2015 Favorites | A Year in Review

2015 has been a whirlwind of a year. God never gives you more than you can handle, but he sure did try me this year. This year started off rough but has ended better than I could imagine! It was ridiculously big, no wonder I'm so tired! Ha. 

So, here's to my first Year In Review post, or a rather large photo dump. Either way, enjoy 2015 through my eyes! :)

{January}

We welcomed in 2015 with an Ice Storm, went to the Sandhills Rodeo, Dustee turned 10, and started the potty training business!

{February}

We had the best Valentine's Day and enjoyed wonderful south Texas Weather.

{March}

We spent a few days in San Antonio and went to Sea World (among other things), went to wedding #1 of the year in Austin for Tate's cousin Lance, and I got into my very first car accident, thank God it wasn't major and we were okay!

{April}

We had Easter in Odessa and found out after 8 months of south Texas, we were moving back west!
Although Brylee and I had to live 7 hours away from anybody for over a month, this was probably the best thing that happened this year! South Texas was an experience, but one that I'm glad is over.

{May}

We celebrated wedding #2 in Odessa for Tate's cousin Ross, my mom and sister made a surprise visit to help pack me up and bring me home, got stuck in a nasty storm in the middle of nowhere coming back, and my sweet cousin Brittni graduated high school.

{June}

We spent our time between Odessa and San Angelo in hotels, had many 7 on 7 tournaments, celebrated Tate's 26th birthday, and went to McAllen one last time to load up our house and move it to Ballinger. 

{July}

We had a baby shower/July 4th party in Abilene for sweet Westen, who was born a few days later (a few weeks before his due date!), took my grandparents fishing, FINALLY (after 4 fails) put an offer on a house and was accepted just to have the inspector fall through the roof (sigh), started the new football season with the Bearcats, and celebrated a gender reveal for Skyler and Rachel. It's a girl!!

{August}

We had our first scrimmage, finally got to move into our new house, Tate and Brylee started school, and I started work!

{September}

We spent Labor Day weekend at the lake, Dustee had surgery that thankfully wasn't as bad as we all thought it would be, we closed on our house, celebrated my 26th birthday, took in all things football, and Brylee got her first haircut.  

{October}

 I started my Christmas shopping, Layla turned 4, we went to the State Fair of Texas, had our first family pictures made, experienced our first small town Homecoming, started using Rodan + Fields, and had a black cat surprise for Halloween. 

{November}

Basketball season started, I interviewed for a job I really wanted and didn't get, made it to the playoffs, ended a wonderful first football season in Fredericksburg, went home for Thanksgiving, and painted our wood paneling (pictures to come). 

{December}

Decorated for Christmas, visited Santa, Snowbelle made her appearance, went to the Christmas parade, wore festive sweaters, celebrated Brylee turning 3, had a very merry Christmas, played in the snow and celebrated NYE in San Antonio(more to come)! 

I'm late, but linking up with Andrea and Erika for 2015 Favorites. :)

2016, I'm coming for you! I cannot wait to see what it brings. Here's to hoping for a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year! Cheers!

Weekending | Football, Halloween, Toddler Moment

How is it already November?? I was just reminding myself that I needed to return a shirt I bought back in September, but in my mind I've only had it about 2 weeks. Sigh. Fall has just flown by and it still feels like summer here! Sidenote... I hope I can still return my shirt. :( I bought it from a local boutique, never washed it and went to wear it (because clearly I had nothing else to wear in my closet full of clothes.. right?) when I noticed two holes in the sleeves like where your thumb would be, and a few more tiny holes in the seems on the arms. The sleeves were rolled when I tried it on and I unrolled it to wear as a long sleeve, noticing the holes then. I have no tags and the receipt was sent via text and I know I no longer have it. I hope they can do something about it.

Back to what this post was really about... Weekending. Linking up with Biana.

Friday night we had a game that would secure us a spot in the playoffs if we won. Kick off was at 7:30 but Tate's brother and his wife (my best friend), Skyler and Rachel, were coming into town and were running late. Rachel is pregnant and was hungry so we opted to miss kick off and eat pizza. We showed up late and not 5 minutes after we got there it started raining. We piled our umbrellas to keep us mostly dry but water was running down my umbrella and the left side of my leg and butt were soaked. How nice! It started raining harder right at halftime but the other teams band went on out to perform and just as soon as Ballinger's band made their way out there, they called for lightning delay. Each lightning strike that is closer than 8 miles (I think) calls for a 15 minute delay. Second half was to start at 9:30. We live less than a mile from the stadium so Rachel and I decided we were going to go home and change into dry clothes and be back for the start of the second half.  After getting changed, Brylee started to get super sleepy and super cranky so we just decided we wouldn't go back and started to go through B's baby things for Rachel to take back with her. I was texting one of the other coach's fiance when she informed me the game was postponed until Saturday at 2. Awesome. We had big plans to go to Odessa and surprise our parents but now weren't sure how that would go.

