Part 2: DISNEYLAND

Oh gosh I can't believe that I can actually say that I've been to Disneyland! Just saying it makes me feel cool! :)
We went for two days, a Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Tuesday, we got there right as it was opening and got to see a bunch of characters put on a show right in front of the castle. Stori was sitting on Dan's shoulders as they started to walk out and yelled "OH DARE DAY ARE!" and had perma-smile the whole show. Donald Duck grabbed her hands and danced with her and completely made her day. The whole day was perfect after that.
We had packed enough food for snacks and lunch so we wouldn't have to leave, which was good, because there is so much to see! At first we were overwhelmed with how many rides and attractions there were, but we found our way really quick.
Stori's least favorite ride was "It's a Small World." For some reason it terrified her. The only part she liked about that was the water. I would say the highlight of her day was going to the play at the Royal Theatre to see 'Tangled.' She got her picture taken with Rapunzel and hugged her for at least 3 solid minutes. I kept having to say, "ok Stori, that's good," or "It's time to go now." I finally got her to let go of her by telling her we needed to go find Pascal. haha She also fell in love with the Carousel and could spot the "hornsey's" from anywhere. Even if we tried to avoid it she would somehow spot it and want to ride. One time when dan was off riding the matterhorn, I took Stori to ride it again. When it finished she asked "again, please." I told her no, and that we needed to find dad. Then I thought, no, I'll let her ride again. So we got in line after I told her yes and she hugged me and kissed me repeatedly until it was our turn to ride. Melted my heart that something so simple made her so happy. So happy, in fact, that she wanted to thank me with such sweet affection for 5 solid minutes. Definitely a highlight for me.
We spent a lot of time getting pictures with characters and Tangled signs. We spent a while in toon town seeing some favorite characters and playing in fountains. Stori LOVED Goofy and Minnie! Like a lot!!
Another fun ride we took Stori on was Pirates of the Caribbean. She was a little scared at first, because there is a big drop in the dark that you don't see coming, but after that she really liked it. Dan was able to ride a lot of the bigger rides, but I couldn't go with him because a)) I am pregnant and they specifically say you CAN'T if your prigs and b)) we had Stori with us. Next time we go I really want to ride Splash Mountain. That was my favorite one to watch people go on. I'm sure I am missing so much of what day 2 consisted of, but luckily I have pictures and I made a California book. OH-the PARADE!! Stori absolutely loved that! She got her moves on when she heard the music and saw the characters performing. Everything there really is so magical! Even more so when you have a little girl and watch her experience it. After the parade we went on a few more rides until it closed and then spent time in downtown Disney til that closed. Our hotel was right across the street so we just walked home, ate some Chipotle and fell asleep. Stori actually just laid her head on my pillow while we were eating and fell asleep.
Wednesday we got to the Park as it was opening again and headed straight for Flynn Ryder. We didn't get to see him the day before and made that our priority. Found out what time we could get our picture with him and entertained ourselves until then. Dan's parents, sisters, brother, and nephew came that day also, so Dan was able to ride some rides with them while Stori and I went to Tangled and Beauty and the Beast. Stori met all the Princesses, and even had Peter Pan come up to her and ask for a picture...haha it was kind of weird and Stori was less than impressed. Finally the time came to meet Ryder (probably my favorite part of the whole experience). Rapunzel and Flynn were standing together for pictures and when they saw that it was Stori's turn, Ryder said, "Oh I bet this one is here for you Rapunzel." When Stori didn't run to her I told him that she was actually  here to see him! He looked surprised but raised his arms out to her and she ran in for a giant hug! She layer her head on his shoulder and got really comfortable. I told him how much she loved him even though he could clearly see that. IT WAS PERFECT! she spent the rest of the day asking for him and would point out his home. She saw a few posters of him and ran up to it to hug it. She even found the Tower and tried to climb it because it was Ryders home. :) I just love her.
The 3 of us shared some Mexican food for lunch and then continued to ride rides and find characters. Stori's favorite rides of that day (besides the carousel) were the Buzz Lightyear one and the Jungle Tour. Dan and I actually really liked those too. Dan's favorite rides were Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, and Star Tours (he's been to Disneyland twice and both times Space Mountain was closed-he was very disappointed).
We finally found our souvenir ornament (we get one on each vacation) and Stori's souvenir Rapunzel doll. No one sold Flynn Ryder dolls, so this was the next best thing.
We finished the night by watching the parade again. This time by the entrance. Stori made a few friends and they chased each other around a flower garden for 20 minutes just laughing waiting for the parade. We headed back to the Hotel and cried that our trip was ending the next morning.

