Easton James Black

Well as most of you know, Easton James Black has arrived! He was born on April 10th, at 5:33pm, weighed in at 9lb 2oz, 20 1/2 inches long and was very healthy! The labor was great although the delivery was a different story. Our little man decided that he was going to be "sunny side up" no matter what the doctor did and ended up getting stuck because of that and his large side. I pushed for over 2 hours and wasn't able to have my epidural for about half of that time. It was tiring, extremely painful, (had a LOT of stitches) but 100% worth it.

Easton will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and is an amazing little guy. He has a sweet, sweet disposition and is already sleeping very well for a 2 week old and is truly a blessing. I has said all the way through the pregnancy that I "just knew" he was going to be a really great baby and there was just something special about him. But to see that come to fruition is really an incredible feeling. I am so thankful to God for always knowing what we need and when we need it. I don't know that I coculd do the whole mom of three thing if he wasn't the way he is.

Here are some pitures of Eston. We hope that you all can meet him soon!

Love to you all!

Lemon Lady

April 4th marked the National Convention for Lemongrass Spa Products. The weather men were predicting a huge blizzard for that weekend, but I ventured on anyway. As it turned out, the weather ended up being fine and I was so happy that I went as I had worked incredibly hard the past year. At convention I was recognized for being one of the 4 women who had acheived the Spa Destination trip for 2009! I had over $15,000 in sales and recruited 9 women in 6 months to receive the trip. It will be an all expense paid trip for Jesse and I to San Diego, CA this June! We also get $150 to the resort spa for the treatments and then another $100 for spending on whatever we so desire. I am VERY excited! While at convention, I was recognized for being the top recruiter of the year for the nation and 4th in the nation for sales. Pretty cool. I am truly blessed to be able to work with such wonderful company and to be able to set my own hours, be creative and have a TON of fun while doing it.

Our first baby is 9 today, no joke!

Today is our dog, Zoe's 9th birthday! She is the first dog that was ever my very own. We got her while we were in Grand Junction visiting my grandma back in 2000. She is such a good dog and we love her lots! Carter really wanted to give Zoe a birthday party tonight. I think it was because he wanted to eat cake, but we indulged his request and gave her a little birthday party.

Carter's First Date

For most of you, you know that Carter's absolute best friend is Clahra. They have been best friends literally since they were babies. I have never seen two little kids play so well together and they really are like Forest Gump said, "Peas and Carrots."

Sadly for us, Clahra and her family are moving very soon to North Carolina to be with Roger as he is in the army and has been away for the last 8 months. Clahra will most likely not be here for Carter's birthday coming up on the 13th so she took him to Lil Mr. Bigg's for a birthday date. The two of them had a great time and played for 4 solid hours. Here are some pictures from there outing...I think they're just too cute!

2 weeks, 2 days, and Counting!

Well we are getting SO close to our due date and feeling extremely excited to finally get to meet our new little man. Our official due date is April 14th, but who knows if he will come early or late. I had an appointment on Thursday and my doc said from the way things are now, she is pretty confident that I will go all the way. I'm starting to suspect that he may be late, as Rylynn was late and I think Carter would have been too if I hadn't been induced. Never know though, and he may be early or right on time...all which would be fine with me. We are all ready and have all the gear set up and are just waiting to put him in it all and keeping the cats out. A couple of weeks ago, I painted the nursery and then made curtains for his window out of some of the same fabric that will be in his quilt that my mom, grandma, and sisters are making for him. These pictures are the best that I could get with out the light making the wall color look too neon. Enjoy!

Sledding Surprise

Yesterday we took the kids sledding. They had been waiting all winter long to go sledding and other than being able to go once in the mountains while visiting Lindsey and Daniel, we hadn't gone all year! The park down the street has a terrific sledding hill so we headed over there to have some fun. The drifts were incredible and the wind had blown all the snow onto the side of the hill creating a huge cliff off the side of the hill. The picture doesn't even come close to capturing how large the drop was. Below the "cliff" there was no snow on the grass. It was quite a site.

Rylynn took two runs along the side of the hill but it wasn't steep enough and able to give her a fast ride. So, we decided to let her try and ride the big hill and go over the cliff. (This video shows her on that ride)

She rode it with success and when she stood up we saw her with strange look on her face that very soon turned to crying. She started yelling that her tooth was falling out of her mouth. Apparently, as she went off the cliff she knocked her teeth together and it made her tooth ready to come out. Now, this tooth was already a tiny bit loose, but NO WHERE near ready to come out.

We decided to leave because she was so upset and bleeding. We hadn't been in the car more than two minutes and all of the sudden Rylynn shouts, " I pulled my tooth out!!!" So she got to go sledding and lost a tooth too, what a day!

We have a 6 year old?!

On Sunday, we celebrated Rylynn's 6th birthday!!! We could hardly believe it! She has grown up so much and yet is still our little girl. She had a Tinkerbell party this year and had the family and a couple of friends over for a fun-filled party. They played games, ate cake, had a pinata, and all sorts of fun. Thanks to everyone who was able to come and celebrate with us.

7 Weeks to Go!

We are 7 weeks away from our due date and are getting extremely excited! We can't wait until we can hold Easton and see his little face and get to know him. I am feeling well and am enjoying pregnancy to the fullest!
I was blessed to have a wonderful baby shower this last weekend and had a great time! Easton got a lot of really great things that he will be able to use for a long time. We still have quite a bit of "setting up" to do. But as most people know, I really do enjoy projects and am looking forward to painting and setting up all the baby gear. It will definitely make me even more excited once we get everything done, so I better not do it all too soon! =)
I have another doctor's appointment this Wednesday and then we'll see how much more our little monkey has grown. Can't wait until we can post some pictures of him!

