Owen's 7th birthday!

I do not know how some people can post on their blogs every single day! 

I am trying my hardest for this month but sheesh, it is difficult!

Yesterday was an up at 5am berry picking, 10am parade watching, 11:30-8:30 company entertaining/cooking extravaganza, late night fireworks event. No single minute for sitting down at a computer...

I must call the Pioneer Woman and ask how she does it!

I'm positive she would have all the answers.

On Tuesday we went up into the hills and took Owen fishing at his request. He was allowed to invite 3 people with us since it was the year of his "small" birthday party. 

He invited his Grandma and Poppa Golter, his Uncle Zach and his friend from school, Kasyn.

We fished, visited, froze for the first little bit, but then at lunch time we settled around a   

fire for some lunch and presents. 

Caleb did his big-brother thing and read all the cards (with great expression on all the punch lines I might add). 

While he was reading and Owen was opening, Mark was working on the hot dogs.

I normally loathe hot dogs but I am sometimes tempted to eat one that is cooked over a fire. These turned out perfect! 

Owen is very hard to buy presents for surprisingly. He pretty much wants to do whatever you are doing and he isn't a child that plays by himself very much. At times that is great and at times not so much. This year I think we did good though. He has really been into music this last year and at school he was allowed to play the violin for a few weeks (his whole class was taught). He has been begging for a guitar and I finally spotted one at a yard sale for 4 dollars a month or so ago. It was missing a few strings but it had a case and was in great shape so I snagged it. I took it into the local music store and they fixed it up for next to nothing. 

Owen was over the moon!

Mark showed him how to hold it and strum the strings a little bit and then Owen was playing and singing songs for us.

We included the gift of lessons with the guitar and he will begin when we come back from the beach in a couple of weeks. 

Mom and Dad got him an awesome gift also but I forgot to take some pictures of it so I will show you it when I post about Owen's bedroom. (if you have questions about Mom's hat please direct them to her!)

When it was time to go, the boys all helped put out the fire...

and then they promptly passed out within 10 minutes of the truck moving.

Later that evening we told the boys that we were going to be having one more surprise for Owen's birthday. They had overheard me on the phone earlier that day telling someone that we weren't going to be home because we were going to PBR and so they, of course, started asking what that was. 

Over dinner we explained what it was and then we got ready to go. 

This was the first year that Pendleton hosted PBR in July and Mark and I thought it would be a lot of fun. 

It didn't disappoint!

They boys were so excited! I loved seeing their excitement and answering their questions about stuff. They danced to the music, chatted with their neighbors in the stands, and promptly declared that they were going to be bull riders (all within the first 5 minutes). 

To start things they introduced the cowboys...

They also introduced the Round-Up and Happy Canyon court as well as a few board members and sponsors but they just weren't as cute as the cowboys so I didn't snap any shots.

Then it was time to get started. I have never been to a PBR event in the daytime. Normally during Round-Up it is at night but I think I liked it just as well during the day. 

You could see things a wee bit easier and I swear the bulls looked bigger. 

I really don't know what possesses someone to think that hopping on one of those things would be a good idea. No thanks! 

I snapped a few shots of the actual riding but nothing turned out super. 

This one I thought wasn't too bad. 

My favorite picture though was all blurry with no focus that I could find but I still like it.

Future bull riders...

riding some pretty tough sheep. We saw one buck and kick just as much as the bulls did and it even pawed the ground once the poor little kid was laying in the dirt!

The rodeo bull fighters kept the boys entertained. 

This one even did a dance to the song "I'm sexy and I know it". 

The boys, I am not proud to say, sang all the words and even stood up and danced with their own rival dance moves. 

The event ended a little after 10 and we were all pretty tuckered out by the time we got home. It had been a busy day but let me tell you - it was a fun one!