Counted Votes

Well...after all the corruption of the vote count, the Shepherds Pie is done and dusted. We hope that everyone enjoyed it and with Rosie being away for nearly two months we will have to make do with Lasagna, Beef Stroganoff, and Parmesian Chicken. I'm sure that some time soon we will find something to tag Todd and Christina with as well. Maybe Suicide Wings or Grilled Hamburgers. Come to think of it Kristin and the Skinners haven't made dinner in a while as well. Of course, I suppose we should keep in mind that they haven't partaken in a while, but that doesn't always matter anyway.
The hit of the show tonight had to be lil Mayberry with the fairy wings and Brielle with her baby in Everett's car seat. Did anyone get any pictures? We thought of it after everyone had gone.
It was nice to have Faith with us as well.
I think Rosie is missing Mom and her dish washing ways... :0

John's Malaysia Trip

John recently went on a trip to Malaysia as he usually does about once a year for work. He loves to travel and this trip was shorter than most. He is usually gone for 2 weeks and this trip was only one week. We're not sure if it was the short trip or the fact that he is now forty that has been so rough but he had an abnormally difficult time with jst lag this time.

It made him pretty productive for about a week becuase he would wake up at 2am ready to go. By 7pm he was crashing. During that week a lot got done on his game though.

The trip consisted mostly of training new people to his group but the reason he really loves going to Malaysia is because they have the best food in the world. He didn't take many pictures (no camera), but others took some and one was at an outdoor seafood restaurant that one of his suppliers like to take him and his group to while he is there. Its called Bali Hai and they have about 50 big aquariums of fresh fish lined up along the wall to choose from. The restaurant is right on the water. It's so close in fact that when the tsunami hit the south of Asia a few years ago the restaurant got flooded. Here's a picture of him and some people from his work group.

The island they visited is pretty small considering Intel and a bunch of other tech companies all ahve plants there. Here is a picture of the east coast of the island which is the more developed side of the island.

Here are more pictures of him in the office after a day of training.

The only drawback to the travel is that Intel no longer pays for business class and he has to travel coach, but at least he gets to fly on Singapore Air which, in his opinion, is the best airline bar none. Any other airline is a distant 2nd and all of the domestic airlines are way down toward the bottom of his list.

Buddy's Big Day!

Last Saturday we took Buddy to the Groomer's for a good ol' fashioned haircut. He was badly in need of one since all we've really been doing is trying to keep him washed and he hated being brushed. He had all kinds of tangles and we were starting to think he was going to become our Rastafarian Dog soon. When we got there the groomer gave us a pretty good chastising for the way he looked. They said he was really good about the whole event and he looked great afterward. The only thing was he didn't look like buddy. He looked like a Dalmation which is funny because when Kendra and Jay had him Kendra thought he looked like he was half dalmation and we didn't understand why, but now we do because you can really see how spotty he is with the short hair.

This is a picture of Rosie & Buddy outside of the store after the haircut.

We love that dog more than ever now and he has even taken a little bit more to being brushed. Now just to keep him looking good.

He has also taken over the "love sack" in our family room which actually shows a decent picture of him prior to the haircut.