Both flights we took, Stori was such a champ. She actually slept the whole way home except for the landing that was "scarrryy!" To be fare, it was scary. The key to her smooth traveling was "Tangled" and "Madagascar" on my iPhone. And a lot of fishy crackers.
California, we love you!
It was so much fun making these memories with my little family, and I feel so blessed to have been able to go.

 

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Part 1. California love.

Well, I did it. I finally ventured into the state of California for the first time at the age of 27. Stori went for the first time at 20 months. She's way cooler than me.

Our trip started on thursday April 18. 

We flew into LAX, got our rental car, got our luggage, and headed to Claremont where we would stay for the first 2 days. the drive there was... well... let's just say we hated our first 2 hours in California. It took us 2 hrs when it should have only taken 30 minutes. (who knew 1:30 would be rush hour)?

Once we got to Claremont however, we fell in love!! It is the cutest town with such cute homes. We stayed with the Foresters until Saturday. 

Thursday we hung out in the back yard the whole time playing games, visiting, eating, and laughing. That night we went to '21 Flavors' for some yummy fro yo. Alicia and I were the only ones to stay up past 10:30 haha so we just sat on the couch talking for hours. Friday we got up and had a yummy breakfast in the backyard and took our first adventure to Pasadena. It has always been a goal of mine to go visit the 'Father of the Bride' house and everyone was kind enough to humor me. it is just as gorgeous in real life and the town is ridiculously beautiful. two thumbs up! 

Then it was off to 'In n Out' for some lunch. Stori finally ate french fries for the first time!! huge accomplishment!! and of course she also had a bowl full of tomatoes in front of her. :)

After lunch, we drove to Malibu so the guys could get their surf on. Drew was so nice to teach Dan and Dan. Neither of them got up, but they were pretty sore from it all and had so much fun. The girls just relaxed on the beach and went for a walk to discover that 4 girls just decided to make it a topless beach. it was GROSS!! Stori hated the sand this trip-not sure why either, because in Oregon she cried when we left the beach. She's a coo-coo. We had so much fun that day. It ended with garlic balls and italian food at C and O's in Venice. 

Saturday morning Haily and I got up and ran 4 miles in Claremont. (it was sad because it was our last time running together. The poops moved to AZ). It was a fun run because of our pretty surroundings and because we were at sea level and didn't breath hard at all. oh and we saw a lot of lizards. After breakfast dan, stori and myself headed off on our own, for a crazy tourist-filled day. We went to the Hollywood sign and saw a nasty old naked man, saw the 'star walk' or whatever it's called, got Chipotle, drove around Warner bro's studios, went to Beverly Hills (saw 10 ferrari's, and a mclaren f1-dan really wanted me to add that) and let stori play in a park there, went to the LA Temple, went to Long beach and saw the Queen Mary-didn't do the tour because it was $44, tried to go to the aquarium but it was closed for the Toyota grand prix, and then headed down the coast on the 101. We met up with the Thompsons and spent the night at Newport beach-our favorite. We grabbed dinner at 'Great Mex' and ate it on the beach while the sun set. We laughed a lot that night and tried to ignore the fact that it was our last time hanging out with Haily and Dan. We grabbed shakes at 'Ruby's' on the pier and ate up on the roof. It was a perfect night. We dropped them off at their hotel and had a very sad drive to San Clemente because Stori kept saying "bye haily, bye dan!" she will miss them so much. We got to Kristen and Ricks house late that night. They have such cute home and were so nice to let us stay there while they were remodeling. Sunday morn we went to church with Kristen and met Busta Rhymes. (ish). Stori took a good long nap at the Price home while we waiting for Kristen and Jon to get home to venture out to the beach. Stori loved chasing the pigeons, swinging on the swings, and walking on her own. She wouldn't let us hold her hand or carry her, so the stubborn girl probably walked 2 miles. Rick and Kristen made us a delicious dinner followed by homemade ice cream and pie! they were way too good to us! Oh and Kristen had a "Welcome to California" package put together for us when we got there. 

