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!

Art

Today I babysat our friends' foster daughter when she got out of school. She attends a dual-immersion school where the students learn in Spanish and English, so today, I got the privilege of reading with her in not only English, but Spanish as well. And then... she drew me pictures while we all watched Barbie The Pearl Princess.

Basically, if you were to stop by on any given day, you'd hear replays of Tangled or some Barbie movie because, hey, the girls love it! And we're talking eyes-glued-to-the-screen kind of loving.

Tangled has quickly become Aurora's favorite movie and I'm okay with that! If I have to listen to songs over and over and over and... well, over again, I guess I'm alright with it being those songs. When she was sick, all she wanted to do was have me hold her and snuggle her, so we watched it quite a bit. And now, it's just the favorite. What can you do?

But back to business! We were talking about me babysitting our friends' little girl... Isn't she just about the best artist you've ever seen at 6 years old?? haha Let's take a moment to talk about this masterpiece she drew:

Genius! First of all, let's all appreciate the fact that I'm taller than Dan... or is it just my hair? Then take a moment to awe at our puckered lips. haha I love it. I absolutely love it!

Seriously, I will cherish any drawing given to me by a child forever, because they are just fun! Kids have a way of capturing their thoughts, feelings, and the world around them through what they draw in a way that no one else could. It's awesome!

We sure love having that little artist come over to our house. Some days she can be a bit loud and a bit hyper and a bit physically draining (that girl has some energy!), but every day, she makes my Aurora laugh and light up a room like only a good friend could! Yay for friends! I hope Aurora has a million more that make her happy like that.

Sunday, Monday, Yada, Yada

These last two days have been kind of great.
To the outside world, they may not look like anything spectacular or out of the ordinary... but for our little family, they've been awesome!

Yesterday, Sunday, Dan got home from work at 8:00am. Aurora and I were already up and getting ready for church. Aurora was looking beautiful in the new dress she got from her Great Grandma Rigby and her cute flower hair clip she got from her Barclay aunts and grandma. Dan came in cheerful, despite a hectic morning at work and he looked so handsome in his church attire. And I was feeling pretty! I mean, all you girls out there can probably attest that that little fact right there can be all it takes for the makings of a good day, right?

We headed to church together and made it just in time for the sacrament meeting to start. The meeting was wonderful and the speakers spoke straight to my heart. It was as if they knew what was going on in our lives at this exact time and said what we needed to hear; the talks were on finding hope through your struggles.

Now as I say that I felt those talks on that particular topic were quite touching to me, many of you might be wondering what struggles we're enduring. Honestly, not too many, but some of the people closest to us are indeed struggling and in need of hope.

As many of you who follow me on Facebook might know, Dan's dad, Steve, is battling Melanoma (skin cancer). I'll share what his mom posted on the Facebook group page we've created to clue you in on his story:

I think that his parents and the whole rest of our family are in definite need of hope while going through this scary time.

The second speaker during the meeting, spoke of his dear mother who has been battling different kinds of cancer for a total of 13 years. He told that she had been given a blessing in the beginning of it all that she would live to see her youngest son serve a mission. During the years that followed, she had to go through stage IV cancer in various forms and survive the pains of having her cancer go into remission and come back multiple times. She was given "death sentences" of a few months to live each time they found the cancer had come back. Yet, through all that, she continued to have faith that she would be able to battle the cancer and she continued to have hope that she would come out stronger. Now it has been 13 years and her youngest son is putting in his papers to serve a mission. Because she continued to have hope even through her struggles, she is still here to see the fruits of the blessing she received so long ago. There were probably many times, that it would've been easy to get discouraged and lose hope, but she didn't.

My beautiful Grandmother Dorothella Smith, battled with Breast Cancer for most of my life. She was diagnosed with it around the time I was born and then it went into remission until the last couple years of her life. My mom always tells us that one thing my grandma really believed in was the power of having a hopeful and positive attitude in light of her struggles. Cancer is brutal and it isn't for the weak; my grandma knew that what you needed most to stay strong in the fight was a positive attitude, a hopeful attitude that you could survive and come out on top.

