Third Trimester Intro and Update

Third Trimester Intro

Hey all,

This pregnancy is continuing to FLY by! I am so grateful for a pretty smooth pregnancy thus far and haven’t written an update in a while because we’ve been so so busy with the gender reveal and the holidays that we just haven’t had time! When I looked at the calendar the other day I realized that I was going to be starting my third trimester and could not believe it! So here are some things that have happened in the last few weeks since my last update post:

1. We found out Baby Franek is a girl!

Before I was pregnant I knew I wanted to do a gender reveal because why not it’s super fun and a great way to celebrate with everyone! However it really made me anxious waiting the two and a half extra weeks to know. Because of timing and traveling we couldn’t do the party right after we had the ultrasound so that made me crazy! We also got SUPER surprised because we had been convinced it was a boy! It’s so funny how you have all this reasoning behind why you think something or you just “feel” like it but we were totally wrong! Now instead we are welcoming little Aili Anne into our lives! A lot of people have asked about how to say her name. It is pronounced Eye-lee and is a Finnish name that was my great grandma Rintalas name and my middle name. Anne (as most of you know) is my moms name! Both our boy and girl choices had family elements in them because that was super important to us.  

2. Baby is really moving around! 

Since I have a frontal (anterior) placenta I have not felt as much as most people do, but lately she has been really moving around! This usually means that I can feel her rumbling or hiccuping but can’t feel on the outside any punches or kicks unless they are really high, really low or to the sides of the placenta. Last night Madi finally got to feel her kick for the first time and that was a really special moment because I have tried to get him to come over quickly when I have felt a kick or too but then she moves somewhere else. The only question he had for the doctor at one of our last appointments was “when will I be able to feel her kick?”. So he finally got his wish! 

3. We started working on the nursery!

We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving cleaning out the den that we used as an office and making it into a nursery for Aili. We hope to stay in the townhouse rental we currently live in for a few more years before we get enough savings to buy a house so we are trying to maximize on space and the den is a great size room for the little one. Our townhouse has super big rooms which I think is so interesting but we have loved it. So far we’ve built the crib and dresser but will be doing more work with the rest of the nursery as we get closer to the new year. 

4. Some symptoms are worse, some are better

TMI but I’m telling you constipation continues to be an issues for me. Luckily the nausea is gone for the most part but I still feel way too full all the time and literally feel like my intestines are being squished so eating a regular meal has turned into fourths to halves at a time. As soon as I eat everything that I want to eat I instantly regret it. Sleeping has also been more of a challenge. Otherwise I’ve still been able to do my normal routines at work. Gym time has been more of power walking at an incline than jogging, mostly because baby is basically bouncing a lot on my bladder and pulling on my back when I jog. People have suggested a support belt but I HATE anything that is right around my abdomen so I think I’ll just stick to the power incline walk for the last trimester! I also just felt like Tim Allen in The Santa Clause when he was jogging on the treadmill and had gained all that weight. It wasn’t cute. 

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5. Nike is super obsessed with me now
If you know our dog Nike, she has always been a daddy’s girl. When Madi and I are both home she never chooses to be by me over him, unless food is involved of course. But now she ONLY wants to be by me or in between us. She lays right next to me at night and on top of me on the couch during the day. People told me this happens but I never believed that it would because of how much she has always favored Madi. It’s so weird!

Now we are just looking forward to Christmas and happy that we made it out of this crazy snowstorm okay! Soon I will have my glucose test and am praying that I pass and don’t have to do the three hour test!! Praying this little lady continues to grow and stay healthy! 

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia :) 

#BookWorm: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Hello fellow readers,

Wow what a whirlwind of a book this was. I started reading this in July and shortly afterwards found out I was pregnant. This is not the book to read when you are first pregnant. It is heart wrenching and makes you cry almost every few chapters. I had heard of this author because of the TV show Big Little Lies and while in Portland this summer decided to look for that book while browsing in Powell's City of Books. I couldn't find Big Little Lies but instead found this book, What Alice Forgot, by the same author, Liane Moriarty. It was about Alice a 39 year old woman who wakes up after falling off of a stationary bike in spin class at the gym and hitting her head, thinking it is 10 years earlier than before. She forgot that she and her husband are getting a divorce, her sister's many miscarriages, her ever changing friendships, and her new boyfriend and body. She goes through the days trying to piece together her life and what happened to it.

Since this book dealt with the topic of miscarriage, reading it as a newly pregnant person was emotional and honestly I thought a few times about stopping the book because it was making me stress a bit. However, I made it through without totally stopping it or skipping anything. It was a really good book and a great plot. I am looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Big Little Lies and watching that when I get the chance. Has anyone else read this book or another by the same author? Have y'all seen Big Little Lies? Tell me what you think!!

I will try to post another pregnancy update soon! As you can tell from my lack of posts, it has been a busy trimester! Between work and family visiting it’s been a little crazy. I’ve still been reading and experimenting in the kitchen, but have had a lot less time to do it and post about it. I will try to do so soon!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

Second Trimester Update and Genetic Testing

Hey all,

So this pregnancy is flying by, I can’t believe I am halfway, like WHAT?! The last few weeks have been much more manageable than my first trimester: most nausea is gone (praise the Lord) and my appetite is better. I do feel way too full in the evenings and usually eat about half of what I normally would for dinner. This has made it hard anytime we go out to eat, because I want to eat but then when I eat too much totally regret it. I’m just happy to be wanting food again, mostly tacos! We got Nana Taco catered to church for a meeting a few weeks ago, and I was super nervous about eating it because last time I had a good taco it wasn’t the same and made me super nauseated, but this was DELISH. Yay for the tacos! I also am so ready for my bump to be bigger than my chest, because right now the ratio of growth is not equal *eye roll* and have had some of my weekly chemo patients say that they wondered if I was pregnant not because of a bump but because of my ever-growing boobs *double eye roll*. Otherwise I’ve been doing really good staying on track with my daily exercise. While I haven’t been jogging as much as I’d like to, I have still been walking the mile to and the mile from my car every day at work and trying to get a good workout in on the weekends when I feel up to it. Trying to keep me and baby moving and grooving! 

