Sweet Summer

This summer we've been spending a lot of time with Jeb's brother Josh, his wife Lacee, and my nephew Jett. On Father's Day we spent the afternoon at Josh and Lacee's house "out in the country" just hanging out and letting the boys run wild. This was one of my favorite days this summer as it was full of lots of love and laughs.

Lacee is my first cousin, we're a month apart in age, and we were roommates in college in the dorms our freshman year. This was the year that Lacee and I became really great friends and spent a lot of time together. I had been dating Jeb since our junior year of high school, but Lacee had never met Jeb's older brother (by 23 months), Josh. During our sophomore year at OU, I was living in an apartment with my best friends from high school, Kari and Julie, and we decided to have a Bedlam Party for the OU/OSU football game. A lot of Jeb's friends from ECU came, and of course, his brother Josh. I introduced Lacee and Josh at our apartment and after that the rest is history. They immediately hit it off and started dating. Josh and Lacee were actually married 2 years before Jeb and I, as Josh already had a job carrying the mail and Jeb and I were trying to finish college. One month after Jeb and I got married, Josh and Lacee had their first baby, Jett and just 9 months later we had our first baby, Reid. Recently, as the boys have gotten old enough to play together, we've started hanging out more. It works out perfectly because we're all at family gatherings for both sides of the family - the Cook side and the Rollins side -and the boys get along really well. Because cousins married brothers, the boys are first and second ousins.

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Jeb said, "Take a picture of me showing off all my land." (yeah right!)

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Posing with the straw hat

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Feelin' OK!

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Chillaxin' with his boots on

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After our photo shoot, we took the boys on a wagon ride!

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I smell trouble!

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But mommy... I was riding in the wagon!

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Get out!

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Reid pulling mommy

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Jett pulling Lacee

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Reid had lots of wide open space to ride the 4-wheeler

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Jett having a nice ride with his hat on and his leg up... too cute!

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Matching shirts for Father's Day!

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Nap time for my boys

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Jett painting a Father's Day picture for his daddy

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After resting for a while, we decided to go fishing. The weather was beautiful and we even picked blackberries for the boys on the way to the pond. They were so sweet and Reid just couldn't get enough of them!

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Cheese!!!

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Reid...trying so hard to sneak off the blanket and into the mud!

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I was trying to entertain the boys while Lacee went to pick up the pizza and while Jeb and Josh were fishing so I was letting them play with anything I could find in my purse...Jett found my pen, but obviously didn't use the paper!

It's so much fun watching Jett and Reid grow up together and I feel so blessed that we live close enough to Josh and Lacee to be able to see eachother so often. This is just the beginning of a lifetime full of memories together.