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.

Kids These Days

Today I learned a couple of things; 1) Nose hairs act as "smell trappers" so that the smell of child throw up will NEVER leave your nostrils, no matter how much laundry you do or how many times you spray the floor with Lysol *kill me* and 2) I have road rage.

You see, the last few days around here have consisted of kids barfing, kids whining, kids in general, and lack of sleep. All of those combined = Count down to nap time/count down to bed time.

Confession: that makes me feel horrible. But some days, a girl just gets worn down!

One of the little gals I babysit has this perpetual cough and a sensitive gag reflex, which means exactly what you think it means...

Aurora is teething. Again. And the tale-tale signs of that are poo-splosions and projectile vomit.

Both situations cause me to feel completely helpless, because all I can do is rub their back and let it happen, and then try to keep them from stepping in it!
AND both situations make me want to scream from frustration, and pick them up, vomit and all, for a snuggle because I hate seeing them feel that way AT THE SAME TIME. Life as a mom is a struggle!

Then tonight, I drove to Wal-Mart to get some stuff for Aurora to eat (I'm starting the B.R.A.T. Diet to see if that helps), and this kind woman in front of me stops on a busy road to let people turn left so they didn't have to sit there forever waiting for a space to open up to turn. Yes, I say "kind" because, honestly, that's what she was being. BUTIWASJUSTWANTINGTOGETHOMEANDIWASSOTIRED! So I honked at the woman and pulled the most annoyed face that I could muster, then muttered to myself about how annoying that was that she'd hold up traffic like that, AND I held my hands in the air like "What the heck!?"

I then became "that" driver... (air quotes)... as I silently glared at her rear view mirror hoping she'd soon get the show on the road.

Looking back, I think that was a nice thing she did and I wasn't even in a hurry. I was just frustrated. I need to dial it back while driving..

But it is in moments like these or days like today this week, that I have to take a breath, take a power nap, and think of all the things I have to be grateful for. I think that in most stressful times in life, if you take a minute to be grateful for the little things, everything else doesn't seem quite as bad.

So here is what I have to be grateful for over the last few days:

♥ All major throw up incidents have happened on my kitchen floor and not on the carpet. Hallelujah!

♥ Nap-times and 8:00pm bed-times

Cute Abi taking a nap on the couch... Look at those lips, people!

♥ Date nights with my hubby... Whether that's been to the movies and shopping where he makes me laugh my butt off over a stupid joke, or a simple night in together after Aurora goes to bed, he makes me feel amazing!

♥ The sound of Aurora's wonderful laugh. Seriously, the best sound in the world. I love that girl.

♥ A visit from my mom and my sweet little niece, Grace! My mom is one of my best friends. I could talk to her for hours... and sometimes that's all you need.

♥ The beautiful weather we've been having and ward friends who invite us to go to play-dates at the park! It has been in the 70's this week and it's been amazing. Plus, I was able to meet a few new girl friends from my ward who are just the sweetest!

♥ And honestly, all these little people who I get to spend time with in my home as a babysitter/stay-at-home-mom. I'm grateful that their parents trust me to look after them as my own, I'm grateful to have the love of their children--I love them all, and I'm grateful that I get to stay home with my own little princess in the process! For that, I'd take the chaos any day!

Aurora and Abi (I watch Abi everyday)

One day, I even got to have 5 cute girls at once! Rilee (10 mon.) and Sophie (3 years) are my friend, Kjerstin's little girls and they were so fun! Then Shaun and Kara's sweet little foster girl comes over before and after school some days. She was basically like the cool older sister at age 6!

Beautiful day at the duck pond in the park by our house with Aurora and Abi

Our cute 3 year old neighbor, Max, comes over occasionally and tells us all sorts of fun stories haha

And on Thursday nights, while our friends, Allie and Brady go to a work meeting, we get their fun little Brilee!

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 

Activities

Today was day #2 of my spur of the moment decision to join one of my instagram buds in a 30 Day Get Fit Challenge. 

It. Has. Been. Rough.

haha Buuuut, I guess "getting fit" shouldn't be easy, right?

