bethany faythe.

i used to baby-sit this girl all the time.  she's 13 (which makes me feel super old) and i love seeing the "woman" she is becoming!  beautiful bethany!

sunday.

today was a pretty good day.  michael played drums at church so it was an early day for us.  we went to lunch with friends and then home depot.  i convinced michael a nap was needed and then we FINALLY started painting the upstairs hall.  it's tough painting by the stairs.  i went way more neutral than the rest of the house and, i'm not gonna lie, i kinda love it.  it's a very relaxing color.  now, it's storming... thunder/lightening/rain and i'm ready for design star to come on.


i like sundays.
can you believe it's almost JULY?  i sure can't.  i love fireworks and the 4th of july.

3 years ago michael met my parents for the first time at seneca's fireworks show and then we were supposed to watch more fireworks on his uncle's boat, but lightening stopped that.  i like his curly hair in this picture.  cracks me up.

i miss this girl.

i was looking through all my silly photo booth photos.  and these made me miss kadi mae.


kadi,
i think you are the coolest 4 year old i know.

love,

aunt lesley

i'm pretty sure this is one of her favorite things to do when she visits.

my two favorites.

last night michael fell asleep before me.... which is becoming a very rare thing.  we always go to bed at the same time, but i'm usually out before him.  when did i become such an old lady???  anyways, last night i couldn't fall asleep and just laid there thanking God for putting such an amazing boy in my life.  he works hard all day and goes to summer classes on his lunch break.  he has a full time job and goes to school full time.  he takes care of the pool.  he mows the yard and takes out the trash.  he usually grills dinner for us when i work. he works on projects around the house. he has a class one day a week for work that lasts 4 hours in the evening.  he plays drums at church usually at least one sunday out of the month. he's busy.  so, this nightly routine of going to bed at the same time (and at a decent time) is something i enjoy.  i like being married.  i'm looking forward to this weekend......we have NOTHING planned and i think it's probably going to be the best weekend i've had in quite some time.

my sweet millie girl is my other favorite.

3 years ago today michael asked me to be his girlfriend at a park in mt. vernon while sitting on a dock.  i was a happy, happy girl and love that i'm still that happy girl.  time flies, but we're having fun.

anna's birthday

kourtney had planned a fun day for anna... and anna got to decide what we were going to do.  she had 9 balloons... 3 different colors... each balloon had a piece of paper in it with either a place to eat, a place for dessert, or an activity.  anna popped the balloons and got to decide what we did. (she was supposed to have just 3 choices, but we let her mix and match)

we ate at cheddar's since her boyfriend had plans of sushi that night.

and then we had DQ oreo blizzards.

which were yummy and freee.

because there was a "Blizzard-mobile" at bass pro for the blizzards 25th birthday.

and there were giving out free ice cream and natalie and kourtney had fun dancing.

we spent the rest of the afternoon at a thrift store.

it was a good day.

happy birthday, anna!

happy birthday, anna!  thank you for being such a great friend!  

anna was one of my first friends in springfield.  we went to the same shows (she knew my husband before we knew each other and the other guys in his band) and had fun days at jordan valley park with huge route 44 sonic drinks.  we talk about our dreams.  we probably take too many pictures of ourselves in our "photoshoots" and eat lots of sushi.  i admire this girl for her passion for life, friends, and dance. (she's a ballerina)  we lived together for a year and shared all our clothes. she was in my wedding and i was happy to have her stand by me in such an important moment of my life.  i'm sure we'll share many more memories together. (cheesy, i know.)

love you anna banana.

i'm excited to see a bunch of my friends today... 

we're taking anna out for lunch & dessert.

it's going to be a good (and hot) day.  go outside & enjoy yours.

*photo by me in one of our silly photoshoots.

dear dad,

thank you for being such a wonderful dad.  thanks for showing me how fearless you can be and letting me be your roller coaster buddy since i was tall enough to ride thunderation at silver dollar city.  thank you for getting me a horse for Christmas when i was 10 and for riding on our old, bumpy country roads with me almost every day.  thanks for working so hard to provide for our family and so mom had the chance to stay home with us.  thank you for showing me a great example of marriage and love.  thanks for raising me in church and having a passion for Christ and to serve others.  you are a great dad and i love you!

silver dollar city for my 23rd birthday

kadi and papa on my horse, fancy.

praying at my wedding... right before he gave me away. :)

millie goes swimming... kind of.

we tried to let millie enjoy the pool with us last night.  she seemed to reaaaaaally want to get in so we let her.  she tried to doggie paddle a little, but was mostly just going crazy.  we sat her on the raft and she stayed semi-calm, until i started saying her name to take a picture.

