10 Things + 2 Truths and a Lie

Good morning, friends! Today I'm linking up with Karli for 10 on Tuesday. I decided to give y'all 10 random facts about me since I am still new to this blogging world. And, my posts yesterday didn't go-live yesterday like they should have so there are 3 posts today. 

10 Random Facts About Me

1. I am deathly afraid of spiders. Yes, a lot of people are, but this is serious. I will cry and freak out the instant I see them. I'm not sure why because I grew up in the country - I basically shared a home with spiders! Ugh. They just creep me out. 

2. I have always, always been a good girl. I never got in trouble growing up and not once did I get in trouble in school. Senior skip day - nope I stayed. I was never late to class and graduated in the top % of my class with a 4.0 GPA. I also could have graduated high school 1.5 years early but didn't because of my friends.

3. Because of #2, I took advanced classes and, with the help of all my sports related injuries, I decided I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. During my senior year I was taking an A&P class where I had to shadow a doctor and I passed out watching an ACL surgery. I tried to stick to pre-med after that but ultimately decided it wasn't for me. That led me to wanting to be the next Erin Andrews which still hasn't happened. 

4. I played soccer for 12 years. I quit after transferring high schools because instead of playing with the same girls I had been for 6 years (club team), I would be playing against them. I regretted that decision my entire junior and senior year. 

5. I laugh in awkward situations. Most of the time laughing isn't normal to those certain situations. Sometimes I really just can't help it. 

6. My middle name is Nichole and most of my family never called me Leah - I went by Nikki. It wasn't until I started this thing called adulting that I became Leah. Some people still do call me Nichole but Nikki is now gone. It really through me off when my Barney (grandma) called me Leah for the first time. 

7. I'm allergic to laundry detergent. I haven't always been but just randomly one day my entire body broke out in these tiny red bumps. It took a few weeks to put it all together and I had to re-wash everything I owned with All Free and Clear! I never could borrow clothes from a friend without washing them first and if anybody borrowed anything from me I would always just ask them to return it without washing. 

8. The Wedding Planner is my all time favorite movie. I know every single word and my absolute favorite part is when Steve goes to Mary's apartment after they've been picking out flowers and statues - "...but I do know the curves of your face and every fleck of gold in your eyes..." lol so romantic but terrible timing! 

9. Tate and I met in high school but I didn't want a whole lot to do with him. I was really good friends with his brother and Tate was the quarterback so I just assumed he was bad news. He would always tell my sister to set us up but his brother always stepped in and said no. We secretly dated off and on after high school but never were anything official until after he graduated college and moved back home. 

10. Growing up we would always have fake names when we went anywhere  or "played school". Did anybody else do that or were we just weird like that? Anyways, Brylee was always my 'fake' name and one day I knew I'd have a daughter and that would be her name. :) Oddly enough, that was the first name I mentioned to Tate but he shut it down. After months of debate one night he said "what do you think of the name Brylee?" He claims I never brought it up first but my aunt has the old "school" papers to prove it! Ha!

Thanks Karli for this great link up, but I'm not quite finished! :)

A few weeks ago I saw Christina from Carolina Charm do 2 Truths and a Lie and I loved it. So, here it goes. 

True or False - I broke my nose and never got it fixed. 

True or False - I have a scar from a penny.

True or False - I broke my ankle 3 times in the same spot. 

You'll have to check back tomorrow to find out the answer. :)

Weekending | The Pledge of Allegience

Hi! I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend. I took a short little blogging break Thursday and Friday but I'm back now! After this week I'm not real sure how many times I'll post each week because I start back to school tomorrow so I'll have to find a 'new normal' schedule. But enough of that, lets recap my weekend!

I'm starting with Thursday. Was I off Friday? No. But we had a busy day Thursday and it needs some attention. :)
B and I had our dentist appointments (from my February goals!). It had been raining all week here off and on so we dressed in our rainboots and headed to Abilene.



