Ok, Dad...

Ok, Dad... you can come home now.  I am ready to go sledding, and you know mom won't take me.

Oh, by the way... can you bring some snow too?  It's basically been summer around here the past few months and if I grow out of this snowsuit without using it even once mom is not going to be very happy. Mom also says that the snow is only allowed to be here for one day.  Between you and me, she seems kind of high maintenance about this whole thing.

Anyways, can't wait to go sledding with you!

Love you, Dad!

Love, Peyton

Thanks Sun Country!

One afternoon a few weeks ago I went through the Wendy's drive through and got a Frosty.  When I got home I was stalling on the computer, probably not wanting to blog or something, and I decided to enter the code that was on the bottom of my Wendy's receipt.  I had to make a KS95 (a local radio station) account and enter the code on their website.  Easy peasy... I was done in a matter of minutes and probably said a quick prayer that I would win :)

Well, fast forward a couple weeks and I'm up north with my family on vacation listening to a voice mail on my phone "Hi Sarah, this is so-and-so from KS95 calling to let you know that you've won 2 Sun Country round-trip plane tickets"  What?!?! I was totally surprised and so excited!

I went to the radio studio a few days later and picked up my totally legit ticket vouchers that I can use toward and 2 round-trip domestic flights between now and August 2012!

I am like beyond excited about this... Ryan and I are looking for a cruise to go on after he gets home!  Yay, yay, yay!!! The most expensive part of a cruise for us Minnesotans is the plane ticket to get down to Florida or wherever the ship departs from, so this is going to be so perfect :)

So, I would like to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to Sun Country for these tickets!  You've made Ryan's homecoming that much more special for us :)  

And for those of you who've always wondered (like I have) if those codes on the bottom of receipts actually have a prize attached to them... they totally do!  Which is SO TOTALLY AWESOME!

The Best Anniversary Gift Ever

For our 3 year anniversary Ryan made and sent me a photo book from Shutterfly.  It is seriously the best gift I've ever gotten!  I love that he made it :)  It's a homemade gift that I actually like haha!  For all you out there googleing "the best anniversary gift" here's my suggestion.

Aside from having him here, this was the best gift I could have ever thought of!  Thanks babe :) I love it!

3 years ago, today... Happy Anniversary Babe

To my love, my leader, my teacher, my helper, my husband


Ryan,


Thank you for marrying me.  


I love how in love we are today.  I love that even though you are on the other side of the earth, as far away from me as you could be, I can still feel you here.  


I love who you are. I love who you want to become... and how you strive to better yourself. 


I love how you don't settle.  I love how you dream big with me.  I love how you trust that God has big plans for our life and how you want to follow HIS lead so we can have the best life!


Even though I miss you today and every day that you've been gone, I am proud of the fact that you have made yourself available to provide for me and protect me as well as our country.  You have been given special gifts from God, He has made you how you are for a reason and you have an exciting life ahead of you!  I am excited to experience that with you.


I pray that I will always only encourage you. I want to be there for you, by your side 'till death do us part.  I want to always be your person.  You will always be mine.


You are an amazing man.  I love you more today than I did 3 years ago and my prayer is that our love will grow with each passing year.


I pray that our marriage will be blessed with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control and that God will be glorified through it.


Happy Anniversary Babe... I love you, and I miss you


Love, Sarah

Pictures I Forgot About. And Others That I Didn't.

This is one that I totally forgot about... We stopped to get lunch at McDonald's on the way to the airport last week and ate it picnic style in the back of the van in the airport's Gold Ramp

Here's Ryan with the kids... getting ready to say goodbye.

Cutie Patooties

Such a Lady

I had some watermelon that was close to being gross... so I made it into juice!

Watermelon Juice!  It was pretty good :)

I got the kids a pool to put out on the deck.

We just got it today, so there isn't water in it... yet.  I'll put it outside tomorrow!

For now, it'll be used as a cuddle spot for brother and sister.

This beauty is the FIRST EVER picture that Peyton has taken by herself!  Great job Pey!

One of these days I'm going to write a real post again... you know, one with like paragraphs and thoughts.  Today will just not be that day!