(michael is holding her still from behind in this one.)

evening swims with my husband (and dog) are relaxing.  

then, we watched design star...

nina has to go!

welcome SUMMER, i'm happy you're here.

i feel.... free.

i haven't been feeling very productive lately.  i usually get distracted way too easily and before i know it i've wasted so much of my day.  i'm not a fan of my job... i don't look forward to going.  i keep saying i'm going to find a new one and i do nothing about it.  michael tries to be a good husband and is patient with me.  he gave me some great ideas on our way home from seneca on sunday.  but, you know what?  i've had the last 3 days off and i've done nothing about finding a new place to work.  i think i have it in my head that i can stay home when we have kids, but i also know i need to have a back-up plan and we don't know how long it will be before we're ready for kids.  so, what am i waiting for?

i did some things today that will hopefully help me take more advantage of having days off.  i want to be a good wife and get the cleaning done.  i want to learn how to cook better and more often.  i decided to stop twitter and tumblr.  they both were really useless to me, anyways.  i stopped "following" so many blogs. i'm also going to stop watching tv during the day and no more silly fake reality shows for me. (yes, i'm talking bachelorette) and instead, i'll sit outside in the pool with my husband.

so, now my plan is to get out and enjoy the day, play with millie, and step away from my addicting computer.

:)

i'm going to have fun things to keep in this little blog of mine because i'm gonna get out and live my life more.

my puppy.

my puppy isn't so much a "puppy" anymore.  she's getting big.  i can barely pick her up and before i know it she'll almost weigh as much as me.  i'm petite (short) so that won't be hard to do! one of my best friend's took some pictures the first time they met.  it was a windy day back in early may.

here's my girl:

precious right??

haha, i love her.

thanks for the pictures, anna banana.

p.s.  i promise i have more shirts.  i guess i just like to wear this one when we take pictures?  it's from one of my favorite places... target.

little brother.

i mentioned my little brother (21) is single... and he's probably going to hate me if he reads this, but i just wanted to share how special this boy really is.  my blog is never really "serious"  i like to keep it pretty light-hearted with pictures of what our life is like.  but, my baby brother is someone who i probably don't thank God enough for being in my life.

i think i'm going to be a over-protective little mommy.  and no, not because i feel like my mom did anything wrong when we were growing up, but things can happen SO quickly.  i don't remember it happening because i was just two years old.   i'll just share what i remember being told.

coy had just turned 1 and we were having a family birthday dinner for my older brother.  mom was fixing all kinds of food... including fries in the deep fryer*.  they think coy must have been reaching for his cup that was on the counter and grabbed the cord of the fryer to "climb up" or something.  but, instead the deep fryer came down...  on my little brother.  i'm sure it was a moment of complete and utter shock/panic for my parents.  he only had a diaper on.  they put him in the tub and called 911.  the doctors didn't give coy much of a chance of survival.  his burns were all over his poor, little body.  they got him stable and ended up doing lots of skin grafts.  they took skin from his fingers to put on his ankle.  he didn't have much "good" skin left.  he spent many months in the hospital and my other siblings and i stayed with family.  mom and dad spent almost all of their time with coy and during that time my mom lost her mom.  he had so many people praying for him and God showed us His grace in a big way.  coy pulled through and came home (and shortly after got chicken pox and gave it to my sister and me... my POOR mom!)  mom did skin care on him and he had a "balloon" in his head to help his hair grow back.  i cannot stand to look at the pictures.  i can't describe how it makes me feel, but i haven't looked at them for many years.

he gave us another scare a couple of years back.  i was at my youth minister's house and got a call that coy had been in a bad wreck.  when we got to the hospital they had just got him in and still had blood all over his face.  scary!  he got a couple of scars on his nose and soreness, but other than that he was ok!  they had no idea how he came away with such little injuries.  his car was completely totaled and i don't like looking at those pictures either. ;)

anyways, i'm proud of my brother.  i'm happy he's been in our lives...

his recent story isn't as traumatic and sad..... in fact, it's opposite:  he's lost 67 lbs!  coy was never really the athletic type and generally he just liked to be with friends/family.  he has an amazing voice (i like hearing him sing!) and has always had a passion for that.  i need to ask him what made him decide it was time to shed some extra lbs.  but, he did it.  he changed his diet, started jogging, stopped eating fast-food, and i think he began it all with doing the biggest loser on the wii.

coy's graduation in 2007.

michael & coy in dallas, 2008

visiting me in springfield, 2009

recent picture, 2010

at the fish fry on Sunday.

proud of you, coy boy.

now, you don't need lose anymore!

fish fry.

michael, millie and i went to seneca over the weekend.  it's always fun to go back to the country and get away just for a little bit.  millie really enjoyed how many dogs were there to play with... and hagen.  she loves playing with hagen.

we had a fish fry up at my grandparents house.

handsome boys.

i met baby jacob for the first time! (my cousin's baby)

linds was in from san fran for her 10 year reunion.

lindsay, update your blog. :)

and this is my single brother who needs to find a girlfriend that my sister and i approve of. ;)

zeek.

zeek is definitely one of millie's top 5 favorites.  he taught her how to dig holes and bury bones. but, this weekend she'll be meeting all kinds of dogs.  i'm not sure she'll know how to react.

we have all kinds of fun planned for the weekend.

family time.

i'm quite fond of family time.  i happen to think families don't come any better than the one i've been blessed with.  the fam came up to springfield and spent the weekend with michael and i.  a huuuuuge THANK YOU to dad for helping michael lay ceramic tile in our kitchen.  it looks SO good.  mom & i kept the kids occupied and sister, brother and bro-in-law came up to get the kids.  

my millie girl LOVED all the attention.  loved it.