Way Back Wednesday- Cousin Style #2

Like I promised last week, here is Way Back Wednesday with my cousins on my mom's side of the family. My mom's side of the family is huge. I have eleven cousins, plus all their spouses and their kids. It makes for a big group when we're all together at once. Just like my dad's side of the family, they are all extremely important to me and I love them all very much. We are all very spread out so it's really hard to get everyone together at once. Therefore, I couldn't find any pictures of all of us together at once. That will be our goal for the next family gathering...a picture of all the cousins together. I'm sure there's one somewhere, but I couldn't find it. There are some major differences between cousins on my mom's side and cousins on my dad's side. That's what makes it so much fun. My dad's side is very athletic and every cousin was an athlete at some point (good athletes) and almost all of them have coached at some point in their life. However, my mom's side of the family is more artistic and creative. When we get together for gatherings, there is always singing involved (good singing). We would never dare sing with the other side of the family. Just like my dad's side, my cousins on my mom's side are very special to me and I don't know what I'd do without them. I also love their spouses and their precious kids. Once again I am biased, but they are the cutest kids ever. I love every minute I get to spend with my cousins and their families. I just wish we lived closer and could get together more often. Can't wait for the next time we're all together. Enjoy the pics!

Me, Blondell, and Chris
Chris, Bo, and Miako

So sweet

The boys

The gang hanging out in my old room.

We look like we're having a blast, huh?

Oh this picture makes me laugh.

The four oldest cousins.

Why so serious?

I'm loving Blondell's overalls. Check out that white hair.

Classic. We are the four youngest cousins.

We love our cousin, Luke

The kids table.

Love this picture. We had some really good times on the trampoline.

Thanks to Kaleigh, I'm not the youngest cousin on this side of the family.

Me and Miako. She is now a Dr. and studied Linguistics. She is amazing at sign language and has interpreted for some pretty famous people...way cool!

Not sure what's on my nose and on the top of my head, but it looks like a unicorn horn or something. Every time I went to Blondell's house I went to her room to play with her massive pom-poms. I loved those things.

I love this picture because there is so much going on....Blondell & Luke loving on Kaleigh and I'm being a turd and sticking my tongue out at Chris.

The boys with their Grandma.
*The little boy on the far left is my cousin, Thad. We lost him in a car wreck when he was 13. I know we all can't wait to be reunited with him in Heaven one day. He is our precious guardian angel. I miss him so much!


Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Chickens, horses, and dogs...oh my!

I hope everyone had a Happy Happy Easter! I had a great day filled with church and brunch with the family, fun on my aunt's farm with all the dogs, and lots of crazy pictures. Here are a few pics recapping our day on the farm.

-We relaxed on the hammock, taking in the beautiful weather

-We got to hold new baby kittens...this was Gracie
-My aunts and grandpa holding the five new kittens

-We rode 4-wheelers while our dogs chased us the entire way

-Grandpa and three of his four daughters

-Our golden retrievers swam, swam, and swam some more and then fought over the stick

-Tanner stayed fairly clean and posed pretty for pictures

-Poor Riley got thrown in the pond to see if he enjoyed swimming like the others did, he wasn't too sure about it

-Samson tried to rub all over Aunt Jan and get her wet

-Precious little Charlie dog was my dad's shadow while he was fishing. Charlie loves to fish....it is the cutest thing ever. Can you see her tiny little self walking next to my dad?

-They could have swam and fetched sticks forever

-Sisters

-Crazy cousins taking weird pictures for the fun of it

-Charlie posing with the Easter Bunny

-Trying to come up with creative ways to take pictures with our cousins

-Aunt Jan and her pretty pups

-Decided that hanging from the clothes line would make a funny picture....we are strange

-Treat time!

-Blondell loving on Tucker

-Me and my cousin Lukey

-Blondell and her pups

-There were a few standoffs between horse and dog....the dogs sure thought they had a powerful bark, but the horses weren't liking it. My dog came way too close to getting kicked in the head by a horse.

Hope your Easter was as fun as mine! Have a blessed week!

