Our Sunny and Surgical Summer

Me and my Grandma Zinn!

          To celebrate the good news we recently went on a trip to California to visit my grandparents and go to the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland! We drove from Rexburg, Idaho to San Jose, California in one long day. We had to go through the desert at midday with our A/C deciding when it would like to work, which was not very often! We were so glad to make it to my Grandma and Grandpa Zinn's house in San Jose. The weather was amazing!

          Our first full day there we took a trip to San Fransisco. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and went to Fisherman's Warf. At the warf we found a fish and chip shop that was owned by an actual Brit! I thought it was great. Nathan thought there was something to be desired. Anyway we just walked along the warf and looked at shops. One place we saw had a bunch of really old coin operated pier games. We both got 50 cents to spend on a game. I got a fortune from an old woman in a box and Nathan spent his on watching two executions! Those were so strange it was kinda funny.

Fisherman's Wharf

          On our way back from San Fran we stopped into the Redwoods to meet up with Nathan's cousins for dinner. We had a great time talking with them and I learned even more about cute little baby Nathan. :) We really enjoyed the pictures they showed us of Nathan's family back in the day. They were so welcoming and nice. I love meeting Nathan's extended family. They are always so kind.

         Our second day we went to Santa Cruz with my Aunt and cousins. The water was freezing but it was still lots of fun! I liked watching Stephen teach Nathan how to skim board. Stephen was really good at it. Nathan was ... not quite as good :) When we got back we realized it was pioneer day and a tradition in the Zinn family is to make homemade butter. We had to shake a jar til our arms hurt but there were lots of us so we shared the burden. The butter was super yummy when we were done! The last day we were able to spend just hanging out with my Grandma. It was really fun. She took me shopping for maternity clothes and now I am all set! The next day we set off for Fresno, CA. 

The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland

         In Fresno we were able to see my Grandma and Grandpa Shaw. My Grandma was still in the nursing facility and had some kind of virus recently so when we went to visit her I had to stay out in the hallway because I was pregnant and they didn't want me to get sick. I was glad to visit them both though. I love them lots! We also got to hang out with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins that live in the area, the Hueys. They took good care of us. 

       After Fresno we went to one of my favorite places ever.... Disneyland! We went for two days and it was really fun! I couldn't go on a few rides because of the baby but that's why Disneyland is so great because I still got to go on a lot of the rides. Although, the ride Soar'n made me pretty motion sick! :) While at Disneyland Nathan got a call saying his surgery had been moved from the next monday to this coming friday! We weren't planning on being in Rexburg again til next sunday so we had to get home faster than we had hoped so we had to cut our visits to Julia Meservy in Vegas and to the Fischers in Heber very short! I was pretty disappointed but they didn't have another opening at the hospital for weeks after so we had to make it to Heber, UT the next day! That meant driving through the desert again at midday! So HOT!!!!!! Oh my gosh! The A/C wasn't working again so I just chewed ice the entire drive from Anaheim to Heber. We did get to stop and meet Julia and Joe Meservy for lunch. It was so fun to see Julia so pregnant! She looked so cute! 

The Happiest Place on EARTH!

        We finally made it to Heber pretty late that night and could only stay til the morning but I did get to tell the Fischers I was pregnant in person which I had been trying to arrange since we found out! They are always so good to us when we visit, too bad we couldn't stay longer. We had to leave at 9 in the morning to get to Rexburg in time for Nathan's pre-surgery appointment. 

        

OUCH! (Nath made me
post this sad picture)

        On Friday Nath had the surgery. It took 6 hours and then he had to stay the night at the hospital. He was pretty loopy still when we took him to Rachel and Josh's house til our apartment was ready to move into. I was so grateful for Rachels help during the day! Nathan was in bed for days and was on about 6 different medications he needed at different times of the day. It was a lot of work but Rachel is an excellent smoothie maker which helped Nathan get through those first terrible days. 

     
      Now Nathan feeling pretty good considering it's been about a week and a half. He gets better everyday. Because he is on liquids and soft foods our blender has been used more than ever. I wouldn't be surprised if it just gave up on us soon! (Written August 12th, 2013)