I guess I spoke too soon!

So much for being good and posting often!It has truly been a crazy month...


My Grandma Russell passed away June 3. She was an amazing person. I was very lucky to be able to visit with her fairly often over the last few years especially, as she lived in Snowflake, right across from my parent's house. She was one of those Grandmas that had the talent of making everyone feel special and loved. She was always genuinely interested in what was going on in your life and how you were doing, what was new with the kids, etc. She was great. She was able to pass peacefully like she was going to sleep. It was such a blessing after years of being constantly uncomfortable and often in severe pain. She was so tough. She never complained. My Grandpa Russell passed away on Christmas eve 2008. When he passed it was a real struggle for Grandma. A light went out in her. They are finally together again and she is not in pain. It is hard to be sad for too long when I know she is so much happier. I am going to miss her a lot, and I tear up all the time thinking about her, but I am happy for her. Thank goodness for the gospel and the Plan of Salvation.

We were able to go on our DeWitt family trip to Delaware a few weeks ago. Every Christmas we get a summer trip! We were gone for 10 days! We stayed at a beach house and got to do a few day trips. New York City-


Kate on the giant piano in the toy store from the movie "Big"!
We had pizza in New York, Philly cheese steaks in Philly, and saw the museums and monuments of DC! We piled into a 15 passenger van to go everywhere. (Even though there were actually 16 of us!)It was so much fun. I love being with my family! I have 3 nieces that my girls love to play with. My sisters are my best friends (a side from TJ of course!) And I love to be with my brothers and their adorable wives! Thank you mom and dad for an amazing trip! You are the best!
As always, with DeWitt "adventures", a few things have to go wrong! Most of them we laugh off very quickly, like the van being ghetto with the ac vent covers missing so some people would being sweating while the others would be freezing! But a most unfortunate occurance was Kate falling down most of the stairs 30 minutes before a 2 hour drive to the airport for a 5 and 1/2 hour plane ride! She was amazing though! She is such a tough kid. She fussed some, but slept most of the time on the plane. We had it x-rayed later and about 3/4 of the wrist bone is cracked, but not the whole thing and it wasn't on a growth plate, luckily. She now has a partial cast (half a hard one with an ace bandage holding it on so we can take it off for baths and stuff). Good times.
Kate ready for the beach!

Grandma Lorenzen holding Kate. You can kind of see her arm


Bridget also fell and smacked her face right on the walkway from the beach. She had a good bloody nose and some scratches.
My mom took some fun pictures of the trip that I will have to post later.

That went fast!

I am sure anyone who checked out this blog before is long gone as I haven't posted in nearly a year! But I agree with TJ, it would be nice to keep a "journal with pictures" for our girls. So this is mostly just for us (and Grammy and Grandaddy), but if you happen across it, enjoy!
Since my last post we bought a house in Mesa (moved like 5 miles North of where we used to live). It was very dirty and smelly when we bought it but I am happy to say after a few gallons of bleach, popcorn ceilings all removed, gallons and gallons of paint (every square inch painted), all new flooring, etc. we have improved the house tremendously! We love our new Ward.
Bridget is now three and so much fun. Kate is one and is too smart. Kate thinks she is a big girl that can do whatever Bridget does!Here are the birthday girls devouring the cake!


Yes, my skinny Kate ate a large piece of cake all by herself. She couldn't decide if she wanted to use the fork or her fingers. I think fingers won out in the end. They were faster and more efficient.

wow

Kate Lines took some pictures of my girls for my mom. She has them posted on her blog http://www.katelinesphotographyblog.blogspot.com/ take a look! I am certainly biased, but I think my girls look absolutely beautiful. Also scroll down to the Grace and Claire post to see my adorable nieces. Kate really is wonderful. You try making a two year old sit down and hold still for 2 seconds, let alone holding her squirmy baby sister, and on a super hot day! Thank you again Kate! I love them.

