On the Countdown to School!

I now wake up at 5am every. single. day. Kill me. But, really, ugh! It's pretty much the worst. Honestly, I love it though. Only for the fact that I don't get to waste the day away and I get to see part of the sunrise, and that's just beautiful.

Aurora is (mostly) all smiles in the morning and Dan and I have gotten into a good routine of helping each other get out the door on time.

Right now we only have one car, so this has pretty much been our schedule:

Drive 20 miles to drop Dan off at work by 6:30am.

Kill some time driving super slow and creepy-like on the streets of Parker so I don't take Aurora to the babysitter too early.

Drive back 10 miles to drop off Aurora at the babysitter (whom she is absolutely loving--basically, Esther is the best... and Desiree, who fills in when Esther can't) by 7:00am.

Then drive back 10 miles into town to do meetings at the high school for new teacher orientation by 7:30am.

THEN Dan and I are off at different times, so I leave the car with him in town, and I catch a ride with my cool new co-worker, Katie (who reminds me of my most wonderful cousin, Melissa--yeah, Melissa, I know you're probably reading this so I'll tell you all about why later!), for the 20 mile drive back out to my school for meetings there.

Later, Dan picks up Aurora on the way back home, and then we ALL work on getting my classroom ready until late and we go home for a late dinner and an early bedtime, so we can do it all again the next day!

Phew! Just typing that made me tired... Oh, wait, maybe I'm tired because I'm up past my new bedtime of 10:00pm... Yeeeaaaahhhh...

Anyway, that's been our crazy schedule for the last week and next week, we bump it up to needing to LEAVE the house by, at the latest, 5:30am, so Dan can be to work by 6:00am to drive the school bus.

Speaking of Dan, I'm going to brag on him for a minute. He hates it when I do, but I don't care! The man deserves some recognition, because he's just freaking awesome!

Dan took his final driving test to get his CDL (commercial driver's license), and he crushed it! For real! He got 100% and he's the only one the instructor has seen! So, pretty much, if you want safe kids, have them ride Dan's bus! I'm super proud of him!

He got his bus route and he'll be driving one of the three routes for my school, so that's exciting! He'll get to know my "kiddos!"

haha so I had to say "kiddos", because I've recently observed that that is the word here. I don't know if that is an Arizona thing, or a Parker thing, or I've just never noticed many people referring to our students as "kiddos", but they ALL do it here! haha So if I start calling my students, my "kiddos"... yeah, you all know where that came from...

Anyway, back to Dan... the other day, I finished with meetings at my school and I text Dan on the way back to my classroom asking if he'd be able to bring Aurora and come to the school to help me with my room. When I reached my classroom, he was already in there, and he had managed to get ALL my student desks cleaned (they had permanent marker on them)! 

Today, he helped me put up a "Blast Off To Reading!" bulletin board design in my room and it looks fantastic! I'll have to post a picture later of that so you all can see his great work! AND he wrote down the title and the author for every. single. chapter book I have in my classroom library, and that's a lot of books! (THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE BOOKS, MOM!)

Aurora has been SO patient and flexible with my crazy, new teacher schedule!

AHHH! Her and Dan win the prize for Best Family! I mean it! You have no idea how much I love them!

You guys, school starts here on M-O-N-D-A-Y. MONDAY! That is in 4 days!! Oh. My. Heck! 

I'm so excited and nervous and overwhelmed and enthused and just a whole bunch of emotion right now! 

Seriously though, this is what I am supposed to be doing. This school year is going to be crazy and busy and a learning experience, but I think it will go so well! I already love teaching!

Happiest Moments

Today I'm definitely feeling the love for my husband, Dan.

We were watching t.v. together tonight and some guy was walking along side his wife and said, "That was the happiest moment of my life!" about some time when he accomplished some thing (yada yada) and Dan said, "Well, obviously the wedding wasn't that great!" haha

So that got us talking about what our "happiest moments" in life were...

We both said we had a tie with two moments; our wedding day and the day we became parents. But Dan said that days didn't count; it had to be a specific moment. And for the next hour or so after that, we were able to relive our wedding day and the day Aurora was born, as we discussed some our "happiest moments" on those days.

