Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we started at my mom's while Ian worked. Ian was able to make it just in time for dinner, but then we had to leave and head to my dad's. Grandpa tried to feed Sawyer pumpkin pie! After that, we were supposed to go to Ian's sister's. His mom decided not to host it this year and his sister wanted to, but she lives about an hour from my dad's and half way there Ian said he was too tired and his mom had left already anyways, so we just went home and spent the evening together (a rarity with Ian's work schedule lately). Overall, it was a nice Thanksgiving, though I didn't get many pictures. Food was great and we ate way too much and came home with lots of left overs!

Halloween

This was Sawyer's first Halloween! He was a little monster and was oh so cute, if you ask me. We dropped him off with Grandma and Grandpa for the night, while we went to a small couples party. They were so excited to have him! They bought him his first pumpkin bucket and wanted to take him trick or treating, but the sewer was putting off a funny smell, so he just helped pass out candy. Ian and I had a good time hanging out with a few of our friends and keeping it pretty mellow. Ian was supposed to a local Hawaiian, which is pretty much white trash with flip flops and Hawaiian shirts! I was supposed to be Wednesday from the Adams Family. Cheap costumes, but a good time!

Sawyer's Dedication

We had Sawyer dedicated on October 10th, just after he turned 2 months. Pastor Steve was so great and worked it out with us to have a private dedication at our complex club house. We enjoyed the day with our families and a few close friends.

This was an emotional decision for Ian and I to make. We are fairly newer Christians and have never seen a dedication before. We knew we wanted have him dedicated and knew what it meant, but were even more set on it after meeting with Pastor Steve and going over the promises we would be making.

A dedication in the Christian faith is basically the parents promising to raise their child according to God's word and asking for him to protect the child. We believe that when the child is old enough to understand baptism, that he can make the choice to be baptized when he is ready to accept the Lord.

The 5 promises we made are:

I will treasure my child as a gift from God on loan to me. Psalm 127:3

I will teach my child of God's love and of His gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus. Deuteronomy 6:5-7

I will give grace to my child, as grace has been given to me. Ephesians 6:4

I will forgive my child, as I have been forgiven. Ephesians 4:32

I will accept responsibility for helping my child discover his God given purpose in life. Psalm 139:13-14

4th of July

This 4th of July we went to Ian's brother's house. Ian worked during the day, so we didn't get there until the afternoon. We hung out with the kids and BBQed and enjoyed yummy foods. Then we walked to the top of this hill by their house to watch fireworks. We were able to see fireworks from just about every surrounding city! It was pretty neat, because every direction you turned, you could see more fireworks. After that, we had our own firework show in front of the house. Ian had bought a huge pack of fireworks, because we can do fireworks where we live. Some were small and lame, but there were actually a handful of really awesome ones! The boys just loved watching them and it was so fun watching their faces as they stared at the lights!

Pre-4th of July

Every year for the 4th of July, we usually go to our friend's Don house in Dana Point and watch fireworks. This year, he had a wedding to go to on the 4th, so we had our celebration the day before. It's always a good time at Don's house and the boys have so much fun together while the girls sit around and chat. This time was no different!

Ian's 32nd Birthday

For Ian's 32nd birthday, I got him a new BBQ. He had been wanting one for awhile and kept saying he wanted a charcoal one and he wanted a smoker. I found one that was actually both and it was actually in our price range! So, he got all the accessories as well, including wood chips for smoking. He was pretty excited, except for the fact that he has to put it together!

Then we went to dinner at Lucielle's BBQ with Ian's family. Ian loves that place. It seriously is the best BBQ in this area and the plates are huge! We had a nice evening and I think Ian is enjoying birthdays even more now!