Thomas and Madelyn

Ok so I am trying this new "scrapblog" thing and I am just starting to figure it out so bear with me as I use my own page a trial place. Anyway I wanted to show two different slides, one for Maddie and one for Thomas but they are all here together so I'll figure it out later. But here are some cute slides anyway. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas day activities. We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas too! Here are the girls singing "Santa Baby" for their talent. It was so cute. Here are all the kids in their part for the Christmas program. Look at my sweet angels! Christmas morning what a lot of toys! We are in Barbie heaven now.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

One of my favorite traditions at Christmas time. Making more sugar cookies than we can eat. The girls have been asking for a week so Collin helped the girls make sugar cookies tonight.


They were sure good! We ate cookies all night.

Thomas looked for cookies under the table

Our neighbors came by while we were frosting cookies. They were caroling to the neighborhood and they brought us Carmel popcorn....so we rewarded their beautiful singing with cookies.

My Christmas Cuties

These are pictures of my Christmas cuties posing for pictures for our Christmas card. But I thought that I would put them on the website too. Enjoy

Finding the perfect tree

Saturday Collin, Abby, Madelyn, Thomas and I went with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson to help them find a Christmas tree. We drove up Ephraim canyon and found a good place to look for trees. Thomas fell asleep on the way up so he took a nap in the van while we went looking for trees. (don't worry, I didn't leave him alone, Deb was there because Blake had fallen asleep in the truck) We hiked up a small path until we found a few nice trees. It was very easy to get to the trees because there was almost no snow on the mountain yet. Grandpa sawed the tree down and then he and Collin carried the tree back to the truck. Then we watched the babies while Deb and Scott went to find their tree. Grandma thought that it would be fun to light a fire so we tried to find some dry wood and lit a fire while we waited for Deb and Scott. The kids thought that was really fun and the tree smelled so good it really got me in the mood for Christmas decorating. I am so excited for the Christmas season. It really is my favorite time of year.
Here we are with the tree in the truck

Abby and Madelyn climbing a rock

Yes Grandpa, that is the one we want!

We are ready for tree hunting!

Thanksgiving

It was an Anderson year for Thanksgiving so we were in the church because there are so many of us. Ok so I missed most of the dinner pictures because I was actually serving dinner and getting the dessert ready. But dinner was great and then we got to go in and play in the gym for a while. So here is a picture with Orrin playing with the kids in the gym.


Then some pictures of the kids playing with Uncle Sage. My kids love to play with Sage because he is always throwing them up in the air and spinning them around.

Twilight was....

Disappointing, hilarious, over the top, and to say the least ridiculous. Mom, Becca, Liz, Deb, and I all went to the movie Friday afternoon. I wasn't expecting much because I had heard reviews from friends and family that saw it last week. But honestly it was really bad. We were laughing so hard at most of the serious scenes that Deb was crying through most of the movie. But we went and we have had lots of laughs about it since we got home. Here is a picture of us ready to go and see the movie.

Katy's school program

Katy's 3 grade class did a big program today for the veterans. It was great. The kids sang all the songs so well. They even sang the Armed Forces Medley and had the members in the audience stand up if they served in that branch. So Grandpa Fawcett stood up when they sang about the Air Force. They also told the story behind the lone bugler playing "Taps" when at a funeral for a veteran. It made me cry of course. But there were also many people in the audience with teary eyes. It was a great program and Katy said her part perfectly. We were sure glad that Grandma and Grandpa could come.

Katy and Grandpa

Thomas has a new trick!

Our clever little man is finally starting to scoot across the floor. He was 10 months a week ago and I was worried that he wasn't crawling or scooting yet. This week he started trying to pull himself and now he has it down. He heads straight for the laundry room so I have to be sure to keep that door shut now. But I am so proud of our little guy. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to you all! Here are a couple pictures of the kids in their costumes for youl. Thomas didn't dress up. I took the girls trick-or-treating and Thomas stayed home with daddy to had out candy. The girls got tons of loot and we put it all in a big bowl so that we can all share. Enjoy Thomas sporting Abby's Hanna Montana wig after the girls got home.

Fall Activities

Well here it is the end of October and I have not posted yet. I do have a good reason, my computer died suddenly last month and we are not getting a new one until Christmas. I am using Collin's computer to post this so that you know that we are still here. I have just a couple pictures. Just the kids outside enjoying the fall decorations.

Thomas out playing pat pat with the pumpkins.

After Halloween I will try to post the pictures of the kids in their cute costumes. We are all doing well, we just bought some new blinds for the front windows. Hopefully Collin and I will get them up tomorrow and the front windows will look much better.
Do you like our new song? The girls and I saw High School Musical 3 last week....twice. It was a big hit!

We've been canning!

The last couple weeks we have been canning like crazy! It must be September. We have canned spaghetti sauce, tomato juice, peaches, and pears. The girls all love to help. Abby and Madelyn won't even let anyone near the juicer, that is their favorite job. Needless to say I have tomato juice from the ceiling to the floor. But we now have pantry shelves full of freshly bottled goodies for the next year.