It was perfect.

I look back on all we've been through in these short 4.5 years of marriage, and, wow, we've really had it good! I mean, like everyone, we've had our share of hard times, but I'm more in love with Dan now, than I was then, AND we now have the sweetest little girl in our lives to add to our love.

There are so many moments each day, that make me happy I married my Dan, but over the last couple days here are some reasons:

♥He has been absolutely instrumental in getting my classroom ready for the school year! Honestly, I would NOT be ready for students to be in my classroom without him!

♥We found a new show to watch called Impractical Jokers and it was so fun and relaxing to just die laughing, like really laughing, over the stupid things they do on that show. If you've never seen the show, you'll have to watch it... Dan and his friends/brothers could do the show... But really, I love laughing with Dan!

♥He is always willing to serve someone and he's so friendly. It's been great to get to know all our new neighbors, ward members, and co-workers because Dan has a way of making everyone feel like they've been good friends with him for years. He has jumped right in when anyone is in need, no matter how long he's known them and I'm so impressed.

Yeah, so there's my mushy post for the day... Don't worry... I won't make this the only blog post for the week haha

Wednesday Is My Day Off

Wednesdays are my day off... usually. And today, I had the day off... because it's Wednesday. SO I had big plans for my Wednesday, to have fun hanging out with my little cutie, Aurora all day since it was just going to be us.

But then we both slept in and I thought I'd have to babysit my friends' little girl after school and things just weren't working out.

So I was bummed. And Dan's out of town, helping his dad, Steve, with his courier business since he's sick from starting chemotherapy and having a bad cold on top of that. Ugh!

I was just feeling stuck in the house and down.

Around 3:15pm, I was packing Aurora into her car seat to go pick up our little friend from school, when her mom called to say that she ended up getting off work early and I didn't need to babysit today! Woo! Not that I don't love our little friend, but I had "big plans" to do something today, remember?

So I kept Aurora in her seat and we headed out the door with $21 in hand and a plan to find toddler shoes for my walking babe. OH MY GOSH! I forgot to tell you guys! WE HAVE A WALKING GIRL ON OUR HANDS!

Anyway, I needed to stretch that small wad of cash in my wallet as far as possible because I also needed diapers... hmmm... yeah.

For you moms who buy diapers, you know that this was basically not going to happen. Diapers are freaking expensive.

Lucky for us, I remembered seeing an ad on Facebook about a diaper sale happening at a store here in St. George called Traders Discount Markets, so before we left the house, I called them to see if they had some in stock... They did!

Oh! And I also called the Iron County School District to have them activate my application for some open elementary teaching positions! Eeek!

But then, we were on our way!

You guys.

Traders had diapers on sale for pretty much HALF OFF the regular price for the EXACT brand we buy!
I wanted to jump up and down for joy! I didn't.
And I wanted to buy all the diapers on the rack! I didn't do that either... only $21, remember?
So I left there spending only $15 for 138 diapers! That is a steal!

People, that was step 1 to turning my day around.

Step 2 happened after searching Walmart and Target for semi-cheap toddler shoes, to no avail, and ending up at the D.I. (All Target brought us was a fun little jam session with the Beats by Dre headphones haha)

I tried a few pairs of shoes on Aurora at the D.I., had her walk around in them (that was adorable), we chose two pairs, and then we paid for them! Guess how much?

$6!

I spent EXACTLY what I left the house with. Oh, success, you make me happy.

Then we drove around for a bit, enjoying the beautiful scenery of St. George and the summer-like weather before stopping by Albertson's on the way home.

Just one question for ya, Cedar City... Why the heck did you get rid of our Albertson's?! That store has everything! haha I love it!

I left with comfort food (guacamole, chips, a mango, fruit leather, and mini ice cream cartons) and pictures of my cute shopping buddy, so that went well.

When we got home, I watched a small portion of Lilo & Stitch with Aurora before putting her to bed. I am so lucky to be her mom! She is the sweetest thing!

Oh! And I got to talk to one of my best friends, Natalie Wade, tonight on the phone and she let me know that she will be coming to visit St. George in two weeks! I was so happy! I miss her!

