Sawyer's Gone Wild

Homeschool Blog

2009-03-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

I know we have not updated Sawyers Gone Wild in quite some time and there is a good reason for that. P has been focusing her energy on the blog she created to share what the kids are doing in their schooling.

Enjoy what you see and share your thoughts!

2008 In Review

2008-12-25T04:01:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

One of the things I look forward to the most at Christmas is receiving cards from friends and family. I particularly like the picture cards and hearing from people we may not have heard from since the previous Christmas. It's a great way to stay at least a little in touch. Of course, the occasional card that holds a newsletter is great. I like to read about what has gone on with our friends in the past year. Each year, I think I'll do write such a newsletter. I never have gotten around to it, so here is my attempt via blog. (I also thought I'd blog more often when I started staying home. Maybe this will become an annual tradition.)

2008 started off with a weekend full of performances of Me and My Girl. All three kids were in the show - so was one ofthe nastiest stomach viruses I have ever seen. The kids (not just ours) were amazing. Each performance had someone different missing and someone else filling their spot. They had a community barf bucket in the dressing room. Talk about "the show must go on!" Merry caught the bug but managed to be mostly over it before the performances. Raiden caught a mild version. He missed one scene because he was throwing up, but he made it back for the next seen. Even mom got the nasty thing. Joy, of course, was just fine. Some would say that she has a great immune system. We like to say that viruses are scared of her.

After things calmed down a bit, we got back into the routine of work, school, and keeping the house near spotless. The house had been on the market through the holidays and had been shown several times - still no bites. Tom was enjoying his new job and the rest of us had grown accustomed to being home together. Raiden and Merry were both enjoying history and science - the two subjects we did all together. They did their other subjects because they had to. All three kids also continued drama classes.

The rest of the winter and spring were spent in trying to keep the house clean and doing school. Tom was traveling fairly regularly for work. We were all tired of trying to keep the house so tidy. There were many times that I would get a phone call to request a showing in an hour or two. We would stop school, hide all the school stuff, and spiff everything up. That got really old! It is hard to homeschool and make your house look like you don't. I was stressed.

When our six-month contract with the realtor was up, we decided to take the house off the market. We had prayed and prayed for the house to sell. We had also prayed for God's will, timing, and the patience and vision to see those things. Well, the house hadn't sold, so we knew God had a reason for us to stay in Edmond.

Then, Jaxon and Kylee came into our lives. These two precious children are now a big part of our life and the story behind it is so amazing that I have to share it.

One day in late spring, Tom told me that he was feeling called to help children. My first response was, "I am not ready to adopt any children!" We decided it probably was not the time to adopt or foster kids, but we would pray and keep our eyes open for something we could do. Enter God. I think it was two days later that our dear friend, Jeny, and her kids came over for a play date. Jeny told me about a family that needed our prayers. They were have some difficulties and were rather at a loss on what to do for childcare. When Tom got home that night, I told him about it. We both agreed that this might be the answer to our prayers. A couple of weeks later, we met with the family and decided that the kids would come to our house when dad had to work. He works a different schedule than most, so that means the kids are here one to three days a week. Now, if you still don't see God's hand in this, let me go on. While we were meeting with this family the first time, the realtor came by to pull the sale sign out of the yard. Isn't God amazing?! Not only did this family who really needed some help find a little, we found a playmate to help keep Joy occupied while we tried to do school, and I got to have a baby in my house again. This was definitely God's hand!

June brought our next major event in the form of another Family Theater musical. This time, all three kids took part in High School Musical. Fortunately, all the drama happened on stage this time. The kids had a blast and did very well. The girls are still singing the songs. Raiden is pretty much over it.

The summer included lots of play time and time with friends. There were weeks when we weren't really sure if Raiden was still living with us or not. It's become quite a task to keep up with his social schedule. Raiden also found a new hobby of making movies - mostly with Legos. His major solo event for the summer was Camp Impact. He attended that with the Edmond church and got to room with his buddy, Greg. We started attending Memorial Road church of Christ as the drive to Yukon was little much. We did VBS at both MRCC and Edmond. We also spent lots of time at White Water Bay. Joy decided that she really only like one slide at the beginning of the summer. We spent a lot of time in that area and in the pools and lazy river. About a week before WWB closed for the summer, Joy discovered that the other slides - even the really big ones - were fun.

The end of the summer also brought Tom's debut at the Family Theater. This was in an all adult cast play called Advice from a Busboy. Tom played sheriff Tex. It was definitely amusing seeing him sporting cowboy boots and hat!

Fall brought a lot of changes. We switched curriculums to a more unit-study type called Tapestry of Grace. It is history driven (follows a historical path) and points out how God works through everything. It has been great. I have lots of stuff to post on that very soon. We also stepped outside our norm and became part of a co-op. We are doing the Prairie Primer which is based on the Little House books. We meets for classes once a week and have a field trip almost every week. The field trips have been very cool - a bee apiary, a water treatment plant, the firefighter's museum, and the state capitol to name a few. It keeps us very busy. Raiden has continued drama (watch for Newsies in January) and the girls have gone back to gymnastics.

Fall also brought Merry's 8th birthday. For some reason, she really likes horses. I'm not sure why, since she really hasn't been around them much. Nonetheless, Tom arranged to have her party at the house of one of his friends from work - complete with a real, live, full-grown horse. Merry also really wanted a pinata. We couldn't find a horse pinata that we liked in town, so she and I made one together. Everything turned out really well. Even the clouds cooperated long enough for all the kids to get to ride the horse.

We had all our usual Halloween fun and went to Frontier City fairly often. Again, Joy avoided all the things that most of us find fun until the park was about to close for the season. Our very last trip of the year, she tried the Steel Lasso and loved it. We hope she remembers that next year. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving (not white this year) as well.

Joy celebrated her birthday with a bunch of friends at the house. Her theme was the Backyardigans. International Super Spy to be exact. I am a fan of nickjr.com - they have the party all planned out for you. Of course, we had to make a pinata for her as well. It wasn't quite as elaborate as Merry's. She had a good time though. I have to admit, it was a bit hard for me though. My BABY is now 5.

The last few weeks have been spent gearing up for Christmas. That means lots of time in the kitchen. I am almost done with the last batch of cookies now! It has been a very good Christmas day in our house. We are so very blessed. We have three wonderful kids (who keep me on my toes), Tom has a terrific job, and we are surrounded by wonderful people. The list goes on, but I won't.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

White Thanksgiving???

2007-12-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

Since there is ice everywhere, I thought that this would be a great time to share some pics and video from Thanksgiving. We travelled to Abilene and was greeted with about 4 inches of snow! Needless to say it made the day more exciting that it would've been.

Enjoy!!!

Job Change Part Two!

2007-12-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

So when we last left the Sawyer family, Phylliese said "SO LONG!" to the man and began staying home with the kiddos. Tom was taking care of a small network and loving life. Raiden, Merry, and Joy were beginning preparations for "Me and My Girl."

