the kids call that career these days...hair stylist, beautician, hair technician...hair guru. yes. that is it.

christmas eve began with the rigby traditional "special store" bargain hunt. this was the 2nd annual hunt and had a few twists, but hilarious. We then headed up to Logan for a mexican christmas fiesta spent with the in-laws. i love being a monson. what incredible people i get to be related to. we had the whole group there (minus little kaya), but i am really glad matt was able to come up with us. mom monson spoiled us. thank you so much. what a great time. they made sure to fulfill all my wildest dreams...singing christmas songs, putting a puzzle together, caramel was dripping from the ceiling...awesome.

christmas day we spent with my side (the whole family was there--i can't believe we have 3 babies. they are beautiful and funny and i loved spending time with them. my siblings married some incredible people and i have the best family in the world (both sides)) and did the traditional twice baked potato and honey baked ham christmas. it never gets old--i set my clock by this tradition. get the rigbys all in the same room and you know it is going to be a good time. just sayin. my mom spoiled us and never sat down--not to mention that we were given a whopper of a christmas with all the gifts they give. yep, whopper is totally back--all the kids are saying it, atleast they should. that night we went and hung out with nicks family (the capener family) at bob and tammy's. i love them. sorry for dropping the puppy. we got to hang out with kaya for a bit too.

the rest of our time was spent driving back and forth from logan to farmington trying to get in as much fun as possible:

we saw my old ward friends that are hilarious and nick got to finally meet and then we saw my high school friends who are not hilarious. jokes. i got to see all their babies--which i am still not sure we are old enough to have, but whatever.

we skiied/snowboarded

i got the flu

went to jazz games

tilley family party--so good to see the family and play games and i think i managed to weird out my cousins fiance--nothing like welcoming to the family the right way. atleast i didn't start singing the oink song.

dinner with nicks friends--i wish that we lived closer and could hang out more.

for new years eve, we headed up to midway to hang out at the parentals condo. this was awesome because we managed to get the rigby's and the monson's under the same roof. yep--best of both worlds. lots of games and food and dunking our heads in the freezing river out back. (Dear ABC: please retire Dick Clark and fire Kellie Pickler--their newscast of the new years eve party was a joke.)

our last days were spent up in logan hanging out with the monsons. this time kaya was there to hang out with and we had a good time.

good times. this vacation went by way too fast and i didn't get to see some. perhaps one day we will get to hang out brooke, chelsea, ash, natalie pervert, jami foo, rigby family...the list goes on--and those i did see, i didn't get to see long enough.

thanks for everything folks. utah treated me well.

thanksgiving

2008-12-07T20:07:00.005-06:00

Let me just start by saying that I am amazed at how long it takes to prepare such a fantastic meal. Nathan and Carrie and kids came up to celebrate this thanksgiving with us. We had a great time hanging out and eating. I must say that Nathan really disappointed me this year--we got to the table and when I was finished with my plate, nathan was full and had only had a few bites. His new diet (which he looks great) has changed him. Thanks for coming up.

kansas city marathon

2008-12-07T18:06:00.011-06:00

so I ran the kansas city marathon on october 18, 2008. this is awesome, because for the past 5ish years each new years I claim that I am going to run a marathon--and now I have done it and can't wait for my next marathon. here is the story:

first of all--thanks to my supporters: nick, nathan, carrie, caroline and rex -- as well as the distant support of both parents and families and soba. nathan and carrie came up from arkansas to show their support and make a weekend of fun in kansas city.

the story:

I woke up later than I was suppose to--lathered up, took a pill to help with my stomach and bathroom situation and realized that we had forgotten the pain killer. oops. Nick and I went to the starting line and I decided that I might as well run with the 3:50 pace group (hoping that I will feel so good and take off from that group and qualify for boston). That was the game plan. The course was great. It would all around kansas city's attractions and had many live bands playing.

Beginning: met some of my co-pacer friends and started the run. Screamed out to nick when I passed him--I was having a blast. (thanks nick for waking up so stinkin early and doing this with me)

Mile 8: This is where the course splits the marathoners from the halfs. I was unfortunately running by some halfers who were so happy that they only had 5 miles and were rubbing it in that the marathoners were just beginning--great. Not what you want to hear, but I was feeling great, so whatev.

Mile 9: I start to feel my right IT band acting up. which was weird, because I have had problems in the past, but during all of my 4 1/2 months of training it never acted up--until marathon day. I kept running through the pain--trying to stretch and keep up the same pace.