I will say, though, that trying to "get fit" when you have a fussy 4 month old who got shots today and you babysit your VERY active niece and nephew for a few hours is not the best plan. I basically felt like every move I made was going to make my legs fall off my body! Squats and lunges make your legs BURN the next day! Which, in turn, makes it hard to chase kids around and standing-bounce your sad little baby after her doctor's appointment. 

I'm hoping it gets better. haha

For my own record, I'm going to list out each day's challenge activities. If you'd like to join in, feel free!

Day #1:

30 jumping jacks

30 crunches

10 sit ups

1 minute wall sit

10 lunges, each leg

47 squats

10 push-ups

25 knee highs

30 butt kicks

Day #2: (BY FAR an easier workout than day one... go figure)

10 jumping jacks

10 deep lunges, each leg

45 squats

20 sit ups

15 crunches

2 mile speed walk (*I substituted with a 30 minute walk around my neighborhood pushing Aurora in the stroller)

In addition to getting my body fit, I've decided to do a little work on strengthening my testimony and knowledge of the gospel. I take 20 minutes a day to myself (usually when Aurora is napping and Dan is working) to study The Book of Mormon and utilize the Preach My Gospel manual and then I read a little bit about the teachings of the prophet, Joseph Smith, in the Teachings of Presidents of the Church book. How awesome it has been to be reminded of the principles of the restoration of the gospel on this earth and to learn things and see things that I may have overlooked in the past. I'm glad we have prophets on the earth today to lead us and guide us in what the Lord would have us do. It's definitely uplifting to be reminded of the basic things of the gospel.

In other news, my sweet Dan did a little clean up on the fallen trees outside our house today. He cut down two huge trees and then trimmed up a few others AND cleared the rest of the ones that fell in the way of the driveway (ours and the neighbor's). Luckily, Jeremy was off work to help him because at one point they had to attach a rope to the car and to the tree so that they could use the car to make sure the huge tree fell the way they wanted. Yeah. I usually just watch and keep my fingers crossed that Dan doesn't have anything horrid happen to him. He loves running the chainsaw, though! Boys! haha

While they did that, Kaela and I took the kids on a walk around the neighborhood. It was crazy to see how many trees were down. The city is in need of a major spring cleaning! 

Oh! Guess what?? Guess what?? The doctor said that my baby is ready to add RICE CEREAL to her diet! And then in a few weeks we can add orange veggies!! I was excited but at the same time I'm over here thinking, "Where did the time go? My baby is getting so big!" I'm glad Dan was off work today because we both got a chance to try feeding the cereal to her. She seemed to like it, but at first her face was hilarious! It was like, "What is this stuff?" haha We'll keep trying.

Tonight we watched The Walking Dead and I snapped a few pictures of my unsuspecting hubby. Isn't he good looking? Yup. I kinda like him. Oh, and my beautiful napper! I like her, too! ♥♥♥

A Little Bit of Sunshine

Well, at almost week 14 of Aurora's life, we've hit the point of sleeping through the night (2am and on...) and most days we wake up around 8am or 9am. MAYBE 10am. And SOMETIMES 7am-ish. Yes, I take full advantage of this blessed time in our lives and try not to wake up earlier if I can help it.

Today, I had to babysit Tyne (Dan's boss at Ernie's cute cute 15 month old son) at 7am soooo I was awake when Dan left for work at 6:30am. Gah! I forgot how it feels to go to bed late and wake up early. It's killer. For those of you lucky souls who've never had the experience. Now. Some of you may think to yourselves "6:30am is not that early." Let me tell you, being a parent brings a whole new meaning to the words 'early', 'late', and 'tired'. It doesn't matter what time it is. It's always earlier than it needs to be, later than it should be, and you're always way WAY more tired than you ever thought you were before you had a child.

Is it worth it? Oh, you better believe it! Being a mom is the best thing I've ever done and I love my little more than anything. Every day I feel so blessed that my Heavenly Father would let me have the chance to raise and love one of his sweet spirits. Seriously, nothing brings more joy to me than being a wife and mother to my wonderful little family.