In this episode, things have changed. BIG TIME!!!

As I typically like to do, I updated my resume and put it out on Monster to see what I could find. Not thinking I would change jobs or anything.

After one week of my new resume being active I had 3 recruiters contacting me about jobs. One recruiter got my attention by telling me he had the perfect position for me. He also stated that the location was REALLY close to where I was currently working. He wasn't lying either. The company is right next door to Mercer.

I went over to Lopez Foods for my interview. It was a Monday afternoon. Meet with the IT director and their system support dude. They asked me to come back and and test for them on Thursday. I took the test on Thursday. It absolutely kicked my booty. Apparently I did pretty well. After reviewing my test, the entire IT team came into the conference room to do a "Firing Line" interview with me. Five people were firing questions left and right to me. I answered them all and had some fun with it too. I left thinking I did well but wasn't so sure they were going to offer me.

Come Friday morning, I am driving to North Texas, which was a regular occurrence for me at Mercer. At 8:30am I received a phone call from the recruiter offering me the position at Lopez for a lot more pay and an AMAZING benefits package. I accepted it immediately.

So I started this past Monday at Lopez Foods and just finished my first week. I am now responsible for portions of a MUCH larger, MUCH more complex network. I finally get my hands on Cisco equipment. Plus I am part of a team. Although I prefer to call them "people I can now blame." :)

IN OTHER NEWS - The house isn't moving. We have a realtor now and have not been overly impressed. However, we understand that November/December is not the best time to sell a house.

Raiden, Merry, and Joy are in the production of "Me and My Girl"at the Family Theater Warehouse January 4-6, 2008. Raiden will be on stage for all four shows. Merry and Joy will take part in the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon performances. If you want tickets let us know.

We turned off our home phone and now are entirely mobile.

You can now go to www.sawyersgonewild.com to get here. :) I bought that domain and a bunch of others.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas season!!!

Job Change

2007-09-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

After working for seven years as a software engineer, I have traded that title in for the title of "domestic engineer and educator". Yes, I have quit the job that draws a paycheck to stay home with our three precious children. In about an hour, it will be exactly one week since I walked out that door for the last time. Tom keeps telling me that he'll draw me a paycheck if I give him some paper. I don't think it would be any good at the bank:)

We have stayed very busy during the past week. Just hours after I left work, we headed to Dallas so Tom could attend a conference. The kids and I spent all day at a museum while he was working. On Friday, we drove to a small Texas town where my aunt and uncle live. The kids and I spent the day playing on their ranch. Tom continued to work. Saturday, we drove on to Abilene. My grandmother is currently in the hospital and we wanted to visit her. We were also able to help my sister and B-I-L move some stuff into storage so that they could have an open house on Sunday. After about 24 hours in Abilene, we started for home. Fortunately, all the driving was uneventful and the trip was very good.

Monday was our first day with me officially at home. The kids and I are trying to get into a school routine. Unfortunately, I had put most of our school books and supplies in storage while we were getting the house ready to sell. Most of the stuff I am wanting to work with now, as at the very bottom of the stacks of boxes. If we don't sell the house soon, I'm going to have to dig them out. That will NOT be fun. We do have some books we are working with and I will be fine working with what we have for a month or so.

If you are reading this blog, you are probably a friend of ours. Please pray that we sell our house and are able to move soon. We feel very unsettled at the moment and we are so ready to settle down in a new home.

We have limited the kids to one extracurricular activity for the fall. They have all chosen to do drama. Raiden has really enjoyed the three plays he has done thus far at the Family Theatre Warehouse. Merry also liked her camp this summer and is excited about being part of a full-length play. Joy just thinks she is really cool to get to do what her brother and sister are doing. The play they will be in is Me and My Girl. It's an English Musical. It should be very entertaining. The performances will be the first weekend in January. Put it on your calendar now:)

Speaking of drama, the FTW has a production of CLUE! the Musical showing this weekend. This play has an adult cast and is supposed to be absolutely hysterical. Tom and I will be attending this weekend. If you want any more info, let us know or call the Theatre.

Time to get one down for a nap. Now that I am home, I hope to update more frequently. Don't hold your breath for every week though.

WELCOME BACK...2 US!

2007-07-29T12:51:00.001-07:00

That's right ladies and gentlemen, your favorite five-some are back. Phylliese and I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and support over the last several months. You all are AWESOME!!! Now onto the good stuff...

Raiden Update: Raiden is a Wiz? Yes he is for two reasons. First, in May, Raiden took his first ever Standardize Test to see how well this homeschooling thing is working. OH MY! It's working really well. After taking his scores and the placement that those scores indicate, Raiden is currently on an 11TH GRADE LEVEL!!! He scored college level on 5 areas. Needless to say the possibility of him EVER going to public school has almost evaporated.
The second reason Raiden is a Wiz, is because he is. Next weekend, August 3 and 4, Raiden will be the Wiz in the play "The Wiz". (For those unaware, "The Wiz" is an urban version of The Wizard of Oz.) He is really excited because he gets to wear his hair high and act like...well...himself. Plus he has a solo. If you are interested in seeing this performance you can call us for tickets. They are $8 a piece and well worth the entertainment.

Merry Update: My Merry, My Merry has had a fun couple of weeks. Between Chicken Pox and losing more teeth she is doing great! Unfortunately she had to miss all of Edmond CofC's VBS. She got to make that up last week as we attended the VBS at the South Yukon CofC. Their theme was "Let the Spirit Be With You!". She got to meet several new friends and has really warmed up to being at that church.

Joy Update: Joy-Joy got a present from her sister of Chicken Pox the same week Merry had hers. Needless to say, that made the work week really interesting for Phylliese and I. Joy has also REALLY started to enjoy White Water Bay. We have gone several times this year and she is doing more slides each time. She missed the 2nd half of Edmond's VBS. She was able to attend Yukon's VBS and she had a blast! I am currently trying to get copies of the pictures they displayed on a slide show that shows Joy dancing on the front row.

Tom and Phylliese Update: The house has been on the market for 3 weeks. We have had a few nibbles but no bites. We did learn that some realtors like to disguise themselves as buyers and come in. Pretty weak. We REALLY want the house to sell soon but we know it is not in our hands when it will sell.
We have also started attending the Yukon CofC more frequently. Richard and JeannLynn May have become really good friends of ours. They are a fantastic couple that has shown Phylliese and I that no matter what you have done in the past, you can move forward...if you want to. Their ministry is such a blessing to us. Phylliese and I hope one day to be able to help others who have endured what we have.
We have also reconnected with several people that Phylliese went to school with. Its a fantastic church that has opened their arms to us.

Pics will be coming once I get all of the house pictures off the camera.

We will be looking for help once we move. I am already planning a rib-sticking dinner for those who help. :)

Love to you all and keep coming back for updates!

The Re-Launch is COMING!!!

2007-07-22T05:59:00.001-07:00

Stay Tuned!

Post This...

