Owen's Party

Owen celebrated his first birthday this past Saturday with his friends, family, cake and ice cream. Thank you to everyone who could come. He had a great time and we enjoyed seeing all of you.owen's smash cake

Cole helping Owen with his presentsEnjoying his cakegiving cousin Ella Joy some sugar - he is a good kisserHappy Birthday Owen! We all love you so much.

My Sick One

Owen is such a good baby that I can't imagine what he will be like when he gets tubes on the 6th of August. He can be a little fussy at times but if you had had ear infections since April, you would be fussy too. Yes, that is right, we have fought infections since the first of April and now are on our way to get tubes the day before his first birthday. He has developed a mild hearing loss due to all the fluid in his ears and Dr. Mc even says that it has effected his balance. Since Owen has been walking for a few weeks now I can only think that he could have started walking much sooner if we didn't have infections. I don't know if I should be thankful or disappointed! Dax and I couldn't be more ready. We would have loved to have them 2 months ago considering it would have saved us numerous trips to the pediatrician and a large amount of co-pays but we are thankful that they are in our future. I still have mixed emotions since they will be using anesthesia to put him under. I would appreciate your prayers to ease my anxiousness. We are having Owen's party this coming Saturday since my sisters will already be in town for the Graham reunion so I will post lots of photos after the weekend.

This photo was too cute not to share. I think Owen favors the Grahams much more than Cole. Owen loves his Pops and will sit in his lap perfectly content forever.

Las Vegas

Dax and I returned yesterday from a much needed vacation with each other. We were invited to travel with 3 other couples and had a wonderful time. We left on Thursday headed for Las Vegas. We stayed at the Venetian. It was beautiful and I would highly recommend it to anyonevisiting there. We were able to walk around and see things that afternoon before dinner. I ventured out while traveling and tasted sushi for the first time - not something I would eat all the time but it was good. We saw Jersey Boys which I would see again. I loved the music! We ate at On Top of the World restaurant at the Stratosphere. The food was good but the view was the best. We got there before dark and left after dark so we were able to see all of Vegas while we rotated through dinner. It was great! We went to The Price is Right Live - different from the real one but lots of fun. Nobody from our group was called up to participate though but we enjoyed seeing the others win prices and the well known games from the Price is Right. Four of us rented a car and drove over to see the Hoover Dam. Dax really enjoyed it. I will agree that it was amazing to see. I didn't take tons of photos but have uploaded the ones I managed to snap.The guys with the world's tiniest ElvisDax in Nevada while I am in ArizonaDinner at TaoAfter The Price is Right In front of the fountain
Outside the Venetian - in front of the gondola rides

After we got to the Venetian

Before dinner the first night

Happy Birthday Aunt Alex

If you can't already tell the summer months are full of birthdays for us. June 28th was Nana's, July 4th was Grandma's (and the puppies), July 9th was Pops', July 15th is Alex's, July 29th is Aliee's, July 30th is Granny's and August 7th is Owen's. We have them lined up!

But today is Aunt Alex's birthday. Yes, that is right, our baby is 17. I can't believe that she is a senior this year and will be graduating and going off to college. The older I get the fast the years go by. We hope she has a wonderful birthday full of lots of goodies. We love you and are so thankful we get to see you so often.

Happy 60th Pops!

Pops turned 60 on Thursday so we celebrated with the whole family over the weekend. Everyone came in on Friday for dinner - we went out to eat. Yes all 16 of us. It really wasn't bad. The children were well behaved and mom got to enjoy a weekend free from heavy cooking in the kitchen. We tried to make it as stress - free as possible. Saturday the boys and I headed over to Nana's early that morning to spend the day with everyone. Cole and Owen both love seeing their cousins and enjoying time with them. We hung out around the pool all morning and afternoon and then prepared for some others to come for dinner. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and had birthday cake and homemade ice cream. Pops had a great time and we appreciate everyone that could make it coming. It meant a lot to us. Meggan did a great job taking photos! There are lots of photos and I couldn't decide what to post so enjoy because I uploaded a bunch.

