Disneyland with the fam!

Last week we had an absolutely fabulous family reunion with my family! We stayed one night in Vegas on our way to California for 2 days at Disneyland and California Adventure and then a trip to Ventura to visit the beach and also my grandparents' graves. We then spent one more night in Vegas on our way home. I took lots of pictures...

 DAY 1: Drive to Vegas, dinner, & playing with the whole fam

 

 Here are 10 of the 12 nieces and nephews. Super cute!

 Hannah sporting her darling Disney princess outfit.

DAY 2: Swim in Vegas, drive to Cali, dinner at hotel, & beach for some

 Hannah loves her floaty. And she sure looks cute in her Minnie Mouse swim suit and swim hat!

Ashley & Katelyn enjoying the hot tub.

 Faith & Mikayla being goofy. :)

 

 All the fun boy cousins together.

 Joseph kept Hannah entertained for hours on our drive to California. Nice!

 This cutie pie was glad to be out of the car.

 A night trip to Newport Beach. Dark but fun!

DAY 3: DISNEYLAND!

We got to the park when it opened. :)

The whole Clayson clan in our fun matching shirts!

Hannah loved stealing this cute hat from her cousin, Mikayla.

 Hannah's first ride at Disneyland--Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters!

 She liked Autopia until she decided she wanted to stand up to avoid being squished between her squishy parents. :)

 Hannah's favorite part of Disneyland--walking along any dirty railing that she possibly could. I'm totally serious. :)

 Small World with the fam while Scott tried to give Hannah a nap.

 Killing two birds--letting Hannah enjoy her railing while trying to keep her hydrated.

Yay for Splash Mountain! And yay for my parents who kindly watched Hannah while we rode bigger rides!

Silly Hannah!

The little crew that went on Pirates while the others went on Indiana Jones.

 You can't tell from this picture, but Hannah really liked Pirates.

She was just in desperate need of the sleep she fell into soon after. :)

I enjoyed my traditional chocolate-covered frozen banana while Scott and I took turns riding Thunder Mountain (taking advantage of short lines during Fantasmic).

Then Scott took Hannah to the hotel to sleep while I enjoyed a few more rides with some of the fam. What was I thinking getting into a teacup with these 3 spinning maniacs?!?!

Rylan and Katelyn were totally zonked. Ouch!

Love this photo!

DAY 4: More Disneyland & California Adventure!

Some of our fam got up bright and early to get on the big ride in Cars Land. We let Hannah sleep in a little.

 But we did enjoy the other 2 smaller rides in Cars Land.

Yes! Hannah found her beloved railings again!

Isn't Tow-Mater the cutest? Next to Hannah, of course!

Aunt Jana was able to get Hannah to sleep in her stroller while we went on Soarin'. Sweet!

When Hannah woke up, Scott and I took her back to Disneyland to ride on the train and to do a few Fantasyland rides. This pic of Scott on the Alice in Wonderland ride totally cracks me up!

 Hannah liked her view of the parade from the ride.

 Hannah was hot and tired and had a bit of a meltdown in the line for Peter Pan. Gotta love the look on Scott's face. :)

Never fear! Hannah perked right up when we let her go back to the exciting railing. Too bad she kept grabbing the bum of the poor lady in front of us.

Hannah's favorite ride of all was definitely Small World. She was in happy awe. So we took her on it again later. :)

 One last pic in Disneyland before heading back to California Adventure.

We enjoyed the river run ride with the fam as well as dinner before Scott took Hannah to the hotel to sleep and I waited in line for almost 2 hours for the big Cars Land ride that had broken down earlier. Thank you, Cole, for providing great entertainment in line. :)  And yes, I know that I look freakish in this pic.

 I think the wait was super fun, and the ride was totally worth it! Afterward, Cole & I went on Soarin' one more time before I did some last-minute souvenir shopping. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Disneyland?! But, boy, were my feet aching.