2006-09-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Who would've thought that me taking 16 hours of classwork and working 40+ hours a week would've limited the posts on Sawyers Gone Wild?

Merry' B-Day party was last weekend. She had a PARTY at the Boulevard Bowl. That place is so much more enjoyable now that it is smoke-free. Anyway, 9 of her little homies came. They had a great time and Merry received all types of...GASP...Barbies! :)

I took my Labor Day this past Monday and took the kids to visit Tookie (my mom) in Tulsa. We went to zoo. *Note to others - Tulsa Zoo is no longer free with OKC ZooFriends membership. Its half-price!* We had a great time visiting and playing at the zoo. Joy only tried to get us kicked out 3 times.

Merry and Joy got their hair cut on Thursday. Joy wasn't too sure about it. I will try to get pics up soon.

Raiden will be performing in January in the Family Theater's production of Annie. He will be President Roosevelt. We learned that he got this role because of his lack of rhythm. We know which side of the family that came from. He also has two smaller roles throughout the production. He is having a blast. The great thing is he is learning to dance, we hope, and sing as well as speak in front of people. He is there for 2 1/2 hours every Monday.

The big two have started soccer as well. Raiden's practices are on Thursday and Merry's on Tuesday. Both of them have games on Saturday. So far we have had games at the same time once. We should have that occur at least two more times.

I went to my first two OU games in the last few weeks. Thanks to those who hooked me up with tickets. Games were fun. OU isn't nearly as good as people thought. The fans like to leave with 5:00 to go in the game because the traffic is HORRIBLE to get out of Norman. Don't recall that happening at Georgia games.

There is your Sawyer update. :)

Disney...ALL DAY LONG

2006-08-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

So on Thursday last week, we decided to spend ALL DAY at Disney to see how crazy we really are.

The morning started at 6:30am with Phylliese and I waking up and getting ourselves ready. Surprisingly the kids and Dave and Martha were ready to leave the house by 7:30. We went to Ponderosa for a breakfast buffet. I was not terribly impressed with it. But it worked as energy for the long day.

We arrived at Disney at 8:30am, 30-minutes before the gates were opened. Once they let the masses in we got to see Minnie and Mickey. Raiden and I were ready to head to straight to SPACE MOUNTAIN. After visiting with mice, we made our way to Tomorrowland. After riding Space Mountain, I took the Joyness so that Phylliese could ride. I took Joy to ride Buzz Lightyear. The whole time we were in TomorrowLand the wait times were 10-20 minutes each. That is AMAZING for Disney.

After putting up with the Lilo and Stitch ride (which was dumb...and smelly) and Joy riding Buzz Lightyear 5 times, I took the little ladies to meet the ever-popular Princesses. The lines for the Princesses were 3 times longer than the other lines. : So I spent an hour waiting in line with a 2 1/2 year old who wanted to go to sleep and an almost 6 year old who was excited and nervous at the same time.

I was quite happy to get to spend that time watching Joy go NUTS when she saw Cinderella. It was pretty funny. :)

I bought the girls hats after we left the Princess area. Then we rode "It's a Small World".

We then headed over to Epcot to have lunch with the Princesses. As I stated in the last post, Raiden got cozy with Sleeping Beauty. We also got to meet Belle, Ariel, Cinderella again, and Jasmine :)

Cont on next post.

Raiden and Sleeping Beauty...A Love Story

2006-08-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

Ok. I will probably get in trouble for this post. Raiden made me promise not to put this on the blog. Sorry Buddy-Boy. :)

So during our marathon at Disney last Thursday, that will be in a post by itself, we attended a "Princess Lunch" at Epcot. The restaurant was in Norway. Weird huh? Anyway while we were eating a FANTASTIC meal, 5 of the Disney Princesses went from table to table for pictures, etc. We met Ariel at the door, she was in human form. She even combed her hair with a fork. :)

Anyway, while enjoying food from the buffet, we were pleasantly surprised by the appearance of Sleeping Beauty. However she was not there for us. She had her eyes on "her prince"...Raiden!

As you can see from Raiden's facial expressions, he was not giving her the time of day. I thought it was rather sad. But nonetheless funny. I will try to get the Disney 15 Hour Marathon Day blogged tomorrow. :)

Florida...Continued...

2006-08-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

After dinner that night we went to a place that Phylliese has not stopped talking about since our visit 3 years ago to Orlando. That place would be called Friendly's. I designed my own sundae. It had 2 strawberry scoops, 1 chocolate scoop, and 2 forbidden chocolate scoops of ice cream with strawberries, hot fudge and oreo pieces. Check it out :)

Phylliese and Joy shared a Forbidden Fudge Brownie Sundae.

Raiden got attacked by his sundae. Here is the damage.

More later :)

Florida...The First Couple of Days

2006-08-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well...an update. Shocking isn't it? In case you did not know, Sawyers Gone Wild went on the road to Orlando, Florida for a week! It was great!

We left the house at 4:30am on Saturday, August 5th. We almost did not make it to the airport because as I was loading babies into the van three police cars came up to our house!!! They informed me that a suspect was chased into the soccer fields behind our house. I grabbed the kids and waited 15 minutes or so before Phylliese and I ran into the car and left. I did not want anything stopping our trip.

The airport was not too busy. The kids were pretty wired that early in the morning. These pics show us on the first airplane.

We made it to Tampa without any issues. Then we got our rental car (a minivan of course) and made our way to Orlando. We stayed at the Vistana Resorts by Sheraton. Thanks to my mother and father-in-laws for the use of their time share and cooking breakfast every morning.

We swam on Saturday night. Went to church on Sunday morning. At a a seafood place called Shells for lunch. VERY GOOD seafood! (A side note...I have a hard time eating seafood in Oklahoma. The ocean is a little far from here.) After Phylliese and the kids napped, we swam again.

Monday we visited the Holy Land Experience. We got there just after lunch and wished we got there sooner. It was a great experience. They have a bible from the 1600s that has human blood on it from someone trying to spread God's word. Pretty amazing! We have other pictures from this visit. But they were taken by Raiden and he kept taking pictures of the model of Jeruselum. They are pretty blurry. :)

FINALLY...an Update :)

2006-06-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Good Morning All,

I hope you this blog entry finds you are all doing well. I have lots of updating to do.

The girls had their "Olympics" at the end of May. It was pretty cute. Merry has gotten much better on the floor and the beam. Joy just played.

End of May, Raiden and I went to the Senior PGA Championship at Oak Tree Country Club down the street from our house. We had a blast! Jason Smith from church went with us.

As we were preparing for Memorial Day, we had everything completed, except cooking, so we went to Frontier City. Merry is now big enough to ride ALL THE ROLLERCOASTERS at Frontier City. She rode the Silver Bullet 3 times. She screamed the entire time. She loved it! Joy rode the Log Flume, Log Ride, whatever you wanna call it twice. She told me she did not want to ride it the second time. I went to leave her and she said, "Me too!" She was pretty scared but she did AWESOME!