I dropped Brylee off with my cousin (hi Amber!) while I went to mine. I have never in my life had a cavity, until now. Not only do I have 1, I have 3! What?! Why!? I'm the person that brushes their teeth 2 sometimes 3 times a day, floss each night and doesn't eat/drink a lot of sugary stuff! Why!?! From what she told me two of them were in hard to reach places but they are and reversible (whew!) with a prescription toothpaste. Awesome. The other on the other hand needs to be filled. The culprit for these cavities? Most likely coffee! She said it's very acidic and if it's sipped it works on your teeth longer. She suggested I drink it quickly and only once a day. Yeah, okay, probably not going to happen.  Along with that she also recommended I have all 4 wisdom teeth taken out. I have enough room for them and they're all in but she said it's very hard to reach the back of my mouth in order to clean those teeth properly. So, that brings the dilemma of having two taken out at a time while numbing my mouth or have an oral surgeon take all four out at a time.

After dropping off the prescription for my toothpaste, I picked B up and we had lunch. Yes, fresh clean teeth and we choose to have burgers for lunch. I had a wonderful lunch with my cousins and shared some fries with sweet Westen, although he really just wanted my burger!



I was super nervous about B's appointment and so was she! I've prepped her all week for this and Wednesday night she curled up in my lap and told me she was scared to have somebody mess with her teeth. I nearly canceled her appointment but I knew we needed to get it over with. Y'all, she did so good! I went to a pediatric dentist for her and I think that was the best thing! It was so kid friendly and inviting that she went right in, found a friend and played while I filled out paperwork. When they called her name she went with no fight. They gave us a tour of the office and sat her down for x-rays. I cannot get over how tiny she looks in that chair!



She took her x-rays like a champ and was moved over to the next room. They had 4 chairs per room and had a TV on the ceiling so they could watch that. B was the only one in there at the time so they changed it to the Little Mermaid, gave her some sunglasses (for the light) and went to cleaning. I was so proud of how well she did. There were a few times she would move because she was afraid of sliding out of the chair but other than that she did sooooo good! Zero cavities for this girl! We saw the x-rays of her teeth and seeing that her adult teeth are already there just hanging out (ha) made me emotional! Tate thought I was crazy but to me that just means that she is growing up!

Tate had to cancel practice due to weather so he met us for dinner. We went to Lowe's after to pick out paint color for the rest of the house (more on this later). 

Before we headed home I had to stop by CVS and pick up my $20 toothpaste. It better work a miracle!

Friday we did nothing! I made orange chicken and we stayed in all night thanks to the rainy weather.

Saturday morning we went to breakfast then Tate went to go hunting. B and I got ready and headed for San Angelo to meet my dad at the lake. Every spring break my dad and step mom spend a few days at the lake - they've done this ever since I was still in high school but now we all have families of our own so it's just that much better! My dad got her her first softball glove and ball. She is super confused and I'm no help when it comes to softball. She keeps throwing the ball with the glove - it's super cute! That's a job for Tate.

I got the kids this little bowling set. We thought it would be super fun for them until I had to reset the pins each time. Ha!

And then we went for a boat ride, a chilly one I might add. It may have been warm but it was cool on the water.

Brylee stayed the night there so I went grocery shopping before going back home. TV all to myself again - yes, ma'am! This time it was Friends.

Sunday I was all thrown off by the time change. I got up and ready to go pick Brylee up but they all slept in so I went on a search for new denim shorts. No luck. :( I'm such a weird fit. I'm hoping to find some while we are in Dallas this weekend. I did find a few fun things at Target that I'll be sharing on Friday. 

We ended the weekend with a walk to the high school and helped Tate drag the fields to get them ready for their game today. Tate got creative and hooked Layla's leash to Brylee's wagon. It all worked well until Layla drove Brylee right over a curb. We could not stop laughing!  (picture taken from the video - a little blurry, sorry!)

 

I'll end this with this little video - on the way home yesterday B just randomly started saying the Pledge of Allegiance so I had her recite it for Tate when we got home from our walk. I had no clue she even knew it! So proud. :)

Linking up with Biana.

Daily Leah #9

Happy Monday! I'm posting my Daily Leah a bit late, we had a somewhat busy but enjoyable weekend so when I had some free time I decided to watch TV with Tate instead of posting. :) Sometimes ya just gotta!

