A day in the life...

So we are potty training this week. When I say we, I mean me. ME, ME and more ME. We're doing pretty good to...wait I mean I'M doing pretty good. Tate was forced into underwear on Monday and hasn't been allowed to put on a diaper for 5 days now (except at night). I drag him to the potty every 30-60 minute, sometimes kicking and screaming. At this point I'm sure your thinking...leave that kid alone, he's just not ready! This is where you'd be wrong. I agreed with you only a week ago, but I was wrong. Here's the thing, Tate CAN go potty, he just dosn't want to. That's where the ME potty training comes in. I drag him kicking, screaming and crying to the bathroom (he's also yelling, "I don't have to pee" over and over), I sit him down and what happens...he pees. Then he looks up smiling and say's in his little Tate voice "I peed". It's all a mind game he's playing with me, he wants me to go insane.
The pooping is not coming along so well, he's gone twice at night in a diaper, once in the dirt in the back yard (can you say here doggie doggie?) and today he went in his underwear...uuuuuugh! Most of you know I'm not a sweet mellow person so what did I do? I made him strip naked in the back yard take his own poopy underwear off and then I sprayed him down with the hose! Was that a little much?
I really hate potty traing...hense the reason my son is about to turn 4, yes I said 4 and he's finally being forced to do this thing already!
So I've been trapped in the house for days now, not daring to leave. When Alan got home early, I took the opportunity to run to the store. Now, I was gone maybe 20 minutes at the most. What I came home to was bedlam, I wish I had an audio sound bite to share with you because I could seriously hear the madness from the car when I pulled up. The kids were in the backyard having a seriously intese water fight (insert sound bite of high pitched screaming from 3 children) picture water all over the outside AND inside of the house, I could also hear my little baby screaming as though she had been dropped on her head. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had wandered into the water fight. Here's what I found...



Ok, so I love and adore my husband but this is actually his idea of watching the kids. I'm grateful that he's willing to let me leave them all in his care, but I have to be willing to come home to disaster. I'm usually so ready for a break that I risk it. Tallula is a serious Mommies girl, she had gotten herself so worked up, here's how I had to spend the rest of the day...


...no kidding, I had to hold her the rest of the day. If I even attempted to put her down she would intantly start wailing. It's the price I pay for 20 minutes of peace.

Oh and just for laughs, here's how fajita night goes in our house...





This is Tate opinion of peppers, here's Tanners...

Tanner: Ack, I hate peppers!

Alan: Listen, in this Mexican household we like peppers! (Uh, were not Mexican just to clarify)

Tanner: Were not Mexican, were Japanese! (wrong again)

Alan: Were Mexican today, now eat it!

NEW BLOG

I started a new blog. www.afreshtake.blogspot.com I'll post a link on the side so you can check it out whenever you like. It's for all my photography related things. I was following a photographers blog and I was so impressed with her work. I decided to read backward through her posts, I just kept going all the way to the beginning. She started the blog only a year ago and her work was good but not great. I was so amazed at how she had grown into an incredible photographer in such a short time. So I was inspired to start my own. I'm hoping that having the blog will motivate me to keep practicing. I get so caught up in my life that I don't take enough time to develop the talents that I was given. I can't promise you that I'll update it all the time but we'll see what I come up with!

Rigtrup Family Reunion

We haven't been to a Rigtrup family reunion in 8 years. We went to the Rigtrup reunion when Tanner was a little baby and then moved off to Georgia and haven't been since. So we were determined to make it this year. Alan's Dad has 4 brothers (no sisters), they were raised in Renton, WA and then they all ended up raising their own families in Renton as well. So Alan's extended family was always a big part of his life. For those of you that know Alan, you know he has a LARGE personality. Well, he inherited it! Going to a Rigtrup reunion is like spending a weekend with Alan times 40. It's really crazy and tons of fun. I'll let the pictures tell the story.


We had nightly campfire programs

Campfire game...pop the balloon with the tack on your nose!


Half naked Lu!

We played in the lake...wake boarding, tubing, canoes and of course lots of swimming.


