Father's Day

For Father's Day, we made Ryan Star Wars pancakes (thanks for the pancake molds Jess!) and bacon (so maybe Ryan had to help because I always burn bacon and the new pancake molds were a little tricky). Breakfast was followed up by gift opening, World Cup watching, mowing, swimming and dinner over at my mom and Bob's house with my grandparents. We were able to have dinner with my dad on Saturday evening to celebrate Father's Day since he had an open house all day Sunday. We were also able to spend an evening last week with Ryan's dad, so we extended Father's Day over almost an entire week.

The Boys are Back in Town!

We couldn't be more excited, Max and Caster now officially live in Edmond!!! It has been 7 years since Ryan has lived in the same state as his boys (and 3.5 years since they've been in the same country). Their mom was transferred to Tinker Air Force Base and she and her husband purchased a house in Edmond. They are on the other side of Edmond, but it only takes about 20 minutes to get to their house, we couldn't be happier! For the first 4-5 weeks they are going to stay at our house. They've got a trip planned with their mom and then they'll be back with us for a few weeks before school starts. We'll then have to figure out what the schedule will be once school starts. We can't wait to be a part of their lives more (in person anyways, we got pretty good at it over Skype and the phone). Bring on the parent-teacher conferences, homework, sporting events and school activities, we can't wait to be a part of it! But until school starts, it's a summer full of swimming, watching the World Cup, family time and all sorts of fun stuff.

The boys have gotten so tall! Sara is only about 1 inch taller than Max at this point. Ryan and Max are already wearing the same size shoes!

The first weekend they were here we went to Jeremy and Cori Hughes' wedding. It was so fun to be there for their big day. Of course we took the opportunity for some family pics, we all don't get that dressed up that often).

With Jess, Eric and Silas

Cori and the guys at their wedding.

With Scott, Autumn, Bob and Cindy

Cindy, Jeremy and Sara
Because the boys were still living in England when Max turned 13 (on May 10), we had a belated birthday party for him complete with steaks, cookie pizza and gifts when they got here. We're so excited that from now on we'll get to celebrate Max and Caster's birthdays on their actual birthdays instead of a month late or a month early (Caster's b-day is in September).

MMMMM.....cookie pizza

Max showing off his gift from Bob and Cindy

Italia

We had an amazing trip to Italy, I wish we were still there! We got to spend a week in Rome, followed by two days in Venice. We drank lots and lots of wonderful red wine and had all sorts of fantastic food. We walked lots and lots and fit in as much as we possibly could while we were there. We went with our friends Brett, Amber, Kathy and Zach and we all shared a three bedroom apartment just down the street front the Colosseum. I am so glad we were able to get away from work to go (and that we both were able to avoid e-mail the entire trip)!

As soon as we got to Rome. We were lucky this was the only day that it rained.

The Pantheon

In Piazza Navona

The view from the rooftop bar where we had drinks

Amber, Kathy and Sara at the Trevi Fountain

At the Roman Forum. This is the temple of Castor and Pollux.

Us in the Colosseum

The Pope

Zach, Kathy, Ryan, Sara, Amber, Brett on the Vatican tour.

Inside the Vatican Museum.

After a failed attempt to take a wine tour. We were able to arrange for a driver/tour guide to take us to Tuscany last minute. We spent the day in the southern Tuscany town of Masse Marittima, where our guide had a friend that showed us around. It was so beautiful! We started with a private wine tasting, followed by lunch (the same owner had the wine shop and restaurant). We then headed to Baratti beach to check out the Mediterranean Sea. We finished off the day at the Populonia castle.

Our private wine tasting with the owner of the shop and with Cosma (our tour guide).

The view from Masse Marittima

The view from Populonia castle.

We finished up our amazing trip with two days in Venice. Just like everyone said, it is easy to get lost there! Lucky for us we weren't on a schedule and didn't have anywhere we had to be.

Here is the link to all of our pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/116036608521392661007/Italy?feat=directlink

Surprise!

Renzi wanted to throw a surprise party for Lee Anne and I got to help some. We surprised her at Iguana for her 30th b-day. Ryan and I got a Flip camera for Xmas, so the surprise parties were the best place to test it out.