I think that one of the reasons my grandma battled so long was because of her hopeful attitude. She didn't let the depression of her diagnosis seep in and take over her body's ability to fight, she went about each day one step at a time with brightness.

As I write this, I'm not saying that just having a positive and hopeful attitude will cure cancer or solve all your problems. What I am saying is that it makes it a whole lot easier for you to see the light in the world, even when it seems at its darkest. Hope shines a light and clears your mind to help you see the good through all the bad. The talks on Sunday were a peaceful reminder for us to have hope and to not give up the fight with Steve! It was also a reminder to me that our Heavenly Father does know us each individually and he knows the desires of our hearts. What a testimony builder!

After church, Dan had to help the interior design woman finish getting the homes decorated for the Parade of Homes coming up. Because of my friend, Marissa, and her willingness to watch Aurora, I was able to help Dan. We got a lot done and it has been nice that I've been able to spend this time with him. This little side job has really been such a blessing to us. Dan was asked to help by our good friend, Shaun, and it has really helped to fill in the gaps from when Dan wasn't working. I even got to catch up a bit with Marissa when I got home. I haven't seen her in so long! We are truly blessed to have such good friends living near us.

Today brought with it 70° weather and beautiful sunshine plus two happy girls and one happy mama/babysitter. I watched Abi today and I'm happy to say that she AND Aurora are both feeling so much better after all this sickness that's been sticking around. I was lucky enough to find another high chair seat that I could use for Abi at lunch time on the St George Yard Sale page over the weekend, so we got to have both girls eat lunch at the same time, on their own. They were loving it!

We also spent some time outside today and we had a fun time following Miss Abi as she walked around the apartment complex. It only became not quite as fun when Abi decided she was too tired to walk any further and I ended up carrying both girls back to our apartment. Together they are heavy!

I also took a few pictures of the girls while we were outside; they both looked so cute! My favorite one is one I took standing on our porch looking down on them from above. I'm sad I could only get the one shot but that's about all you can do when you've got toddlers on the move!

Dan was able to work over at the parade/model home again today while I babysat and then got off early enough that we could hold Family Home Evening! We had so much fun. We got Panda Express for dinner and then couldn't help ourselves and got doughnuts from The Fractured Prune while we were over there. But, really, can you blame us? I mean, look at those things!

When we got home, we sang a hymn and said prayer before putting Aurora to bed and watching a movie. Dan fell asleep during the movie, but it's ok. After his busy weekend of working working working, he deserves an early bedtime!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Baby Showering

So basically, I'm about to do a not-so-humble humble brag and say that my mom, Steph, Erin, and I threw my sister, Becca, the best jungle themed, boy baby shower ever. It was seriously so cute!

I'm feeling the need to share with you all the things we did so that in case you're ever in the market for ideas on jungle themed baby showers, you can find them!

Food:

We decided to do a Banana Split Bar for the food because, hello! What fits better with a jungle theme than bananas, right? Right!

So my mom came up with these really cute name tags for each food item that corresponded with a little animal of some sort that would kind of fit. Then we decorated the table with all sorts of animals and plants. Jungle food.

Jungle Juice-- equal parts Fruit Punch and Sprite
Flavor Falls-- Chocolate, Caramel, and Strawberry syrup
Zebra Cakes/Bites-- (we cut these into bites before the party began) Zebra Cakes
Twigs-- Pretzel sticks
Gorilla Grub-- Ice Cream
Giraffe Whip-- Whipped Topping
Lion Droppings-- M&M's
Elephant Snacks-- Nuts
Ants-- Chocolate covered raisins
Monkey Treats-- Bananas

Decor:

Aside from the food table decor, my mom and sisters got really creative with the living room decor (where the main party event was happening). And I mean, really creative! They constructed a big tree (right!?) along the door to the living room, complete with balloon leaves and critters on the tree branch!

