Evelyn Lee

Evelyn Lee Carter was born into our family on February 24, 2016 at 5:08 pm. 

She weighed 7 lb 14 oz and was 19.5 inches long. She was named (middle name Lee) for her great-grandmother, Dona Lee McRae Kartchner. I also share the middle name.

Evelyn was born into a family that LOVES her. 

Since Jake was gone in Artesia, New Mexico for Border Patrol Training, I had excellent help of three amazing ladies during the delivery process: my mom (aka Nana/Jill Wilson), my sister (aka Auntie Meagan/Meagan Wilson), and my mother-in-law (aka Mamaw/Lenore Carter). These three were INCREDIBLE. They coached me, loved me, encouraged me, and I believe even laughed at me. I wish I had gotten a picture of all three together but here are the proud grandmas-to-be, followed by a picture of Meagan and Dustin after Evelyn was born.

Meagan also did a fantastic job taking pictures AND keeping Jake posted via text messages during the labor process. I loved looking back at the texts!

 Thanks to his buddy in the Academy, Salas, we have this video from when Jake read the texts. sorry hard to understand.

Shortly after Evelyn was born, her dad got to FaceTime us from Artesia. He was, of course, in the med spa at the time, so this was how he looked meeting his daughter for the first time!

Typical Jake!

A few more favorites from the day:

Jake's bear hat

Sleeping through labor

Auntie Audrey

FaceTiming Grandad (who was sick)

Grandpa Carter

Slept the whole night on Nana (Wilson)'s chest - much to the nurses' chagrin and my relief! She was so gassy! (Evelyn, not Nana ;>)

Mamaw Carter

FaceTiming the Hancock cousins, who waited PATIENTLY with their dad and Evelyn's Grandpa in the lobby for several hours during the delivery, only to not be allowed to come see Evelyn in person! Talk about some amazing troopers. More to come on them later :)

Grandmas sharing the glad tidings in the background!

42 days old!

I had high ambitions for posting regularly prior to and after Evelyn's birth. We are now >6 weeks past her birthday and I am finally going to ATTEMPT a post. No promises :) In an effort to make this effective, I'm going to keep my post short and sweet!

Evelyn turned six weeks old last week. Here is a summary of our little girl...

Nicknames:
- Evy (cousins, parents)
- Evelyn Schmevelyn (Grandad)
- Squeaker/squawker (Grandpa and Mamaw)
- Evryn (Auntie Audrey)
- Milky (Mom and Dad)

Recent accomplishments:
- Sleeping in at least one 4-5 hour stretch at night
- Keeps on a pair of socks (her feet are now fat enough!)
- Startled by poop and arm movements, but not by noise
- Drinks 3-4 ounces of formula every 2-4 hours
- Holds head up by herself for 2-3 minutes at a time
- Continues to wiggle her toes while eating/sleeping

Other important facts:
- Recently helped Hancock cousins move into Grandad and Nana's house
- Loves to take baths (but not to get dry afterwards), sleeps on drives and walks
- Goes from 0 to 10 on the panic scale in about 1 second when she decides she is hungry or gets startled
- Starting to get a brown flick in her otherwise deep blue eyes - developing in the right upper corner of her right eye
- Still has small tufts of hair on the corner of her ears and in the crack above her bum
- Wears camo or leopard prints most days (unless they're dirty!)
- Still not a big fan of being put into a carrier but will tolerate it if she is swaddled

Kartchner Family Reunion 2013

We'll let the pictures tell the story!

View the Uncle's musical number here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnBSeRBGRh4

Vacation- Carter Style!

(i.e., more food than eatable, more fun than imaginable, more memories than traceable)

For the first time, Jake's parents invested in a houseboat share this year (the family will have access to two weeks on the houseboat every other year). Now, before marrying into the Carter family, I knew next to nothing about boats (except how to clean Brother Westfall's). After being with the Carters for a year and a half, I know that boats = lots of fun... and lots of repairs!

Some of our trip highlights included....

Repairs... Wait. Did I say highlights??

Not long into the trip, one of the Excursion's hoses started leaking.

Fortunately, we had about 8 full-grown (and mostly huge) men in the caravan to help out! 

Someone being "resourceful" with the "extra" barbed wire nearby.

 I think the pictures mostly speak for themselves, but let me just say I was grateful not to have to ride next to the scary, sweaty man in the tow truck! 

Jake, his dad, Zane, and Luke split the first three days of the trip on car/boat repairs! Yikes! What you can't see in this picture is the boat being towed behind the blue boat. In the end, the blue boat never was revived, but the boat in tow was. Go figure!

Canyon Drifter, Ahoy!

The houseboat, Canyon Drifter, is a dream on water. It's basically a luxury single-wide mobile home with its own marine-style motor! Four bedrooms, two baths, a top deck with shades, a slide, and comfy couches to boot made the Canyon Drifter a veritable Titanic- luckily, it didn't sink!

 A lovely view of the kitchen- and the women readying themselves for a week of fun!

Cousin time!

This was the first time in several years that the "cousins" got to vacation together (both Carter-Williams and Kartchner-Wilson cousins, that is). Wish we'd gotten a big group pic! 

Aubrey = 2012 MHS graduate and future BYU student, Maren = wife of Jake and 2013 SLP Master's graduate, Haley = wife of Kalob (Jake's cousin) and 2013 RN graduate!

How did we grow up so fast?!?

Haley and Kalob Williams and Maren and Jacob Carter

Cousins married cousins!

Being A "Big Girl"

We spent a week on the boat, splitting our time between two locations. Getting over my fear of deep water (i.e., anything more than four feet deep) was the best decision I could've ever made to make the trip a blast! Getting over my fear of heights saved me from a LOT of ridicule, but I'm not sure it added to any sort of pleasure on the trip!

The first step was the houseboat- less than a 10' jump. Next, a 20' cliff.

My instructions to my father-in-law: "Just throw me off, okay!!" 

He decided I'd never forgive him if he did... which is probably true :)

Aunt Louise helped me be brave by jumping with me!

Thank goodness for Jake's dad... He helped me discover something semi-athletic that I am actually good at... KNEE BOARDING! I love it, and it makes me look buff- added bonus for sure :)

Being a "L.O.L.A.H" ("Lady of Leisure at Houseboat")

 Jake's mom, Lenore, me, and Aunt Louise

 Apparently, I count as an "old lady" and a "young lady"... Cool!

 Sisterly love Kartchner style...

... and Carter style!

Boys will be.... boys.

The whole lot of them! Hard workers... and hard players :) 

 The "old" men jumping off a nasty high cliff. Note the noodle and life jackets. Good thinking!

 Because one pole obviously wouldn't be enough, right?!

 Whose idea was this??

Quote as Big Josh was chasing down little Josh: "Hold on, I gotta get my chicken!"

 Every good man makes at least one attempt to teach his wife how to fish!

 These two could pass for twins!

 Oh, yah. Jake practiced "being big" too :) The women's small life vest may have helped!

What's a boys' outing without skipping rocks and trying to catch a football mid-air?

...Thankfully, not on the same occasion!

... Oh yes, let's not forget the beard growing/nasty-shaving idea contests!

Loving my hubby!

The start of our Lake Powell vacation marked the end of a tough, demanding summer clinic assignment for me and several jobs for Jake. We soaked up every minute enjoying the things we loved out on the lake, including spending time together. 

Warning. These are kinda gushy pictures!

Thanks for the wonderful, unforgettable vacation, Mom and Dad Carter! We love you!