The Black Family

Pioneer Village

2012-01-15T15:21:00.000-08:00

We went to Pioneer Village this weekend. I have not been there since I was a kid on a field trip. It was such a beautiful day to be outside.

Fun with the family!

2012-01-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to Freestone Park with my mom, sister and step dad. We went for my moms birthday and had a good time. We took the train and went around on the carousel. We all had a great time.

Christmas

2011-12-31T16:27:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We had a great time with family.

Update...

2011-10-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I blogged last. I was looking at the pictures that I last put up of Ava and she looks so little. She has changed so much. Her hair was so dark and now it is so blond. We just got our picutres taken by one of our old friend and she did a great job. Thanks Leah!

What we did this summer...

This summer was a fun one! We went and watch the Cardinals in Flagstaff. That was fun just to get out of the heat.

We went to Disneyland and the Reagan Library. Disneyland was fun because she was a lot more aware of what was going on. She rode a lot of rides and really enjoyed the parade down mainstreet. The Reagan Library was really fun. It is in Simi Valley which was beautiful. It was really neat to learn more about him.

We also went to the beach on the way home and saw the seals in La Jolla. I love La Jolla.

My work game us Diamondbacks tickets when they played the Giants. That was a great game and they were awsome seats. Ava was such a good little girl. She just sat on my lap the whole time and watch game cheering them on.

I won a year pass to the phoenix zoo a few weeks ago so my friend Brittaney and I went to the zoo with our kids last week. We had a good time. The weather was so nice that Friday. Ava had such a good time at the petting zoo with goats. She was going crazy. She thought they were the funniest things.

We had a good time this summer!

Ava pictures

2010-06-18T17:03:00.003-07:00

Here are some updated Ava photos. She is growing and is now cooing and being really cute. We love her lots.

Baby girl!

2010-06-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

As most of you know Paul and I have adopted a baby girl! Her name is Ava Reagan Black. She was born on May 2, 2010 and weighed 7 lb 7 oz and was 22.2 in long. She has been such a wonderful blessing in our lives and has brought so much joy to us.

A little of the story on how she came to be with us.

Paul and I received a call from another case worker on Wednesday, April 28th in the evening letting us know that she had a girl that was interested in meeting with us, oh and by the way she is due in a week and a half (What????). We were shocked, scared and nervous that it could be that quick but we said "OK" we would love to meet with her. We met with the birth mother and her mom on Friday, April 30th and hit it off. We had a lot in common and it just felt right. The birth mother was not in a good place in her life at that moment and felt that the right thing to do was to place her baby for adoption. We left that night feeling really good about the situation and only hoped that she did too. We sat around the phone the next day waiting for a call to see if she had chosen us. We got a call that night on Saturday and found out that she had chosen us!!!!! Paul and I were so excited and scared about the situation but we still felt that it was right. The the next sentence was that she was in labor. Another shock hit us. We thought that we would have a few days to prepare for this new baby that was going to be coming into our lives but we were so excited that it was going to be soon. Paul and I were at Wal-Mart that night at 9:30 going through the baby isles saying, "I think we will need that". I knew we would need diapers and wipes so we bought some of those. The birth mother had Ava the next day; Sunday the 2nd. It all happened in a total of 5 days. Ava had a lot of visitors at the hospital with family and friends visiting which meant so much to us.

We are so proud of the decision that the birth mother made to place her baby with us. She is such a sweet person and we love her very much for the decision that she made.

Paul and I wanted to thank all of you for your prays and your words of encouragement during this time. It meant so much to us.

Adoption help!

2010-03-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope this letter finds you well. As you may already know, we have been married for 6 years and as yet have not been able to have children. After many tests and no success we have decided to seek a child through adoption. We are writing you to ask for any help you can give us in building our family through adoption.

If you become aware of a birth mother who is looking to place her child in a loving home, we would appreciate help in recommending us to the birth mother. If she is willing to consider us as adoptive parents, please contact us at (480) 231-0728 or you may contact our caseworker Larry Draughon at LDS Family Services at (480) 278-3636.

