Photos of the boys

Proud to be an American

Yesterday was a big day for our family. After 3 years filled with filling out piles of paperwork and handing out piles of money Sam finally became an American citizen! Nana helped us out and watched Jackson for the day while Sam, Owen and I went to Salt Lake for the Oath Ceremony. It was a pretty simple ceremony, with 193 people taking the oath. It was a pretty cool thing to be a part of, we are really blessed to be living in such a great country that provides people with so many opportunities. We are so happy to be done with all of this and to have reached this goal!
On the way home, we also picked up Owen's Australian citizenship certificate so there was a lot to celebrate. So we went to Ruby River for a delicious steak dinner. It was quite a nice morning/afternoon.

That night we had a celebration party with my family. One of Sam's co-workers made us some good ol' steak and cheese pies and Sam whipped up some sausage rolls (delicious Australian food that we love) and I made an American flag cake to celebrate. It was a good time with everyone with yummy food. It was a fantastic way to end a fantastic day. And Sam really is now so proud to be an American! :)

Sam and I just after the ceremony with his certificate that says he's an American

Sam with the yummy food

Mom, Kendra, Mac and Alissa

Cute, cute Kambria

Sam and I digging into the cake. Yum.
Jackson enjoying the cake...he and Lilly cleaned all the frosting off one finger lick at a time. It was pretty funny.

Autumn leaves

Last week we went for a family drive along the Alpine Loop. It's a beautiful drive that goes through American Fork Canyon, then down past Sundance, and back through Provo Canyon. The leaves were beautiful!! We also stopped at Cascade Springs, which Jackson really enjoyed. It was a great afternoon. (Except that our stupid car overheated, but whatever, we made it.) The pictures aren't as cool as it was in real life, but enjoy them anyway!

Happy Late Birthday to Jackson

Jackson turned 2 on 10 September. I'm almost a month late posting about it. Oops. I do love him, but things have been a bit crazy. Okay, not really crazy, but whatever. We didn't do too much on his actual birthday, but waited until the next weekend when my parents were back from Heidi's wedding and Heidi and Stacey were in town. We had a delicious BBQ and Jackson opened presents. I know, big party, hu? But seriously, he's only 2 and didn't care anyway. He was just happy to be at Nana and Papa's house. We had a good time, and Jackson enjoyed opening his gifts. Mostly he just got clothes from us. Heidi and Stacey also got him a little t-ball set, which he was very excited about. And Alissa made him a Nemo cake (lucky fin and all!) with baseball cupcakes as well. It was pretty fun.

I can't believe that Jackson is 2. It has gone by so fast! He's growing up so fast, and learning so much. I love him to bits and I really do think that he is one of the 2 cutest kids in the world! I'm so glad that I get to be his mum...what a fun job!

On his "birth" day

Just chillin' (about 5 months)

Eating a delicious cookie (about 9 months)

1st birthday

Family pictures (about 15 months)

Enjoying the sunshine (about 21 months)

Nemo birthday cake (2 yrs)

Practicing his t-ball skills (2 yrs)

I love this boy!

There is nothing more to say. This kid is so cute! He loves to play ball and is quite good at it, I must say.

Good kick!

Daddy taught him to do this when he scores a goal...nice!

He's so proud of himself!

What a face!

Update

We've survived 2 1/2 weeks with 2 kids. I'm quite proud of us. We are all doing well. Jackson is taking to the baby pretty well. He is always giving him kisses and wanting to hold him. But, he also misses being the only child. He's constantly telling me to put the baby in his chair so that I can play ball with him. Poor boy.
Owen is a good baby. He sleeps quite a bit, but I'm not complaining about that. He's really cute. We did have to put him under the blue lights for a couple of days here at home. It wasn't very fun, but it wasn't horrible either. We're just glad that he's healthy.
I'm pretty lucky that I have such a great husband as well. He gets up (or stays up when he gets home from work) with Jackson every morning so I can get a couple more hours of sleep. It really is a life saver for me. And it's not easy, Jackson is not a morning person. (I really have no idea where he gets that.) So thanks to a fantastic husband, a generally happy toddler, and a good baby, I'm surviving!

Owen William Ryland

3 more weeks..hahaha! I was hoping that the baby would come early (Jackson was 3 weeks early as well), but didn't want to be planning on it. What a nice surprise! We are really happy to be done with the pregnancy (okay so mostly me) and so happy to have our little baby here. I am also really happy with the timing of all of it. Mom is heading out of town on Saturday for Heidi's wedding, so I'm glad that she was here. I'm also really glad that Owen didn't make his grand entrance on the 10th, since that is Jackson's birthday. Things are working out!

The journey of getting Owen here was eventful. I labored throughout most of Monday, spent 4 hours at the hospital doing a lot of walking and not much progressing. Finally we decided to go home and come back when things were moving a bit quicker. Bad choice!!! 2 hours after leaving, we were literally racing (Sam drove very fast and ran a number of red lights and stop signs) back to the hospital. I was screaming, mom was trying to convince me not to push, and Sam drove with one hand and got my fingernails in the other hand. Luckily, my dad had called ahead to tell them we were coming, and a wheelchair was waiting at the curb to whisk us away, and the room plus doctors and nurses were ready and waiting upstairs.

Once my IV was in, I started pushing. There was no time for an epidural and at that point I didn't care, I just wanted that baby out. Unfortunately, Owen came out face up, his lips were one of the first things the dr saw. It definintely made delivery much more painful, and it could've been fairly problematic, but we were able to get him out, about 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital. Mom said that if my water had broken, we never would've made it...I'm so glad that we avoided that mess!!

Because of his the way he delivered, his face was very bruised. (He's looking much better now) He weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz and 19 inches. He's doing great, he's sleeping a ton, which I really appreciate, and we are looking forward to the adventure ahead! Here are a few photos, I'm sure that there will be more to come!

Just a few minutes old, with a beat up face

Looking much better later in the day

Jackson showing us Owen's eye

Giving kisses...too cute