Rosie's Birthday Celebration

In my last post I said that I would have a future post with what my plans were for Rosie's birthday. They didn't exactly happen according to plan, but Rosie seemed very surprised nonetheless.
First off my plan was to get home early from work and take her to Olive Garden for dinner. She loves Italian food and I guess I have to admit that she told me shortly after returning from Malaysia that they had the AYCE pasta bowls back again and that may have had something to do with the decision to go there. None of this first part worked out. I didn't leave the office until 6pm anyway and then when I got home Rosie said that Laura had taken her out to Italian for lunch. 0/2 so far. So as she was telling me the story of what had transpired for lunch she mentioned that she had seen an "English Pub" near the place they ate.
The 3rd part of the "Birthday Plan" was to go to Coach to buy her a bag. People that know Rosie know that she loves her bags and really loves the Coach bags. Crazy about them! I can not overstate this fact. So with the restaurant idea aside now we headed to Coach at the San Tan Village to make sure we at least made it there in time to get her birthday gift.
She still didn't know we were headed there until we got out of the car and started walking in that direction. As I opened the door for her to the store, she looked at me and whispered, "Are you sure you want to do this?" It was then that I stopped breathing. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm as cheap as Dad. Pennies have nothing on us when it comes to squeezing the copper out of them. Or is it zinc? Anyway, cheap, that's me.
Rosie makes a beeline for where she thinks her bag of choice will be and then finds out from a store associate (or whatever they call them there) that they don't have her bag there.
I must fill in here that I had taken her there with a bag in mind. I almost bought her a bag in Singapore on my way home from Penang, but thought better of it. As it turns out she liked the bag that I almost bought,but the cheap in me came out and I figured it would be cheaper in AZ. And I was right.
I found the bag that I had in mind and Rosie liked it, only it was the leather version of what I had picked. Rosie put it on her shoulder and pranced around a bit to see how it looked on her or maybe how she looked with it, I'm not sure which. Then she went and looked around the rest of the store.
Now here is where it gets interesting. She started looking at key chains & little trinkets that apparently you can put on the bags or something. A key chain seemed to catch her eye that when you buy it they give 20% towards finding a cure for Breast Cancer. For some reason I couldn't understand, she said, "What if I just get this?" :0
She left the store with no bag!!! No BAG! You see we are planning for her to go back home to spend time with her mom who is recovering from surgery and she said that she wants to save the money so she will have money to spend on family while in England.
I've always known the kindness of her golden heart. It was one of the first things Aiden told me about her many attributes when we first met and started dating, but to see this put her into a whole new realm of thoughtfulness (have I stated how much she loves Coach bags?).
We left the store and I started to breath again and the color returned to my face. I was so surprised and impressed with Rosie.
We then went to the "English Pub" that Rosie had talked about and she had her Bangers & Mash (you can ask her about that) and I had a Cornish Pasty. They weren't as good as England but all in all it seemed to satisfy Rosie's desire for Bangers.
We returned home with gift and leftovers in hand. I will post a picture of Rosie with her birthday gifts later (she received other gifts from Friends and Family).

I was a happy 0/3 with my plans for her birthday but I don't think I could have been happier with how things turned out and Rosie seemed happy though the rest of the night she kept saying, "I left Coach without a bag?! I'm a muppet!" I have to admit after we got back in the car, leaving the Coach store, I checked her temperature.

Rosie, I love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!!!

Today is Rosie's Birthday! She turned 21 and is as beautiful as ever. I have plans for her this evening (that will be for a future blog). She said she was going to blog about what she wants for her birthday so I will leave all that for her to write. The picture is from my iPhone on our 5th anniversary in May so the quality isn't this best, but I wanted to post something since I was out of the country for a week and haven't posted anything for quite some time and needed to post something about her birthday. I LOVE YOU BABE!

Family Dinner @ Ours

Tonight we had the weekly family dinner at our house that we usually share at Mom's. We had planned on cooking, but plans changed when all of mom's house got upended and there really wouldn't have been enough room for everyone that showed up. Originally we were going to cook Pork brisket and potatoes, but the Rowley's guilted us into making Rosie's famous Shepherd's Pie (sorry Skinners, but as always you are always invited but never show up because you're out of town :) ). We also had the O'Hare family over for dinner this week which to us seemed a special treat. We always like having people over for dinner and games. John especially liked it because he suckered volunteers (Jay, Hollie, and Todd) into playing his game. Sorry Christina and Bret for taking your spouses away so much, but there help is greatly appreciated and so is your patience! Rosie is a great wife and very patient and supportive of John's "craziness". It was a fun night and buddy definitely enjoyed the kids being over to play tag with. Congratulations to Tyla for figuring out atricky way to get Buddy to come near enough to tag.We look forward to many more family dinners in the future and maybe we'll even remember to take a picture or two. Maybe even get a digital camera in the near future.

Happiness in Life

Yesterday we went to Mom's house to help tear out old carpet and move stuff for the installation of the new carpet. The argument could be made that John only went to play his game with his relatives.
While we were there we had a funny experience with Aiden, Hollies oldest boy. He had lost his "puppy" (a little stuffed dog he apparently got in a happy meal) and was looking for it behind a pile of Mom's Chaos. He got in a bit of trouble when he got caught by his uncles on top of the chaos. He was greatly disheartened with the argument that we would find it later. His argument in reply was, "But that is the only thing that makes me happy!"
His Uncle John had to laugh, but Auntie Rosie felt his pain with her own empathetic and somewhat cheeky reply that Dr. Pepper makes her happy.