We're back!

We're back from our wonderful vacation and so thankful to have been able to spend time in Hawaii with the family. We had a great time and loved playing with the kids in the pool and at the beach.

Rylynn and Carter spent some time playing with their Hawaiian friends, Wesley and Avery that they met last year at the house. We were able to keep in touch with them over the last year and were so happy to be able hang out with them again!

We were able to spend a lot of time at the beach where Rylynn continued to amaze us on the boogie board. She just goes right out there and hits the waves hard! A couple of them hit her hard and she took it like a champ and wanted to go back out there and ride some more. One day at Mauna Kea, there were some waves that were coming back out and crashing into the ones coming in. Rylynn called them backwards waves. When they hit, you go flying up into the air and it is a wild ride. Rylynn got caught on a couple of those and it was awesome to see her flying AND staying on the board and riding it all the way in! Carter rode a couple waves this year too with Papa and liked it too until a wave came over him and then he was done. But what an improvement from the first time we came when he would just stand and scream at the waves. =)

Another memorable day was when we went over to the Hilo side of the island and saw Acaca Falls. It was a beautiful drive over with lush vegetation and deep canyons just filled with trees and flowers and on the other side black cliffs with ocean views. The walk to the falls was easy and there was a light Hawaiian rain falling. We saw some unique plants and flowers and a couple of smaller falls, but the big falls were so incredible. I can't believe the force and power at which they fall! Then when we got back to the car Jesse noticed a leech on Carter's back and was able to get it off before it attached. YIKES!!! After that we had nice, rainy picnic at a breath taking pointe and saw about 15 whales all in a group. It was awesome!

We had some amazing dinners and pretty hard laughs from conversations and TV shows. At one point Jesse thought I was going to go into labor from laughing so hard. What good memories we created! Thanks to Mom and Dad for a fantastic time, we love you and are so thankful for all the good times!

Aloha, Hello and Goodbye

~Well it's that time of the year again and we are getting ready to go the Hawaii with the Black family. We are really looking forward to this trip and getting to spend time with the kids and the whole family. The kids loved playing at the beach last year so it will be great to see them back there again. Rylynn is all ready to start boogie boarding again and Carter is planning on making lots of sand trains, not castles. Jesse is looking forward to golfing with his dad and the other boys and I'm going to be taking a lot of walks on the beach as I won't be boogie boarding or playing hard in the water. A pretty fair trade though, boogie boarding for baby. Good deal! As soon as we get back, we will post some new pictures. Love to you all and aloha!

The Joke's on You!

Well if any of you have spent any time with our children lately, you know that they LOVE to tell knock, knock jokes. (which never make any sense by the way) But whether or not they make sense they always find them funny, and I enjoy seeing them laugh and am thankful for the laughter that they bring me too. So, in honor of my two little comedians here are a couple jokes that hopefully will bring a smile to your face, a chuckle to your belly, and warmth to your heart.

Knock Knock.

Who’s there?

Lettuce.

Lettuce who?

Lettuce in and you'll find out!

Knock Knock.

Who’s there?

Ali.

Ali who?

Alittle old man who can't reach the doorbell!

Knock Knock.

Who’s there?

Madarn.

Madarn who?

Madarn foot is caught in the door!

Did you know that studies have indicated that diarrhea is actually a hereditary disease?Yep… It runs in the jeans!

*Had to put this one in since they like to talk about poop, sorry! =)

A New Year Has Come...

I can't believe, like most people that another year has come and gone. It always amazes me to look back and see how things have changed in a relatively short period of time. And not just in our own lives, in the country, church, world, families, friends...the list goes on of where change has taken place.

When I think about change, I like to start with in myself and think about how that change that has happened or the change I would like to see happen has/can effect everything around me. I constantly pray that the eyes of my heart would be opened so that God can use me for full glory and I look forward to working with Him to accomplish His desires. My prayer is that God will continually be revealing to me the true character of His heart/desire and that I would easily see the battle that is constantly going on trying to steal that truth away.

And now to the less deep stuff, I thought it would be fun to try and make a list of all the "eventful" things that happened in the last year in our family. 1. Annual trip to Hawaii 2. The loss of a dear friend Frank Starr and Jesse's Papa, Lynwood Black 3. Rylynn turned 5 and played 2 more seasons of soccer 4. Carter turned two and his obsession with trains grew 6. We went to Chickarooba with the Black family 7. Had 3 new nephews born in to the family Connor, Holden, and Deacon 8. Jesse and I turned 25, quarter of a century old! 9. I painted our house!!! 10. Jesse played some professional soccer with the Denver Dynamite 11. We found out we're having a baby!!! 12. I went to California to say hello to a friend 13. I said goodbye to a friend as she moved to FL for work 14. Rylynn lost two teeth 15. I was 7th in the nation for sales in Lemongrass and then went on to win a trip for Jesse and I to Cancun!

Things that we have on our calender for 2009:

1. Hawaii in Jan 2. Baby shower in Feb 3. Rylynn turns 6 in March and we have our 4th wedding anniversary 4. Carter turns 3 in April and Baby Easton will be arriving 5. Family reunion

6. Cancun....and who knows what else!

Blessings to you all. Hope last year was good and praying that this year will be even better.