Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to the most wonderful husband I could ever ask for. You are an AMAZING daddy to Owen and I am so blessed to be your wife :) You are the most patient, kind, thoughtful, loving person I know and I fall in love with you all over again every day. My all time favorite sound in the ENTIRE world, is listening to you interact with our son. Whether ya'll are wrestling on the floor, reading a book together, or you're singing him to sleep--it is precious music to my ears. You light up Owen's life and he looks up to you so much, probably more than you even realize he can at 15 months old. You are his hero. You are his role model. You are his father...and a darn good one too :)
I love you!

Orange Beach

We took our first beach trip last week down to my grandparents' house on the bay in Orange Beach (yes I said 1st trip--we plan on taking at least 1 more beach trip this summer!) We met my parents and their friends, the Bakers, there last Monday. The Bakers were a lot of fun to have with us and they even brought their jet skiis which was an extra special little treat. The Bakers left on Wednesday and then the rest of us finished out the week there and headed back on Sunday. Unfortunately, Owen got a fever on Tuesday night and had it until Thursday evening, which wasn't fun at all--especially for him, poor baby :( We made the best of it though and took turns staying with him and rotating going to the beach, to the workout facility at my parents' condo, and riding around on the jet skis in the bay. Tony & I even rode the jet skiis over to a little restaurant on the water one night and had cocktails & an appetizer. It was so much fun! My parents condo has an AWESOME pool with a kids area that has a walk in pool and fountains shooting up out of the water. Before Owen got sick, he really seemed to enjoy that area the best :) There is also a lazy river which is an absolutely fabulous place to grab a tube and a good book and float the day away. We had a wonderful time in Orange Beach as always and can't wait to go back again later this summer!!! Oh, and I'm happy to report that Owen is 100% better now by the way :) Here are some of my favorite pics from our trip. There's quite a few, but I just couldn't narrow it down any more than this--they were so many great ones!
Sunset dinner at Cobalt

My cute parents

My little sweetness


Cutie diggin' in the sand!

Owen's 1st jet ski ride :)

Waving at Geebee & Pops on the dock

Sweet Heidi

A few weeks ago, our family lost our sweet golden retriever, Heidi. She was 14 years old--a good long life, especially for a golden. Heidi was seriously the best dog in the entire world. She was my family's first dog and we got her when I was in middle school. She had the most gentle, loving disposition of any dog that I have ever encountered and she lived her life to love our family. We loved her just as much right back. Heidi was most definitely a member of our family. It has been extremely hard for us, but we've spent a lot of time together and that has helped a lot. Last June Heidi was diagnosed with hermangio sarcoma (tumor on liver/spleen) and had a life expectancy of around 8 weeks. The ol' girl held on almost an entire year! No dog will ever replace our Heidi and she'll hold a very special place in our hearts forever. I'll always treasure the most wonderful memories of my Heidi bear, the first dog I ever had. I love you girl :)

Play Group Picnic

Today for our play group get together we had a picnic & playground date! We packed up our picnics and kids and headed to a nearby neighborhood to eat lunch and then let our kiddos run wild on the play ground. They had so much fun playing and the mamas had just as much fun chasing them around and visiting. Owen was so excited that he could hardly even eat. While the rest of us were trying to finish lunch, he kept taking off running towards the slides. I kept having to run after him, scoop him up, and bring him back. He just wasn't having it! Finally I gave up trying to chase him down and just let him run wild (with me following closely behind him of course!) The weather was absolutely beautiful--the perfect day for a picnic play date! We are so blessed to have a great group of friends in play group. It is so fun watching them grow, learn and interact with each other. Here are some pictures from our big day...

My busy, busy boy!He was crawling in the tunnels...

...swinging on the swings...

... and climbing up the stairs!

