catching up :: june 2011 :: father's day.

note: this entry was written in july 2012, in an effort to finally update this little blog on the missing year or two of our lives, while i was so busy starting my new teaching career. :)

father's day 2011 was actually rylie's first father's day! i labored with her all day father's day 2010, but she wasn't born until 7:10 the next morning. :)

to celebrate two of the very special men in our lives (the girls' daddy & papa), we cooked a barbecue dinner at home. i made a cherry glaze for BBQ chicken on the grill (and other things i don't remember). but then i also made these amazing "irish car bomb" cupcakes. there is beer in the batter and bailey's irish creme in the frosting! (i mean. yum.)

irish car bomb cupcakes - yummo!

love these cupcake toppers :: "TIE-riffic DAD!" :)

emma's daddy is #1 :)

daddy & his girls
{emma-4, rylie-1}

emma kate & papa

father's day tie banner

i had lots of fun decorating the house for our daddies' special day.

i also made these collage prints for jason's father's day gift... i actually made them for FREE at walgreens.com! :) FREE is the best kind of gift, right?

a year in pictures :: 2010-2011

love this family :: 2010-2011

emma's note to daddy: "Love you, Daddy!"
june 2011 - 4 years old

f i v e.

our wedding day :: 11.07.2004

2009 :: still best friends.

2009 :: still enjoying life.

5 years later :: october 2009
{our first photo as a family of F O U R}

yesterday, jason and i celebrated our first major milestone as a married couple (aside from babies & buying our first home)... our 5 - Y E A R :: A N N I V E R S A R Y.

it sounds so strange to say we've been married for 5 years - i feel like i walked down the aisle just yesterday. it's crazy how quickly life goes by. sometimes i want to just press "pause" and sit and enjoy it for awhile ya know? i mean... 5 years ago, today, we were spending our first night of our honeymoon at disney world... our second night together as husband & wife (or ever, for that matter)! we had only dreams and hopes for the years to come.

today, 5 years later, we have a home, a precious daughter, a little one on the way, a job full of opportunities, 6 weeks until college graduation, and a whole group-hug full of the best friends and family we could ask for.

we have cried, stressed, laughed, prayed, dreamed, prayed and grown a lot. God shows us how to love each other the way He designed a little more every day. it's really neat to think that i've gone through so much of the important stuff with jason... and to think about how much more we'll go through together. it's nice to know it will be him. i couldn't think of anyone i'd rather face this life with!

five years. we've come a long way. i can't wait to see how far He'll take us over the next 5 years. :)

happy anniversary, love! i am so blessed by your love and friendship, and the father you are to our children. i love you!

daddy's day.

emma is very, very blessed to have such a wonderful daddy! (and i am very blessed to be married to him.)

we got to celebrate "daddy" on sunday, and i think it was a great day!

we woke up early to go with jason's parents to the first service at woodcreek, but they had to wait until the later service, so we made an impromptu visit to our sweet friends the berardinellis, and coaxed them to come to breakfast with us! it was a great way to start our day... yummy breakfast at cindi's cafe in richardson... really sweet friends... lots of fun. :)

then, we headed off to church to do our normal sunday-thing.

we spent the afternoon taking naps and doing homework (guess who?)... we were so exhausted from katie and cory's wedding (which was saturday!), that we had kind of a lazy day.

we topped the night off with some great italian food at covino's with "nonna & grampa" (jason's parents) and "lulu" (jason's sister lindsey). it was a wonderful way to celebrate jason's dad, kevin... who doesn't love food and fellowship? :)

here are some pics from our special day:

the card emma made her daddy at church


emma & 2 of her favorite guys: grampa & daddy
(my daddy "papa" is the only one missing!)


we love daddy!


emma actually took this picture of us!


"lulu," "grampa," emma kate & "daddy"
after dinner at covino's

...and finally...

this picture is not from father's day, but it's really sweet. our family is so happy... we really love each other. we are blessed to have jason as our husband and father. he adds laughter to our home. he makes us smile. he is silly. he loves hard. he makes our family complete. we love him so much.

happy father's day, jason!
you are so loved.

hope you all enjoyed father's day... either celebrating the father of your little ones, your own father, or someone special in your life that played the role of a father. moms always get so much attention, but we need to remember how important our daddy's are. :)

have a great day!

gifted.

well, christmas has come and gone. isn't it crazy, how quickly it is over, after all the build-up and anticipation? i am a bit sad that it is all over, but we had a wonderful christmas this year. emma had so much fun with santa and presents, and having mommy & daddy home to play!

we've had "christmas" with our family, my family, and jason's family (although there is another "christmas" with jason's family next week), and my family got me some great gifts!

i thought i'd share a few with you:

donna & kevin (my wonderful in-laws) got me this fabulous new rachael ray cookware set! it is my first matching set with lids and everything! i love them! (and they're green!)

jason got me a very thoughtful gift this year... since he HATES watching my girlie, romantic movies (especially period pieces!), he so selflessly selected an entire collection of jane austen dvd's! this set includes the classic bbc adaptations (mostly mini-series) of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, EMMA, PERSUASION, NORTHANGER ABBEY, MANSFIELD PARK, and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE! he also got me SENSE & SENSIBILITY (the one with kate winslett) and LES MISERABLES. we watched EMMA (with gwyneth paltrow) this weekend, and we are watching MANSFIELD PARK as we speak. he vowed to watch each and every one of them with me... what a great husband!

jason also has a talent for picking out super cute shoes that he knows i will love! these little peep toes will be so cute with a black dress or some jeans! (don't you LOVE the lacy bow?!)