In my first blog about this pregnancy I said that I was going to tackle the topic of why Madi and I as a pro-life couple decided to do genetic testing. There are a few reasons why we chose to do it and overall we both agree that we were happy that we did. Again everyone’s opinions are different on this and no one is “right” or “wrong” for doing it or not doing it. These were just our personal reasons for choosing to do so.

1) Madis family history isnt well known

Most of you who know us well know that Madi’s dad passed away when we were sixteen from a heart attack. Madis grandpa passed away three years ago from chronic heart failure. Madis dad was an only child and his grandma passed away when his dad was young from breast cancer. There aren’t people left to ask, “did you all have a history of xyz?” This is the initial reason why we decided to go for genetic testing. 

2) I am a chronic worrier. 

I struggle with anxiety and worry on the daily about lots of things, and have really been working on that for the past few years. But to me knowing and being able to plan helps me deal with things. If we were to find out our baby has Down syndrome for example, it wouldn’t change our minds about keeping the pregnancy, but it would help me plan what my life with work and in general would look like after baby came. Would I really want to go back full time? Would I pursue another job? If I could know ahead of time I would rather that than at the birth. Obviously things at the birth can still happen but as much information prior to me is helpful. Some people are the opposite though and that’s okay too!

3) We found out some surprising things. 

So throughout this process we found out that I am a carrier for Spinal Muscular Atrophy or SMA. We learned that SMA is the number one genetic cause of infant death. And second overall cause of infant only to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). This genetic disorder causes quick paralyzation to the baby and by the time they are a few months old they cannot move almost at all. Typically in like 90% of cases the infant doesn’t live past 18 months. THERE IS NO TREATMENT FOR THIS. If they do survive it is similar to a life with ALS. This disorder is autosomal recessive, meaning that the mom and dad both have to be carriers for the baby to have the disorder. And if mom and dad are both carriers, there is a 25% chance the baby will be fine, a 25% chance the baby will have the disorder (can be confirmed by amniocentesis) and a 50% chance the baby just will be a carrier with no symptoms or signs of the disease (like me). If just one parent is a carrier, there is just a 50% chance the child will or will not be a carrier but will not have the disease. This scared the crap out of me. No one in my family knew that this apparently stemmed from somewhere in our family line. Obviously a lot of people are impacted by this, so that is why people started testing for it, and this test wasn’t done back when our parents had kids. We were so thankful to find out that Madi is not a carrier. But this whole situation greatly impacted our appreciation for genetic testing. Honestly if we both were carriers, we wouldn’t have aborted, but it would have made me probably change what I was going to do as far as working when the baby was born. We also probably would not have had any more children ourselves, and just have adopted only instead (something that we want to do anyways one day). It was eye opening to me and made me realize, wow this disorder wouldn’t make me change my mind about having or not having this baby, but it really would have been helpful to know if I was a carrier BEFORE we started trying so we both could have been tested and it would have saved a lot of stress in the early months of this pregnancy. Also, how many of y’all know about SMA? As a healthcare provider I had never even heard much about it at all and neither had the doctors I work with so that is crazy to me how many people it impacts yet it is not talked about that much! I felt like I should have been better informed beforehand about this by my providers because I feel like many people say “are you 35+ or do you have a history of xyz? No? Okay you don’t need genetic testing beforehand” which I know some of it has to do with what insurance covers but I would have loved to know about this possibility that kills so many babies beforehand! 

These are just some things that lead us to choose why we chose genetic testing and how it didn’t make our choice about keeping the baby any different. We are still pro-life and still believe that God created this baby for a reason, but for me planning and knowing is just helpful. For those of you who have been pregnant with the option of doing genetic testing, had you heard of SMA before your pregnancy? Did you chose to do or not do genetic testing? I would love to hear thoughts! I’ll keep you all posted in another few weeks on my progess after our big gender reveal! Even though our anatomy scan is done, we are waiting to find out until our gender reveal party the first weekend in November! Two of my friends at church due around the same time as me are both having boys so I can’t wait to find out what ours will be too!! What’s everyone’s guess?! 

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia :) 

#BookWorm: Legend by Marie Lu

Hello fellow readers,

So another book that I finished on my time away in June was Legend by Marie Lu. This book was another apocalyptic series that came out a few years ago. I didn't get on this one as quickly as others like it because I had read so many other similar series that I didn't feel like reading another one at the time that it  came out. However, I am kind of glad I waited because it made me appreciate the story more. This story is about a young girl named June who is working in school towards a job in the government of the Republic (split from the rest of the country called the Colonies), like her big brother Metias. There is also the mysterious Day is under the radar of the government and therefore his family thinks he is dead, he now goes by this surname to keep his identity a secret. He uses his "invisibility" to the world to help his family and keep them safe during the terrible times of plague and disease. Day starts to notice that only certain people are contracting this disease and wonders if the government is just hiding the cure or causing the disease themselves. All of a sudden after a brief encounter in a dark alley, June's brother, Metias, is found dead with a knife to the chest. The only person last seen with him is the invisible Day. June decides to go into the world of Day on a mission from the Republic and try to find out why he killed her brother without her own identity being revealed to Day, but she finds out more than the reason of why her brother died, and it changes her life forever.