Anyway... (sorry, tangent...) it was fun having Tyne over and it's always fun to see how other babies interact with my little-er baby. He constantly wanted to touch her and she got a kick out of watching him do things.

After Tyne left, I got a shower and then Dan picked me and Aurora up to go watch Jack and Harlie do the Easter egg hunt in Enoch before going over to Kaela's parents' house for a barbecue. The weather has been so nice lately. It was fun to be outside in it for a little bit. Watching the egg hunt made me excited that Aurora will be old enough next year to have some fun with it.

Oh, and we finished off the night with Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show. He freakin' cracks us up! It's become tradition, now that Jeremy and Kaela live behind us, to go over there to watch it every night. Love it. Love our families!

Where's My Dang Quesadilla?!

First, my sister, Becca, got an iPhone. Yeah. I'm a little jealous! BUT this picture is from Instagram and I was actually the one who posted it! It was her first Instagram post ever haha

In other news, tonight was our very first cub scout meeting. I was SO lucky to have Dan there! He got everything ready for it while I was teaching today and then he helped me do the lesson/activity for the boys. I seriously couldn't have run it as smoothly without him. ♥

7 cub scouts + the gym = crazy business! Luckily, Dan brought candy and a basketball haha We did a lesson/activity on "Being Safe at Home and on the Streets" and for every answer they got right, they got a candy. Then we played basketball afterward.

Before we got started, one of the boys had his little brother there for a minute and he was carrying a very big bag of popcorn. He told me that he got it from his "gwam-ma and gwam-pa" and that it was "way good" but he couldn't give any to fat guys cause they'd eat it all. haha

Now I'm home and Dan is at HIS scouts (he's the assistant scout master for our ward), I have ALL my lessons ready to go for tomorrow AND Thursday, and I just ate dinner so life is good. 

WAY better than this morning especially... seeings how I set my alarm on my phone but forgot to turn up the volume so I woke up at 8:44am in sheer panic since it takes me 15 minutes (at least) to get to school and it starts at 8:50am. I got ready in record time! So yeah, after my school day running smoothly, scouts being a success, having a wonderful husband, having no homework, and having a full belly, I'd say I've definitely overcome my morning disaster and made this a great day!

OH!! And the best part of the night? I learned that my quesadilla maker (which was our best wedding gift BY FAR) can also grill sandwiches. Yeah, pretty dang delicious!

Worst Ever

Oh! Good morning! Or should I say, "Are you freaking kidding me?!"
It's a beautiful, F-F-F-FREEZING Monday morning here at 6:06am. This girl doesn't have to be awake to get ready for a very long school day until at least 6:30am but at 5:45am when Dan left for work, my body and brain decided it was time for me to get up.
I tried to go back to sleep. I shut off every light in the house. I curled up in my blanket and shut my eyes. I tried SO hard to go back to sleep. If only for another 30 minutes. But my brain was like "Ain't gonna happen, Liz!" in a mean, country-western voice... I'm serious!
You'd have a hard time sleeping too if you were trying to go back to sleep for a few precious moments and your brain was on instant replay of ONE PART of the horribly sad song of Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss because you heard it in the car last night on your way home from Sunday dinner at your parents. I mean, COME ON!!
It's official. I hate that song now.
I guess this is punishment for procrastinating writing my lesson plan on animal life cycles until last night when it was due today. I thought staying up til 1am to finish it and then having to wake up at 6:30am was the punishment but noooooooooo.
Kill me. It's going to be one long day. Plus, it snowed like a foot. Wish me luck.

In other news, I got a calling yesterday! I'm the new cub scout leader for our ward!
For those of you new to scouting since you only have sisters like me, cub scouts is the 8 to 10 year old boys and they come to your house every 2 weeks to do an activity that gets them ready for the "big leagues" of scouting as an 11 year old. haha
I'm totally excited!

