One Disneyland Ride I Didn't Pay For.

We got home really late last Sunday night from our Disneyland vacation!

I will be writing a separate post with photos and all the happy, fun memories, but right now, I'm going to talk about the scariest part of our trip!

I'm going to give you a little bit of a background story here, so you fully understand the extent of my fear here...

I had the WORST 5th grade teacher on the planet. And her favorite hobby was making my life a living nightmare. My mom tried so hard to get me transferred out of her class, and we ended up in a meeting with the principal who told us I couldn't leave her class because too many students had already requested to be taken out. 

Now, this teacher LOVED to scare the pants off of her students. She constantly talked about earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and all other types of natural disasters. She would show us videos, read us news articles, and go on and on about how devastating nature could be. And this wasn't just a unit we were studying for a couple of weeks, this was almost DAILY for the entire school year! I went home several times crying because I was so scared that there was going to be an earthquake. Earthquakes have been my biggest fear since the 5th grade. Only taking 2nd place after I had my kids (something happening to them is now my #1 fear).

Throughout the last 15 years of my life, anytime a big truck passes my house and my windows shake a bit, I freeze in fear and my heart races. Any time Bryant rolls over in bed, I wake up panicked that the ground is shaking. It's constantly on my mind.When my family took a vacation to Universal Studios, I couldn't even go on the "earthquake" ride.

Because I worry so much about earthquakes, anytime I'm in Southern California, I'm especially anxious. The morning of our 2nd day at the parks, I fell asleep with my phone under my pillow, and when my alarm went off, my phone vibrated and I woke up shaking, thinking there had been an earthquake. Little did I know I'd be experiencing one in just a few hours...

That evening, Bryant, my brother Colter and I had some fastpasses to ride the Radiator Springs Racers over in California Adventure. We left the kids with my family at Disneyland and ran over. While waiting in line, Bryant was teasing me about my fear of roller coasters (fear #3 on my list...) and was trying to convince me that I should ride Screamin' with him. When I protested, he said "Why are you so scared of rollercoasters? Nothing can happen while you are on it!" and I said "Well, what if there is an earthquake while I'm on it!"

We hopped onto Radiator Springs Racers and when we got off, they closed it down. 

When we got back to Disneyland and met up with my family, we walked over to Space Mountain and saw that it was closed. My Mom said "Did you guys feel the earthquake? They closed down Space Mountain because there was a 3.4 earthquake." 

I immediately started to panic. I sat down on a bench and asked Bryant if he felt anything. He said he didn't, but as soon as we got off the Racers, he heard people talking about it. But he said he didn't want to say anything to me so I wouldn't worry. Which means the earthquake happened while we were on the ride! Just like I had said might happen!

Bryant told me to sit and take a minute to calm down while he ran and got some pizza for dinner. The kids were asleep in the stroller, so I just hung out with them, while the rest of my family went to ride Buzz Lightyear. Bryant came back with dinner and we sat and ate for a few minutes. I asked him if he thought there would be an aftershock, or if maybe that was a forshock to a bigger quake. He said "I don't think so, at least not large enough that we would feel it."

Right that second, while I was mid-bite in a pizza, my legs went one direction, and my body went the other, then both went the other way and the ground started rolling, like it was made of large noodles floating on water. I looked at Bryant, who calmly said "You're alright, lets get up and move".

I don't know what happened to my pizza, I don't know if I dropped it, set it down or threw it, but I grabbed the stroller, and Bryant held onto it and steered us out from where we were sitting. We had been sitting under the roof of the exit of Space Mountain, which has large glass windows in front of us. My instinct kicked in and all I could think was "I need to move the kids out into the open". Bryant steered us out and to the side, away from anything tall and away from people. I was trying to run, but he kept saying "You're alright, lets just move here and stay put, don't move, lets just ride it out."

He was so amazingly calm! I was not. As we were walking out from under the roof, we could hear what sounded like something was crashing, and like plastic was cracking and snapping. Then everyone was screaming and running out and pointing up. It looked like a godzilla movie. Lots of shaking, people running and screaming and pointing. The rocket at the entrance of Space Mountain was swaying. 

