Smith News

Henley Hope Smith

2011-03-16T22:36:00.022-06:00

So I'm really bad at keeping up with putting pictures on my blog but these pictures are for all my sisters who live so far away & haven't seen our little Henley yet. Sorry it took me so long.
Matt is still in Great Lakes Illinois for Navy training but since we have iphones we were able to use face time so that he could be there without being there in the room when I had Henley.

Henley right after she was born. She weighed 7lbs 8oz & was 20 1/2 inches long. Born on March 1st.

Kaiya stayed with aunt Tara while mom & Henley were in the hospital but she was very excited to come and visit her new sister. She loves her so much and always wants to give her lots of kisses.

My mom is my lifesaver, she was my big support when I was in the hospital & made it a little easier to not have my husband there with me. She came and was in the delivery room & used my phone to help Matt be part of the delivery. I also went and stayed at her house for a few days after Henley was born & was able to get some rest while they helped with Kaiya & the baby.

This picture reminds me a lot of Kaiya when she was a newborn.

I forget how small babies are when their first born but I'm reminded when I put her in the carseat and she has so much room in there.

Some of my friends got these glasses for the girls and Kaiya just had to pu them on and take a picture when she saw them.

Kaiya loves taking pictures with Henley.

Both of our girls have feet just like their daddy, I love them.

She is getting a lot more alert the last few days but still no smiling yet, excepte when she has gas, although she looks very close to smiling sometimes.

My beautiful grls.

Matt keeps saying how he can't wait to hold Henley, he's going to love it too because she is such a snuggle bug. He comes home next Tuesday and we can't wait.

I caught her smiling in her sleep & thought it was really cute.

Here is Henley's first bath, she didn't seem to like it very much but I think it was because she was a little cold.

Poor Henley!

Navy Boot Camp Graduation

2010-11-14T19:14:00.009-07:00

Matt graduated from Navy Boot Camp the 5th of November, here he is in his handsome uniform.
This is a picture of his devision at the graduation ceremony.

So Matt & I drove to Chicago when I went to see him for graduation & on our way we took an exit to stop at Walmart & when we got off the exit there was the Chicago, IL temple right in front of us so we went and took a picture.

We drove to the Sears Tower, now called the Willis Tower, we were going to go to the top but we were kind of pressed for time & it was an hour & 1/2 wait to get to the top so we decided to wait until I go back out with Kaiya to visit at Thanksgiving time.

Instead of going up to the top of the Sears Tower we stopped at Wrigley Field. Matt is a huge Cubs fan as most people know & he said that stopping there was much cooler than going to the Sears Tower. He was like a little kid in a candy shop & he could have just stood and looked at the field forever.

"I guess that's why my friends call me Whiskers, cause I'm curious, curious like a cat."

Halloween 2010

2010-11-14T17:44:00.010-07:00

Kaiya was a fairy princess for Halloween. She loved dressing up. She kept saying "I'm pretty"
She thought it would be really fun to put on my mom's dog zoe's pig costume.

She also thought it would be great to dress Zoe up in her costume. It made Zoe look like a bug.

Kaiya loved carving pumplins and when we went to pick pumpkins out she had to make sure we had one for Daddy too.

She loved the whole thing she even dug out all the guts.

Here is her little "baby pumpkin head" as she refers to it.

We went to the Zoo in Pocatello for their Boo Zoo day they had and she had a fun time playing in the leaves looking for candy.

They also got to do a little craft and make spiders.

We went with her little friend Preslie. They both had a great time. Kaiya was afraid of the guy at the zoo dressed up in a bear costume though and would not get out of the stroller unless I held her. She kept saying "The bear's gonna get me"

Potty Training

2010-06-06T19:36:00.006-06:00

So we have been working on potty training Kaiya lately and the other day I told her to sit on the potty. She was sitting there watching TV going potty and I walked into the kitchen for a minute and came back and she was bobbing back and forth looking like she was going to fall asleep. It didn't take her long and she was completely out sitting in this position. She even started snoring. I had a good laugh over it.

