hello again!

we have had a busy (a wonderfully busy!) summer. here are a few pictures from the end of July to the end of August:

Samuel Bayne on the morning of his first birthday (July 30th)

Sam and his dada cheesin' it for the camera

ready to try his first sweet (he thought this cake was yucky; but mommy and daddy thought it was just fine! :) haha!)

Sammy B and his uncle andrew, uncle mikey, and uncle brian (uncle ben is in south africa)

although he did not care for the harris teeter cake, samuel thought that mommy's cupcakes were deee-licious (wrapper and all)

Samuel Bayne with Granny and Nana

we love you Samuel Bayne!!!

we finally got to go back to the lake and see the renovation that pop and granny have worked so hard on. also, we bought Sam his first pair of 'real' shoes...aren't they adorable?!? now mommy and samuel (and his cousins lilly and reed) have matching shoes :)

chilling with daddy & waiting for a boat ride (samuel LOVES the lake. he is a swimming machine!)

my three leading men :)

we completed our second sprint triathlon.

samuel is such a wonderful eater. he will eat all different types of fruits and veggies and protein. His new found favorite food is corn (especially if he can eat it off of the cob!)

sam and his best friend, reed. aren't they too cute?!?!

this is the only picture i got of sam's first hair cut. as you can see, he was not too happy about having his hair did. dont worry, mommy was able to come to the rescue with a lollipop, and all was well!

although the summer has been filled with so many happy memories, we are also mourning the passing of my dad's dad (whom we all call "pepop"). this past weekend we had the memorial service and my dad and oldest brother were able to put into words a wonderful depiction of the man that we all loved so much. pepop and memom spent 61 happily married years together on this earth and i know that pepop truly is looking down on us from heaven. we praise God for pepop's faith and for the man that he was and the people that he has influenced us all to be. life is such a gift. thank You, Lord...we love You!