Memorial Day was great! A smaller crowd than previous years but I was able to spend more time visiting with my guests instead of saying "Hi!" and "Thanks for coming." like most years. I know several people were expecting me to rip on those who signed up and did not attend. Sorry. I saw no need for that. :)

The kids had swim lessons right after Memorial Day. This was Joy's first year. What a handful she was...or so i heard. Merry and Raiden are much better around water than last year. AWESOME JOB guys!

This last Thursday we hosted a wedding reception for our good friend Kristi and her new hubby Peter. It was the first time I had a large number of people in my backyard without a volleyball game. :( Friday we went to the Redhawks game. That was a blast! Saturday we went to Northrop Grumman's company picnic at City Beach (www.citybeachokc.com) My team actually won the volleyball tournament!!! YAY FOR US!!!

Sunday I went to see X3...FINALLY!!! Wow that was worth the wait. I had so much fun at that movie. Being a "former" comic book geek, I thought I knew everything that would happen in this one. BOY was I wrong! It was fantastic!

Sunday afternoon, Raiden became an even bigger boy. He went to his first week long camp. :( He is at Camp Impact on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University. You can send him an email at camp.oc.edu. He is rooming with his homie Gregory. He was so excited he could hardly wait to get out of the house. He told me in the car that he will miss being at home but he will miss his sisters a little bit.

I will post picutres in the next post.

Thanks for reading!

MASSIVE UPDATE!!!

2006-05-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

We have lots to update you with this week.

First off, my mom, as well as my in-laws paid the Sawyer Household a visit last week. On Friday night, Raiden had his drama performance. Then on Saturday, Merry had her dance recital.

Before I get to those great events, someone allowed Raiden to use our digital camera. Here are some of the pictures he took..

I know. That was pure randomness. I agree. But you have to admit that's funny stuff.

The pictures from the performances are a little dark. You will notice a kid in a pointy hat. That would be Raiden. His performance was called "Unscripted" because the director decided to let 3rd and 4th graders come up with their own play. In a nutshell, Raiden's character wants to dance with the popular girl. She only agrees after him and his "nerdy" friends tutor her and her "popular" friends. The great thing about the performance is Raiden danced with a girl (GASP!!!) and he did the Robot!!! We discussed the worm (which he can do) but decided against it.

Merry did a jazz and a ballet performance. She looked cute as only she can. :) There were a couple of times in the performance she actually smiled. I almost thought she liked what she was doing.

See you next post!!! :)

A Tradition Unlike Any Other...

2006-05-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

The 2006 Memorial Day Bash is COMING!!!

On Memorial Day approximately 100 show up at the Sawyer Sports Complex to play, eat, and make fun of others. This year will be no different.

We play volleyball, croquet, basketball, and eat...lots. This year I am adding an enclosed area for the little ones to play in. This will enclose the swingset area and we will be putting some other fun things in there for the kiddos. Hopefully this will prevent any horseshoes from knocking out Kumor kids...or parents. :)

Here is a link for pictures of a previous Bash. Enjoy! http://www.edmondyoungfamilies.org/gallery/v/2004/memorial/

You Call That Sweet Tea?

2006-05-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Growing up the Georgia Peach that I am, I have always longed for having sweet tea regularly in Oklahoma. Not the unsweetened tea that you add sugar to variety. But southern style sweet tea. The craziest thing has happened around here. Restaurants are starting to carry sweet tea in Oklahoma!!!

At first I was quite skeptical. The more places I tried the better the tea is. I took the time to compile a list of the best sweet tea places in Oklahoma.

5. Fuddrucker's in Tulsa - This one surprised me because it was not better than it really was. Fuddrucker's is one of my all-time favorite places for burgers and their tea just wasn't great. They did have real lemons to add to the tea so that helped.

4. My mom's house - She is the one that started it all. Growing up she would make sweet tea. However, none of us would drink the tea until it has been in the refrigerator for more than a day. After that it was PURE HEAVEN!!! I know she should be higher on my list but I do not get to have it as often as I would like.

3. Johnnie's Charcoal Broiler - I have found that the tea at Johnnie's versus Johnnie's Express is different. My first visit to the Johnnie's on I-240 was a enlightening experience. I almost cried because the tea was very close to my mom's and it was great! However, the last few times I have been there the tea has left a lot to be desired.

2. Swadley's Bar-B-Q South OKC - OH MY GOODNESS!!! Talk about sweet. The manager told me that his recipe is 3-4 cups of sugar. Plus he has to throw the tea out everynight because it becomes syrup. Thats AWESOME!!! My only knock against them is that the use lemon juice packets and not real lemons.

1. Johnnie's Express Danforth Rd. - Anytime, which isn't very often, that Phylliese says, "Where do you want to go for dinner?" This is my first answer. The sweet tea at Johnnie's Express is very close to my mom's recipe. Its GREAT!!!

I know you all feel better knowing where to go to get sweet tea. You can thank me later. :)

Not As Young As I Used to Be

2006-05-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

So last Sunday while many of you were sleeping in your nice comfortable beds, I was up at 4am getting ready. "Getting ready for what Tom?" Getting ready to do something that only a handful of us in the Young Families Class have done. I ran a half-marathon. :)

I woke up before my alarms (yes plural) and made myself a GREAT smoothie that I like to have before a race. 1 Cup of apple juice, 1 8oz container of vanilla yogurt, 10oz or so of frozen strawberries and a whole banana for those wanting the recipe. Sunday morning I doubled the recipe because of the length I was going to run.

After making enough noise to wake the house up, I got dressed and headed off to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. I paid my $1 to park at the Santa Fe garage (which I paid $5 to park at the night before for a Yard Dawgs game). I gathered my MP3 player and sunglasses then got my running shoes on (and my knee brace too :|). I walked to the starting line area which is on the east side of the Memorial. Its always fun to run this race in any capacity because you get to see News Channel 4 personalities much earlier in the morning than you are used to seeing them. You can tell that they are human this way.

While trying to weave my way to the starting line I bumped into my boy E-Mac, Ellis McCurtain, who was running in his first ever marathon! He was trying to find a bathroom and I told him good luck because it takes 15 minutes to get in one of those before race time. I found the area that I wanted to start in and started stretching. After a great deal of talking from people on the loudspeaker the countdown began to the start of the race. At 6:30am, the starter's gun went off and 2 minutes 33 seconds later I went across the starting line. It is an AMAZING sight seeing so many people running in front of you as you go downhill on Robinson. Even better to see the large number of people behind you. :)

After the 2nd mile it was my turn the visit the bathroom. 5 minutes later I was back on the course. This time I got to weave around walkers. The one thing a runner gets annoyed with is walkers on a running course.

For the rest of the run, I was shooting for running to each water station then walking while I enjoyed water, oranges, and/or bananas. It seemed to be a great plan and worked well for me for most of the day. I started having fun with the course marshals who ensure that motorists do not run us down while we cross intersections. I kept asking them, "Is this the shortcut?" or "Can you give me a ride?". Most of them laughed but there were a couple of older people who scoffed at me because I was asking to leave.

