*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!

Treasures!

Today I had my last "after baby" check-up with Dr. Gatherum. Yay! We had a c-section to get little miss here and he said that I'm all healed up and everything looks good! So, yeah, I'm happy about that. AND to make everything even better, a little 6 year-old girl gave me a pretty little flower and smiled at me on her way out of the hospital. It was so cute and definitely made my day!

Luckily, Collette had come to pick me up for my appointment since Dan had to work at Tropical Smoothie and we only have the one car. Dan and I have been needing to get a new vehicle for a while now so Dan's been on the search for us. A few days ago, he saw a deal going on at a dealership in St. George and we were talking about going to just look. Well, while I was at my parents' talking with Collette and Erin, Dan called me from work and said that his mom was going to take us down with her to check it out at 1pm.

She came to our house to pick us up and after a quick stop at Dan's uncle's house, we were on our way to St. George. Long story, short...... We ended up getting a new car!! A 2005 Dodge Neon and we love it! And Dan's mom got a new vehicle too! A Town & Country Van! Perfect for helping Steve with his deliveries (he does a courier company). We were all pretty happy with our finds!

Then to top of our day, we got to stop by and see Grandma Rigby, eat some yummy food, and get a four generations picture. I've been dying to get one for Aurora with each set of parents and grandparents. Family is so important to us and I just know these photos will be a cherished treasure for her to have when she's older! All we need now, is one with the Johnson's! What a wonderful day.

Four Generations Rigby Side (minus Grandpa Rigby because he wasn't home!) 

Four Generations Smith Side

Four Generations Barclay Side

Moon Walk

Photo Credit: Melissa Henrie

First things first. The lunar eclipse last night was freaking awesome! One of those times when I'm feeling lucky to be in the "right place at the right time" aka on Facebook bouncing my baby to sleep and seeing KSL's post reminding people of the 'blood moon' at 1am. So Aurora fell asleep in my arms, I kissed her goodnight, put her in her crib, and ran out on my porch to see if I could see the moon... aaaaannd I could! Super clear, too! Yay! What an amazing thing to witness! It was so pretty!

I tried taking multiple pics but they did it NO justice so I had a small debate in my head over whether or not to wake Dan. I then decided that I would wake him but he was dead to the world and mumbled something like "Thad's nice. Take pigdures. Lub you." and turned over instead. Haha. After that, I ran back out to the porch, realizing I'd never get a good pic but that everyone needed to see it so... I posted to Facebook and text my dad. See, whenever I'm up late or can't sleep, I can always count on my dad to be awake too. Yeah. Not that night. haha the ONE night he's asleep at a good time. Bummer.

Anyway, it was really beautiful and I feel happy to have witnessed it. AND even happier that my amazing cousin, Melissa snapped a photo cause I totally stole it. Thanks Melis!

Oh! So this afternoon, I decided to go on a walk. Then I decided "Why not kill two three birds with one stone and go walking to pay rent and pay Brandon for working with Dan?" Well, I then ventured out to do just that thinking it was not as far as it actually was. Uphill. So after an hour, I paid Brandon via Krystel (who happened to drive past me in her car. Booya!) and then called Dan to pick me up/drive us up the hill to pay rent. Plus side is that I found a new part of the canyon trail called The East Bench Trail, which happens to run right past the entrance/exit to the C Trail AND I had a beautiful view of all of Cedar City and the mountains. Aurora slept most of the way but she woke up toward the end and just enjoyed the new sights. She's so cute! I love her as my walking buddy.

After Dan picked us up, we went by my parents' house to visit for a bit and then we came home to do a barbecue and watch Jimmy Fallon with Jeremy, Kaela, and Tasha + kids. Yummy food and fun night all around.