SPLASH!!! My side of the story

For those who have read Hollies blog about camping last week, there is something that needs a little clarification. At the creek it is true that she told me the water wasn't deep enough for me to cannonball in and I knew it was shallow, but deep enough to splash her. What I didn't count on were the 2 rocks that I seemed to find with my right hand and left wrist. The one on the wrist cut me up a bit and they bled. The other was a mere flesh wound with scrapes but no blood.
What she leaves out is the gasp of losing her breath that I heard just before my head want partially underwater. That by itself was totally worth the little bit of blood.
And it is already mostly healed. I just need to pick off the last bits of scab and you probably wouldn't even notice.

Nieces & Nephews

We've made a few comments about the nieces and nephews that we have and there are quite a number of them. On Rosie's side we have 8 nephews (20 years down to 1 year ) and 4 nieces (18 years down to 3 years) (picture at right of Rosie's nieces and nephews taken at Chirstmas 2007 is missing the youngest nephew) and on John's side we have 7 nephews (15 years to 2 months) and 8 nieces (ranging from 12 years to 1 year).

Rosie's oldest nephew is now on a Mission in Greece and her oldest niece is starting university in September. Makes seem even older than we are, but we're as young as we feel. :)

We enjoy time with them and get to see a small number from John's side every Sunday.

We took the long way around to what actually prompted this blog. Last Saturday we had the opportunity to watch Hollie's (John's Sister) kids and had a good time. When they first showed up Aiden wanted to fly our kite and went out back but there was no wind. Grayson and John went to feed the neighbours dog and half way back home one of Arizona's famous Monsoons started to kick up. That means we have wind now. When they got back home it was now kite time. We all went to the back yard to fly the kite. Oh what an experience. Brings to mind the saying, "What a tangled web we weave..." (or something like that) and John said mentioned that it reminded him of what his dad went through years ago during kite flying and fishing expeditions.

We ended up in a nice mess of strings wrapped around around our ankles. To be honest, it probably wouldn't have been so bad with just the kids, but buddy thought he had to get into the act. Remember the previous blog about him? Anything that flys he has to chase and jump at and the kite was no different so everytime it started to get within reach he would jump up and try to grab the long kite tail. Once or twice he was even successful and with the kite on the ground it was his.

We took some pictures after John was able to get loose.

We're starting to get a little better about taking pictures now and need to get a camera so we're not just taking pictures with our phones.

Wearing her down!

We're getting ready to go camping and in preparation we made a trip to Bass Pro Shop. I think Rosie thoroughly enjoyed it.

Donald & Harold,
We're wearing her down. Before you know it we'll have her out there hunting with us!

Okay, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but she did enjoy it and even tried some alligator.
See the pictures for yourself and tell me if she enjoyed it or not...

Rosie is looking forward to our first camping trip together.

Our Back Garden

John has been working on our back garden for a while now and forever will probably be a work in progress, but we enjoy it the way it is for the time being. We're sure that our plans for its use will change as our circumstances do (i.e. children come into our lives).

BUDDY!

It dawned on John and I today that I referenced "Buddy" in my post yesterday and haven't properly introduced our other family member yet. So this is our story about Buddy.


He's an English Spaniel and we love having him in our home. He's a very intelligent and gentle dog. We got him from John's brother Todd and he was named by our niece (Todd's daughter) whom I used to babysit when she was really little. I always called her my buddy and she decided that this dog wsa going to be her "Buddy." Hence the name. Before we got him Todd taught him almost by accident to get the paper for him and he still does that today on the occasions when John let's him out front to pick it up.I call him our ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) Dog because he loses focus on what he supposed to be doing when playing fetch if moth's, butterflies, or other flying things pop up from the lawn.


John's sister Kendra (Guerrero_Family) came over to our house and took pictures for us yesterday and we will be sharing backyard photos in the near future. John loves working in our garden (here you call them yards, and in England we call them gardens). John is pretty passionate about making our back garden a place where we can have fruit and vegetables year round and beautiful. It's a work in progress and probably always will be for him.

