Thursday, February 16, 2017

St. George Weekend

This weekend Brooklyn and I went to stay with Thomas in St. George where he is doing his pediatrics rotation.  It feels so good to get away from every day life for a bit.

We arrived Friday night just as Thomas was getting home from the clinic.  We headed to a Peruvian Restaurant that had lots of vegetarian options.  (I've drastically cut back on eating meat since reading research on meat eating and cancer.  I will still eat it but maybe once or twice a month).  This restaurant was so tasty! Afterwards Thomas took us to Nielsen's for frozen custard.  Ever since we lived in Rexburg we have been looking for a good frozen custard place and Nielsen's hit the nail on the head.  We ended up going again the next day, it was that good.



Thomas applied for a scholarship that provides housing for clinical rotations in areas of rural Utah and so the place he is staying at is through the scholarship.  It is a studio apartment that is super old and seems to be low income housing for the elderly or people with disabilities.  But he doesn't have to pay anything so that's awesome.  There was a little cot for Brooklyn to sleep on and a pull out sofa for Thomas and I. Saturday night/early morning Thomas and I were both woken up by screaming and crying.  A woman downstairs was screaming at someone to get the f$$$ out and there was a child just crying and crying.  It was SO sad! I was about to go downstairs and ask if I could take the child for her because it was just heartbreaking that they had to hear that and be around it.  Thomas thought he saw police lights or we were going to call the police.  Thomas had mentioned that he had also heard noises before that sounded like a couple having sex and the lady kept saying the man's name and asking him to stop.

Anyways... besides that it was a really great trip. Each night after we put Brooklyn to bed we would share headphones and watch American Crime Story: The OJ Simpson Trial on the tablet together.

Saturday I woke up nauseated and ended up throwing up again!! I'm 23 weeks and still throwing up! I thought I could go off the Diclegis but I guess not.  I ended up feeling fine the rest of the day thankfully.  We went to the children's museum, bowling, to lunch, back to the children's museum, and then out to dinner that night.








Sunday we went to Pioneer Park for some hiking around the red rocks, then to the Desert Gardens, then back to Thomas' place to relax a bit before Brooklyn and I headed home.


















Our fingers are crossed that Thomas' rotation for March will be here in the area so he can be at home during the week.  As it is we are enjoying our time together on the weekends.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Disneyland 2017

When we found out Thomas would be doing his women's health clinical rotation in California we looked into meeting him there and going to Disneyland.  January is said to be one of the best times to visit Disney because of low crowds and cooler weather. We found cheap airline tickets for Brooklyn and I and a brand new hotel that was well priced and within walking distance of Disneyland. Brooklyn knew we were visiting Thomas but had no idea we were going to Disneyland.



Brooklyn had been running a fever Wednesday and then Thursday woke up from a nap crying with ear pain.  I got her in to the pediatrician right at 5pm on Thursday and that night got her started on an antibiotic.  Luckily by Friday her fever was gone and she said her ear was feeling better and didn't complain of any pain on the flight. Brooklyn and I arrived Friday evening and Thomas was there at LAX to pick us up.  It was SO good to see him again! Brooklyn is in this stage where I think it's hard for her to identify her emotions so she tries to hide them or pretend like she is upset about something else.  She started to cry a little bit when she hugged Thomas and it broke my heart a tiny bit cause it showed me how she has missed her daddy.  Then she didn't talk to him for the first three hours or so of being together.  After that though she was so attached to him.  She wanted to sit next to him during all the rides and was all about her daddy.



Buzz Lightyear ride 



Brooklyn loved being able to be the driver on this Autotopia ride. 



Saturday morning we were up bright and early to head to the park.  The weather was perfect and the longest we waited in any line was 30 minutes.  I started the day feeling slightly nauseaus which was weird cause I have been feeling so good.  After going on a few rides I needed to run to the bathroom and throw up breakfast but then was fine the rest of the day.

The Finding Nemo submarine ride had me almost have a panic attack.  I'm learning more and more how claustrophobic I am and being in a submarine underwater is just terrifying to me.  

The monorail

My face is looking a little green in this picture probably because it was right before I threw up.


Brooklyn wasn't interested at all about taking pictures with characters but had a blast on the rides.  She even when on the Matterhorn with Thomas and said it was her favorite ride! My fave was probably Pirates of the Carribean or the Peter Pan ride while Thomas' was Indiana Jones.

I think this was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride 



Dumbo ride


I LOVED the shows that they put on with all the characters and singing and dancing.  It made me REALLY want to go on a Disney Cruise.





Before our trip I bought some Disney shirts from Target for her to wear while there and also read it was a good idea to bring glow sticks for the light parade at night.  We decided to let her choose one souvineer from the gift shop and she chose a puppy version of Lady from the movie Lady and the Tramp ($30 for a little stuffed animal!).


It's a Small World (great for when you need to get off your feet because it's so long).


The Teacups!






I love this picture of Thomas on Splash Mountain all by himself. 


Saturday night we stayed late at the park so we could see the light parade.  We went to find spots about 45 minutes before it started and I was surprised how possessive people were of their areas! A worker told us some people had been camped out for hours! Luckily we were directed to an area that wasn't full yet and shortly after that they said all viewing areas were full.  Brooklyn was completely passed out by this time in the stroller.  We were at the end of the parade route so we let her sleep for awhile and once it came to our spot tried to wake her up and put her on Thomas' shoulders but she said she just wanted to sleep.  The ironic thing is she was the one who really was excited about wearing the glow stick jewelry and seeing the parade.







We were so tired after that first day.  I seriously felt like I had run a half marathon that day from all the walking and standing.

Our second day we knew it was going to rain so were prepared with ponchos, rain boots, and waterproof cases for our phones. The lines this day were even shorter so we got a lot in in a short amount of time. The rain started as a drizzle but by midday it was POURING! We held out as long as we could and did as many indoor activities as possible but Brooklyn started to get pretty miserable so we headed back to the hotel to dry off.





Our flight wasn't until 9:55pm that night but I looked into switching to an earlier flight and found that they had one and were offering to allow customers to switch flights with no fees.  We switched our flight, headed to lunch, and then Thomas dropped us off at the airport where we had quite the adventure (I will write about it in my next post).

Having time away from Thomas and then seeing him again has made me so appreciative of the guy that I married. We could have been anywhere and had a great time together but it was just icing on the cake that it was Disneyland.