Greens Peak or Bust!

Let's just start by saying the 7th Annual Campout with Grammy & Poppy was memorable for sure! Rachel and Bryce had to call a locksmith on the way up thanks to Duke and his cruel prank of locking them out of the car. Doug and I had a not so fun experience towing the toy hauler and Poppy broke his elbow! How can this be out done next year! All in all it was fun and boy is Greens Peak ever beautiful.
Here are the cousins enjoying a little craft. I don't know what got more paint on them the frame or the kids, either way they liked it.
Bryce was so patient with Steven all weekend. He sure was patient teaching him how to ride his new quad and enjoying new things like shooting and carving with a knife. I thought this photo was cute, even if there is a gun involved.
Greens Peak has lots of places to ride quads. All kinds of trails and back roads for adventure. So many beautiful hidden spots to ride to.
Yes, I said it for all the people who would never believe that I would let Kennedy get this dirty here it is! I think Doug hated it more than I did. I figured she is already dirty might as well let her live it up.

Blast to the Past

On Friday, with only my two boys in tow, we decided to go to the dinosaur museum in Mesa.

Which one do you think is scarier?

I need one of these at home-and I'm not talking about the boy! :)

Never too old for fun

I love that all the cousins live close together and can get meet up to play. Even something as simple as a small blow up pool and a slip and slide can be hours of entertainment.
But, the part I love most of all would have to be when Rachel and I get together. It tends to end in tons of laughter and silliness.
Part one, Rachel comes over with the kids and mom for a day of fun in the sun. Part two, Rachel puts on her swimsuit and we discover that we are wearing the same swimsuit, what can I say we have good taste. Not only do we have the same swimsuit but our hair is cut the same and we look like twins from the back. A lot of time we get the "are you sisters" in public.
Then, Rachel convinces me it would be funny for both of us to slip and slide. Let me say I was laughing so hard I think I pulled something. I could only imagine what my neighbors were thinking. But, it was so funny and we all had a good time.
Kennedy was pooped and took a three hour nap. Maybe we should do it more often!

Happy Fathers Day!!!!

Dad, Craig, Jason, Bryce, Doug and Nick Happy Father's Day!!!! Thank you for all that you do for our families-for working so hard, for listening, for helping around the house and so much more-we thank you!!! But most of all thank you for being wonderful role models for our kids!!! This day is suppossed to be used to honor our Fathers and I can't think of a better group of guys to do that for. We love you all!!

Very Important News on our "growing" family

I've posted some very important news on our "growing" family. Please be sure to take a quick side trip to our family website to see what's going on.

Here's the link
http://www.easysite.com/JCKBEvansFamily

Love you all,
Jason & Katie Evans Family

Feliz Cumpleaños Jason

Okay, that's not fair that Katie got to the blog before I did. In true blogging fashion it's the tradition of Rachel and/or I to post the birthdays. Katie yours was sweet and cute but Jason gets one from us too!
Here is why we love Jason:

• The man can speak some serious Spanish! Who else in our family is bi-lingual?
• He makes dang good homemade Oreo ice cream
• He can sing like a bird
• Okay, he has an MBA how cool is that?
• He is one of the owners in a successful business built with blood (remember the ladder?) sweat (lots of attics) and tears (lets not go there)
• He is a savvy technology kind of guy
• Most of all he loves his family and that is what matters the most

Happy Birthday Jason!

( I didn't have a ton of photos of Jason but this one happens to be good, he looks so happy! Never mind that Katie and I are in the photo)

Happy Birthday Jason

Guess who's 35! What an old man. I just wanted to wish my wonderful husband a great birthday. Can you believe that we've known each other for half of our life times now. WOW. That's just crazyness. I hope we know each other for another halfs worth. Just in case you've all forgotten just how cute he was a little kid, I'm posting this picture of Jason. As you can tell he's always been into his "techy" stuff. Could he be more cute. Happy Birthday Babe! We love you lots.

