Christmas at Disneyworld!

>> December 28, 2008

For 3 days of our vacation we drove to Orlando to spend some time at Disneyworld. We went to Epcot one day and Disneyworld the other. It was a little wierd to be wearing shorts and flip-flops with Christmas trees all around, but nice to have some warm weather for awhile.

Matt watching "Honey I shrunk the Audience" at Epcot. Probably the lamest 3D movie we've ever seen.
A dragon built entirely of Legos, in the water at Downtown Disney.
Picture with Santa at our hotel.
At Winnie the Pooh's treehouse in Disneyworld.

Read more...

Road trip

For Christmas this year, Matt and I flew to Florida to spend Christmas with my grandpa and spend a few days in Disneyworld. Little did we know we were in for quite a trip! Most of you know it has been a crazy few weeks here in WA. We got more snow than we've seen in years. We left Seattle the day after the first big snowfall. Getting to the airport was fine and our flight was on-time, so we thought we'd be safe. After boarding our flight, the pilot came on to say we would be delayed about 10 minutes while they de-iced the plane. We only had a 1 hour layover in Atlanta, so didn't worry about an extra 10 minute wait. About 30 minutes later (and only half the plane de-iced) the pilot announced that one of the de-icer trucks had just broken...another delay. An hour after that we moved from the gate to the runway, only to hear we were 3rd in line to take off. With only 1 runway in use and 13 snow plows trying to keep it clean, it took another 30 minutes to take off. Welp...guess we weren't making our connection!

With a 4 hour flight to Atlanta, we didn't worry too much. Even though we knew we missed our connecting flight, the flight attendant assured us a Delta rep. would be at the gate to help us. So...we ran off the plane, only to be told the rep. couldn't help us, we had to go to a different terminal halfway down the airport and stand in another line. (Of course, nothing is simple in airports!). Unable to make the next flight because it was sold out, we were told we would have to spend the night in the airport and catch a flight in the morning. This was NOT okay with Matt. In case you don't know him too well...he doesn't have a lot of patience (and I think has a little ADD). Sleeping in the airport was not an option. So...after spending $180 on a rental car and only getting $60 reimbursed from Delta for our flight we headed on the road.

According to our GPS it said we would be in Tampa, FL at 3:45 am (yep...we drove through the night!). We grabbed some drive-thru dinner and enthusiastically hit the road. After driving by about 25 Waffle Houses (Georgia folk must love their waffles), Matt was getting a little tired. I couldn't help him by driving (because of my eye), so I just started singing Christmas carols. Around 2:30 our GPS said we still had 100 miles to go before getting off the freeway. This didn't make a lot of sense...how could we go 100 miles in an hour? I jokingly said, "what if the time zone never changed over?" Matt, with his dreary eyes and tired voice said, "Shut up...that's not funny." We quickly pulled over to get some gas and I started messing with the GPS settings. I was right, we were still on Pacific time. oops. So, instead of a 1 hour destination time, it looked like we had 4 hours to go! Yay!

At this point we began to regret our road trip decision, but had no choice to keep driving. From 4am to about 5:30am we cranked up the radio and sang Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You" song over and over and over. It was the only thing that could keep us awake. Finally, at 5:45 am we pulled into my grandpa's driveway and crawled into bed. We had finally arrived!!!

Read more...

Who stole my marbles?

We recently made the decision to neuter Yoshi. His humping really wasn't that bad (okay, I guess any humping is bad), but we knew we definitely weren't ready for any little yoshi babies. The surgery went fine, but he wouldn't leave his incision alone. So, the next day the vet decided it was time for the cone. He didn't like it too much, but looked so darn cute with it on. He would just sit there, unable to walk without running into something and then took forever to figure out how to move again. Poor little guy!

Read more...

Jingle all the way!

December was definitely a busy month in the Vance household. Here are some pictures from the annual Jingle Bell Run in the 'ham. 3 of my friends and I braved the cold for some serious speed walking. After putting on way too many layers of clothes, fun was had by all!

Why does long underwear have be so long?

Tarin, Brie and Caity getting ready to walk. Can you see the excitement on their faces??

Read more...

