Welcome Baby Zander Block!

Two weekends ago, Ben and I awoke to someone coming into our house at 7 am....after a few seconds of listening, we realized it was Brian and Vanessa and their dog Tikka. Confused for a moment on why they would be coming over this early, Ben then said "Vanessa's havin the baby!". For some reason I didn't believe him so I got up and went downstairs, only to find Vanessa laying down having a contraction. Brian was rushing around gathering their hospital bags (the plan was for her and Brian to be at our house before the birth so the drive would be close to the hospital in Boulder, rather than having to drive the 45 minutes on the curvy road from their cabin in Estes Park - but plans don't work when you're dealing with having a baby so I've been told :) ). V's contractions were down to about 2-4 minutes in between, so they hopped in the van and headed to the hospital.

Ben and I figured since it's her first baby, we'd probably have some time. So we got up, had a nice breakfast and got ready. We got to the hospital and called to the room, in which the nurse responded to us saying Vanessa wasn't feeling so well, so if we could wait in the lobby until they called for us or Brian came out. For those of you who know Ben, he doesn't really like sitting around, and after about 40 minutes of waiting and Ben getting ancy, we decided to leave and go on a bike ride while we're waiting. We got home, changed clothes, got in the car, got as far as the stop sign in our neighborhood when we got a call from Brian announcing that the baby had been born! So we raced back to the hospital! They were all at The Boulder Community Foothills Hospital - such a NICE facility!

We were able to come right back to the room to meet the new Block.....specifically Alyxzander Drezzor Octavius Block (a name that came to Brian in a dream years ago, pretty cool). We could already tell he was on "Go!" time, as Vanessa's water had broke at 5 am, she was pushing by about 9:45am and had him at 10:50 am. As V said, "He came out like he was on FIRE!". Here's the new mommy, who went through a SHORT natural birth with NO drugs, ready to rock the party, and Zander (one of him already many nicknames).

Brian holding his new son, I think you can tell he's pretty damn happy

It was so fun to hold Zander, since he's been living in our house for much of the last 9 months and we didn't know what each other looked like! :) He's SUCH a cute baby boy, and can't wait for all our adventures we'll share with him! If you look closely, it almost looks like Ben could imagine having one :)

I love this picture, about an hour after delivering. What an amazing, beautiful and happy mom, she's an inspiration

The awesome view from their hospital room - nice eh?

Baby Z

All the friends came to have a tailgating party while waiting for Zander to come into the world, however Z just couldn't wait to meet us, so no party in the parking lot! We all came into the room to hang out with the three Blocks - the first of many fun times!

Mama's so happy!

B and V looking at their beautiful new baby boy

Here's lookin at you Z

Fun with Zander

Brian giving baby Z his first father-son talk :)

Precious

Love this shot, Brian stood on the bed over Vanessa and Z to get it, it could have gone horribly wrong :)

V and B taking Z home

Celebrating Zander

Ben and Brian enjoying a celebratory cigar for Zander

Zander stretching in one of his cute outfits from Ben's mom

Brian had found this wine....was the perfect time to enjoy it!

A toast to the best beginning for a great new family!

4th of July at the Nebraska B&B

For the 4th of July weekend, we decided to pack some clothes and the dogs and head up to Lisa's parents house in Crawford, Nebraska. They are in the process of turning it into a Bed & Breakfast...so if you're ever in the area, you should definitely go visit them and their beautiful place!

Here are some storms we drove by/into on our way up from Boulder! CRAZY!

A view from across the pond my parents built from the river that flows through their property....its even stocked with fish!

They have TONS of birds, its a lot of fun just to sit outside and see them all flying around

Some of the flower garden, my Mom LOVES flowers!

We didn't know this, but Ben and I were going to ride in the Crawford 4th of July Parade....which is quite huge for the area, people drive in from Cheyenne to see this thing! I would be riding my Dad's John Deere D with him, and Ben would be helping my aunt Diane drive my Dad's John Deere G.

The Rodeo Queen

This is where the parade started, which is pretty cool....since Reed is my maiden name, and the side of the family we were visiting!

Ben and Aunt Diane figuring out how to drive the tractor

My dad, in his favorite place.....on a tractor. Don't think I've ever seen him smile so big!

Diane and Ben practicing their princess waves

Heading into the main part of town

My dad and I on his John Deere G....it was the favorite of the crowd since it kept "poppin", sounds like backfiring

The dogs THOROUGHLY enjoyed the pond ALL weekend!

Ben and Dad found a great spot to set up horseshoes!

The guys did some clay pigeon/target shooting....my dad has had this since I was a baby and he hadn't brought it out until now...thirty years later! better late than never I guess.

Of course had to fit in some 4-wheelin fun.....I think this is where the puppies got most of their ticks (which by the way, we're still finding randomly on them, two weeks later! Just gave them medicine today)

Family portrait :) Ben, Shadow (Lisa's parents dog), Mom R, Dad R, Grandma and Grandpa R, Aunt Diane, Aunt Sue and Cousin Billy

And you can't have 4th of July without a Rodeo!!! This is us watching it from our cars (there's reserved parking stalls on one side of the arena)

We took a trip out to an Old West place complete with a cute little restaurant in a tiny cabin.

At the end of our visit....sure was great to hang out, just too short of time

Ben found Kayla's (my niece) pony :)

Catchin a little sun before we make the drive back to boulder....however by the looks of our skin, looks like we just came from Alaska!!! Man we're gleaming white!

Here's a picture on our way back to Colorado....it was like someone pulled the plug to the drain!