Halloweenies

So, I know this post is a little late but I couldn't not write a little note about my favorite holiday...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween! Between Halloween and April Fools day (my other favorite "holiday") Halloween is my all time favorite. I love spooky things, I love vampires (actually I am obsessed with them) I love skeletons and bones and blood and guts! I love getting dressed up and being scary and being scared. If I could I would make a huge spooky haunted house in my house for all the little kiddies...but Joey says we have other things to spend our money on, booooo. I love making my costumes, homemade ones are the best! I put quite a lot of thought into mine this year. I was a robot. Or I like to call her Annbot. I had an on/off switch, a plug in to recharge, a space gun, a mother board and other funny gadgets. I won best costume!! Pictures below...Joey was batman...he has sort of always had an obsession with comic book characters. My brother is Clint Eastwood and his girlfriend Shelley is a little kid player from the T.V. show guts.

The other pictures are from our day at the park with the doggies. Odin has always loved to go down the slide and we let Loki try it, too. He loved it and went down again and again. There is also a picture from the OSU game this past weekend. My whole family was there, it was nice!

Jake and Katie!

I just wanted to let you two know how overwhelmed with excitement I am for you and your new addition! I am so happy that you finally have your little baby girl, after a long but patient wait! You two are going to be such amazing parents! Just as lucky as you are to have her, Emory is so lucky to have you two as mommy and daddy. You guys are awesome. I cant wait to see pictures and I hope to someday meet her! I love you guys! Good luck and Katie...get some rest!

Silly puppies.

I have no idea why but for about 10 minutes Loki laid on his side next to Odin and licked the floor while...running in place? I dunno, maybe because I just mopped the floor. He is so silly. But so much fun. I love puppies!

My brother-in-law and I just watched and laughed.

Loki baby.

So we finally found a playmate for our big Odin boy! Ever since we fostered Kenna over the summer and she went away, Odin has been a little less himself. He misses having someone to play with. And since Joey and I work the same days and hours it leaves Odin home alone for practically 4 days straight. He does get some play time with us in there but not much. Not enough. So we have been seriously looking for a few weeks and we were on our way to look at some Danes about 2.5 hours away from Owasso but we decided to stop at another breeder on the way. I actually took care of the breeders daughter in the ER a few months back and ended up talking about dogs with her (that is not uncommon for me to do). She said she was a breeder and would email me when she had babies. Well she just happened to email me a week ago. So we stopped there first. We were going to get a girl because I was not sure how 2 males would do together but all the girls ran away and the one we got ran right up to Joey and immediately started wrestling with Joey and biting his shoes. We knew right away that he would be our new baby.

He is all black which is what we really wanted, that or a blue one. His name is Loki. We got his name from Norse mythology. Back when we named Odin we chose his name because we knew he would be big so we named him Odin, the Norse god. Well, in mythology (and now real life) Loki is Odin's mischievous brother and so it is a perfect name for that little hyper ornery freak. He is tons of fun. Odin just doesn't know what to think about him yet. At first he wouldn't really have much to do with him because he was afraid he would hurt him but now he wrestles a little and lets Loki climb all over him and bite his tail, legs, ears, feet, etc. Its pretty cute. I just love puppies, all they want to do is play. There is something so perfect and innocent about them. Except the peeing in the house. That will stop very soon.

Anyway, you would think I just had a real baby by the way I ramble on about my kids. Pathetic, I know. Hope you enjoy these few pictures of him.

Brotherly love??

Odin tolerating tug-of-war.

Odin sharing his bed. Looks like he might kick Loki off at any time.

Coming home for the first time, so curious!

Squishy face.

Me and my boys!!!

TOP TEN BABYYYYY!!!!!

Ahhh, this is why I LOVE fall sooo much! My Cowboys are moving right on up the ranks! We went from not even ranked for the past 4 years (but we stood by them) to now ranked #8 in the frickin' nation!!! I am so excited about this! We have gone through a very rough spell but looks like this might be the start of something GREAT! My patients all got to hear me gush about the game last night. I had to keep running back and forth from the waiting room to the ER to watch clips of the game. But dont worry, I recorded it so I get to watch it ALL later! I just let most of my patients believe I was truely happy to see them and the smile on my face was for them!