Once it was all over, we headed out to find my family. We found them after a couple of minutes and we all moved to a corner where there weren't a lot of people. There was a "cast member" who was working at an information podium thing, standing next to us. He told us that he was watching the "people mover" track when it happened and that it was moving side to side. He had an ipad with the news pulled up, and informed us that the quake registered as a 5.1 at the epicenter in La Habra, and a 5.4 where we were. (Fun fact, earthquakes ripple like a pebble in water, they get bigger the further out, then start to diminish. I think I saw somewhere that we were 15 miles from the epicenter)

He was really awesome, he kept us updated on everything for the next 2 hours, while everything was closed down. He even handed us 2 fastpasses that would allow up to 6 people each onto any ride. When things started to open back up, everyone went to ride Space Mountain (I refused. I was still shaken up pretty badly, and I didn't want to leave my kids, who had slept through everything peacefully in the stroller.) And he gave me a free voucher for 2 ice creams (which I actually forgot to use, dang it!)

It took me a while to calm completely down. At one point, I had to use the bathroom, and I was too scared to go by myself, so I made Bryant wait out by the door for me. As soon as I walked in, I felt like the ground was shaking and ran as fast as I could back out. He assured me that nothing had happened and that I was ok. Needless to say, I don't think anyone in the history of the world used the bathroom as quickly as I did that day. 

At one point, another lady came out and told all of us that we had to leave Tomorrowland and head towards Main Street because it was the safest place to be. When we started packing up and walking away, the guy we had been talking to asked where we were going. When we told him we were told to leave, he said "I'm going to tell you to stay here. There are on average 50,000 people in the park at a time, not including about 30-40,000 in California Adventure, and they are all on Main Street right now. You're probably safer right here." We were relieved that we were ok to stay, away from the large crowds. The last thing I wanted was another earthquake to cause a stampede of 50,000 people, and little old me trying to wrangle a double stroller through them all. Not to mention our phones weren't working very well. I could finally text after about an hour and a half.

The best part of this whole situation was that while we were waiting around, Bryant's parents came and surprised us!!! We had absolutely NO IDEA that they were coming! It was such an awesome surprise! I was sitting on the wall texting my brother-in-law, when Robyn jumped in front of me. I saw her shoes and was confused as to what random person would jump that close to me, and when I looked up, it was Robyn! I started screaming so loud in excitement that I woke up Deagan! They had come to the park after the earthquake to buy their tickets for the next day and asked if there was anyway they could come into the park to look for us. They gave them free complimentary tickets for that evening! They were able to find us because my brother-in-law had texted me asking how everything was going and what we were doing, and I had told him everyone had gone to ride Space Mountain. I had no idea they were there! It was awesome that they had all flown down to spend Saturday and part of Sunday with us!

I was grateful that I was so exhausted by the end of the night that I fell right to sleep when we got back to the house we were staying at. If I wasn't so tired, I probably would have been up all night worrying about more earthquakes.

The next day, My parents, sister, Ed, Robyn and I took the kids to watch "Micky and the Magical Map" which is a cute, short musical show. Right as the show started, it felt like someone started to jump on the bench we were sitting on, and the show immediately shut down. It was another earthquake! This time, it was a 4.1 (just some earthquake FYI: each number that the earthquake registers at is x100. So a 5.1 is 100x stronger than a 4.1.) I called Bryant, who was with everyone else waiting to go on another ride. He said he didn't even feel it and that none of the rides were shut down.

We didn't feel anything else the rest of the trip, but according to the news, there were over 100 aftershocks ranging up to 3.4's.

I guess I can now say that I've lived through one of my biggest fears, and I handled it a bit better than I imagined I would. I always thought that I would be so scared that I would just pass out. So not passing out is considered a win in my opinion! And I was proud that my instincts kicked in to get somewhere safe, and I didn't just stand there panicking. And I'm even more proud that my first thoughts were making sure my kids were safe, and my seconds thoughts were making sure the rest of my family was safe.

Let's hope I never have to deal with that again though, ok?

Happy Birthday, Darling Girl.

Dear Savannah,

Today is your 3rd birthday! 3 years ago, I was standing in my kitchen making lunch, when my water broke and you surprised us all arriving 7 short hours later, and you've been surprising us ever since!

