cousins

We celebrated Sadie’s second birthday with our families over the weekend and had such a lovely time! Since we had the party during the first weekend of October, I decided to go with a pumpkin theme and enjoyed decorating and baking for the special occasion.

I baked pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream as well as chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, had a bonfire, and even did a piñata!

Jimmy had been working so hard all week to get our concrete countertops and recessed grill (no more see through grill!) all ready and installed for the party and he did it! Doesn’t it look amazing? He still has some finishing touches to do, but it was functional and we were pumped! Now we just have to figure out how to get Niva to stop walking on the counters 😉

Moments I want to remember:

How excited Sadie was when she woke up from her nap and realized all of her favorite people were at our house, plus she was surrounded by balloons and candy. Life doesn’t get much better than that, right?
Singing happy birthday to Sadie. She was shy and confused at first and then smiling and happy. So cute.
Watching Sadie enjoy her cupcake and open her gifts. She didn’t know what to do with all of the gifts she was spoiled with!
Spending time with our families on a beautiful fall night. It was fun to see Remi, Caroline, (<– Sadie’s cousins) and Sadie play together, too.
Being so excited for Sadie to wake up the next morning so we could play with her new toys together!

Now, time for some photos!

What a special evening to celebrate the sweet girl we have been blessed with!

A look back…

Our little family was reunited on Saturday evening after Jimmy’s trip!

My sister and brother-in-law dropped him off, so we hung out with them for a bit. Sadie and Caroline snuggled under a blanket at it was the sweetest thing.

I just adore watching their relationship develop as they grow ❤

That evening, I crashed. The 3:30 am wakeup finally got to me and I fell asleep outside while reading this book after Sadie went to bed.

It has been so nice to have Jimmy back at home! He wasn’t even gone for a week, but I missed sharing smiles with him during everyday moments of joy with Sadie, rolling our eyes together at the antics of the pets, and having coffee with each other in the morning. Marriage is such a huge blessing.

We spent Saturday catching up around the house and just hanging out. It was a sweet weekend 🙂

Onto things that may surprise you. Or maybe they won’t.

I heard a great sermon about how it’s important to examine why we believe what we believe. With things that are faith-related, is what we believe based off of a religious group, a religious leader, a book, what your parents believe, a tradition, or something else?

I can remember when I first realized that my faith in God was my own faith in God, if that makes sense. My parents raised my siblings and I in a non-denominational christian church and we were required to attend church if we lived under their roof. What was being taught at our church lined up with the Bible and it really clicked into place for me when I was in high school. The Bible, which is God’s Word, is what I base my life and beliefs on.

This kind of got me thinking about things that are practiced in some religions that claim to follow the Bible, but the practices don’t line up with scripture. I will never claim to be an expert on the Bible, but you won’t find these things in God’s Word:

Infant baptism
Lent and Ash Wednesday
The Sinner’s Prayer
Baptism that involves sprinkling of water
Confessing sins to a pope
Salvation through belief in Jesus only

Living My Full Life

Cutest Pumpkin in The Patch

Reunited + Things That May Surprise You

Were you surprised by any of these things?

What’s your favorite part about being reunited with a loved one?