GOOOOOOOO POKES!!!!!!

Oh, and not to forget something else very important, we have a new baby boy! More to come about him. I have to get ready for work!

Ok, now.....GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO POKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I REALLY suck at this blogging thing...

Okay, obviously it has been a million years since I have updated this silly thing. I started it with good intentions, but I have failed...

A few things that have happened since, oh Julyish...

After the Grand Canyon trip we had our annual Rowan Family Float Trip. We get about 40 of us together and float down the Elk River, which is much MUCH prettier than the Illinois. This is always a good time had by all! Unfortunately, we had a smaller than normal group this year, but the water was flowing pretty fast and was very chilly! It was fabulous!

We spent TONS and TONS of time at the lake, Grand and Skiatook, wakeboarding and having a super fun time with family and friends. We got pretty good at doing jumps and 180's and other totally awesome tricks. I absolutely have no regrets about buying that boat, it was time and money well spent. Unfortunately, the pool was neglected but, ah well. We spent more than enough time in the water to be considered fishies.

Charissa, Ashlie, Me

We also spent a lot of time at Turkey Mountain trail running with Odin and mountain biking. I really love it up there. So does Odin, he loves to be in front and even though we know it is killing him to keep running he is having so much fun that it is totally worth it (just like us!).

Odin and Kenna

We FINALLY finished our fireplace! We tore it out 2 years ago and finally stopped going long enough to finish a home repair project. We just like to play so much on our weekend that it is hard for us to stop and actually work. But it is done, and we are quite pleased.

We went to my Mimi's for Labor day for our annual Pinata (pretend there is a squiggly above the "n") and softball game. Only, we got a little carried away wake boarding that we never actually got to the softball game. But its all good because I was preparing myself for what could potentially be our last trip out on the boat this summer so we soaked it up while we could. Sad thing is we only get to get together with the WHOLE Rowan clan maybe once more before Thanksgiving so Labor day weekend is always bitter-sweet.

But the good thing is its football season!!!! Specifically, OSU FOOTBALL SEASON!!!! Joey and I LOVE OSU football. It is definitely one of our favorite pass times! We bought season tickets this year so we will be making the trip to our beloved Stillwater at least 7 times this Fall. We will get to cheer on our Cowboys and visit with our friends and family still attending our Alma Mater. YEAH!!!!

Rhonda, Daniel (Joe's mom and bro), Me, Joey

Joe, Me, Jake, Charissa, Cody, Ashlie--My sisters and Brothers

Also, we just participated in the first annual MUD RUN in Pryor. It was sooooooo much fun! It was a 2 mile course and I have never had difficulty running 2 miles before but OH MY GOSH! Running with mud caked on your shoes and sagging shorts is like running with an extra 20 pounds of concrete! But it was seriously one of the funnest things I have ever done! There was a huge slip and slide for adults and tons of mud pits and obstacles. There was an army crawl under a net and I was beating Joey through it so I threw a little mud on his face for kicks so he grabbed my ankle just as I was about to exit, pulled me back in and made me pay, oh so badly! He piled mud on top of my head and it was like I had bobble head, it kept bobbing back and forth because it was so heavy! Oh, it was great!!!

Ashlie, Derek and Heather (my cousins), Joey, Me

I almost got to add a sweet little girl to our family. I found the most beautiful little steel blue Great Dane puppy, EVER! Seriously, everyone I showed her to said I would be a fool to not get her. So, I finally convinced Joey to agree to buying her and when I called the lady she had just sold her!!!! I was SO sad. She was truthfully the prettiest dog I have ever laid my eyes on (besides Odin). Hopefully, we will be able to find another like her but even someone that hates dogs said she was the prettiest dog ever! Humph.

