All grown up!

18 week ultrasound-It's a boy!

Jayce's hospital picture

Could that pacifier be any bigger :)

Loving the swing. Around 6 weeks old.

Jayce was always a very happy baby, full of grins.

One of his first real baths. Looks like Superman.

Jayce's first birthday

About a year old in this picture. He loved this Humpty Dumpty book. I'm sure I've read it at least a million times.

In his Halloween costume (Superman)

A little awnry

A little out of order. Jayce was around 9 months old. What a daredevil.

Jayce's 2nd birthday party

Eating birthday cake at home

I love this picture. This was the day after Jordan was born. We had been up to Columbia to visit Jordy in the hospital and came back home to refresh and repack before heading back up. We stopped at Wal-Mart and Jayce wanted to ride this ride. He doesn't look excited at all. I think he has just now realized that his life as he knows it will no longer be the same.

2 year pictures taken at Sears

With Jordan at the hospital. Not to amused :)

I took this picture to compare sizes between the two. Jordy was only a couple of weeks old in this picture.

Looks just like his father :)

Jayce's first big fish. He caught it all by himself.

At the Santa Monica Pier on our trip to California this past April.

All grown up!

I guess I could start out with all the facts about when he was born, how much he weighed, what time it was, but this is what I really remember. I woke up the morning of June 28th to get ready for hopefully my last Dr's. appointment before Jayce's arrival. I got ready, had a quick bologna sandwich (an obvious pregnancy craving) and was out the door. I was scheduled to go into the hospital on the next day, so my plans were to make my quick Dr.'s appointment and then head back home to clean the house, catch up on laundry, and get everything ready for the big day. Instead, my Dr. sent me on over to the hospital after my appointment because she was concerned over the lack of movement I was experiencing. My plans for a clean house were cancelled when she decided to keep me at the hospital and induce my labor. I called Jared, who was teaching summer school and laid the unexpected news on him. I didn't have my bags packed yet, so I had to rely on him to pack what I needed (not a good idea, lol). I called all immediate family members and before you knew it the hospital waiting room was packed with lots of excited people. Everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly until around 5:00 when the monitor's started beeping. Jayce was not doing well with the stress and his heart rate continued to drop. The Dr. tried several attempts, but was unable to stabilize his heart rate. That's when she decided to call for a C-section. This was not at all what we had planned, but agreed we needed to do what was best for Jayce. Like a whirlwind I was rushed in, prepped, and Jayce was delivered. The first words out of the Dr's. mouth was "Look at all that hair." I actually didn't believe her, because just a few weeks earlier at our last ultrasound, the tech had told us that she didn't think he had much hair at all. She must have been in training, because boy was she wrong. That kid had a full head of black hair, ready for his first haircut. His full head of hair paid off, because the nurses just swooned over him and even choose him to be the baby model during the parenting classes. I know that's a day I'll never forget. It's hard to believe that was four years ago. Where has the time went to? What a neat kid he has turned out to be. I am so proud of him and he never ceases to amaze me. It's been an exciting ride so far, and although it makes me sad that he's growing up so fast, it's also exciting to think of what's in the future. Happy Birthday big guy. We love you!

Living Happily Ever After...

Today celebrates our 6 year wedding anniversary as well as ten years of being together as a couple. It's hard to believe that we've been married for six years let alone being with each other on almost a daily basis for the past ten years. Jared and I met while working together at Wal-Mart. A mutual friend of ours had told me that Jared would be starting to work at Wal-Mart and that he guaranteed that we would be dating within two weeks of meeting each other. I told him he was crazy because I already had a boyfriend at the time and couldn't imagine this new guy being that irresistible (lol :)). Two weeks on the dot (a Saturday night to be exact) I dropped that old boyfriend, rushed home from an eight hour shift to get all spiffed up, and drove back in to town to meet my new boyfriend. Remember I was 17 and crazy at the time. We've been together ever since. He helped buy me an airline ticket so I could go with his family to Hawaii a month later. We lived together in Springfield as we were trying to make it through college. He proposed to me in our apartment with a picnic of chinese food after I had worked a long shift at Applebees as a server before Christmas. He has always apologized and wanted to give me more, and it just makes me smile, because we are so fortunate and he has given me more than I could ever dream for. He is an amazing dad and I know our boys are so lucky to have a father that cares enough to not let them have soda, makes them take their vitamins, and puts off hunting and fishing and coaching (things he loves more than anything)just to spend more time with them. He is such a great guy and I love him more than words can describe. Happy Anniversary and Happy Father's Day!