Monday we started our day off by going to Balboa Island to go whale watching. We got there just in time and the captain actually waited for us before he left. We saw 5 whales, many sea lions, and about 1,000 dolphins! It was a lot of fun. We grabbed lunch at 'In n Out' (again) and headed to Dana Point. I wish wish wish wish we would have swam there because there was the cutest beach there that had perfect sand. But, we went home instead. Dan's parents drove in that night so we got to spend a short time with them, Nicole, Chase, and Marisa. The boys rented Argo to watch because Kristen has Clear Play, but I fell asleep early to prepare for our early morning adventure to Disneyland. Oh man I wish I was there right now. Thanks Kristen and the Foresters for letting us invade your homes! We had so much fun seeing all the local spots and visiting with you! Now enjoy picture overload.

 

Boy, girl, or a puppy?

Well here we are again. 

On our quest to eat at the manly 'Texas Roadhouse' or the feminine 'Cafe Rio.'

Dan was really hoping for a boy and that's why he chose Texas Roadhouse. 

I was fine with a boy, but really wanted another little girl. 

To up the anti, we decided that if it was a boy we would vacation to Paris.

If it was a girl, we would go to California and Disneyland.

haha

Well, to sum it up quite nicely, we will be eating sweet pork salads and flying to Cali. 

(so what if the Cali tickets were already purchased and Paris was never really an option).

Best. Day. Ever.

Final score is 3-1 GIRLS win! Sorry daddy!!

All 3 Radford girls!!!

Stori held the ultrasound picture up to her play phone and the baby said her first words "Hi Daddy!" 

Frankie kicks SDR

YAY!! Finally dan has felt Frankie move! I have been feeling the kicks since 14 weeks, but today Stori, Dan, and myself all sat on the couch and felt the little kicks. We actually got to see Frankie move too! It was a little bizarre cause I don't remember being able to see Stori kick this soon. But all in all, it was great entertainment for the evening.

PLUS, SDR got home from work early and we were able to go walk around the temple and eat a healthy dinner at a normal hour! I could get used to days like these.

(it also doesn't hurt to have a raspberry cheesecake shake).

She loved showing us "mononi," or what most humans call angel Moroni. And I just noticed I actually missed getting Moroni in the picture. Eh, ya win some, ya lose some. Dan has some cute ones on his camera, but that is just way too much work at the moment.

sheesh louis! 20 months!?

cutest people I know leaving for their date

spending time with 'papa' and playing at the park.

making forts and how she watches 'gascar' 

just a little bit crazy

In 4 short months I'll have a 2 year old, and one month later, a newborn!
Oh I am getting so anxious to find out if Baby Rad 2 is a boy or a girl!!!! We find out April 3rd and I will be almost 21 weeks!
Dan thinks and hopes for a boy.
I think it's a boy but think it would be so nice to have another little girl. Stori and Baby Rad 2 will both be born in summer and will be the right season for reusing clothes, shoes, everything, so that would be so nice/cheap! :)
Dan has also named Baby Rad 2 'Frankie.' No, it's not it's real name, just every time I ask dan to say the first baby name he thinks of, it's always Frankie. haha just go with it! {it kinda sounds better than "it."}
I can feel Frankie kick so much and love it. and all the kicking makes me want ice cream.
I can't wait until I show a little more so I don't feel super fat. That doesn't make sense, but it does.

Stori Rose is 20 months old, and still my little shadow.