Saturday rolled around and we had a very lazy morning. Skyler and Rachel left for Dallas so it was just me and Brylee. She did a lot of reading and I cleaned and watched TV. I had to take a picture of how she was reading....or more so of what she did when she finished with a book. It's so like me.

My OCD-ness. I thrive on things going in order. Example: If I'm using highlighters, they 'line up' and I use one, put it at the end of the line, use the next, and so on. I did this growing up too; blocks, crayons, etc. I do it now... nail polish, highlighters (work and school), books. Most people don't get it but I know I'm not the only person out there that does this. It made my heart happy to see that B was doing it. Most of the time she is just like Tate, but moments like this definitely make her my daughter.

We started getting ready about 12:30 and were back up at the stadium around 1:50. Saying B loves her rain boots would be a complete understatement. She's obsessed. She would wear them everyday if she could. Today it happened to be very wet from the night before, so she was thrilled to wear them again. They are just from Walmart, but girlfriend doesn't care. She loves them. Many people make comments to her about her boots and she simply replies with 'you can't have them' no matter what their comment is. 

And there's Tate doing his thing. He absolutely loves what he does. While I wonder constantly what I'm supposed to do with my life as far as a career goes, this is exactly what Tate was meant to do.

The game ended with a great big Bearcat win, 41-7. YAY! We're going to the playoffs. We were finished by 3 and decided to go ahead and go to Odessa. It was a HUGE surprise for all our parents. I wish I had videos of both, but it was priceless. I failed when it came to taking pictures, but here is my adorable black cat.

We were up bright and early Sunday because we had to be back in Ballinger by 8 for Tate to game plan for this Friday's game. While he did that Brylee and I went to San Angelo to get some last minute things for the baby shower and go to the grocery store. We went to Dillards first and tried on some pants. This girl is growing super fast and all 2T things are getting short on her. Cheers for adjustable waistbands. My girl in 3T, be still my heart.

We shopped around the mall for a few things. I needed some candles from Bath and Body Works and I scored a great deal on my mom's Christmas present. I'm so excited about it. If I knew she didn't read this, I'd gladly share my findings with you. I will share my candles, though. They are the best. :) 

Target was our next stop for gift wrapping things and that's where the melt down happened. Toddler Moment. Oh how I just love a 2 year old melt down over a Palace Pet's pony. She is obsessed with these things but a birdie told me she was getting them for her birthday and poor girl just doesn't like the word no. If you're not aware of the lovely Palace Pets, they are the pet's of the Disney Princesses. A huge hit at our house.

At this point I decided we weren't going to the grocery store and I wasn't cooking. We checked out at Target, screaming toddler and all, and headed to Rosas for dinner. I'm not even a huge Rosa's fan but Tate and B love it so I caved. It was terrible. They were out of rice, didn't give us our extra tortillas, and the queso was abnormally spicy so that made B even more upset. Can't win all the time.

Tate got finished around 8:30.. yes he worked 8-8:30 all for the love of the game. It's like this every day almost. He ate, we went to bed hoping for a better day today. More on that tomorrow.

Happy Monday and November my friends,

Leah :)

I have tried and tried to get my pictures to center and it's driving be up the wall that they wont! Lovely.

What's Up Wednesday | October

Well.. I'm back again to this lovely blog space of mine. I haven't been here since the last What's Up Wednesday post. I was just telling my mom on the phone that I'm in some kind of funk and can't seem to get  myself back in a normal routine. But who am I kidding, it's football season and we don't really have a 'normal'. I don't even know what it's like to have a normal routine anymore.. except for working 8-5. Everything else it just a fly by the seat of your pants kinda thing... which I hate.

Thanks, OCD personality. Sigh.. Nonetheless, here I am again with a Wednesday catch up and I'm hoping to start making more posts again but I can't make any promises.

Shay | Sheaffer | Mel 

• What we're eating this week...

Monday: Crockpot Ribs, mac and cheese, and squash

Tuesday: Sloppy Joe Pie and sweet potato fries

Wednesday: Mix and Match Mama's Apple Cider Pork. I went home for lunch and it smells amazing

Thursday: Probably leftovers. Tate goes to the JV games and they are away this week and there's no fast food to just grab and go, so it'll probably be leftovers.

Friday: Football Game... we eat out.

Saturday: No plans

Sunday: Pineapple grilled chicken and zucchini.