AND THEN right after that, I checked Instagram to see that I had WON A CONTEST!!! It wasn't anything huge, but I never win! Never! I was so excited! You all have no idea!

I won a cute little stuffed bunny for Aurora from Apple Park Kids!

And then my cute hubby text me to say he missed me. And my dad called. And my sister-in-law, Kaela, posted a picture for me on Facebook saying they missed me being there.

So even though I'm alone tonight, I don't feel lonely. And even though my day seemed doomed, it turned out pretty good.

Dan.

Last Tuesday, Dan and I got to have a date night while our friends played with our cute girl. One thing I really love about Dan is his ability to get me laughing... and I mean, really laughing! I swear, he says the funniest things in just the most hilarious ways and I die. Every. Time.

We went to see the new movie, The King's Men, and then Dan took me shopping for a few new things at Ross (He spoils me!). On the way home, we were chatting and then he spouted off some poem that just really kind of makes you think. I told him how impressed I was that he can memorize something that lengthy and deep! Seriously, he memorizes the craziest things! So he says, "Yeah, I have another one. Do you want to hear it?"

Still in awe at his abilities, I say yes, and he begins, "Roses are red, violets are blue..." and THEN, "When I go to the bathroom, it smells like poo!"

I was so caught off guard, after expecting some literary masterpiece, that I busted up laughing... and then I couldn't stop! haha Dan thought it was hilarious that I was so cracked up by his "middle school joke", as he put it, that we both just sat in the car, laughing ourselves to tears.

Lately, it seems that with Dan's new job and these graveyard shifts, we are on opposite schedules! He's working when I'm sleeping, and he's sleeping when I'm working. It's hard. But Dan always makes time for me. AND for Aurora.

She's become quite the daddy's girl lately and, of course, Dan is loving it... and so am I! It is the sweetest thing to see the love she has for him!

Everyday, I am grateful to have Dan as my partner in all things. My parents always told us that actions speak louder than words, and Dan's actions practically shout his love for me and for Aurora. I know I say it all the time, but I am so blessed to have him in my life.

Oh, and P.S. You remember those 70° days we had last week? Those have been replaced with beautiful snow and 40° weather this week! Welcome back, winter!

Double Post?

Ok, I know what you are thinking! But I promise, this is not my second post of the day... not technically, anyway!

You see, I'm what you'd consider kind of a night owl. Especially when Dan is off working graveyard shifts. I just can't, for the life of me, go to sleep at a decent time. Tonight though, I'm going to try!

Which is exactly why it is going to look like I'm posting twice in one day, but really, I posted once last night (around 2am) and once right now (at 10:30pm) and I live by the phrase that "It's not the next day until I go to sleep!" haha

And besides, I'm trying REALLY hard to keep up on the whole blogging front because I know how much you all hate love having to read my catch-up posts. So I gotta post! I gotta!

Today was a semi-lazy Saturday. I say 'semi-lazy' because while I did get a few things accomplished, I still didn't do all I probably should have.

Highlights included:

♥ Day #2 of my Jamberry Nails trial.
I'll admit... I wasn't that impressed on day #1, but they are much better the second day... kind of like soup! And now that I can see my regular nail polish start to chip while the Jams are holding strong... Love 'em!!

♥ Waking up to my hubby getting home from work and a text from my sister, Becca, announcing the arrival of their new little man, Lucas Knight Riddle!
Don't feel bad if you didn't even know she was in labor... neither did her own family! haha I was a little sad that I had no idea until the little guy made his appearance, but I'm glad mom and baby are doing ok and that my brother-in-law, Alex is taking good care of them. That's about all the information I have to share other than his stats: He came a week before due date (even though Steph and I teased she'd be a week late, like us) and weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 9 oz.! Welcome to the world, little Lucas! Isn't he beautiful?

♥ My sister-in-law, Laura, was awesome and came to sit with Aurora while she napped, so that I could go with Dan to work for the interior design lady again.
If you missed the last post, he helps her move furniture and decor for model homes in St. George. Today was a short day, but I got to look at one of the homes he helped with and OH. MY. HECK. I want to move in like yesterday! I told Dan that one day, one day, I'll decorate the inside of our home like that. It was beautiful. Both homes we had to run by were in spectacular areas of town; Entrada and The Ledges of St. George. And the sun setting on the cloudy skies was the cherry on top of a wonderful time with Dan. I mean, look at those clouds!

