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.

This Sucks!

Question of the day is: How excited can one possibly be over the purchase of a NEW vacuum for cheap?

And the answer for you: PRETTY FREAKING EXCITED!

Reason being that my vacuum broke before our last move and I have been having to borrow anyone and everyone's vacuums or face the day having nasty floors from having a very mobile, food carrier and mess maker at my house (aka Aurora, not Dan, for those wondering).

So today, before Dan headed to work, he said he'd seen a that a woman was selling a vacuum on the St. George Yard Sale page on Facebook and he told her he wanted it. He then gave me the address of the woman and asked if I'd pick it up!
Uhm, hello!
Of course I'll pick it up!
I've been needing/wanting a vacuum since forever!

It was just up the street from me so I jumped in the car with Aurora and we headed that way. When we got there, I discovered that the vacuum was brand new and had never even been opened! Bonus!

So the good news around here for today is that I get to clean the crap out of my house and show my carpet some love. And if you're concerned that that will be a really boring and horrible day, stop it right now! I love having a clean house. Love it!

Thank you to Dan for letting me purchase said vacuum, and thank you to FB for having city yard sale group pages! It's the little things.

Oh, and P.S. Yes, I did a photo shoot of myself holding the vacuum, and yes, I used my tripod I got for Christmas to do it. Enjoy it! That tripod thing works pretty grand!

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!

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!

Pretty Darn Great

9 Things that made the last 2 days of our lives pretty darn great:

1--I started out my Sunday morning with a 1.5 mile walk from my house all the way to the cemetery. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the smells of summer/spring are in the air and I just loved it!

2--I went to church with my family yesterday because Erin was giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting on gratitude. She did great! I ended up staying for the whole meeting and I went to Sunday School and Relief Society with Collette since both our parents are in the nursery. I was so SO glad I went with her. In RS they covered a talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks called "The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood" from the April 2014 priesthood session. It's a great talk that helps us as men AND women to understand the priesthood a bit more. Needless to say, this talk was exactly what I needed. The topic has been on my mind lately and I was blessed to have the confirmation that my Heavenly Father knows me and knows what my needs are by having me be in that specific meeting to hear that specific talk at that time. Then I got to share what I had learned with Dan and we ended up having a good discussion about it. The gospel is so true!

3--Dan came to pick me up at my parents' house after church on Sunday and my mom and Erin were kind enough to watch Aurora for a little while so I could go with Dan over to his family's house to spend some time for Ryan's birthday. That was lots of fun! Cody, Jeremy, and Cody's friend, Carter Brown, were playing the guitar for us; we spent sometime outside flying a huge foam airplane, riding the mini-motorcycle around the yard, and swinging on the tire swing; we had a yummy frenchtoast dinner and lemon bars for birthday dessert; and just spent time as a family. I left around dark because they were about to start a fire in the backyard and I needed to get back to Aurora. Dan stayed for a bit longer and then I picked him up and we headed home. I missed him while he was having his brothers weekend activities so I was glad to have him home!

4--Our whole fam slept in this morning because Dan had the day off. Aurora slept in until 1pm! And even then we had to wake her up! haha That girl!

5--The rest of today was spent with my family to celebrate Memorial Day. Dan and I ran over to check the car wash (Sparkles) for our Uncle Trav while he's gone and then it was on to my family's house. We had the most delicious barbecue in the backyard complete with marinated steaks, dutch-oven potatoes, watermelon, and a summery salad then a jello-poke cake for dessert! It was hot hot hot outside so we mostly hung out under the canopies and laughed and talked until it was decided that we'd better go swimming...

6--Dan, Erin, Cole, Mom, Dad, and I took Aurora up to the Aquatic Center for her first ever swimming trip tonight! She loved it! The water was the perfect temperature and I'm pretty sure she could've just stayed in there for days. She cried when we left haha It was so fun to see how she reacted and it was great that my dad and mom were able to take some pictures for us! First time! Hello! Pictures were a must!

7--After swimming, we all met up at the cemetery to visit my Grandma Dorothella's grave. Alex and Becca met us over there too and my dad played the bagpipes for my grandma. It was such a beautiful moment to hear my dad playing them for her just as the sun was beginning to go down and everyone around was placing flowers for loved ones gone on.

8--To finish out the night, we headed back over to my parents' to play a little game of horseshoes. It was nice to just sit out in the backyard and enjoy everyone's company. And the weather was perfect! We even played fetch with Bec and Alex's dog, Tech! It was fun ...The only thing that made it not so nice was when a stray horseshoe bounced up off the cement behind the pits and smacked Becca straight in the face! Oweee! That poor girl! We'll be moving observation locations for next time... haha

9--When we got home, we all took showers to remove the remaining chlorine and then I fed Aurora while Dan played with my paints I'd left on the counter. When I walked by a couple of hours later, I noticed he had used his artistic skills to paint the ant bait I had on the counter. haha It's actually pretty good! Who knew ant bait could look so pretty!?

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!