• What I'm reminiscing about...

Well, thanks to Timehop, I'm reminiscing about Brylee's first Halloween. Just look at my sweet little ghost!

And then, also thanks to Timehop, look at that baby standing all on her own. And she was only about a head taller than the coffee table. Now she's a little over 3 foot and a complete sass! Ahh.. all these sweet baby moments. I need another.  

• What I'm loving...

My Rodan + Fields! I've always struggled with acne. It started realllly early for me, long before it should have. I've tried so much. Prescriptions, drugstore products and high end products. The last thing I tried was Clinique's Acne line and it did okay, but I was still having constant breakouts and it did nothing for my cystic acne. I finally bit the bullet and messaged Erika at A Little Bit of Everything and she set me right up with R+F's unblemish line. I'm three weeks in and currently have two spots on my face. Two. Yes, two!! After 15 years, this may be the stuff, y'all! 

• What we've been up to...

 Well, since we last talked

We've gone to the State Fair and had a blast.

Went to the Homecoming Parade. Welcome to small town life. :)

 Brylee got to join Tate in it.

I started painting Brylee's room and bought paint for the living room and our bedroom. Here are the before (before we even moved in) and during.. I don't quite have an after yet.

We had pink pancakes.. just because.

Had family pictures made. I'll share more later. :)

Played in the puddles.

Went to a Halloween carnival. Props to my friend Linzi for doing this with Brylee!

And, football. Always football. :)

• What I'm dreading...

 Well, a month ago I was dreading painting the wood paneling in the living room. Guess what? I'm still dreading painting that AND now I've decided to whitewash our fireplace. Here's why... we went to pick out the colors for the living room, Brylee's bedroom and our bedroom. The last two were easy, the living room, however, we couldn't agree on. I wanted a sandy brown and Tate wanted grey. I just knew grey wouldn't look as good as he imagined but I let him think so and we bought a sample. I was worried the grey wouldn't look good with our fireplace so I painted the area right next to it. Guess what? I was right. :) The color is pretty, but it's all wrong next to the fireplace. So, after much debate about it, I looked up ways to paint fireplaces and have decided to whitewash it.

I'm not quite sure what I've gotten myself into. Has anybody else ever done this? Thanks pinterest!

• What I'm working on...

 What am I not working on should be the question, but most importantly I need to work on Brylee's Halloween costume. Yes I'm aware Halloween is this weekend, but I'm quite the procrastinator and my best work is almost always done last minute. I have everything I need, except time. Ha. Last weekend she went as Rapunzel but that's not her actual costume. 

• What I'm excited about...

This weather. It's finally starting to feel like fall here. I actually wore boots and sweaters three times this week! 

• What I'm watching/reading...

I haven't had any down time to read. Watching? Ha on that too! I've "watched" things like The Voice and Dancing with the Stars while cooking/cleaning/laundry. On the occasion that a favorite happens to dance (uhhh like Nick Carter) I do actually sit to watch. Yes, he makes my pre-teen heart happy. :)

Last night, I did have the game on, though.

If your curious, I do have some down time at work and that's where I blogged today. Except pictures. I waited until I got home to download my pictures here.

• What I'm listening to...

Thomas Rhett on Pandora but I'd be lying if I said I didn't listen to Christmas music today. 

• What I'm wearing...

Currently, this. Excuse my mirror. It's the only full length mirror I have in this house. That's on our 'to do' list.

haha.. I love that I can wear my sweats. I change into comfy clothes the minute I'm home. I don't care if I'm only going to be home for 30 minutes, comfy clothes, y'all! These are my favorite and unfortunately Nike has discontinued them. But, today I wore this.

Y'all, this shirt is everything. It is my current favorite. I may have actually squealed when I opened the package. It's from Pearl and Monroe and Jessica has such cute stuff! I'm too tall for it to be worn with just leggings, but it rocked with skinny jeans!

• What I'm doing this weekend...

We have big Halloween plans this weekend! 

• What I'm looking forward to next month...

My best friend's baby shower, finishing my Christmas shopping (60% done), and enjoy every bit of Thanksgiving. 

• What else is new..

This. This is new. 

I never sleep in! I'm always up before my alarm clock but remember from the top of this post, I'm in a funk. Sleeping in happens to be part of that. This was the first thing I saw this morning on Instagram so it must be a sign. I'VE GOT TO START WAKING UP EARLY AGAIN!

Apparently spelling is also part of this funk. It took me way too many times to spell sleeping! What? I'm losing it, I tell ya!

• What's my favorite Thanksgiving recipe...

My pumpkin roll. Seriously so good. 

Recipe to come later. 

Hope you had the best day!

Leah.