Katy working hard.

Abby and Madelyn can still "strike a pose" while juicing tomatoes.
That's me being the "supervisor, teacher"
Collin cutting up the tomatoes and keeping us busy.

Rigby Family Reunion-Bear Lake

Labor Day weekend we had our annual Rigby Family Reunion at Bear Lake. Saturday we spent on the Lake. We had one boat and two jet ski's. Everyone had a great time playing in the water and getting wet. The kids had fun gathering shells and making sand castles. Abby and Madelyn went on a jet ski with me but they didn't like going fast over the water. They wanted to go back after we jumped our first wave. Later I took them out on the boat, they liked that a lot. Madelyn sat in the front and enjoyed going fast, while Abby preferred the seat in the back of the boat.


Saturday evening we got dressed in our family reunion shirts and gathered for our group pictures. This year they said "If you think I'm nutty, you should see the rest of my family." Ain't that the truth. Then we went to the "Pickelville Playhouse" to see the play. It was great! We all loved the villain "Juanito Banditto" because he reminded us all of Uncle Nathan. He was so funny! We have been quoting him ever since the play ended.



Sunday we went to church in Garden City then gathered to hear Jeffery and Terri's histories.

Above, Grandma Great and 27 of her 29 great grand kids.
Below, Grandma Great with her Grandchildren and spouses, minus Bryce, Richelle, and Libby.


We all had a great lunch together. Then Nathan brought out his tennis ball cannon. It was a great toy. They put about 10 tennis balls in at a time and then would launch them about 100 feet into the air. We were out on the big lawn trying to catch the balls as they would come back down. We mostly just ran into each other and the balls would hit the ground and bounce. But it was great fun. Then we loaded candy into the cannon and shot it into the air and let it rain down on the kids as they screamed and ran to pick up as much as they could. THe kids also got out the big tube and tookturns pushing eachother in it. Here is a picture of Madelyn "rollin" away.

We also has our "washer toss" tournament.



Katy won first place in the kids round and Alyssa came In second, while Jeffery won first place in the adult round and Collin came in second. So we have two trophies sitting on our cedar chest until we have to turn them over to someone else next year.

First Day of School

Yeah! It's that time of year! Back to school, and this year Abby started kindergarten. Katy started school a week ago but the kindergarten kids spend the first week in placement testing and then started today.








Abby impressed her tester, she said that Abby was "one smart little girl, she read me a sentence!" I am proud of Abby she likes to study words and practice her letters.

They both got new backpacks. Naturally Katy picked a "high school Musical" backpack while Abby wanted Hanna Montana. I am glad to be back on a schedule hopefully Thomas will take this opportunity to learn how to take a nap that is longer than 15 minutes.

BIG Potatoes!

I went out today to see if maybe there were some potatoes in our garden to cook for dinner. First I found two small ones then as I got under one of the plants I found several huge potatoes.



















I was very excited. It is nice to be able to get stuff out of the garden for supper. I had the girls come outside and hold them for me so that I could take a picture. The girls thought that it was really cool that we had potatoes that big in our garden.

We are herding sheep?!

Well this last week was fun. We went with Nathan and Libby and boys up to the forest to herd sheep for the Fawcett's. Man was that an experience. I have to admit, Collin and Nathan did the herding while I helped Libby cook, tend kids, and play cards. The kids had a great time riding the 4-wheeler, getting wet, getting dirty, riding horses, getting muddy, and playing in the fire even though I am pretty sure both Libby and I asked them a million times to stay out of the mud and the fire. They all got to ride the horses and play with the 5 dogs we had up there. It rained on us every day but it would only last a little while. We would gather in the trailer and play cards and drink hot chocolate. But we all had a great time and the kids want to go and do it again soon.

A Big Day for Katy

We had an event full weekend this week. Saturday morning Katy was baptized by her father. Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, Orrin, Crysta, and baby Sam came from the Anderson side of the family. Grandpa and Grandma Fawcett, Ashley, Paige, Nathan, Libby, Spencer, Max, Jace, and little Josh came from the Fawcett side of the family. We were glad that they could all come and join us for this great day. Katy wore a beautiful white dress that she got for her birthday from Mom and Grandma Rigby. They did a cute spotlight about her at the church and then we went back to the font for the baptism. When she came out of the water with a big smile on her face she looked like an angel. Of course mom had tears coming down her face. Such and important step Katy took on her way in life. Both Collin and I are so proud.

It's a little strange, we just blessed our youngest in March and here we are plunging into the next faze of our family life by baptizing our oldest. Next thing you know we will have graduations, and weddings......hopefully not for a long time. But it is nice to look back and see how the Lord has blessed our little family with such beautiful healthy children. I hope that we will have many more blessing yet to come and that we can slow down and enjoy our children while they are young. We love all of our family and friends that help us along the way. May God bless you all.

