A lot of catching up to do...and a lot of big news

I have been absent from blog land for almost 4 months now. Everyone has been asking, "Where is Chrystal? What is going on?" and I've even had a few people tell me my blog is at the bottom of their blog list. That was incentive to get me back on here.

There's been a really good reason for me not blogging in so long....I'M PREGNANT!!! Yep, it finally happened. After trying for what felt like an eternity to us, Nathan and I were elated to find out we are expecting our first child. It was SO hard to not spill the beans to everyone before the 12-week mark, well, at least for the first two weeks and then it hit me--"morning" sickness. Oh my--I had NO idea what I was in for. It lasted from week 7 to week 14, and thank goodness since then only hits about once a week. PHEW! SOOOOOO glad to be out of that! Now I'm feeling good and we're anticipating finding out the gender of our child in about 3 weeks.

Here is "the bump" at 14 weeks.

And here it is again today, at 18 weeks.

About a month ago I went home to Utah to visit my family and meet our newest family member, Calvin. My little sister, Camyll, had her first baby back in February. I couldn't wait to go out for a visit and meet Calvin, see my sister as a momma, and see the rest of my family whom I also miss so much. It was a fun, whirlwind trip of 3 days, jam-packed with family and fun. I couldn't have possibly fit any more into three days if I'd wanted to, which I did want to, but it just wasn't possible. So I apologize to all of you that I wanted to see, but just didn't get the chance. At least I got to meet and hold and cuddle and "practice" with this little guy. This is Calvin at 6 weeks old--I couldn't resist getting a picture of him in this cute little hat.

Lola has been growing, and growing, and growing. I loved this picture of her Nathan took a few weeks ago. Too cute.

In March we had our first out-of-state family visitors. Yay! Nathan's Aunt Denise, her husband Jim, and their daughter Alison were visiting from Columbia, SC, for Alison's high school orchestra competition. It was a national competition, and they did VERY well. I wish our work schedules would have allowed us to attend. At least we got to go out to dinner with them that night. Nathan likes to push Denise's buttons and get a good conversation going. It is always so much fun visiting with Nathan's family. We have such good conversations and a great time. Thanks, Alison, for indulging 4 adults and putting up with us through an entire dinner. Thanks also for visiting us while you were in town. We loved it!

Over the weekend that I was in Utah we added a fourth member to our family. This one was also planned, but arrived a bit earlier than we had originally intended. Nonetheless, he's too precious and we're so glad to have him, especially Lola, because now she has a pal to play with while we're away at work. Say hello to Machtree's Land Shark, more often known as "Brody" (named after the policeman on JAWS the movie). Get it? Ha ha, Nathan came up with that one. So this is Brody, our little black lab who is getting bigger and bigger every day.

Brody is much different than Lola, his partner in crime. While Lola is spunky, has a bit of an attitude, and is very snuggly and likes her cushy pillow to sit on, Brody is laid back, tender-hearted (sulks after being punished), likes the hard concrete floor, and likes his space as you can see from this picture of him sleeping on the couch.Being a puppy is a rough life in the Smith household. But it's not all fun and games. There's been lots of puppy training going on. Brody already knows: No, here, sit, fetch, hurry (Nathan's version of potty), kennel, and good boy. Not bad for a 10-week old pup. He currently weighs 16 lbs, just bigger than Lola now. He was smaller than her by a few inches when we first got him, and he's quickly going to pass her up. She's in for a real surprise as he continues to grow and she starts to slow down. I think she'll still be the boss though.

Our favorite thing to do is take the pups to various parks, but especially one that is only about a block from our house. A few weeks ago we took them to the park and took a few pictures of them after they had played in the river and had a grand time chasing each other around. Brody is still soaking wet in this picture, but that makes him even more adorable.

This week Lola weighs 15.5 lbs. Here is miss attitude herself. She's really turning out to be a great dog, easily picking up training. She knows: no, sit, here, out (like out of our bedroom where you're not allowed), kennel, potty, fetch, and is starting to really understand "heel." And of course she understands "good girl." The best part is she's FINALLY house trained. Happy Birthday Nathan!!!

Today was Nathan's birthday, and the pups helped us celebrate by ripping to shreds all the tissue paper from Nathan's gift boxes. That is one of their favorite things to do. Nathan wondered if we left it there long enough that it would get into small enough pieces to disappear on its own. As you can see from this picture, they had a really good time on Nathan's birthday.

Nathan is on the home stretch for school. He has two finals and one paper left to do, and then he's done with school--FOREVER! HOORAY! He is so excited, and I am so proud of him.

Last week we finally heard from Bank of America. After being asked for our first two picks of locations out of a list of about 10 places (we had selected Charlotte, NC as #1 and Jacksonville, FL as #2), we got an email saying we were being assigned to.....wait for it.....Atlanta, GA. What the...? Yeah, that was our reaction too. It wasn't even on the list of choices. Needless to say we have mixed feelings about staying in Atlanta, mostly because Charlotte would have put us much closer to work and would have meant a more manageable workload for me, along with a promotion. That would have been awesome. But oh well, at least now we don't have to move very far, I don't have to transfer jobs, and I know my doctor and the hospital I'll be delivering in. That's a relief.
So we'll be in Atlanta for at least another year. We'll be moving at the beginning of June from our 1-bedroom, 800 sf apartment to something more fitting for a family of 3 humans and 2 dogs. We hope to find a place with a spare bedroom, and have plans for a queen-size bed for visitors, so we hope that will entice more of you to come visit us. ;-)
We are very excited about all these new developments in our lives, and are happy to share such great news with all of you. And if you read this whole 4-month catching up of news in our lives, you get a gold star.