Mile 12: Both IT bands are in huge pain and I ran by nick, who is holding our video camera, and I am mad (watching the video footage is hilarious) and exclaim that my IT bands are killing me and that it isn't fair. Nick has me stop and he tries to do some intense IT band rubbings (ps. your IT band is the tendon from your hip to your knee--kind of feels like someone took a baseball bat and smacked the side of your knee with brute force).

By mile 18 I had to stop every 1/2 mile-ish and stretch. Each time I stop I had the reward of watching the next pace group pace by--slowly killing my dream of qualifying--pretty heart breaking and discouraging. I was in so much pain I was fighting off tears and realized: "I am not going to get close to the timing I trained for"--so my new goal was to just finish this.

Mile 21: I got to the water station and was in so much pain. I saw an old guy sitting on the curb stretching--and suddenly I thought to myself, "I might as well have fun," so I sat took a packet of jelly bellies and I sat down and relaxed and ate them.

After this it was basically a fight to keep running and it was nice that my name was on my shirt--because I had a lot of encouragement from all sorts of strangers.

I saw nick, nathan, carrie and co. close to the end of the finish line--they were so great for being there and so enthusiastic--but I couldn't even look at them I was hurting so bad. Nick started to run with me and asked how I was doing--I started bawling (bawling is a weird word p.s.) because of the pain and telling him how much I hurt and that I am so mad and I am not even tired, but just in pain. Lots of people saw this going on and started to cheer for me because of it and I felt really stupid. As I crossed the finish line I had feelings of serious pain and I was angry--I didn't lift my arms in triumph because I wasn't even tired--I knew I had so much more energy that I could have put into my running, but it was my stupid legs that were in so much pain (I was doing the old mans shuffle). I tried to throw a smile on for the picture, but I couldn't even fool the photographer--my pictures have a hilarious look of pain.

I filled up on treats afterwords. Went through that line a million times to get treats for me and the gang. I was really disappointed to find out that the Kansas City marathon didn't provide massages at the end--boo--that is there one downfall--and their medical stations aren't that great. I kept asking for icy hot, but they didn't have any.

My official finish time was: 4:20:27.

That night I couldn't get to sleep--I kept thinking about what was going to be my next marathon and what to do different so that I could run the race with full speed. I am thinking I would love to do the new york or chicago next october/november.

As for the rest of the week:

We ate out a lot and checked out the light district. Aunna and Phil came down for a day and the boys went to a football game, while the girls went to the art museum and a cute local cafe--where we ate quiche and an amazing raspberry pie.

Good times. Thanks everyone.

slideshow part scooter

2008-11-04T08:45:00.003-06:00

scooter for sale

as nick told you earlier, we sold our scooter. it was a sad evening and it happened so fast i forced nick into getting pictures taken with it that night--because it is such a cool ride that we had to have some pics with it. prepare to make fun of us.

slideshow part triplets

2008-11-03T20:48:00.006-06:00

iowa state fair

on the list of top 100 things to do before you die is to go to the iowa state fair. so i think all of you should come out and visit, but let me give you a taste of what you would find. (it's awesome.) the boy you see with us is our friend brad. might i say that i am really glad he came to des moines.

slideshow part dos

2008-11-02T20:20:00.009-06:00

arkansas

nath, carrie & kids moved to rogers, arkansas to work for the big man--walmart. they have the greatest place and we have so much fun that we keep going for more. they are only 6ish hours away. on one trip to arkansas, my mom came out and she rented a boat (if that is what you call it) and we checked. carrie and i ran for a child--that's what the race was for. we did a 10k together and i ended up taking 3rd in my age division (oh, is that good?). a famous gymnast (can't remember her name--she was on the gymnastics team for a few olympics) presented me with my medal. that almost makes me a world champion. i have been amazed at how beautiful arkansas is. good times. thanks mom, nathan & carrie.

get your popcorn--its slideshow time

2008-11-02T19:35:00.026-06:00

hello cruel world. personal joke. ha ha ha. i love personal jokes. anyway, here are a bunch of pictures and things we've done that i have been meaning to post, but have procrastinated to the point that i am overwhelmed and so now i shall overwhelm the blog world with a bagillion pictures.

mexico

this was one of the most incredible trips. i am so glad that the parentals came with us. next time my mom will have to come. what did we do? glad you asked.

