..the trip from hell..

last weekend our little family went to san francisco for tiffany's (lance's sister) wedding. we, well i, had been looking forward to this trip for a while. first off, i love san fran. it is chalk full of culture and character...i love the food, the sights, the shopping...everything about it! second, i was excited for lance's niece, sisters and their husbands to meet finn! tiffany and kevin missed meeting him the day he was born by about 8 hours and wendy, dave and shaya live back east and weren't able to make it out this way until now. third, i was so excited for tiff to tie the knot and to be in the temple with lance's siblings and sibling's in law. :-)

well, things don't always go according to plan in life...case in point was this little vaycay. i think it was probably the worst weekend of my life, and it was definitely the worst trip of my life!

lance has been wanting to ride the train to california since, well probably since before he was born. so we booked our train tickets about a month ago and at the time it sounded kinda fun but as the date to leave got closer and closer i started to dread it. does 17 hours on a train with a two and a half month old baby sound fun to you? exactly. i begged lance to change his mind, but he is stubborn and wouldn't budge. and that's how our trip from hell began.

to start off, the train was three hours delayed coming into utah, so when we got to the train station at 10:45 p.m. we just had turn right around and go home for three hours. everything was okay while on the train for the 8 hours we were on it. i still don't understand why the train has to go so dang slow...i mean seriously, pick it up a notch or two so the ride isn't 3/4 of a day long! we ended up making more stops than they usually make for whatever reason, so if we had made it into california we would have arrived four hours later than scheduled. but of course we didn't make it all the way to california (on the train anyway) because a semi-truck hit our train. yes, you read that right. a semi tractor-trailer just rammed right into us like it was no big deal. who knows what he was thinking? we'll never know because he is dead. so that put a little hiccup in our day. to read my full account of the train accident, click here.

the train accident happend 30 minutes out of fallon, nevada, which is about 70 miles out of reno. we finally made it to reno at about 7:00 p.m. thanks to an extremely nice couple who offered to drive us there. i will always be grateful to the hunsinger's for their generosity. when we got to reno we needed to rent a car...one way (to oakland, ca) which is incredibly expensive. i mean seriously, why is it so much more to drive it one way?! i went to the bathroom and to get a drink while lance worked everything out with enterprise. when i got back i was expecting for us to be ready to go, but nope. lance forgot his driver's licence in the console of his truck, so he was unable to rent a car in his name. great! they wouldn't let me rent it in my name because i don't have a credit card. long story short, we had to call american express (thank goodness they have 24 hour customer service), and add me as an authorized user on lance's account. well, it takes 24 hours after you request to add someone before it is official, so we were still in a little pickle. basically lance and i both yelled at the enterprise man and finally he bent some rules and allowed us to rent a car using lance's credit card in my name. seriously, what a j.o.k.e.

we got a hotel room in a little town 30 minutes east of sacramento because we were too tired to drive. we woke up bright and early the next day and made it safe and sound to oakland by 10:30...we had two hours to spare before we had to be at the temple for the wedding. sadly, i didn't have any clean underwear because we didn't have time to make it to a distribution center before the ceremony. i got a spray tan the day we left on the train. i started my period on the train. so i was feeling just a little disgusting, if you can imagine. ;)

the temple was good but i was still in a horribly bad and shaken up mood. i mean seriously, we could have died in that dumb train accident. i didn't have time to pump before we went into the temple, so i had to nurse finn right when we got out so i missed all the pictures. :( the sacrifices us mom's make for our kids, eh? ;) jk. after pictures i was s.t.a.r.v.i.n.g. so we went and got some food...greasy chicken since we couldn't find anything else. they also only served coke products and for the life of us we couldn't find a gas station with a soda fountain so i hadn't had a pepsi and let me tell you, that's enough to make me grouchy for the whole day. by the time we got to tiff and kevin's house the ring ceremony was just starting. for one reason or another my angel baby decided that would be a great time to have a screaming fit unlike any i have ever heard. so i missed the entire ring ceremony! lovely.

in between the ring ceremony and reception we had to return our one-way rental car and get another rental car for us to use the rest of the time we were there. the enterprise in reno totally screwed up and we had to pay more than they originally told us. perfect. and the only two cars left on the lot at the enterprise in oakland for us to rent were a jeep and a ford f150...the two most expensive cars to rent (lance decided to go with the truck. he said it was the cheaper of the two but i am not sure i believe him! ;) ).

when we got back from the rental car place i was exhausted, mad, depressed, angry, and p.o.'d (pissed off!). i was not in a partying mood at all so finn and i just took a nap together and i missed the whole reception.