10 Things I love about John

He is the love of my life! I can't believe it's been 5 years! Everyday, I am amazed at how blessed I am to have you as my best friend and eterenal companion. You are more than I ever imagined.

1. You are a hard worker
2. I love your laugh, it is so contagious
3. You take care of our garden (yard) and it always looks so beautiful
4. You treat me like a Queen
5. You are spiritual and sensitive to things
6. You support me ini all things that are important to me
7. I love your smile
8. You are so incredibly handsome
9. You are Top Chef
10. You open my door for me all the time
11. You tell me you love me everyday
12. You are a good sport when we do things I want to do
13. You love my family
14. I want to grow old with you
15. You treat me with respect and kindness
16. You forgive me
17. You overlook my faults
18. You have a testimony of the gospel and you share it
19. Your always buy me the mmost beautiful Roses
20. I love working with you on our home
21. I love that when I hear the garage door open, I know that you are home...it makes me smile! (and Buddy likes it too!)
22. You are my knight in shining armor
23. Your hugs
24. Your kisses
25. You are kind
26. You are Brave
27. You are a Smart Cookie
28. We strenghten each other
29. I feel safe when I am with you!
30. I love your sense of humor!
31. Your love of sports/games
32. You are so talented
33. You value my opinions
34. You love me more that I have thought someone could
35. I love how ambitious you are...
36. I love you personality
37. You are sexy!
38. You make my heart beat faster!
39. You are perfect for me!
40. I lvoe watching you play with our nieces and nephews (and friends kids)
41. Everything you need to know as a father is already in your heart
42. I Admireand Believe in you.
43. You call me in the middle of the day just to tell me you love me
44. You are my man
45. You are my travel companion
46. You are my "Hero"
47. I love how you "remember" our moments together
48. I love your beautiful blue eyes
49. I love listening to you talk about things you are passionate about
50. I love how you always make my Christmas Special
51. I love our Date nights/Quality Times
52. You make me laugh
53. I am grateful that you hold the priesthood and you can give blessing. You are the rock in our home
54. You make good smoothies
55. You want to serve a mission with me someday
56. I love playing the Wii with you
57. We are partners in everything
58. I love going to the temple with you
59. You are a "wonderful" husband
60. You are my "Thinker"

Okay, I went a few over 10.

1. I'm still learning about you!

A "brit" more about my Rosie

Rosie is originally from England and is asked about it everywhere we go. The funniest time ever was when we were out shopping in Chandler and the shop owner asked her, "Where are you from?" Without hesitation Rosie answerred, "Queen Creek." I was a short distance away when this all happened and had to walk away further so I could laugh out loud. I love her sense of humor (or is it humour, babe?)

Rosie is 5'10" and we won't go into weight (we all know about women and their weight), but suffice it to say she is on the slender side. I tease her that if she gets big I'll trade her in. While she isn't as big a game fanatic as I am she does enjoy playing Mexican Train, Sequence, and a few others. She enjoys fashion and designing homes which I might add she does very well considering our home was built prior to our marriage and it had a Bachelor pad feel becuase of it.

She likes to travel and has been through much of Europe. She served a church mission in the England London Mission and bless her she made it through the trials of her greenie area where she was less than an hour from home.

She enjoys time with family and friends and really enjoys beign an Auntie. She likes walking and hiking.

She feels that the opportunity to be a mother is the most important role she could play and looks forward to the day when she spends time at home with children. An attribute that she can certainly thank her mother for. While she can only occasionally get me to do dance with her it is something she enjoys doing as shown in the picture of her dancing on her fathers feet.

Home & Neighborhood Section from our Adoption Paperwork

The Biggs’s live in an attractive single-level home on a half acre lot in a custom home community in the town of Queen Creek. The home has approximately 2500 square feet of living space, with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a kitchen, laundry, family, and living rooms. The yard is encompassed with a block fence and the grass is well landscaped with above ground gardening areas and an abundance of fruit and shade trees . The sole occupants of the home are the Biggs’s and they have live in the residence since May 2004.

