Happy 7th Birthday Sawyer!

Can you believe it's been 7 years already??? I can't! Once you have a child, time is like a snow ball at the top of a huge hill that starts rolling down and gets faster and faster until it clobbers you at the bottom and you're dead. Wow, that got morbid really quickly. 

Let's get back to happy fun stuff! 

The birthday boy hopped out of bed quite early-Surprise Surprise....had a special Birthday breakfast with the balloons that Nana Jane had delivered!

He got to open one gift before school from Nana Jane. Nice Bill, nice....

I took time off of work to go and have lunch with Sawyer at school. His little friend Dane had the day off of school, so I picked him up on the way and took him with me. Sawyer was so excited to have Dane there! 

The boys and I enjoying McDonalds for lunch!

We also brought cupcakes to share with the class. 

He was so excited to show us the special Birthday crown that he got to wear from his teacher. 

Sawyer has been in love with the idea of surprise parties for a while now and we thought this would be a great year to have one while it's still easy to pull it off! Nana and Papa were sweet enough to host the surprise party at their house on Saturday night which worked out perfectly because the boys normally go their to spend the night on Saturdays so he didn't suspect anything. They had the basement all set up for when he came down and everyone jumped out and yelled, "SURPRISE!"

Chicken enchiladas are Sawyer's favorite, so I made those and we had a huge Mexican feast! 

Nana Kathy had this awesome make-your-own-cupcake-bar set out with all sorts of toppings. 

Present time!!!!! He got all sorts of fun stuff that a seven year old thought was awesome :) Among them, was two sets of boxing gloves from Aunt Joan, which I'm sure will result in a few ER visits....and the cherry on the top was a new bike from Nana Kathy & Papa Steve!

Raylan trying out the new snow saucer from Aunt Lin and Uncle Jeff (or should we say, Uncle Chad? lol)

We are SO SO SO proud of you Sawyer. We are so excited to see what kind of a young man that you will become and we pray that you will love Jesus all along the way. We'll love you forever, no matter what*

An Apple a Day.....

We have been a part of a WONDERFUL Journey Group at church for the past few years and have really enjoyed getting to know other couples that are in the same stage of life. Our friends, Kevin & Vanessa live on this beautiful vineyard that we get to visit from time to time! We were invited out for apple picking, soup dinner and a bonfire! What fun!

They have this great apple tree that is pretty much bent over, it has so many apples on it! 

We all picked loads and loads of apples and it still didn't look like we made a dent! 

Raylan thought that he was pretty hot stuff because he was eating an apple that wasn't all cut up. Ahh the small joys in life :)

Sawyer kept almost giving me a heart attack up on a ladder in the tree.... 

I think I just ate a seed.....

And did I take pictures of the rest of our VERY fun evening? The delicious food, the kids playing together, Vanessa's creative fall decor, or the HUGE bonfire? Nope. I must have been enjoying time with friends too much to remember! 

Oh well, I'm sure there will be a next time! Thanks Kevin and Vanessa for another lovely evening!

Vala's Pumpkin Patch 2013

Every year we take our children and all the Day Care kids to this HUGE pumpkin patch for a day of fall fun! It was a little chillier this time but that didn't seem to even faze the kids at all. We had quite a few parents and grandparents that joined us which was really helpful! 

By far the most anticipated activity is going to these GIGANTIC jumping pillows. They are like these huge thick plastic pillow things in the ground that everyone can jump on. I don't care what age you are, it is so much fun! A good leg work out too :)

Raylan just absolutely loved it!

Sawyer watching the 'Pumpkin Chunkin Cannon' shoot pumpkins really high in the air.

Lunch time! Praying for our food.....

All the kiddos got to pick a pumpkin to bring back to Day Care that we will be painting later on this week. Liz, our roommate for the past year has made the move back to Oregon and this was her last day with us....sad! She was practically Raylan's second mother for the past year and we are all going to miss her TONS!

Me and my Day Care kiddos!!!! What a group of goof balls! Every year I get them all matching shirts to wear to the pumpkin patch but this year was so cold they all had their coats on and you can't see them! Bummer!!!!!

Hot apple cider, chilly nights, turning trees, the scramble for Halloween costumes, snotty noses and pumpkins galore!

Fall is officially here and we are loving it! 

This, That and the Other Thing...

It's been forever, I know. But we've been busy, OK :) Here's what we've been up to:

Bill and two of his coworkers did a Triathlon! 

Swim, Bike, Run! Well done, Bill!

We were n a wedding! Bill's sister got married here in Omaha and we were all able to be apart of it and share in the special day! 

It was such a gorgeous wedding!

I ran my very first Marathon! 26.2 miles! (42+ Kilometers) Ran it in 4 hrs. 3 min and felt like I was gonna die! It felt so good to finish and something to cross off the bucket list!

My girlfriends and I threw a baby shower and had High Tea! Fancy, Fancy! 

Raylan's best friend, Jackson came to town for a visit!

Sawyer just gets more and more handsome every single day.

Mr. Naughty Pants decided to bring in some extra items into the bathtub while I wasn't watching....

Sawyer insists that they wear matching jammies at night time. They are soo rascally together and I love it!

I asked Sawyer to keep an eye on Raylan for me while I went to take a quick shower the other night and when I got out, I found Raylan in the cupboard trying to eat the ink out of a printer cartridge....

Bill and some friends from work ran the Market to Market run! 78 miles!

Thanks for all of you who prayed for Bill's 5th Actuarial Exam that he took a few weeks ago. Unfortunately he didn't make it this time, but he's back at the books and trying again in February.

So, as you can see life has been keeping us out late, up early, to school, at work, to cooking club, at Bible Study group and on the treadmill! (with a few naps here and there!) 

TTFN, Ta Ta for now!