I found this book really good and actually am reading the second one currently. The whole post-apocalypse theme reminded me a lot of Maze Runner or Hunger Games but with a plot that held its own and made me want to read more. I am incredibly surprised that this has not been made into a movie series yet, but feel like once the hype dies down from Maze Runner it may be adapted. Overall I would give this an 8/10. Not incredible and the best thing ever, but good enough to want me to keep going through the series. Have any of you all read this book? I feel like most people I talk to have not. I finished up a few other books like What Alice Forgot and the Handmaid's Tale which I will be typing up a review for in the next few weeks or so. Baby brain has made it hard for me to get stuff done when I get home! I have been still trying to read as much as possible, because I know once baby comes my free reading time will be pretty limited! Also sometime in the last few months I hit 50,000+ reads, so thanks everyone for reading my stuff! So crazy to think that on average people click on my blog about twenty three times per day! Which for most popular blogs is nothing, but for me is totally crazy to think that many people actually want to read my stuff.

Thanks for reading with me,

- Olivia :)

First Trimester in a Nutshell

WARNING: this is my personal and real depiction of what I have experienced during the first trimester of my first pregnancy. I truly believe that everyone’s experience is unique and what I experience is not the same as what you may have or will experience. this is called “don't hit the backspace button” for a reason, so this is all raw material of how I’m feeling while writing this! so here we go ladies and gentleman!

Pure shock, joy, anxiety, worry, happiness, tears of joy, nausea, cravings, random tears, mood swings, sore boobs, frequent urination, constipation, severe fatigue. 

These are the some of the REAL and transparently honest parts of what I personally experienced during my first trimester of pregnancy. Pregnancy for me has been such an incredible experience of complete awe of God and how he has created us and TINY LITTLE BABY HEARTS. Like how does something so small have a functioning micro heart?! Seriously so much awe. It also has been a lot of nausea and wondering “am I ever going to want to eat a chicken breast again? or be able to cook one?”. Follow that up with severe fatigue. Add in working a demanding full time (and then some) job all while trying to keep this growing human a secret until it’s the “right” time to tell everyone. CREATING A HUMAN IS SOME HARD WORK GUYS. I’m not going to outline every week during this initial phase of pregnancy because honestly they are all kind of similar, filled with lots of things that aren’t fun. But here are some things that I wanted to share with some of my besties (and did with some who knew early BECAUSE ITS HARD TO KEEP THINGS THIS EXCITING A SECRET WHEN YOU WORK WITH PEOPLE AND THEY SEE YOU ERRYDAY OKAY). These are things I thought were odd and hilarious and just straight up confusing: 

- First real symptom for me: constipation. What?! This is not what I expected. Any other mamas out there that dealt with this annoying and less talked about symptom?? When sitting on the couch this summer I had shared with my SIL that I was experiencing this (we are close if you have a sister you know it’s not weird) and she said “I googled it and it says a top cause of this is pregnancy”. Well she did not know I was pregnant at the time and Madi almost spit out his food he was laughing so hard. But y’all ITS TRUE.

- Guilt. It’s complicated. But I felt guilty that when we got pregnant we didn’t experience some things that others have struggled with. I know so many people who are having/had a hard time getting pregnant or who have miscarried. Obviously this is something that could still happen. But this is a REAL feeling for me. I pray every single day for people struggling with miscarriage and infertility because I know so many who it has impacted. Also just people who want kids but haven’t met the right person yet. That’s why it was even hard for me to be happy about this pregnancy initially. I seriously was drowning in guilt. And also had a hard time telling these people experiencing this that I was pregnant because I didn’t want to come off like I was bragging or that I was “above” them. Which these people would NEVER think that but again, it’s how I felt. I was reading the book What Alice Forgot when I found out I was pregnant and if you’ve read it, you know that book did NOT help me feel less of these feelings. However I am SO glad that we live in a world where people are more comfortable sharing their stories about miscarriage and infertility. I get that not everyone is because it’s super personal and heartbreaking but it’s not as unheard as it used to be and I think that has helped make people more aware of real life issues instead of them just being hidden away. TALKING TO SOMEONE ABOUT THESE THINGS IS SOOOO IMPORTANT! Don’t ever feel like you should just bottle up anything inside. GET IT OUT!! End of this part for now. I could go on for days. But love all my fellow females and their stories that they’ve been brave enough to share.

- It is so crazy to learn more about genetic testing. Most people are probably shocked to read that we did do genetic testing. Why are they shocked you may ask? Because we are pro-life and so why find out genetic information if it won’t change your mind on if you want to terminate the pregnancy or not? More to come on this in a later post, we actually have a really interesting (to me) story to tell about our experience with genetic testing and why we personally chose to do it. If you have questions before the next blog post comes out because you are trying to make a decision about whether or not to do genetic testing, let me know and I’d be happy to share my story with you :) 

- CRAVINGS ARE LEGIT. Cotton candy, little ceasars pizza and crazy bread with crazy sauce and a BIG Pepsi, cold stone cake batter ice cream, CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE, Taco Bell nachos with the cheese OMGGGG. I keep thinking about these cravings, but it hasn’t gotten to the point where I make Madi run out to Taco Bell at 10pm. Yet... 

P.S. pre-post update: I totally have eaten almost all of these things since I initially wrote this post  #sorrynotsorry

- Literally one night I’m sitting on the couch watching Princess Diaries 2 (the part where she lets the orphans be in the Independence Day parade) and I start crying. Like real tears. And I knew it was ridiculous. And I couldn’t stop. This isn’t even a sad movie! 

#pregnancyhormonesarerealyall 

Anywho, these are just some of my random thoughts that have occurred during the first trimester. I’m a pretty open person most of the time and want to share my true experience with those who want to know. If you don’t want to know, well I didn’t make you click this link did I? And now that the world knows about Baby Franek, feel free to share thoughts and comparisons of how you felt! It’s been a crazy ride so far, but Madi and I are so thankful for this life that has been given to us and can’t wait for this experience to continue. We definitely appreciate all/any prayers that come our way while we embark on this journey!! 

