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!

I'd Never Do That...

Tonight is one of those nights where I eat my words as I, once again, realize that something I said I'd never do as a parent when I was a non-parent, I now do as an actual parent.

You know... we all know those people who aren't parents who say things like "Oh, I'm never going to do that when I have kids!" Well, yup... that was me.

So here I sit, tonight at 11pm not going to do something because Aurora is asleep. 11pm is her bedtime.

Before I had kids and our friends with kids would say that they couldn't come to something because their kids had to be in bed, I'd say to Dan, "I'm never going to do that. I'm never going to say we can't come to something just because our kids 'have to be in bed'. Kids can sleep anywhere! We'll just bring them and they can sleep at our friends' houses or whatever."

Well, Dan gently reminded me of this comment when I said, as an actual parent, "Ya know, we're going to have to start limiting our late night hang outs with friends because Aurora is starting to get on a sleep schedule and needs to be in bed by 11pm." haha

I've since learned that kids do better when they have routines; sleep schedules (aka 'bedtime') included. AND I continue to learn new things as a parent every day.

So the question you may have then is: Are you sad that you can't have your late night hang outs anymore??

And to that, my answer is: Not really.

INSTEAD of going out, I've had the lovely opportunity tonight of rocking my sweet, beautiful baby girl to sleep. I got to put on a movie favorite of mine, What About Bob?, and enjoy eating an avocado with a spoon, straight from the shell. I've had time to blog and blogging is completely relaxing to me. AND I get to have a bit of "me time" where I just get to sit and do nothing but relax in my pjs while Aurora is sleeping and before Dan gets home. "Me time" is nice... AND, sometimes, needed.

Parenting is definitely rewarding! We love our wonderful, little babe!

And, besides, we had a full day today.

Dan had a doctor's appointment this morning. And had blood work done. Hopefully they can figure out what's wrong with his body. It's time for him to start feeling good again! What a blessing it would be for him to be rid of his aches, pains, and ailments!

After the doctor's appointment, I dropped Dan off at work and Aurora and I headed over to the horseshoe pits to watch Dad and Erin compete in the doubles tournament with their partners for the Utah Summer Games. We braved the high temps with Mom and Cole and had a good time. PLUS, Erin and her partner won the bronze medal for their bracket! I love that horseshoes is something we can all do as a family. We've loved attending league on Thursdays and Dan loves pitching! We're looking forward to other tournaments this summer that Dan can participate in, too.

Aurora and I continued the afternoon with Artic Circle burgers at my family's house and then going over to visit her daddy at work. I love how excited Dan is all the time to show off our daughter and carry her around. He's such a wonderful father to Aurora! I sure love him!

When we finished there, we drove over to our Aunt Amy and Uncle Trav's house for a little birthday cake and ice cream for Grandma Rigby's birthday. She ended up leaving early with Grandpa because she wasn't feeling well but it was sure fun to spend a small part of her special day with her! The longer I know her, the more I grow to love her. She is one amazing lady! AND spending some time with the cousins and Dan's mom and dad and Caleb was lots of fun! Yummy cake, delicious ice cream, juicy blueberries, and lots of laughs!

Saturday Saturday

Welp, Dan's gone tonight having an all-night bonfire with his brothers. So what did I do?? Well, I went on a walk to try out my new app called Runkeeper (Awesome!), hung out with my family, ate yummy steak and chicken fajitas that my mom made, baked up some brownies and then ate them, decided to apply for a teaching job for next year (Eeeee!!), came home and put Aurory to sleep, and painted myself a cute little lyric art piece inspired by A Beautiful Mess while watching Elf.

Yup. And it was great. Also, the weather was perfect during my walk and the smells of the outdoors were just...ahhh...heaven. I wish I could describe it!

Speaking of the great outdoors... last night we tried to watch the meteor shower that was supposed to happen, but it was overcast, so that didn't happen. BUT we did do a little fire out at my in-law's house in Enoch so Aurora got to experience her first fire. Which gave me the chance to dress her in this super cute, fleece winter-suit we got at her baby shower. Adorable!

Also, I present to you: Aurora's new trick! haha

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!

Hail.

Yesterday was a rainy and windy and cold kind of stay-inside day. And it was beautiful! I loved listening to the thunder and watching the rain and hail pour down outside my window while I was making dinner. Dan took a nap after work and then we ate and went over to Jeremy and Kaela's to watch The Walking Dead (our new obsession over tv). While we were there, I asked Jack about the hail  because I'd seen him hanging out the window to catch some of it to eat. He said, "I love hail! I love hail! It's so cold; like snow!" and Kaela and I laughed because it was just a funny sounding sentence.

Also, we made peanut butter bars and they were yummy. Sweet, almost too sweet! But yummy. They were the no-bake kind and I think I like the kind you bake best... you know, like the kind that are more like a pb cookie? Yup.

So Jack is over at my house currently. He's busy making a giant mess with the linkin' logs and trying on Dan's boots while Dan is in the shower in the other room. "Look, Aunt Liz! I'm wearing Dan's shoes!" haha That kid.

