Memorial Day and a Getaway

We headed to the Lake on Wednesday to get an early start to the weekend and to see Keith since he was working in the area. This was the first time we have been to the lake since Sawyer started walking and lets just say its a whole new adventure! He loves anything that is near danger. It's as if he has a radar or something!! His favorite thing to do was go up and down the rock stairs and to walk near the edge of the pier. We finally decided to make a make shift barricade with the porch furniture to keep Mr. Explorer contained. The water was a little chilly at first but felt great once you got used to it especially since it was in the 90's! We enjoyed riding in the boat and Keith took Sawyer for his first ride on the Waverunner. He loved it!! This is the beginning of all the fun times we will have, especially when he learns how to ski and go ride on the intertube.

New lake shoes!!

Here he is with Keith or Kenzie's (not sure which) Pound Puppy. Remember those? It's so sweet when he grabs it and cuddles it with his head on it.

Ready for a boat ride!

Taylor got to come down and spend a few days at my parent's place. He had so much fun and loved to tell me about trying to catch Oskar the fish. He played so well with Sawyer and even shared his Star Wars Light Saber, now that's love!

Jeff grilled some Jalepeno poppers and chicken wings. Yum.

Meme had to get her Sawyer fix.



       We celebrated Papa D's Birthday with grilling out steaks and a yummy strawberry shortcake trifle

                          Blowing Baabouz! Thats how he says bubbles and its the cutest.thing.ever.

My favorite time of day.

I snapped this pic last weekend in our backyard. He loves his new lawn mower!

This past week I got to tag along with Keith to Sandestin. He was there to work at a conference for Emergency Room Doctors and Nurses. Keith worked a lot and got to meet people and medical related companies from all over the Southeast. The last night there they had a casino night complete with a Poker Tournament, Craps table, and Black Jack. I even beat Keith in the Poker Tournament! :)

This was the longest we have left Sawyer and it was bittersweet. I was looking forward to having some alone time with Keith but it was hard to leave him. Honey and Papa D kept him for us and she sent me the cutest videos and pictures to keep me updated. When I went to go pick him up he lit up and I got the sweetest hug ever.

The water was absolutely beautiful.

I saw this sign while driving down 30-A one afternoon. Notice the sign for Sawyer Art?

I ate lunch at this quaint little restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach and it was delicious. I orginally drove to Seaside but the parking was awful and it was way too crowded. The lady working there recommended the Fish Tacos and they were divine. They also had a Pepper Jelly Vinigarette dressing with the salad that was yummo! Keith and I also did the whole "tourist" thing and ate at Red Bar but its just sooo good and worth the 45 minute wait to sit outside on the back porch on a cool night. We had a really nice waiter named Landon and we both fell in love with his name. Maybe for #2? We told him that and he said we should do the middle name, Jagger. He was a surfer dude needless to say. :)

One last pic, ahhhh. It will probably be a while before we go back so I had to end with a beautiful shot of the water.



Family Beach Trip

We went to Orange Beach with the Scott's for a week long vacation. I haven't been to the beach for a week since our Honeymoon! We stayed at the Phoenix West which was a great place to stay with a family. The condo was very spacious and had a huge porch with a table and chairs where we spent most nights visiting after Sawyer went to bed. The condo also had a lazy river, walk-in pool, and a water slide. We were so blessed to have beautiful weather and it only rained once for maybe an hour. We ate lots of food and got a little too much sun! It was the second time for Sawyer to go to the beach but this trip was much more fun now that he is walking and could play in the water. We got so much joy out of watching him play in the pool and at the beach. I was quite surprised how much he loved the water. He was fearless! He walked right in the pool and I had quite the time chasing him around. Thank goodness for the covered float that he got for his Birthday. He loved cruising around the lazy river in it! He took the best naps and slept better then he ever has. His room had a blackout curtain and that seemed to really help so I am on the hunt for one for his nursery. Honey and Papa D had a great time being with Sawyer and Honey especially loved making drip castles like she did when Kenzie and Keith were little. Cindy had a Birthday while we were there so they got to enjoy a nice dinner at a new restaurant called The Palms. They were also very gracious and watched Sawyer while Keith and I went to dinner at Cobalt.

Since we left on Mother's Day, we celebrated the day before and my sweet boys made it so special. I got my favorite flowers, a cute dress, and a book, "Are You My Mother?". It is the most adorable book and I love reading it to Sawyer. It's a little longer then his other ones so his patience is gone half way through!

This was taken when we first got there. He was SO excited!

This is where we spent most of our time.

Honey got him this adorable shark towel for his Birthday. It was so cute when he walked around with the fin and tail in the back.

Testing out the sand.

Sunset at Cobalt

He also learned "Touchdown Auburn" and how to blow kisses that week.

We had such a great time and it was so hard to leave and get back to the "real world".

