A Baptism

 This weekend we went to Star Valley for our niece Kelsey's baptism. We were really excited because this was the first time the whole family would be together in six years! That is way too long. Jax, Hayden, and James were playing together so cute. Jax sure loves his cousins :) 

 Since this was the first time we had been together in so long we got some family pictures taken. It was freezing and I'm pretty sure I was squinting in all of them but I can't wait to see how they turned out. Jax playing it cool while we tried to stay warm. 

 Saturday evening we got to see this beautiful girl get baptized. I remember when she was born and it seems crazy to me that she can be this grown up. Its great to be 8!

 We also got to help James celebrate an early birthday. Jayme made him this awesome tractor cake. She puts me to shame with her cake making skills! Right after Zach light the candles Jax came in from nowhere and blew them out. Little stinker. I had to hold him back while we sang "Happy Birthday" and let James blow out the candles. Zach and Jayme were nice enough to let Jax dig into the cake with James. It was a delicious cake :)

 We came home to some snow (for some reason I kept thinking it would stay nice and 50 degrees) and to celebrate a late Valentine's Day. I LOVE my boys!

Update: Turns out I was squinting in at least our family one. The group one turned out really well though. So glad we could finally enjoy being all together even if it was for one crazy busy weekend.

Ryker Newborn Pictures

Sweet pictures of 8 day old baby Ryker and our almost two year old Jax. I love my little family!

Welcome Ryker

In October my Dad's good friend let us know that someone he knew was looking to place her baby for adoption and thought of us (we are so grateful to Bob!) We passed along our adoption profile book and she liked us! Sandra told us that she was due January 31st. With Jax we had about 2 1/2 weeks notice and that was too long so this seemed like an eternity to wait. I figured with all the holidays we would be busy (we were) and the wait wouldn't seem so long but I was wrong. At the beginning of November we met with Sandra and her Mom Debbie to get to know each other a little bit and we got to see the ultrasounds of baby boy. She told us that her last baby was born three weeks early and could come any time in January. This was both exciting(less waiting) and made us a little nervous as we had the trip to Florida with Luke's family the first week in January. I would like to say that after our first adoption that we were old pros at this but that would be lying. I was still nervous that things would go wrong but I wasn't the emotional roller coaster that I was with Jaxon. I think that because the one thing I learned with the adoption of Jax was that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. Jaxon was his plan for Luke and I and if this new baby was part of the plan things would work out. We made it back from our trip to Florida without incident and got packed and ready to leave whenever we got the word.  Sandra told us she would be induced on Wednesday at her doctor's appointment so Luke, Jax, Baxter, and I loaded up the car and headed to Idaho. Ryker Allen was born 1/15 at 1:41 AM 8 lbs 3 oz 20in long. Little Ryker was born where my parents live which worked out really well as they were able to watch Jax while we were at the hospital for the birth. Our first sight of little guy was as they wheeled him by us on the way to the NICU. They were a little concerned about his breathing so they hooked him up to oxygen and some antibiotics.

 It was a little nerve wracking to see such a little guy hooked up to all that stuff and not really being able to hold him.

 Somewhere along the way to Idaho I noticed that I had a headache and a scratchy throat. As we were waiting for Ryker to be born I was feeling tired and achy. I just chalked that up to a long day of driving and staying up late. When they were taking care of our sweet boy in the NICU I kept feeling like I was going to pass out. Turns out I had the flu! Talk about the worst time ever to be sick. At about 4:30 in the morning I left Luke and Ryker at the hospital to try and get some sleep and spent a miserable two days on the couch while Luke stayed with our new little guy and my mom watched Jax.

Luke was amazing taking care of both boys. He took Jax to this fun trampoline place that he loved. I have an awesome husband!

This was the first time they let little guy get dressed. 

Visits from Grandma, Aunt Lindsey and sick Momma at the hospital.

Getting all ready to leave the hospital. Jax isn't even two but I forgot how tiny newborns seem.

Meeting big brother for the first time. "Nose!"

Uncle Jesse, Aunt Tiffany, and cousin Leah came to say hi.

My handsome boys.

This little stinker has taken to sneaking out of his crib (the big boy bed is being delivered this week!) and wondering around with his blanket on his head to make him invisible. Silly boy.

I love this picture. It perfectly depicts the big brother, little brother relationship in our house right now. The first few days after we brought Ryker home Jax completely ignored him. Then Jax started to love "baby brother." Now Ryker gets lots and lots of hugs and kisses from big brother :)

 

Ryker being born in Idaho was perfect for us as we got to spend time with both our families so they could meet our new little guy.