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia :)

DIY Birthday Cake Blondies

Hey all,

June was a month FULL of birthdays! Including some of my favorite co-workers and friends! This meant that when I got home from our big trip, I was baking up a storm. I came across this recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction for birthday cake blondies and at first was skeptical. Would blondies with cake mix really taste like blondies? Or would it be more spongey like a cake. I put my suspicions aside and in true Olivia fashion gave myself no extra time to bake anything else if they didn't turn out. However, they turned out awesome! This simple recipe is one for your cookbook, so print it out, jot it down and get to baking!

Here's What You'll Need:
Randoms:
- 1 medium to large mixing bowl
- strong rubber spatula
- cooking spray
- Hand mixer or Kitchen aid (not required but suggested)
Ingredients:
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup milk + 1-2 tablespoons on standby
- 1/2 cup sprinkles
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

How to Make It:
1) Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees and Spray 8x8 or 9x9 pan with cooking spray
2) Combine cake mix, vegetable oil, egg and 1/3 cup of milk together in large mixing bowl using either a hand mixer, kitchen aid or you muscles with a spatula to assist. Add the extra tablespoon or two of milk as needed
3) Mix in the sprinkles and white chocolate chips by hand with spatula
4) Pour into pan evenly and bake for 24 minutes. If edges are not golden, leave in for another minute or two and recheck. Repeat this as needed.
TIP: Do not overcook! You can test by sticking a knife or toothpick into the middle and if it is still very battery when you take the knife out, it needs another minute or two. This will not be a hard dessert, but shouldn't be totally mushy either.
5) Let cool for at least thirty minutes, cut and serve!

This dessert was an absolute hit with everyone at work and the smell of it coming out of the oven was like Coldstone cake batter ice cream OMG SO YUMMY! I'm sure some vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt would make it even better ;). Let me know if you try this recipe!

Thanks for reading,
- Olivia :)

#BookWorm: Unbroken

Hello fellow readers,

I’ve been working on the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand for a bit now and while we were on our big trip, I finally finished it! It didn’t take me a long time because it wasn’t a good read, it’s just been a crazy couple of months for us! This book is a biography (a favorite genre of mine) about Louie Zamperini who was an Olympic runner. This is the story of his life. What draws people in, is that he was drafted into World War II and served as in the Air Force. While working in the Air Force, his plane crashed and he survived on an inflatable raft for 46 days. Yes you read that right, FORTY SIX!! After that he was taken by the Japanese and became a Prisoner of War for over two years. He was beaten, lived in horrendous conditions and almost starved to death at times. It definitely makes the message never give up resound even more. 

His story is incredible. If you are a Christian, it is even more so incredible. I highly recommend this book. It is hard to rank someone's life story, so this rating is more just about the way it read than the content as obviously the content was amazing and so inspiring. Overall I’d say it’s a 9/10. It’s not a full 10 only because at times different names were used for the same person and it got a little confusing. It also was at times repetitive as far as one situation begins told and then the same exact part of his life being retold again later. I won’t give away too much, but it is really really good. The movie for this book came out in 2014, which my family saw on Christmas Day that year, but I wasn’t with them. I’m looking forward to watching it! 

Have you all read this book, watched the movie or heard the story of Louie? I would love to discuss with some people. Let me know if the movie is worth watching in your opinion! Next I’m heading back to read some YA stuff before I jump into another few heavy books that are on my list. I’m looking forward to utilizing the library a lot this summer! Keep giving me books to borrow and sending me suggestions to read! I love it!!

Thanks for reading with me,

- Olivia :)

Wifey Wednesday: Roomba 690

Hi all,

Since we are getting into spring (I mean summer? Dang where did the year go!!) cleaning, I wanted to talk about robot vacuums since many people have asked me about ours. So last Black Friday I kept seeing roombas go on sale and was like would this be worth my time? They are so expensive. Can I rationalize spending $300 on a vacuum? Well, after moving to a townhouse that has faux dark wood floors on the lower level, and watching my hair and Nike’s hair collect only a few hours after I spent so much time sweeping and swiffering, I decided let’s try it. Here are my thoughts on the Roomba 690:

Pros: It really does make your life easier.

This roomba can be programmed to your smartphone and you can set days and times of when you want it to run. I set mine to run every other day, and have barely seen any dog hair out in the open! It saved me an hour of my time sweeping and swiffering every few days to only be frustrated that it wasn’t keeping things clean. You can also just hit “clean” on your smartphone and it will run at home! So if you unexpectedly have guests coming over, you can run it while driving home. A lot of people wonder about owning one with a dog: YOU NEED THIS IF YOUR DOG SHEDS. It works well, every few days I clean it out and clean the filter and that’s it! It holds a lot of hair y’all. 

Cons: You do have to replace items on it more frequently than a regular vacuum. I had mine about six months before needing to replace the filter and one of the rollers. The roomba does come with one extra filter in the box. I also thought it would be a little quieter. I’m sure some of the more expensive models are quieter, but Roomba is still more quiet than a regular vacuum. And I typically run it when I’m not home. You also have to still clean little areas like corners and behind places that roomba can’t reach, I do wish it had a hose attachment, but that is why I kept my regular vacuum also! 

So there you have it. The pros and cons of the roomba 690. Does anyone else have a robot vacuum? What have you found that you like/dislike about it? If you’re looking to buy I would suggest waiting til Black Friday. I ended up getting mine online at target for $270 which included tax. Not too shabby!