Our Half Marathon

2010-06-06T18:31:00.011-06:00

So Matt and I ran our half marathon (13.1 miles) on the 15th of May and here are a few pictures. The race was in Ogden and we ran out of the canyon. It was a beautiful view and we couldn't have had more perfect weather that day. It was something that we both were not sure we would be able to finish but we did it and we both lived. It was actually pretty fun and we had a good day.

This was us right before we started the race. We had to stand around burn barrels for about 2 hours before the race started to stay warm. Mike isn't in this picture because he was a "VIP" and got to sit in a warm bus to wait for the race.

This is shortly after we finished. I finished in 2 hours and 27 minutes and Matt and his brother Mike finished in 2 hours and 39 minutes.

The three of us trying to pretend we weren't having trouble walking.

Mike and Matt

Our nieces Michaela(left) and Abby(right) also ran the kids 1K, here they are after their race.

Here is a picture of them leaving the starting line, they were so cute.

silly girl

2010-04-05T20:39:00.001-06:00

This is what happens when Kaiya gets to pick out her own clothes!! She is such a goofball.

Kaiya's 1 year old pictures

2009-09-13T22:12:00.005-06:00

Here are a few pictures of our cute girl. My friend Jen took these pictures and she did a great job. Kaiya kills me with her little cheesy grin, she was being a real cheese the whole time. My absolute favorite it the one on the bottom right of this first group, I laugh every time I see it.

Family Pictures

2009-09-13T21:23:00.008-06:00

We had family pictures taken a couple weeks ago and here are a few of our favorites.
This is my second favorite one.

This is my favorite one!

Five years and still going strong!

2009-09-01T22:19:00.011-06:00

So I can hardly believe it but Matt and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on the 20th of August. It has been a fun ride so far and I couldn't have chosen anyone better to take it with.
Here are just a few highlights of the past five years together.

This was a hike we went on in Ogden at Waterfall Canyon.

As you can tell this is when Kaiya was born.

Floating the river at Lava Hot Springs.

This picture was taken at Christmas time at Temple Square about a month after Matt and I started dating.

This was Our wedding announcement picture.

This was a couple of years ago at the fair when we got brave enough to hold a snake.

This picture was about a year after we were married at my sister Andrea's wedding reception, Matt was working for the BLM at the time.

This picture was taken about a year ago when Kaiya was just a few weeks old.

This is one of my favorite wedding pictures. I Love You Matt! You will always be my sweetheart.

Kaiya Turns One!!

2009-08-26T21:14:00.004-06:00

I can't believe how fast the last year has gone by. On one hand it seems like Kaiya was just born last week and on the other hand it is hard to imagine what life was like without her. She is such a blessing in our lives and we love her so much. We took her to her 12 month Dr. appointment and she weighed in at 19 pounds 1 ounce. She started out at 7 pounds 10 ounces.
These are some pictures we took in the first few weeks after she was born and below are some pictures from Kaiya's first birthday party.

She was really cute when we gave her her cake, she started by eating it one sprinkle at a time but after a few minutes she finally got into it. I like the one where she is sucking on the fondant monkey. I think she is the only one who actually liked the way it tasted. I made her cake and as long as you don't look too close at the details it turned out pretty cute.

South Dakota Summer Vacation

2009-08-25T23:02:00.021-06:00

I know I haven't posted for a long time, so I figured it was about time to do a little catch up.
We drove to South Dakota a few weeks ago with Matt's brother Mike & his family. On our journey we had fun collecting stickers to put on our cargo carrier for all the places we visited.

Sorry the pictures are in reverse order, but these are a couple of pictures of our drive home coming down through Montana near Yellowstone.

We stopped at Devil's Tower early in the morning on our way home.

When we were in South Dakota we went on a tour of a gold mine in the Black Hills. I had to do the gold panning like a little kid but it was fun.

This picture was taken in Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickock was killed.

When we went to Mt. Rushmore we went to Sylvan Lake where National Treasure 2 was filmed it was very beautiful.

This is Matt sticking his hand in the rock from the movie.