Sky high!!! He loved it :)

Swinging with Austyn

Checking out the bouncy horse with Luke

Austyn carefully filling up the dump truck

Owen raking the sand

Jack checking out the big blue jeep

Luke had to go home a little early to take a nap so we're missing both he and his mama, Karen, but here's the rest of the group playing in the sand box :)

Camping Trip

This past weekend we took Owen on his very 1st camping trip! Actually, it was the 1st camping trip Tony & I have taken together as well--we've been camping lots of times, but in the 11 1/2 years we've been together, this was the first time we camped together! We went in with the Dunns and bought a camper that our friend Travis was selling. It has some sentimental value as well because it's the same camper that Tony has been camping in since he was 14 years old when he used to go camping with Travis & his family. It's about 20 years old, but it's in great shape and we are so excited about all the fun family camping trips we're going to take! We had such a blast despite the 3 times the guys had to put up & take down the camper! Once because it wasn't level, once because of a tornado warning (yes, we had a tornado warning and had to seek shelter in the lodge for a while and wait it out!), and then finally the last time stuck :) It rained a lot too, but that was just fine--we grilled out under the canopy and slept really well listening to the rain patter on the camper top! We stayed dry and ate non-toasted s'mores (the fire wouldn't stay lit in the rain of course!). It was such a blast, and I REALLY look forward to our next camping trip. Hopefully next time we'll stay tornado & rain free, haha! Here is a slide show of our trip, enjoy!

Lately...

Here are some more pictures I took of Owen during the month of April...

oh, how I LOVE this little man!

priceless expression :)

REALLY excited!

Little Water Bug :)

Goodness, we've been busy, busy, BUSY this spring! I'm not really sure where the month of April went! We've been playing outside quite a lot lately and enjoying the nice, warm sunny weather that has finally arrived. Owen loves the water, so we've been filling up his baby pool, lathering on the sunscreen, putting on some music, and letting him play the day away outside! We've had a handful of really perfect days outside--Owen in the pool and me sitting right next to him getting a little sun :) We had Play Group this week at our house and we brought out the baby pool for them too. It was so precious watching them all play together in the water! I didn't take any pictures, but we're going to do it again soon so next time I'll be sure to snap some pics of the little water babies! I am really looking forward to our neighborhood pool opening up at the end of this month so that I can go swimming with him!

Here are some precious pictures I took of Owen "swimming" in a plastic red tub at my parents house last week. The bright red was so awesome against the background of the new spring leaves on the trees--some of them really turned out cute! My absolute FAVORITE!

little cutie running around the yard :)

Naked baby escape!
He tried to make a getaway down the sidewalk,
SO FUNNY :)

Our Garden!!!

I am so, so, SO EXCITED!!!! Yesterday we planted our vegetable garden!!! For the past several years we have had it in various different locations, none which got quite enough sun. We've always had a good garden, but we just knew that we needed a little bit more sun to make it even better. This year I think we've done it! Tony worked so hard and did such an awesome job building a terrace on our back bank. Then we dug up dirt from the woods, put in top soil and soil conditioner, and made a nice little level garden that gets sun all day long! We planted tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, oregano, italian flat leaf parsley, and basil. Then we put up a chicken wire fence to keep the rabbits and deer out. We're going to try our hand at making my Papa's famous pepper jelly. I sure hope it turns out well :) OOOHHH!!! and I just cannot wait to eat homegrown tomato sandwiches, YUMMY!!!! Big boy helping us dig in the dirt! YEA! The finished product, I LOVE IT!

Easter Sunday

We had a such a wonderful, wonderful Easter Sunday! We started out the day at church and heard an incredible message from our Pastor. Owen even had an "exceptionally good day" in the nursery (words from his teacher) Owen's not exactly crazy about being left in the nursery every Sunday, but he's getting better! :) After church we went to my parents' house where mom fixed a WONDERFUL Easter lunch. Robert, Kelly, Chris and my grandfather all joined us and we had a great time. After lunch Chris & my grandfather had to leave, but the rest of us went hiking up Pigeon Hill. All in all, it was a glorious day! We are so so grateful to have, first and foremost, such a loving God who sent His son to die for us, but also such a loving family too :) WE ARE BLESSED!!! Owen's 1st Easter Basket
(he was a little too young last year!) Checkin' out all the goodies! ...and then dumping it all out! All the grandparents Noni, Grandpa & Uncle Chris Geebee & Pops On top of Pigeon Hill HAPPY BOY, HAPPY EASTER!!!