July 4th

Flew into mexico city and spent the night there. nick kept telling us that mexico is really cheap and that we would be able to find great hotels for 20 bucks--so this night we tried it out and what we got for that price was aweful--it was hilarious. looks like nick's standards of "nice" on his mission wasn't too high.

July 5th

drove to Temascal- there is a giant lake with an island of indigenous people in the middle of the lake as well as a crocodile farm/random small cool town. It is a crazy town, and one of nicks favorite areas because you are in the heart of old mexico there. nick took us around the place showing us the places he lived--we came to a house that nick remembered as good friends--they made bread--turns out they were still there and now the bishops family. we spent the rest of the day with them. i love this family--hermana tina, [insert names]. This family went out of their way to make us feel welcome--they dropped everything they were doing and spent the rest of the day with us--they even bought us traditional shirts--incredible people. Their son started a popular & thriving internet cafe--which we went and saw and we ended up running into a couple that nick had baptized at the market. turns out that recently their daughter was killed in a car accident and because of that loss they hadn't returned to church--the bishop had tried to get them to come, but when they saw nick, they both decided it was a sign that they should go back to church. After, the family took us to a fish farm and there was an alligator there. hello arch-nemesis. That night, we would drove back down to a city called Tres Valles which is a little bigger and safer than Temascal.

July 6th

Woke up to find out that mom monson hurt herself because she got up to turn off a fan and it was so dark she didn't see the step and she fell. sad. she was in pain all night. today we drove to Coatza Coalcos to have sacrament meeting for the ward nick was in and spent that day with friends. We got to Coatza and spent some time trying to find the church--the city had grown a lot from the time nick was there. We decided to stop at a grocery store and ask for directions. A taxi driver told us he would gladly take us there for a small fee--which we paid. We followed him out of the parking lot and across the street to the church building. yes, we were dooped. After church we went and spent the rest of the day with an incredible family--[insert name]. They made us dinner and then we lounged on their hammocks and nick talked to them while the rest of us took naps and just listened. This was so much fun. I loved this family. That night we walked along the beach and the boardwalk and had dinner. Our waitor approached us hesitantly because he could tell we spoke english--which he didn't--but was relieved to find out nick spoke fluently. He told us later he went back to his coworkers who were amazed that it went so smoothly--and he lied to then saying he knew english. it was funny--guess you had to be there. Poor dad monson got sick from the food. We spent the night there playing gnerts.

July 7th

woke up and went on a run with mom monson on the beach. she got like 10 cat calls. drove to Catemaco. This is one of those "hidden treasures" that nick had heard about but no missionaries were allowed in it because it is a huge witch-craft area. It's a legit rain forest where a lot of movies are filmed. There is an island in the laguna that is full of howler monkeys and all kinds of cool things that we saw. This place was awesome. We took a boat tour to check it out--went to a cool hotelish resort and they gave us a cultural tour that was neat. They have a white wizard that stays there-but unfortunately he was not in. That night we walked through the town and then went to our hotel room to play phase 10 on the balcony. I was set up to win the whole game until the end--dad monson won in the end. We went to go back into the room to find we locked ourselves out--how embarassado. Luckily someone was walking around to get help.

July 8th

Went on a run with the monson parentals. mom monson tripped on a root in the ground, got back up and almost tripped on the same root and hit her head on a branch. clever & hilarious. Today we drove on crazy roads to some incredible waterfalls that we hiked to and swam in. At the end of our hike it started to poor rain--it kind of got dangerous--which made it even cooler. We were amazed by how cool this place was--we decided to spend an extra night in some bungalows on the river that we saw on our tour. That night we went to our bungalows that have hammocks--and just layed there listening to the wildlife--it was beautiful. I highly recommend this place to everyone.

July 9th

Woke up and kayaked out to monkey island to feed the fat monkeys. The rest of the day was in relaxation. Part of the package deal with the bungalows was getting a traditional spa treatment--mud/mineral bath and a massage. I got to go first--so the woman took me into a partitioned off place which was easily viewed by all (family and anyone else within 2 miles)--while the others were just on the other side--she told me to fully undress. i was like--"serious?" and she said "yes" and i said "my dads are out there" and she comforted me by saying that it was no big deal and that is just how it is done and groups of people--families--do this together all the time. not normal. so of course i undressed--not. we kept it g-rated. silly mexicans. This was a great memory and so nice to relax after many days of on the go. My mom would have loved this.

