Yesterday was Owen’s 1st Birthday.  He had a great day (I think).  I have no idea where the last year went.  It seems like we were just barely sitting in the NICU with our new son wishing we could hold him without wires attached to him and wishing we could take him home.  And now we have a crazy little one year old that runs around the house and causes all kinds of trouble.  We never could have imagined the joy that Owen would bring to our family and our home.  We are grateful everyday for our son!

To celebrate Owen’s 1st Birthday we had a small party at our house.  Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle came from Kansas to celebrate with us as well as a few others.  Owen had so much fun opening presents and eating cake.

Happy Birthday Owen!

I’m a little late with this but life has been crazy for us lately.  Bernd has been sick for a month, Owen has been getting more teeth, Birthday, funeral, working on the house…  Anyway.

The 4th of July is my very favorite holiday.  I look forward to it every year.  I was so excited to share my love for our country and the celebration of it with Owen this year.  We took him to his very first parade and he seemed to really enjoy it.  It was kind of nice that he was oblivious to all the candy being thrown, I’m sure next year will probably be different!

We just spent the afternoon at our house letting Bernd rest so he would come to fireworks with us that night.  We weren’t sure how Owen would react to the fireworks, if he would be afraid of the loud noises or what.  But I was pleasantly surprised when he laid down by Bernd and I and just watched them.  He got a little restless and went to go lay down by Papa and Grandma and then spent some time with Jake.  But he pretty much watched the entire firework show.  I’m hoping that means my son will share my love for fireworks!

I love this country!  I feel so blessed to be able to live here and live so freely.  I don’t always agree with how people choose to run this country (don’t even get me started) but I appreciate those that have served or currently are serving their country so that I can enjoy my freedom.  This is a very blessed land.