Thanksgiving...

This year, our holiday was spent with lots of food and family!
On Thanksgiving day we went to Mom and Dad's house around noon and stayed until late that evening. We, as always, had enough food to "feed the entire neighborhood," as Mom would say...and it was all delicious! We ate entirely too much, and spent the rest of the day just lounging around. As of the past few years, its become a family tradition that everyone exchanges "secret turkey gifts," on Thanksgiving, and we all got some pretty neat things!
We celebrated Thanksgiving with Preston's family on Saturday, and unfortunately I forgot my camera. Preston's dad, who is an excellent cook, made a huge meal for us that afternoon, and after we ate, I was able to burn off a few calories playing Wii for the very first time! I decided that I don't think I could own for two reasons: One, I think I could very easily become addicted to the bowling game, and Two, Preston would for sure break something (or someone) in our house playing the tennis game. He is absolutely nuts. I actually made Sawyer come in the other room with me and watch from a distance because he's so far in his own world that he doesn't pay attention when she happens to walk in front of him, and I think he almost knocked her out twice...ha ha ha. His new nick-name is Andre Agassi.
I'm sad Thanksgiving (and Fall in general) are over, but this year has gone by so quickly that it'll be here again before we know it. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and were able to spend it with the ones you love!

Give Thanks to Him...

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his [a] ;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Saturday...

Our day has been a full one, and I'm sitting here still amazed at everything we accomplished! Its funny, because we had nothing in particular planned, but we ended up doing a bunch.
We stared our morning off with a trip to our favorite park! I thought it was going to be freezing outside, but it actually ended up being nice. We bundled Sawyer up (as you can see in the pictures, she insisted on wearing her scarf,) and headed out about 9:30, which I know sounds early, but we'd been up since 7:30! We had the whole playground to ourselves, and we had so much fun!!! We stayed at the park until it was time to go home and make lunch, and let me tell you, Sawyer was not happy about leaving today. Not at all.
Once we came home and got Sawyer fed and down for her nap, Preston and I decided to forgo our plans for a nap and do some yard work. We figured since the weather was so nice and we didn't know when the next free day we'd have to do it, that we'd just go ahead knock it all out today. And knock it out we did! I trimmed every single one of our bushes (I trim them in the spring/early summer and fall) and cut back all of our monkey grass, while Preston used to blower to get most of the leaves out of our landscaping before he cut the grass. We worked all through Sawyer's nap, which was about three hours and we didn't get done until about an hour and a half after she woke up. I was so glad when it was all finished...everything looks SO much better.
After finishing up the yard work, we had to make a trip to Walmart to return something, and we decided to buy a couple of new DVDs while we were there. Preston got a new Blue Ray DVD player after ours went out a few weeks ago, and so we (well, more Preston than me) were anxious to see it in action...with a Blue ray DVD. We ended up buying two movies for Sawyer. Go figure. We got the new Tinkerbell movie, and my all-time-favorite-childhood-movie, The Wizard Of Oz, which Sawyer is now obsessed with. Alright, so I'll just go ahead and tell y'all...I'll admit being a little skeptical about the "Blue Ray" thing. Like, would it seriously make that much of a difference? Well, it did...really. The picture is UNBELIEVABLE.
Anyway, after our trip to Walmart, Mom and Dad came over for dinner! Mom had made some of her famous white chili (one of the best things ever) and she also brought these huge baked potatoes and toppings for those. SO SO SO yummy. Dessert: the delicious no bake cookies Leah sent us home with last night. So good! After dinner, Preston took Sawyer out to grab some ice cream and mom and I worked on cutting about a gazillion pieces of burlap for the church Thanksgiving dinner decorations.
Yes, full day indeed...
Right now, I'm up way too late and we've gotta get up bright and early for church in the morning! I'm off to bed...Oh, one more thing. This is neat. The past few days Ive been working with Sawyer on learning her first bible verse, and she's got it down! I'll say, "Colossians 3:20..." and she says it all, "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord!" I'll have to get it on video (I'm so bad about posting video's) and put it on here. It's so precious.
Hope you ALL had a wonderful Saturday! I'll leave you guys with some pictures from our morning at the park...

I Love My Job...

I could list hundreds of reasons why I'm convinced that staying home with Sawyer is the best career I'll ever have, but for time's sake, I list just a few...

This morning was cold and rainy, so instead of running our errands we made sheet tents, read books, and danced around the house to our new "Joyful, Joyful" CD.

I am privileged to be able to be the first person to witness every single milestone she has ever had. I love calling Preston during the day and telling him something new she's saying or doing. Its even better when she's awake, so I can put her on speakerphone and she can tell him herself :)

I know her deeply and intimately. All of her quirks, likes, dislikes, habits...every single teeny tiny thing about her.

I'm able to get things accomplished. Sawyer will happily run several errands with me, as long as I have snacks and a few books on hand, of course.

She makes me laugh (hard) every day with her hilarious-ness. I mean, I'm not even being partial...she is seriously FUNNY. There's nothing I like more than sitting with her, singing silly made-up songs at the top of our lungs, making funny faces, or trying out some new dance moves!