That afternoon we drove to Veracruz and stayed the night. checked out the temple and had a chat with the temple president. Saw some really crappy hotel rooms and finally the guys got us a place to stay the night. We went to a restaurant nick had gone to on his mission and had remembered the pinneapple drink. It was so delicious, all of the food was--so much that I made myself so sick I felt so nauseous that I couldn't eat dessert. For those who know me--that was a first.

July 10th

Woke up and went on a run with the parentals. It was on the boardwalk and what was so cool is they had water stations set up for all the runners. We didn't drink the water, but it was nice. Today we went to the city center and saw the pier with the divers, did some shopping and got hungry so the group decided I should decide where to eat. not a good idea, I hate making decisions. We were in this cute terrace with 5 restaurants that had tables outside and they were all the same--the workers saw us standing there and they all started to try to persuade us to choose them--it got to be hilarious and a little ridiculous--but finally I made the call (I don't know if it was the right choice, but oh well). When we got sick of shopping it was on to El Tajin. I fell in love with the city of El Tajin. It is a city built on a mountain and one of the most charming places. We stayed in this old hotel in the middle of the town center and that night they had a market going--I felt like we went back to the 1920s carnival. The picture with all of us sitting on benches is here--nick got stuck talking to a drunk mexican trying to persuade him to stop drinking and go home.

July 11th

woke up and went to check out the ruins. Watched the traditional male pole dancers (it is not what it sounds like grossos) and one guy was in charge of collecting money--he needs to be fired, because he is mean. Then we went to check out the ruins. We paid for a tour guide--who was a passionate professor doing this on the side. it was incredible--these were fairly recent findings and they are still uncovering stuff. After the tour it was on to our next destination--Teziutlan. We were incredibly lucky the whole week with having mild weather. Teziutlan is one of nicks favorites because of its climate--much cooler than everywhere else he lived. This city is also on the top of a mountain. We got a room in a cool hotel with all sorts of antiques. That evening we walked around the city and ate the best taco--al hambre tacos--from a diner like restaurant that nick had heard about on his mission, but was told that it was expensive (which it is not) so he never went.

July 12th

woke up and went on an incredible run with the parents that was all hills, but worth it for the views we saw and the accomplishment. Had a mexican hot chocolate & conch breakfast at this cute town center bakery. (side note: americans, you are missing out--our hot chocolate is nothing compared to how the mexicans do it. i am not the same person--this stuff has changed me. thanks nick for making this for me all the time). Then we went to see Jesus--a long hike to a huge statue of Jesus on the top of a lush mountain. This hike was beautiful and we were all excited to get to the top--our faith was tried many times on this hike--a few of us kept thinking that it was right around the corner to find out we had another mountain to climb, but we did it! After the hike it was time to drive back to Mexico City to catch our flight the next morning. We stayed at a hotel that if we would have waited until 10pm we could have stayed for half the price, but we had to put our luggage somewhere--we found out by the next morning that this hotel was very well used by one-nighters, if you know what i mean. if you don't, ask my in-laws to tell you about their night. Tonight was our last chance to fill up on tacos--we found a street vendor that we had heard about--the best tacos al pastor of the trip.

Pretty much it was an incredible experience. I am so so glad we did this. I am extremely glad that the parents came. Thanks mom and dad monson and dad for coming and spoiling us. Thanks nick for putting this together and hauling us around and translating for us--this wouldn't have been able to happen without you. Thanks michelle for making up really cool songs during our long drives.

side note: thanks to my talented mom monson--she took all the pictures, gracias senorita.

questions? comments? ok. moving on to the next set of pictures.

