Birthdays, New York City, and Labor Day Fun...

...So I'm a little behind in blog posts, but actually have a little down time today and trying to get caught up =)

The first big happening from the last several weeks... 

GRANDPA CARL'S 61st BIRTHDAY!!!  Grandpa hit the BIG 6-1 on August 30th... We all headed over to Grandma & Grandpa's house for a wonderful dinner then went to The Melting Pot for some fabulous dessert!  What a great evening!  It was extra special because Joey & Candice were in town still from NYC...

Here's a pic of the whole family except for Jeff who was already back at BU and our picture-taker, Grandma... (Debbie, Candice, Joey, Grandpa, Rob, Ben, Myself, and Reider)

Reid and I chatting...

If we look tired in this picture...WE ARE.  We had only had about 1 1/2 hours of sleep the night before...

Next happening... BEN'S FIRST (EVER) TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY!

For Father's Day this past year, Reid and I got Ben this trip to go visit Uncle Joey and Aunt Candice in NYC over Labor Day weekend.  He had a great time hitting up all of the tourist spots and even got to fly first-class out there.  He's the greatest, so we figured he could be spoiled a little =)

Here are a few pics of his trip (courtesy of Aunt Candice):

And while Dad was away on his NYC trip, Reider and I had a great Labor Day weekend hanging out with some friends and family!  Luckily for us, Michael and Grant were both out of town as well, so we had some great play time with Tiffany & Brielle and Jayme & Isabella.  Here's a few pics of the kids in the playroom...

Reid and Isabella - she had just sat up for the first time by herself!  

Brielle and Isabella

The only pic I got of all 3 of them together...Reid and Brielle were constantly on the move!

BIG (open-mouth...ewww) kisses between Reid and Brielle...

Reid talking to Isabella

We have a very busy weekend ahead, but looking so forward to it!  Two baby showers for two sweet couples in our church who are both adopting babies being born in October... dinner tonight... singing all weekend @ Keystone Church... and the kick off of Community Groups on Sunday evening.  Lots to do, but so much fun!

Child Dedication

FOR THIS CHILD WE HAVE PRAYED, AND THE LORD HAS GRANTED WHAT WE ASKED OF HIM...SO NOW WE GIVE HIM TO THE LORD... 1 SAMUEL 1:27-28

On Sunday, May 24th, Keystone Church had Child Dedication Sunday...  Surgery, smurgery... there was no way in the world that I was missing this - what a special day for Reid and our family!  With a ton of help from Ben, I managed to get up, shower, and hobble my way through it =)  

Here we are with our pastor, Brandon Thomas, before the dedication...

Reid goofin' around with his Dad (as usual!)

Our family...love these two with all my heart!

With Jayme and Isabella Higgins...both Reid and Isabella were being dedicated during the 11am service - so special!  We definitely wished that Adalyn Reneau, Brielle McDaniel, and London Jones were there to join them, but they were dedicated in earlier services =)

Reid showin' off his Sunday duds...what a handsome little man, if I do say so myself!

Ben and I dedicating Reid...

A pic with all of our family that was able to be there - Gary Floyd (Doc), Karen Floyd (KK), Ben, Reid, Me, Carol Peterson (Grandma), Carl Peterson (Grandpa), (Aunt) Neely Floyd, and (Uncle) Craig Pedersen.  We definitely missed Uncle Joey, Aunt Candice, and Uncle Jeff!

...with my side of the fam...

With Ben's parents...

With the De La Portes!!!  Jason, Jen, Kylar, and Keagan... so glad that Keagan and Reid were dedicated together!

Great, great friends!!!  Jayme & Isabella, Jill & Shaun Hand, Susan Robertson (missing Grant and Mike!)

Jayme, Isabella, Myself, Jill, and Reid... Thanks for holding my little man, Jill!  (I am on mega lifting restrictions...) Love how he looks almost as big as Jill! 

Me and Jen...life-long friends...and hoping that Keag and Reid will be the same way!  (And, in case you couldn't tell... Reid was DONE! =)

After the Keystone service, our whole family came back to our house for some Babe's Chicken... All in all, it was such a fun and special day - one that we will always treasure!  We love you baby boy!!!

Our fun weekend...

Just a warning...we had a very eventful weekend, so this post is rather long and contains TONS of pictures (and still more to come)...but we had so much fun that I had to share...

The weekend started off as we headed out to Grapevine Main Street Days in downtown Grapevine.  We went out there with our good friends Candace, Josiah, and Adalyn Reneau.  Adalyn and Reid are only 4 months apart, so it's always a great time watching them interact with each other!

Here's a picture of the two men in my life...ready to go have some fun!  (Reid had just eaten his dinner, so the bib was still on for protection... And, yes, it says "Chicks Dig Me")

Me and the little dude...of course the camera didn't catch his smile.  I like to think he was just too mesmerized with his Mommy =)

Reid is so much fun these days!  Love how he is starting to smile on cue for the camera!  

If you can't tell, Reid had a complete BLAST at Main Street Days... all of the lights, people, live music... he laughed and squealed for most of the evening.

Here's a great pic of the Reneau's!  Isn't little Adalyn ADORABLE????  

Our little fam...once again, Reid is smiling for the camera...love it!  What a ham!

Adalyn and Reid... a future love connection??? 

We seriously had a ball on Friday evening...it's always great times with the Reneau's!  Reid and Adalyn did so great as well!  Reid got in a good nap while we ate dinner, then was WIRED for the rest of the evening!  Here's a pic of him around 11pm that night as we were headed home.  It was hours past his bedtime, so shouldn't he have been fast asleep??? He did (finally) crash out as soon as we got in the car =)

On Saturday, we were up bright and early to get Reid over to Grandma & Grandpa Peterson's house so that Ben and I could go to Karen Stark's / Matt Skains' wedding - what a beautiful day!!!  I didn't get too many pictures b/c I felt like my flash was competing with their photographer's... but here's the newlyweds walking out of the church...

