Events, Milestones, and things I've learned in the past decade

I can't believe it's 2010 already. I think the same thing at the beginning of every new year. But this year, 2010, has a different kind of ring to it. 2010 sounds so futuristic. Shouldn't we all be cruising around in hover crafts by now?

The past decade has gone by so quickly. It has been filled with great times and very trying situations. Here's a rundown of the past 10 years for the Rigby family:



2000: Becka and I get married August 16, 2000. According to my math, when August rolls around this year we will have been married 10 years. We're still crazy in love!

2001: 9/11 happens. I realize this is supposed to be a rundown of the Rigby family, but I'm thinking 9/11 affected most Americans. I worked in a call center on the morning of 9/11. Coincidentally our call center was making phone calls to people in the New York area that morning. I was at work for only 30 minutes that day before they sent us home. Like telemarketers aren't annoying enough without a national tragedy happening, right?


November 17, 2001 our first son Eric was born in Rexburg, ID. Eric had the cutest little face even seconds into his life.

2002: My mom's health becomes progressively worse throughout the year until December 31, 2002 her illness finally took her "home." Even though I got married and had a son before she passed, all I had really known for the prior seven years was taking care of her. Between the ages of 15 and 22, working full time, paying bills, changing bandages, and getting my mom a babysitter when I wanted to go out, became normal. When she died on that Tuesday morning Becka and I had no idea what to do with our new found independence.

2003: Becka and I put our new independence to good use by taking no longer than eight days to move out of St. Anthony all the way to...Idaho Falls.

We only lasted in Idaho Falls for seven months until we moved to Boise...for the first time. I had been a Boise State football fan for a couple years prior to this moment but it was after our move to Boise that me being a fan turned into full-blown obsession.


2004: Our second son, Timothy (Timo) was born on April 23, 2004 at St. Luke's Hospital in Boise. Timo and Becka had the best doctor ever. Dr. Barton gave me the unique opportunity of being the very first person to touch Timo, creating an everlasting bond between the two of us. Yeah, that's right, I helped pull Timo out.

Only one month later our family of four packed everything and moved down to the desert in Las Vegas. You may begin to notice a trend here. Becka received a transfer with her job and we were excited at the idea of living in the Southwest.

2005: Unfortunately, our move to Sin City only lasted a whopping nine months. Money became a bit too tight until Becka and I finally hit the panic button and moved back to Boise. Although, we like Boise, it didn't take long for us to realize that instead of using our money to move, we could have used it to better our situation in Vegas. Which, in hindsight, we had it pretty good there. To this day, Las Vegas remains on our short list of future places to live.

In December of 2005 I joined Gold's Gym determined to lose weight.

2006: My determination at Gold's Gym was paying off. By mid-year I dropped a total of 75 pounds. Without me having junk food stashed all over the house Becka became part of the ripple effect and lost 35 pounds of her own...while pregnant! While seven months pregnant with Noah, Becka hiked up to Table rock in Boise. Good job!



On September 27, 2006 we welcomed our chunky little Noah into the world. This time, Becka had the option of being induced on the day of our choice. We carefully selected a day in the beginning of the week so there would be no distractions the upcoming Saturday as Boise State played an important game against Utah.

2007: The new year started out great as Boise State beat Oklahoma 43-42 in the Fiesta Bowl on January 1st. Now regarded as one of the best bowl games in history, Becka and I screamed and hollered at the TV throughout the game, drawing attention from our neighbors.

After a Rigby Record of living in one city for two years, we packed up our family of five and moved to Tacoma, WA. We had aspired for years to live in Washington and became very excited to do so when we finally had the opportunity. Shortly after the move I got a job at Horizon Airlines. We enjoyed the flight benefits for the rest of the year, into 2008.

Eric starts Kindergarten at Whitman Elementary in Tacoma. Eric was so excited to start school. No tears or crying from Eric when he was dropped off on that first day. I don't think I can say the same for mommy.

2008:
Remember all that weight I lost in 2006? I officially gained it all back by the end of 2008. Blast!


On April 22, 2008 our family was completed when Michael (Mikey, Mike) was born in Tacoma. At 8 pounds and 2 ounces, Mikey was our heaviest baby. If you notice, Mikey's birthday is one day before Timo's. We always joke with Timo that he got the best birthday present when he turned 4; a new baby brother.

Here we go again. We escaped the rainy Puget Sound area and moved back to our safety net known as the Boise area. This time we didn't quite make it all the way to Boise and moved to Nampa instead. We moved at the wrong time since the economy went in the crapper in 2008. Nampa and specifically Canyon County held the dubious honor of owning the highest unemployment rate in Idaho. The next few months were pretty rough.

The second best part of 2008 came when Becka kicked off her college career by becoming enrolled at the University of Phoenix. Becka took initiative by doing online courses while pursuing to be an elementary teacher. She's been rocking school with a 3.5 GPA and she'll receive her associates degree in May!!

2009: I'm not gonna lie, 2009 was rough. For me personally, this has been my most trying year in a long time...if not ever. There's a multitude of reasons for this that I'm not going to get into. However, I think I've learned more and grown more this past year then I have in the previous 9 years combined. I almost feel grown up now.

On the brighter side, two really good things have happened this year. One, we spent tons and tons of time swimming this past summer. Swimming sounds so simple but our family really bonded together with all the time we spent swimming. There were plenty of times when we swam several days in a row. It was really fun. Second, we finally completed our move to Boise when our apartment complex in Nampa was foreclosed. This turned out to be a very good thing for us. I think I've mentioned in previous posts how Nampa smells.

Also, Timo started off Kindergarten this past year at Whitney elementary in Boise!



There's a lot of things I unintentionally left out. This list was a lot longer than I thought it would be before I started typing it. I applaud you and give you a Jeremy's Forum high five if you've made it this far.

I hope this list didn't sound too negative. I originally meant it to be funny but the whole post turned out more like a glorified journal entry that documented every time we moved to a different city. I didn't even mention all the moves we made within those cities!!

I have high hopes for 2010. Not really because it's a new year or because of some silly resolutions but because how I've grown mentally over the past year or so. I'm finally ready to steer this Rigby Ship in the right direction. And it only took 10 years to figure it out! Some of us are slow learners. Having a feeling of clarity feels so good. With that I bid you...

Happy New Year!!!