Also, on Friday, I had my first experience being "the mean teacher".
I had to tell a boy in my class, numerous times (when I say 'numerous', I'm not kidding) to stop talking, making weird noises, or touching/bothering his neighbors while teaching math on the rug. I gave him plenty of warnings and finally said that if he did it again, he would make the choice to go finish his math time down at Mrs. Sorensen's (Skills class. Dun dun dun!).
Well, the poor kid did it again so I told him he needed to make his way down there. Instead of doing that, he decided to throw a fit on the rug and blame those around him. When that didn't work, he started crying and wouldn't move off the rug.
I told him that he could choose to walk down to Mrs. Sorensen's by himself or he could go into Mr. Heaton's office and wait for me to get the other students working on math so that I could walk him down there.
He just sat on the rug, crying.
So, I finished up what I was doing with the other kids and then had them head to their desks to work on math. I told the boy having the problem to head into Mr. Heaton's office while I got the others started and he went in there and hid in the corner crying.
As soon as the others were working, I went in there to have a "heart to heart" with him about what he did so that he understood that I wasn't doing it to be mean, I was just trying to teach him. I said, "If Mr. Heaton was here and he'd asked you to stop doing those things and you didn't, would he have done the same thing?" He replied with a yes so we walked together down to the skills room while he cried.
When he got back to go to P.E., he handed me a note. It was cute. haha I think we're on good terms now.
He really is a good kid but boy, do I hate having to give the "tough love".

Dirty Laundry

Well, good morning, world. 9am is here. I don't have classes today so I shouldn't be awake. Buuuuuut, the hubster is up and gone. Cutting wood. So here I sit. Wide. A. Wake.

I guess I should be grateful because it's keeping me from being cozy lazy in my bed. Laundry is on the agenda this morning (unless someone wants to come do it for me...) along with a shower and some homework/studying... maybe. Oh, and a diet coke and some cold pizza for breakfast. Aaaaand a little blogging (obviously), Facebooking, and Pandora listening to fill in the cracks of open time. (A Day to Remember and Taking Back Sunday are keeping me company. Yeeeeeesss!)

It's basically freezing around these parts so I hope it snows sometime. Just not this weekend cause we're going up to Salt Lake to see my grandma for Christmas. But suuuuriously, it's winter... not to mention, Christmas in like 15 days. I am grateful that it hasn't snowed yet for the fact that Dan has still been able to do some landscaping and wood cutting to make us some moola. Dan is the most hard working person I know. I love him for taking such good care of us (and for a BUNCH of other reasons ♥ ).

Speaking of Dan, I hate when he has to leave for work early in the morning. Can't we just all quit our jobs and never have to work again?? haha I know I'm being silly and pout-y but that just means I like him, right? I'm entitled to some selfishness. It shows my love ;) haha

Twi-hards. Oh yeah!

As I sit here listening to some Florence & The Machine in between class and practicum, Pandora so graciously reminds me that Breaking Dawn part dos comes out tonight and that I get to work until 2am. I'm not looking forward to working that late BUT I'm actually kind of excited to see the crowd this movie brings AND to see how our new "reserved seating" does with a big movie where people would've normally waited in line for hours upon hours. Apparently there will be a DJ there and I will have an unlimited amount of Cherry Coke at my fingertips so it'll be good haha

I, myself, only made it to movie #2 of the Twilight series soooooo... yeah, it'll be fun to see what an opening night brings for those "twi-hards" haha

Anywho, back to Pandora. Can I just say that I'm loving me a mix of the following stations? Yes, yes, I can.

-Five For Fighting
-Fun.
-Gavin Degraw
-Imagine Dragons
-Imogen Heap
-John Mayer
-Lifehouse
-Matt Wertz
-Rob Thomas
-The Goo Goo Dolls
-The Kooks
-The Script
-The Temper Trap
-Train

Uhm, yeah, basically that mix is gold. GOLD, I tell you. The Temper Trap and Imagine Dragons kill me with goodness.

In other news, someone "borrowed" my credit card number to purchase some stuff for $40 on iTunes. I'm not very happy about that. I had to cancel the card and a new one will have to be sent to me. It's a bummer, really.