We went to Tulsa for Shiloh's surprise bowling birthday a few days later. It was so fun to see her and Jeff and to see her cute growing baby belly. Also, I really like how red Shiloh's face can get!

Xmas...a few months late

Yes, we're just now posting Xmas stuff...but at least it is getting posted. Ryan's family came into town to spend Christmas in Oklahoma. There was a big snow storm and because we didn't want anyone to have to drive, Eric, Jess and Silas ended up staying with us too. It was a full house for sure, but it was so fun for us all to get to spend time with each other. It was a good group to be snowed in with!

The girls: Alicia, Carolyn, Sara and Jess

Ian, Lily and Alicia

Eric, Jess and Silas

Siblings

The Christmas Eve table set up

We made quiche from the "Made in Oklahoma" cookbook for Christmas breakfast. So good!

Thankful for Family Time

We are so thankful that we got to spend Thanksgiving with Max and Caster. Of course 4.5 days went by WAY too fast, but we enjoyed every second we had with them. We are also very thankful that even though this was sort of a last minute trip, Ryan and I were both able to be off work the entire time the boys were here (thank you Renzi and Trent!). We also squeezed in Christmas while they were here so that they could open presents from us with us, instead of just sending them in the mail. It is amazing how fast they can open gifts! We spent Thanksgiving Day over at Bob and Cindy’s house, most of Cindy’s family was in town.

Of course, it was hard to see the boys go. As of now, it looks like we won’t see them again until June…that is so far away.

Caster, Silas and Max

Happy Birthday Caster!

Happy 8^th Birthday Caster! I wish we were with you to celebrate today (and hope your gifts get there on time....we mailed them almost 3 weeks ago).

Picture by Lindsay

Every summer we have a mock birthday for the boys. We have Max’s as soon as they get here (because his birthday is May 10^th) and Caster’s right before they leave. It is not the same as the real thing, but we make it work.

Labor Day Weekend

We spent Labor Day weekend in Collinsville, OK at the Oliver's house. It was a weekend full of back porch football watching, yard golf, real golf, boating at Skaitook lake, etc. Great times were had by all (except the OU football watching part, sad day).

Jeff and Shiloh are going to have a baby, yay! We decided to make baby Oliver some stylish onesies for when he gets here next April.

Jeff loves squirrels
The Oliver's love beards.

Logo of the guy's golf league (yes they have a logo)

Cornelius the Dancing Chicken, so the baby has something to wear to Oktoberfest

Uncle Ryan

mmmm....Bacon (notice the bacon slices on the sleeves).

You say it's your birthday, It's my birthday too, yeah

August is the birthday month for us! Both Ryan and I have birthdays in August as well as a lot of our close friends. Needless to say we’ve enjoyed lots of great dinners this month.

We were so happy that Max and Caster were in town for Ryan’s 31st birthday. We went to Musashis for dinner (we did the same last year for Ryan’s birthday, I am hoping it becomes a tradition because it is so good, and the boys love it). They had to leave the next day, but it made for a really fun evening out for their last night in Oklahoma.

Kathy, Layni and Amber took me to get manis & pedis for my birthday, complete with champagne and snacks. It was so fun, thanks girls, you are the best!

Amber, Autumn, me and Layni at Iguana for my 30th birthday dinner. I wish I had taken a picture with everyone there or at least have let the guys jump in.

Jackson Stone turns 2 on Monday. He had his birthday party this weekend, man, does Jackson know how to throw a party! Here is Jackson, Lee Anne and his cake.

Well it wasn't Isaiah's birthday, but he was smiling so I had to take a picture. I am so glad he is feeling better. That is his girlfriend Sidney with him, they like to go to birthday parties together.

Girls Lake Weekend

So back in February or March, Lee Anne e-mailed the girls and asked if there was a weekend that we could all get together for a girl’s weekend. With weddings, families and everything else it took us over 6 months to plan something, August 15 it would be. Lee Anne and Renzi have a lake house at Grand and she invited us up there. Jackie flew in from D.C. and Emily Sue flew in from Austin, it was so much fun to have everyone together, it had been so long! We had a great weekend away from our fellas (and kids if applicable).
It was a full weekend of talking, drinking, dancing, boating (once we figured out how to work the boat) eating and lots of laughing!

Emily Sue, Amanda, Lee Anne, Jackie, Sara, Angela