Anyway, that is pretty much it for now. We are probably going to the Tulsa State Fair tomorrow. Last year was the first year I can remember ever missing. I just hate that it is so expensive.

Work has been going pretty well. Just stacking up that vacation time for our annual snowboarding trip and our trip to Hawaii. That means many things I love...snowboarding, beach, Joey, family, and no work!!!

Okay, I will seriously try harder with this blog thing. No promises though.

Rowan Family Fun!

We just got back from our Rowan family vacation and it was pretty great! It was the ultimate vacation for my dad, especially! He was like a kid in a candy store! He loved every minute of it, we all did! We went on a camping/backpacking trip though the wild wild west! We went to the Bandera Volcano and Ice caves in NM, to El Morrow National Monument in NM, drove by the Painted Cliffs and many other beautiful sites, to the Petrified Forests in AZ, camped and hiked at the Grand Canyon, took a beautiful scenic drive to the Ancient Puebloan Indian ruins at Mesa Verde in CO where we explored and camped and then drove back home and ran out of gas along the way! It was great!

El Morrow was amazing! it is definitely up there on the list of favorite sites! We hiked to the top and the view was outstanding! Joey had so much fun jumping from rock to rock and running around like a little kid! It poured on us on the way up and when we got to the top the lightening storm was crazy! It was so cool to be so close! The ice cave was 31 degrees year around and the temperature difference from the top to the bottom was like night and day! I was freezing in the middle of the desert! Being able to walk through a forest of rocks that were once trees was also a pretty neat experience!

Once we got to the Grand Canyon we set up camp and hurried to see the wondrous site! It was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined! We camped there a few nights and hiked a few miles into and out of the Canyon. We watched the sunset and saw tons of wildlife. A mountain goat even followed us up the trail a little ways. We also saw an Elk while we were there! Along with lizards!

Then we went to Colorado to see the ancient Indian ruins in the cliffs! The drive there was amazing. We camped out there and some people a few camps down saw a bear but unfortunately we did not. We did see many deer and lizards. The ruins were awesome. It is nuts to think people actually lived there! I cant even imagine! The only real bad thing about the whole trip was the van rides. And they were not really that bad, only after we were in the van for hours and hours driving around and around the mountain. That's when we all got car sick. Oh, and on the way home Joey and I were the ones up front driving and once we left Albuquerque we did not see another gas station for over a hundred miles which was further than we had gas for. So we ran out of gas and waited on the side of the highway for a few hours. But we went exploring since we were still in the desert and we found a crazy looking lizard, $20 which went to pay for the gas, and a few pipes that we could use on the bad guys that would try to kidnap us.

It really was a great time had by all! We are such a large family it is getting too difficult to get everyone together for trips and everyone went (except Ryan) so it was great! I just really really missed my baby, Odin. I hate leaving him! Anyway, here are some pictures from the vacation!
Oh yeah, and my dad was cracking us all up the entire time. My favorite was when Joey was taking down the tent and my dad grabbed his camera and said "OH SNAP!" and took his picture! He really does not realize how funny he is!
Cody in the Ice Cave in Grants, NM.

Dad and Paula with the mountain goat that followed us up the trail at the Grand Canyon, AZ.Joey sitting on Old Faithful, the largest piece of petrified wood at the Petrified Forest, AZ.Go Pokes! Us after we hiked to the top of El Morrow National Monument in NM.
The family sitting on Old Faithful in the Petrified Forest, AZ.
Shelley (Codys girlfriend), me, Ashlie, Charissa, and Paula at the Ice Caves in NM.

The Family at the top of El Morrow National Monument, NM.

Cody, Joey, Jake, and Dad at the Ice Caves in NM.

Joey and I sitting on top of El Morrow National Monument, NM.

Sunset Kiss at the Grand Canyon, AZ.

The family at the Ancient Puebloan Indian Ruins at Mesa Verde in CO.

Somewhere between NM and TX on the highway as we are waiting for AAA to bring us gas.

Camping at the Grand Canyon with our super cool headlamps!