"Blow Mama a Kiss"

Milestones and Childcare

My Little One has been hitting some major milestones this past month. There are signs all around me at how he is becoming a toddler and not my baby. Gone are the days of swaddling, swinging, rocking. Now he is talking, walking, and eating finger foods. The other day I realized I had more sippy cups to wash rather than two baskets of bottle supplies. My pantry is stocked with scooby snacks and goldfish and there is a pair of velcro shoes at the bottom of our stairs. As much as I can't get over how many toys fill our living room, I love seeing all of Sawyer's things around the house. Keith and I are loving this new chapter in our lives. We have gained such patience this past year and had to adjust to a major life change. Sawyer makes us laugh daily with his personality and he is definetly a Keith Jr. Here are some milestones that he met over the past month or so.

~ Waving "bye-bye"
~ Clapping
~ Pointing to objects (At first it was random but now he will point to what he wants)
~ What seems like his 15th ear infection. Not really, but he has had several since he turned 8 months. He   really didn't stand a chance because Keith and I kept them when we were babies.
~ Talking all the time. Mama and Dada are the main ones and we are trying to understand others!
~ Drinking whole milk. He didn't like it at first and I finally realized it was because it was in his sippy cup and not a bottle. I would mix 1/2 formula 1/2 wm but now we are down to just wm.
~ Just a week after his First Birthday, he took his first steps! He was so close for a while. I can't describe the pride that I felt when I witnessed his first steps.

When I was pregnant with Sawyer I knew it would be really hard to go back to work but I didn't see how it would be possible to stay home. I was thinking I was following in my Mom's foot steps because she worked with her first and then stayed home when she had my older brother. Well, I went back to my full time job after my 12 week maternity leave and to say it was hard is an understatement. I mean, I wasn't a good employee and I was responsible for different things and all I could think about was Sawyer. I ended up being blessed with a pretty ideal situation. I now work 2.5 days a week and that has really been great for our family. My Mother-in-Law, Honey, takes care of him when I work. She greets us every morning at the door with a big smile and Sawyer is reaching for her to hold him. That sure does make this Mama feel good that he is under the best care. Well that is just the beginning of it. This woman is made for babies, she absolutley LOVES them and now that she is a first time Grandmother, watch out! She has full blown nursery, stoller, video monitor, high chair, and even a diaper genie! She is so good with him and he loves seeing his Papa D too. By far, the best part is that she now has an i-phone. She sends me pictures AND videos to my e-mail all day. I feel so blessed to have her take care of our son when we have to work. Here are a few of the pictures and videos that I've recieved lately.

Pretty sure I teared up at this one!

                                                           I know he's eating good!

He even gets to eat out of the same bowl that Keith did when he was little.

Honey played dress up one day!

Easter

Easter is my favorite holiday to celebrate for so many reasons. It is the most meaningful time of the year to reflect on how much God loved us that he let his Son die on the cross for our sins. I have been a in season of thankfulness when I'm praying because this act of love changed the way we worship the Father and he showed us that he wants to have a relationship with us.

"But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews 9:11-12).

I never had a full understanding of the Tabernacle until I did the LIFE series at my church. I feel like Christians today take it for granted that we get to worship God however and whenever we want because it was not always like this. I read a great depiction of the Tabernacle and the significance of the veil and how Jesus changed the way for us.

 So the presence of God remained shielded from man behind a thick curtain during the history of Israel. However, Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross changed that. When He died, the curtain in the Jerusalem temple was torn in half, from the top to the bottom. Only God could have carried out such an incredible feat because the veil was too high for human hands to have reached it, and too thick to have torn it. (The Jerusalem temple, a replica of the wilderness tabernacle, had a curtain that was about 60 feet in height, 30 feet in width and four inches thick.) Furthermore, it was torn from top down, meaning this act must have come from above.



As the veil was torn, the Holy of Holies was exposed. God’s presence was now accessible to all. Shocking as this may have been to the priests ministering in the temple that day, it is indeed good news to us as believers, because we know that Jesus’ death has atoned for our sins and made us right before God. The torn veil illustrated Jesus’ body broken for us, opening the way for us to come to God. As Jesus cried out “It is finished!” on the cross, He was indeed proclaiming that God’s redemptive plan was now complete. The age of animal offerings was over. The ultimate offering had been sacrificed.


We can now boldly enter into God’s presence, “the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.” (Hebrews 6:19-20)


“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body …let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)


The Holy of Holies is a representation of heaven itself, God’s dwelling place, which we have access now through Christ. In Revelations, John’s vision of heaven — the New Jerusalem — also was a perfect square, just as the Holy of Holies was (Revelation 21:16).


“For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. …But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9:24-26)

This is so powerful and I thank God everyday for sending his Son, Jesus, to live and die for me.

Here are some pictures of how we celebrated our risen Savior


We went to the Church of the Highlands Easter Service on Friday with the Scotts so I snapped a few pics before we left.

The Easter Bunny made a visit to our house!

Sawyer has a new nickname,"Bruiser". He is starting to walk and while this is an exciting time and a big milestone, it is also nerve racking! I came home from running errands to a crying baby who hit his eye on his play table. It was swollen so we tried to putting an ice pack on it but he cried worse then when he fell. The next morning he had a black eye, it was so sad! Just in time for Easter pictures!

On Easter, we went to the service at the Church I grew up attending followed by lunch and an Easter Egg Hunt at my parents house.

My Mom had such a festive tablescape.

Sawyer doing the "Frankenstien" walk!

Silly Taylor!

These kiddos had such a good time!