Last night I was looking at my journals... well, my current journal and I'm so grateful that I've kept a journal off and on over the last 13 years because it's such a blessing to be able to look back and see all I've done and re-read all my thoughts about things. It reminds me of all the good in my life.

Speaking of all the good things... Aurora is definitely one of those! I clipped her fingernails for the first time today and she's kind of trying to sit alone. She's growing so fast! 4 months tomorrow!

InstaTuesday #7

/I got new makeup from Mary Kay; since Dan's mom sells it, we got 50% off! Woo! Also, I captioned this one "Nice to 'nose' ya." haha I'm crazy. Welcome to the party./ 

/Erin painted my nails sparkly red! Didn't she do a good job?/

/Dan and I babysat Jack again (while Jeremy and Kaela learned to do the photo kiosks that Clay and Leslie do for cruise lines) and we picked up Erin after school so we painted masterpieces with watercolors for about 3 hours. That kid. haha/

/I made up a new recipe and it was amazing! I call them Sloppy Joe Cups and for those of you wanting the recipe, here it is: 

ingredients- About 1lb. hamburger (browned), 1/2 can sloppy joe mix, About 2 cans biscuits (pilsbury or whatever), shredded cheddar cheese

directions- Heat oven to the temperature indicated on biscuits. Grease your muffin tin (I used Pam and two 6-cup muffin tins). Flatten out your biscuits and place them in the tins. Brown hamburger and mix in sloppy joe mix. Scoop about 1 and 1/2 heaping tablespoons full of sloppy joe into the muffin tins on the biscuit (just fill the cup the biscuit made). Put in oven for the full recommended time on the biscuits (more if needed) or until browned. When there is about 2 minutes left on the time, pull out them out and cover with cheese then pop back in for the rest of the time. Pull them out when the cheese is melted and the edges of the biscuits are browned. Swirl a knife around the edges of the cups to get the muffins out and enjoy. (If you let them cool for a couple minutes before eating, you can pick them up with your hand and just eat them that way)/

/Well, here it is; my "final" (my compilation of everything student teaching) for student teaching. 4 inch binder packed FULL! This was my last thing to do for student teaching so now I'm ready for graduation! Ahhh! This is so unreal!/

/Dan got to participate in The Relay for Life that The American Cancer Association puts on to raise money for families that have someone with cancer with the scouts in our ward. I went and walked with him for awhile. It was fun but chilly! Poor kid got to spend all night there haha/

/I have been eyeing these little succulents at Smith's whenever I go shopping and I finally got me some! Aren't they pretty? I die./

/Saturday after The Relay for Life, we went to New Castle Reservoir with Dan's family. It was so much fun and Dan caught lots of fish!/

/Just, you know, having some quality Facebook time with my Dad haha/

/I love going to my parents' house! They always have the yummiest food. Fresh strawberries and one of my favorite treats that my mom makes, chocolate rolled rice puffs. If I cook for my kids like my mom cooks for me, my kids will be in heaven haha/

InstaTuesday #6

/Submitted my application for the 11 elementary ed. teaching positions for ICSD. I hope I get an interview! I can't believe the time is here! I'm almost a college graduate and I'm applying for "adult jobs"! Eee!/

/Caleb turned 12 on April 10th! We had dinner and played games at my in-laws for it and I brought him a balloon stuffed with a rice crispy treat for his present!/

/Apparently it was National Sibling Day this last week so I did my own post! I love these people! I'm so lucky to have them all./

/Fader by The Temper Trap has been on repeat these days. I love it./

/Love that I've had some time to scrapbook! Isn't Dan a cutie?!/

/I don't want to brag or anything but I've been able to sleep in almost everyday this week since I'm out of school. Ah, this is the life./

/Dan and I got to play with Jack on Friday! We loved it! He's our favorite nephew hehe/

/One day I'm going to clean up our backyard patio and put a table and some chairs so we can do dinner outside for summer. Also, I need to pump up my bike tires so I can hit the road!/

/Saturday we played night games at Park Discovery with Ryan, Bryan, Mickel, Steve, and Lauren. I couldn't see very well in the dark so I admired the view of Providence Center. Aren't the lights looking over Wal-mart beautiful at night?/

/After night games, we went to Denny's. I like these people./

/The relief society lesson on Sunday was from the teachings of President Lorenzo Snow on perfection. I loved this quote. I need to remember this./

/After church we went to Canyon Park for a picnic with Dan's family. It was sunny and beautiful. I love this boy./

/Just another Polyvore creation. Lovely./

/Found this recipe on Kraft for chicken pot pie so I made dinner... it was divine!!/

/Don't these look so yummy? I posted the recipe for Rolo Cheesecake Squares on my facebook page and my old assistant manager from Megaplex, Alicia, made them for me! I love her! haha/

/It has snowed pretty much all day today. Gah! April, what are you doing??/