Kaiya was very excited by the time we got to Mt. Rushmore!

We had a lot of fun at Mt. Rushmore, it really is amazing to see in person.

These next few pictures were taken when we went to the cosmos. It is supposedly this place where water can run uphill and has vortexes that suck you to certain spots but I'm still convinced its just the way they built the house on the hill. Regardless it was kinda weird.

When we were in Rapid City, Matt and his brother did a little reminiscing, this was where Matt used to play little league.

We stopped at Independence Rock on our way to South Dakota.

We had a really fun trip, hopefully I'll get some time to post again soon.

Happy Birthday Grandma Hope!!

2009-06-11T23:08:00.003-06:00

We just wanted to dedicate this post to my mom, we hope you had a great birthday! We Love you, and miss you. Thanks for being such a good mom and grandma! Hope this face brightens your day a little!

Water Baby

2009-06-07T11:37:00.012-06:00

We went to Downata Hot Springs with Matt's Family over Memorial Day and camped and swam at the pool. It was a lot of fun, we all enjoyed playing at the pool.

Kaiya learned in her swim class how to go under the water without crying, I guess babies instinctively hold their breath.

We tried to get a family picture under the water but you just had to guess where to shoot and aim so I was cut off in all the family pics but we got some really cute pics of Matt and Kaiya under the water!

I believe this is Bridger but its hard to tell under the water, it could be Conner, the twins seemed to love the water as much as Kaiya once they got used to it, it was like one big bath tub.

This is Kaiya trying to swim to her Daddy while he took the picture.

Mommy and Kaiya enjoying the sunshine.

Kaiya, Matt and I took a Mommy and Me swim class a month or so ago and she learned how to 'jump' to us off the side. It was funny she would get all excited and leap for you from the side.

Her facial expressions crack me up!

Kaiya loves the water as much as her Mommy does.

Matt and Kaiya having fun at the pool.

Kaiya's 1st Easter

2009-04-27T16:48:00.006-06:00

Mommy and Kaiya in our Easter Dresses

Kaiya enjoying her pretty new clothes

Daddy and Kaiya looking sharp

Kaiya and her Easter Basket, she got puff snacks since she can't eat candy yet. We opened one of the packages for her and let her have it and she tried to dump the whole thing in her mouth, it made a mess but it was pretty cute.

The Grand Canyon

2009-04-22T21:04:00.007-06:00

On our way home from Las Vegas we took the long route around and went to the Grand Canyon. Matt had been there before with his parents on his way home from his mission but for Kaiya and myself it was our first time. It was way more beautiful than the pictures could ever show, they just don't do it justice.

My sister Tara was deathly afraid that she might fall into the Canyon and wouldn't get anywhere near the edge. I think the closest she got was like 20 feet away.

Matt and Kaiya, it was a gorgeous day that day.

I had to get a picture sitting on the very edge and prove to Tara that it was ok and I wouldn't fall in.

Kaiya wasn't too happy here but we were able to pose long enough to get a photo.

Vegas Vacation (Smith Style)

2009-04-15T16:51:00.020-06:00

So as you can see we went to Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, its taken me forever to get pics up but here they are. Probably the best part of the whole week was when we went to the show Mystere done by Cirque Du Soleil, we took Kaiya and my younger sister Tara and they loved the show too. It was really amazing and I would totally suggest it to anyone.
We stayed at the stratosphere while we were in Vegas, so we were able to go to the top to see the view as much as we wanted without paying. We went up five times during the day and night. It was really pretty from the top.

We also rode the rides that were on the top of the Stratosphere. My sister Tara went with us to watch Kaiya for us went we weren't able to take her with us. We both screamed like little girls on all the rides but at least we had the guts to get on them. Matt made me sit in the front on the one that looks like a teeter totter that dips you off the edge of the tower 1100 ft in the air at 60 miles an our, and I almost peed my pants.

We went to the wax museum one day and that was really fun.

More pics of the wax museum

These are just a few pics of the strip, we had fun just walking around and looking at things.

Pics of the strip at night and the fountains at the Bellagio, the fountain show was cool.