Just Some Thoughts

Whoa! New Blogger format... this could get some getting used to!  It looks like it'll be pretty simple though... I like the look of it better already :)

Today is my second night without Ryan.  I heard from him like 24 hours ago while he was in Germany via Skype in the airport and I got a text from him today at like 4 or something saying he was back in Kyrgyzstan.  I assume he is sleeping now... he "can't" sleep on planes.  Pshh.  He probably could.  Just saying.  

Tonight was my first night back to ALIVE in 2 weeks!  It was so much fun to see everyone again... I really start to miss those kids :)  We have our work cut out for us as we are down to juuuust over a month till showtime and we had to totally revamp the story line last night.  Lord... help us!

I have to find a book or something about two year old's and what to do with them when they are being less than angelic.  Peyton is in her terrible two's and I can use all the advice I can get!  Anyone know of anything?!?!

I ate quite a bit of dairy today.  We'll see how Van Man does... I'm not incredibly hopeful.

Tomorrow night I am meeting up with a new small group for our first meeting!  We are doing the video series The Truth Project.  I'm looking forward to it... but I really REALLY wish Ryan could come too... it's right up his ally topic-wise and he retains information.  I do not.  We'll see how it goes :)

It is 12:32 and I am going to get off this computer and go to bed.  I think we'll go to a pool tomorrow and get our tan/splash on.  That sounds just fabulous!

I'll post pictures if we do.  With, no doubt, something witty written with it.  Because that's what you get with this blog. Lucky you.

4 Down 7 to Go

I am so excited to get back into blogging every day!  I feel a little bit badly that I don't have a good record of what we did this last week... but it's ok.  It means that every second was just so good that I couldn't get away to blog about it!

That's a great problem to have :)

Ryan left today at around noon to head back to Kyrgyzstan for about 7 more months.  We're doing... ok. Jillian and Erika came over with some dinner tonight and we did a few things to prepare for our upcoming show for ALIVE.  It feels nice to get back into my regular busy life again.

I'm just going to post a photo recap of the past week.  I could have done more... but I spent too much time this afternoon doing really important things. Like catch up on the Bachelorette.

Here you have it!  Our week in a glance...

Ryan was a groomsman in his friends wedding on Friday night, so we went to the rehearsal on Thursday where Peyton found a cute ring bearer to play with

I was a very proud mama when BOTH my kids were quiet and very well behaved during the entire ceremony!  Praise Jesus!!!

The cutest guys at the wedding.

On Saturday we went to my Aunt and Uncles house and Peyton was wearing a dress that matched ones that my cousin's Annabelle and Gavia have.  Of course we had to take a picture :)

We had some friends over on Saturday night and played this game... Quelf.  It was fun.  Also, very looooong!

Ryan and I kept saying how this was the most perfect 2 weeks ever. We loved every minute of it and we are so thankful that he was able to come home.  

I love you babe!  Miss you already!

xoxo

We Got Inked!

Ryan and I had a date day yesterday.  Just the two of us from noon till 10.  It was perfect... and slightly painful.

Ryan has wanted a few tattoos since I have known him and we decided that we might as well just do it!

He took it like a man the entire time.  I think he only made a face like twice.  He made it look so easy!

It took about 3 hours from start to finish.

He got the Alpha Omega sign over a cross over a "V" which symbolizes a dove.

His idea was to have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all in one tattoo.

I think he pulled it off great!

I got the inspiration for my design from the one Heidi Klum has of her husband's name.  My friend Austin drew it up for me over a year ago and I'm happy to finally have it on my arm.

I wasn't expecting it to hurt that bad after watching Ryan get his done and being as cool as a cucumber the entire time.

Let me just tell you, even after having 2 kids... this hurt.  Badly.

But it was over in less than 5 minutes... so it wasn't so bad :)

I love the way that they both turned out!  And I love the fun adventure that we got to have together!

Thank you to Jesse from Beloved Studios for making us super cool parents with tats :)

Do you have any tattoos?  Any regrets?  Any think you maybe think you want... but aren't sure yet?  I'd love to hear your tattoo stories!