My husband. How does Preston make me realize how much I love my job? Because he is the one who is out working so hard every day to allow me to be here. Without EVER complaining. And this is the part I really love: Me being at home with Sawyer is every bit as important to him as it is to me. Before we ever had children, he expressed how important it was to him that I stay home with them. He is so incredibly supportive and appreciative of the work I do. It can be easy to get a little overwhelmed when you spend everyday from 7am to 8:30pm with a two year old, but he makes my life so much easier by doing his part with Sawyer. He helps me (in ever aspect) with her when he's home and he (more than willingly) gives me a break whenever I need one. He takes her out to do things by themselves, so I can have a "breather", and tells me to go out and do things by myself or with friends, which is awesome. He's just great, and I'm so thankful to have him by my side to raise Sawyer.

Because our days are filled with routine (which I like), but there are also days we can do whatever we dream up, which is fabulous!

I guess Ive just been feeling extra thankful these past few days. I know there have been times that I've taken for granted the opportunity I have to be home full time with Sawyer, and I don't want that. What a precious gift Ive been given. Lord, please keep reminding me what a truly awesome responsibility you've blessed me with!

Operation Christmas Child...

Tomorrow I'm dropping off my Operation Christmas Child box at church...
Getting this box together was so much fun, and I wish so badly I could see the little girl who'll be getting it!
Operation Christmas child is an awesome program, and if you've never participated, you should! Basically you put together a shoebox(s) filled with items for a boy or girl (you can pick the age you'd like it to go to) and they send all of the boxes to children in need around the world. Another neat thing is that you can track your box and see exactly where it went! It doesn't cost a lot of money, and its a great way to give back. Can you imagine their sweet little faces when they open these????
Check out this to learn more...http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/index/

Sunflowers...

Ive always said the best reason to get flowers is no reason at all...
Today, my sweet husband came home and surprised me with a bunch of sunflowers he bought for me, and I love them. I love flowers in general, but I think sunflowers are beautiful in a different sort of way than other flowers. They're unique, and I really like unique.

Rambling...

I seem to be in a bit of a blogging rut, but I'm trying to get my act together.
This post is just some of my ramblings, so I apologize for the randomness...

-As of today, Thanksgiving is just two weeks away!!! Its always been my favorite holiday, and I start getting excited about it several months in advance. Mom and I are planning our menu this week...fun stuff. Mom and I are also decorating the church for our Thanksgiving dinner there. We've had a lot of fun getting stuff together for that, and I think its going to turn out really pretty so I'll have to remember to take pictures!

-I bought an ipod tonight! I never really needed one before, but Ive been going to the gym (I know, gasp!) and I like to listen to music while I'm working out, so Preston and I went to Sam's to pick one up. He refused to let me get the pink one, which only tells me he's planning on stealing it from me. ha ha ha...

-I've discovered a new park close to our house, and Sawyer and I L-O-V-E it!!! I'm not sure exactly why I like it so much, but I think it's because it sort of feels like you're in the woods, but you're not. They have such a nice playground, and there's a creek running near it with a neat bridge...just lots of space to run around and explore. The weather was unseasonably warm this past week, so we went there three days in a row and it was great. I wish I would have known about this place a year ago...

-Oh, and I cant not tell this story. This past week Sawyer said something quite hilarious. At the time I was embarrassed, but the more I told the story, the more funny it became. We were on the swings at the park, and there was a woman there who was pushing her little boy in the baby swing right next to us. All of a sudden, in her loudest voice, Sawyer yells, "Hey lady! Are you a pooter!?!?!?" I about died. Luckily, the woman had a good sense of humor and responded with, "Well, I'm not a pooter, but my son here is!" Sawyer could tell the the lady thought it was pretty funny, so she said it about five more times. The things they say :)

-This is super exciting...Preston and I are going to start having regularly scheduled date nights twice a month! We are so fortunate to be able to have my parents to watch Sawyer while go out, but we've been so busy lately that its hard to plan a date. Preston and I are both big planners, so we decided this would be the best way...just put in on the calendar for the first and third Saturday of the month. We can look forward to it, plan around it, and our time together remains a priority. Mom thought it was a great idea (she's a planner too) and we're so grateful to have her and Dad watch her for us.

I guess that's it for now. In case you forgot (which, I doubt you did,) tomorrow is FRIDAY...Whoooohooooo!!!! Have a spectacular weekend!

This Post Deserves a Big Tardy Slip...

This post is a little overdue, but still way worth posting about!
Last Saturday (not yesterday, but the week before that) our friends Evan and Leah invited us (and several other families) over to their house for a Fall Celebration!
We had such a fun time! The weather was warm enough for the kids to play outside, and Leah made chili and hot dogs (aka, the perfect fall food) for dinner. Each family also brought a bag of candy, and they set up a little candy bar so all the kiddo's could fill a bag and take some home. Most of the kids had on costumes, and they all looked adorable.
We're thankful the Smith's invited us over for such a fun little get-together...we had a blast!

Every Girl's Best Friend...

Sawyer experienced her very first Lindt Milk Chocolate Lindor Truffle last week. I would say she enjoyed it...thoroughly.

Happy Birthday To My Better Half!

Preston
Happy 25th old man!
What in the world would I do without you??? You're God's greatest gift to me, and I thank him every chance I get for choosing you to be my husband. I love you more than I could ever put into words.
Look how far we've come together! I'm so blessed to have for my husband and my closest friend, and I cant wait to share a million more birthday's with you! Thank you for making me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
Love,
Me
PS...I just couldn't resist putting some of your old pictures up. What a sweet little boy (who, in a few of these look like more of a little girl...ha ha) you were! I love them. Please don't kill me :)