Oh, and p.s. Laura and Cody are pregnant!! They will have their baby sometime in August! It is the year of the new nieces and nephews, apparently!

♥ Seeing Aurora's face light up at seeing her dad and then watching her try to eat the peel off the orange was great too. I just really love my daughter, ok!? Could she get any cuter??

A Little Less Distraction

A little bit ago while I was perusing Instagram, I came upon a friend's post... a picture of her with her young boys and her thoughts below that. The post read:

"I've been feeling really sappy about these two lately... So please excuse me while I indulge in some good ol momma sappiness. They are just my whole world and I wouldn't have it any other way. Last week I decided I needed to make some changes. I decided I was distracted by a lot of things and not able to keep my focus on what matters. One of those distractions being my phone! Yes, this social media thing... Sometimes it just sucks you in! So, alongside a couple of friends I challenged myself to only check social media when the boys are sleeping. It's been way too hard. Kind of embarrassing how hard. But probably one of the best decisions I've made in a while. I feel so much more present and feel like my head is so much more clear. Anyone else need to take this challenge?"

I 'liked' the picture and went on my way, but that thought has not gone out of my head since! I too, have been distracted, as she said, with my phone! Especially since we got new phones and I've been busy trying to get the new phone set up to my liking.

But every time I pick up my phone and Aurora is in the room, I almost cringe. I then try to justify my reasoning for picking it up by saying I'm doing it to document the moment, but as I look back at time spent on my phone, I realized I wasn't being honest about that. Half the time I'm on Facebook and that's AFTER I've already checked the stupid thing WAY more times than a person needs to in a day.

So today, after almost two weeks since my Instagram friend posted what she did, I decided to use my phone a little less and play with my Aurora a little more.
And it was beautiful.

We read.
We laughed.
We sang.
We played.
We lived.

And we did it all together.

I even pulled out my "real" (non-phone) camera and took some shots of my little reading on the big comfy red chair in our living room.

Of course, this doesn't mean I'm perfect with it.
It doesn't mean I've stopped pulling my phone out at all.
And it doesn't mean that I don't pull it out to capture a quick picture of Aurora doing something I think is wonderful, when I don't have time to go grab my normal camera.

BUT I have decided to use it less. I don't instantly whip it out every time I hear that notification from Facebook ding and I don't try to use any lull in action to mindlessly stare at the screen.

It's my work in progress and a daily goal!

And speaking of having less distractions and more face-to-face time with loved ones... tonight, my sister-in-law, Laura, watched Aurora for us so I could take some much needed time with Dan alone before he had to work the graveyard shift again tonight!
Oh it was wonderful!
Our intentions were to do some moving work for a woman in St. George who does interior design for model homes, but that plan fell through and we ended up doing a dinner date instead!

Dan took me to a Mexican restaurant on Bluff Street called El Coyote Charro. We talked, we laughed, and we ate yummy food! I loved every minute of it!

Sometimes disconnecting from our distractions is all it takes to make some real connections that we will cherish forever!

Sick of Sharing

Remember a while back, like a month ago, I told you all that Dan had quit his job and was on the look out for a new one? And I'd mentioned I'd started babysitting? 

Well, If not, there ya go. You've officially been reminded. And just stay tuned, because I'm going to give you all the dirty details of our lives, as follows. Just keep those above reminders... in mind.

So far, we are going on weekend #2 of Dan's new job, PLUS the end of week #1 for Aurora and me being sick. Luckily, I'm starting to recover and so is she... only after a very scary visit to the ER in the middle of the night. More on that later.

And we're back to Dan's new job... Dan got hired on at Eagle Ranch Academy! Yay! 

It's a youth home that he's on staff to monitor at nights. 

Like all night. 

On the weekends. 

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. 

All night. 

8:00pm to 8:00am. 

Am I a fan of the schedule? No. 

Am I proud of him for getting the job? Yes! 

Am I grateful for all his hard work and that he has the job? You better believe it!