Karen and Matt got married at the TCU Chapel at 11am, then had their luncheon reception at Colonial Golf Club.  Despite the rain, everything was absolutely perfect!  Karen was a beautiful bride!!!  And, we got to see a lot of our "extended" family that we don't get to see as often as we would like...

One such family member... is ALLISON!!!  

Allison and her husband Eric traveled to the wedding all the way from Turkey...oh how we have missed them!!!  Allison and I grew up together and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding...love this girl!  It was so much fun to sit with them at the luncheon and have a good chance to catch up...we're sad to see them head back home, but our thoughts and prayers are always with them.

A rare pic of just Ben and I during the reception =)

And a pic with some more of our extended family... Jen & Jason De La Porte!

Jen and Jason live here with us, so we see them all of the time... but had to post this pic for two reasons... #1 - They are some of our closest and dearest friends...not a thing in the world we wouldn't do for these two!  #2 - Saturday was Jen's 30th birthday!!!  Happy birthday, my friend!!!  (More to come on that later in the post...)

And, the last (of the very few pics) I took at the wedding is Ben and I with Blaire Bender...

Absolutely love this dear friend, as well!  Blaire is a nurse in Oklahoma City now - we miss her living in Fort Worth!  She also happened to have been one of my bridesmaids and was a beautiful bridesmaid in Karen's wedding on Saturday as well! =)  I wish I would have gotten a few other pictures to include Brian & Emily Borg and Dave & Cindy Bender... but they were at different tables than we were, and my brain stops functioning when I'm baby free... I tend to just sit back and relax =)

On Sunday...I forgot my camera...uggg!  But Jen Wildey (Rex's wife) took a lot of pictures that I will be posting as soon as possible.  Shameless plug here... Jen is a professional photographer and she's WONDERFUL!  Check out her website at Jennifer Wildey Photograhpy.  =)

So Sunday started off with the huge THINK BIG celebration at Keystone - what an incredible morning!!!   We were celebrating the end of a 3-year journey and capital campaign to fund our new building space.  It's always amazing to me that we belong to such an incredible church family who are Christ-centered and wholly committed to following His direction.  How our lives are blessed every day by this community!

Then...right after church...we headed out to Jen DeLaPorte's SURPRISE 30th BIRTHDAY!!!  (These are the pics that I will have to post as soon as I get them from Jen Wildey...)  But what a fun afternoon!  Her husband, Jason, went above and beyond to make the day so special for Jen. We love you, Jen, and had so much fun celebrating with you!!!

Now, it is Sunday evening... Ben is out mowing the lawn, Reid is getting ready to go down for the night, and I'm off to relax and get ready for the week... later!  

Reid's 1st Easter - Two months old!

As they entered the tomb, they saw a man in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.  "Don't be alarmed," he said... "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified... He is risen!  He is not here.  Hallelujah!  He is risen!"  Matthew 16:5-7

Easter is one of my very favorite times of the year!  How incredible that we have a Saviour who died on the cross for our sins, then rose again on the third day - He is the Living God!  I was especially excited about this Easter as it is the first one that Ben and I got to celebrate with sweet Reid.  My favorite part of the entire day was while I was getting ready to leave for church that morning... Ben was hanging out with Reid upstairs, and I had left his baby monitor on in our room... I got to hear my amazing huband explain the meaning of Easter to our sweet baby boy!  Melted my heart!!!  Not that Reid understands, but still such a special moment I will forever treasure! =)

We had a wonderful, busy, fun-filled day with family and friends!  Church with the Keystoners on Sunday morning (51 saved and 21 baptized!!!)... Lunch with Ben's family... early dinner with my family...  and then finally home to bed.  We had one tired little boy!  Here's a few pics from the day...

Reid and I before church on Sunday morning:

Daddy and Reid

An attempt at our family Easter pic =)

Reid all dressed up in his Easter duds...what a handsome little man!

Reid with one of the baskets the Easter bunny brought... (He was spoiled with a whole new summer wardrobe and some fun toys!)

As you can see, his favorite thing was his new hat for the pool this summer (pictured with Aunt Neely):

Inspecting more of his Easter loot...

We hope that you and your family enjoyed a wonderful weekend celebrating our Risen Lord as well!  

Keystone Baby Shower

On Thursday evening, I had the honor of attending another baby shower to welcome sweet Reid - it was an AMAZING evening hosted by our dear friends from Keystone Church.  Have I ever mentioned how much Ben and I LOVE this church family???  They have been so supportive and encouraging throughout our adoption journey.  Constantly praying and lifting our family up - they are one of the greatest blessings in our lives.  

The shower was a come and go sip-n-see from 7-9pm at Jill Hand's house.  There was such a great turn out and Reid and I had so much fun!  Here's a picture of us with ALL of the hostesses - what a wonderful group of women!!!  (And YES...I said hostesses...there were 15!!)  Not pictured are Kelli Jones, April Colquett, and Angie Burton.

And the FOOD WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!  So beautifully decorated - I was blown away by the amount of time and effort that went in to every last detail...

YUM...Opulent Cakes... my favorite!!!

Here's a quick shot of the gift room...sorry I didn't get a good pic of all the gifts.  Amanda Christian took some great pictures, so hopefully I'll have more to post in the next several weeks.  She's a professional!! (She also went into labor on Friday morning after the shower and had her sweet baby girl, Sadie on Friday afternoon!  So...pics may be a while in coming...haha!)

I loved this pic of our family!

And...finally a picture of Mommy and Reid where I don't look like I've been run over by a truck =)  Love this little guy!!!