A few of my favorite things...

I'm talking websites that is. As if anyone really needs an excuse to spend more time online, but I just wanted to share a few of my regular sites that are definitely worth a peek if you want to check them out...and have the time to spare!

Disclaimer: I cannot be responsible for the time that will magically disappear or the daily addiction that may result from looking at these sites.
Okay, you've been warned ;)

Okay, so the first one is for all you Bachelorette fans out there. It's called I Hate Greenbeans and it is too funny! The blog author, Lincee, recaps each episode, adding her own commentary and basically telling it like it is and saying all the things the rest of us were thinking as we watched the most recent episode. I look forward to reading this blog almost as much as much as I look forward to watching it with all my neighborhood ladies every Monday. It's too cute so all you Bachelorette fans should definitely check it out! (Oh, and I didn't discover this on my own--thanks to Stacey for telling me about this website!)

The second is Young House Love (formerly called This Young House) which is the blog of an adorable couple, Sherry & John. They got married, bought a really old, outdated house, and did a complete home makeover--well, I say did, but it's really an ongoing project. They've been featured on HGTV, the Nest, and Better Homes & Gardens, just to name a few. I can't really do this way cute site justice, you'll just have to check it out for yourself. Though you may want to read my disclaimer one more time before you proceed, I'm just sayin'....
(again, not an original discovery, thanks to Renee for this one!)

Okay and the last one isn't a website, but I ordered it online, does that count? It's Jillian Michael's (yes the scary lady from The Biggest Loser) 30 Day Shred! Again, this came by way of referral of my sweet friend Renee who highly recommended it. You can also check it out here on Amazon if I've perked your curiosity. Basically you spend 20 minutes a day for 30 days doing her circuit training workout. I haven't actually started it yet, but it's being shipped to me as I type and August 1st is go time baby!... I am SO EXCITED about this! I know if it has Renee's seal of approval it's got to be good...not to mention the 1,250+ raving reviews on Amazon :) (I'm not joking, I seriously couldn't find a negative review). I hear it's a HUGE butt kicker. I can't wait...updates to follow I'm sure :)

4th of July Fun!

We had an AWESOME Independence Day celebration with our wonderful friends--the Huggins family! Ashleigh & Joel invited us to the Huggins family celebration of Joel's mama, Kaal's, 60th birthday celebration on the lake. We had a wonderful time boating, tubing, jetskiing, swimming, and spending fun times with the Huggins. They are the sweetest, most welcoming family and we absoultely love them to pieces! They have some family friends that have a GORGEOUS house right on the lake and they were sweet enough to open their home up to us. Here are some pictures from our absolutely wonderful 4th of July!

My silly goose :)

Owen thinks it's so funny to take my sunglasses off of my face and put them on himself. I just had to share these pictures of my silly little boy! Oh, and I often call him a silly goose so he repeats me and says "goose goose!" when he does something funny, it's too precious! I'm a little goose goose!

Sweet Summertime

Our garden is in full bloom and we are loving it! We have an abundant supply of homegrown tomatoes, zucchini, and jalapeno peppers. We also have several fresh herbs that we try and use in our cooking practically every day. No sign of the bell peppers yet, but I'm thinking they'll be here soon. I even gave it a shot at making my grandfather's pepper jelly and it turned out great! Tony & I are going to make as many batches as we can from our jalapenos so we'll have plenty to last us till next summer as well as some to give away too.

Almost every morning Owen and I head out to the garden to see what's ripe and ready for picking. He loves to try and pick the marigolds when I'm not looking, which are the only thing he can reach through the fence. I don't mind him picking one or two of them, but he always wants to shove them in his mouth and run off on me so it's become his funny little game. What a little stinker :) Headed out to the garden 1st thing in the morning

Little stinker trying to see if I'm looking so he can nab a marigold!

Our Garden!!!

Jalapenos, almost ready for picking

Homegrown tomatoes, does it get any better?!

1st batch of pepper jelly, so good!

Owen loves the garden just like his mama!

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!