When I came up to Broadway, I knew that I was less than a mile from the finish line. It was time to see what kind of kick I had left. Fortunately for me I did have a kick. I made it to the finish line in 2 hours and 31 minutes. I was quite pleased because I had only trained for 3 weeks for this race! I was shooting for 3 hours. YAY ME!!!

One of the best aspects of this race is the area behind the finish line. I had a couple of Powerades, cookies, yogurts, sausage biscuits and a cheeseburger from Carl's Jr. Good stuff!!! Best of all it was free!!! The 10 minute massage afterwards was great also!

The course has not changed much since I ran the full marathon in 2003. But we had a much better day with less wind than in 2003. While I was waiting for Ellis to finish his marathon, I started thinking, "I could do another marathon. I want to do another marathon." I will keep you advised on this developing situation. Before I forget, Ellis completed the marathon just under 5 hours which was his goal. Good Job E-Mac!!!

It has now been two days since the marathon. My body is still aching. My left knee is hurting. My hips are sore. My back is sore. I walk like John Wayne. All of this from a half of a marathon. Nonetheless I want to give it another try at doing a marathon!

No Talk. Just Easter Pictures!!!

2006-04-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

LTC Weekend

2006-04-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Raiden and I went to Tulsa this weekend for the Leadership Training for Christ convention. We arrived Friday evening and learned a valuable lesson immediately. If the church is offering food at 5:15 and you show up at 6:45, the ladies will still feed you. Being an LTC rookie, we bought some hotdogs, drinks and candy for $11 at the convention center only to learn that there was taco salad in the suite that the church reserves.

Anyway, Raiden's first event was bible reading. The picture is of Raiden and one of his friends Gregory. They were being big goofballs before the event. Shocking I know. To top it off Doug Caldwell and his wife Stephanie were in attendance as well. Doug was even a judge for the bible reading event. He even let Raiden know he expected a great job from him. Not really. Doug did give the 3-4th grade boys something to say by calling the restroom the "room of rest". I heard that saying 372 times that weekend.

After bible reading, there was a devo for the elementary age kids. Mark Stansberry led the devo. What I thought was pretty cool was during the singing, Raiden, Derrick and Gregory put their arms on each others shoulders and sang. I have never really hung out with Raiden's friends in this type of setting. It was pretty awesome to watch.

That night I let Raiden and his other friend Derrick stay up until midnight running around the hotel. It was pretty funny to hear the two of them talk as if they were doing something almost illegal. Well maybe they were. I will never tell.

The next day we picked up Cookie, Tookie, Turkey, also known as my mom. She accompanied us to puppets and song leading. The puppets did a great job. Raiden got to be a dog as seen in the picture.

The final event for Raiden was the Song Leading. Another rookie error was made on my part by not reading the rules for this event. The rules state that you must have a transparency in order to let everyone know what song you are singing. We did not have one. So I told Raiden to just say something before he starts about not having a transparency. Raiden walks up very confidently when his name is called and says, "I do not have a transparency. But if you want to sing Blank Screen, you can. I will be leading We Bow Down." I laughed so hard I could not video his excellent job of leading the song. Cookie was crying she was laughing so hard. As we walked out the judges were laughing too.

After we left the convention center, we visited a personal favorite of Raiden's...Fuddrucker's. While there we sat next to...Doug and Stephanie Caldwell. I think we were being stalked. Anyway we went to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum after that and had a blast.

Sunday evening Raiden led a song during evening worship. He was not nearly as nervous as you would think a 9-year old would be. He did AWESOME!

At the banquet, Raiden received his results...He took part in a total of six events. Service Projects, Pre-Convention Bible Reading, and Children's Story Book took place before this weekend. Bible Reading, Puppets, and Song Leading happened this weekend. Raiden received 5 Golds and Bronze for his work. I was VERY proud of the job he did!!!

Easter pics are coming soon...I promise! :)

Not the Easter Post...

2006-04-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

I know many of you are looking forward to the Easter/LTC post. I will do that tonight...I hope.

I wanted to share with you something that brought a BIG, FAT SMILE to my face when I returned from Tulsa on Saturday night.

Many of you probably have NO idea what this is. Animaniacs was/is one of my favorite cartoons EVER!!! I believe it started in 1993. Until now it was not available on DVD. In July of this year it will be released and Raiden and I (thats for you Gee) cannot be happier.

This is the show that spawned Pinky and the Brain as well as one of the funniest shows EVER Freakazoid (hope this comes out soon too).

I have already pre-ordered my copy and I am pretty selfish so don't worry about me sharing with you...well maybe some of you.

Blogging For Dummies

2006-04-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why I called this entry that.

Things are happening pretty swiftly at the Sawyer Sports Complex (SSC). Phylliese and I are in the middle of replacing the siding on the shed. Once that is complete we will "blow up" the front porch and redo that whole area. The new addition to the SSC this year will be a sectioned off kids area with only one entrance and exit. This way everyone can watch the Kumor kids better :) Plus I am hoping not to have any horseshoes hit children this year.

This weekend is LTC weekend. Me and Raiden are heading to Tulsa to watch him school those other church kids!!! Oh wait...its not a competition between churches...oh...ummmm...I guess we will just have fun then.

We are also rapidly approaching Merry and Joy's olympics in gymnastics, Merry's dance recital, and Raiden's drama performance (which I learned tonight will not be scripted!).

To top that all off, Merry has her first loose tooth. :O She has been pleading for a loose tooth since she turned five. Last week the dentist told us that Merry has 4 teeth that will be gone pretty quickly. Needless to say she is pretty excited...scared now that she thinks it may hurt.

More pics coming up soon...

Abilene Weekend

2006-03-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

We went to Abilene this weekend for Grandmother Merrell's 90th Birthday Bash. Lots of people showed up. It was fun stuff.

Joy and Merry got bored pretty quickly so we found other things to do :)

These two pictures were taken last week when I walked into my room and the girls were watching a movie. I thought they were cute. You can tell on one of them Joy decided to pose.

New job starts tomorrrow. Then tomorrow night I get to have dinner with Newt Gingrich. :)

I hate to tell you this but...

2006-03-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

...Raiden is becoming more and more like...well...me :)

Those of you who live in Oklahoma can attest to this. Raiden has become more and more like me.

In the fall, Raiden began taking drama classes (his idea). This spring he and his group will have a performance. While most drama companies have plays and such to do, not Raiden's. They will have something that they actually have to memorize lines for. However, each of the kids get to pick a type of character to be in the drama. From what the teacher says, they can come up with their own material for it. Guess what Mr. Raiden choose? He wants to be the comedian of the group. The teacher has suggested that Raiden be a practical joke playing kid. I can only imagine what this means for his sisters over the next few weeks.

Raiden is also involved in Leadership Training for Christ (LTC) which teaches kids basic worship leading skills. He is doing song leading, puppets, bible reading, and he drew a book. As far as the puppets I was told by Mrs. Robin that he would be a dog. Not just any dog mind you, but a dog that makes an entrance as the "voice of reason". Something about that seems fishy to me. Anyway Raiden was soo excited about the idea he could barely stand it.