But on nights like tonight, where I haven't seen him all day because of opposite sleep schedules and combined work schedules, we go back to me not being a fan of the hours. 

Everyone always posts those articles that go on and on telling you how much better you sleep alone, and well, all I really have to say to about those articles is, "What a load of bull hockey!" I'll take nights sleeping with my bed-mate over nights alone, anytime!

On the bright side, with Dan gone, that meant that Aurora and I got to have a little mother-daughter date night. Granted, my date did fall asleep in the car on the way to get ice cream, but we had a killer time eating it (after I woke her up) and snuggling to Tangled (Aurora's current go-to film) for the 30th time today. 

And although she thoroughly hated having her picture taken for date night, I'm just over the moon that she's feeling better! Sunday night was, literally, the worst night.

I contracted whatever it was that our little cutie gal I babysit had last week and was sick with low-grade fevers, headaches, cough, and runny nose for the greater part of the week. So on Saturday, when Aurora started to get sick, I just assumed she had the same thing and tried to work with it accordingly. 

Sunday, she had a fever of 101-102 F the whole day with medicine, and Sunday night when she hit 103.5 F and rising, I quickly took her into the emergency room. Dan was in Cedar City for the Superbowl, so I called him and he rushed back to be with us at the hospital, and I was so relieved! I was so scared, as I sat in the ER cradling my lethargic baby and they clocked her in at just above 104 F. Her breathing was rapid and she was SO hot.

I kept praying that they'd figure out what the problem was and they'd get her temperature back down quickly and that Dan would get there soon. And all those prayers were answered as the hospital staff went straight to work and the doctor saw us quickly and my Dan got there in record time.

Thankfully, they located the problem and figured that what may have started as whatever I had, escalated to deep chest congestion and a double ear infection. They started her on antibiotics and ibuprofen and her temperature slowly creeped back down.

So after being out sick and doing no babysitting for a week, we started back up today because we're both feeling better. And the new favorite toy for the day was the laundry basket. We had a good time!

But, oh, the downside of babysitting. 

The sick sharing. And yes, we're sick of sharing. haha 

*Cue the emotional mother post*

It's 2:12am and I just laid our sweet little babe back in her crib. The last few nights, around this same time, she's woken up crying. I'll go in her room and pick her up, hold her in my arms and snuggle her close. She lays her pretty little head on my shoulder or rests it on my head, cheek to cheek. And as tired as it makes me to have to get up multiple times every night when I already have a hard time going to sleep before 1:00am, I can't help but love those moments.

Tonight, she let me hold her like I did when she was a newborn, cradled in my arms and looking straight at me. In the dark, I could see her eyes open wide, just watching me. I hummed a bit and swayed back and forth... and then I cried as I realized that at this time one year ago, I was in the hospital with Dan awaiting the arrival of our beautiful daughter.

I'd gone in to be induced at midnight, one week past my due date, and we were just ready to have our little girl here. We sat in the dark hospital room listening to her heartbeat on the monitors and dreamt of what it would be like to finally have her here and what she would look like.

Seven hours later, we were in the operating room and Dan was holding my hand while the doctor delivered our baby by cesarean section. Then they brought her up so I could see her. She was better than either of us could ever have dreamt about. And Dan and I looked at each other and just smiled. We couldn't stop smiling because that tiny little lady had just made us parents and we already loved her more than we ever thought we could.

And now it's a year later! A whole year! And that tiny baby has grown into the most amazing little girl. She brings so much sunshine to our home each day.

She has a cute little laugh and we love the way she scrunches her nose to do a big cheesy grin for all those around her.

She crawls like lightening and will stand up by herself if she's distracted, but we can't quite get her to walk yet. And, secretly, that's ok with me...

She dances to just about any song that comes on and, oh, we love to watch her dance.

She can say "Hi, dad" and "mama" and has the sweetest voice you've ever heard. Jabbering all day long and singing too.

She has three, almost four, teeth.

She loves to snuggle her baby doll and all her stuffed animals.

She's so smart and already knows just how to do things like a little independent lady.

She loves to read and even knows how the pages are supposed to be turned.