Happy spring cleaning,

- Olivia 

#BookWorm: Good As Gone

Hello fellow readers,

Okay, I have got to stop picking crazy disturbing books. All of the mystery books I’ve read lately aren’t just a mystery they are straight up disturbing. Like I have had nightmares. The sad part? The things that happen in these books could legit happen to people. This one was no different. Good As Gone by Amy Gentry is about a young girl named Julie who goes missing at the age of 13. All of a sudden a lady shows up who meets the age criteria for Julie, but is a totally different girl than the one who left. Is this the real Julie? Why did she come back on her own? Where is her kidnapper? So many questions start to be answered in this plot twisting mind boggler.


I couldn’t really decide how I felt overall about this book. I guess I will give it an 8/10 because of how quick I wanted to turn the pages, but there were some elements that I didn’t like. There was a lot of religion slander and some talk about late term abortion. But I can to the conclusion that these things are real. And while the story in the book is fiction, it’s not fiction for some people. Religion can be corrupt. Our world is corrupt. It makes my heart sad that this is what some people go through and that there are some leaders in our world who would do things like this. The ending to this book was sub par. It gave you answers you wanted, but it was kind of dumb in my opinion. I’d love to discuss this book with someone who read it so I don’t have to give spoilers here! Needless to say the next book I am going to read will be a chill teen romance book. Or at least I hope it will be more chill than these last few!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

Franeks Take the West Coast: Los Angeles and San Diego, CA

Hey everybody, 

This was the last part of our two week journey down the west coast and I decided to combine L.A. and San Diego because our time in San Diego was so short. We arrived to Burbank and stayed the night right near the airport at the Marriott that was a short walk from the train station. It felt very safe there, we had no problems walking even in the dark. The Marriott Burbank Airport was super nice! It had a nice outside bar and a couple of pools too (none of which we had time to enjoy but I wish we could have). The next morning we got up and got our rental car from the airport (Avis- do not recommend if you are under 25 because they charge you a billion fees) and drove down to Santa Monica for our tour with A Day in L.A. We absolutely loved our tour! It stopped at Venice Beach, Rodeo Drive/Beverly Hills, the Farmer's Market, Griffith Observatory, Hollywood/Walk of Fame. We wish that we would have had more time to spend in Venice Beach and the Farmer's Market! But we were SUPER happy that we found a Blaze pizza to eat at while we were there as it had been a while since we had a staple meal. Afterwards we headed down to Anaheim, checked into our hotel the Holiday Inn and Suites at Disneyland (highly recommend!!) and then walked over to Downtown Disney for dinner. 

The next two days we spent at Disneyland and California Adventure. As a Disney OBSESSED person, I had to go to both and really wanted to spend one day at each, so Madi agreed and we did that. However, we could have probably done both in one day if we really wanted to. At Disneyland I made Madi get to the gate at 7:15am (Jamba Juice in hand) as the gates open there at 8am most days. We did pay for the MaxPass fast passes on our phones and it was 100% worth it. It was $10/person per day and we bought it for Disneyland first and decided the next day to buy it for California Adventure. We got on EVERYTHING that we wanted to do by 10:30am. After that we repeated some rides like Space Mountain (which IMO was actually cooler than Disney World's) and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Halfway through the day we decided to skip out on the heat and go back to the hotel room and just chill (AKA I took a nap) for a couple of hours as well as eat lunch and an early dinner off property to save some money. When we went back over, somehow I convinced Madi that we really wouldn't get that wet on Splash Mountain if we ducked down, and we ended up totally soaked (oops!). And we also did Space Mountain for the third time. We stayed for Fantasmic, which was different than Florida's but cool, and had reserved fastpasses for that in the morning which gave us really good seats.

The next day we headed over to California Adventure. This park basically had four main rides: Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout (the old tower of terror RIP), Radiator Springs Racers (basically Test Track but done way better) Soarin' and Toy Story Mania. All were cool, but we got through things there quickly since California Screamin' and the Ferris Wheel were both closed for renovations along with the World of Color night time show which was a huge bummer as many people said that show is awesome. We decided to again go back off property to eat and rest at the hotel and then came back before dinner, hit a few rides again and then went off property for dinner. Since there was no night time show, we didn't go back to the park afterwards. I could write so much about our Disneyland experience. Maybe one day I will sit down and do some Disneyland tips/tricks, but for now I am trying to keep things brief. 

The following day was our ten year dating anniversary and three year wedding anniversary! We headed up to Burbank to do the Warner Brothers Studio Tour (which literally took us 2 hours to go 30 miles gotta love LA traffic amiright?!). The tour was awesome! We could have easily spent another two hours there if the tour allowed. Even though they were filming some things the day we went, we still got to see quite a bit. Including some bat mobiles and some things from Harry Potter! We would definitely do another studio tour again if we ever go back. Next we headed down to San Diego. Our first night was just kind of relaxed, exhausted from traveling at this point. We had rescheduled our hot air balloon to do it this night, but due to storm clouds it got cancelled, AGAIN. It was just not part of God's plan for our trip I suppose! Our last day of our trip we got up and went over to La Jolla beach, a little north of San Diego. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect! I would have loved to spend more time in La Jolla. The Cottage for breakfast/brunch is HIGHLY recommended, it was delicious and Madi said they had the best french toast he has ever eaten. We then headed over to Balboa park. It was beautiful, but so so hot. We ate at Lucha Libre for dinner. YUM but dang their portions were HUGE. We could have easily shoved more things into this stop, but at this point we were so exhausted that walking around outside more was not appealing. If we go back to San Diego one day, we have a list of things we didn't get to do! 

Our trip overall was incredible. Madi has applauded my trip planning skills often, but he said this trip was over the top great. We loved every minute of it and would do it again in a heartbeat! But there is much more of the U.S. to explore, and now that Madi is settling into his new job and work routine, we won't be traveling for a bit! Well not anywhere far that is. Somehow we still have a lot of weddings in the next twelve months. It is that season of our lives! 