A side note about LTC, for those of you who have not experienced LTC yet get ready. It is amazing how much work goes into it. The volunteers that lead each of the areas spend SOOOOOO much time on it. It is pretty hectic but we have until Easter weekend to perform the constant coming and going on Sunday afternoons. Once LTC is over then I kick into vacation bible school gear.

We are off to the Mecca (aka Abilene,Texas) this weekend for Grandmother's 90 Birthday party. I have a feeling that this party will not last past 7pm. :)

Time For a Change...

2006-03-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well...after 15 months of being back in the "real" world, and fixin' Breathing Disorders Services, Inc., the time has come for me to move on to another challenge. On March 29th, I will begin work as the IT Director for Mercer Valve, Inc. Check the link out to see info about the company. It is a manufacturing plant. So I will be like a much younger Mike Bosley, only cooler.

All of my duties will be the same as I do now. You know, spinning in my chair hourly, reading Dustin's emails, thinking of great jokes, pondering the meaning of life and so forth. I am VERY excited about this opportunity and look forward to the challenges. It is a new position for this company so I get to be the one to "set the standard" or "break them in" :)

In kid related news, everyone has been well for the last three weeks. Now I suspect someone will get sick. Joy did suffer two "knots" on her head from two separate accidents last week. But they have since healed. Raiden is currently trying to figure out how to beat his mom in Phase 10. Merry has become friends with a boy at church. I am not so sure that I like that idea...at all.

Funk of the House

2006-02-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Before people start beating us up again about the updating of our blog, our house has been a den of funk for almost 2 weeks. But Tom what funk are you speaking of?

Well it started off innocently with Raiden not feeling well and running a temp after a basketball game two weeks ago. Then on the following Monday, Joy came down with the same bug. Although Joy's illness lasted a day and some change. Our theory is that she beat up the bug. She can do it!!! Then Merry and then Phylliese. That's right yours truly was the only well member of the Sawyer Family. At least physically well :) I had four sick people to come home to every day! Lucky me!!!

Raiden and Phylliese were well for about a day and both got sick again. Raiden went to the doc and learned he had a sinus infection. Phylliese seems to be getting better finally.

Needless to say no one has wanted to hang out with my crew and I got to spend most of last week at home for half a day. That was nice. Reminded me of another time in my life when I stayed home all day.

Now that everyone is better I will be trying to get sick so all 4 of my crew can take care of me :)

We Climbed to the Top of the Mountain

2006-01-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

Well, actually, we DROVE to the top of the mountain. And the mountain was Mt. Scott - part of the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. It's probably only called a mountain because they didn't know what else to call a mound of dirt more than 20 feet tall in Oklahoma. The mountain stands 2,464 feet tall and is really quite impressive to three little sets of eyes. The day was beautiful. The mountain hadn't changed much since the days when Tom and I used to hang out there, but the view had. The main difference was the large wind farm nearby. It was a very cool sight. The kids had great fun climbing around the rocks. I had fun watching my three little munchkins and remembering standing among those same rocks 10 years ago without a clue of what we would be doing now.

Wonderful Christmas

2006-01-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

We had a terrific Christmas! Tom had to go to Arizona on the Thursday before Christmas. That means that I had to take Thursday and Friday off:) The kids and I enjoyed the two days by getting ready for company and spending time together. On Friday, my sister, Dezarae, and her two wonderful kids came into town. It was quite a drive from Colorado! Tom also returned home on Friday. On Saturday, Cookie/Tookie/Turkey arrived. After one crazy cookie decorating session, we were ready for Santa Claus!

The kids got lots of great stuff for Christmas. They have really enjoyed it all. The best part of that week, however, was time with the cousins. Gabe and Bea (and Dez) stayed until that next Thursday (when everyone but Tom headed to Abilene). We played lots of games, baked and decorated LOTS of cookies, went bowling, and just had an all-out good time. We hope to repeat it next year.

Thursday we headed to Abilene for the annual Merrell weekend-after-Christmas gathering. It was great to see almost the entire clan there (Erik, we missed you!). Christmas isn't Christmas without all the family fun. This year, we met at the gym of Southern Hills Church of Christ for our meal and stocking fiesta. I thought it worked out really well. The only bad thing was that I didn't get to see some of you for very long - I look forward to our next gathering in March (shhh!)!

I love Christmas - the meaning behind it, the family get-togethers. As for some of the rest of it - let's just say I'm glad it only comes once a year. We have managed to get the tree and all the decorations put away already. What a relief:)

Locks Of Love

2006-01-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

After months of asking for short hair and one self-haircut, I finally took Merry to the hairdresser on December 16. After being asked "Are you sure?" several times, Merry said she was ready and the hair was cut. Yes, Mom shed some tears. However, what has been cut off is being donated to Locks Of Love - a wonderful organization that helps children who have lost their hair. Merry loves her haircut - and Mom loves that some other child will benefit from what was cut off (I like the haircut too).

Joy Turns 2

2006-01-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

It's official. We no longer have a baby. Our precious Joy turned 2 on December 8. She had what is now the traditional Sawyer 2-year-old party -- Blue's Clues. Of course, the ball pit (also used when the other kids turned 2) was also revived. It took Joy a while to realize that the party was for her, but she had a great time.

MERRY TURNS 5!!!

2005-09-29T06:21:00.000-07:00

We tried to stop it. We did everything we could. But on September 13th Merry turned 5. It was a fun day. While I was taking the kids to drop them off all across Edmond, Merry said, "WOW Dad! I cannot believe it! I have never been 5 before." That made me laugh.

After I got off of work we let Merry decide where she wanted to have dinner. I just knew we would end up at McDonald's. To my surprise Merry chose Ci Ci's Pizza. Merry said it best when she said her birthday was "lots of good fun."

On the following Saturday we had her birthday party here at the house. She surprised us again by choosing a "Flowers and Butterflies" party instead of the "Princess" party which is still the rage with the 4-6 year old group she hangs out with. She wore her butterfly shirt that "Tookie" (my mom) sent her. Her usual crew minus one were here. Needless to say it was a loud group.

It just amazes me that it has been 5 years since she was born. Because of the time that I was fortunate to have by being at home with her from 4 months old, the fact that she turned 5 really floored me. I have watched her progress from a baby to a toddler to a little girl and now she acts like she is a teenager. I watch her play with her friends or with her siblings and I cannot believe that someday my little girl will grow up and actually want to leave my house. Many people I know who have recently had their kids move to college have told me that I should enjoy every moment because before you know it they will be gone. As all three of my crew get older I remind myself everyday that someday they will be gone...

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLL

2005-09-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

After fighting with Raiden's asthma for almost his entire life, we finally have a doctor that has Raiden's breathing under control. Because of this we decided to have Raiden try soccer...finally.