We held the Rigtrup Olympics...the following pictures all apply!

STAY AT HOME MOM

So I quit my job and I'm once again a stay at home mom. For those of you who don't know I've been working for the last 15 months. It all started because our house in Georgia wouldn't sell and we had to have the money to pay the mortgage. Sadly the stupid house never sold, I worked to pay that mortgage for 11 months. We finally rented it out and the mortgage is being covered...phew! Still, we have some debt incurred from said house not selling and the massive damages done to it by the previous renter. We really do need me to work to pay this off but for some reason the spirit (for any non Mormons reading this, that's the Holy Ghost in whom we believe is a spiritual guide and protector for us) has been prompting me to stop working. This was a REALLY hard decision for me to make. Not only do we need the money but I LOVE my job. I have been so blessed to have had such an understanding and accommodating boss. I don't really like to call him my boss because I think of him more as a friend or even a brother. When I got sick in my 1st trimester and then had the pulmonary embolisms I stopped working full time and then stopped working all together for a few months. Jake (my boss) needed me back but let me work from home most of the week. This was such a huge blessing for me and my family. When I had the baby, he let me bring her to work with me. I really couldn't ask for a better job. So it was really a sad day for me when I quit (poor Jake, I cried like a baby). I know staying home with my kids is the right decision, but I wish I could have the best of both words. So, I'm once again a stay at home mom. It's a little bitter sweet, but it's still sweet!

Here's a picture of my work, Thomas Auto Rebuild. I was hired to be the secretary (Jake's definition of my job). After starting I soon titled myself the Office Manager, which I was. I did a heck of lot more than answer the phone! I even made Jake break his nasty habit of calling me his secretary and call me the Office Manager. Poor Jake, I'm sure I was a handful! I'm just so full of opinions that I can't keep them to myself. So thanks to Jake and Micheal for putting up with me and even listening to my opinions!

Seattle to Portland Marathon aka STP

Alan did the STP when he was a teenager and now that we are back in Washington he set his sights on doing it again. He's always loved to street ride. He did a triathalon in Georgia and got hooked on those as well. So before we moved back he bought a ridiculously expensive triathlon/street bike. The bike is so fast he crashed it the first two times he rode it. He has since crashed it two more times for a grand total (so far) of 4 times. I'm beginning to wonder if the bike is cursed.
This last weekend was the annual STP ride. It's approximately a 200 mile ride from Seattle, WA to Portland, OR. You ride the first day 100 miles to Centralia, WA then you get up bright and early and finish the last 100. I seriously cannot think of anything more horrible than doing this. Apparently many people including my husband disagree with me. The race has 9,000 paying participants. Many more ride along without paying the entrance fee (like my father in law, brother in law and sister in law) shame, shame, shame. Anywhooo, It's really a site to see. Alan was flying the first day and made it to Centralia in 6 hours. Well, he made it to 8 miles outside of Centralia in 6 hours. Then the curse kicked in! Two people ahead of him crashed and he had no time to stop so he went down with them. The road had been newly asphalted and it had all that tar and rocks on it. It tore Alan up pretty bad. He had road rash on his leg, hand and butt. The medic came and bandaged him up. He could have ridden a service vehicle the last 8 miles but NO, he's a real man and he can take the pain. They told him to go straight to the medic tent when he got to camp. Did he? NO, he a real man, he went to the bike repair tent and has his bike fixed. All the time covered in blood, people staring! Finally he goes, wait, hobbles to the medic tent to have his wounds looked at. Can they fix him, NO! He needs stitches and he has to be taken to the hospital. The gash on his knee was down to the ligament...uh gross! So he spent like 4 hours in the hospital being scrubbed, drugged and stitched. Alan's Dad was only riding for day one so he could have gone home with him but NO, he's a real man and he drugged himself up and finished the marathon. You would think that a seriously busted up leg would have slowed him down but it didn't, he finished the last 100 miles in only 5 1/2 hours. I told him it's because he was so drugged up he felt no pain, he just rode hard the whole time. To give you an idea of how fast he is, he got into Portland at 2:00 and his brother and sister in law got in around 6:00. They all left at the same time. This man totally amazes me. Even though I think he's crazy, I'm soooo proud of him! He even went to work the next day (today) but he ended up coming home early really sick from the combination of pain meds and exhaustion. I suppose he'll realize one of these day's that he's not super human, today's just not going to be that day!