• We play hide and seek for about 3 hours out of our day!
• We make forts to play with our toys (or our cousins). 
• Climbing on things is her talent. 
• She will climb up our tall kitchen chairs to get to the table, then uses the table to get in her high chair. seems a lot easier for me just to put her in, but now I just supervise. She also pushes her princess chair to the window to stand in the window sill and look for bikes, cars, trucks, buses, temple, moroni, snow, doggies, sun, birds, or anything else she sees.
• Clean up is actually one of her favorite games
• she gathers our shoes and puts them in our closet, puts away her coat, cleans up her kitchen, throws away diapers or any garbage, puts all her babies in the rocking chair, puts her puzzles away, puts all her bath toys in their correct buckets, puts blankets in the ottoman, and does all of this while singing the "clean up" song. So CUTE!
• Madagascar {gascar} is the new Tangled. She sings the "afro" song, and also the creepy "la la laaa" song that Mort sings. haha. And of course, dances to them. 
• She pretty much doesn't like her daddy. 
• I mean, she loves him, but just associates him with going to sleep because he doesn't get home until her bedtime. She loves him when he takes her on dates to the movies though. Her first movie at a theatre was "Rise of the Guardians." Dan said she sat on his lap and watched the whole thing while eating an entire thing of popcorn. haha it was her 20 month daddy-daughter date.
• She is great at recognizing emotions. 
• If something scares her she comes and hugs me and says, "ooooh scareyyyy." Usually it's something in a movie or a really loud airplane. We play the sad/happy game. She does frowny face and says "ohhh, sad," then immediately laughs and screams "HAPPY!" reminds me of a game I used to play with Megan because after 2 rounds of sad/happy we are both laughing so hard! Meg and I used to fake laugh and then stop. Fake laugh, stop. And pretty soon we were laughing so hard we couldn't do the "stop" part.
• She can 'read' her bunny book all the way through. 
• It's an I Spy book, so she literally tells me everything she sees and matches it up. My favorite parts are: the spooky spider (because she runs her hands on our backs like a spider), the sleeping mouse (she pretend sleeps), the winter page because she says, 'brrr cold' and hugs herself and shakes, when she sees the sun (she covers her eyes and says "ohhh bright"), and when she finds baby birds (she does a high pitch "OOOOHHHH TUTE!!!! and scrunches her face because the cuteness is too much for her)! 
• When she sees any yellow car she yells for "Shasha" and "Lila." Our friends the Foresters drive a yellow car.
• Her cutest saying is "where are youuuu? OP, there ya'are!"
• She says goodbye to her potty when we leaves the bathroom.
• Sleeps from 8-8 during the night and naps from 1-3:30. {with blankets as pillows}
• She is still a picky eater. My goal is to get her to eat chocolate before she turns 2.
• loves quasadillas with ham and cheese, peas, bananas, apples, nectarines, veggie straws, soup, any casserole, ice cream, pickles, oatmeal, waffles, yogurt, cottage cheese, pizza, potatoes, and of course, tomatoes.

Well, that is a pretty good update on Stori and 'Frankie'. Next, I will share the time I may or may not have broken my wrist and I will also put up a preg picture. Cause that's what I do.

What we do so we don't go crazy, a 19 month old, and a preg lady

Right now I am 16 weeks along and loving every minute of this growing belly. I get kind of stressed that I am growing and getting big already, but then I remember that it's because of a tiny human that is also growing and getting bigger.
So it's good news.
What's not good news, is the amount of ice cream I consume in a week... "the baby wants it" isn't a good enough excuse anymore. I actually blame my ice cream addiction on the weather. There isn't much to do when it's cold, snowy, and windy, and a few of my great friends have started getting together every day to prevent us mothers from going nuts. Some of those get-togethers include going to Arctic Circle to let the kiddies play on the toys. I have no self control when put in a restaurant with 35 different flavors of shakes. none.

play area at A.C.

Luckily my friends also motivate me to work out. I play vball on monday nights and when I'm done playing I head over to the icenter to run. We also run a few nights after we put the littles to bed. I run so much better when I'm with someone and we can talk the entire time. I think we will start running with our kids outside again this week once the snow melts, but for now I will enjoy the time with just us girls. :)
All of us mom's also love going to the Craze, the Library, to each others houses, grocery stores, and our most recent trip was on campus. We took the kids (Nixon, Maddox, Lila, Nora, and Stori) up to see the animals in the Benson. They loveeeed it! We also took them to the green house to see the parrots, fish, and flowers. Then went to the track in the icenter to let them run around and then look at pictures of Jesus. It was a perfect double date for the twins and the red-heads! :)

Stori and I color a lot throughout the day. I have included 2 pictures of Stori's version of fishies. She get's so excited when she draws the fish and dots the little eye. She shouts "FISHHH" and then i decipher where the fish is on the paper. I love that girl.
The picture on the left is with regular markers, and the picture on the right is an app on my phone that she just draws with her fingers.