Seahawks and Christmas

>> November 17, 2008

This past weekend was quite fun. First we decided to pull out the Christmas decorations a little early and get the house ready to go. Okay...I know what you're thinking...Christmas decorations already? Before Thanksgiving? Well, so we are a little early, but we are both obsessed with Christmas, have been listening to Christmas music the last 2 weeks, and won't be at home this year for Christmas. Because we are going to Florida to visit my grandpa and spend Christmas in Disneyworld, we thought we should enjoy our decorations while we're at home. And...because we won't be getting a tree (so sad) we only have like 1/2 of our stuff out. Alright, so I guess I didn't really defend myself, but who cares? We LOVE our house when its decorated! I think Yoshi does too. He's already broken one of the stocking holders. Oops!

On Sunday, I was got to go to another Seahawks game with Matt! It was so much fun. Actually, my throat hurts today from screaming so loud. Even though they lost, again, it was still so fun to be a part of the crowd. His face doesn't really show it, but I think he liked having me go too!

Read more...

October Fun!

>> November 1, 2008

It's been awhile since I posted...we've been pretty busy. My eye is slowly healing, having a few complications at times, but otherwise doing well. I received the bill from the hospital yesterday. The total surgery was $19, 255.13. We only owe $179.35 - whew! We were really worried about how much my insurance company would pick up. After everything, I only owe a little bit for the IV solutions and sterile equipment. I couldn't believe how much it cost for the donor cornea - over $9,700 dollars! The funny part was to get rid of my old cornea was only $1,200 dollars...just proves that a crappy cornea isn't worth a whole lot.

In other news, Yoshi is growing everyday. He has been loving the fall weather, especially the rainy days when he can dig in the mud. This should help explain:

Matt and I went to our favorite pumpkin patch for hay rides, homemade apple pie, and of course pumpkins! This has been a tradition of ours for the last 4 years...it's probably one of my favorite places in Whatcom County!

Last night for Halloween, we stocked up on candy expecting to have dozens of little kiddos coming to our door. Living across the street from an elementary school and a park we see tons of kids everyday. So...we had a quick dinner, watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and anxiously waited for the doorbell to ring. After 1 hour and no kids I was getting a little restless. Finally a knock. I opened it to find a young mom and a 1 year old little girl who couldn't even walk! Why does she need candy at that age? It didn't matter, I was so excited to have a trick-or-treater I gave her 2 lollipops! Then it was time to wait again. About 30 minutes later we had 1 little boy who only wanted to take 1 piece of candy. I was so happy to see another kid I wanted to give him the whole bowl! But, he nicely took 2 pieces and off he went. And...that was it! Only 2 trick-or-treaters the whole night! So...now I have 4 bags of left over candy and no one to give it to.
Since our halloween had turned into one lame night, we decided it was time for Yoshi to put on his costume. He wasn't really a fan.


There you go. October 2008 for the Vance Family.




Read more...

tales of a transplant

>> October 6, 2008

hey everyone.  It's me...1 1/2 weeks after my transplant writing to you with one eye (sorry for any typos that you might find).  Just wanted to give you an update of how everything went and how I'm doing.  The actual surgery went well, according to the surgeon.  He said it was a good, healthy cornea that fit my eye well and my check-up appt. went well too.  So far so good.


Recovery on the other hand was not so fun.  Between having severe menstrual cramps (starting 1 hour before we left for the hospital - good timing I know), to throwing up in the car not once, but twice in 1 week...I felt a little miserable.  My intraocular pressure also rose to dangerously high levels (according to my symptoms) which gave me additional pain in my forehead, ear, and jaw.  It sort of felt like I got in a really bad fight and was punched repeatedly in the eye over and over and over (well, you get the idea).  At first my eye was really swollen and red, but looks much better now.  I have to take eye drops 4 times a day and have some pretty intense restrictions (including no physical activity for 1 month and no sit-ups or push-ups for 3 months...no gym for me!).  The first week I felt like a slug, dragging myself off the couch every so often to go to the bathroom, but otherwise being waited on hand and foot by my sweet hubby.

This week is going much better.  I still don't have a lot of energy (taking 2 hour naps after a 20min. trip to Costco), but no pain.  It's going to take some time getting used to wearing only 1 contact, driving with a blurry eye and working full-time again, but things are looking  up.  Thanks again for all the prayers, phone calls, and yummy meals.  It really means a lot!

Oh yeah...I almost forgot.  No pictures to show right now because my eye is really sensitive to light and the thought of a camera flash in my face makes me want to vomit.  So...just imagine my smiling face with a strangers cornea in my right eye.  

Read more...