Owen with his Daddy - the best person in the whole world to him

The Graham Family with spouses and children

Pops and his 6 grandchildren - can you imagine how many there will be :)

Aliee loves her Owen

Nana with Aliee (6)

Aunt Meg and Ella Joy

Aunt Alex with her Girls

Two sweet sisters

Honey and Owen at the Birthday Party

Ella Joy (2) and her Mommy- who is expecting another girl in November

Addison(2) and Cole enjoying lunch

Graham(4)

Our bathing beauty - Aunt Alex

Addison with Pops

Ella Joy and Aliee

Uncle Trey and Cole

Aunt Joy with Ella Joy and Aliee

Uncle D and Aliee

Graham and Hope

Addison with her Daddy

Owen and Mommy

Our experience with Bitties

We took a field trip to a local chicken house yesterday afternoon. I am sure most are thinking, "What?" One of Honey's friends called to say they had received their new bitties and that she could bring Cole if she wanted to. We ventured to their house late yesterday afternoon with Cole and Owen wondering if Cole would like them or not. He tends not to like a whole lot of anything and acts scared a good bit of the time. However, we walked in and there were baby chickens everywhere. Mr. Robert brought some up for Cole and Owen to see. Cole reluctantly held one for a while until the baby started flapping its wings. Cole flipped out and wouldn't touch another one after that. He and Owen were both amazed! Honey and I received a lesson from Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert about how long they keep them, how much they weigh when they leave them, how they feed them and water them. It brought back memories of my Dad raising quail. I can remember going in the house and there being baby quails everywhere. It is something I had not thought about for a long time. Living in Troy there are not museums to see or zoos to venture to but I am thankful that my boys have the opportunity such as this to see something others don't get to see all the time. Thanks Honey and Mrs. Ann and Mr. Robert. We enjoyed it!

Last night after supper we were entertaining the boys and getting a big kick out of their laughing. Owen would repeat anything we did. It was hilarious. The boys are laughing at Dax pretending to sneeze while throwing a paper towel at them. Their laugh is so infectious. Thought this was too funny not to share.

Happy 11 months Wild Man!

You are 11 months today! I can not believe in one short month you will be a year old. It seems like yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. You have been one sick little fellow since the first of April with a constant ear infection. We are making a trip to the ENT this month to hopefully, get you feeling better. Even though your ears are infected and your nose is snotty you are a happy little boy...especially if someone is holding you. It is amazing how much you have change in one month.

You have started walking.

You love table food and love to feed yourself.

You are quick to let is know when you have something in your mouth that you like, "MMMM!"

You are still obsessed with your Daddy and Cole.

You love a ball...any kind of ball. You can throw it and pick it up while squatting

It seems that you try to say anything we tell you to. ..kitty, ball, book, tractor, dog, hey, drink
The last time we went to the doctor on the 2nd you weighed around 22 pounds.

You have 7 teeth hence the table food.

We fall more and more in love with you everyday and can't wait to see how different you are in a month. You have the best little personality.

4th of July babies

While everyone was celebrating the fourth our yellow lab, Georgia was in labor. We spent lunch at the Pughs enjoying great food and fun with family. When we returned home Georgia was panting and Dax wanted to put her in our laundry room for a few minutes to let her cool off. I told him I didn't want her having the puppies in the laundry room but we could let her in for a little bit to rest. Of course, about 30 minutes later, I thought I heard something and told Dax to check...Yep! We have a puppy...a chocolate male. Thirty minutes later we had a black male, a chocolate male, a black male. Then finally a black female. Georgia did great! She is such a good mama. After a few more puppies, cleaning the laundry room, sitting with her while our neighbors shot fireworks because she was scared to death and a couple more puppies we called it a night. When we went to bed around 10:45 she had 11. Dax got up sometime around 3:30 and found that she had had 2 more but one was dead. We ended up with 7 black and 5 chocolate and really good mix of male and female. Cole and Owen both love them. Cole has to check on them often and says that they need milk when they are crying.

We have 12 puppies for sale if you are interested or know of anyone that might be. Georgia is a 5 year old yellow lab who is the best dog ever. The daddy is a 2 year old chocolate lab. They both have papers. Feel free to email me at holly.pugh.qgjz@statefarm.com