We have enclosed a photo of ourselves that could be shown to a potential birth mother. If she would like more information, Larry Draughon or we can provide her with additional photos and information concerning our background, family, careers, hobbies, and interests. Birth parents may also view our online profile at www.itsaboutlove.org by clicking on “View Adoptive Family Profiles” and then click “continue” under guest, then click on “find a profile by ID or name” and then type our names in- Paul and Darla.

Thank you in advance for your help as well as your love, support, and prayers.

Love,

Paul and Darla Black

(480) 231-0728

paulanddarlaadoption@gmail.com

Family Photos

2010-03-04T16:47:00.001-08:00

Paul and I (ok I guess really me) have been wanting to take family photos for such a long time now. We have not had any photos done since our wedding over 6 years ago. One of my old roommates took the photos for us and they turned out great! We took them downtown Phoenix. I like that urban look with photos. Paul was not sure at first but I told him to trust me they will turn out great. He loves how they turned out and so did I.

On Our Way to Adopt!!!

2010-03-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

We just got certified to adopt!!!! We are so excited about this. It has been a long journey to this point but we are on our way to adopt. We have spent YEARS trying to start our family and have come to the conclusion that this is the right step for us. Wish us luck through the process.

Family Weekend

2009-09-12T13:51:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago Paul and I went Greer and stayed in a cabin at the Greer Lodge Resort. We had a blast! My mom, sister, Paul's mom and dad and 3 dogs came with us

It was a big cabin that fit all of us just fine. The resort was so beautiful with a lot of outdoor activities for there guest to do. My mom and I went kayaking on there pond, which was fun. We took long walks with the dogs (we really wiped them out)

just really enjoyed our time together in the cool mountain air.

Great Weekend Getaway!

2009-06-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

Paul, my sister, my mom and I went to Flagstaff for the weekend a few weeks ago. We all needed a little get away. We were first thinking that we wanted to go to Greer and stay at these cabins but plans changed so we went up to Flagstaff. It was great up there. It was actually cold that weekend. It was rainy and hailing and even snowed up on the peaks. We went to dinner at Beaver Street Brewery and had a good time. When we came out our battery in the car was dead. Thank goodness that they people that were parked next to us were leaving at the same time and were nice enough to give us a jump. Then we had to go to the Honda dealership to have our battery checked out. It turned out that the jump gave a good jult to the battery and it was fine. We stayed at Little America and had a good time.

The next morning we went up to Snow Bowl and took the ski lift. That was really fun and cold. With the weather the way it was that weekend it was really cold up at the top. It had snowed a good inch up at the top. That was a lot of fun and REALLY pretty. All in all it was a good weekend and relaxing.

TEA PARTY!!!!!!!

2009-04-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

With they way things are going in the country and all of the spending that is taking place I felt that I needed to go to the capital building yesterday and protest!!! My mother-in-law, sister and a friend from our ward and I all went to protest. It was a blast to be around so many other people who believe the same way you do. I made four signs with some really great slogans for all of us. There were some great speakers who voice what they taught and it got us all screaming. I love going to these type of events because it makes you feel that you are apart of something. It was great. We were all proud "Right Wing Extremist" hahahaha. I love politics!!!

Annual "Fab Five" Christmas Party!

2008-12-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

We always take at least one photo like this for some-reason.
For the past 3 years my old roommates and I have been getting together for our annual Christmas Party! We have such a blast and it is great to see each other. We talk about old times and all the fun we used to have together. It was great to see everyone.

Disneyland

2008-12-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

Well we just got back from Disneyland today and we really had a good time. Paul and I had never been to Disneyland at Christmas time and it was definitely worth going this time of year. They really do it up at Christmas. Nighttime is so beautiful. There are lights everywhere and the decorations come to life. It was also really cold (the winter blast hit) and that helped put us in the Christmas mood. We love the place and I would recommend going at this time of year. Summer is always fun but when it is all decorated up for Christmas it is just awesome.