The home is conveniently located to all types of facilities such as shops, libraries and, the developing downtown area. The elementary school is approximately 1 mile away and the high school is a short 4 mile drive. Queen Creek is a fast growing community with a medium park within ½ mile of their home and another large park planned just ¼ mile away which will feature a man-made fishing creek, horse trails and other amenities. There is also a dog park planned within 1 mile of the Biggs Family residence. The town Equestrian Park is within 3 miles of their home. Their church is within walking distance of their home.

Rosie & John: The Beginning

As with many couples other people wonder how people came together. People seem to be even more curious about us due to the fact that Rosie is from England and I'm American. How does an Arizona boy come to get so lucky to meet a Classy woman from England?
Here is our tale in a nutshell as taken from our adoption paperwork:

John and Rosie state they first met on a blind date that was set up by their sisters who were friends. Their first date was on November 5, 2003 one day before Rosie was scheduled to return home to England. They had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant and then played miniature golf at Golfland, and stopped at Bahama Buck’s for shaved ice. It was only later that John found out that Rosie wasn’t terribly fond of Mexican food or shaved ice. Regardless of the poorly planned date, it was later revealed that John passed Rosie’s “test” when he mostly willingly held Rosie’s purse while she putted.
The next day John got a call from Rosie’s sister asking if he was interested in another date. Rosie had decided to extend her stay in Arizona and they went on another date that night and nearly every night for the next few weeks until Thanksgiving Day when John took Rosie to the airport for her return home.
They talked almost daily for 2 months. It probably would have been cheaper for John to have just bought a ticket for a flight to England, but John felt Rosie was well worth it. During this time it was decided that Rosie would make another trip in February to Arizona and they saw each other daily for 2 weeks. During that time, John determined that Rosie was the one and called her father to request permission to marry Rosie which he granted based on the information he had from Rosie and her sister as well as the fact that he was a temple worthy priesthood holder. John asked Rosie to marry him the day before Valentines Day on the grounds of the Mesa Temple. Rosie accepted and together they found a ring. Rosie returned home a few days after the proposal and wedding plans began.
John made a trip to England in March during Spring Break to meet Rosie’s family and Rosie gave John a 1-day tour of London when she picked him up from the airport and the following day they both travelled by bus to Birmingham where her family lived.
Rosie made, what turned out to be her last visit to Arizona in May. While making this visit John and Rosie decided to be married later that Month when it was determined that John’s dad would not be able to travel due to health issues and her family made travel arrangements.They were married on May 29, 2004 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona!

And they started working on their happily ever after, which leads us into "the adoption option".

Smoking Hot Mama!

I wanted to share one of my favorite pictures of us. I guess partially because it was used with our wedding invitation, but mostly because I think Rosie looked smoking HOT. :)

I love Rosie!!

I tell Rosie that I love her as often as possible and can only hope that I show it as well. In May we celebrated our 5th Anniversary with a night out at Brio, a restaurant that Rosie and I enjoy on special occasions mostly because of the wonderful desserts, and then a lovely trip to the ER because Mom was running a fever after her surgery (Rosie's idea to go to the ER when we got the call). She is a wonderfully caring woman that I hope and pray will have an opportunity to be a mother someday soon. Mostly for the reason that, of any woman I know, she was born a natural to be a mother and I'm not the only person that knows it (Hollies_Blog 5/16/09 I couldn't say it better).

I LOVE YOU, ROSIE!

Rosie & John Biggs in England for Valentines Day

We recently (Feb. '09) made a trip back to Englad to visit Rosie's family on a whim when Rosie found a great deal for us to fly over on British Airlines. The trip was awesome and we got to spend quite a bit of time with family. On Valentines Day we were in London and I was able to buy a rose for Rosie while we walked through Covent Garden. We look forward to many more Blogs in the future.

We also walked to St. Pauls Cathedral while we were there and it snowed on and off for about 10 minutes while we were there. Probably not a huge deal to Rosie, but it was for an Arizona boy who doesn't see it all that often. If I ever get around to getting the video off our camera I will post some video. I think it made Rosie more homesick than actually being with family. Haha.

Oh, one more thing. We also got to have dinner at a nice carvery while in the Midlands and just so my family understands why Dad used to give Rosie a hard time about Yorkshire Puddings, this is what they should look like.