We also went on the roller coaster at New York New York, it was also very fun. The picture of me with the paper hat was when we went to a restaurant called Dick's Last Resort where the waiters are as rude as possible on purpose, that was kinda fun.

We went to the M&M factory where they have anything you can think of M&M. They had these really cool purses and picture frames made out of M&M wrappers that I had to take a picture of.

Kaiya had kind of a rough week. She was just getting over being sick and still had diarrhea. On our way into town she was just crying relentlessly and so we finally stopped unable to calm her down. Luckily we did stop because she had the worst blow out I've ever seen. Matt got her out of the car seconds before she exploded all over his shirt, we almost had diarrhea all over the car but luckily we used the changing pad. Poor Kaiya! She was really cute in the hotel though she had to have all of her stuffed animals with her to fall asleep, she loves those things.

At the Bellagio they have these really gorgeous gardens that we went and looked at.

Matt and I went to dinner at the top of the Stratosphere, that is the most money I will ever pay for dinner but it was a fun experience, the restaurant revolved all the way around to see a 360 degree view of Las Vegas. Before we went to dinner we also went and saw a Criss Angel show, he is the mind freak guy who is an illusionist. It was really good.

At the Coca-Cola factory we did taste testing of different flavors of coke from around the world. As you can probably tell some were good and some not so good.

The aquarium was one of the best parts. It was cool to watch the sharks and turtles swim over head.

They would let you touch the sting rays in the tank, they were really slimy.

Blessings and Lessons Learned

2009-02-12T21:26:00.004-07:00

So today Kaiya said Dada for the first time. It was very cute! Ironically she said it for the first time after Matt had had a very hard day that tested his patience with her. Everyday we receive blessings and reminders in our lives to let us know how much we have to be thankful for. We love our Kaiya so much and after a long day of doing all we can to figure out why she is crying and she looks at us and smiles or says Dada for the first time we are just reminded what a blessing she is and how much we love her.
We also had to get Kaiya's blood taken and tested this week because when she was two weeks old one of her blood tests had come back saying she had an unknown hematacrit variant, which could mean a lot of things. They told us that we would have to get her blood tested when she was 6 months old to make sure she wasn't anemic because of an abnormality of her red blood cells. The Dr. told us that if the test came back with any problems that we would have to get an appointment at Primary Children's, so it was a little scary. Rest assured though the blood work came back completely normal and we are thankful to have a healthy baby. I've learned a lot since becoming a mom though and one of the most important things is to not worry until there is something to worry about. Kaiya was a little trooper too she didn't even cry when they poked her toe to take her blood, she just chewed on her shoe the whole time.

Kaiya's First Hair Cut

2009-02-11T18:36:00.005-07:00

So sadly most of Kaiya's hair has fallen out and all that was left was a long spot right on top of her head that just looks like a bad combover no matter how you try to comb it.
She also had a long mullet like fringe on the back of her neck.

So we finally decided to give her her first haircut since it couldn't really look worse than it did already. She actually has a lot of blonde hair coming in underneath her darker hair but she still looks bald because it is so blonde. It looks like she is going to be blonde like her daddy afterall, at least for a little while.

Fun in Island Park

2009-02-11T17:22:00.003-07:00

So a couple of weekends ago we went to Island Park with some friends. We stayed at my friend's families cabin and it was a lot of fun. My friends Hollee and Shannon both have babies who are about 2 months younger than Kaiya and it was fun to get them all together. Kaiya was also quite the social butterfly. She had to keep checking out what the other babies Alex and Preslie were doing. And somehow the other babies binky's and toys were much more entertaining than her own because she kept trying to steal theirs.
All our husbands had a lot of fun playing the Wii for about 13 hours or so straight while the girls played cards and had fun visiting.

We also had to go and enjoy the snow a little since there was so much of it. Matt and I both tried a little snowboarding down a little tiny hill. Matt also got pulled behind the snowmobile on his little short skis. I tried to talk him into doing a few tricks like he used to do in his younger days but he told me he was too old and he'd probably end up in the ER if he tried. It was lots of fun, and we're glad to have good friends to spend time with.