DAY 5: Ventura, beach, grandparents' grave, & drive back to Vegas

 We ate lunch at a family favorite--Andria's. Yum!

 Then we fed our leftover fries to the seagulls.

 And we enjoyed some time at the beach.

I absolutely love this beach-loving cutie pie!

She totally loved the water!

 

 She kicked and splashed in it like crazy!

Hannah thought the sand was pretty cool too.

And she even "helped" Katelyn build a sand castle. I'll have to try later to download some awesome video we got of her playing in the water.

Family pic at the beach where I spent many a childhood afternoon playing and exploring.

It was wonderful for so many of us to be able to visit my Clayson grandparents' graves.

Throughout the trip, Hannah had so much fun trying to act big with her cousins.

We of course had to make a pit stop at good ol' Charlie Brown's on Pearblossom Highway. We got back to Vegas super late that night, but it was so worth it to spend some time in Ventura!

DAY 6: Swim in Vegas, lunch in Mesquite, & drive home

We took a quick swim in the morning. Hannah absolutely loves the pool. Then we had lunch with part of the fam in Mesquite before heading home.

Beautiful Hannah with her cute Minnie Mouse doll. She loves "Mimmie." :)

We had such a wonderful vacation! It truly was an exhausting blast! We certainly loved spending so much time with my family! Thanks tons to my mom and dad for making all the magic happen!!!

Overdue updates

A few updates for you...

Hannah at 18 months:
Just over 2 weeks ago, Hannah had her 18-month well child check. She weighed 24 lbs 3 1/2 oz (69th percentile), was 33 inches long (82nd percentile), and her head measured 19 3/4 inches (99th percentile). So she is finally growing into her head. :) The doctor was very pleased with her development and confirmed that there is absolutely nothing wrong with her physically or cognitively. Hannah openly showed him her stubborn, independent side with a few emphatic "I do"s. Silly girl. :)

My miscarriage shtuff:
This past week I had my monthly blood work done, and my HCG levels are still less than 2. So no more abnormal cells have grown since my D&C (surgery) in March. Phew. My doctor has ordered that I have the blood work done for 2 more months, and then if things are still looking good in September he will give us the go-ahead to try to get pregnant again. Scott and I fluctuate in our level of desire to try again, but we really do want Hannah to have a sibling. So, we'll just keep you posted.

And now what you're actually wondering about--Hannah's progress on walking:
She's not. Well, not like many people seem to think she should be. Hannah can walk, but she just doesn't want to walk on her own yet. And I AM OK WITH THAT. A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling really angry about it all, and it took me a little while to figure out exactly what I was angry about. I wasn't angry at Hannah. Sure, she's super stubborn, but I totally love that about her. I wondered if I was angry at Heavenly Father, but I really wasn't. I mean, it's not like Hannah is actually unable to walk. I wondered if I was angry at all the trying-to-be-helpful people who have offered countless, unsolicited suggestions on what I could/should do to get Hannah to walk (not to mention the pitiful looks). I can't say that I haven't been annoyed at times, but I realize that the vast majority have truly just wanted to be helpful. So I couldn't be mad about that. I'll admit that I was a bit angry at Hannah's physical therapist for trying to trick her and forcing her to practice walking on her own while she cried through much of her therapy session a month ago. After that, Hannah became much more resistant to walking on her own, and 2 weeks ago Hannah wouldn't do a single thing for her physical therapist during a session. You go, Hannah! (I wasn't actually in that session because I was about to lose it, so Scott got to suffer through that without me.) It was shortly after that that I realized I was just plain mad at myself. Mad that I had listened to much of the negative and sometimes judgmental concern for Hannah. Mad that I had let others' comments get to me and make me second-guess my own feelings and impressions--I had been feeling for several months that Hannah just needed us all to back off and let her decide to walk on her own. And I did actually let up a lot, but then I would worry that I was doing something wrong and occasionally try others' non-helpful suggestions. And that's what I was so angry about. I had sometimes let others determine what was right or good for Hannah instead of trusting what I felt was right for her. And I was really angry that I most likely made Hannah feel like she wasn't doing something right instead of focusing on helping her feel loved and accepted no matter what. Anyway, Scott and I decided to tell Hannah's physical therapist that Hannah needed a break from it all this month. And Hannah has made some progress on her own. She'll occasionally walk a few steps on her own, and she'll stand alone for longer periods of time. And when she's done standing or walking, she's done. And we don't try trick her or make her do it. She will walk when she is ready to, and THAT IS OK. She is ok. She is perfect. And now we are all feeling much better about things.