One Boy...One Girl...


This is one of my senior pictures. Jared and I had only been together for a couple of months and I wanted him in my pictures like any crazy teenage girl. Jared on the other hand did not want to be in the pictures and had refused to come earlier that morning. About half way through the shoot he showed up all dressed up. It really meant alot to me.


Our wedding day


I love this picture because it shows not only how tired we were that day, but also the excitement in our eyes of what's to come.


On our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.


The day Jayce was born...June 28, 2005.


All of us with Jordan at the NICU in Columbia. He was one day old in this picture. We look so tired...wait we WERE so tired :(


Our first professional family portrait. I can't believe Jordy was ever that little.


Our Family!

Disneyland!

On Friday after fighting what seemed like hours of rush hour traffic through Los Angeles we finally made it to Disneyland.




I have to say I was a little dissapointed by the castle. It was beautiful, but not as big as I thought it would be.





Jayce was so hungry. He saw this cinnamon stick and had to have it. He ate the whole thing and wouldn't even share with me :)

Jayce loved Mickey's house. We only had about 15 minutes until Toon Town closed, so we didn't have to wait in line at all, even to see Micky!






Jayce was pretty impressed with Minnie's house as well. He loved her kitchen because you could push buttons and her appliances would really work. The dishwasher washed the dishes, the stove baked a birthday cake, and the refrigerator did something, but we couldn't ever get over to look at it because this Russian family kept hogging it and kept speaking Russian (sorry about that slip, I wasn't frustrated with the lack of American, English speaking families or anything!) :)

Look out! It's Cher's house :)

We even got the celebrity tour thanks to Jo. On our way through Malibu, we saw Cher's house, seen below. We also saw Mel Gibson's house, but Jo was driving too fast and I couldn't get a picture. We saw the beach were the dreamy Matthew McConaughey runs shirtless, And finally, we saw the Starbucks that Britney Spears' visits often. How exciting :)

The Beach

Okay, so I lied. I didn't get to post everyday. It was a very crazy and busy week. Here are some pics of the beach in Ventura, California. Jared's sister Jo lives in Ventura, which is where we began our vacation. Ventura is beautiful with lots of character. This was Jayce's first trip to the beach. He wanted to play in the water so bad, but it was just too cold :( We did find him some beach toys at Big Lots, so he had a ton of fun building sand castles and fish (see pic below) with help from Aunt Jo. We had such a great time and I can't wait to go back.

Sunny California, The Beginning

Wow, I couldn't believe it's been a month since I've blogged. I've had lots of pictures just not enough time or patience to get them posted. I am going to start with our trip to California over Easter Break. Jayce, Meemaw Barb, and I decided to go on vacation to California to visit Jared's sister, Aunt Jo. I have never been to California before, so I was very excited. Our four day vacation was jam-packed with lots of sight-seeing, celebrity houses, and Disneyland. Here is just the beginning. Stay tuned and I promise I will try to post daily until I get all the vacation pictures uploaded.


Waiting patiently to get on our plane and start our big trip.



We are about to board our little plane to fly to Denver. I had never had to walk outside to board a plane before. It was so small that we couldn't even carry on our carry-on bags.




Here we are on the plane leaving Springfield heading toward Denver. Jayce was very excited.



After arriving in L.A. we had to make a quick stop at the closest In and Out. I had never eaten at one before and couldn't believe that your only choices on the menu was either a hamburger or french fries. Two food items that's it. Crazy, but also very addicting :)



Jayce kept calling these Pine Trees.