You are one spicy and fiery little thing, and it's what I love most about you! You are so intelligent and observant. You absorb new information like a sponge and the things that you say are funny, imaginative and heartfelt.

It's been a big year for you! You have reached many milestones, the hardest one being potty training, which took us almost a year to get down. But you finally made it! Congrats baby girl! 

You also became a big sister, a roll that you have loved and have become an expert at. You are such a big helper! You like to help me feed, bathe, diaper and snuggle Deagan. Every morning, the first thing you do when you wake up is go climb into his crib and snuggle him for a while. He adores you and loves to play with you all day long. Thank you for being the best big sister ever!

I am most proud of your incredible imagination. You like to tell stories, and you have a wide array of imaginary friends, and even your own language! You see the world in a very different way than anyone else I have ever met, and I think your ability to think critically and creatively will be what makes you successful in all aspects of your life.

You are very friendly and you make friends easily. You are fearless and adventurous and so you have no difficulty in being comfortable in new situations and are never shy. 

I love that I get to spend every day with you! Thank you for being such an amazing little girl.

Happy birthday princess! (or pirate, or ninja, whichever you decide to be today!)

9 Month Update!

I can't believe my handsome boy is already 9 months old! He's officially been out as long as he was in!

We had his check-up earlier this month and he's doing so good! He's right on track with everything, and is ahead of the walking schedule. While we were waiting for the doctor to come in, he was getting fussy and wiggly, so I set him down on the ground and let him crawl around. He doesn't crawl a whole lot, he just likes to crawl to the nearest object and pull himself up to stand, then hangs onto stuff to walk around. At the office, he pulled himself up to the stool, then walked himself around the drawers. As soon as the doctor walked in, he said "How long has he been doing that?" When I asked if he meant pulling himself up to stand, he said "No, I mean walking while hanging onto things. I never see babies his age do that! I usually see that more in 12 month olds who are just about ready to walk." He told me that he was really impressed about 5 different times during the appointment, and he told me he thinks he will most likely be an early walker. At first I thought "nooo, he's too young, the doctor is just making me feel like I have the smartest baby ever." But these last 2 weeks, DJ has been standing on his own, without holding on to anything for a few seconds! Then, we were on the floor in his room playing and he was holding onto the rocking chair, looked at me and let go, then took 2 full steps towards me! I was so proud, and so excited I started screaming and Savannah freaked out because she thought I was hurt. Do I sound like I'm bragging? Because I think I am. Sorry. ;-)

He took a look at both of the kids and diagnosed them with eczema. Poor kiddos inherited my skin. But I've been doing everything I can think of to help it and they both seem to be clearing up. The doctor told me that if it flares up again and gets to be too much to handle, that he would prescribe them something stronger.

I'm loving this 9 month old stage! He's getting so active and fun! The other day I was having a blast "wrestling" with him. He kept head-butting me in the stomach while I was sitting on the floor, and I would fall over and he would laugh and laugh and laugh. Then I would sit up and he'd do it again!

One of my favorite times during the day is after his afternoon nap, and both kids play in Savannah's room. He's so active and curious, and loves to pull everything out. He especially loves playing with the play kitchen because he likes all the drawers and play-food.

He's finally starting to sleep through the night! I think asking the boys downstairs not to get up and play video games loudly at 4 or 5 in the morning has really helped a ton. Every great once in a while, he will wake up and cry for a bit, and I just let him cry it out for 5 minutes. I finally decided that it was worth dealing with the renters downstairs complaints about him crying for 5 minutes than getting up with him and making us both grumpy and tired the next day. Also, remember how they are up in the early hours of the morning playing video games loudly? Yeah I don't feel bad anymore.

I've lost DJ's paper with his stats for this month, but I do remember that he was 19 1/2lbs and around 50% for everything. The doctor was impressed with how much he's chunked up in the last 3 months, and I contribute it to him not spitting up every single meal he had, and he eats solids like a champ!

He's got 5 teeth now. 3 on top all came in within this last month, but all of them are different sizes because they all came through at different times, so when he smiles, he looks like a hillbilly. It's adorable.

He can say "mama" and "dada" now too, and he waves and climbs up stairs.

He is just the sweetest little boy ever! Can I order 3 more of him please?

Potty Ninja

WE DID IT!

