Coming down the hill at the park by the Wilson Center in Brookfield

Our baby is growing up too fast!

The above photos were taken by our good friend, Andrea Warp (http://www.arwphotography.com/). Each photo shoot gets better and better. We had a perfect weather day. Sarah definitely did better for the outdoor pictures than she did for the indoor pictures. Running around suited her much better!

I can't believe it's already July 10th. The summer is cruising by so fast. We traveled down to my parents' in Iowa the weekend of June 21st to be at the 1st service in their new church building at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Williamsburg, IA. It was such a powerful day since we've witnessed the long road the church experienced to achieving this goal. Mom and Dad put a lot of sweat and tears into the process and it was a joyful day to be there for the first service. We were thankful that Williamsburg didn't experience the flooding but were sad to hear the stories of all those affected in nearby Iowa City/Coralville and Cedar Rapids.

Mom and Dad came up to Brookfield the following week to spend some much needed time away. Dad helped Jason get a lot of projects done around the house and Mom loved watching Sarah so I could get things done, as well. It was so lovely to have them here for more than a quick weekend now that Dad's retired. Sarah absolutely loved having them here and kept calling for them in the mornings after they left. The best part was watching her reach for both of their hands when she wanted to show them something. It would melt my heart.

We had a nice family get-together on the 4th of July. Ron, Ann, Meghan, Bob, and Sean joined my folks, Jason, Sarah, and me in celebrating the day. The cousins were in the baby pool for a short time together and had fun playing with the sidewalk chalk and the bubbles. It was such a beautiful day and we spent most of it outside. A bunch of us played croquette. Bob is definitely the croquette master! He won all three matches much to the chagrin of Jason and his dad (they're usually ultra-competitive....it's pretty funny actually). We tried giving the cousins a bath together, but Sean wasn't about to let that happen. He was a little freaked out by the strangeness of the tub. Put Sarah into the mix and forget about it. :) All in all, I'm glad it worked out for the family to spend a relaxing day together.

Jason is excited to go to the Cubs game tomorrow. I'm going to drop Sarah off at the grandparents' house so I can finally see "Sex in the City". I think Jason is actually a little disappointed that I'm going without him. Let that be our little secret. :)

The rest of the weekend is up in the air which is kind of nice. I think we'll finally take in the Brookfield Farmers' Market and go on a long bike ride now that we have the bike trailer put together. Sarah has been a couple of rides and seems to do well in it. We're also getting excited for our trip to Richmond to see Kim and Cleo. Kim can hardly wait to see Sarah.

That's all for now!