I'll end with some random pics from July:

 Hannah enjoyed watching the horses on our wagon trip at the animal farm at Thanksgiving Point. I just love the shape of her head. :)

Hannah and me at the animal farm. She loved the animals unless they got too close.

Hannah and I got to watch her cute baby cousin one afternoon.

A rare moment when Hannah was speeding around with her walker. She had been trying on her swim hat and cute cover-up.

Dinner with friends at a delicious Mexican dive in Wendover...

...on our way to see the Sun Tunnels in northwestern Utah.

 I'm s super star.

I'm grateful that my amazing single friends still let me hang out with them. :)

The sunset was gorgeous and well-worth the long drive.

Hannah sporting her new Minnie Mouse swimsuit and swim hat.

 She LOVES splashing her daddy.

Scott with the lemon pudding cake I made (with a little of his help) a couple of days after his birthday.

Have a fabulous week! We're off to California and Disneyland with my fam tomorrow. Fun!

Thank heaven for Scottie Buh-Dottie!

Scottie turned 36 yesterday! The night before, he informed me that he was depressed to be entering his late 30's. I informed him that 36 most definitely is NOT late 30's (give us at least another year, for crying out loud). We had fun celebrating yesterday and tonight...

Hannah liked the looks (and later the taste) of this birthday cake for Scott and his niece, Lauren, who shares his birthday.

And Scott loves Dora. :)

Hannah thoroughly enjoyed Lauren's pool party. Scott joined the party later for pizza, cake, and ice cream while I was working.

Scott then spent some quality time reading to Hannah.

And they shared some hugs and kisses before Scott put Hannah to bed. We then played Chicken Foot (Dominoes) with some of Scott's fam. Good times.

Scott loved the cards and candy he got from his favorite wife and his favorite daughter.

And he especially loves the grill he got as a combined birthday/Father's Day gift.

We extended the celebration by going out tonight for all-you-can-eat sushi with a friend and some family. Scott actually smiled! (In pictures, he usually looks more like John does here.) :)

Me & Jen & Jana--We were pretty much too stuffed to move.

John took this amazing pic. I love Scott's one-eyed peek. :)

The celebration continues tomorrow night with dessert with some friends. I know, I know. Scott's a party animal. And he's also pretty stinking awesome. I'm WAY glad he was born 36 years ago, yo! :)

Festive 4th

We had a fun and festive 4th of July last week!

Our festivities started a couple of days early at an Owlz game with fireworks afterward:

Go Owlz!

Hannah enjoyed the fireworks after the initial startle.

Independence Day was long and fun-filled:

We watched the parade with my fam.

Hannah and Scott made their own adorable parade.

Seriously precious. :)

Hannah got a little hot and tired (she had been sick the day before).

Her cute cousins tried to keep her entertained.

But this is how she spent the last half of the parade.

I wish I had pics of our BBQ lunch at my Grandma's house.

 Hannah loves the new chair(s) from her Clayson grandparents.

And she loved being watched by her aunt Jana while Scott and I enjoyed a BBQ dinner and Stadium of Fire with his fam.

Scott also really enjoyed picking his nose for this hideous pic.

This pic is probably worse. Scott's eyes look super droopy, and I am on the verge of getting really sick.

A beautiful sunset at the end of a fun day. (Until Scott and I were up all night with a horrible stomach flu that we passed around our families. Sorry, guys!)

We love our country, and we love our families!