 

Stori is 19 months now and is talking a lot. Her Nursery leaders tell me that she knows all the songs they sing and is very obedient. She is great at cleaning up and knowing where everything in our house goes. If I ask her to do something she listens and does it or says "hand" and grabs my hand to help her. Her creative imaginary play is amazing, and her babies are so loved and are always wrapped in their specific blankies. They also have a bed (the rocking chair) where they go "nigh nigh" a lot. She is great about sharing her pretend food and drinks with everyone, is very interested in the potty, turns her blankets into pillows while sleeping, loves picnics in our living room, randomly shouts "Go" when on top of something high and then dives off even if no one is there to catch her, loves popcorn, sings and plays ring around the roses by herself, loves swimming but not if dad's there, still a unique eater, counts to 10 but 4,5,7,8,9 all sound the same, and loves to give the baby in my tummy kisses. I LOVE HER and her sweet/sassy little attitude!

our "High School" date.

The guys job: to plan the date.
The girls job: to get all dolled up.
A few days before, we searched pinterest for makeup tutorials and then the 3 girls ran to the store to pick out some bright red lipstick and fake eyelashes. We ended up spending over an hour in the store! haha. I also had them dye my hair red for the big Valentines date!
When the day finally came, all the girls went to Haily's apartment to get ready so that the guys could all come pick us up together---ya know, like a high school date! Haily ended up fixing all of our hair, which was great because it took us forever to decide on makeup! :)
We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and on the way there we saw 3 deer, 3 dead deer, and a moose! It was like yellowstone on HWY 20!
After 2 hours at dinner we all headed to ROSS to walk off some of our calories and to get bow-ties. At one point we all hid from Drew and once he spotted us he decided to scare Alicia by grabbing her bum through the clothes....turns out it was Haily's bum haha! anywayyyyy....
We headed back to Rexburg to see "Warm Bodies." The guys really like it, but Alicia and I only watched about half of it. We don't love zombies eating brains, but we kind of like funny inner monologues. After the movie we played arcade games just like high schoolers and then returned home to relieve our babysitters! Thanks mother for watching Stori for a looooong time! We had a blast!

getting ready

with our lipstick on!

boys will be boys...well, at least SDR.

Thanks SDR.

I am so glad that SDR has a job that allows me to stay home with Stori Rose! He works pretty late most nights and I miss him a lot when I only get to see him a few hours before bedtime, but at least I do get to see him. 

Staying home with Stori has been better than I imagined it to be. I thought I might miss work a little bit after I quit in December. Turns out I miss it absolutely NOT AT ALL! Seriously not at all. It feels good to see patients in Walmart and they come up to say hi, or when patients tell me I was their favorite assistant; but that isn't anything compared to the joy I feel when Stori gives me 100 kisses in a row or grabs my hand to show me something she thinks is the greatest invention in the world. She is my little shadow. She knows where everything in the house is because I can't take a step without her following it. As annoying as it might sound, I absolutely love it. I lover her singing "clean up" when she decides she's done coloring. I love her radar hearing and hawk eyes for airplanes. I love her pretend play and dance moves. I love her dare-devil tricks. I love that she puts all of her toys, clothes, and shoes exactly where they belong. I love her little folded arms and half-closed eyes during prayers. I love when she snuggles with each and everyone of her babies and makes sure she kisses all of them. I love when she laughs at me and with me. I love that she loves tomatoes, pickles, peas, cottage cheese, and yogurt more than cookies or cakes. I love her little talking voice and all the words she learns each day. I love when she grabs a book and sits cross-legged on the floor to read it. I love that she kisses the pictures of Jesus, Lorenzo Snow, Temples, Rapunzel, and all the baby stori's before she goes to sleep. I actually love everything. I am glad I don't have to miss any of that because of work. So, thanks SDR. You do lot's around the house and we appreciate ya! :)

best purchase of the week! and quite possibly the happiest I've seen Dan.

lot's of love

her new love for popcorn is getting out of hand. :)

We sure love ice cream and playing on toys with friends. 

I hope I'll be able to love baby Rad 2 as much as I love my tiny sassy human and my giant size sassy human. 

P.S. Stori didn't watch T.V. once this week! and even more exciting, she got rid of her binky! Wahoo! Such a big girl!

the long post about our thoughts before becoming pregnant.

