Who Am I??

Today started off very uncharacteristically.  I woke up sometime between 6 and 6:20am, without an alarm!  (Oh, and its Saturday!) And I was quite awake.  I knew I was picking up Jessica from the airport shortly after 7, so waking up early was expected.  But not THAT early!  And the amount of energy I had was strange.  I actually made my bed, throw pillows and all.  Then I swept the downstairs (our black lab Sadie slept in the kitchen and seems to shed enough fur to create another dog) and vacuumed.  Then I started to clean the bathroom, my regular Saturday chore, which I usually do at the last minute before bed!  I checked and it was not even 7 o'clock yet!  I texted my mom to tell her of my productivity, and I also asked her to tell me who I was.  Because the real Erin would never have done all that before 7am on a Saturday.  Weird.  But I felt good and was wide awake and smiling to pick up Jessica at the airport at 7:15.

She wanted to go back and take a nap.  But soon discovered some other person had taken over the body of her friend and created a chipper morning person.  So instead we made egg scrambles, more French Breakfast Puffs (to replace the ones that flew away a few days ago), and started a blog for Jessica.  Then I let her take a nap while I showered.  How nice of me.  We have much more planned for our sunny weekend.  But here are some more Oklahoma pictures.  I need something to do because she is still sleeping!

Its  76 degrees.  Yes, thank you, I would love to be getting some sun on a quad in Oklahoma.

The sun is shining with a light breeze. A relaxing fishing session by the pond would be fabulous.  (Do not be deceived into thinking Courtney is holding this fish.  She is simply holding Mike's thumb to give the allusion she is touching something so wet and slimy)

Ah, how I loved having to open and close gates each time we entered or exited a pasture.  It would probably be a tedious and boring job to a real farmer.  But I loved it!

I wish that my shadow could be seen on this grassy pasture again instead of on the tile of my kitchen floor.  And I haven's seen a hay bale in far too long.

Another wonderful summer activity: Hay bale jumping!  But in all honesty, I jarred my back pretty good when I landed.  I had not anticipated the ground to be so far away.

This.  Oh this picture.  It is by far my most favorite.  This is Mr. LaBash.  An Oklahoma neighbor.  And a cranky, cantankerous, skeleton of a man at that!  Mike's cows had escaped into Mr. LaBash's yard on accident.  So I got the pure joy of getting to experience rounding up cows for the first time in my life.  I did not do much, there weren't many cows and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  So i stood back and took it all in.  While taking pictures of Mr. LaBash unbeknownst to him.  He surely would never have allowed me to do that.  I miss the smell of the cows and the hay, and even Mr. LaBash barking orders and complaining.

Aubry

This is Aubry, bf's 5 year-old niece.  She is beautiful.  Especially those eyes.

She LOVES, I repeat LOVES the great outdoors.

She probably loves them more than most anyone I have ever met.

She is quite photogenic in those great outdoors.

And she lives on 80 acres of woods and ponds, etc. so it makes for a perfect opportunity for me to snap pictures.

She seems to have endless energy outside.  And continues to laugh and run regardless of whether you ask her to stop or need to her to come inside.  But how can you get upset at this face?

It does eventually catch up with her though.... (notice the short chunk of hair in this picture that was personally designed and cut be her 3 year-old sister).

And usually when she is outdoors she wears camo.  I think she is one of my favorite people.