Everyone who knows her falls in love with her inward and outward beauty... especially her mom and dad. She has us wrapped around her little finger! And we love every minute of it.

This year has been absolutely wonderful. Aurora has made our lives infinitely better.
We don't know how we ever lived without her!

Happy 1st birthday to our little princess! We love you!

Choices

Today, I'm thankful for promptings. That being said, I wish I followed them all the time. haha

I just need to learn that when I do, good things happen. Always.

Prompting #1: (the one I did follow!)

Wednesday night, Collette and her boyfriend, Kurtis, came down to St. George and Dan and I met them over at the temple to do some sealings for family names that my Grandpa found.
It was wonderful!

When we were leaving the temple, I had a prompting to put some names on the prayer role so they could be prayed for by many members of the church in the temple.
I had no idea why I needed to write their names down but did anyway.

The very next day, I was reminded why as it was the anniversary of the death of their young son. Obviously, they were being watched over and the Lord knew they needed that extra strength that day.

I'm SO glad I followed that prompting!

Prompting #2: (the one I didn't follow and now regret..)

Last night, Dan called me from work and said that his brothers had invited him to Cedar to do a "guy's night" for his birthday next week since they wouldn't see him. He asked if I'd like to come so I could visit his family and mine.

I had been feeling so exhausted all day and was still in my pajamas when he called (at 5pm...haha) and Aurora was being tired and grumpy and I just wasn't feeling up to it
SO
I told him he could just go up alone since it'd just be for a few hours that night and then he was coming back to St. George to work on a truck with our friend, Shaun, all day today.

He said that would be fine, so we hung up and I packed him a bag so he could come home, grab it, and be on his way.

While I was packing, I had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to just quit being lazy and go with him! I debated it and even got out a suitcase to pack Aurora and myself some things we'd need.
But then I talked myself out of it again and then Aurora started crying and that sealed the deal.
I wasn't going.

When Dan got home to get his stuff, I started crying and said that I just felt like I needed to go and didn't know why, but that I just really needed to stay home. He asked if he needed to stay with me and told me it was my decision.
I still decided to stay home but prayed that everything would be alright since I was feeling so weird.

Well, I soon found out why I should've gone.
My night was horrible. Horrible and boring.

Aurora was sleeping,
I was alone,
my house was messy and stinky,
my "relaxing" bath was cold,
I couldn't fall asleep until around 3am,
everything on tv was a re-run,
and I had no brain energy to read my book I'd planned on reading.

The only good thing was that I created a blog for my sister's mission! (check it out ----> HERE)

THEN this morning, I asked Dan when he was coming back and come to find out, Shaun is sick so Dan doesn't need to be back to work on the truck AND it's one of his rare days off...
SO if I'd have gone with him, we could've spent the day in Cedar visiting some family AND his parents would've taken us out to dinner for Dan's birthday.

CURSES!

And, just my luck... I'm feeling completely great today.

So, although it wasn't anything life changing that I was being prompted to do, not following it has caused me to really miss out.

I miss my hubby.

Guess I'll clean my stinky, messy house now.

Library Tuesdays

There is basically no better feeling than having a new library card in your wallet.

Well, ok... actually, I can name a few things that feel better.

But, honestly, having a new library card is a small ray of sunshine that brightens the day.

Last week, I took Aurora over to the St. George branch of the library over by the Tabernacle and I left with a new library card, 7 books and 3 movies for Aurora, plus 2 books for me! Win! Win!

Aurora is loving reading the library books with us. She will sit still on anyone's lap and just listen to you read for a good while. It is so fun! 

And then last night... at 11:55pm... I decided to finish reading one of my books.

Oh. My. Heck. Books are my weakness, I tell you!

But it was well worth it to finish, because it was a really good book! AND it was right up the alley with the shows that seem to be coming on National Geographic lately about people living in the forest "wilds".

The book was called Alabama Moon by Watt Key.

Summary:

For as long as ten-year-old Moon can remember, he has lived in the forest in a shelter with his father. When his father dies, Moon follows his dad's last instructions-to find others like himself.

The book had me laughing and crying. I couldn't put it down. Go read it!

