Lots of "first"

As many of you know we went to PA to visit family a few weeks ago. Mason had his FIRST plane ride and did amazing! They only time he cried was when we were landing in Atlanta for our 25 min "layover". I quote it because our plane was late getting in, the stroller wasn't ready, and we had to RUN to get to our next gate(down a long hallway, down an elevator, on a tram and to our next gate, our only breathing point was on the tram!)

A little glimpse of what it looked like when we arrived at my parents house. In case you aren't sure what the first picture is, it's a light switch. Yes very old house but it is homey feeling. My parents were so excited they got all these toys out for Mason to play with! 

I have been to PA almost every year since I was born however I wanted to check out some new things! I pinterest some ideas before we left and came across this beautiful park "Ohiopyle State Park" Little did we know that our first point I wanted to see was over a mile hike..if you know PA it's NOT flat! Everyone was drenched with sweat by the time we got done(sorry too much info??) It was well worth it && so beautiful!! 

The next day we went to my cousins pool, and this was Mason's FIRST time swimming! He loved it! It was also great to see my dad in the pool with him having fun! That really put a smile on my face!! 

Mason is ONE! Where has the year gone!!?? Seem's like just yesterday we were going in for our 41 week ultra sound! 

He woke up with balloons(thanks to Auntie Nola for the idea!) We then all had our FIRST train ride to go around Horseshoe Curve! He also had his FIRST piece of cake at Hoss's and then back home for a birthday party at Nana & Papa -- he had his FIRST Gob(I will include the ingredients at the bottom of the blog post!) So grateful to be with our PA family for his birthday! 

We woke up on 4th of July and wanted to take Mason to meet the family that wasn't going to be with us. It was very emotion for myself as I had never seen where my grandpa was laid to rest, I never got closure with my grandma as I didn't get to go to her funeral and my aunt's life was cut short unexpectedly just months before our wedding. But after Mason had got to see them I spent some time alone talking(more like crying) with them. I know they were listening and they are watching down every day on us. Watching our family grow and we will have so many stories to share with Mason(and our future kids) about them! :)

Then we went to the Blough Family Reunion! It was awesome to see a lot of the Blough family! It has been years since I have been to a reunion and Mason sure did enjoy the attention! 

My Grandpa Saylor's birthday is also on the 4th so we celebrated that and then went to the fireworks in Johnstown! It was a great way to end our vacation! :)

NYC/PA

MATT AND I got to go to NYC for Thanksgiving! I am so thankful that he was able to come with! On our way to Omaha on Wed. night our car broke down in Sioux Falls. Thankfully God was watching over us and Tires Plus was a huge help and helped us out! We flew into Newark on Thursday(11/22) and my dad picked us up and brought us to my cousin Kay's house! We had Thanksgiving Dinner and just relaxed!! Friday we woke up and took the train(LIRR) into the city! We took a taxi to Rockefeller Center since Matt was not feeling the best. We first hit up Rockefeller Center to go to Top of the Rock. It was a beautiful site to see the skyline of NYC! After that we went to Grand Central Station-had to see it! Then we walked to the UN Building, Matt really liked this stop! We then went to Time Square because it was getting dark, it was awesome to see all the shops lite up! So pretty! Then we did the NBC Studios Tour which was a blast! We had an awesome day! Saturday we were going to go to the World Trade Center Memorial but Matt's fever got worse 103.1F. We tried to get him to go to urgent care but when we got there, there was quite a line and he didn't want to wait. So we started our 6hr drive to PA. 

Sunday we went to Grammy for the afternoon to watch football, take naps, and have a nice family dinner. After dinner we play the famous game of Dutch Blitz! It was so nice to be around family again! Monday we started our 6hr journey back to NJ stopping at Rita's in Belfonte and got to see the whole Purnell family! Monday we went to the mall to see dad at work and ate at The Cheesecake Factory after. It was very good. Tuesday we were suppose to fly out but our flight got cancelled so we had breakfast at IHOP then dad went to work so we just hung out and watched tv all day at the hotel! We then took him for supper at Longhorn Stakehouse. We were able to get on our flight on Wednesday morning and make the long drive home! We were in cars a lot! 

All in all it was a great vacation!

 Line up of taxis 

 Radio City at Rockefeller Center

 Matt & I at Top of the Rock

 Empire State Building!

 Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center

Central Park

 Grand Central Station

 He was such a good sport!

 UN Building

 Outside of the UN Building

 The flags at the UN

 Time Square

 He is such an amazing husband!

Where the ball drops! 

..Praise God!..

These last two weeks have been the best weeks in a long time for Matt & I. We have so much going the way we want it to right now we are just so thankful! We have got to have lots of family time and will have more this weekend! I just can not stop praising God for everything he has done for us. Prayers are getting answered. Last week I bought a ticket to see some friends in Denver,15 days away! && in 28 days we get to go to NYC to visit my dad then drive down to PA to see my mom and the rest of the family! So grateful! 

Sometimes things might not seem like they are going the way you want them to, but just give it time and pray! God does answer prayers!! 

Also, we love the Church we are going to and that helps a lot! We aren't just going to Church to say we are going, we love the worship and message, growing with God and each other. And I am now teaching Children's Church every other week! I find it really important everyone finds a Church they feel comfortable in and has the same beliefs, something where you are LOVING going and not dreading it, and WORSHIPING God, not just a Church that works for them. --Everything you have, God has provided for you, praise him for that!--

Parents Are Gone

After years of hearing my parents say they wanted to move back to Pennsylvania it finally has happened. It hurt so much to see them go but I know that they are happy there! It was  so frightening knowing are we going to be okay, what if I need help with something around the house. All I know is at least they are only a phone call away and 20 hour drive. We threw them a surprise going away party and they were definitely surprised!! 

 Off they go..

 All packed up and leaving..

Their going away party!