It. Was. Beautiful.

Games:

We played a total of six games. Now, before you get thinking that that would've made the party WAY too long, let me say that one of the games was done in 30 seconds, right as you got there and two were done at the same time! So... not too long. And it was fun!

A lot of the time, what I hate about shower games is that people tend to make the games super gross or embarrassing. We were having none of that. We chose games that required little movement since we had a full house, no smelling or tasting questionable things, and no measuring of the already self conscious mom-to-be's growing belly.

1. Guess How Many-- We put a number of M&M's in a jar and had everyone guess how many there were right as they walked in. Part way through the party, we checked all the answers and awarded who was closest to our total with a prize.

2. Birthing Babies-- We played this game as people were playing another game (listed as #3) when we passed each guest a mini cup with an ice cube. Each ice cube contained a miniature plastic baby that they then had to free from the ice cube by either putting the ice in their mouth or warming the cup with their hands. Whoever freed the baby first ("broke their water"), would win a prize. And remember, removing it by "c-section" (biting the ice cube) is cheating! Sorry!

3. Baby Animal Match-- As guests were breaking their water, I had them call out the answer of the baby animal name for each animal I would ask. Whoever guessed the most baby animal names, won a prize. Some of them were hard to get!

Answers:
1) Poult, 2) Kit, 3) Eyas, 4) Kid, 5) Joey, 6) Tadpole, 7) Whelp, 8) Bunny, 9) Foal, 10) Lamb, 11) Duckling, 12) Kitten, 13) Puppy, 14) Fawn, 15) Cygnet, 16) Calf, 17) Cub, 18) Piglet, 19) Chick, 20) Hatchling

4. Draw That Baby!-- Each guest was given a paper plate and a drawing utensil. When said to "start", they would close their eyes and draw their best looking baby on the plate. After one minute, have them stop, initial the back of their plates, and the host will collect the plates. The mom-to-be would show the art work and then choose her favorite. The owner of the one she chose will win a prize.

5. Animal Pregnancy-- Guests were given the print out and asked to guess how many days each animal listed was pregnant for. Whoever had the most correct, won a prize.

6. Pregnancy Brain-- The host gathers together 10-20 baby items for the mom-to-be. The items are placed on a tray and guests have a total of one minute to look at and memorize what is on the tray before it is covered. Then using the back of the paper for the last game, guests will have one minute to list as many of the items that were on the tray that they can remember. The host then shows each item and whoever remembered the most items wins a prize. The mom-to-be gets to take the items from the tray home.

Gift Opening:

We thought it would be fun for each guest to share a tip or a story about raising boys for the mom-to-be since we grew up in a family of all girls. So as each gift was chosen to open, the giver would announce that it was from them and share their story or tip. It was so fun to hear all the things said about raising boys! It made Becca excited... and sometimes nervous (haha) to have a boy!

All in all, it was a wonderful success! Thanks to everyone who came!

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! ♥♥♥

Love Those Summer Days

Around here, we are loving summer and being outside and Dan's days off.

Today consisted of:
♥ sleeping in/snuggling
♥ visiting our friends, Angie and Wesley, and swimming in their kiddie pool
♥ playing pool in our garage
♥ hanging out with Jeremy, Kaela, Jack, and Harlie
♥ helping my grandpa put in the swamp cooler at my parents' house
♥ starting the "spring cleaning" project of cleaning up the outside of my house and enjoying the absolutely wonderful 8:30pm temperatures of summer nights
♥ Dan going to see the new X-Men with friends while Aurora sleeps and I watch an older movie called Roxanne (if you've never seen it, watch it!)

Also, last night when Dan got off work, he helped me with a make-over project involving our plastic outdoor chairs and "peek-a-boo blue" spray paint. Ahh! I love them! Problem to be fixed? The fact that the spray paint residue rubs off on your skin...and, possibly, your clothes...  I WILL find a fix because they're too cute not to!