No More Brace Face and some late May Birthday Party Pictures

Katelyn got her braces removed a few days ago and we wanted to show off her "perfect" smile. No more "brace face" jokes from Dad for a while. We don't expect the teeth to stay perfect at this point - but Phase 1 has been completed. Thanks to our Papa for the great treatment. Now we just sit back and patiently wait for her to loose more teeth and see what they all do. Ain't she purdy!I've also been a LOT slow in putting up some of the fun pictures that we took at the Family May Birthday Party at Doug and Heather's house on Memorial Day. We missed Nick and Laura, but we had a great time. Lots of volleyball, visiting and my favorite custard/ice cream cake ever. You can see we tried to put candles in the cake, but it was just too hard. Thanks to Bryce for being strong enough to even cut the cake. So just remembering a happy birthday to Mom (Diane), Katie and Laura in May.

You go girl

Congrats to you, Heather, for your achievement of becoming a Doula. How wonderful to have such a passion and go after it:) I would have loved to have been able to have delivered at home since all my children were natural births anyways!! I can only imagine the excitement and joyfulness of being able to participate in the birth of a baby....prayerfully with the next addition to your family??!!

Last night we shared a fabulous rib dinner(thank you Craig)with the newlyweds and celebrated Laura's birthday. As I wrote in her card, she is indeed a welcomed addition to our family and I love her dearly. How fun to share in the first of many birthdays with her as our "daughter"-in-law!!

I did it!

After a long process and days of training I am officially a doula!
Of course you are saying “what is a doula?” Well, a doula accompanies women in labor, provides emotional and physical support, suggests comfort measures, and provides support and suggestions for the partner. When possible a doula provides pre- and post-partum emotional support, including explanation and discussion of practices and procedures, and assistance in acquiring the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions about her care.

I have always been fascinated with childbirth and the birth process. Birth is such an amazing thing to witness but even more amazing to me is to see a woman in a labor of love for her child. This is where I want to have the opportunity to help women achieve their ideal birth in the best way possible and offer them the support they need to do it.

I have had the opportunity to be a part of three births prior to my decision to be come DONA trained and certified. Two of these births were of my siblings. My mother taught her girls all at young ages the wonderfulness of childbirth. I begged my mom to let me be there when my last two siblings were born. I knew for sure after having been a part of that process that I too wanted to labor naturally and have the same birth experience she had.

I know what you are thinking of labor, women screaming, immense pain and endless agony. Well then, you have never been a part of a birth where a mother set a birth plan and reached it.
Last February I was able to be a part of my niece Kimbers’ birth. This was life changing for me. To see my sister so calm and relaxed as she labored was amazing. She stayed focused and against all odds delivered a baby V-BAC!! This was it for me I was sure that some way some how I was going to find a way to be able to help women labor in whatever way they desire.

Doulas who are certified by DONA International must have completed all the requirements as set forth in the DONA International Requirements for Certification. This includes training in childbirth and attendance at a birth doula workshop which has been approved the DONA; completion of a breastfeeding requirement; required reading from the DONA International Reading List; development of a resource list for her clients; completion of an essay that demonstrates understanding of the integral concepts of labor support and a Basic Knowledge Self Assessment Test.

So, I am officially trained by DONA and have completed all but one requirement in order to be certified. The next step is to attend three births as a trained DONA doula. I have a client who will be having a home birth in October so I will need to do two more for certification. So, if you know anyone who is expecting and wants to know about doulas send her my way. Of course my first three births will be at no charge. After that requirements are set by DONA and I am required to charge for my services.

If you want more info on DONA check out http://www.dona.org/ and of course if you want to know more personaly I would be happy to share what I know with you. A big thanks to Doug for all his support while I attended birthing classes, training and much more. He is such a supporter of this and a true believer in the process, of course he has witnessed this first hand at the birth of Kennedy, thanks Doug!