Happy Birthday Sonia!

Sonia turned 34 and we threw her the biggest birthday bash ever this past weekend. There were about 150 people all celebrating how wonderful Sonia is. She took the month of October off of chemo so she could be feeling a little better and she could not have looked more beautiful! The evening was filled with lots of love, tears, laughs, pictures, auctions, candy, pinata bashing, and of course, dancing!

Willie with Nana Twice...They both worked so hard to make everything perfect...among many other people of course :)

Me and my honey...

I was in charge of the candy station. To be honest, I was a little overwhelmed at first with the amount of candy we had. I thought for sure we'd have TONS left over. We had M&M's, skittles, ring pops, lollipos galore, sour balls, Hot Tamales, Mike & Ike, gum, gummy bears, Hershey bars, etc. and I even made 200 peanut butter crunch balls and 100 Oreo balls. Needless to say everything was devoured and the adults were like little kids! We took home 1 ziplock of skittles and that was it...I'd say it was a big hit.

And Willie was in charge of the cupcake dress...Sonia had seen something like this on Cupcake Wars but the estimate to make it was way too much...until Willie decided to do it himself and wala!

We had Tatti come over a few days before for the "fitting." It had wheels so Tatti could roll it around. I have to say...I was very impressed :)

Overall it was a blast and something we will always remember. Everyone else agreed that they wanted a birthday bash like this too! Happy Birthday Sonia!!!!!

Sawyer and the Giant Pumpkin...

Sawyer turned 15 months on Sunday so we went to Bates Nut Farm. He had lots of fun climbing on pumkpkins, petting the goats, eating kettle corn and hanging out with his auntie Danika and his grandparents...

...and he even kept his hat on since it was warm that day!

Such good-looking boys!

These days Sawyer comes equipt with 12 teeth and a mind of his own! He's always into everything but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy 15 months Sawyer!

Happy 14 Months Sawyer!

Our little guy is 14 months today! He's so much fun and it's incredible how much he understands and what he can do each day!

The other day he walked into his room and took out a book and was just sitting there flipping the pages and looking at it. Who cares that it was upsidedown...he was looking through a book! Maybe it's the teacher in me but I was so proud :)

We were making breakfast on Labor Day so we put on Veggietales for the first time. Sawyer climbed in the chair was rocking back and forth to the music...so cute!

He would only turn around to get another cracker :)

Such an awesome little boy!

We're still Here...

It's been almost 2 months since I've updated the blog...sorry to everyone who checks...here's what we've been up to...

Cousin Anderson turned 1 a few weeks after Sawyer did so we went went to their new place in West Hills for his birthday bash. Sawyer quickly took over Jake's chair and he and Anderson got books and posed all by themselves! Such smart boys :)

Sawyer was way over due for a nap so he decided that Anderson looked pretty cozy...

And here's Sawyer in his cool glasses...we took out the lenses on these 3D glasses and he loved wearing them. He seems so much older every day...babbling more, pointing to things we talk about, looking at books and turning the pages, pretty much running, not to mention the 2 new molars he has on the bottom...that makes 10 teeth total and a lot of biting (mostly mommy)!

This one is Willie's favorite...

He definitely keeps up busy but he's tons of fun and full of joy!

Sawyer in Paradise...

Sawyer and I decided last minute to go to Kauai so we booked our flight on the 27th and left 2 days later... Willie couldn't get it off work with such short notice so we went and met Sonia, Sophia, and Ciria there (they left the day before us), and I also convinced Danika that she wanted to go too. Thank goodness, because she was a huge help, especially with Sawyer and the plane ride. Here's what we did...

We saw tons of beautiful places and I can't imagine a more perfect place to vacation...waterfalls everywhere...just mesmerizing...and all the wild roosters were cute too!

We stayed in a different place from Willie's family but we were still really close by so we saw each other a lot. Sonia was going to have to start chemo as soon as she got back so we wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. Here we all are at Fern Grotto on our last morning in paradise...

We drove to the top of the canyon on the west side of the island and found the MOST breathtaking sight ever...I felt like we were in the clouds...

Sawyer's first trip to paradise...here he is in happier times...most of our photos of him are not so happy, but he had a good reason....

Waimea Canyon Lookout...

We met some awesome people...Larry and Linda Eyestone...we actually met them 17 years ago when our families were vacationing and our parents told us to give them a call. We didnt' even remember that so we made our parents call first, but we ended up talking to them for 3 hours one night and then on our last day in Kauai, Larry was our own personal tour guide and drove us around for hours. It was so amazing...and Linda had a friend who worked for our airline so she totally hooked us up and we ended up with an empty seat in 0ur row (one of about 2 on the flight). They were soooo nice and we are so grateful for them!