Tagged...again!

3 Joys: My Family, my religion, my friends.


3 Fears: Alligators (great, now I feel nauseous, I don't even like to talk about them!). Alan or my kids dying. Failing.


3 Goals: To be a professional photographer, to be an interior designer, To go to France, Italy and Spain.


3 Obsessions: Photography, decorating, reading and #4 matching clothes for my kids.


3 Surprise Facts: #1 I'm not a snuggler, not even with my kids (I need my space). #2 I'm not patient, oh wait...that's no surprise. #3 Ooo, I have a good one... I'm actually skinny, it's just hiding under the fat! Since being impatient isn't really a surprise to anyone, you get another. #4 I got a 4.0 my senior year...Ceramics A, Photography A+, Photography Teachers Assistant A+, Journalism (Photographer) A, Drama A, Physical Education A. As you can see I worked hard to earn that 4.0!


Me and the kids at my highschool where I got that hard earned 4.0! Notice they match!

*I tag Natalie and Michelle (now Michelle will actually have to put something on her blog, it's blank!)

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. These last two 4th's I've missed going up to Canton in Georgia and seeing the fireworks with the Grahams, the Kelleys and the Dunlaps. It was so much easier and much more fun than going to Seattle. All we had to do was drive 15 minutes into town and voila, a fireworks extravaganza! To see a good display around here you've got to fight masses of people and horrendous traffic in Seattle. So we didn't even bother with it this year and it really made the holiday more enjoyable for me. We spent the day with my parents and my sister up in Marysville then trekked out to Enumclaw to our friends Natalie and Eric's place. I have never seen so many fireworks in my life. Their front room looked like a fireworks stand. I don't even want to know how much money was spent on fireworks, it had to be a lot. The fireworks were already being lit off when we got there at 6:00 and they literally did not stop until 11:00. I'm not kidding, it was a constant stream of fireworks for 5 hours. And we're talking like 20 kids and grownup's lighting them off. When they stopped at 11:00 there were still fireworks left over. On top of that we had GREAT food! My friend Natalie can bake!!! We had awesome cupcakes and fresh fruit pies that were to die for, BBQ and potato salad, YUM!!!


Natalie made this ridiculously cute bow for Tallula, this kids head is always decked out! Notice how fat and juicy she is, we love it!


These are "THE GIRLS". They have all known each other for most of their lives. From left to right, my Taylor, my friend Natalie's Kiersten and Aubrey, my friend Nena's Jordan, Alaina and Olivia.


The kids and one grown up kid!


Taylor jumping over smoke bombs, I did the same thing when I was a kid. Ok...I still do it.


His feet were even worse! It took 30 minutes in the tub to soak the dirt off of him. Oh and yes, I realize he needs a hair cut. He still won't get one for another week or two, I hate cutting his hair.

The Wheelbarrow...

I love antiques. Especially old, nasty, chipping, painted pieces. Alan has never quit understood this love. If it looks like it should have been thrown away years ago, I love it, while Alan thinks it should have been thrown away years ago. I bought this rusted out antique wheelbarrow a few months ago with big plans to use it as a prop while taking pictures. Alan just shook his head when I brought this hunk of junk home. After shaking his head at me, the first thing out of his mouth was how much did this thing cost. Can you really put a price on such a gem as this? I just told him it's worth much more than I paid for it. Not exactly true but it sounded good. After months of sitting in the garage, I finally stuck it in the yard and snapped a few shots this afternoon. I personally think my plan was brilliant and it will be a great addition to my photo props. Here's a couple cute ones for your enjoyment. Oh and can I just say that my kids are ridiculously beautiful!!!