Tagged

I don't have a lot of readers... so, like my mom, it's my first time to be tagged! I will tag people, but uh, don't really know that they read this... so, we'll see! I'm supposed to list 6 of the quirkiest things about me, so here goes.

1. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE football! I don't know exactly when my love for football started. I grew up watching soccer my entire life (which I still LOVE by the way and always will!). I'm like a guy when it comes to football!!! I could watch high school (random schools), college, or NFL! LOVE IT- especially my Dallas Cowboys!

2. I HATE, HATE, HATE shopping!!!! Of any kind... even if I have money! If I go shopping, I have to find something within the first 5 to 10 minutes MAX of me being there or I'll leave. I cannot stand to DIG for clothes... so, needless to say, if it's on clearance in a PILE... I won't be buying it! And I can't stand stores like ROSS where you have to LOOK for the good clothes!

3. When I sleep, I always have to have one leg outside of the covers... and I cannot sleep in socks because I get hot and I feel smothered!

4. I cry for ALL occasions! I cry when I'm happy, sad, mad, scared, excited, when I'm worshiping... ALL occasions! Just ask anyone in my family or from my childhood-- actually, someone who met me a week ago has probably already witnessed me cry!!! Seriously... it's ridiculous... but I can't help it! In fact, just talking about it makes me want to cry... okay, not really.

5. I take a blanket with me when I travel. Back in 1997 I was a youth intern at Southland Baptist Church in San Angelo, TX. One of my youth made a little quilt for me as a "going away gift". It goes with me on every trip I go on... it's my little "comfort blanky"... j/k. I just like it!

6. I shave my arms. I had VERY hairy arms. Dec of 2001 I had wrist surgery due to torn ligaments and tendons. So, they shaved my arm only half way up (between my wrist and elbow). It was very unattractive, so I decided to shave the rest of it... which meant I couldn't have one hairy and one not... so I shaved them both. I have done it since then!

Okay, I don't know who reads my blog other than people that have already been tagged. The only person that I know of is Katy. I don't know if Kym reads, but if so, I'm tagging you too!

Penguin Skateboard

Okay, so I'm not creative with my blog titles like most people. These are some videos that I finally got downloaded of our niece and nephew Zach and Autumn. Zach is getting so big. I can remember when he was 3 years old and was our ring barer in our wedding! He walked down the aisle w/ the pillow covering his face!! Too cute! Welp, he's not a little boy anymore! Here he is showing his skateboard moves...




Here are a few of Autumn. The first one is kinda dark (I'm sorry... I just ran to grab my camera so I could catch her in action and didn't think to turn more lights on in the room). It was so cute though... she looked like a little penguin.


Here is one that you can see a little better... but it's a short one...


Man, I just love being an aunt!

Getting out of hand!

I've posted 3 blogs in 2 days! I actually STARTED one yesterday (the 3,2,1 ACTION) but didn't post it until today. So, it's below the one from today... but it's newer... just FYI!

Proud to be an American!

Just have to say that I'm loving the Olympics! We've got it DVR-ing so we watch it EVERY night! We are up LATE ('til 10pm at least! I know... we've gone crazy!!!) Anyways... it's so fun to watch. The best part is watching our Americans win a medal and especially a gold and getting to hear our National Anthem! I LOVE IT!

My favorites are definitely the volleyball and swimming so far! As most of you know, Steve played v-ball in college and afterwards... so of course he's into it. When we both lived in Abilene, I would ALWAYS go watch Steve play v-ball... church league, HSU club, whatever! I even took road trips w/ them to Dallas to watch them play outdoor or in Galveston on the beach! I was a true fan of his... and I had a "secret" crush on him all along! Anyways, he used to play against one of the USA Olympic v-ball players. He's on the indoor team, #10- Riley Salmon. I think I've seen him play too when I used to watch Steve play in Dallas. Anyhoo... I told Steve it's cool that he can say he's played against an Olympian! So, needless to say, we're both hooked to the TV when any v-ball is on!

Swimming is quite a favorite as well!!! Michael Phelps is amazing! And did ya'll see the men's relay the other night! WOW! Steve and I were both at the edge of the bed yelling at the TV. Briley didn't know what to think and started barking at us for getting so excited! It was great!

Welp, that's it for now! I'm proud to be an American and love watching our athletes represent our country! GO USA!!!

3, 2, 1, ACTION!!!!!!

So I couldn't get all of the pics and videos downloaded for my last posting... so here are some more! There's a lot here... so I apologize in advance!

