Mammoth Trip

We had a fun get away to Mammoth for Mamorial day weekend. It was an adventure from the start. 

We left the house around 4:30pm on Friday. We grabbed dinner and a few snacks like apple sauce and bananas. We had been on the road for 20 minutes and surprise!!! We hit traffic! After about 5 minutes in traffic Olivia started to repeat "hafta go! hafta go! hafta go!" We were slightly in the middle of nowhere. Then Michael's phone rerouted us!  We get on the new route and still crying "hafta go!" starts saying "I gunna choke". I grab a plastic bag and hop in the back just in time to catch almost everything! We finally find and exit with a gas station and I clean everything up and we go potty. Whew! It had only been an hour! 

We get back on the road and hit a little but of slower traffic and Michael's phone rerouted us again! But this time we didn't know the freeway and right as we take the exit Michael's phone died and we loose cell service!!! In LA!!? Yes in LA!! We keep driving on the 2 freeway and quickly realize this is going to be a huge adventure! The 2 freeway is a steep and windy road through Los Angeles national forest. It was foggy and rainy and really stressful and not a time saver route! Stupid google maps! They were probably laughing when they directed us that way! After we got through the crazy windy road with our car sick child we finally got on our way. We arrived in mammoth  1/2 hours later at 11:00pm.

We had a blast in Mammoth! We went to breakfast at The Stove on Saturday morning and played at the park. We went  a really fun quick and easy hike and Olivia did great! She loved being our in the forest playing with sticks and rocks and finding little patches of snow to build an Olaf snow man. The trail ended at a beautiful lake and the weather was awesome! The storm clouds were rolling in and it was really windy and cold. It was beautiful! We played for a few minutes then headed out just in time. It started raining/snowing as we got in the car. We did a little shopping later and Olivia got Opa to buy her one stuffed animal deer rather than the 9 she was carrying around the store. We played inside the condo the rest of the evening and watched Bambie which is now the name of Olivia's deer. 

Sunday we went to church in the small Mammoth Lakes branch and lying around the condo the rest of the day. We had a yummy dinner and s'mores for dessert. 

Monday morning we drove to the Main Lodge and did our usual look out of the Minneretts then went out for some lunch the packed up and headed home. We left  an hour and a half earlier than my family hoping to miss some of the LA traffic but instead hit a huge accident on the one way road home and my family got 20 minutes from catching up to us. 

We had a fun trip and I loved spending time with my family! I don't know if this is obvious but I LOVE living close to family and I love living in California again! 

After threatening to throw up and having to stop to pee and saying she didn't have to go anymore I was kinda at the end of my patience. Then she made this face and said "Mommy, I make you happy?" I laughed and said "yes! Very happy!" Then she said "Don't be frustrated. Just be happy!" I love this girl!

Easter

When Michael started the interview process with Oakley we played the what if game and my favorite part was; what if we actually get the job and move to Southern California? I would get to go to family get-togethers!! Then we got the job and I realized we would be going to Easter!! I was so excited to spend Easter with family! And it lived up to my dreams! It was a little weird being on the adult side now and I was the oldest grandchild there but I loved being with family!

We colored eggs with crayons this year because Walt was asleep, Michael was watching a movie, and I didn't want to make messes. Olivia loved it and loved talking about Easter traditions. She was really interested with the Easter Bunny and hiding eggs and bringing her a gift. 

Olivia woke up Easter morning and loved the finding eggs and helping Walt. We listened to conference and made a yummy breakfast. We got ready then drove to my grandpa Hansens house to visit and watch the end of conference. It was fun visiting with him and playing at his house. 

We got to my Grandmas Hunts house and had a Grandmas Gtore and then had our Easter egg hunt. Olivia loved this egg hunt more than the one we had. Her basket was so full! It's been 2 months now and she still talks about going to Great Oma Hunts house and looking for eggs. Olivia LOVES Great Oma Hunt and Great Opa Hunt! She asks once or twice a week to go visit them. We had a yummy dinner and great conversations. I love being close to family! 

Baby girl!

We are so excited to be having a baby girl in early September!! I was really hoping it was a girl. 

This pregnancy has been different. It is going so slow, not that I'm in a rush to have the baby here yet but I feel like I'm stuck on the same week and month every time someone asks me how far along I am. This may be because I was counting a week ahead according to the last period and stuff like that but baby is measuring a week behind. I was hoping my due date was August 26th but it's September 3rd. A week is a big difference and I was a little disappointed but she may come in August still if she is like Walter! 