Movie/TV show from Los Angeles: Big Fat Liar (during the studio tour the prop room reminded me so much of this) and Friends (of which I have never seen all the way through). Santa Monica always reminds me of the movie Cellular too (sooo goood). 

Also Ocean Avenue was stuck in my head this whole part of the trip lol.

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia :) 

Franeks Take the West Coast: Monterey, CA

Hey all,x

The next stop on our adventure was Monterey, California. We stopped here just for one night to do some whale watching and see the coastline with a relaxed vibe. The way we got there was getting off of the train in Salinas and taking an Amtrak connection shuttle over to our hotel area. It was about a forty minute shuttle ride. We noticed right away the quiet of being away from a big city! Monterey was so peaceful! We stayed at the Portola Hotel and Spa, a great Hotwire deal! It was a beautiful hotel with a lot of charm. However, there was no air conditioning! At first, we were worried about this as Madi likes rooms cool, but Monterey was not a super warm or muggy place at all so it was not a problem. It stayed in the 60s throughout our time there, and dipped to the high forties overnight. There was a bike rental shop right next to our hotel, and we ventured out towards the bay and Point Pinos to explore! We got to see some adorable harbor seals and saw the beautiful coast our whole ride. The weather was perfect! 

We biked up to Point Pinos Lighthouse, which is still in use today. It was a great find, as it is only open a few days per week usually and runs off of donations. We watched a little video about this history of the lighthouse and walked around some before heading back towards our hotel. Once we dropped our bikes, we walked over to the marina and wharf to get on our sunset sail. We went out on a catamaran boat with two other couples and our captains. They had a nice plate of snacks and wine for us. We got pretty far out and got to see some cool dolphins, but quickly realized we were not going to see any whales. I totally read the advertisement wrong and the intent of the tour was not to see whales, just to do a sunset sail. Oops. Oh well! Our sail was still beautiful. We will have to see whales another time! We did get to see some ADORABLE sea otters! 

Monterey was the quickest stop that we had besides Napa, and we easily could have spent more time here. The aquarium I have heard is great as well! Things to add to our next list! The next stop is the Los Angeles area. Lots of things we will be seeing and doing there!

Must Do's in Monterey:
- Visit Point Pinos Lighthouse
- Bike the Boardwalk and Trail Area
- Make a Stop at the Aquarium

Movie this reminded me of: Finding Dory!

Thanks for keeping up with us,
- Olivia :)

Franeks Take the West Coast: San Francisco, CA

Hey everyone,

The next place on our list to stop was San Francisco, California. We took drove our rental car down there, and our first stop was the Walt Disney Family Museum. This was something I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend $25 each on, but it was one hundred percent worth it! We only gave ourselves an hour and a half in there, thinking like many of our museum stops so far, that would be plenty of time. We were wrong! We could’ve easily spent another hour or longer in there. It was overwhelming, yet so fascinating. My Dad would LOVE it!! Each room had so much information and cool items in it that you could spend 30 minutes in easily in each room. I loved our time there. Next we headed to check into our hotel and drop off the rental car. The Marriot Marquis SanFran was AWESOME! The gym was the best part, humongous and soooo nice. I was thrilled that they had a stair master! Brings me back to my USF days when I was prepping for the wedding. After that we headed over to Rocco’s Cafe to meet Madi’s friend for lunch. It was a pretty good little Italian place, and the lady working was from NC! What are the odds?! That evening we took the cable car down to Hyde Street and walked around the Fisherman’s Wharf. We had a great time watching the Sea Lions. Dinner was at Wipeout Bar and Grill on the pier. We hiked up to Lombard Street (it’s quite steep getting to the top) and had a great sun setting view of the city. Then we headed back to get some sleep!

Day two was JAM packed. We started the morning off at the Hollywood Cafe for breakfast (YUM!) this place was a little while in the wall but so so good. They had a great early 2000s Pandora station going which we LOVED. We headed to meet our tour bus at Dylan’s tours. This tour group was awesome! We hit just about everything in the city that we wanted to see. It was six hours long, but honestly couldn’t have been any shorter if you want to see the main points. This included going over to Sausalito and the Muir Woods. The woods were just big enough to get us in to see some huge trees, but not an all day thing (which we liked). Our guide lastly stopped by the Marin Headlines since we had a bit of time to spare, which may have been my favorite part of the day! That view was the best to me! Although Twin Peaks had a great view of the WHOLE city too. We grabbed some dinner at In-N-Out (had to) and then for dessert: the Baked Bear where I got a custom ice cream sandwich OMG SO GOOD. Lastly we did the Alcatraz night time tour, which was awesome. We got to learn more about the prison and tour the island. The audio tour was put together really well. It was a lot of fun. But also kind of eerie. 

Our time in SanFran went so quickly, we could have easily spent another two days there. It was our favorite stop so far! We definitely plan on coming back there some day!! Our next stop is a little more chill in Monterey. Back on the train we go!!

Must dos in SanFran:

- Indulge at the Baked Bear

- Eat Breakfast at Hollywood Cafe

- Explore Alcatraz

- Take a Dylan’s Tour

- Head over to the Marin Headlands

Movie & TV Show for San Fran: Full House(obvs) and Thats So Raven, Shutter Island and Princess Diaries 

Thanks for keeping up,

- Olivia :)

Franeks Take the West Coast: Napa, CA

Hey everybody,

Napa Valley came next on our trip! We hopped off the train in Oakland and rented a car through enterprise. Literally the worst service ever at the broadway location. They were an hour and a half late to pick us up at the train station and we still waited an hour to get our car once we got there. I will definitely be making a call to corporate! However, once we got on the road we had beautiful views! We stopped at Gott’s Roadside for lunch. It was DELISH! Definitely recommend. Everything in California is pricey, so for a “fast food” type place, it wasn’t cheap, but it was WAY better quality than most quick service food. Next we headed up to Sterling Vineyards. I am so happy we picked this as our winery stop. Number one, they have an aerial tram that takes you up (it was so cool!). Number two, it had an AMAZING terrace and view from the top! We did the general admission tour, but got to learn a lot about how wine is made. We also had the opportunity to taste four samples of wine (they were decently sized). The white was really good, but the red merlot honestly tasted like an old shoe lol. Madis face was priceless when trying it. Needless to say, we still aren’t wine drinkers, but did it all for the experience. 