Before Jimmy Fallon came on, we put in The Princess Bride. It took me back to one of my first dates with Dan when we watched that movie at our cabin in Midway. Oh the memories! I loved having Dan by me on the couch to snuggle me like he did when we first watched it together. And after 3 years and a new baby, I'm 100% more in love with him. I'm so happy he's my forever. ♥

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??/

InstaTuesday #4

/This is where I spend my days at CVHS. Room 208./

/As we've discussed, I'm obsessed with Polyvore. This is what started that.../

/If you're familiar with the play, A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, then you know that it's all about mixed up love and it's just...silly. Well, my reading class gets a whole lot better when we read A Mid-Semester's Daydream (an adaption of the play mentioned before), and the students get to "profess their love" to each other. Especially when one character is a donkey mascot... haha. They loved it. They were recording themselves reading it and sending it to their mothers. I got a "What is your teacher having you read??" reply back to the recording of the few lines read in the picture haha/

/This one time, my Grandpa Smith bought a little motorcycle. Then he sold it to Dan and his brothers. It's so fun to ride!/

/Camping mistake #1: Giving this child a Monster Energy Drink. Good job, Dan and Ryan. haha JK he was all hyped up and hilarious./

/1st camping trip of the year! It was a balmy 20°F outside and the fire did NOT help but, boy, did we have fun!/

/Just hanging in the trailer with this guy. We could be models./

/I feel like, when I'm camping, I can eat whatever I want for breakfast. True story./

/I totally made dutch-oven potatoes for dinner on the camp trip and they were good. A few mistakes but I know what to change for next time to make them even better!/

/Study hall is so boring when I have no one to help and 90% of the students have gone to the lab. BUT I usually do get to hear all the gossip of the school in study hall (you know? drug busts, arrests, fights, ex-girlfriends, etc.) AND I get to hear all about Pokemon and computer games. I'm so lucky./

/Oh, just a shot of the boys at the pinewood derby tonight!/

/Tonight, Dan fell asleep before me, but that's ok because even when he's dead asleep, he still reaches to hold my hand. You know it's true love when he isn't even aware he's doing it. It's these little moments that remind me how glad I am that he's all mine ♥/

InstaTuesday #3

/It was an A-day. I needed this. And besides, a hot fudge and peanut butter cup shake from Artic Circle is good anytime./

/The weather reached temps of close to 70° so I had to pull the shorts out! Have they come out since? No./

/So, like many of you (maybe), I suffer from having minor pit stains on my shirts... gross? Yes. BUT I found a DIY trick to get them out with asprin. Naturally, I used my makeup brush to crush the aspirin so I could add water and soak my shirt in it haha/

/Being stuck behind a bus trying to get into the school parking lot would be ok IF the sunrise was always this beautiful/

/Just the start of Dan landscaping the Butler's yard. I love watching him work/

/Chopping down the HUGE tree in the Butler's yard/

/My brother-in-laws on the job/

/8pm dinner at DQ with the Stubbs/Johnson fam OUTDOORS! Bring on summer!/

/All the sisters at Kaela's baby shower! I should be getting a cute new niece in the next couple weeks! Can't wait to meet baby Harlie/

/Why do girls take shoe pics? 1) to show how cute our shoes really are 2) to show that we wore the wrong shoes to a landscaping site/

/One time my mom made yummy cookies and then came to my house with Cole and Erin to bring me some. I have the best family!/

/Yup, I do lay in bed til the last possible minute before going to school. It's just like when I was ACTUALLY in high school.../

/The rock was added to the Butler's yard and it looked SO cool falling from the dump truck!/

/Sometimes, Dan finds puffy coats at his mom's house and wears them so I make him model for me haha/

/I had been wanting to try this for forever so when Dan was sleeping one night, I drove to Smith's and bought some with all change at the self check out. Then I came home and ate the whole thing that night. I'm a pig and it was SO worth it!/

/Today was scouts and we went on a field trip to the library. I had the librarian give them a tour and talk about the library...I think they were bored to death. Oh well, it's the pinewood derby next week so that makes up for it, right?/