Raiden seems a bit lost sometimes while he is on the field. He tends to be really good at spectating. The team is co-ed and it is interesting watching Raiden interact with girls. He is having fun and that's the main reason I wanted him to play. He plays forward and defense. He enjoys defense because he likes stopping the other team from scoring. He is good at forward because he is one of the fastest kids on the team but he does not kick the ball hard enough to get past the goalie.

So far his team is 0-1-1. His coaches are originally from Scotland and the coach's dad played for the Scottish national team back in the day. The good thing is that the coaches emphasize playing to have fun and not about winning. The soccer league that plays behind our house is filled with "soccer dads" who act like "hockey dads". We decided against joining that league.

We have 2 games this Saturday one at 9am and the other at 11am. Should be a good time.

Pics to come...

Just Because...

2005-08-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

After dinner last night Joy decided to wear a hat. We do not ask questions...she does what she wants...

Merry and Joy Start Gymnastics

2005-08-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

Merry started her 3rd year in gymnastics this week. This is Merry's first year in the BIG gym. Joy started her first year Monday. She has wanted to get in the gym and now she can.

The Honda is Dead...

2005-08-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, August 18th we learned it would cost approximately $1500 to repair the Honda Accord that Tookie gave us 6 years ago. We decided to send the Honda on its way and go car shopping.

On Monday night we bought a 2003 Oldsmobile Alero. Its maroon with tan interior.

Pictures to come for those who care...maybe :)

Last Day at White Water Bay

2005-08-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well, 9 days this summer we went to White Water Bay. On the last day for us to go, last Friday, we finally brought a camera with us so we can share pictures. Merry was not in much of a riding mood this day

Joy up close and personal...

Raiden catches air...

Raiden rides the MEGA WEDGIE...

Merry and Joy take a break to pose...

Joy takes on the whale slide...

If You Don't Like the Weather in Oklahoma...

2005-08-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

...wait a minute it will change.

This is what remains of our bradford pear tree that was in our backyard. I strong 70+mph gust came through on Saturday August 13th and took down our tree. This was the tree where I had placed a yard furniture set that I hang out in most mornings. Plus we had four of our fence panels get knocked down. It was pretty amazing!

Wake Up Joy!!!

2005-08-19T06:36:00.000-07:00

This is what Joy looks like when she wakes up. Don't you wish you were this happy!

Raiden's 8.5 Birthday Party

2005-08-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

Because Raiden's birthday is December 30th, Phylliese and I decided a few years ago to start having half-birthday parties for him. Usually on the 30th we are out of town and you have a hard time finding anything fun to do at that time of year.

This year Raiden chose to go to LASERQUEST and play laser tag. It was a great time and Raiden really enjoyed it!

A Week in the Life of Us...

2005-08-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

Several people have asked me about the daily drop-off routine that we have for the kids. Its pretty amazing that I have not shown up at the wrong house...yet!

Monday - Drop Raiden at Kristy's. Merry at Bonnie's and Joy at Michelle's.
Tuesday - Drop Raiden at Kristy's. Merry and Joy to Bonnie's.
Wednesday - Drop Raiden and Merry at Kristy's. Joy to Michelle's.
Thursday - Drop Raiden at Kristy's. Merry and Joy at Bonnie's.
Friday - Raiden, Merry and Joy to Cindy's house.

Phylliese will pick the kids up around 12:00 - 1:00 each day. She says she has not gotten lost. :)

Any of you that do not live in Oklahoma we would be happy to have you help us for a week or so. ;)

New Joy Pictures!!! YAY!!!

2005-08-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well...below you will find Joy's 18 month pictures. You now see why I never attend the photo shoots of my girls. Too cute!!! If you would like copies of these send me your address to trsawyer@cox.net and I will mail them out to you. Let me know which pictures you want.

Merry on the Party Circuit

2005-08-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

We are approaching the time of year when Merry's friends start having birthday parties almost every week. I received these two pictures from Mike Bosley and thought I would post them on the blog. Enjoy!

Pray for Kaden

2005-07-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

I hope you all are enjoying the fact that I am finally updating the website.

Today I have a special update that I would like to share. Some of you know about my good friends Chris and Lacy and their baby boy Kaden. If you have not seen their website I wanted to put a link on here so that you can check it out as well. The address is www.kadengee.com. Here you can learn about Kaden's condition, updated at least daily, and how he got to the point he is now.

This special little boy is not out of the woods yet but with continued prayer he can be there soon.

Raiden Conquers The Cliff Dive

2005-07-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

Thursday we enjoyed an afternoon at White Water Bay, our water park in OKC. It was a nice break since I had been stuck in VBS drama preparations for almost 2 weeks. It was the first time I had a chance to play with the crew and it was a BLAST!

Merry, Raiden and myself hit the Bermuda Triangle once we got to the park. http://www.sixflags.com/parks/whitewaterbay/Rides/bermuda.html

After playing in other areas of the park I decided to try WWB's newest ride the MEGA WEDGIE! http://www.sixflags.com/parks/whitewaterbay/Rides/mega-wedgie.html.
Raiden decided he wanted to try the Cliff Dive. Another body slide that he has sworn to never ride. http://www.sixflags.com/parks/whitewaterbay/Rides/acapulco.html Not only did Raiden ride it once, he ended up riding it 3 times. Amazing me and Phylliese. He is already planning on riding it again when we go back this week. Good stuff!!!

Vacation Bible School is upon us...

2005-07-18T04:45:00.000-07:00

For the last two-plus weeks and until this Wednesday, I have been working on the VBS drama. For the last week Phylliese and the kids have been helping other people in our class decorate the children's wing for VBS. Needless to say we have been very busy...and tired.

This year I am playing the part of Advisor to King Solomon. In addition to being in the opening skit that is based, loosely, on the TV show Home Improvement. I keep forgetting how much work this is every year.

The kids got their VBS t-shirts last night and all three shirts came home with a stain of some sort.

Finally an update...

2005-07-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

I know you all have missed hearing the latest greatest news about us. Here are a few items of interest:

Joy's vocabulary has skyrocketed as of late. She says "I love you", "See you later", "Monkey" and "get down" (she says this to Raiden and Merry). She is so funny. Below are some pics from hanging around the house, 4th of July and hanging out with Tookie and Mr. Kenny in Tulsa.

Merry has just blossomed since receiving her hearing aids. Her vocabulary is very clear. As you can tell from her pics she is just an cutie. My favorite thing she says lately is, "Dad you cannot read my bedtime story. Boys are not allowed in my room." YES! Fine by me. :) She recently got to ride her first BIG PERSON roller coaster. Since then she has ridden it 8 times. Her pics are from her Olympics performance as well as Dance, 4th of July and being a princess...

Now it is time for Raiden. Of course he knows everything and we are all supposed to fall in line with him and his demands! :) Actually Raiden is still a sweet boy. He will freely admit to liking one of his sisters. I will let you figure out which one. He is finally swimming better and riding every ride I throw at him at Frontier City and White Water Bay. Pics are from building our new playset, 4th of July and playing.