BUT, on a brighter note, Dan's birthday is on Sunday. He will be the big 24. I already gave him his birthday present like a month early haha because I just couldn't wait! It was a new wedding ring for crying out loud! Who could wait for that?? Now I need to decide how we'll celebrate though... So any ideas, guys? Sundays are hard to plan birthdays on... that guy deserves some serious partying though cause he never ceases to make my days better. I am so happy with him ♥

Mac N' Cheesy

Lunch today was awesome. I'm very serious right now. I am in love with pasta and I'm pretty much loving this recipe, so for my own purposes, I'm putting it on the blog. Feel free to ignore it OR make it yourself but I had to write it somewhere so I can make it again! So, without further ado...

Basil Pesto Mac N' Cheesy

Invented by meeee!

1 Tb. basil pesto (heaping) 

1/2 cup Alfredo sauce

1/8 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shell noodles

1. Boil noodles for 10 min and drain. Set aside.

2. In small sauce pan, mix together basil pesto and Alfredo sauce and heat until warm.

3. Add cheese and mix into sauce until melted and sauce is just bubbling.

4. Pour sauce over noodles and mix until coated. 

5. Enjoy! 

In other news, I'm NOT loving today.
I mean, it's been great so far... 5th grade was so fun today! There was an assembly complete with a "mad scientist" and his experiments AND I taught math today (dividing multiples of 10 and 100) and I think it went pretty well.
BUT I'm not loving today, because today marks the beginning of a VERY killer long week away from my hubby. He'll be in Wyoming helping Ryan move down (yay!) all weekend and as he's on his way back, I'll be on my way up to the Salt Lake area to do practice teaching in 2nd grade all next week.
So in one week, we'll be together again but this will be the longest week of my life!

I'm excited at the same time though! Next week will basically be one big sleepover and party with my block friends and teaching 2nd grade will be so fun!

Ooo! So Dan's at a job interview right now at Kolob Regional Care Center. Cross your fingers that he gets the job cause he'd do so good!

Powderpuff

Today I had an appointment with Doctor G for a lovely little thing called a "yearly exam" (kill me haha). Luckily, all was well and I was deemed "healthy". EXCEPT for the fact that I'm apparently a fatty! I love being reminded that I've "gained weight since my last visit"... I mean, really? I obviously already know that. BUT thank you for telling me. haha I hate doctors appointments. And in honor of that information being given to me, I celebrated with a piece of homemade fudge from my mamma (YUM!) and dinner at Costa Vida for Taco Tuesday. Oh. I'm also starting to track my calorie intake on caloriecount.com but we don't need to talk about that...

In other news, I went to my first powderpuff football game tonight at CV. Christina played and her team totally kicked boo-tay! After the game, I visited my parentals (they are hilarious people, I tell you haha) and then Chrissy and I visited Becca and then I hung out at my in-law's house and read a Parenting magazine while Caleb made lego starship vehicles. It was a good night :)

Coconut

Urga-burga-bloo-bla-bloo-blab. That's pretty much how I'm feelin' right now haha I have all these thoughts in my mind of how I want to decorate my house and how I want to be crafty with scrapbook type stuff and how I want to organize my house but I have no $moo-la$ to do it all. Also, we have so much stuff in our house and our trailer and our garage for a multi-family garage sale this weekend (including that piano) that I'm beginning to feel a bit on the claustrophobic/stressed side of things. Dan does not quite understand this feeling. Poor guy. OR rather, lucky guy. haha AND in my mind, I'm wondering how I ever managed to shop and cook meals for Dan and I everyday cause now that we have some food in the house, I'm totally drawing a blank on all my previous "wifey" knowledge... 

The good news in all this, though, is the fact that we have an entire box of coconut popsicles all for me in the freezer right now. 

I think I can make it through.

We're gonna have a pool!

Well, we're moving in a month. We found a place in Three Fountains right by Cedar High School. I'm really excited! We'll be saving about $100 a month and we'll have a pool... ohhhh yessss! But we are having to give Koda away which is not so exciting. I will miss having a dog. Erin's really sad about it so we're taking him on a walk tonight because a girl is coming to look at buying him tomorrow... Ch-ch-ch-changes! haha But it should be good.