Baby Food

When your baby no longer wants a bottle for her main source of food anymore, that can be an exciting thing! It's fun to feed them "real" foods and it's even more fun to see their reactions!

BUT things really start to get interesting when they add crawling/walking into the mix!

Here's where both become REALLY fun:

1) When it doesn't matter what you give them to eat because... if you are eating, then your food automatically becomes 10X better than anything they have (even if it is the exact same thing)

2) When you feeding them anything by spoon quickly becomes boring, and a meal you once thought of as mess-free, becomes VERY messy (and cute... most of the time haha)

3) When they stuff their mouth FULL of whatever you feed them/have them feed themselves and then they begin crawling around. Next comes choking and a totally bewildered expression from the baby when they can't connect crawling and food with choking.

4) When they crawl to eat things off the floor... anything works for this, really... lint, gravel, wrappers, carpet pieces, crumbs from who-knows-what...

Oh, babies are silly.

And even though mine just got over having a small cry fit because she choked on avocado while crawling so I took it away...

I wouldn't trade my silly, cute baby for anything!

I love being a mom ♥ Every day is an adventure

On the Move

Last night, I left Aurora on the floor in my room while I ran across the hall to put some things away in her room. I hear a noise, so I look to the doorway and who do I see? That cute little baby! She was peeking around the door frame, smiling at me with this huge grin that said, "Look at what I can do now, Mom!" I couldn't help but just sit there and laugh at how extremely cute she is! haha I walked to a few different rooms after that just to see if she'd follow. It took a few minutes, but everytime I turned around, there she was, coming through the door crawling  after me.

I definitely had a proud mom moment. AND then an emotional mom moment. I cannot believe that my baby is growing up so fast!

New Adventures

Two months. TOO long!

In that time... 

♥ Dan got offered a new job as the general manager of The Port of Subs in St. George and he accepted! 

♥ He started training for the job in St. George in the middle of July and over the few weeks that followed, he did more training in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, as well. 

♥ By August 11th, Dan was done training and we had officially moved our little family to a new apartment in St. George, Utah! 

Since then, we have been loving life as St. Georgians... and for a girl who has never lived anywhere but Cedar City, that is a BIG deal! 

In other news, Dan and I bought life insurance AND Dan started selling life insurance for Primerica on the side of being the GM at the Port of Subs. We loved that the company was all about helping families get where they wanted to be financially. It's helped us, so far, and we've been able to meet lots of other couples through that.

Also, I'm working now, too... two days a week at Port of Subs! haha It's been fun and I get to work with my cute hubby... as my boss! I was nervous about starting work because of finding a sitter for Aurora in a new town, but we have had such luck with finding AWESOME friends here. 

Our great friends, Shaun and Kara Cox live in St. George, and they recently gained a cute little six year old foster daughter. Kara works two days a week also, so we worked out a babysitting swap thing for the days either of us work. That has been a life saver! 

Our other friends, Mike and Bobbi Nessen (who we met through Shaun and Kara) have been life savers on the babysitting front, as well as in many other instances... always willing to help us out when we need it; no matter what it is! We are blessed to have met them. 

And my friends from Cedar, Aimee Sanders and Marissa Wade live in St. George, also, and have been willing to take Aurora if needed. 

Plus, Dan's Grandma and Grandpa Rigby live practically down the street from us and are always so good to us in any way we may need them.

We have truly been blessed and felt the love of friends who have become like family and grandparents who we have grown closer to as we have lived here. 

Also, our ward is basically awesome! We have loved going to church and felt extremely welcomed! 

(Sorry, I think I have rambled a bit... haha)

BUT the last bit of news is BY FAR the most exciting!

WE NOW HAVE A CRAWLING BABY ON OUR HANDS WHO WILL PULL HERSELF UP ONTO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!! 

Look out, world! We love it! ♥♥♥

Sweet Potatoes

I'm glad it's been such nice weather around here as of late! It's been wonderful to be able to go outside with our little family and have some fun.

This morning was the road bike race in Cedar and Dan volunteered/got volunteered to help Jeremy run the booth for Tropical Smoothie Cafe at the park for the event. So when all the kids got up, Kaela and I loaded them up in the strollers to walk to the Main Street Park to meet up with the boys.