Everyone was so into Sawyer...I felt like we were treated royally. Everyone wanted to hold him and kiss his hands and just oogle over him...so cute!

But the poor little muffin got sick toward the beginning and had to go to the doctor. The nurses were amazing and he ended up wth a shot of antibiotics for an ear infection. The next day he kept spiking fevers over and over and he vomited so to the ER he went for day 2 of doctor's visits. By the end he was feeling much better and if you've gotta be sick, it may as well be in paradise, right?

Our Hawaiian Luau...

The beach bum...before he got sick...love those wrinkly feet!

Sawyer exploring the sand on our first day in Kauai...

I love this becuase he hates crawling on grass. Instead, he poses like a dog and tries to go on all 4's.

The view from our lanai...

This was the flight to Kauai...we didn't have much room but thankfully we had a wonderful "seatmate" who played with Sawyer and let him crawl on her. Let's just say he didn't sleep all that much on this flight...

Our "seatmate" Kaylee...

It's hard packing and carrying everything for yourself and a baby...thankfully Danika was there to help me...this was just after we had arrived in Kauai...

And this was on the way home...it was a red eye flight and Sawyer slept almost the entire time...it was wonderful.

Danika and I both agreed that we definitely want to go back to beautiful Kauai. Even though Sawyer was sick most of the time we still felt like we got to see a lot and would love to return!

Happy Birthday Sawyer!

Today Sawyer is officially 1 year old!! He's now considered a "toddler" which feels so weird to say or think about! This had been the best year of our lives and we can't wait to see how much more joy he will add to our lives everyday!!!


I made special chocolate owl cupcakes for his birthday guests but for him I made a blueberry parfait...graham cracker crust with blueberry yogurt, then real blueberries, and finally, a dollop of cool whip on top...he loved it!

I made him this birthday shirt a few months ago with the owl in the tree and the eyes are buttons that move around. Willie liked it so much he wanted one on a black shirt with a rat in the owl's mouth. I was going to make one for me and him but our trip to Kauai didn't leave much time left for birthday prep...it was well worth it though!

Our 1 year photo op in his luau outfit...and finally a big smile!!

Sawyer is so loved and we can't wait to see what's next...well, we can wait actually...we don't want him to grow up quite so fast!

Happy Birthday Sawyer!

On Wednesday, June 16th, I dropped Sawyer off at daycare and minutes later he took his first steps! I was just thinking the day before that since I only had 2 more days of school I would probably get to see his first steps...nope. They were so nice though and video taped him, then e-mailed it to me at work. I can't believe it, I cried! Since then he walks A LOT--he's too cute! I'm not sure how to rotate videos so just tilt your head to the right and get ready...and try not to blink!

Willie's Big Month

This was a big month for Willie...here are a few highlights...

1. He turned 30! Yesterday was his real birthday (the 21st) and he picked out Van Gogh's Starry Night cupcakes months ago, which actually were fun and pretty easy to make. I felt like a real artist and his mom made yummy barbacoa nachos (his absolute favorite) to celebrate his big day!

I know they're not perfect, but it's not supposed to be a forgery, just my interpretation. Jennifer was making fun of me saying that the way I was staring at them looked like I was giving myself a mental pat on the back...I was actually critiquing my tree at that moment, but I am indeed pretty proud of how they turned out :)

2. It was his 1st Father's Day! He's so proud of our little guy and takes such great care of him. He even dressed him up to match his own outfit on Father's Day. You can just see Willie's face light up each time someone says Sawyer looks exactly like him (which is all the time). We celebrated a few days early by taking Sawyer to his first Padre game, where everyone in the stadium won 2 free Jack in the Box tacos--well on the way out they handed Willie enoughf or 10 free tacos. They must have known he likes those :)

3. ... and last but not least, he graduated!!!!! For the last 5 years he's been in an electrical apprenticeship and gone to school at night 2 days a week. Well, it's officially over and he's now a journeyman! His ceremony was last week so here he is with a few of his buddies from class...

It was a sit down dinner and ceremony at a hotel in San Diego so grammie and papa watched out little munchkin for us and off we went...

They even gave each new journeyman a "goodie bag" donated by different companies with some tools, gift cards, cash, and Padre tickets...I thought that was really cool. Then at the end Willie took me to meet the VP of his company, who I thought looked familiar...turns out I played soccer with his daughter for years...small world, huh? Willie thought that was really cool :)

So Willie, congratulation on graduating, your first father's Day,and turning 30!!! We love you so much!