Bountiful Pioneer Day Parade

I'm sure you think I'm crazy for going to the parade 2 days after I had Cooper but this is one of my favorite times of the year and I love all the festivities that go on at the park and such. All in all it was a bit much but I'm glad I went and I spent most of the next day in bed.

Lakeview hospital handed out fans to help keep us cool and we used one to block the sun from reflecting off the building behind us and right into Cooper's eyes. Way to save the day Lakeview!

Cooper didn't even know anything was going on. He slept through almost the whole parade.

This is one of the many cool floats that my Aunt Barbie created critters for. She won many awards including the Sweepstakes (the big one) at the SLC parade. She's amazing.

Cooper

We were going to induce labor with Cooper on Thursday July 22nd but the doctor called just before noon on Wednesday and asked if we could come in as soon as possible. Mike came home from work and I packed us and the girls and off we went to the hospital.

I'm used to having to wait a while before anything really happens but this time within an hour of having my water broken I was ready for my epidural. Then they monitored me closely because my blood pressure had dropped and during this period of time I had fully dialated and was ready to push. This was just under 3 hours after breaking my water. I started getting really emotional and wasn't sure quite why. We think I must have been in shock because it all happened so quickly. Cooper was born at 6:24pm, weighed 7lbs 1oz and was 20.5 inches long. He's a healthy, happy baby and mom is the same.

Waiting for Cooper to come

Cooper has arrived and is getting the scrub down
Our first "little" family photo

Cooper loved the heat lamp

Mike got to help with his first bath...and as you can see Cooper did NOT like it!

Then the nurse took him to the sink to scrub his head and he wasn't too sure about that either.

Aaaahhhh....bathtime is over and now Cooper is back under the heat lamp. What a handsome boy! I just LOVE his dark hair!

Saying that the girls were excited to meet their new baby brother is a bit of an understatement. They have been looking forward to this moment for what seems like an eternity to them.

Kazia is going to be a big helper and great new big sister.

Our first family photo...the excitement radiates from this photo.

Baby Smith is Here!

Cooper Jay Smith was born July 21, 2010 at 6:24pm. He weighed 7lbs 1oz and is 20.5 inches long. Mother and baby are doing well. We will post some of our pics later but the hospital took some and you can view them at:
http://www.bouncinbabyphotography.com/
password: 0721coopersmith

He definitely has the smith nose!

Our Plumber

Ok...so all you see is Mike but he is our new plumber. He has been learning a variety of new things while working on our house such as how to fix a broken pipe in the wall and how to replace a disposal cover. The one that was left looked like someone tore the black rubber out and everytime you used the disposal it spit stuff back out at you. The people who left the home put a drain stopper over it so you couldn't see it...oh how we love hidden treasures. :)

This is the old one.
Now Mike has put the new one in and is putting everything back together.

It's hard to see because it's black, but it's new and works like a dream. No more hiding when I turn on the disposal.

Thanks my little plumber!

Kazia's Graduation

Tuesday, May 27th Kazia graduated preschool. Here is our proud graduate... and her sister.
The class put on a little program with each students' favorite song they had learned this school year. It was super cute!

Kazia had a blast performing and made sure we clapped after each song.

She has received her certificate and is now ready for kindergarten. Her teacher also made each student a small scrapbook with pictures of the fun things they did this year. So cool!

Kazia and Miss Cindi

Kazia has since received a letter from Miss Cindi this week and was excited to get her very own mail. She misses her teacher and all her friends but is quickly making new friends so she will have fun in kindergarten!

Our Playset

It started in four large boxes packed tightly with cedar. Mike spent the first day just sorting a couple boxes out into piles with the same number/letter on them so that he could start putting it together.

The beginnings of a long project...and that is Mike's electric hand drill which has since become one of the most useful tools we own now that we own a home. He got it from my parents for Christmas 2 years ago and hadn't used it much until we started on the house and now he uses it almost daily. Thanks mom and dad!
It has levels!!!

The roof is starting to form...

The roof was almost completed but we had to borrow a neighbor's ladder to finish the back part since our 4' ladder wasn't tall enough...or maybe Mike wasn't tall enough...or both. :) The girls were getting so antsy to play on the playset and loved watching/helping their dad along the way.

As you can see the roof is now complete along with the slide and picnic table.

I forgot to take a picture of it completed but here is one where you can see the swings attached and Jade's blanket was drying out on the rockwall that is built on next to the slide, shading the picnic table. It took 8 days to complete and that was working on it for 2 weekends and every night Mike got off work until he couldn't see anymore because it was too dark.

We are super exited to have it completed and the girls play on it all the time. THANKS DAD!!!

Bunkbeds

Well, as promised I will start updating my blog now that I've found my camera cord. I hope to do a couple of posts a day for the next week to get caught up before the baby comes. Here is one of the projects Mike and I have completed in preparation for our new home. We got an old bunkbed from my parents neighbor for $10. It was strong and sturdy but was old, brown, and had been carved. We sanded, painted, and put new hardware and plywood on the bed and now it's almost like new. The girls were so elated to finally get to use their new princess bedding they got from Nana and Grampy for their birthday. We still have to hang the princess curtains and decorate but that will have to come sometime after the baby arrives. So much to do...so little time.

Ever since the bunkbed was assembled in their room the girls haven't gone to bed much earlier than 10:30-11:30pm. Needless to say we hope the newness and excitement wears out soon and I will be putting up black fabric on the window to make it darker when bedtime rolls around. Hopefully this will help. Aren't they adorable?

Also make sure to check out my crafting blog http://embellishedbybrenda.blogspot.com/ to see my crafty projects as I have a few to post there as well.