Way Back Wednesday- Cousin Style

Cousins- April 2011
My mom has requested that I do a Way Back Wednesday post about my cousins, so here it goes. Family is important, extremely important. One of the most important things in my life. There is never a time that I don't enjoy spending time with my family, especially my cousins. It's always fun! I'm so thankful for the wonderful family I've been blessed with. I have some pretty amazing cousins who have been great role models for me. You see, I'm the youngest cousin on my dad's side and the second youngest on my mom's side. I've always been the baby who tagged along and probably drove them nuts, but I always enjoyed being along for the ride and I was always paying attention to what was going on. I'm the only one on my dad's side who isn't married yet and there are only three of us without kids. I have thoroughly enjoyed being the youngest because I've gotten to watch them grow up, get married, have babies and I've learned a lot from them. They are all amazing parents to their children and they have the CUTEST kids ever. Of course, I'm biased, but they're pretty darn adorable. Now, I usually spend more time playing with their children when we're all together, but that's because they're all too old and their kids are more fun (just kidding ;)) Can't wait for the next time we're all together in July for a family reunion! Without further adieu, meet my cousins on my dad's side.
Before I came along. My brother is the little baby. How cute are they? Love your hair, Steph.Trevor, Brad, and Ryan at a track meet.

The same three boys a little more grown up.

Steph trying to keep me entertained with a tea party...back when we were the only girls.

Check out my sweet vest with houses on it...pretty sure my Me-ma made that for me. I LOVED her homemade outfits.

Justin being my cheerleading partner. I always wanted to do stunts with the boys.

The whole gang with Me-ma. Justin's track suit is pretty sweet.

Looking fancy....must have been headed to church.

We added two new cousins to the fam....Kimberly, Justin's wife and Colby, Steph's husband.

With our Great Grandpa Shubert.....miss him!These are all the girls, minus the two newest additions to the family, Jaimi (Brad's wife) and Ashley (Trevor's wife). I think all my cousins picked winners!

All of my cousin's kids. They are so precious and so much fun. I just love them to pieces!

Stay tuned next Wed for my mom's side of the family....I promise I didn't forget about you guys!

We Caught a Big One!

Isn't he cute?

Before heading out on our adventure.Trying to reel in the beast...Aaron looks a little worried.Not going to give up yet.Both the boys lifting it out of the water.It was HUGE....seriously almost as tall as me. You can tell I'm struggling by the way my knees and back are bent. I couldn't stand up straight with it because it was too heavy.

Aaron's brother, Brian with the same fish. He's the one who hooked it!

Dating a country boy who loves to hunt and fish has its exciting moments. When I first started dating Aaron, I enjoyed going fishing with him, mainly because it meant spending time with him. I really never actually picked up a pole, but I went along for the ride and either layed out, read a book, or took pictures. It was fun for me, but I didn't have the patience to sit there and try to catch a fish. I've only caught one fish my entire life and it was teeny tiny! Yesterday, we went with a bunch of Aaron's friends and his brothers to Fort Gibson Dam to fish for Spoonbill/Paddle fish. I've never gone fishing for these guys, but I knew they were big and would probably pull me in the water if I caught one. The poles you use are huge and you have to pull the pole and reel in quick because you are trying to "snag" these fish. Aaron was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to cast and reel the big pole, but I wanted to try anyway. Yep, he was right......I tried and ended up breaking the line because I got caught up on something. The boys decided they would hook the fish and then I could reel it in. Aaron's brother, Brian hooked one and yelled for me to come reel it in. He thought it was a fairly small one and that I would be able to handle it. Boy, was he wrong. I'm pretty sure I couldn't even turn the reel because the line was so tight and the fish was so heavy. I was trying to hold the pole up with one hand and reel with the other and it was SO hard. I had to put the pole between my legs so I had something to ground me so the pole didn't get pulled into the water, but when this huge fish is almost lifting me off the ground it was a wee bit painful to have in between my legs. I tried really hard to get the fish reeled in, but after a few minutes of trying, I gave up. Aaron grabbed the pole from me and did the rest of the work. It made me feel better once he grabbed it because he was like, "whoa, this isn't a little one. It's a BIG one." He even struggled for a while to get it reeled in. Once we got it to the side, it took both him and his brother to lift it out of the water. They think it weighed about 50-55lbs. Apparently, Blake Shelton holds the Oklahoma state record for the largest spoonbill, weighing in at 40lbs. We took pictures with the fish and threw it back in. Wish we would have taken it in somewhere so we could have beat his record. That would have been awesome! I was planning on just crouching down beside the fish and taking a picture with it, but they insisted that I pick it up. By the way, you have to put your hands in through the gills and up through the mouth. All I could feel was the fish's jaw pressing on my arms. It felt like a baby biting you without teeth. Really creepy, weird feeling. Although I didn't actually catch the fish, I was proud of myself for even touching it. Since all three of us had some part involved in catching the fish, I say "we" caught it and it was a group effort. Wish I could take all the credit, but I'm not a beast and there's no way I could have caught and reeled that thing on my own. We were fishing from about 3pm until 9pm and I never once got bored (that's saying something). I will definitely be going Spoonbill fishing again. I had a blast!