Fourth of July 2010

This was our 4th year participating in Spring Hill's Kids Parade. All the children decorate their "float" of choice and follow fire trucks, police cars and a marching band down to the park where we are greeted with free McDonald's breakfast and of course, ice cream...(at 9 am?) There are a few pictures of the boys with their first sparkler experience...needless to say I tried to distract my nerves as their mother, by taking pictures.

Our Trip to Michigan

We spent the last weekend in June in Michigan celebrating Denny's grandfather's 90th Birthday. Here are just a few pictures of our weekend there. The first picture is of David and Shirley Edwards, Denny's grandparents. What an awesome thing to see someone as sharp as Grandpa at the young age of 90! And one of my favorite photos is of Beau and Grandpa Edwards shaking hands...priceless. The following photots are of our time at the party and then onto the park the next day to visit with more family.

Sweetest of Friends

Beau and Millie. From their first conversation ever, they were instant friends. Wonderful playmates and a darlin' little lady. Miss Millie is showing Beau around her farm. Sweet innocence.

More of me...

So, its just me. Trying to capture myself, in the lens...trying to capture myself, in general. So, here I am...no make-up, laugh lines and all. And you know something, I am ok with that. Actually, I am more than ok with that. Not many women would gladly post pictures, unedited and as "raw" as these, but then again, I am not like most women, I guess.
This first picture is probably my favorite...because it shows my laugh lines...yeah.You read it correctly. It shows that, well, I am aging. I am not getting any younger, or "prettier" in the eyes of the world that is. But I am realizing that my heart's desire is to be prettier everyday, but in the eyes of my God. To be pretty on the inside. I have had to face some harsh realities lately, and honestly, can discourage a soul. But I have this to help me along my journey.

"That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Horsin' Around

Every cowboy needs to know how to ride a horse, so here is our Beau getting started at just that. His Paw Paw has two horses, and here is Beau on Freida. He has been asking Paw Paw for a while about it and so finally we picked the hottest day of the Spring (90+ degrees) and watched our little cowboy fearlessly saddle up. He was very disappointed that day when we told him he would not be able to wear his whole " cowboy gear" because of the heat. He still doesn't believe that cowboys sometimes wear shorts. Needless to say, he would've stayed on that horse all day and plans to do so soon.
Cade on the other hand was more interested in the tractors. He is our little farmer and has always loved tractors, there are no pictures of him unfortunately on Paw Paw's tractors because my camera battery died. But I do have some video Denny took on his iPod from that day.
Hope you enjoy!

Playin' in the Rain

This day we went to the park to play in the sandbox full of trucks, and as always the boys were filthy when we got home. So, I turned on the water hose to rinse them off. But no sooner than I did, a rain shower popped up. And for a split second, I thought about going in, but what could a harmless rainshower do to two dirty little boys...nothing. So, I let the rain do my work of rinsing them clean and I got my camera. They had so much fun getting clean this way and I did too.

A Rootin' Tootin' Time!

Beau & Cade went to their first ever Rodeo this past week with myself and Paw Paw. Let me tell you, they thoroughly enjoyed it! Horses, cows, lambs, goats and of course, cowboys were in abundance to be admired. Beau and Cade shook hands with real cowboys and sat in silent amazement at all the festivities happening around them!

If you will notice in the 5th picture down, Beau and Cade are looking through the railing at all the cowboys down below. There is the back of a cowboy with a number tag on his back. He noticed the boys watching as close as they could get and gave Beau his number...in which I put on his back to wear all night at the rodeo. You will see that in the following picture!

The last picture is one I took of Beau, just playing in our backyard. You see, boots, spurs, hats, belts, holsters and bandanas are our normal everyday wardrobe around here. He is always disappointed either when all his jeans are dirty and he can't wear them or its just too hot to play in his "full cowboy gear". If you don't believe me, just ask anyone who sees Beau on a daily basis, they will say the same. So, I thought I would just snap this sweet picture of my little cowboy in the cutest phase ever or so far in his life.