We did it, Savannah did it, she is FINALLY potty trained! Goodness, it was the longest trial with her we have ever had. Last year around her birthday, she asked if she could use the potty. I thought "oh, awesome! Potty training is going to be a piece of cake!" How wrong I was. She showed interest only for a couple of weeks, and then gave up. I didn't push it, mostly because I wasn't really planning on potty training her until she was 3, but by the time she was 2 1/2, my mom kept telling me that it was probably time to have her ditch the diapers. I tried off and on, mostly making her use the toilet before bedtime, but with a new baby and school, I didn't really want to devote time to rushing her off to the bathroom every 20 minutes. And Savannah absolutely hated every minute of it. 

We tried everything, we bought her books about pirates who used the potty, kept her naked all day, gave her rewards like stickers and candy, watched cartoons about being a "big girl" and using the "big kid potty". But absolutely none of it worked. 

A few weeks ago, I just about threw in the towel. I thought "If she wants to stay in diapers the rest of her life, I'm ok with that. She can go to college in them for all I care!"

But then I made a trip to the store and bought DJ a box of diapers and her a box of pull-ups and it cost me almost 90 bucks. That's when Bryant and I thought, alright, that's it. This whole not-wanting-to-be-potty-trained thing is costing us a fortune. We agreed that would be the last box of diapers for her. 

The weather has been cold and windy for the last couple of weeks, so I thought it was perfect for staying indoors and having her be naked. The first few days, I kept her naked, and she didn't have a lot of accidents. So I moved on to keeping her in just underwear and a shirt. She had a lot of accidents the first 2 days. Then it got less and less. So I moved to keeping her in underwear and fully dressed and she was able to be aware of when she needed to use the bathroom, and would ask "Mom, am I wearing diapers or skivvies?" And when I told her skivvies, she would say "ok, I need to use the bathroom."

THAT has always been our biggest hurtle, was getting her to TELL us when she had to use the bathroom. She would go every time we sat her on the potty, but she just couldn't figure out to tell us if she had to go beforehand.

But, I am very happy to announce that she has gone almost 2 weeks, and she's only had 1 accident and it was because we just couldn't get her to the potty on time.

The last few days, she has been taking herself to the bathroom. That's been really nice. And today, we were going to her friends house to play and on the way there she asked "Mom, does Connor's house have a toilet?" way to think ahead kiddo!

To say I'm proud is an understatement. It's a relief to know that when I drop her off at her college dorms someday, I won't be handing her a box of diapers to get her through the semester.

My first ever VLOG!

Ok, obviously I write better than I can talk! And sorry that this pretty much sucks out a chunk of your day you will never get back haha! But this took me 3 tries, so despite how bad and boring it is, it was a labor of love. So I'm posting it whether you like it or not, muahahahaha!!! (And Savannah started without me while I was finishing up a call I got in the middle of the 2nd try. But that's the best part...)

7 Months

My little DJ is 7 months old already! And this past month he seems to have changed and grown so much, that I kind of want to find the "pause" button on him and press it. 

He finally cut his first 2 teeth, on the bottom. Two days before Christmas, he was grumpy, clingy and fussy, and then Christmas Day, he was an angel! And sure enough, Deagan had gotten his first tooth for Christmas. Then just after New Years, in popped the other! Now he constantly has his tongue hanging out, rubbing his teeth with it, and you have to be careful, because he likes to bite. Twice just today, he bit Savannah. Once on the finger, and once on the leg.

He is a full-fledged crawler now too. His favorite place to crawl to is underneath the coffee table, where he likes to just sit and chill. Savannah hangs out down there too, often times taking a pillow and a blanket down there. I'm not quite sure what it is about that coffee table, but they both love it. He can crawl on his hands and knees, but he prefers to army crawl if he needs to get somewhere fast. He will crawl on his hands and knees on the carpet, but army crawl once he hits the hardwood floor because he slides faster. I need to get a baby gate ASAP for the stairs. Savannah was too scared of the stairs to ever go down, but DJ is pretty fearless. 

Now that he crawls, he isn't as clingy as he was before. He used to whine and cry as soon as I set him down, but now, I can sit him on the ground, and he will play with toys, or crawl and go explore. 