Solid foods!

2009-02-02T22:56:00.003-07:00

Kaiya started eating baby food about a month ago. She was pretty cute with food all over her face. She managed to get just a little bit more in her mouth than she did on her face luckily.
I thought it was pretty funny because she loves greenbeens, peas, and carrots but doesn't like the sweet stuff like fruit. I guess that's good though she will start out being a healthy eater.

I just can't resist this face!

Christmas

2009-01-25T22:08:00.002-07:00

Kaiya got a baby walker for Christmas. She was a little bit to small for it still but she loves it, her feet can barely reach the floor now that she's had a few weeks to grow into it. Matt got a Playstation 3 for Christmas (which he was very excited about!!!). I teased him that his X-terra would be his Christmas present for the rest of his life because he has wanted one since I have known him and he never thought we would actually get one. I got some snow boots and new glasses. The snow boots have come in very handy for going out and seeing patients who live in the boonies where I have to tromp through lots of snow.

New Years

2009-01-25T21:46:00.002-07:00

On New Years Eve we went down to Temple Square with Matt's brothers' families. The last time we were down there when they had the Christmas lights up was the Christmas before Matt and I got married five years ago and half the lights weren't on because a tree branch had fallen. So this time we got to enjoy the full experience.We rode the train on our way down to see the lights from Roy to Salt Lake. It was a little cold but fun still the same. If you look close you can see me reading in one to the pictures. I got the Twilight book for Christmas and just couldn't put it down. Sorry Mike.

Winter Fun!

2009-01-25T21:01:00.002-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since we have updated our blog. We do have lots of pictures to catch up on though, so you will be seeing lots of posts in the next few days.

On New Years day we went sledding with Matt's Family in Utah and it was so much fun. Kaiya snoozed the whole time in her little igloo like car seat cover. There was also this huge hill that everyone decided to go down. So I finally got up enough courage to go down it with Matt and I'm pretty sure everyone else knew how scared I was because I screamed the whole way down. In my defense I really thought I was going to die.

Christmas Tree Hunt

2008-12-09T23:53:00.010-07:00

Since we got married we have talked about going and cutting down a Christmas tree, and for a few different reasons we never have. For one we never had a vehicle that did well in the mountains where there is snow. But this year we decided to go and cut one down and Matt decided that he needed to take advantage of his four wheel drive vehicle that we can actually put a tree on top of. It was a really fun experience and we had a really good time.
Kaiya and Jen all bundled up to go for a hike and pick out the perfect tree! Kaiya was happy and content the whole time in our little backpack carrier we got for her before she was born. This was the first time we used it and it worked out pretty well.

This is Matt cheerfully cutting down our tree.

Matt and his friend Kacy showing off their trees. Kacy came with us to get a tree, his wife couldn't come because she wasn't feeling well but we missed her and Katie, their little girl.

Here we are getting ready to pack our tree on top of the X-terra.

We had to go and get Kaiya a new little suit to keep her warm. She reminded me of the little kid on a Christmas Story (I think that's the name of the show) where he is bundled up like a little snow man and could barely move. She was so cute!

This is Jen and Kaiya decorating the tree while Matt worked on homework. Kaiya felt like she was being neglected or left out so I strapped her in the snuggly and we decorated together. She loved the lights and couldn't stop staring at them. She just keeps staring at the tree whenever the lights are on. When we were putting the tree up in the stand the trunk is very skinny and we almost had a catastrophe while putting on the lights. As I was going around the side of the tree with the lights the tree began to tip over and luckily I caught it before it fell to the floor. I think we got it fixed, at least lets hope.

Here we are, our happy little family in front of our decorated tree.

Halloween

2008-11-10T16:33:00.004-07:00

The week before Halloween we went over to our friends Ashley and Kacy's house and carved pumpkins. It was very messy but very fun. Kaiya even had a little baby pumpkin even though she is clueless about the whole thing.