4 Days, 1 Post

This week has been a whirlwind! It's gone by so SO fast! But it's been oh so fun!

Monday, Dan was off work so we slept in (glorious!) and then headed to St. George so that Dan could help our friend, Shaun, build a shed for their stuff. Aurora and I kinda bummed it on their couch and watched Will & Grace reruns while they worked, BUT THEN we all went to Fiesta Fun!

We played the arcade and played mini golf and rode bumper boats and drove the go-carts. It was a blast! And the weather was perfect. Hot and breezy. We love St. George!

When we returned to Cedar, we attended Collette's very last choir concert and hung out with my family! Which, of course, included spying on Collette and her boyfriend, Kurtis, out the front window after their post-concert ice cream date... hahahaha

Tuesday, Dan worked the morning shift at Ernie's and I did laundry (and maybe played on the floor a bit with Aurora... something involving a diaper on her head... haha) but when he got home, we played pool in the garage. Oh! We got a pool table for $100 dolla dolla bills! So yeah, that was tons of fun. Although, Dan kicked my butt multiple times... and then he was supposed to go fishing with my dad but my dad had a crappy/long work day, so plans got rescheduled. Instead, Dan, Aurora, and I packed up to go to St. George again. This time, to spend the night and pay the car payment.

Speaking of cars... before we left to St. George, we sold our red Taurus! Woohoo! Then we put the money toward our car payment on the Neon. Perfect.

We stayed that night in St. George at Grandma Rigby's house then got up the next morning and had breakfast with Grandma before going shopping and to pay the car payment. Dan got to spin the car payment wheel of fortune and won us a free oil change! Then we bought me a cute new pink swimming suit at Ross and we got Aurora a cute CUTE swimming suit at Target all thanks to her Great Grandma Claire (Thank you Thank you!).

After that, we went on a mini date to get ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery and we checked out this cool candy and soda shop called Rocket Fizz. They had some cool old candies there that you can't get anywhere else AND some crazy sodas! Some were flavored like ranch dressing or peanut butter and jelly... haha silly!

When we finished, we went out to dinner at Mongolian BBQ with Shaun, Kara, and Shaun's brother, Brad. It was so fun to see them! And the lady at the cash register there when we were leaving even gave us all origami hearts she'd made from coupon pamphlets haha and told Brad he needed to get a girlfriend and bring her there to propose using an origami heart... she was funny.

We meant to go swimming at Grandma's house after dinner but someone was using the clubhouse there so we rescheduled the swimming adventure. No worries! I'll be sure to post when we actually do take Aurora swimming for the first time! I'm so excited to see how she likes it.

We got home from St. George on Wednesday night around 11pm and headed straight over to Jeremy and Kaela's to watch Walking Dead with them, Cody, and Ryan. Lucky for us, we had a very yummy cherry pie to share with everyone from Grandma's house! (How's that for great zombie-watching-food? haha)

Thursday, Dan worked the morning shift at Ernie's again and Aurora and I slept til noon! Ahh! haha We DID wake up and go straight to work on cleaning the house, though, so that makes up for the late wake time, right?? After the house was semi-clean, I hurried and got us both ready to go to Collette's high school graduation.

BOTH our siblings graduated from high school today! How crazy is that?? Collette from Cedar High School at 4pm and then Cody from Canyon View High School at 8pm. In between that, we had a celebration for Collette at my parents' house and got to see some of our cousins, Grandpa Smith, Grandma Barclay, and our aunts (love those people!). Then after Cody's graduation, we had a celebration for Cody and his fiancee, Laura, at Dan's mom's house with Dan's family and Laura's family.

What a fun night! We are so proud of them both! They are both on to such great things in the future; a mission for Collette and a wedding and SUU for Cody and Laura!