life is in dreary gray

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

back in the hospital

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

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

soba is home

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

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

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

chalk the last two days up as good days.

soba the fighter

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

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

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

we love you soba.

i am not amused.

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

yargh.

we all have a hero in our heart

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

oh dwight. great episode.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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