Yes, this is an illegally obtained photo taken with my camera phone of Bane during The Dark Knight Rises at Fids...

In other news, I did go to the screening of Batman with Becca and it was A-MAZE-ING (now to see it in the daytime with Dan when I won't fall asleep haha). Also, our house is beginning to feel like an episode of Hoarders what with my in-laws moving, our friend Tracy Rust moving, and us moving. We've collected so much stuff to sell at a yard sale this weekend (EVERYONE PLEASE COME haha). I can't wait until I can have my house back to normal... seriously.
In the mean time, I'm just working working and Dan is working working. Oh, life haha Don't ya just wish you could have all the money you ever needed and never have to work??

Hot Hot Hot

Pretty much all of Utah is on fire...

The smoke is horrible!

Please pray for anyone in the fire areas AND let's pray for rain!

Sundays

Yesterday was beautiful.
The sun was shining and our house was hot.
Dan went to morning meetings for elder's quorum and I did laundry.
When he got home, he finished up some things for his lesson while we listened to church tunes on Pandora and then I sat on his lap while he rocked me in one of our kitchen chairs.
It was the simplest moment but as we sat there and Dan held me close and kissed the top of my head, I was overwhelmed with feelings of love for him.
Sometimes I really take him for granted but I really am so blessed to have such a loving, hardworking husband.

It seems like whenever night hits, I become this completely different person.
My body is finally resting and my brain goes into overdrive.
All the worries I've ever had in my life come to mind, I get all clingy and want Dan to stay up with me all night discussing meaningless thoughts from my mind, I think of all the things I didn't get done during the day and all the things I have to do the next day, I worry about the future, etc. etc. ect.
It's exhausting and truly annoying for Dan.
I get weepy and feel picked on.
It's stupid.
So last night, after whining to Dan that he wasn't staying awake, I pulled out Dan's Kindle Fire and decided to read the scriptures.
I read in Mosiah, chapters 1 to 4.
I prayed about my needless worries and that all my bothers would be wiped from my mind so that I could sleep.
I prayed that I could change and I decided then and there to be better.
I'm going to try not to whine or let my mind race at night and keep my husband up till all hours.
I'm going to try to read my scriptures daily and build a better relationship with Dan and with my father in heaven.
And as I did that, I felt at peace.
I could finally sleep and I woke up feeling good.

Oh, Hello!

Can you believe it's already June 1st?!?
It's come so fast! Geesh!

But it makes me happy. Summer is upon us, people! And it's glorious!

Funny story from yesterday:
We borrowed my grandpa's four wheeler ramps the other day to go up the mountain with our four wheeler and we went to bring them back to him yesterday morning.
The night before, my mom had text Dan to say that my grandpa needed them back ASAP because he needed to use them and did not want them stolen out of our truck or anything.
Well, yesterday morning, Dan gets up and goes out to the truck to make sure he has the four wheeler ramps to return to my grandpa on his way to work.
Shortly after that, I get a phone call from Dan asking if I'd taken the ramps out of the truck.
I told him I had not and both of us had a mini panic attack thinking of all the places they might possibly be.
He checked the truck again, he checked the garage, he called his brothers to see if they may have possibly left them out of the truck when they got done landscaping the day before, and he even drove back out to the house they landscaped to see if they had fallen out of the truck or been left behind but to no avail.
No ramps.
So he called me back and said, "Maybe your mom came to pick them up. But I don't think she would." To that I said, "Oh heck no! There's no way I'm calling my mom to find out if she has them. She'll be so mad we lost them!" 
So, with that, we decided our only option would be to buy my grandpa some new ramps that looked like his did and explain to him what happened.
And then we did just that. We checked all the ATV dealerships in Cedar and finally found some like my grandpa's at Ron's Sporting Goods on Main. Price? $150. (Kill me)
After work, I called my grandpa to tell him I was on my way to his house with the four wheeler ramps. He said, "What? How can you bring them to me? I thought they'd been stolen!" And I, thinking my mom must have told him we lost them, just told him I'd be over with some different ones. He said, "What do you mean different ones?" So then I, thinking he was mad, just told him I'd see him soon.
When I got to his house, I pull out the new ramp we'd bought and my grandpa starts laughing!
I immediately started in with the apologies and explaining to him that we thought it must have fallen out of the truck and that we were really sorry and that we'd never ask to borrow his things again.
Then you know what he did? He laughed again! And he said, "Well didn't you get your text message?? I came and got it out of your truck this morning around 10:30am!" (About 15 minutes before Dan went to look for it)
Haha! Seriously!!?? I'm glad he had them but talk about the panic we got from the whole thing! I didn't get any texts from that man! haha

