It's hard for me to believe that this is my "baby" who will be turning 5 years old in just 6 days. I remember thinking how big of a birthday that was for Will. The big 5. He seemed like such a big boy to me by that age. Now, that's Owen. I know it's part of growing up and like I have said many times before...I will look back at 5 and yearn for this time because he will be way too old at 15 or 25.
5. He is my 5 year old lover. 5 year old cuddler. 5 year old laugher. 5 year old screaming/yeller/hollerer. 5 year old in motion child that never slows even in sleep. 5 year old 
animal LOVER. 5 year old outside LOVER. 5 year old superhero LOVER. He is the epitome of this saying. You've heard it before right? This is Owen. To a Tee!!
He's also my little modern day Robin Hood. He protects me from the ants (by spraying a whole can of ant spray on the grass and thereby killing my grass) he protects me from the wasps (same story but with wasp 
spray added this time), he protects me from the spiders, the june bugs, the rolly polly's, the crickets, grasshoppers, and ladybugs. He loves his momma and my little "Robin Hood" watches out for me while I am relaxing outside. I love my "Noise with dirt on it" and I wouldn't change him for any other 5 year old in the world.
This is the story of 2 haircuts. 1 on a human, 1 on a dog. 1 needed a haircut more than the other one and often smelled like "stink" from outside (but he shall remain nameless who I am thinking of).
Owen and Will normally get buzz cuts for the summer so I can have 8-10 good solid weeks of not fixing, cutting, or dealing with hair. This year, they both (Owen was pretty adament) requested long hair. Owen's hair grows way faster than Will's does so this is only the growth of 1/2 of the summer. Who knows what it's gonna look like come the middle of August when school starts again. Yikes!
The other "child" that got a haircut recently was Norman. Whew, this "kid" really needed it. Being a mix of 2 breeds he tends to have some crazy wild hair, with grass and dirt stuck in it, and carries with him a certain smell that I will not allow in my house. He is 4 months old next week and just had his first grooming experience. Everyone at PetSmart fell in love with him and said how loving and great of a dog he was. I would have to agree. I've never been a "dog person" and still really am not but this puppy fits perfectly in our family and the love Owen has for Norman is pretty special. I now present to you our groomed 4 month old baby. I didn't even know Norman had eyebrows before this!!!!!!!
This 4th of July we headed out to the "country" in Coweta to hang with family, eat till we were sick, blow up things, and play a little corn hole. Isn't that what every family does for 
the 4th? Mom says she lives in "Hicklohoma" and I am beginning to agree with her. It's nice to live in the country though to have the freedom to blow up a huge Lowes bucket with a homemade sparkler bomb and watch it sail 50 feet into the country sky. Not that THIS family did not. No never!
The biggest highlight of the day/night was probably the 
watermelon and cantaloupe 
explosion. Talk about loud! Wow...if you have never heard a watermelon explode with a pack of sparklers in it, then you are missing out:) I took video of both of these fruits blowing up to a million pieces so I don't 
actually have pictures to post on here of that. My dad gets the biggest kick of the objects exploding. On all my videos you hear and see the big boom and then you hear my dad rolling into laughter. On all of them. So funny!
I love being able to hang out with 
all my family for holidays. It's one of the biggest perks of living close to families on holidays! My big cousin (and his little girl), uncle, grandpa and grandma, all my little nieces and nephews, sister and bro in law, aunt and uncle, mom and dad, and of course my family were all present. As you have heard before...I like to capture moments that aren't posed. To snap something that is just true everyday life that I will look back on in future years and enjoy. I took this picture of my boys. It wasn't posed at all and I just love watching 
them mold into their daddy. This proves it....
And then you have my sister who's main goal in life (and she's pretty good at it) is to find opportunities to photo bomb people. Seriously, I have so many of her doing this and I get a kick out of it 
everytime!
Hope everyone had as much fun together with whomever you picked to spend the day with. Happy 4th of July everyone!
Summer has never been my favorite season in the past. I can't stand the Oklahoma heat and humidity. I hate dripping sweat just walking to my mailbox to collect bills. Bills are not worth all that:)
Summer is growing on me though. The last two summers in particular I have begun to feel the freedom that 
finally comes with the months of June, July, and half of August. I think it finally just took a few years of my boys being in school for me to fully enjoy and relax during the summer. The freedom of late nights, pool days, sno cones, and driving for ice cream cones at 9pm.
NO HOMEWORK, READING MINUTES, BOOK BAG CHECK, CLOTHING PICKED OUT FOR THE NEXT DAY, NO LUNCH BOXES TO PACK, NO LUNCH MENU TO READ OVER AND PLAN FOR 
WHAT YOUR CHILD WILL OR WILL NOT EAT, NO SPELLING WORDS OR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS, NO CARPOOLING AND BIZILLIAN FOOTBALL, BASEBALL, SWIMMING, BASKETBALL PRACTICES AND GAMES.
I think you are beginning to get the picture:) June has been an EXTREMELY fun month and I am sad it's over. We love to spend our days together making memories and sometimes on really special 
nights our cousins come over and 
head to the pool with us because 12 hours in the sun just hasn't been enough for the boys.
The only thing (besides going to Florida and Owen's 5th birthday) that is on our roster for the month of July is Will's football Summer Pride camp. It's 3 days a week for the whole month of July but it's only an hour. Owen and 
I spend that time running the track, finding "girlfriends" to play with, or at the park. Tomorrow I am going to muster more energy and run the bleacher stairs. My calves and quads will kill me on Wednesday but then I will just head to the pool and be all fine again.
Happy Summer everyone!
taken the previous years:) This blog post is gonna cover about 7 of my favorites. Of course, I love our normal posed family pictures on the beach too but that is going to be another blog all to itself. I love these pictures because of who they are taken with, where they were taken, or the story behind them being taken. I love the top one of Steven and I because we were tan and full (we had just eaten more seafood). It was one of our last days there and again we were with good friends!
This one of Kasey and I I really like! I love my hair that Kasey braided for me. I don't get to see her very often anymore which means I don't get braids (that look good) anymore. I think we both look very pretty and happy in this shot!
ones we took all week. Please excuse my messy/curly/beach hair in the last 2 pictures. There's only so much you can do with natural wave when mixed with salt water, sand, and sun. I tried my best:)