Another thing has been finding a new doctor. I loved my doctor and especially her PA and wish I could fly to Idaho every appointment to still see her. I found a practice here that has 15 doctors and most of them are the top rated doctors in Orange County so I chose one and just trying to get an appointment with the office was a pain!!!! I had to talk to a machine and press 1 a million times to get directed to the right place to leave a voicemail then they would call me back within 2 days!! If I missed their call back I had to go through the process all over again. So annoying! I have seen her twice now and she seems nice but it's just not the same. 

We had our 21 week ultrasound appointment and the baby looked great but... Ugh! I hate the word but!! Anyways, she has a white spot on her heart and the ultrasound tech told us that research done 10 years ago showed that it was linked to Down's syndrome so this is considered a soft marker. She said everything else looked great so we shouldn't worry and our doctor would call me the next week (since she had meetings and surgery the rest of the day(Friday)) to talk to us about it and to schedule a more in depth ultrasound. Well, after I paitently waited till Wednesday and I still hadn't heard from her, I called and she called me on Thursday and I misses her call!!! Ahh! But she left a message reasurring me that this soft marker rarely leads to Down's syndrome if there are no other markers. Thank heavens for the internet because I would have been more of a mess that week if I hadn't gone against my better judgement and researched it which wasn't a bad thing after all. Luckly this seems to be a common soft marker because technology is so good and shows us so much. It's most likely a calcium deposit and will go away and everyone who was told their baby had this marker had perfectly healthy babies. 

We had a second ultrasound and they confirmed that she is a girl!! She looks great!! We don't have anything to worry about that they can see. Everyone says that the research done 10 years ago was done on a small group of women and every doctor hates it because it makes women worry so much at a time they should enjoy but they have to tell us hormonal women so they don't get in trouble.

I'm grateful for prayer and how supportive Michael was during the two weeks of uncertainty. We will love our baby how she comes but those words are scary either way and Michael did a great job calming me down and keeping me grounded. It helped us grow stronger together. This was also an exciting time because we really feel like we are having another baby now! It didn't feel real since we hadn't had a doctors appointment since the first 10 week appointment. Now we have heard her heartbeat and seen her and it's real! We are excited for her to come!  

Walter

This silly boy makes my heart so happy!!

He loves to pick his toes! It's so funny! We just got him new socks so there is always sick fuzz in between his toes and he loves it.

This kid can climb and it scares me!! It started off small, he would climb up his slide and slide down then he started standing up when he got to the top. Then he figures out how to climb on the coffee table, then the chairs next to the coffee table. Then it was the kitchen chairs and that turned into the table! Then I found him on our be and now it's Olivia's bed! I'm going to have a heart attack. He has only fallen off the coffee table so far but I scares me! 

He is so snuggly! He loves his blue and pooh bear when he sleeps. He snuggles them and in the morning has to have them when he gets out of bed then he forgets about them once I set him down. 

He loves Olivia so much! He copies everything she does and I have to reminder her all the time to make good choices because Walt does everything she does.

Disneyland

We have been taking full advantage of our Disneyland pass! We try to go once a week but sometimes it's twice. Olivia asks to go every morning. I was really scared to do this on my own. I knew I would be fine once we were in the park but getting on the tram to the park scared me. My first experience wasn't that great but every time it gets better. I always say a prayer right before we get on then someone comes to help us. It's awesome! 

We always try to see a  princess, Tinkerbell, Minnie and Mickey, and then ride a few rides. That takes about 2-3 hours then we head home for naps... Well, usually they fall asleep in the car so we head home for dinner and an early bedtime.

One morning we got to the park around 11:30, we ate lunch while we waited in line to see Tinkerbell. We went on a few rides and while we were on Dumbo (Olivia's favorite) we saw Ariel visiting with people. We got off the ride and said hello to her. She remembered us from the week before! Then we asked a cast member how we could see more princesses (other than Ariel, since we see her everytime!) He pointed us in the direction to the royal hall! Jackpot! On our way there we ran into Aurora then watched the Frozen theater with Anna and Elsa then headed to the royal hall and saw Bell, Snow White, and Cinderella. Olivia hasn't stoped talking about meeting all the princesses. We will be going back a lot before our passes end for the summer. 

It has been so fun going right now. It's easy to do it on my own with Olivia and Walter, I'm not a large pregnant woman yet, and best of all it's the off season so most of the time it is never longer than 30 minutes to do anything. 

Olivia's favorite rides are Dumbo, King Arthur's Carousel, Small World, and Ariel. 

Olivia's favorite Princesses are all of them! She loves meeting any character and loves going to Mickey and Minnie's houses. 

It is so much fun going with Olivia! She makes Disneyland so magical! And now daddy has a pass! We went for FHE this week and hopefully will go a lot more as a family when baby girl gets here because I don't know how it will go with a newborn and two toddlers on my own! For now we love our little routine!