He's Here!

And he's so beautiful!

Sorry it's taken me 4 weeks to post about it, I've been a little preoccupied. :)

Gavin Arthur Earl was born Monday, January 23, 2012 at 8:56pm after about 12 hours of labor.

He weighed 7 lbs, 9 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.

The labor went very smoothly, except that this third time momma over-estimated a bit how long she could wait before going in and we got to the birth center less than a half hour before he was born! I'll post more details of his birth story later. Suffice it to say that I pushed him out in just 4 contractions in about as many minutes! (And for the first time I didn't tear--hooray!) He was (and is) healthy and alert and I've been recovering nicely.

Here are some pictures from the first minutes and hours just following his birth.

We are so grateful to our doula for going crazy with the camera while we were otherwise occupied, thus capturing on film these precious moments.

He was born at The Baby Place Birth Center in Meridian, where Corban and Keitra were both born. For us it has been the absolute best place to bring our children into the world. We've been so blessed to have such safe, joyful experiences there. I can't imagine birthing any other way.

In addition to The Baby Place staff, and me, of course, our birth team included Ken, my mom and our doula, Tanya Atwood. I am so grateful to each of them--their coaching kept me confidently in touch with what my body needed to do.

And just like that, our sweet little family expanded, adding an amazing little person we can't imagine our family without.

After lots of time skin-to-skin with Mommy, getting his first meals and being held by Daddy and Grandma, our little guy had his first bath:

He was calm while being washed but was very unhappy after:

But just until he was bundled again...

...to get weighed...

...and measured...

...and dressed. What up, world?

Jonathan and Christy's Wedding

On August 20, 2011 Ken's nephew Jonathan married this cute girl:

And Christy Hasenoehrl became Christy Lloyd and a part of our family!

And the people rejoiced!

She really is a sweet girl...

It was a beautiful wedding.

We even dressed to match the wedding colors, black, white and pink.

So much fun sure wore us out! :)

(I love Keitra's little hand through Corban's arm in this one! Aren't they sweet?)

Peterson Reunion 2011

The annual Peterson Reunion, to which anyone related in any way to my dad or step mom is invited, but to which usually only their kids who already live in Idaho can come, was held this year on Friday, August 12 at my parents' house in Emmett, Idaho.

Most of us went up Thursday night and spent the night, eating BBQ chicken for dinner, camping out in tents on their front lawn and gathering in their living room to chat and listen to family history stories before bed.

It's so interesting and inspiring to learn more about the people who have gone before us, their experiences and their lives which contributed to who we are and where we are today.

We floated the river right next to their house, played in the tree houses, swung on the tire and rope swings and Grandpa showed us how to pan for real gold dust in his genuine antique gold pans!

Corban was SO excited, convinced he was going to find all the gold flakes in the set up Grandpa had prepared and we were going to be rich! He was still talking about his gold months later.

Keitra was more interested in floating her pan on the water like a boat than finding gold.

Both kids tried out the rope swing--they were naturals!

Wahoooo!

Wilcock and Earl Reunions, 2011

Two family reunions for Ken's side of the family in the month of July. A reunion of all the posterity of Arthur and Lena Wilcock, Ken's mom's parents, formed the Wilcock Reunion, held Thursday, July 7th through Saturday, July 9th, 2011 on the family land in Harpster, ID. With over 200 people in the family, even though only some of them can come it's not a small gathering!

We stayed at Ken's parents house and the kids enjoyed a tea party with some of their cousins. Check out Keitra's face in this picture:

Classic! That girl is on a roll when it comes to charming pictures lately. Everyone else is adorable.

Any visit to Ken's parents' house isn't complete without some kind of fixing and/or updating of their computer. :)

The second reunion was of Ken's parents and their posterity and was held Thursday, July 21 through Saturday, July 23 at the Pinetop Recreation Camp owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints near Idaho City.

We particularly enjoyed the pool...

...the lodge facilities (Keitra is a master ping pong player)...

... and singing together.

This is our cute niece Lilly:

And again, chillaxin' in the shade:

We played a rousing game of impromptu frisbee golf with about 20 of us, ages 3 to...older than 3.

All of Ken's siblings were together at the same time for the first time in several years, so we had to get some pictures. Mom and Dad and their 8 kids:

Ken and his brothers:

Our car after we got home:

4th of July

Sunday, July 3, otherwise known as the first Sunday of the month was our monthly get together for Bach family dinner. Uncle Jay came to visit from Utah for the holiday weekend.

Two blue-eyed boys:

Ammon and Tamra were in charge of purchasing and lighting off our home fireworks display.

They did a great job: we all had a great time...

... and no one was exploded!

Super cute picture I caught of my parents:

And my adorable, photogenic daughter:

Playing with Grandma:

With giant sparklers:

(THOSE were cool!)

The evening of the 4th of July (Monday evening) we went to the Winco parking lot in Meridian and watched the "big fireworks" that they shot off at the Meridian Speedway. No pictures of those. Too busy ooo-ing and aah-ing, I guess. :)

We're Expecting!

There is an empty lot in a neighborhood in Nampa that is in the process of giving birth to a new house. A house we have plans to adopt as soon as they will give us the keys. So yeah, we're expecting...a house, estimated due date, that is, closing date, August 29, 2011.

Some pictures of just the first story up:

The small mountain of dirt and huge rocks they dug out to pour our foundation:

After the second story was framed, a picture of our future master closet door and shower:

One of the features I am most eagerly anticipating--the soaker tub in the master bathroom:

The "loft" area that will be the kids' play room:

Our future back door:

We are VERY excited, as evidenced by the faces of our kids in this picture:

We've taken them over to see the progress almost every week since the construction crew broke ground. Ken has gone to look at it almost every day. This is the front with the second story on:

Oh, and we're also expecting a baby. :) Due January 16, 2012.

Let's just say our anniversary vacation went very well! ;)