Newborn and 2 year pics

One of my good friends in the ward took these pictures over a month ago. I haven't posted them yet because we were waiting to surprise our parents with framed prints this weekend. But here are some of my favorites. Tami did such a great job!!

Pioneer Day and Family Fun

Lance has been working so much lately, but luckily he was able to get a little break this week. Pioneer Day (Wednesday) he worked from home all day, then we went to the neighborhood bbq and chatted with friends for a few hours. Reagan was all dressed for the festivities. Until she decided she hated this outfit. I only got a smiling picture of her by bribing her with taking it off as soon as I got a picture.

Friday, Lance took work off so we could spend some time as a family. We decided to check out the Rec center a couple towns over. Reagan loved the big slide and we went over and over again.

 Daryn slept.

We were also able to go to the park, and walk a ways down the path, where Reagan discovered this low tree, just perfect for climbing on. 

It was so nice to be able to spend some time with Lance last week! He works so hard for our family, and we appreciate it, but we miss him when he's busy. I can't believe how well he juggles work, family, and church. He's the best husband and daddy ever! Just ask Reagan:

Daryn turns 2 months

Daryn turned 2 months old on Tuesday, the 23rd! Unfortunately, we spent the entire day at the pediatricians and then Primary Children's for various appointments. We were worried because one of her kidneys did not appear to be draining. I was reading the blog I wrote when Reagan turned two months to refresh my memory. It sure has been different this time around! At her appointment on Tuesday, she weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19 inches. No percentiles because, of course, she isn't even on the charts. But she is now in newborn clothes instead of preemie! She hadn't really hit any milestones as of Tuesday, but two days later she started smiling! I was nursing her late at night before bed and she just smiled and smiled at me for 10-15 seconds. I almost died, it was so cute. She can hold her head up pretty well at this point. She still sleeps most of the day, and can go up to a 5 hour stretch at night. Some days she is pretty good at putting herself to sleep, others she cries a lot. Nevertheless, we love this little peanut a lot. I am constantly amazed by the miracle that she is!

 Some sweet shots from this week.

A little nap in the waiting room.

A sleepy grin captured on camera!

Terrible Two's

They've hit us like a brick wall. A brick wall moving at the speed of a lightening-fast toddler. This weekend, even between the two of us, Lance and I felt outnumbered, outsmarted, and outgunned by our trixy little girl. She's a sweet little angel 90% of the time. It's that other ten percent that you've got to watch out for, and you never know when it's coming. Yesterday, in the space of just a few hours, Reagan managed to put her face in and drink from a puddle of stagnant rainwater and grab a handful of the old grease/meat drippings from under our grill and stuff it in her mouth. If that doesn't make her sick, then I don't know what will... And then leaving her unattended in the kitchen for just a couple of minutes gave us this:

Yes. That is an entire, brand-new container of salt dumped on our dinner. Luckily, it only got on the hot dogs, and they were salvageable after a little hosing down.

Then this morning, a real treat for me. I was in the bathroom drying my hair and Reagan was on our bed, watching Caillou, her new favorite show. Usually nothing can pry her away from it, so I thought she would be fine. Then she came into the bathroom to show me this:

 She had got into Lance's graphite skin medicine that he keeps by his side of the bed, and it was everywhere. All over our bed. And that stuff does not come out. It's essentially just black grease. After the third washing today, the stains are just beginning to fade. 

Some days I feel like all I do is put her in time out. And yell at her (I'm working on that...). Feel free to judge our awesome parenting skills. I know I am. 

On another note, last Sunday Shay, Britta, and Cal came over for dinner. Reagan was happy to see her cousin, and luckily, Cal had just had his birthday the day before, so we didn't have two crazy two year olds running around :).

4th of July

Since my mom left on the 3rd, Independence Day was our first day all on our own. Although we were a little daunted, we didn't let that stop us from celebrating! Luckily Daryn and Reagan had a plethora of patriotic outfits between them, so we were really able to get in a festive mood all week without being hindered by potty accidents or spit-ups. Fourth of July Eve:

Reagan helped me make a cherry pie.

Thursday dawned bright and early and hot. After breakfast we headed over to the Layton parade and only experienced a slight delay when we realized we did not know how to unfold our new double stroller. Reagan waited patiently in the parking lot while we figured it out.

 Other than the seemingly never-ending fire engines and their sirens at the beginning, Reagan was a big fan of the parade and floats- especially the ones that threw treats!

 Daryn managed to sleep through it all. Shocker.

 We ate lunch at a little burger place right on the parade route, where I'm embarrassed to admit that Lance and I were both so zoned out that we didn't even hear our baby's cries and Reagan telling us she was going potty in her chair for a couple minutes until we snapped to and rushed home to take care of business. I don't want to talk about it. After naps all around, we were off to Park City to spend the afternoon with Lance's parents.

Lance and Reagan swam

 

And Daryn, you guessed it.... napped. 

 And spent some quality time with her grandparents

 And napped some more.

 She's just so snuggly!

After a yummy dinner and some relaxing, it was time to hurry home

For fireworks!

 Unfortunately, things had changed since last year, and Reagan was now terrified of anything that made any kind of noise, which left...sparklers. Maybe next year the pendulum will swing back. Too bad I wasted the money on the fun ones.

 Ironically, she loved the big fireworks show! Go figure. She didn't even wear the earmuffs for the majority of it.

 One last hurrah- Daryn's red, white, and blue dress she wore on Sunday.

What a great holiday. As we taught Reagan to say, "We love America!"!

Goodbye to Grandma

 After coming to stay with us on June 8th (the day before Daryn came home; that worked out well), and staying for almost a month, it was finally time for my mom to leave on the 3rd. Several hours before her flight, I realized we had practically no pictures from the entire time she was here. She wouldn't sit still long enough for me to take any- she was so busy cooking and cleaning and playing with Reagan! Besides, it's not like we were going out and doing anything fun. So I made sure to snap some of her and the girls before she left.

Reagan had SUCH a blast playing with her grandma every day. They were totally best buds. Between that and Lance's mom being here for a couple weeks before, when Daryn was born, Reagan has been pretty spoiled with Grandma time. Now she just gets me... hopefully she's not too disappointed!

 

 I don't know if we could have made it though the last month without my mom's help. Daryn had so many doctors appointments, and couldn't really leave the house otherwise, and Reagan also had places to be, so it got pretty tricky juggling both girls. We are so grateful Mom was willing to come stay with us and take care of us!

Now on to learning how to be a family of four on our own! A day and a half in, we're all still alive, so I count that a success. 

The Smiths Come to Town

Since Sharon and Andrew were in state for Andrew's family reunion, they decided they could tear themselves away from their busy schedule and come visit us for a day. Daryn was so happy when she heard the news, she let Grandma capture her smile on film for the first time!

Reagan was busy the morning of, giving Aunt Sharon directions to our house.

"No, no, it's your SECOND right."

 After lunch and a nap, the girls were ready to hit the pool! (There wasn't much else to do in the middle of our 100+ degree weather).

 Halle was not a big fan of the water, but Reagan and Eve had a splashy war. I think it ended in a draw.

 We tried for a picture of Grandma with all her non-Larsen-named descendents (who all happen to be girls), but had a hard time getting a good one between Eve picking her nose,

Grandma's Gumby arm,

 And mine and Daryn's ridiculous faces.

We had a wonderful visit with them, complete with Chinese food and post-birthday chocolate cake and ice cream, but soon it was time to go. And just in time, for we were all exhausted: