And then there were three...

A glimpse of our life over the last 3 months.  More to come....  But in the meantime, check out our little dude.  Just can't get enough of him.

It's about time

(did that title remind anyone else of those old Mormon-ads... "Family, It's about....Time." Maybe I have too many prego hormones running through my veins, but I immediately thought of the clip where a little boy puts together all his change so he can 'pay' his dad to stay home from work and play with him... and I totally started tearing up. Sheesh, becoming a mom is going to turn me into an emotional wreck!)

I've been putting off updating the blog for so long because it seems I have so much to update. So rather, I'm just going to make a fresh start and move forward. I'll re-cap the last 6 months or so by simply saying that we bought our first home and are in the process of getting it all ready for our first little one. We couldn't be happier to finally be settling down in one area, have a home to grow into (not to mention a garage and a laundry room...I've waited 7 years for those!) and most especially to be welcoming this little spirit into our hearts forever.

Kody's still busy trucking through his second yr of residency, and was recently nominated for the chief resident position by several of his attending doctors (I know he'll hate that I told anyone that...but this lil wife (or rather this growing bigger by the moment wife) is darn proud of him. He's probably going to pass on the position to focus on other opportunities; needless to say, being a doctor is hard work, but this guy was born to do it. Everyone keeps asking if he's going to deliver our little man, since he's done near 100 deliveries thus far. He definitely could, but I think for this first one I'd rather have him in 'husband/dad' mode, rather than 'doctor' mode. Maybe it's just because I want him there by my side, just in case I'm freaking out and need him to calm me down, or rather, need to bite his hand off during labor, rather than focusing on the delivery and all that medical mumbo-jumbo. Maybe once I've gone through the process, it would be cool to have him deliver our next lil babes. But we'll just take 'em one at a time for now.

I'm almost 30 weeks pregnant and can't believe we have less than 3 months to go! I'm sure the last month I'll swell up like a balloon and find myself waddling around my dental clinic as patients stare at my too-tight scrubs and big 'ol bumb, but so far I feel super fortunate that I've had such an easy pregnancy. I never had any morning sickness (thanks heavens!) and besides being a little more tired than normal in the first trimester, I have felt really good this last 7 months. Which makes me wonder if this is the calm before the storm, and if this little guy is going to be one tough cookie, but at this point I feel great and I'll take what I can get! Either way, it is such a humbling experience to be part of this little miracle, and it's amazing to contemplate on the human body and watch as this little guy grows into his perfect little self.

One little story to share - the only time I have thrown up during my pregnancy was completely self-induced (accidentally) and had nothing to do with morning sickness, and everything to do with downing almost an entire jar of peppercinis. Yep, I know, realllll smart Larisa. Lately my appetite has been pretty normal and all I've really been craving is lots of citrus fruit, but in the first trimester I was definitely craving red meat and spicy food. I basically had the appetite of an overweight 50-yr old redneck man who wants steak and potatoes every night. I even ate Dinty Moore Beef Stew one evening after a long day in sim-clinic and thought to myself, 'this is possibly one of the best things I have ever eaten.' Real classy. Anyway, one afternoon I was snacking on carrots and hummus (my staple as of late) and saw someone eating a sandwich stuffed with peppercinis. My mouth was watering all during my dental sim-clinic, and I couldn't get that spicy little bite of peppercinis out of my head. So I stopped at the store on my way home and bought a jar of peppercinis. Now, our old apartment was 25 minutes from my school, and somehow in that 25 minutes on my way home, I proceeded to eat about 3/4 of the jar, and perhaps drink the peppercini juice along with it (yes, I'll admit, I somehow weirdly like a little sip of peppercini juice every now and again...and pickle juice occassionally....who does that? Sorry, if that's a little past your weird meter, just forget I said that... and don't stop being my friend, k?). After I had been home for about 20 minutes, that peppercini juice basically started to warp the inside of my stomach, because I was not a happy camper for the next hour or two... until I finally expelled all those little peppercinis. Moral of the story? Don't think I need to say it, because who in their right mind eats almost an entire jar of peppercinis? Not sure I've had any peppercinis since then..

I've been hounded to post some prego pictures, so here's a bunch; sorry for the photo dump, but when I only blog every few months, well, this is what you get. And I threw in a few pics of our new home as well. We are so glad to finally have space for an 'official' guest room... so please come visit!

14 weeks Lil Bump:


18 weeks:


22 weeks:26 weeks:

And here we are last week, at 28 weeks (7 months):

Here are our new digs... where we plan to be for a LONG time…

Our little man is set to arrive the first week of May or so... until then, much love from the Smiths.

Summa...Summa...Summertime!

It seems I'm keeping up with my trend of posting once a season... so here's to SUMMERTIME! I just love the Summer...crisp watermelon, bright sunshiny days, living in a bathing suit all day long, vacationing with family, BBQs and pool parties, flip flops, the smell of coconut-scented sunscreen, sipping refreshing lemonade and homemade smoothies...love it all. EVEN in Arizona 107 degree summer heat. I'll take the heat if I can have the sunshine all year long. Living in Arizona means it basically feels like summer 8 months out of the year. Which means I'm not complaining. There may not be a beach nearby, but it's summertime and Life Is Good!

(Even if half of my summer was spent locked in a library studying for my National Board exam... my light at the end of the tunnel was the vision of laying out on the beaches of Oahu...and we finally made it!!)

A quickie spring & summer wrap up: Trips to California for sweet baby Finley's blessing and my bday (yes, I'm 29 and still want to go to Disneyland for my birthday, I'm not ashamed), Kody finished his residency intern year and is becoming quite the seasoned doctor, studying for my national boards (and passing them... woohoo!!), swimming and cruising to the lake with the fam, week-long bliss in Hawaii for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary celebration, starting back as a second year dental student, and celebrating our 7th anniversary with a surprise overnight stay at the Scottsdale Resort.

I think I'm still going through withdrawals from Hawaii...vacation life is just a little too good sometimes! But otherwise we're back in the swing of things and rolling right along. This Thursday marks only 4 more months until Christmas! (Who thinks that way, I mean really?? If you think I'm crazy, I better not tell you who put a Christmas track on to warm their spirits during a few long nights of board studying in June...) I'll likely be back then for yet another seasonal post, stay tuned...

Introducing Finley Rex...
A weekend get-away to Sedona
St. Patrick's day with Cam, Jenny, Oakley and some scary lookin Leprechauns (if you can see the picture in Jenny's hands). Love having them live so close!! (Cam, Jenny & Oakley... not the scary little leprechauns...) And they've since welcomed precious little Raleigh to the Smith fam.

My neice Taylor graduated from High School. I still can't believe it, it feels like I was just in those shoes...My birthday get-away to Disneyland and San Diego. What could be better than Space Mountain and Dole pineapple whip with my hott sister-in-laws and great friends??


I know the image quality below is horrible, but check out Kody's face. I laugh every time I look at this...
Cutter-man and his sensitive ears.... Buzz was apparently just a little too loud.Coco and Carter. It looks like the adults were having way more fun on this ride than the kiddos...

Breakfast at the best lil beach cafe in San Clemente.
Nice toothpick babe...So fun to get together with my OC girls. Gotta have our fro-yo!

My dental girls surprised me with a birthday lunch at Fogo de Chao. Sooo delish. If you think girls don't eat much meat.... think again.


Ahhhh Hawaii.... A private beach house on our own private beach in North Shore. A-mazing. We've been saving up for years as a family to take an adult trip in honor of my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. And it was worth every penny. We were all so bummed that my brother Justin and his wife Chenoa couldn't make it, though. We missed you guys!




Travis, Kody & Jeremy.... and some sweet body surfing.



Of course Trav had to bust out some P90x moves on our hike.... love my Dad's face in this, nice Tarzan, Dad.

Baby Finley, the only 'non-adult' allowed.... how could we get by without this sweet little face??

The Rex fam getting down with the natives at the PCC
Swimming in the falls at Waimea Valley



Oh Hawaii, how we miss you. Hurry back... please?
Celebrating 7 years of the Smith family... dinner at the Alta Ristorante, followed by a gondola ride and serenade. And then a night stay at the Scottsdale Resort. It was our first time trying the 'staycation' and getting a room literally less than 15 minutes from our place... I was a little skeptical that it would be worth the money, but I seriously felt like we were on vacation miles away. The resort was so gorgeous and relaxing, and we didn't have to check out until 1 pm, so we went bike riding around the golf course, laid out and enjoyed the amenities all morning long. 10 points for Kody, he went way overboard this year. I felt like we were on our honeymoon all over again.


Yep, we definitely wore the luxurious bathrobes provided in our room. I'm still laughing about it....
The resort pool at night. I still walk around places like this thinking, "this is way too nice, what are we even doing here? Just don't trip, act like you know what you're doing."