While I was home I got to sing w/ my childhood friends, Mindy and Hillary. We used to sing when we were in youth group together. Since we've been "grown up", we sing together every now and then when we're all at "home" together in Burk. So... it's always fun to bust out with some old Point of Grace songs, or AVB, or just whatever we can remember!!! So many people have talents and hobbies with decorating, creating things, making things, artsy fartsy things, playing sports, etc. My "talent" or "hobby" is singing! I could do it ALL DAY, EVERY DAY if I could... I love it! I'm not the best... but the Lord says to make a "joyful noise" and didn't say it had to be the "best- joyful noise"! So, I sing!

Here's a video of us singing a few weeks ago when we were all home for a visit and for Hillary's bridal shower. It's kinda weird to put a video of myself on here, but I've had requests to hear it... so, here it is...


Here's a video of Steve reading to Mallory when we babysat the girls a few weekends ago. He didn't know I was filming...


This is video I got of Morgan laughing. It was so funny... she was just sitting there and would crack herself up and then completely stop. Then she'd crack up again and stop! I loved it because she was laughing so hard and just shutting her eyes... it was SOOO cute! Check it out...


I got some video of Julia doing things... but the video is on my cell phone. I haven't figured out how to download it yet. But, here's one that I got on my camera of her playing in her little pool and sprinkler and B-Mom and Pop's... (note- you can't tell very well in this video, but the sprinkler kept spraying her right in the eyes and she kept blinking!)


It was CRAZY how much Johnathan has changed since I last saw him in May! He's a little chunker and is adorable!!! Here he is "jumping" w/ Jason... ( I apologize that it's sideways... I can't figure out how to rotate it)


And last, but not least, Aug 12th was my birthday and I have to share what I got from Steve... SO EXCITING...

First, here's part of the decorations Steve put up for me in the morning (it gets put up EVERY year... I love it!)...


Second, here's my gift... and YES guys and gals... I WANTED THIS AND LOVE IT!!!!

It's a Dallas Cowboys jersey of my FAVORITE player, Marion Barber! I've been wanting one for a long time now... and I finally got one! Most people look at me like, "seriously, LaShay... that's what you got for your birthday?" My response, "HECK YES!" I love my Cowboys!!! Thank you Steve, I love you!

Husband and Family time!

Steve and I have been away spending time with each other and my family. We don't get to go up to my hometown (Burkburnett, TX) very often since it's a 6 hour drive. We had missed out on getting to go up there when my brother's and their families went back in June. So, Steve and I took some time off work and hit the road! We went up to Burk for a few days and then went on our own little "get away" to do just that... get away! We haven't taken time off from work for anything other than a holiday or something in a LONG time! So, we took last week off work and spent time together.

Here's a run down of our week last week in pics...

Let me start w/ one or two of our "babysitting" weekend at Brad and Shannon's prior to our vacation...
#1- here are my instructions and tips from Shannon... SO HELPFUL!


#2- me and Mallory


#3- Me giving Morgan her bottle


#4- me and Steve w/ the girls on Sunday after church



Now for our "vacation"... We left SA on Thursday and stopped in to see one of my best friends from college... Karen (Milburn) Chandler. I LOVE to see this girl! When we're together, I just LAUGH the ENTIRE time almost! We got to see her, her husband Jason, and her sister Katy (and Katy's husband, Jason (not Karen's Jason) and their little boy, Denver). If you were at my wedding, Karen is the first bridesmaid that danced down the aisle doing the running man!!! LOVE IT! LOVE HER!

Here's a pic of me and Karen


Here's Karen and her hubby


Here are some pics from Burk (Jason came in w/ Julia and Johnathan for a day... so it was fun to spend some time w/ them... missed Jen though!)

#1- Julia and Johnathan


#2- me and Johnathan


#3- Julia saying "bye-bye" to Briley before we left


#4- mom and I got pedicures!!! Thanks Mom!!!!




#5- Dad in the backyard watching Julia swim and play in the sprinkler


#6- Uncle Charles and Aunt Tweety



#7- Uncle Steve got ordained at his church that weekend, so Mawmaw and Pawpaw came up for the weekend. Here's Uncle Steve, Debby, Tacey (not sure if I spelled it right), Mawmaw, Madison, and Seth


#8- Here's my cousin Travis and Pawpaw


After family time on the road, me, Steve and Briley headed to Round Rock. We spent Sun-Wed at a hotel. They let us bring Briley... it was suite... kinda like an apartment. So, Briley hung out in the hotel all day and did GREAT! Steve and I went shopping at the outlet mall in Round Rock- (FYI- they are not near as good as the San Marcos outlets) and then we even went to a mall. If you know me, you know that I HATE shopping... but it was a pleasure just to be with Steve and spend the day with him... even though it was shopping! Other than that, we didn't do a whole lot. We went to the pool at our hotel for about an hour... that's it. The rest of the time there we just chilled out, ate, shopped, and went to a movie. It was actually relaxing! The best part of the trip home was that it was only 1 hour as opposed to a 4 or 5 hour drive! It was great!!

