Cody's 3yr Pics

Sunday John and I took Cody to take his 3 year pictures in historic downtown Collinsville. I wanted to get him with the train at the train museum since he loves trains but found out after we got there that it was covered with wasps. So we took a quick picture of him by the train and then headed far away from it! He was not in a picture taking mood! More interested in looking at all the old things around downtown. But I managed to get some good shots of him! He is growing up fast! I can't believe it's already been 3 years! To check out more pictures from his session you can go to my photography blog http://olivacarlsonphotography.blogspot.com/

Lightning Storm

One night last week we had a crazy lightning storm. No rain, just a TON of lightning. I finally got brave enough to step outside and set my camera up to take some pictures. It was amazing! John and I had fun guessing when the lightning would strike. John takes half the credit on this picture since he did tell me when he thought I should push the shutter button! In this picture I am using a 20 second shutter speed (very slow!). For those that may not know, if you count to 20, that is how long the shutter was open to capture this picture. I wasn't brave enough to step out into the yard so the porch roof is in the upper right corner! But the lightening is still amazing!

Oklahoma City Vacation

July 2-3 we took a very short vacation to OKC. We visited the 1995 OKC Bombing Memorial, Bricktown, and White Water Bay. Although it was very short, we had a lot of fun and it was nice to get away from home for a little bit. Here are some pictures from our vacation.

Megan & Kylee in the wave pool at White Water Bay

Toby Keith's....yummyThe water taxi we rode
Megan left her character coin on the fence at the memorial It was neat to see a shirt from Canton-Galva there!
The fence outside the memorial
The little chairs are for the children killed in the bombing
Gate at 9:01am
Gate at 9:03am...the gates are to capture the moment of 9:02am when the bombing happened
A chair for each person killed in the bombing
John and Cody entering the gates
The entrance to the memorial

New Flooring...Part 2

The day has finally come!! Our new carpet was installed yesterday! John is on vacation all this week, so monday we started moving everything out and tearing out the old carpet. John had told me that he could fit everything from Cody's room, our room, the office, living room, and ALL the closets in our dining room, breakfast nook, and master bathroom. I kind of had my doubts but he proved me wrong! For 24 hrs our whole downstairs was crammed in those 3 rooms! CRAZY!

Tuesday afternoon the carpet installers came. It took them around 4 hrs to install the carpet. It looks so nice! Our house looks completely different, and not to mention cleaner and the fact that we can now lay on our floors and be comfortable!!! AND...new rule in our house...NO shoes on the carpet or wood floors! Shoes come off at the door or you stay on the tile!

Nasty old carpet

Brand new soft & thick carpet!

Summer Fun

The kids and I have been busy! Last week I got a break from babysitting and the kids and I took advantage of our time alone! We went to the Tulsa zoo, swimming, a movie, a tour to the Blue Bell ice cream factory...and much more!

Monday we decided to try out the free summer movie program for kids. We got up early and drove to Riverside in Jenks thinking we were going to see Shark Tale. We get our popcorn, find our seats and wait for the movie to start. To our surprise, once the movie started we realized it wasn't Shark Tale (which we've seen 100 times!). Instead, they played the new movie UP! How exciting. Of course, mom would have been more excited if she hadn't paid full price to see it just a few weeks before!! But it was fun and we really enjoyed seeing the movie again. If you haven't seen it..GO! Good movie.

We went to the zoo on Tuesday but ended up staying only an hour or so because it was getting way too hot. The zoo is not so much fun after it reaches 100 degrees! A few of our friends joined us and the kids had fun seeing the big turtle, penguins, monkeys, and lions. We will have to go back once it cools down!

Wednesday we traveled to Broken Arrow and took a tour of the Blue Bell ice cream factory with MOMS Club. Not only did we get a tour of their factory, but they also gave us free ice cream right off the production line after the tour! I now believe the Blue Bell ice cream is the best! Unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures while on the tour. The packing line was so fun to watch. I couldn't have watched it all day! The girls kept saying the want to work there! I think they don't realize they don't get paid in free ice cream!! :)

Thursday we went to the Skiatook public pool. What a fun pool. They have a big section for the little kids and their pool is mostly around 4 1/2 ft deep. So it was perfect for the girls to swim in. We will definitely go back often this summer. It was fun and also a great way for us to keep cool!

So, by the time Friday came around we were so ready to sleep in and stay inside in the cool air conditioning! What a fun week though!