ok, i think these just might be my new favorite shoes! they are SO cute with jeans (i wore them to church today), super comfortable, and the bright yellow makes me so happy. they come in black, brown & plum, too... hmmm... what is in my closet that just screams the need for plum colored shoes?...

and these... these just look super comfy, and like i can wear them in all seasons! kinda funky, too... great job jason!

my parents got me (among other great things) a fun, slouchy, yellow hobo bag similar to this one. (i couldn't find a picture of the exact bag, so i went for this one!) i love it because a) i love big bags, b) it's happy yellow like my shoes, c) i can use it ALL year, and d) i love big bags! so cute!

and one more noteworthy gift... jason stuffed my stocking with 60 $1-bills! the idea was for me to have cash to get to spend on whatever i wanted. $60... that's some fun spending money, huh? but what i think is so funny, is that he actually went to the bank and asked for $60 in ones... haha! i wonder what that bank teller thought jason was doing later that night?!?! i bet she giggled with her co-workers about it later... oh goodness... i wonder if i could find her and assure her that my sweet husband does not partake in those activities! :)

sleep talking.

i was up super late monday night doing homework. when i came to bed at almost 1:00 am, jason had already been asleep for a good 2 hours. when i walked in the room, i thought he was going to jump up and try to fight me, he was so startled! but he finally laid back down, after some reassurance that it was JUST me, and went to sleep... or so i thought.

as i was washing my face in the bathroom i heard a sound come from jason in the bedroom. this is the conversation that followed between me and my very sleepy hubby:

jason: hmmmm...
sara: what'd you say, baby?
jason: hmmmmm....
sara: jason, did you say something?
jason: what?
sara: did you say something?
jason: no. i'm just humming.
sara: you're what?
jason: i'm just humming something.
sara: (silently cracking up) oh yeah? what are you humming?
jason: oh, it's just this song someone wrote.
sara: (slight pause to compose herself) yeah? who wrote it?
jason: you, silly.
sara: i wrote it?
jason: yeah... it's a piece of work!
sara: (almost losing it) what's the song called?
jason: what?
sara: what's it called?
jason: what is what called?
sara: the song i wrote... what's it called?
jason: what the he** are you talking about? you didn't write a song!
sara: oh....ok. (??????)

and then we went to sleep.

i hope that made you laugh as much as i did!

(and just so you know... that was pretty much word-for-word. no embellishment here!)

four years together.

on this day, 4 years ago, jason and i became husband and wife.

i can't believe it's already been 4 years! it seems crazy. i couldn't be happier with the husband that God chose for me. he is my best friend, the best father i could ever imagine, an incredible provider, and a wonderful leader for our family. the last 4 years have flown by, and we have seen so much change in our lives since then!

here is a little tribute, in pictures, to the last 4 years with my sweet husband... the greatest years of my life!

our wedding - november 7, 2004


jason's 23rd birthday - january 2005


october 2006


october 2006

waiting for emma kate - october 2006


emma's arrival - october 5, 2006


christmas 2006


our first house on douglas drive - may 2007


christmas 2007 - in our first house


summer 2008


august 2008

i love you, jason! you are all my dreams come true... i can't wait to see where God takes us in the next several years... here's to 50 more!

hubby love

I was tagged by my friend Melody for this game.

I tag Lisa B. & Lisa P. :-)

What is his name? Jason Lynn Rains

How long have you been married? 3 years & 9 months (4 years in November)

How long did you date? almost 3 years

How old is he? 26

Who eats more sweets? I would say Jason... he's got to have a bowl of Blue Belle's Ultimate Neopolitan Ice Cream every night! And he LOVES chocolate chip cookies! (If anyone has a KILLER recipe, I'd love to try it...)

Who said I love you first? he did :-)

Who is taller? he is

Who can sing better? ooo... Jason and I have completely different voices. He's amazing. Hearing him sing for the first time made me melt! I would say he probably sings better...

Who is smarter? I think Jason has more logic sometimes (or "street" smarts), but I made better grades in school.

Who does the laundry? It's a team-effort in the Rains house!

Who pays the bills? He makes the money, I write the checks. :-) (That goes for shopping too!)

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're IN the bed, I sleep on the right.

Who mows the lawn? definitely Jason. I've never mowed a yard in my life! (Is that really bad?)

Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time. Jason does take care of dinner sometimes, but when he does it's usually something like pizza, fast food or ramen noodles! :-)

Who drives? Jason insists on driving, even if we're in MY car! He likes having control over what's going on. :-)

Who is more stubborn? I would say Jason, but I'm sure he would say me, so I don't know...

Who kissed who first? well... technically, me... haha! He had been begging for kisses for over month, and I wasn't giving in. Finally, one day we were hanging out in the TV room at his parents' house, and he was tickling me (one of those all-out tickle wars). I was laying on the couch, and he was kneeling on the floor... We were being so silly, and I grabbed his neck and pulled him to me and kissed him real quick... It took us both a second to realize what had just happened. hehe... and then came the REAL kiss!...

Who asked who out first? He did... he pursued me hard for awhile.

Who proposed? He did... bought me a westie puppy (our little guy named Duncan) and put the ring around his collar. He also sent me on a scavenger hunt before I was finally led to the "trail of dog treats" that led to Duncan and my ring.

Who has more siblings? He does. I have 1 brother. Jason has 1 sister, 1 half-sister and 2 half-brothers.

Who wears the pants? Jason is definitely the head of our household. He for sure wears the pants... and what fabulous pants they are! :-)