For Halloween we went to Twin Falls and had a party with my sisters and my sister Lisa's boys, Benny and Jack. It was fun, Kaiya and I dressed up as spiders and Matt was who else but Indiana Jones. Some guy at the church asked if he was dressed up as Crocodile Dundee, Matt about freaked out when he heard that. It was pretty funny. We had a lot of fun dressing up.

Kaiya and the boys

2008-10-28T23:20:00.005-06:00

Kaiya is the first girl cousin on my side of the family and it was really cute to see the boys coo over her when they were here for her blessing. My sister Andrea kept telling my how Carson (top left) was so excited to play with baby Kaiya, we don't think he understood that she is not much fun to play with yet but he was really cute talking to her and trying to get her attention. You can tell that Benny(top right) is a big brother too because he just bundled her up and held her like a pro. It's pretty cute to see how much they love her already.

laughing kaiya

2008-10-21T22:27:00.003-06:00

Kaiya always wakes up in the morning giggling so I guess in that sense she is definitely not like her mom. I am not a morning person as most people know but it always makes me laugh to see her giggle in the morning.

Growing baby

2008-10-17T18:46:00.006-06:00

Kaiya had to go in for her two month check up (oh my goodness I cant believe my baby is two months old). Anyway she got her first immunizations and these are her battle wounds. She only cried for a few seconds and then she was fine but she was fussy for the rest of the night after that. She tipped the scales at 11 pounds even, so she is getting pretty chubby as you can tell by her cheeks and thighs. She finally outgrew her newborn diapers.

She is starting to get pretty good control of her head. She'll be rolling over before we know it.

Kaiya's blessing

2008-10-17T17:41:00.011-06:00

Matt blessed Kaiya at church last Sunday and both of our families braved the weather to come. It was a fun weekend and we were glad everyone was able to make it safely.

My mom and Kaiya

My mom and dad with Kaiya

Matt's Dad, Cheryl and Kaiya

The blessing dress that Kaiya wore was actually my blessing dress that my grandma made 25 years ago. This is my grandma who made the dress.

This is the first time in over a year that all of my siblings have been all together, we were still missing my two older sisters husbands who weren't able to make it.

Matt with his brothers and sister

Twins

2008-10-17T17:34:00.001-06:00

Maybe they look more alike than we all thought!

All tired out

2008-10-16T23:38:00.004-06:00

Everyone keeps asking how much sleep we're getting or not getting I should say, and I think that these photos give you an idea of how sleep deprived we really are.

Bath time

2008-10-16T23:22:00.002-06:00

These are some pictures of Kiaya's first bath, they are kind of old but our internet hasn't worked very well lately some I'm trying to catch up on some pics. She didn't like the bath very well, she hates to be cold! Once she warmed up she was glad to have it over.

Photo shoot

2008-10-16T22:27:00.011-06:00

My friend Jen is trying to get into photography and did some practice with Kaiya a couple weeks ago. It was fun and she did a good job even though Kiaya was kinda grumpy that day because she was so tired. These are a few of our favorite shots.

baby kisses

It's amazing how tiny their hands are and how fast they grow

This one's our favorite

We thought she looked like a little porceline doll with her blue eyes in this one

All Smiles

2008-09-17T13:34:00.003-06:00

Kaiya has been smiling a lot more lately so I thought we would share a few cute pictures

Getting a tan

2008-09-10T20:54:00.000-06:00

The masked avenger is ready for action.

This is when we had to put Kaiya under the light because of her jaundice.

She would only sleep on her side with her hands tucked up by her face.

Independence Lakes

2008-09-10T18:13:00.000-06:00

The greatest place to poop in the woods.

This is looking at the first lake coming back down.

Over my left shoulder you can see Mt. Harrison in the back ground.

In the middle you can see the little spillover of water, that is where our camp is. We hiked straight up the slope you see to the left and hiked over to where we are. We had to hike down in the rain because a storm came through.

This is what happens when you don't hike in your boots for a while.

Welcome to the World

2008-08-15T21:20:00.000-06:00

Kaiya Diane Smith
14 August 2008