MOHAWK!

Yes, Dustin is one of those kids with a mohawk! I said Josh could do it now, and then "fix" it before school starts--haha--in other words, cut it off! Dustin LOVES it and feels very cool...even one of his good buddies got his hair cut like this too! Oh no--a trendsetter!

Summertime!

Okay, two posts in one day, I know....but, I have to catch up with my pictures! We have been enjoying the summer, now that it finally came. The kids have been swimming, and baptizing each other in the pool just about every day now, even saying "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit", it's too cute! To go along with that, Jodee likes to "play church" with her chips/crackers, by breaking a small piece off and eating it like Mommy and Daddy do at church. It cracks us up--but brings up some good conversation topics with the kiddos!

Here are some FUNNY pics of the kids and the slide--slip-n-slide. We got this idea from one of the girls I babysit--and it was really cool!

Dustin loved it....Dylan was brave--going face first..Jodee liked to go backwards...Poncho, our chihuahua, decided to venture onto our picnic table to clean up after the kids ate lunch...Cool flip, Jodee!

The BIG 3-0!

Okay, we both have officially hit 30! Josh was first (a few months ago, but I had to include him), and we celebrated big for him at On The Border with all of our friends and my family. It was fun!

Then, we were actually in Austin on my bday, but the next weekend, Josh got me good! He planned a surprise party with my family--at our house--and I truly did not know anything! He was great, because usually he wants to tell me what presents he's getting me, or just doesn't want it to be a surprise, but this time it was incredible! Good job, hon! I walked in after going out to eat with our family after evening church, and my entire family was in our house! He had cake, decorations, the works! I had a blast, and we got to share our pictures from our trip with my family, which was fun.

Fun Stuff!

We had so much fun over the last two days, and I'm just going to put it all in one post! First, our really good friends from Texas were up here for a camp at OC, and the kids got to go swimming with their kids at a hotel Thursday night. It is always so much fun catching up with them--we have been friends since before we were married, Christy and I cheered together at OC, and until they moved to Texas, we would always be at each others houses, playing cards, eating, and even went camping a couple of times! What a blessing to have such good friends!

On Friday, I took my kids and the kids I babysit to the Omniplex Science Museum. We have a pass, so we go a lot, but it's always a good time! Right now they have the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame exhibit there, so the kids had a great time on the equipment! I am actually sore today from spotting them on backhandsprings!

Then Friday night, we usually have a "Family Fun Night", whether it's just renting a movie for at home, or going somewhere like Incredible Pizza or something, so we decided to go see the Oklahoma Redhawks play baseball! They were playing the Round Rock Express, and after a LONG 12 innings, we finally won! It was 11:00 PM!! But we had to stay till the end for the fireworks, especially since Josh and I missed fireworks on the 4th of July. The kids had a blast and got their picture with Rowdy the Redhawk, or as Dylan calls him, "the red bird". He was thrilled that he got to sit on his lap, and was just smiling from ear to ear after that!

Turtles and fish...

Last Saturday, when we got home from Austin, we were unpacking the car, and Dustin came running in, yelling, "I found a turtle!" We both looked at each other, wondering if it could really be--or if he was joking, so we went into our front yard, and there it was! It was big--and no, we don't live by a pond or anything. So they all took turns holding it or touching it, and we decided to take it to the pond by our church so it could have friends.

While we were there, Josh and Dustin were overcome by the urge to go fishing, so on Sunday evening after church, we geared up to go fishing! Now they all want their own fishing pole, and want to go every day! What fun--we really had a great time--even though we didn't catch anything but a shell!

I (still) do!

Here are some of the pictures from our vow renewal...


Josh's mom made my dress--it's kind of hard to see--but it is beautiful! She is a great seamstress--thanks Pam!!

JAMAICA!!!

The beautiful sunset our first night in Jamaica...

Okay--we have just had one of the most fun weeks ever! It has been a whirlwind of a week, with driving to Austin last Friday, leaving our kiddos early Monday morning and flying to Jamaica till Thursday, then driving back to Oklahoma on Saturday....whew--makes me tired just typing about it! Let me start over at the beginning....first of all, we were going to Jamaica to celebrate our 10 year anniversary (June 21st was the real day). We paid for the trip in February, and applied for our passports in March, thinking we were doing great--giving us enough time to get them before the big trip. But, NO--they didn't come in! It had been 14 weeks by the time we left on the plane--and still no passports! Luckily for us, they changed the rules a little and let us travel on our "application status" and driver's license. THANKFULLY!!! I was relieved! And...for those of you like myself, I had never been out of the country, and just so you know, there are a million lines to go through--immigration, customs, checking baggage (for the second time), etc, etc. It was crazy! But we made it--and had SO much fun!

We stayed at Breezes resort in Montego Bay, and it was so nice--it was all inclusive, they had entertainment every night, the beach was beautiful, water sports were included, I could go on and on! We traveled off of the resort one day to go to Dunn's River Falls--it was awesome! We climbed a huge waterfall--it was a blast! We have one picture--that we paid for, because we couldn't take our camera...I'll see if I can scan that one in. We got to snorkel off of our beach--which was one of my favorite things--we saw a puffer fish and a ray! Too cool! Plus LOTS of pretty fish. We rode in a glass bottom boat, jumped off the trampoline float in the ocean, walked on the beach, ate yummy food, and, last but not least, we renewed our vows on the beach! They treated us to a ceremony, reception, very nice italian dinner, and breakfast in bed the next morning. It was so wonderful--and Josh's idea--got to give him the credit for that--what a great husband!

This is our resort--ocean view. This is Josh and me on the glass bottom boat.

One scary thing happened on the way home--in the Atlanta airport a man had lost his 8 year old son--and we had a 4 hour layover, so we helped him look, and thankfully the boy was found--comletely safe and sound. We were relieved--how scary would that be?

Our kiddos got to stay in Austin during all of this time with Josh's family--his parents, lovingly known as Mimi and Paw paw, and his sister Summer, and sister-in-law Amber, all helped take care of our kids while we were gone. They are so great--and had a lot of fun with all 10 cousins together! For pictures of their fun (I don't have any of those!), go to the Best's blog in our Fowler Friend's link. She has some really precious pictures!

I'm going to have to do a separate post for more pictures... I guess I'm trying to upload too many!