We also went to the beach in La Jolla. It is always nice to go and relax by the beach for a while.

Why do people do this to animals??

2008-11-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

Well, Halloween was here and Paul and I bought the dogs some costumes at Target. They are so cute!!! Lola was a pumpkin and Jett was a purple bat. They actually left them on for a while.

Utah

2008-08-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

Will I have really never been to Utah. Everyone thinks that I have been there just because I am LDS. Not every LDS person has been there. My mom, sister and I went to Utah to visit my Aunt and her kids. They had just moved down from Oregon so now it is easier to see them. We had such a great time with them. There family is so much fun! We had movie night, craft night and then the 3rd night we were in Park City and hung out. It was fun! Park City is such a cute place. We went to the Olympic Park and went through the museum and also did the zip line down the mountain. That was fun. We actually got my mom to go down. She wanted to go back down the mountain but once you got up there the only way down was the zip line. She did it and had a great time.
We also went through the Salt Lake Temple which was so beautiful! Temple square was amazingly beautiful.
We had such a great time it was one of the best vacations I have been on!

Pioneer Day!

2008-07-26T20:08:00.001-07:00

Today we had our Pioneer Day celebration out at the branch. Paul and I got called to a Native American branch out on the Gila Indian Community. His parents are also out there so that make things fun. We have about 20-30 people that attend the ward. It is fun. My calling's are 1st counselor in the YW and also the events chairman (everyone seems to have more than one calling). This morning we ate breakfast and then we played games outside. The little kids really like the water balloon toss. It was a blast. We then went inside and we told a few stories of what the Native American tribes used to do back in the olden days. It was interesting. When I get pictures back I will post a few.

New York City

2008-06-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

I do not know why it has taken me a couple of weeks to put these pictures from New York. Paul and I got back a few weeks ago after spending a week in New York/Brooklyn visiting his cousin and his wife and seeing all of the sites. We had such a great time! We ha a great time walking around or maybe not so great, Paul was so tired. It was fun seeing all of the huge buildings. That town is so different than Phoenix. There are people everywhere and everyone walks everywhere. It is kind of cool and something that I could get used to. We had a great time spending time with Paul's cousins and getting to know them better. We stayed with them and it was great. They took us to all of the great local restaurants in there neighborhood and the food was great. They even got me to try sushi. That probably was not a good idea since it came up about an hour latter. :( Well at least I can say that I tried it. We also took a day trip to DC on the Am track and had a great time. Paul has never been and he loved it. It is a town that we will go back to because we did not have much time to see it all. It is a great place to visit with so much history and a great feel to it. My mom and sister also came with us on the trip and we all had a great time.

Great Friends!

2008-05-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

I just got back from going to Flagstaff for a girls get together. We had such a great time! Some old friends and I from college got together after not seeing each other for years. We had such a great time talking about old times and the funny, crazy things that we did in college. It was like we were never apart. It is great to have friends that you have not seen or spoken to in years and when you come back together it is like you talked to each other every day. Great friends are hard to come by. Thank you for bringing your old photo albums Britt they brought back the old times.

"Do You Feel Lucky?"

2008-05-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Paul and I went shooting with his Dad out in the desert by our house. We had a great time and we did pretty well. We love to take the guns out and go shoot at targets. Paul is a pretty good shoot and I am getting better. I even hit the bull’s eye this time! Check out the cows that were out there with us.

Out in Albuquerque

2008-04-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

So this morning I woke up really earlier today to go to Albuquerque for work. We are doing some models out here for Beazer Homes. My sister and mom also came. It is nice when we can make a work trip into a family trip. We worked until about 9:30pm and started at 4:30am. It was a long day!!!