Family pictures

We took this at Jacob and Alexis's wedding a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful wedding and reception.
We have been pretty busy with family and trips up to Snowflake and such. But so far it's been a great summer.

my girls

pretty cute, huh? Bridget gets so excited to see Kate she covers her with kisses! I have to pull Bridget off of her so Kate doesn't suffocate. Crazy girl.

Kate Lines Photography

Kate is amazing! She is the best photographer I have seen. Check out her work, you will not be disappointed! I love the pictures because they are anything but boring! Plus she is doing a free giveaway, how cool is that?
http://www.katelinesphotography.com/

Birthdays!

Kate Laura
April 25, 2009
10:20am
8lbs. 7oz.
21 &1/4inches
Perfect!

Here is the newest addition to our little family! Everything went really well. She came 1 day after her due date. I will put the full story at the end of this post so you can skip it if you want!

Almost smiling! She has a dimple on each cheek!

All dolled-up for her first doctors appointment. Kate had to get the PKU test done (the nurse does a heal poke and fills circles on a paper to run blood tests) most babies scream the whole time because it hurts! Not Miss Kate! She started falling asleep! She's pretty tough already! Bytheway, thanks to my friend, Stephanie Brown for the adorable dress Kate is wearing, I love it!

Sisters! (and Grammy!) Bridget loves Kate. A few hours after Kate was born, Bridget came to meet her. It was the sweetest thing in the world. Bridget's eyes lit up when she saw her, as if she recognized who she is. It's amazing how strong the Spirit is when a baby is born. This experience has strengthened my testimony of the gospel, and especially of Eternal families. P.S. Thanks to Auntie Jen Jen for the dress shown above, it fits her perfect! It is so cute.

Bridget turned 2 April 19th!


Birthday girl with Aunt Laura.


My attempt at a butterfly birthday cake! But Bridget liked it and that's what matters most! She blew out the candles over and over again, I had some camera issues because all I had was my phone-the batteries in our actual camera died.
We kept her party small, just in-town family. We had it at TJ's parent's house. She got a bunch of awesome toys and some clothes. We had a little flower pinata! Bridget was not very happy about hitting it and was much more concerned about the mess than the candy! (typical Bridget!)

Kate's entrance in a nut shell-
I had a doctors appointment Friday April 24 at 11:50. Kate hadn't dropped at all (I even walked around the mall for 3 hours the day before to try to get her to budge!). I had been feeling great, too great. Like nothing was progressing. However, I did feel a little wet so I mentioned it to the dr. They checked and sure enough I had a high leak. Same thing happened with Bridget. Luckily my mom was already in town because my younger sister was flying in from being up at BYU. She took me home (we got Ned's Crazy subs on the way), I got my bags and we met TJ at the hospital. TJ's mom took care of Bridget for us! We checked in around 1:30PM. I was at a 2. They started the pitosin and we waited for hours! Sleepless night. Fast forward to Saturday 6:30AM the doctor breaks my water. Around 9AM I get an epidural-love those things! I am so glad I got it when I did, I progressed quickly after I got it and had some back labor that I could feel for a while despite the epidural already mostly kicked in! 10:06-10:20 I push. 10:20 baby Kate is in my arms! She had the cord wrapped around her middle and around her ankles (like she was hog-tied!) I didn't tear and was up in the shower a few hours later (although my legs were still tingling!) I had a great pregnancy and delivery. But my body seems to fall apart after! I've got a breast infection now and a few other problems I won't go into! I guess it's only fair, it can't all be easy! It is very worth it though. I have to give a shout out to my amazing husband. TJ has been so awesome and has really helped me out. He is a wonderful dad, too. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Also, I have to thank Mom and Dad Lorenzen for all their help with Bridget and all they do for us. And my parents for their help too. My mom stayed with us a few days this last week and then we went up to Snowflake. It has been really nice to not worry about Bridget. She loves her grandma, grandpa, grammy and grandaddy!