Hanging Out!

My sister's family came for a visit and it was so much fun! Jenna loved playing with her cousins. They were thrilled to meet Lucy, and they were so good at being gentle with her. Here are some fun times at our house...

Let me start by saying that neither of these girls drink from bottles. However, I gave them bottles to feed two baby dolls. Audrey thought she'd try it out...

...and let Jenna try it out too.

The massive Jenga tower that Mikayla and Tyler built with Uncle Dan.

Meeting Lucy.

Lucy's first bath

Lucy's first bath was quite a while ago, but we just got so busy! Lucy loves her baths, it calms her right down. She is a water baby just like her sister!

A whirlwind of updates...

Okay, pardon the long absence of updating this blog... the pictures are coming, I promise! Life has been kind of crazy this last month- the week after having Lucy at the beginning of July, I broke out into a case of massively horrid hives. Mmmm... We aren't sure what caused them, but I was definitely miserable. That has been followed by some serious jaw and mouth pain, courtesy of the wisdom teeth that I should have had pulled a few years back. Especially now that I don't have dental insurance. To top it all off, physically at least, a cold was shared by all in the family. And Dan was let go at his job, leaving him to continue his job hunting. Great.

You know what's funny though? For all the not wonderful things happening in life right now, life is WONDERFUL. We have had the opportunity to have family come visit us and to have our sweet little Lucy blessed. We have an amazing 20-month-old that gets cuter everyday. There are so many blessings in our lives! It seems like no matter what stage in life we are at, we are always asking God, "What is going on?!! Why is this happening?" Yeah, that never stops. But it doesn't mean that life isn't getting continually better. Dan and I are so grateful for all the blessings and tender mercies that have appeared in our lives... and that includes awesome people like YOU! We thank all the terrific family and friends that we have been blessed with, who care so much about us and give us so much. In this mini "Job-like" time that we are having, we appreciate all of you that help us remember who we are and remind us that we are doing the right things. We love you all!

Cousins!

You can expect a lot of pictures for the next couple of weeks. My sister and her family are in town, whom I haven't seen in a year! I just love having them here and Jenna loves having her cousins here to visit. We went to the pool today. It was so hot, but I wasn't up for swimming so I took my camera with me. Here is some of the fun I saw...

Jenna really likes to drink the water. Gross, I know.

Audrey and Jenna playing catch.

Beautiful Mikayla- 5 1/2 years old.

Cutie pie Tyler- he'll be 4 this Wednesday!

Lucy just relaxin' in the shade.

Sweet little Audrey- she just turned 2!

Waiting to jump in!

Dan and Jenna swimming. I love them!

Our cute girls!

Lucy is two weeks old today! She is such a sweet baby, we are lucky to have her in our family. I took some pictures of her for her birth announcements last Friday. She really is just a little doll!

And of course, there's our bundle of fun Jenna! She's been practicing jumping lately, and she rarely gets both feet off the ground at the same time, but it is so cute to watch her try!



Jenna and Ellie are such cute little friends. Dan took the girls to a Pioneer Day celebration and those 2 had such a good time just walking around holding hands. Hurray for cousins!

Welcome to the world, baby Lucy!

Well, here it is. The big, long blog about Lucy's trip into this world! If you don't want to read the story, or you already know it, feel free to skip down to the bottom where the pictures are. If you haven't heard it, it's kind of an interesting one, read on...

Well, 2 1/2 weeks before my due date, July 5, I started having contractions 5 minutes apart during church. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, so I kept doubting myself on whether this was really labor or not. At any rate, Dan and I decided better safe than sorry, so we left church, dropped Jenna off at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's, and headed over to the hospital. By this time, my contractions were a little closer together- every 3 minutes or so. When the nurse checked me, I was dialated 5 cm. (halfway there). That means I got to stay. Alright, pretty routine, we were there in plenty of time... what could go wrong?

Well, many of you know, it was fast Sunday- meaning Dan had not eaten anything all morning. When I was getting my i.v. put in, all of a sudden, Dan was on the floor. Yup, he fainted! He's a pretty big guy, so this was not a little spill, and he hit his head pretty hard. When he came to, the nurses wouldn't let him get up, and the paramedics had to come and take him to the ER to get checked out. A little later, I went to go visit him there. Yeah, nothing like a woman in labor going to visit her husband on the floor below her. My sister-in-law Anna was nice enough to come keep me company while Dan was being checked out. Fortunately, the CATscan came back fine and Dan was able to come back up to labor and delivery. It left him a bit naseous for the rest of the time, and even a day or two later, but he's okay.

Anyways, this little lady took a long time making her appearance. I gave birth to Lucy Makana Smith at 5:51am on July 6th. She weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz. Boy, it's a good thing she came early, or she would have been huge! She is healthy and so sweet. We are so glad to have her in our family. I can't believe it. Dan and I have been married 2.5 years, and we have 2 beautiful girls. We are truly blessed with all the good things in life. Here are quite a few pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Dan, after he passed out. Still got a smile out of him!

Dan said,"I always figured I would end up on one of these from mountain biking or snowboarding..." I guess if you're going to get hurt, a hospital is a good place to do it!

Me, visiting Dan. Classic.

Lucy's first moments in this world

Mommy and Lucy

Daddy and Lucy

Jenna's first time seeing Lucy. She really likes to touch people's noses, that's what she's doing here. Jenna has done great with Lucy so far. Everytime she hears her, she says "Oh, baby!" Jenna has been so soft and gentle with her. What a great big sis!

First family photo

Grandma and Grandpa Smith with their 4 grandchildren (all girls!)

Aahhhh! Where am I?!!

You want a piece of me?

More sister love.

Grandpa Orrell with Lucy. Grandma Orrell is still in Hawaii, but will be here at the end of the month. We are so excited to see you!

Jenna at home with Lucy. She loves to give hugs and kisses.

This is her giving hugs

Wide-eyed!

Some cute little hiccups at the hospital!

Life Before Lucy

There have been so many little things that have been going on that I wanted to blog about before I had the baby, and I kept procrastinating because I thought "I've still got time..." So much for that! Well, I still wanted to share these so, here we go, the last pictures of life before our little Lucy came into it!

Dan went biking up at Tahoe with a few friends. Here are some great posed shots of my awesome hubby!

He also thought it wise to bike with just one hand so he could record the trail with the camera in his other hand... if I become a widow, can I come live with you?!

Yes, this is a big deal. Our little Saturn Ion reached 100,000 miles! Here's to many more happy years little guy! (hopefully)

Dan has been practicing the guitar a lot lately, and he's getting really good at it. Jenna likes to make music with him on her toy ukulele. My fun music makers!

Jenna was pretending to talk on the phone (aka her hand) and it was so funny- she kept pausing and laughing like she was listening to someone on the other end. I tried to catch it, but she saw me with the camera. What she said was pretty funny anyways. Who told people to say cheese anyways?!

On the 4th of July, we watched the fireworks in Sparks. We parked the truck really early in a great spot and left it there to go eat dinner. When it was time for the fireworks, we laid out some sleeping bags in the back and watched the show with Dan's brother Brian and his family (Anna, Ellie and Wendy). Fireworks are great when you have kids, because you don't have to feel stupid when you "ooh" and "ahh"!