A Late Easter Party in Idaho

Shawn and I took our spontaneous trip to California on Easter weekend, so we celebrated a week later with my family up in Idaho. My siblings were so cute, they were so excited to have Lucy there, so they put together an Easter egg hunt and everything. The night before our "Easter" we colored eggs. In Lucy's case she quite literally colored eggs. I had a really cute video of her picking up eggs for the egg hunt in her Minnie Mouse dress, but I'm having problems getting my videos to load. So here are just some fun pictures of this trip we took two months ago.

My brother Matthew was one of those responsible for this party.

Lucy was still pretty excited about Minni Mouse from our trip the week before, so my mom pulled out my sister Katelyn's old dance costume that looks like a Minni Mouse dress, and now we have a Halloween costume for Lucy.

Welcome Spring Time!

It's finally been warming up here, so we took Lucy to the park across the street. She was a little hesitant at first, but she warmed up pretty fast. She LOVES to go down the slides, and she loves to swing. When we can't make it to the park I take her little car outside and let her ride on that. I definitely have a little girl who likes to be outside.

Her face is so cute in some of these pictures that I couldn't cut any out. Her favorite slide is the curly slide because she can go down that one alone.

Playing in the Pool

On Saturday we decided to drive back up to Vegas (since BYU lost on Thursday) and cut our drive in half. So we stayed at the Luxor that night. Oh, just a side note, the Luxor is by far my favorite hotel in Vegas. I'd always wanted to stay in that one and it was amazing! I loved it! Anyway, the next morning before we checked out we went down and played in the pool. The Luxor has an amazing pool, it is huge! As these pictures show, Lucy LOVED this! I mean I knew she thought swimming was pretty fun because last year she liked it, but she took me completely by surprise by her reaction here. We stayed in the pool for over an hour and then we had to go because we had to check out. Lucy was so cold that her lips were turning blue and she was shivering, but she still didn't want to leave. Every time we tried to get out she had a melt down. I can't wait for this summer!

Visiting Matt and Tricia Smith

As we were leaving California we stopped to visit Matt and Tricia Smith. Shawn went to High School with both of them, and was the best man at their wedding. I met them while we were dating and we all were attending BYU. I was in my Statistics class one day and the girl sitting next to me leaned over and asked if I happen to be dating Shawn Hammond. I was like "Yeah, who are you?" That was just a really weird thing for someone I don't know to ask me. Well I had met her once before and that's how she suspected this, but I didn't remember because it was dark outside, and I'd met about 50 other friends of Shawn so faces weren't sticking very well. From that point on we became pretty good friends. The last time we saw them before this visit was at our engagement party in Colorado. So they hadn't ever seen us married, let alone as parents. It was really funny to watch them try to adjust really fast in the 2 hours that we were there. These are their kids Adam and Ashley with Lucy. It was so fun to see them!

Disney Parade

Anxiously waiting for the parade to start!

That is one focused and amazed little girl!

Lucy was kind of shocked and overwhelmed at this point. But since we got home I have probably seen this little video clip about 55 times. She squeals at the top of her lungs whenever she sees Minnie, and she gets so mad when she can't see her anymore.



At the end of the day Pam bought Lucy some Minnie Ears and a Minnie Mouse doll. We were all so exhausted, but still so sad to leave. On the way out of the park Shawn and I bought her a giant Minnie Mouse balloon for $7. If it had been anywhere else we never would have thought of spending that much on helium, but Lucy LOVED that balloon, and it provided us with a scary ride home. As we went up in elevation, Minnie got bigger and bigger. We were ready to hear a loud pop and second on that drive, but Minnie held strong.

After such a fun trip we have one thing to say: THANK YOU GRANDAD AND GRANDMA HAMMOND!!!

Time for a little break.

After a few hours in Toon Town, we sat down and waited for Bob and Pam at our meeting place, this water fountain. Just like in Vegas, the water was one of the highlights of Toon Town for Lucy. We had about 15 pictures of her playing in this water, so the fact that I only have 4 on here is pretty dang impressive. They were too cute to weed any more out.

Ok, Lucy can pull off any pair of sunglasses!

I just need a quick snack!

So Steff, tell me again what about this was embarrassing to you?

Meeting Mickey Mouse!

Lucy loved Toon Town. She got to see Pluto, or "Doggie", and Goofy, but only form a distance. She loved walking through Minnie and Mickey's houses too. The line to see Micky wound through Mickey's house which actually made it a little easier to do. They have a lot of fun things for the kids to look at, shoot I was entertained. Lucy could not figure out why this piano in Mickey's house wouldn't work, but she kept trying anyway.

And finally the big moment. Lucy wasn't too sure of things at this point, but every time she sees this picture she yells "Mimi!!!" Unfortunately she didn't actually get to see Minni in person like this, but fortunately she can't tell the difference between them, and that is who she thinks she saw.

Disneyland!!!

On Friday morning, Bob and Pam, or Grandad and Grandma Hammond took us all to Disneyland! Lucy had such a good time there! Too bad it was Spring break for everyone in the country! Thee park was crazy, but crazy or not it is still the "Happiest Place on Eath!"


The first two rides we took Lucy on were the Jungle Safari, and then the Tiki Room which really isn't a ride, but still. We took her on those while Steffani, Kailey, Bob, and Shawn went on Indiana Jones. She loved both of these rides, but especially the Jungle Safari. Unfortunately we made a mistake with our next choice in ride. We decided to take Lucy on Pirates of the Caribbean because there were no height restrictions. This is us waiting in line for that ride. Lucy was terrified! She didn't mind the dark until we hit the drops. She and I were sitting in the front of the boat, and she panicked! Then she saw her dad behind us and begged to go to him, just in time for the second drop. She held him as tight as she could just sobbing. Then she wanted Grandma Hammond. Pam loved it, Lucy held so tight to Pam and Pam made sure none of us tried to take Lucy because they were "having a moment" and we were all to "leave them alone." It was so funny in a sad way. But towards the end Lucy went and sat on Grandad's lap and he helped her nervously enjoy the rest of the ride.


I loved at lunch time, that I finally finished choking down my dry sandwich when Steff handed me a mayo packet and said, "Oh Tell, you have to put your own condiments on them..." Look at her happily enjoying a nice drink to top off a wonderfully moist meal.

Headed to California!

So after a chocolate milk spill, a fight to get the hair done, and the longest walk to our car in the history of the world, we were off to California.



Lucy is so funny with music lately. I guess Shawn and I sing too much in the car because Lucy is starting to do the same. Her favorite song on this drive was Backstreet Boy's "Bye Bye Bye", simply because she can say bye. But now her favorite song is "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". She is so funny because she sings the "Daaaaa Daaaa" part in the chorus, and shockingly in tune. We love this little girl. Here she is rocking out to some song that I don't like, but Shawn does, but just know that it is not "Mom approved".