the next day was much better. we went sightseeing in san fran and nothing seemed to go wrong that day, thank goodness. :)

before we came home on monday i called amtrak to see if they knew anything about the luggage that was left on the train. turns out it had just arrived at the oakland amtrak station that morning! thank goodness...i felt like a little kid on christmas morning when i went to get my suitcase! after picking that up we went back to kevin's house (where we were staying) and packed. lance got a phone call from a news reporter who wanted to do an interview so lance ended up talking to him a little bit longer than he was planning and we nearly missed our flight. our plane was scheduled to leave at 1:05 p.m....we got to the ticket counter at 12:34...the guy checking us in was brand new and had no idea what he was doing so someone else came to help him and it just took forever ("press here, no no not there. go back. let's just start over"). i was so ticked at this point. then when we got to security we didn't have a ticket for finn so lance had to go back to the delta counter to get that. we made it onto the plane with a few minutes to spare. the plane ride home was good and finn did a great job! when we landed in utah we realized we left lance's dad's gps he had lent us somewhere at the airport in oakland...so there is another $150 out the window.

it was the longest, most expensive, most horrible 3-day weekend of.my.life. i don't think i will be going on any vacations anytime soon. being at home, in the comfort of my own things is much more a vacation than our lovely trip to the bay area was. ahhhh the term home, sweet home has taken on a completely new meaning. :)

..father's day 2011..

this father's day was a very special day for us since it was lance's FIRST father's day as a father! we started the day off right for him by making him breakfast in bed. all three of my little boys played a part...finn helped me out by sleeping soundly in his crib while i made breakfast, and duke and claus helped lance eat his breakfast (those dogs can't resist the smell of bacon!).

after church we had lance's dad, jeff, and jeff's fiance, wendy, over for lunch. i made ribs, which turned out delicious, if i do say so myself. :) because i was so busy trying to get everything ready...on time...with a baby who needed to eat (making dinner isn't as simple as it used to be!)...lance was a dear and helped me out by pouring the bbq sauce on the ribs and when they were all done cookin' in the oven he kindly took them out to the grill and cooked them on there for ten minutes to give them that good old grill taste. we had a nice lunch, gave grandpa jeff his present (a picture frame collage filled with pictures of baby finn :)) and visited for a while. grandpa jeff even got to feed finn a bottle, which he loved.

later in the day we went up to my grandparents house to wish my grandpa a happy father's day. finn was asleep the whole time, so i wasn't able to get a picture of him with grandpa hansen. :(

my dad is currently out of town, so we sent him a "father's day picture card" in an email, and called him to wish him happy father's day. baby finn even said "hi" to his grandpa jimbob, which grandpa jimbob loved!

we finished the night by watching the dumbest movie ever - i don't even remember the name, nor do i know what it was about, it was that dumb - but since it was father's day lance got to choose it!

i am so thankful that finn has such a great daddy! they already have the cutest relationship...finn loves to talk to his dad, sing with him, take showers with him and smile at him. there have been a few times that i could swear he laughed at him also. i can't wait to see their bond grow stronger as the years go by!

i am very thankful for my own father. he provided me with the best of the best my whole life, and because of him i was given so many great opportunities....traveling all over the world, including europe (2x), mexico, hawaii, new york, california, florida and so many other places...i was fortunate enough to receive a college education debt-free, and there are so many other things he has given me...too many to name! even though we don't see him as often as we'd like, i know he loves finn so much and is so proud to be a grandpa. he calls all the time to see how "master finnigans" is doing!

lance's dad, jeff, is so great to us, and i love that he lives so close and that we see him as often as we do. it is so obvious how much he loves being a grandpa...i try to send him a picture of finn every day, and he always comments on how it is the highlight of his day. a couple weeks ago we went to lagoon for jeff's company party, and i don't think he went on any rides - he just pushed finn in the stroller and won prizes for him playing those silly games all day long.

i am also very grateful for both of our great-grandpa's. they are both such wonderful examples to us in so many ways...i am proud to call them my grandpa's!

hope all you father's out there had as great of a day as we did!

..two months old!..

my little baby is two months old today! i have a feeling i will be saying this every month until he is 35, but boy oh boy does time sure fly! if only the last two months of being pregnant went by as fast as the first two months of their lives when they get here...pregnancy might be bearable! ha ha jk. when we went to finn's two week check-up back in april, the lady at the appointment desk said the doctor didn't need to see finn again until he was two months old and i remember thinking that seemed like forever!! and here we are, two months later...it went by too fast. :-(

finn is becoming so much fun! he has started to interact with us, which i just love. he smiles for us and at us, and he is such a cooer! if we left him on his playmat all day i swear he would talk all day long.