On our way back to check into our hotel, Springhill Suites, we stopped at the Welcome to Napa sign for some photos. After checking into our hotel and bringing our bags to the room, we headed over to Oxbow Market for dinner at Kitchen Door. It was pricey again, but delicious. I’m sure those of us who know Madi and I can tell who’s food is who’s from our pictures. Madi was craving frozen yogurt, so we found a delicious little place across the way that is a Christian store called, Yobelle Frozen Yogurt. It was really good and we got to jam to some Chris Tomlin. We hit the hay early as we had to be up at 4:30am for our hot air balloon tour. We called the weather line as instructed when we woke up and they said we were good to go. However when we arrived, got checked in, and loaded into the vans, they decided to cancel because of fog and high winds. I was SUPER disappointed. They did give a full refund, so I did some googling and found a place in San Diego that does hot air balloons, so cross your fingers that we will have good weather when we are there so we can participate! Hot air ballooning is on my bucket list after all!! 

Overall, Napa was a great stop. It is something you must do if you’re going to be near that part of California. Even Madi said it was worth stopping in. Our next segment will be in San Francisco. We have a chill first day followed by a packed second day. We want to try to see as much as possible in each of these cities since we don’t know when we will be back! 

Must dos in Napa Valley:

- Stop at Gott’s Roadside 

- Explore in Sterling Vineyards 

- Eat at Kitchen Door

- Book a Hot Air Balloon Tour (and pray the weather is good!!)

I also feel like in each place that we stop I associate it with a movie or TV show and then want to watch it. So here are what I’ve thought of on our stops so far:

- Seattle: 10 Things I Hate About You

- Portland: MTV’s the Real World: Portland

- Napa: The Parent Trap
Who wants a movie marathon when I get back! (Obviously these movies are in the Franek collection already ;))

Thanks for keeping up,

- Olivia :)

Franeks Take the West Coast: Portland, OR

Hey all,

So we are cruising right along! Our second stop was Portland, and we got there by Amtrak train from Seattle. For this portion, we got coach seats since this trip was only about four hours long. We were super surprised at how big and comfy the seats were! Coming off of a plane, these seats were basically luxury. They’re about double the width of an airplane seat and only two people per side. 

Once we arrived in Portland, we uber-ed to our hotel, The Crowne Plaza Portland Convention Center, which while it was outdated in some areas, had a lot of perks! One was free shuttle service within three miles of the hotel (which is a lot of things in Downtown Portland). Another was free bike rentals, including locks. This was my favorite perk when I planned out trip because I planned out this twenty mile bike adventure for Madi and I. Well, we made it almost that whole way! We biked down to Catherdral Park by St. John’s bridge, and Newton’s law taught us a lot. What goes up must come down right? Well what goes down must come back up in some cases. That includes going back up a 15% gradient hill for a quarter of a mile with a bike. And then going up and down smaller hills the rest of our journey. As Madi put it “at first I was biking with you in front of me, the sun shining and the breeze blowing and thought ‘wow what a beautiful day on the West Coast with my wife’ but then as we came up the hill, across the bridge and down the other side (around mile 12) I thought ‘I’m gonna kill her’”. Ahh, can you feel the love guys? Yeah, biking sixteen miles up and down Portland was enough for us. We put up the bikes and used our trusty legs or Uber the rest of our time here. We did however, use part of our long bike ride to get to Salt and Straw. This was the BEST ice cream we have had in a long long time. With unique flavors like pear and goat cheese or honey lavender, we decided to stick to our guns and get the cinnamon snickerdoodle (OMG SO GOOD). It was between that and the sea salt and Carmel. We will let the you hipsters eat those other flavors, we were OVERLY satisfied with the choice we made. 

That night we headed over to Killer Burger for dinner. It was delicious. Any place that advertises that every burger comes with bacon is for me. We finished our first night off at Powell City of Books, a huge bookstore with both new and used books. This place is like McKays on steroids, but the prices are not as good as McKays. That didn’t stop me from buying a few things! I probably could’ve spent hours there (as I do in McKays) but limited myself to an hour. 

After giving our legs and our brains a good rest, we awoke to a new day and new adventures. Our second day was spent exploring more Portland standards like Voodoo Doughnut, Pittock Mansion and the Japanese Gardens. We saved our doughnuts for the train ride, and had brunch at Byways Cafe which was a cute little diner with food that was pretty good. Here is where we ran into trouble. After ubering to Pittock Mansion , we go to buy our tickets and they tell us “those doughnuts can’t come in” *insert eye roll*. So we decided to just walk around the outside and see the spectacular view. The view was worth the Uber price alone. It was incredible. Next we made a pit stop at the Rose Test Garden which was free and so beautiful. June is its peak time, but there were some gorgeous blooms right now. Next was the Japanese Gardens, which after I paid for what I thought were super overpriced tickets, they tell us again “no food allowed” but at least here an attendant was nice enough to hold our box of doughnuts for us. You the real MVP lady. The Japanese Gardens were nice, very tranquil, but very small. It took us about 45 minutes to casually walk through them. So in my head I just pretended like the Rose Garden was included in the ticket price instead of being free. (These are the kind of things that I have to do since I am usually pretty frugal). 