So now we have a four wheeler ramp that Dan can use at will for his landscaping company (they're thinking of getting a riding lawn mower) and in the future when we have our own four wheelers, I guess... haha gees.

Bla. ha. ha.

WARNING: This post contains personal/stupid/meaningless/complaining nonsense from the mind of someone up way WAY past their bedtime. Don't read unless you want to know what I am REALLY like. haha

Tonight I needed someone to give me a big kick in the butt.
Seriously.
It all started with the fact that all sorts of way dumb stuff was going on with my dogs.
Sometimes they are really rather annoying and they make me so mad! (Anyone want to train them for me before I kill them?)
Needless to say I was grumpy and upset.
Dan got home from work and I continued to be grumpy even though he was the one who had to work all day on little sleep.
Well, that kid cheered me up a bit and I thought I was out of my grumpy mood...
BUT, apparently, I wasn't.
Sometimes things can be going totally great and I have to go and get this mind set of "I'm upset (over dumb DUMB things) and I am now going to whine and complain just because I feel like it".
Then things get completely un-great and my wonderful husband puts up with me even though I'm sure he'd rather shoot me.
Seriously.
Ugh. I don't even know why I started doing that.
Whining isn't fun, people.
It gets you nowhere and it just makes everything worse.
Especially when people (aka your husband) are trying everything they can to turn your grumpster-frown upside-down (rubbing your head, hugging you, calling you beautiful)...
UGH!!
So now that I've had time to breathe, I've stopped whining, and I'm in the living room on my computer instead of in bed sleeping with Dan, I realize how big of a baby I was being over NOTHING.
And how I was only being grumpy because I was tired. SO tired.
So like I said, someone needed to give me a big kick in the butt.
Dan won't do it. He loves me even when I'm acting a little baby/loser-ish...
But sometimes kicks in the butt are the best for people.
Especially people like me.

Lesson to be learned: Whining helps nothing.

Boo.

Dear fellow bloggers,
Taxes have stolen all of my money.
I'll be sulking if anyone needs me...
Love, Liz

Sad Moment, Not A Fan.

ALLLLLrighty. Wanna hear a sad moment in the life of Liz? Of course you do! Well, last night I was leaving my parents' house. I walked out the door in front of Dan and was just about to take that first step to make my way down the stairs when my foot twisted to the side and I was unable to catch myself! I went soaring down the cold, cement steps, smacking my knee on the way down, and crash landed on the driveway. I immediately started to cry and next thing I know, my whole family is standing in the doorway to see if I'm ok and my "knight in shining armor", my handsome husband, is rushing to my rescue. Luckily, I came out of that with a few slight scrapes and bruises and I live to see another day! haha Just call me "Graceful"...

In other news, it snowed yesterday and it was pretty but I had to sit in class all day. Boo. And then I had to work ticket sales for the Faculty Dance Concert on campus. I went in to watch about an hour of it after I got off. Let's just say, I found out I'm not a huge fan of modern dance. Srrrsly. Not a fan at all. BUT I do wish I was more flexible.

The end.

Ah, Man!

On your way to work, driving down Main, be sure to be on the look out for drivers who don't watch where they are going and ram the side of your vehicle with their truck.

That's all. Thanks!