He can pull himself up too! He now likes to stand in his crib or on the couch. And he especially loves to climb up and stand while hugging my legs. I think he is most proud of this accomplishment, because he's usually beaming with 7 month old pride when he does it.

He's learning how to copy sounds that we make. And he's learning how to show frustration. Savannah took a toy away from him and he yelled angrily instead of just crying. And if I'm not paying attention to him, he yells too.  

 ^^He doesn't seem to mind our costco trips, in which he nearly gets buried every time^^

He's also learned how to give big wet kisses! I LOVE it!

His spitting up problem is virtually gone. Today, he was crawling in the hallway while I was painting his room, and Savannah started yelling that he had spilled some milk. When I went out, he had spit up quite a bit, and that was the first time in weeks he had done that. 

He still doesn't sleep through the night, but It's not really his fault. He gets up around 5 or 6am, which is when the boys downstairs wake up to play video games. (What teenaged boy gets up earlier than is necessary, just to play video games? It makes zero sense) and they are pretty noisy. I get up, change his diaper and give him a bottle and he goes back to sleep pretty easily and stays asleep until 8. I think I'm going to start heading to the gym after I get up with him, since he goes back to sleep, and Savannah and Bryant are still asleep until 8, and I feel more tired throughout the day if I get up and go back to sleep. 

He really is just the happiest baby you have ever met. I'm not ready for him to be so active. I miss the sleepy snuggly stage! But I think it will be nice when he's big enough to keep up with Savannah, so they can keep each other entertained.

New Year!

New Year's Eve and Day were really great this year! We made plans with my Brother and Sister-in-law to have a small party at our house on New Year's Eve, but we didn't know my parents had accepted an invitation for us to hang out with their friends too. So we ended up spending most of the night with good family friends. Savannah was in heaven playing with the two kids that were there. And we enjoyed dinner and games and looking through old photos of my parents and their friends from their newlywed days. 

 

^^And yes, Easton is in a tuu-tuu as well!^^

The later it got in the evening, the crankier my kids got, and we decided to head to our house with Sawyer and Kenna, put the kids to bed, and then chat and eat munchies while we waited for Midnight. Midnight came quietly in our house, with just the 4 of us, and we cheered and poured sparkling cider in red solo cups (we are sooooo fancy sometimes) and wished each other a Happy New Year. Our neighbors started lighting off fireworks and Savannah came running out of her room excitedly yelling that she needed to go outside, so we did, and watched them go off.

One of these days I'm going to throw a majorly huge New Years party where everyone has to dress all fancy and their will be music and dancing and everything! Someday...

The next day, we went out across the lake for our annual New Year's day shooting trip! We go out with family friends every year, but I have not been able to go out since Bryant and I have been married. One of us was always working, or I was pregnant and didn't want to go stand in the snow or whatever reasons. But this year was a blast! Savannah went off with her friends to play in the mud and snow and do a bit of sledding, and Deagan had a blast being passed around to everyone. 

^My sister-in-law Kenna and I^

^^Kenna's Dad Kurt came out too! It's so fun to have more family!^^

 

^^Kandis, Kenna and I. I think the girls actually did better at shooting than they guys did. And I took 2nd place, believe it or not! I kind of shocked myself when I did!^^

 

^My Brother Colter, who probably spends more time outdoors than anyone I know. You should see some of his photos from him hunting and fishing! I really think he should get into outdoor photography!^^

^The view of my mountain from the other side of the lake.^

^This is possibly my new favorite photo of Bryant. He just looks so manly and stuff. If I still had a Jr. High school locker, I'd hang this picture up inside it with little hearts drawn all over it. Hubba hubba!^

The weather was beautiful! I was just in a sweatshirt and I was so warm I was sweating! And we were up higher than the inversion, so it was nice to get some fresh, clean air in our lungs. We had a really good time and we can't wait for next year!

Afterwards, we went to lunch, where a guy walked up to our table and said "You guys look like Duck Dynasty meets Utah!" I had to agree. Everyone was covered in camo and mud. Not to mention my dad has a pretty sweet beard going on!

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 is off to a good start!

Also... this. Because Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are too much perfect going on.

And because Zooey is wearing a tiara, and I'm in full support of everyone wearing tiaras just because.