Catch up

2008-10-25T22:23:00.004-05:00

I've gotta say that the word "blog" is probably in the top 10 coolest words ever invented right up there with ohrwurm (look that bad boy up on wikipedia, ya'll know what I'm taling about). Just sayin'. Anyway, this is Nick here, I figured with Michelle MIA in the blog world I'd let you peeps in on the happenings of Iowa.
So when we last left you, we were working on the house and stuff...turns out that was overrated and we got sick of doing that so not until lately have we started to think about picking up a few more projects. I finished my boards and I've moved on to clinical rotations which kicks the booty out of reading a book all day. After I took boards, we went down to Mexico to my old mission stomping grounds in Veracruz. It brought back some great memories of how I was in leadership almost my entire mission because I was really valued, no big deal. We had some crazy good times doing everything from visiting friends to pyramids to kyaking on a lagoon with monkeys all around us. I'll leave it to Michelle to fill in any pertinent details (ummmm, I think that might be all you get on that).
But let's talk seriously here, as long as I'm blogging I want to talk about our vehicle changes. So, since I started rotations we had to get a 2nd ride so we settled on getting one of the new Scion XBs. It's a pretty fun ride, and the chick digs it. In order to afford getting a new car, we had to sell the old 1965 Vespa that had the sidecar on it...boooo.
I did however, end up selling it to a guy who owns a scooter store, so we made some cash plus we both got our own new Roketa scooters to cruise around town on out of the deal. It's pretty fun now that Michelle got her motorcyle license and we burn rubber up and down the streets of Moines.
Other big news that you gotta know is that Michelle ran her first marathon last week! She did awesome, in fact, I'm pretty sure she beat at least 42 Kenyans. It wasn't all fun and games, apparently it was "painful," pfft. She's just barely able to walk around now so that it doesn't look like a baby is crowning with every step she takes. I'm super proud of her since that has always been a goal of hers, and now she can move onto the next one: building her husband a giant waterslide going from their bedroom down to the hot tub (you gotta admit that would be rad).
As for Soba, well she still eats some of her poo sometimes which is really gross, but it's cool, Michelle brushes her teeth a lot. The neighbor next door got an American Bulldog which has become her best friend, even though one giant swipe of its paw sends soba tumbling.
So, I'm kinda bored here, plenty more to say but no pizzow left in my delivery so I'm going to sign out and let Michelle take over from here.

tough to post

2008-06-19T19:39:00.014-05:00

I don't know about you, but I think this whole posting thing is a lot of work. I get so entertained by keeping up with everyone else, that doing my own post is tough--and most of you are hard to compete with. I definitely can't write like my husbands sister, Marci.

There has been so much going on lately. I've been counting down the days until I get Nick back. He takes his boards exam on June 30th. What a trooper for putting in so much study time. (yes, I just said trooper. awes.) I am so grateful for his diligence, but I can't wait to have him back.

So, the floods of '08. Weird to walk downtown (3 miles from our house) and see all these buildings sandbagged with relief trailers around. It was like I was in a disaster, but everything was fine--kind of like being in a movie set. How bad is that?! We were very blessed to not be affected by this. Thanks for everyone that called--worrying about us. One good thing that my mom will be happy about with this situation--I went and bought a couple of cases of water for our food storage. Now we have pudding and water. That should last for a good 2 months.

Are you already bored? I am.

So there was a great guy that came into work wanting to see if we would do some trade work. Awesome. I wish my company didn't already do video--I believe he would have helped us to reach all our dreams.< >< >click here to become a dreamer Serious. Use him if you have the funds. Brooke--I am sending this guy to help you at GMC and he could help Mike with school work. Check out his portfolio.

On a serious note: I found out today that my sister, Heather, is in the hospital in India. She's been having migraines and they have progressed into weird things happening all over. I hope she is 'aight. This picture is of us together in Scottsdale a monthish ago. Not the best pic, but this is me featuring her--hoping she reads this soon and knows that I am thinking about her and hoping she doesn't have to join the lepors for good. (Bad taste? Too soon? Oops.)

Have I lost you? Now all of you will never complain to me to update my blog again. Shout out to my lesbian friend Stephanie--Hey Girl.

I guess I'll close with a nightmare I had this week. I was in the top 10 of American Idol and was "on the deck" for singing--I was freaking out for the fact that I can't sing (terrible) and I didn't have a song prepared. My first instinct was to sing a church hymn. But a girl in my dream approached me and sneeringly said, "You aren't going to sing a spiritual song are you?" Great. Now what? Suddenly I was being summoned to the stage and in sheer desperation, I turned to a band I have listened to since jr high--Counting Crows. The American Idol crew began to count down and when the lights turned to me...I woke up gasping because I was so stressed out. Pretty intense.

end.

happy birthday soba

2008-05-20T10:49:00.003-05:00

soba is officially one. feel free to send gifts or money. she really likes mac makeup.

sigh

2008-04-29T18:59:00.002-05:00

I hate Iowa drivers.

this is my life

2008-04-18T17:58:00.000-05:00

here are some before and after shots of my cute little house. It still has a lot of work. We haven't even begun on the outside--so don't think I chose those colors. The previous owners had no sense of taste. the fun game is trying to decide what is before and what is after. See how well you know me. GL.

and so it begins

2008-04-17T22:50:00.000-05:00

hi folks. I have decided to join you in this blog thing. I am in the process of making this look somewhat designed. We'll see...this is soba. She is rad.