Monterey

It was a miracle that both Michael and Lonnie took President's Day off of work. Cheryl and I were in utter amazement. Our husbands . . . who are an awful lot alike . . . tend to work every holiday minus Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

We decided to celebrate by heading down the coast to Monterey. It was just beautiful. On the drive down the rolling hills were a velvet green, the artichoke fields were immaculately manicured, and the ocean was, as it always is, magnificent.

We packed as much as we could in one day: the beach, lunch, the Aquarium, Ghirardelli's Chocolate Parlor, the outlets and In-N-Out in Gilroy on the way back home. Needless to say, we didn't need to eat for days. But, how could you pass up an In-N-Out . . . even if you did just eat an enormous cookie sundae?










There isn't anything as satisfying as Ghirardelli!
(p.s. does anyone else get concerned that Jacob never leaves this stroller?)


Andrew is in an ice cream coma. That's a good place to be!

Lets go fly a kite . . .

Even though it didn't make it to the highest of heights, or up much at all, we sure had fun.

Barefoot in February!! I could be that the weather was so wonderful . . . or that mom forgot the shoes. It may have been a mix of both . . . we'll never know.


All of these pictures are from a darling park out in Mountain View. We had a wonderful Saturday afternoon. I love the picture of three generations of Smith men . . . in order of the most amount of energy! Our hearts will be broken when we have to leave. Thank you so much Lonnie and Cheryl for sharing your home and your hearts with us and our children. We all love you so much.

My sister Danielle

This is my sweet sister Danielle. She has two darling little girls: Talise (7) and Renee (4). For years now they have been trying to have more children, but for years were unsuccessful. This last Fall they began the journey into the world of IVF. With incredible success (and a little divine intervention!) they were able to get pregnant with their third little girl.

On Saturday Danielle was admitted to the hospital. She began to hemorrhage in the night and didn't know until she stood up the next morning that she had been bleeding. Early on in this pregnancy, she was told that she had a condition known as placenta previa. This means that the placenta is covering a part or all of the cervical opening. In her case, it is a full placenta previa. And, were she to dilate at all, the placenta would tear away from the uterine lining enough to cause heavy bleeding. Knowing this, the plan has been to take the baby via c-section at 37 weeks before her body might go into labor on it's own.

To make a really long story short: Danielle was having some strong Braxton-Hicks contraction this last week--strong enough to start dilating the cervix. She was rushed to the hospital (labor and delivery) where they admitted her, did an ultrasound, and ran several labs. The blood loss wasn't too significant to affect either her or the baby, and the babe is doing well. Unfortunately, because Danielle has already started dilating, she will most likely have to remain in the hospital until the baby is born. Since Danielle is only 23 weeks along, we are hopeful that the baby can wait for at least 8 more weeks. According to the high risk maternity team, 31 weeks gestation is ideally the earliest they would want the baby to come. However, the NICU attending came to speak with Dan and Danielle and told them that the earliest this baby could be born and still have a fighting change would be at 27 weeks. Obviously, we are hoping for more than a fighting chance! This is going to be a long several months for my sister and her family. We feel really blessed that everything is alright with the baby and things outside of the hospital are going smoothly so far. Luckily, My mom lives a few miles away and Dan and Danielle have a wonderful supportive network of friends who have stepped in to help lighten the load.

If you remember, please keep them in your prayers. I'll keep you posted if there are any new updates.

Park City

Can you believe how much snow there is? I think we might be out of the drought!

A week with cousins-and my sisters

We decided to a take a week's vacation, from our two month vacation in California, to Colorado Springs. All of the perfect weather was too much to handle! We felt much more comfortable in the blizzards and freezing wind.

Although the entire last sentence is completely false, we did go to Colorado, and we had a fabulous time. Andrew and Jacob loved being with their cousins and really enjoyed jumping from one set of Grandparents to another.
We were too busy having fun and didn't get as many photos taken as I would have liked, but here are the few we took:

Cousin Tub Time--Jacob (10 months-9 days older than Tyler) Tyler Christensen (10 months)

My sister Kristen Cowser Christensen (25 years) Renee (4 years old -- what a doll!!)

Andrew-quite a doll too. He really loved being included
in the older-cousin-girl-games. Lucky for me I decided to
cut his hair--so he doesn't look like a girl!

Danielle-my much older sister. (She's 11 months
and 2 weeks older than I am.)

How could I ask for any more help?

I was in the middle of making a cake. I needed a few more ingredients, so I ran downstairs to find brown sugar and vanilla. When I came back upstairs . . .

Andrew is the best helper in the world. I don't know what I would do without him in the kitchen. I love you little Andrew. Never stop exploring.

Fisher Park

There is a great little park in the neighboring town from the Smith's home. Andrew and Jacob love to go play there.

Mustard Flowers on Chester Ave