We got there around 11am and ate lunch on the lawn as we listened to the announcer shout out the names of the cyclists coming in from their 100K bike rides! I was amazed that they could go that far so fast... AND riding basically all uphill through the canyon. It was great to witness. The top people were coming in at close to 3 hours time!

After a while, we were all getting kind of hot and decided to see if the splash pad at Festival Hall was on. It wasn't. So we walked toward home, after deciding we'd get the kiddie pool out when we got there.

When we arrived home, Dan left for work at Ernie's and Kaela found out the kiddie pool had a hole in it. BUT Aurora and Jack were already in their swimsuits sooooooo....

We went swimming in my bathtub instead!! haha

Aurora has learned to splash as of today so that was cute and fun and Jack entertained the two of us, ladies, with his made up song "I'm swimming! I'm swimming! Swimming swimming swimming! ..." and a great rendition of  the primary song, "Book of Mormon Stories". I had to set a timer for that boy to get out or else I think he'd still be in there! haha

Me: "Ok, Jack. I'm going to set the timer for 10 minutes and then when it goes off, you have to get out and go home."
Jack: "No, not 10 minutes!"
Me: "Ok, I'll set it for 15 minutes but that's it."
Jack: "NOOOOO!! Set it for 11 minutes!"
Haha well, alright. I set it for 11. That kid.

When Jack went home, Aurora took a short nap and then we went to visit Dan at work. Aurora loves seeing daddy at work! It's so cute.

The rest of the night, involved:
~ watching Harry Potter 1 & 2... again. Yup... those are my go-to films. Therefore, I can quote almost every line and I'm not even ashamed.
~ reorganizing all my kitchen cupboards and drawers. I'm sick of not being able to find anything.
~ and playing with Aurora on the floor/couch. She loves it when I dance bobbing my head side to side with my tongue out and sing made up random songs haha Who knew I was so entertaining and hilarious??
~ also, we tried some sweet potatoes tonight! She liked it pretty alright but she mostly just liked playing with the spoon!

Patriotic

One word that sums up our Independence Day festivities?

FUN.

And I must agree with everyone when I say that holidays are DEFINITELY more fun with kids!
I'm sure it'll only get more fun with each year.
There's just something about watching them experience everything for the first time that's so... magical.
I love it!

Plus, we got to dress her in TWO adorable outfits that just screamed "patriotism and extreme cuteness".

So, of course, I took the opportunity to photograph her for her sixth month pictures.
Which, I will not post today... BUT don't be sad! I'll post them in just five short days!
I can't believe our baby will be six months in five days! Gahh!
Seriously, she gets cuter every day.

Every. Single. Day.

I mean, hello.
She sits up on her own now and grins about every time anyone looks at her.
How cute is that??

Anyway...

Today Dan worked from 6am-2pm so Aurora and I walked over to the parade with Kaela + kids, her mom, her grandpa, and Cody.
Jeremy was in the parade for Quizno's passing out fliers and Collette, Erin, and Steph were all riding on the firetrucks with Collette's bf, Kurtis's family. It was fun to watch them!
AND Jack was adorable at the parade! That kid loved every minute of it!

This was Aurora's first parade so I took her out of her stroller and held her up where she could see everything.
At first, she was so enthralled with watching and listening to everything that was going on on the street, but halfway through, she was out like a light.
She snoozed right up until part way through the firetrucks and then woke up just in time to see her aunties wave at her from the truck!

Then she and I went down to the park to meet up with everyone and I ate a hamburger while she played on her blanket in our spot in the shade under the flagpole.
She was so fun! She played with toys and grinned up a storm in her cute little hat as we listened to the patriotic tunes and broadway music being sung on the stage.

My sisters met up with us after they grabbed some lunch and we wandered the park before saying hi to Dan's brothers and sisters again and heading home.

At 2pm Dan got home from work and we all took a very long MUCH needed nap before going over to Dan's mom and dad's house for a small barbeque.
Dan played with the goats and they climbed all over him. It was hilarious.

Then we ended the night, watching the city firework show out on 2300 West.

It has been a fantastic day!

Happy Fourth, everyone!!