WARNING...this is going to be a long one...but there are lots of cute pics...


sawyer and i went to michigan for two weeks and had a ton of fun. the day after we got there we had a huge bbq at a park (even though it rained) so that we could get together with a bunch of friends who happened to be in town at the same time. it was a blast! there was a lot of food, fun, and family. the group included sawyer and i, my parents, christian and his girlfriend rachel, ruth and her four kids, her dad dan and sister lindsay, angela and her three kids, holly and joe and their two girls, koren and garret and their two little ones, don and dale, amanda and noah, josh and sara and their four kids, and cory and selena and their two girls. (that would be 21 adults and 18 kids.) it was a good thing we went to a park. here are some pictures from that event.


amanda, dale, koren, and sawyer hangin' out.sawyer and ruthie.
the big wheel and the big boy...dan, papa, don, and lindsay.amanda entertaining the boys on the swings.garret pushing the girls.holly and her youngest.all tuckered out...that weekend my parents had a stake picnic, so we went to that, hoping to see people we knew. this is how sawyer entertained himself, that is, when papa wasn't showing him off to everyone.sawyer had a good time with his uncle chris. he missed him a lot when he left and would go to the door to watch him leave.grandma and sawyer would spend time together playing, reading, and singing. he is now really good at pat-a-cake. he does all of the actions.one night we went out for a big birthday dinner and we came home sawyer attacked uncle chris and rachel. he likes to yell as he is 'getting you' and after her attacks, by giving kisses and hugs, he will roll over onto his back. we haven't quite figured out why he does the last part, but it is funny.

sawyer started babbling, a lot and very loudly, while we were there and he would yell at the cats for some reason. it was so funny to hear him be so expressive.


playing video games with papa and uncle chris while enjoying his morning bottle.we also got to help papa and grandma pick out bedding and paint colors for their guest room, spend time with nannie jeanne, have karen come over, hang with paula and her boys, visit chris f. and his girls, and relax. overall it was a fabulous trip, the only thing missing was daddy.


when we got home we had to show off all of the new things sawyer started to do while we were gone. he started pointing, dancing a lot more by using his arms (i wish we had this on video, but he would stop whenever he saw the camera), talking on a pretend cell phone 'eh-woah', blowing kisses (this is in the video below), and tons more. poor daddy was not happy to be missing out on so much. thank goodness sawyer didn't start walking or we would have been in some serious trouble. :)

this last video is of sawyer and his birthday card from aunt darrelyn. the song happens to be his favorite. i guess you can say that we are all 'clapping our hands' right now because we are so happy... happy to have visited with loved ones, happy to be home, happy to have each other!