"Take Me Out To The Ballgame"

2008-04-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Last night Paul and I got to go to a Diamondbacks game! It was a lot of fun. My aunt has season tickets and split them up with the family. There were pretty good seats with foul balls come at us left and right. A guy caught a foul ball right behind us. It was pretty cool. The balls come at you pretty fast. The D-backs were playing the San Diego Padres and it was a pretty good game. Paul and I left at the bottom of the 7th inning and the score was 3 to 2 Padres. When we got in the car to go home that is when the D-backs started to light up the bats. We missed it. Not much was going on when we were there. I told Paul we were the bad luck. It was really nice to go and you could not have asked for better weather.
I could not believe the size of the hot dogs that they sell now. They do not have the regular hot dogs anymore that come in the foil you have to buy a FOOT LONG hot dog with a bunch of stuff on it and it cost $9.00. I could not believe it.
Over all it was really fun!
Oh ya, the guy who played Jesus in the "Passion of the Christ" through out the first pitch. It was kind of strange that they announced him as the guy who played Jesus. It just sounded really funny!! hahaha

Trip in the snow!

2008-04-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

I have not added anything to this blog in a long time so I needed to get caught up. Paul, my mom, the dogs and I went up to Flagstaff this winter to play in the snow. It was such a fun day that we had. The dogs were so cute in the snow. The snow was so deep that you could not see there little legs. It was so cute! Check out this picture of Lola's lips. She must have been really cold. It looks like she had a lip job!

Two Dogs!

2007-07-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

This past year Paul and I got two of the best dogs!!! We love them so much there names are Jett and Lola. Jett is the black mixture of what we do not know. All we know is that he has big ears. That is what makes him so cute. He also has the best personality. Lola is a Jack Russell Rat Terrier that is full of energy. She is always wanting to play. She is a very cuddly dog that loves to be held also. We are planning on taking them camping this year with all of our new camping gear that we got for Christmas. We even took the dogs up to Prescott a couple of weekends ago to find out camping spot for this year. It was little cold but they were so funny around the lake. They were very curious about the water and did not know what it was. They are joy to have and make every day of our better.

Angela and Matt's wedding

2007-07-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

Paul sister Angela just go married in Las Vegas to Matt at the end of December. They had a small wedding with just family and Mandalay Bay. It was a very pretty wedding. The chapel was very contemporary with a soft pink and Chocolate color pallet. It was very windy and cold outside so we were all happy that they were getting married inside. It was a lot of fun and Paul and I are very excited for them and there adventure of marriage.

Temple Lights

2007-07-14T07:47:00.001-07:00

This Christmas Paul and I went to go and see the Mesa Temple light with his parents. It just amazes me that every year the lights get better and better. I love to go to the temple to see the lights every year to see what new things they have put up.

Update

2007-07-14T07:41:00.001-07:00

Update: I am now working at an interior design firm name Hart Interior Design and I love it. I am the Design Admin. to the director of design. It is almost a family company now with my sister, mom, sister-in-law and mother-in-law all working there. Everyone always jokes that we are going to take over the company one day and who knows we might. We all love working there. I have been working there for over a year now and love it. Our company does model homes and high end residential homes. The business is doing great and we grow larger and larger every year. Paul is working for Xerox right now and likes it but would like to get out of that job and start working with his hands making millwork. Hart just bought a millwork company so I am trying to get him on there. I figure why not the rest of my family works there why not him. We are doing great out in city of Maricopa. This town is growing and growing. Last that I heard Maricopa was the fastest growing city in the country. We are starting to get more and more businesses coming to town but no Target yet. Paul's mom and dad live out here so that is nice. We see them a lot during the week. That is it for right now from us and will update more soon.

Disneyland Trip

2007-07-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a trip to Disneyland! It was a lot of fun. We went with my mom, sister and step nieces. We got to go on most of the rides, which was something new. When we go it is normally packet and the lines are so long. If you ever get to go Friday is a really good day to go. We did not wait long for any of the rides.

2007-01-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Going to the woods

2007-01-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

Last week we took a drive up to Prescott and find our camping spot for this year. The dogs really loved going around the lake for a little walk. We did find a geat spot to camp out for when it gets a little warmer.