Parenthood... no, I'm not pregnant!

We had a busy weekend. It started out Friday night with a "kick-off party" for Steve's job that we went to. He works for the ALS Association (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease)... which is in MAJOR need of funding for research!!! (just FYI in case you're blessed w/ extra money and the Lord has laid it on your heart to give it away!) They have walks to raise money for research. Well, they had the "kick-off party" to start raising money for the walks that will be taking place this year. It was fun and we WAY over-ate! We ate bad food too! Over my calorie limit for sure! Gotta hit the gym hard tonight!

Then, we had the privilege of babysitting 2 of our nieces this past weekend. Brad and Shannon went out of town and asked us to watch Mallory and Morgan. Prior to the weekend, I was SOOOO excited about it. The day before it got here I got a little nervous. I don't know if it's because everyone would either laugh and say "Oh, can't wait to hear about that when you get back!" (while chuckling to themselves) or "Let's see if you're gonna want babies after this!"... things like that. That started sinking in before we went and I thought... "What in the world are we doing? We're not gonna know what to do!".

Well, I have to say it was NOTHING like that! In fact, it just confirmed my desire to want children and be a mother! I loved EVERY minute of it! Steve didn't even mind it! (ask him... I'm not lying) Mallory and Morgan are the best kids I've EVER been around. (If you know me, you know I've been around kids a LOT! I worked in day-cares and camps during college, I worked as a houseparent at a children's home, and much more). They were AWESOME! Props to Brad and Shannon!!!!!!

The girls are on a schedule and boy is it awesome! I had asked Shannon to leave me details on what to do (like do I warm up Morgan's food, milk, etc... if so, how much? Just little things that you parents have already learned). She left me a 3 page list of their schedule, instructions on how to make the bottles, what Mallory likes to eat, what they like to do, places we can go w/ the girls, EVERYTHING! It was wonderful and VERY handy! Shannon... THANK YOU!!!!

Outside of the girls being on their schedule... they are just a pleasure to be around! I can honestly say that we had NO crying, whining, fit-throwing, crankiness, or ANYTHING like that from Mallory or Morgan! Morgan cried for like 10 seconds in the car on the way to church... and then fell asleep. She cried again for like 30 seconds before she got her bottle (because I didn't have it ready)... and that was it! At nap time, both girls would just lay in their beds and go straight to sleep. It was amazing! I took LOTS of pics! I'll share a few as soon as I get them downloaded!

Again, Brad and Shannon, God is truly blessing your hard work as parents! You have beautiful and amazing children! Thanks for letting us be the one's to get to take care of them this weekend... it was an honor!

One more prop goes to my amazing husband! Steve, you were AWESOME this weekend with the girls! You held them, fed them, played with them, just sat with them, everything! You were so helpful and were amazing to watch with them. You're going to be a GREAT dad someday! I love you SOOO much!

Pictures

Sorry it's been a while! We've been here... but busy! Steve and I have joined a gym (Lifetime Fitness) and we LOVE it! We've been there EVERY day with the exception of this past Friday and Saturday because we were out of town.

We got to spend some time with our best friends, Jian and Cindy, last Thursday. Cindy broke BOTH of her arms so I was helping her with their son, Storm, who is just over a year old. Poor Cindy... she can't really do ANYTHING! She had been in two casts, but praise the Lord they took those off and she's now in splints. She still can't do much with her arms though so it's hard for her to take care of Storm. Here is a video of Storm. He does this thing they call "Crazy eyes"... check it out...



As I mentioned above, we were out of town... we went to Temple this past Friday night to Steve's parent's house. We drove to Palestine to see Steve's grandmother (Meemaw) for her birthday. She turned 88 I believe! She's an amazing woman. Below are some pics of our weekend at her house and then in Temple. There are some of our niece and nephew (Zach and Autumn). Also, Shannon and the girls (Mallory and Morgan) came to join us for lunch on Sunday since Brad wasn't in town. Enjoy...
This is Steve, his cousin Barry, Zach, Dustin, and Scott Four generations (Autumn, Steph, Sherry, and Meemaw) Zach's 9th birthday! Autumn A pic I took of Autumn and Zach at Ted and Sherry's house Zach, Autumn, Mallory, and Morgan Mallory (you can't tell very well in this pic... but she's covered w/ cinnamon apples on her face) Morgan The Morse family (Steph's husband, Ed, is the only one missing :-( )


Shannon, Mallory, and Morgan