We will be updating this as soon as we get more news. :)

Sawyer Memorial Day Bash 2005

2005-06-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

After painting the house for two weeks, praying that my weed control company can get my yard to look better, building a playset and preparing the house for guests the Memorial Day Bash went off without a hitch. This year was the first in a couple of years that we did not put flyers out or advertised the party. We decided to let word of mouth and reputation fill the yard with guests. It worked!!!

We invited the Young Families, Young Marrieds, and Newlyweds classes from our church. In addition we invited the ministers and their families. The Newlyweds and ministers no showed. Good thing too. If David Duncan had shown we would've run out of food. Plus if Randy Roper attended he would've been embarrassed at the volleyball court by yours truly...but I digress...

Before I release the stats I would like to thank Sgt. Will Harris and his family for attending the Bash. For those of you who did not attend, Will returned from Iraq in March and shared his thoughts on Memorial Day. It was quite moving. I also want to thank all of you who brought food and made the party GREAT!!! Special thanks to "WHAT UP GEE!!!" Chris Gee for cutting the front lawn for me.

HERE COME THE STATS!!!

Total Number Attended - 88
Number of Kids/Adults - 36/52
Number of Burgers/Chicken Cooked - 100
Number of Hot Dogs Cooked - 50
Number of bloody lips - 1 (Josh Foster hit Ty with a left jab)
Broke the most croquet mallets or BIG Marthas - Kyle Mauck
Pairs of shoes thrown away - 1
Amount my homeowners insurance premiums will increase next year - $1800
Number of "accidents" by Cheryl Kumor - 43
Amount my insurance will pay to Cheryl Kumor for her "accidents" - $0.32
Number of chocolate desserts present - 0 (What's wrong with you people?)
Number of Horseshoe games Tom won - 1
Number of Horseshow losses by Tim Breninger to Tom - 1 :)
Hours spent practicing volleyball by the Hamlins - 10 hours a week since last Memorial Day
Number of volleyball highlights by the Hamlins - 12
Welcome Back to the Court - Audrey Mauck (She let Kyle have it a couple of times)
Number of excuses Chris Gee gave during volleyball - 129
Number of positions played by David Romero during any rally - All
Number of couples that signed up to bring something and no showed, no called - Ferguson and Hollingsworth
Number of bad volleyball plays by Tim J. Priebe - 116
Number of good volleyball plays by Tim J. Priebe - 3 (Getting better Tim J.!!!)
Number of thanks from the Sawyers to all of you who attended - A million

See you next year!!!

*The opinions expressed in this blog are soley that of Tom Sawyer. Any duplication, public viewing, meditation, remediation, re-broadcast is against the law you bad, bad person.

Raiden Sees EPIII

2005-06-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

Friday for my birthday, I took Raiden to see Star Wars Episode III. Needless to say he was so excited he could barely stand it. We arrived at the theater 50 minutes before the movie started and we were the first to sit. We played games on my cell phone, which Raiden creamed me in one game in particular, and we waited...waited....waited...until...

The music started for Star Wars to begin and Raiden started JUMPING in his seat. It was hilarious. 2 hours and 26 minutes later Raiden stood up and said, "That was sweet." Then on the way home we discussed our favorite funny moments and favorite action scenes.

It was great!

Star Wars EP III

2005-05-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

I went to see Star Wars Wednesday night/Thursday morning last week. It was AWESOME!!! The theater that I went to had 20 of their 24 screens showing the movie. I am taking Raiden to see the movie this week. He has already decided to dress up like a Jedi for the movie. Ten years from now he can tell his friends that his dad took him to see Episode III and let him dress up. :)

Tom and Raiden's Excellent Adventure

2005-05-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! This weekend I took Raiden with me on the Spring Retreat for our youth group at church. We had a BLAST!!!
Friday we drove out with the rest of the youth group to Lariat Creek Christian Camp in Geary, Oklahoma. Even though we stopped in Garth Brooks' hometown of Yukon for dinner, we still made it to the camp around 8:00pm. Upon arrival, I told Raiden we had to get to a special cabin that I wanted to sleep in. We grabbed our gear and before the rest of the group knew what happened, me and Raiden were walking across the suspension bridge towards the cabins. We slept in the "new" cabin that is a log cabin with single beds and no bunkbeds. Plus it had a new heater which was helpful because the temperature was in the upper 30s Saturday morning. Friday night Raiden got to stay up until midnight which was "lights out".
Saturday morning I woke Raiden up around 8:00am. Being a sponsor/teacher on the retreat I was able to get into the kitchen before the kids were allowed to eat. I hooked Raiden up with 4 pancakes fresh off the griddle and apple juice. The funny thing was Raiden coming out of the kitchen in front of 100 kids and talking about how good breakfast was. The other kids were not allowed to eat for another 45 minutes.
Raiden spent most of the time between breakfast and worship "exploring" the woods of the camp. He "discovered" many trails around the camp and told everyone about them. He also learned a "game" from the seniors. Its called Gladiator. Instead of shaking someone's hand or patting them on the back, you chop people on their forehead like a gladiator with your hand. Raiden brawled with the seniors most of the weekend.
Raiden also got to spend group time with my group and he seemed more interested in playing than listening, which was fine. He did not disturb the group. He even added a few comments during one of the discussions.
Saturday night was the "talent" show which he and I were the Pony Express delivering mail as a form of communication. I got to be the horse. Raiden laughed alot during the talent show. Then he and I went to the bonfire that was expertly constructed. He got to make smores and he ate two of them.
Before bed we went to a dark part of the camp and we watched stars for over an hour. In that time we saw 4 shooting stars. He had never seen one before so he thought that was very cool.
Sunday morning we left after a communion service and got to the church 1 1/2 hours before everyone else.
Raiden had a great time and he has already told Jake, our youth minister, that he was coming to the Fall retreat in October.

What was lost is now found...

2005-04-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

Boy was Wednesday a crazy day at the Sawyer Complex. I called Phylliese to let her know that I was leaving work and she informed me that Merry lost one of her hearing aids!!!

As I made my way down our street I saw our minivan in the driveway with ALL of the seats on the lawn or in the driveway. Phylliese had removed them trying to find the hearing aid. No luck.

Merry could not remember when she lost the aid. Phylliese and I were quite stressed because we have not even paid for the aids yet. Now it seems as if we are going to replace this one.

Phylliese called Kristy, whose house Merry spent the day at, and she was going to look for it when she got home. Kristy called us at 8:45 last night to inform us that she found the hearing aid in her daughter Grace’s room with the kitchen play set. Whew!

Once the kids got to bed, Phylliese and I took care of a bag of Double Stuffed Oreos. That made everything better.

Welcome to Our Blog!!!

2005-04-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our attempt at blogging. This is a place where you can come to see updates on the Sawyer family, especially Raiden, Merry and Joy.

We look forward to hearing back from you all as we write this. Do not hesitate to share the URL with anyone else.