Our time in Portland was well spent. I am glad we didn’t plan to stay there super long, as we did pretty much everything we wanted to in actual Portland, but Oregon itself has so much to offer. We definitely will be back to visit Oregon again one day, but maybe not Portland itself. We will see! 

Next up: Napa!! After a night on the train. California here we come! (Immediate regrets after typing this, sorry for all who will now have the OC theme song stuck in your head forever as I now do). 

Must Dos in Portland

- Bike (or uber) to St Johns Bridge, pack a picnic for Cathedral Park

- Visit the Rose Test Garden

- Browse in Powell City of Books

- Eat at Killer Burger

- Indulge at Voodoo Doughnut

- Enjoy the view at Pittock Mansion

Thanks for keeping up,

- Olivia 

Franeks Take the West Coast: Seattle, WA

Hey everyone!

We are currently on the trip of a lifetime, our two week west coast adventure! I’m going to break it down into each stop that we are making and share with you pieces at a time! These posts will let you know what our MUST dos were in each city we stopped in, as well as some tips/tricks to make your stay there easier if you ever decide to travel to the west coast! Let me start off by saying, this trip was YEARS of saving. Like after we came back from our honeymoon in Bora Bora, I started saving. I will write a Wifey Wednesday on how I saved big money on this trip in many ways once we get back, but it was an expensive trip. However, we felt like this was our last big hoorah before Madi was tied down to a job. 

So how was Seattle you ask? It was pretty darn cool. Here is what we did:

Day One:

We flew from RDU to SEA on a direct flight. It was not terribly long, a little over five hours, which is NOTHING compared to our adventure over to Bora Bora. To get into the city we took the Light Link Rail which is a train that goes from the airport, all the way up to University of Washington, with little stops in between. This was MUCH cheaper than Uber. We stopped by our hotel, Courtyard by Marriott Pioneer Square, and had planned to drop our bags, but they had our room ready for us (SCORE!) so we got to go upstairs and take a minute to change and stuff before heading out on our first day adventures. 

We headed out toward the monorail, which was about a fifteen minute walk from our hotel and brought us directly to the Space Needle and Glass Garden, Our first stop was lunch, Skillet Counter in the Seattle Center. It was DELICIOUS. I got a burger and fries and Madi got a Cobb salad. We both loved our food! Next we headed over to the Chihuly Glass Gardens. We had bought a combo ticket for this and the Space Needle, which was the cheaper way to do things. The glass garden was for sure beautiful, and was not terribly expensive, but was partially closed off for a private event so we didn’t get to see EVERYTHING which was a little disappointing. Next we went back to the hotel to get some rest. This was a must for us because between the time change, long plane ride and Madi feeling under the weather, we were pretty wiped. 

After resting for a bit we went out and got some dinner at Tap Room Grill, which was yummy! Smaller portions, but it was filling! The restaurant was set up kind of cool too. And if you like to drink they had like over 100+ beers on tap. I sampled a Washington made cider and it was pretty tasty! Madi and I both got pan seared chicken with mashed sweet potatoes but I got asparagus and he got Brussels sprouts. (I can’t eat Brussels Sprouts due to PTSD from my BCS 5th grade Tallahassee trip where I was dared to eat a soggy one from a golden coral and wanted to throw up so badly afterwards, yuck). Last stop of the night was the infamous Space Needle. I wasn’t really sold on doing this because it’s SO expensive and was partially under construction (there are lots of other places you can see the city from a high point too) but for Madi it was a must do. So we did it right around sunset and stayed until it was dark to see the city lights. It was pretty darn beautiful. 

Day Two

Woke up and skipped over to Bacco Cafe which was on my list of things wanted to try, and I loved my food! Madi thought it was par for the course. Then we took a free walking tour where you pay what you feel. It lasted about two hours and covered a two mile loop. Our tour guide Jake was great! We definitely leaned a lot about Seattle that we didn’t know. We stopped by to explore Pike Place Market where we saw all of the classics, including the original Starbucks. The flowers were AMAZING. It smelled so good in there! Until you got to the fish market section lol. Then we decided to brave the two mile hike to Kerry Park. About half a mile of this hike was up a steep hill. Our calves and thighs were on fire, but this was probably my favorite part of our entire trip. I mean come on, that view is INCREDIBLE!! God blessed us with perfect weather for the park, as it was 68 degrees and sunny when we got up there. We spent some time chilling and letting our legs recover before heading the two miles back to our hotel. Who needs Uber? Not the Franeks! At least not yet. The last stop of the trip was an underground tour. Now, we didn’t understand the history of Seattle prior to going on this tour, so it was informative for us. But in ways was a little too informative. Like how the word “crapper” came from a dude who’s last name was Crapper and made toilets.... no joke. I mean yeah totally interesting to learn history of things but wow some bad puns were thrown around. Overall Madi and I chalked it up to part of the Seattle experience.

Now we are headed over to Portland, Oregon for more fun and adventures! We won’t be there long though, so we have a jam packed twenty four hours!! I will put up more pictures of each place at the end of our trip! Trust me, we have lots!!

Overall Must Dos for Seattle:

- Eat at Skillet or Skillet Counter

- Walk to Kerry Park

- Visit Pike Place Market 

- Do the Space Needle at Sunset 

- Grab Dinner at Tap Room Grill

Tips and Tricks:
- Buy a package deal if you want to see a lot of the major museums or iconic places in the city. 
- Take the ferry to Bainbridge at sunset instead of paying for a sunset tour. Then to get info on Seattle, take a Free Walking Tour and pay what you feel. 

Thanks for keeping up,

- Olivia :)