{November 3, 2012}This will  be posted in several several months (hopefully not too many though). I want to just keep a little reminder of the the story before having a baby. (jen did something like this and I loved it)!
 For the longest time I was quite anti-getting-pregnant-soon, because I wanted to have one more summer with Stori as our only child, and one more summer of running half marathons. The plan was to get pregnant September of '13. That way I would be able to spend good quality time with SDR & Stori. Plus I would have a May baby and would have all summer to walk/run and lose some baby weight.
BUT, as I was making all these plans in my noggin, I realized how dang selfish that was. There will be many half marathons to run. Why did I care if I had a May baby or not? A baby is a blessing that is denied to many and here I am saying it can wait.
Well one day my brain just switched. I told SDR I was ready whenever he was. He said he'd pray about it. (This was the beginning of November). Well one week later I told SDR we needed to go pick up my BC because I was out. He mumbled indistinctly. I ask him to repeat what he said. Quietly he said, "maybe I don't want you to get anymore BC?" Boy was I thrilled!!! I don't know how long it will take to get pregnant because it just sorta happened last time, but I will be happy no matter when it is! Even if it's right during running season! :)

{December 6, 2012} Well these past 2 weeks I have actually 'felt pregnant' if that makes any sense. I feel like my body has started the process of making a baby. How bizarre that sounds! But I have been a little more tired, more restless, more hungry. I am craving anything mexican or sour. Which is really weird because IF, and I mean IF, I am pregnant, I wouldn't think I would experience cravings until way later on. Ya, I am pretty sure it is me just getting my hopes up! I guess we'll find out in a week! :) Test scheduled for 12-15-12.

{December 12, 2012}
We couldn't wait until the 15th for the test. I already knew what the result would be and just needed to prove it to SDR. :) I was right!!!  IT WAS POSITIVE!!! I knew my crazy body was actually making a baby!! We are so so so so so excited!! We aren't going to announce it for quite a long time though-well, for as long as I'm not showing i suppose! :) Baby Rad 2 due August 20, 2013!!!! I am feeling a lot of lower stomach pressure, like the little elves tinkering away to make a baby. I am still craving Mexican food and Salt and vinegar chips! I am still running 4 miles a day and hope I can do that for a few months still. I am really restless at night and can't sleep in. And so it begins... :)
p.s. Megan texted me to see if I was pregnant today. HOW DOES SHE ALWAYS KNOW? :) she called me on the very day when I took the preg test with Stori too. She's good.

{January 4, 2013}
Well, I have been sick the past 3 weeks. Part of it is pregnancy, but most of it is the flu. Not a good combination. Over the holidays I had to go to the hospital for some fluids. That part my family knows. :) But the other part is that they had to do an emergency ultra-sound to make sure the baby was okay because I didn't eat for 5 days and was dehydrated. But baby looks GREAT! (not twins-phew). we saw the heartbeat and learned that I'm measuring 4 days farther than we thought. Right now I am 8 weeks and experiencing aversions to all the foods I was sick with those 5 days. And, like last time, smells!! Dan has been amazing and has cleaned the house every single day, and has made every meal. One thing I didn't have to worry about with the first pregnancy, was changing diapers. So dan has been changing all the poopy diapers so I don't go ralph! he is seriously amazing!

{February 21, 2013}
I publish this post today finally! It feels good for people to finally know because I was afraid SDR was going to spill the beans on accident. Like at Christmastime he says "With this baby we should go to EIRMC instead." In front of all my family. I kicked him and he hid his head in shame haha. But, so far this pregnancy has actually been better than the last. My weird smell aversion only lasted a week and last time it was til week 26 or something. I love almost every food and crave ice cream every hour of every day. Playing vball is great as long as I drink a lot of water throughout the games. Not bad headaches like last time, and no morning sickness. I love being pregnant! I am anxious to find out the gender so that we can start thinking of names. It's hard to find a good name to match Astoria Rose! :)

The Secret Story to our Sweet Stori

Dear Stori,
We have some exciting news to share with you! You are going to be a....

Because....

Oh but Stori, don't be sad! We will still love you sooooooo much!!!!!!

There, that is much better! You will be such an amazing older sister! 

The end.