I'm Back

I am so. be. hind.  The month of August has been a bit of a whirlwind with vacation, then home for a couple of days, then we headed to Scottsdale, AZ for my brother's wedding.  On top of it all, I am EXHAUSTED and in those last few weeks of yuckiness in my pregnancy before hopefully turning a corner very soon;)  This week, Cooper started Kindergarten, so needless to say, I have a lot of catching up to do!


Here are a few pics from our vacation in Carmel.  We have had the absolute privilege and blessing of having some time away a few different times to a beautiful home owned by some precious friends.  They graciously allow us to stay in their home just a few feet from the beach.  We relaxed, ate, slept, and hung out.  It was absolutely wonderful!

Sawyer's first trip to the beach...

Somebody was SUPER excited to get to the beach and hit the water.  It was quite chilly though;)

My blue-eyed boy:)

We went to the Monterey Aquarium one morning and it is always so much fun to see Cooper explore!  It's a really cool place with lots to learn about the ocean and it's sea life!  Check out how huge this kelp tank is!  

Watching the Kelp Forrest feeding time:)

The diver feeding the fish that live in the kelp forrest.

Day two: Sandcastle making 

(they were a little pitiful, but Coop had fun!) 

Just a little ways down the beach...Pebble Beach golf course!  It's absolutely beautiful!

The sand angel seemed like a good idea at first, but someone was not very happy about rinsing off in the freezing ocean!

We went to a fun park in Monterey the last day and got the wiggles out:)

And this was the note we ended on...Cooper was throwing a big fit here, but we said snap the picture anyways....memories, right?!??

Sawyer's Party

I am so sorry it's been a whole week!  We headed out to the coast for vacation and I did not pick up my computer:)  So here are Sawyer's birthday party pics....and vacay pics to come soon!


I seriously wish we could have invited every single person we know!  There are so many wonderful people that have walked us through some of the hardest times in losing Tyler and the joyous time of celebrating Sawyer's birth.  And now a whole year later marks a major milestone now that Sawyer is officially ONE.  Please know that we love each and every one of you, we just couldn't feed everyone:(

The precious invitation (thank you so much Shara!) 

Incase you can't infer from the invitation, the party theme was Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer:)

Table decorations...lots of burlap, twine, wood, wildflowers, sticks, reeds, rocks and picture lined mason jars!

The birthday banner!  Isn't it amazing?  Thank you so much Jess for all your hard work;)

The party favor table:)  I put lots of goodies like tattoos, candy and bubbles inside these cute burlap sacks.

Then I printed out a little name card with a silhouette with a little boy fishing on it for decoration.  I tied in on with some twine and voila!

The food table!!!!  The food is always the hit of the party so I planned some yumminess:) And of course, some good ole southern food! 

(I named all the menu items after characters in the book, "Huckleberry Finn," so it was a lot of fun:)

And aren't those tissue paper balls fun?  I got the idea from a shower I had been to and they were so fun and cost effective to make!

On the Menu:

Fried Chicken (duh!)

Biscuits with butter and honey

Cheddar baked beans (sinful with chucks of cheese)

Party potatoes (Otherwise known as hash brown casserole)

Watermelon

Summer Salad 

(with mandarin oranges, red grapes, green onions and almonds)

Sweet Tea

Lemonade

At the kid table:

Mac-N-Cheese

Veggie Sticks

Fruit Cups

For Dessert:

Mississippi Mud Cake

Peach Cobbler with ice cream

Homemade Chocolate Chip cookies

I have to say it was all pretty darn good if you ask me, well at least the little bit I got to eat;)

Outside from the trees, I hung twine with all of Sawyer's monthly pictures hung on them with clothespins:)

Cutie Pie!

I have to say that this was not my most shining moment:)  When you're decorating in the afternoon heat, in the kitchen all day, and you don't have time to freshen up = sweaty Mommy look.  OH well!

 Bubby and Daddy

About to sing Happy Birthday!

Loving the cake!

Happy 1st Birthday Sawyer!