he started sleeping through the night last week (woo hoo, yay for sleep!), so he sleeps from about 11-7, give or take a half an hour. i LOVE that i wake up feeling rested, i had forgotten what that feels like! because he sleeps so long at night he is awake for much of the day. it is now a bit harder to get things done during the day, but i will take that any day if it means i get to sleep at night!

finn is still a great baby. when we are out and about he rarely fusses...he waits until we get home to whine and complain! ha ha he is a bit dramatic at times...usually while eating. when i nurse him he doesn't like when we switch sides, so sometimes he will let out a high pitched cry ha it is kinda funny actually! and when we feed him with a bottle, if we take the bottle away for a few seconds to burp him or reposition he sometimes freaks out and lets out that same cry.

finn loves his changing table...or maybe just being changed! if he is a bit fussy and it's not time to eat the first thing i check is his diaper and he instantly calms right down and gets a smile on his face and starts cooing!! he likes music and he especially loves when his daddy sings to him...finn will sing right along with lance, it's adorable! after he has eaten he likes to be flat on his back, not held or propped up in any way...just flat. he likes to be outside if it is warm...usually he will fall right to sleep. he loves loves loves his carseat and the car... if we are on our way out the door and he is at all fussy, he instantly stops once the car gets going. he LOVES lights also - i swear he could stare at lights all day long!

finn does not like tummy time at all. as mentioned above, he hates being held after he eats. as of today he does not like the nurse at the dr's office! those darn shots! i know they are important but it was so sad to see him in pain! he does not like the sound of a saw or when dogs jump on his head (he screamed after hearing a saw and when one of our dogs was running around and accidentally jumped on his head!).

i know i say this in every post but i have absolutely loved being a mom. maybe it is just bc we have been blessed with such an easy baby, but our transition into being parents has not been bad at all or difficult in any way. in fact, my life doesn't feel all that different...much richer and more rewarding, but i feel like i still get to do most of the things i did before finn came along (except for going to movies!). i know it is still early and things are bound to change and become more difficult but like everything in life you just take it as it comes and cross that bridge when ya get there! i am so thankful to all the wonderful people we have in our lives who help out and have made these past two months all the more enjoyable...my mom has been amazing! i am extremely grateful for the opportunity i have to stay at home and play with my little dudes (finn, duke & claus) all day long, it is a dream come true for me and i am thankful to lance for working so hard so that this dream of mine could come true. :-)

finn's stats at two months old...

weight: 11 lbs 10 oz (49th percentile)
height: 23 3/4 inches (80th percentile)
head circ: 40.2 cm (56th percentile)

..5 weeks..

..six weeks (&staring at those lights he loves!)..

..seven weeks..

..eight weeks..

..update!..

finn is now smiling and we love it! for the past 2-3 weeks we have been able to tell that he was getting close to smiling, but it wasn't until this past week that he started doing it consistently, giving us the confidence to believe it is actually a smile and not just gas. :) it seems like all his little friends started smiling around 5 weeks or so, making me all the more impatient with each day that he did not smile! jk, i wasn't getting impatient, just excited. haha i think this little guy just likes to march to the beat of his own drum, and the sooner i realize that, the better!

..first smile we caught on camera..

one thing finn has been doing since about 5 weeks is talking! he is a little chatterbox, and it just melts my heart. he talks the most when he is on his playmat...he must like the bright colors. he also talks to us when we sing to him, change his diaper, and after he eats. he for sure is a happy little guy and we feel so lucky to have him in our home. :)

..on his playmat, where he loves to talk talk talk!..

last weekend we went down to american fork to attend the blessing of finn's bff, krew clark. it was such a special day for the clark's, and we are happy we were able to be there for it.

..lance is holding krew, i am holding finn..

..doesn't finn look deep in thought? haha..

finn is already 7 weeks old, can you believe it? wow, i can't believe how fast the time goes once they get here! it's so true what they say - the nine months of being pregnant can't go fast enough, and when they get here the time just flies on by! if only it could be reversed. i love watching him grow and develop, but it also makes me a little sad at how fast it all happens. :(

..7 weeks old!..

we tried taking finn to a movie the other day. didn't turn out so well. he got hungry right as the movie started, which wasn't a problem because i came prepared with a bottle. but i never realized until then how loud he is when he is eating from a bottle! it is so cute {suck suck ahhhh, suck suck ahhhh}, but i wasn't sure how cute the other people in the theater would think it was, so i fed him out in the lobby. then after he eats he needs his diaper changed...and after getting his dipey changed is when he is the most talkative and playful so i decided to just go sit out in the car with him while lance finished the movie. don't worry, we only sat in the car for over an hour! ;) it was fun though, i just love every minute i get to spend with this little guy.

..waitin' for lance to get out of the movie..

life is so so good with our little man. he is so stinkin cute and we just like to stare at him in awe. i can't believe he is ours!