Having fun on the 4th of July

This year for the 4th of July we went "camping" up to Henefer. When I say camping I mean sleeping in the trailer in aunt Maxine's back yard. But the kids didn't mind a bit. We went up on the 3rd with Nathan and Libby and boys to go fishing and 4-wheeling at the ranch. We caught (and released) several nice fish before we decided that it was just too blasted hot to stay up there any longer. Then we went back to Henefer and ate sandwiches at Maxine's house. While we were there some cousins brought Taffy the horse over and the kids got to ride her. Katy especially loved it, she was on that horse for the better part of the two days we were up there. She liked to ride the horse with no help from mom or dad. Her favorite thing was to trot around the pasture. Abby and Madelyn saw Katy riding by herself and they both wanted to be big girls and ride by themselves too. All the other kids got to ride Taffy too.


We also went up to the potato races and cheered for several cousins that were riding in the races. They all did well. We spent the fourth at the park there in Henefer listening to the music and watching the performers dance. Since Katy was turning 8 on Sunday I told her that she could get her ears pierced. We gave Collin's aunt Joan a call and asked if she had time to pierce Katy's ears and she said yes so we ran up and got that done. Katy sure was brave, she didn't even cry a bit. Then we drove up on the hill and watched the fireworks. Madelyn fell asleep before they were over. Saturday morning we packed up and drove back to Layton where we had a BBQ for Katy and Aless's birthdays. Sunday we went to Liz and Sage's church to see baby Lilly get blessed. Afterwords we went to Liz's house for yummy food and visiting. They kids love to play at Liz's house because she has the coolest back yard to play in. It was a wonderful weekend, busy but fun. I am glad to be back home now to take care of my yard and get ready for Katy's friend birthday party this weekend.

Katy Turns 8!

Katy had her 8th birthday on Sunday. We were able to have a family party for her on Saturday. She got roller skates, new clothes, and a beautiful dress for her baptism next month. She was also old enough to get her ears pierced. So Friday night we took her to get her ears pierced. She was very brave and didn't even get nervous. She said that it didn't hurt a bit. She got several new pairs of earrings for her birthday but she has to wait for two months before she can use them. But it will be right in time for the start of school. We are so proud of our sweet girl, she sure is growing up fast!

Thomas has a tooth!

Well our little Thomas is really growing up fast. He is working on rolling from his back to his front. He lays on his side and makes funny noises, so I go and help him lift up his head so he is on his stomach then he rolls back onto his back and smiles at me. He sprouted his first tooth today. You can't really see it in the video but I thought that his laugh was pretty cute too. He is such a happy boy. He is loving riding on the bike with me. Thomas rides on the back seat and Abby and Madelyn ride in the trailer. Thank goodness that Katy can ride her own bike. Abby is learning how to ride her bike so hopefully soon I will only be pulling two kids instead of three. These other pictures are from our ward camp out last Friday. We had a great time and the girls are ready to go again soon.

We Rode the Front Runner!

We had a very exciting week last week. The kids and I stayed up in Layton to play now that school is out. Grandma Paula thought that it would be fun to take all 8 of the kids and go ride the Front Runner. So Friday afternoon Grandma, Libby, and Rachel took 8 kids to the train station. Sounds a little crazy I know but it was really fun. The kids were so excited to get to ride a train for the first time. They looked out the window and waved to all the cars that passed. They thought that it was super cool to be up on the top deck looking down at the freeway as we went by. It really was a nice ride. It only took about 20 minutes to get from Layton to SLC.

Jumping high at the planetarium

After we got into Salt Lake City we rode the Trax tran to the Clark planetarium. Grandpa Fawcett met us there and so did Uncle Nathan. We were finally getting the right amount of grownup to kid ratio going. At the planetarium we watched a movie about the different planets in our solar system and galaxy. Then the kids got to walk on the moon and mars, and practice giving the weather report at the "Fresh Air Forcast Center". Then they got to find out what it would be like to really walk on the moon. The kids were each put in a harness and then they were hooked to a machine that would allow them to jump as high as they would be able to jump if they were really walking on the moon. The big kids loved it.


Then we walked through the Gateway Center to the water jets on the north end. The kids had fun running in and out of the water trying not to get sprayed by the water. Of course all the kids were soaking wet by the time we were finished. Then we went to dinner and rode the Front Runner home again. It was so much fun, we all had a great day.

Goblins, Goblins everywhere!

We spent Saturday May 3rd hiking at Goblin Valley State Park. It was great fun. Grandma and Grandpa Fawcett came along with , Paige , Ashley and Aless, Nathan, Libby, Spencer, Max, Jace, and Josh. We had a great time and explored many cool places. The kids enjoyed climbing all the rocks and exploring all the caves. After we hiked Goblin Valley we drove home through Capitol Reef State Park. There we went and hiked capitol wash. The scenery was great and everyone had a great time.

Rachel learns how to blog....sorta

Well hello everyone. I am just now learning how to do this. I have so many cute pictures of my kids to share that I thought that it would be easier to do it this way. As most of you know we just had our fourth child in January. Thomas Collin Fawcett was born on Jan 5 2008. We are all very excited to have him here. We love him a lot, and all his sisters are excited to have a brother.