These are pictures of something that made me happy that particular day - celebrating the happy things in each day whether the day was good or bad! :)
March 6 to March 12

Day  66

B and I ran errands in Abilene and had lunch at McAlisters. Her shirt says "Y'all need Jesus!" We got so many compliments on it - I love it.

Day 67

Never miss a Monday!

Day 68

Along with an early start to spring comes early spring storms! I've heard this part of Texas usually gets some pretty good storms and I'm more of a fair weather kinda girl - we'll see how this goes!

Day 69

Having our Kids Behind the Blog interview.

Day 70

As Brylee said, it was a 'jump in puddles kind of day'! 

Day 71

Orange chicken - so so good!

Day 72

 On the boat with my girl while spending a day at the lake with my family. 

And that, my friends, is what makes me happy. :)

Kid Behind The Blog | March

It's that time again for The Kids (or kid in my case) Behind The Blog link up! I love this little link up because it kinda freezes Brylee at this age. I'll always be able to look onto these in a year from now and see how things changed month by month.

 It's a set of questions is given each month and you have a little interview with your kids and post them. If you want to know more about what the Kids Behind The Blog is Beth explained it all here.

Crystal | Hall Around Texas
Beth | Our Pretty Little Girls
Meghan | The Adventure Starts Here
Jessica | Secrets of a SAHM
Stephanie | Wife Mommy Me

Brylee and I sat down the other day for a snack of strawberries and tilla (nutella) and we had our little interview.

1. What do you enjoy doing with mommy and daddy?

Snuggling in y'all's bed!

2. Name one thing you are really good at.

Playing with my toys, mom!

3. What is one thing we tell you often?

'Brylee don't potty in your panties!' and 'Brylee do you need to potty?'
(lol this is funny because we are always saying that- moving really did a number on potty training but we are back to being really good again!)

4. What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to do what MooMoo (Tate's mom) does - I gave her a look like huh?- and she said 'puts her purse on her shoulder and goes shopping!'
Tate's mom will totally get a kick out of this!

5. What do you think we do when you go to bed?

Well y'all (she made a tip toe movement) and be really quiet then you get on the computer and daddy (she reclines back in her chair and props her feed up) lays here and watches TV.
Yes, most nights we do this! I think she secretly spies on us! haha!

And then we had a serious struggle trying to take a picture...

 

and then she was over it.. mama tried! :)



Have a wonderful evening, friends!

Show and Tell Tuesdays | My Hometown

I was born in Odessa, Texas but growing up we moved a lot with my dad's job. The company he worked for was out of Odessa but because he worked the majority of the time on pipelines we moved to follow the pipelines. We could have stayed in Odessa but they decided that since my sister and I weren't in school we could just move with him. We lived in places like Elko, Nevada, Farmington, New Mexico, Quitman, Texas and Hobbs, New Mexico (twice). I started school in Hobbs but don't really remember a whole lot except the streets we lived on, Rosewood and Taos (although I thought it was pronounced towels back then!), and the name of my my preschool - Mother Goose!

Before my sister started Kindergarten (shes's 1.5 years younger than me) we moved back to Odessa for good and I lived there until Tate and I moved to McAllen in August 2014!

Although we moved quite a bit for 6 years, Odessa is my hometown.  Every time I hear Give Me Back My Hometown by Eric Church I think of Odessa. When the oil boom is high, the city is on a high and a ton of people move in for jobs - oil field can be good money! But when there's a bust, things get bad. It was ranked one of the most dangerous cities in the US in 2015! I can't wait for things to get better and I can get my hometown back.

But, enough of that! Let's see what Odessa's about.

Anytime we go somewhere and are asked where we're from most people can't point out Odessa on a map, but the minute you say "Friday Night Lights", it rings a bell. Odessa is home to the good ol' Permian High School, where I graduated from. Yes, high school football is a big deal, but it's that same big deal in all of west Texas.


 
 

This is Ratliff Stadium (you definitely see this in the movie) and I can remember when the movie first came out - I played soccer and we were practicing at Ratliff while it was being toured for the movie. It was so strange but now I kinda get it. 




A few months back, Investigation Discovery did an episode on Betty Williams as part of their A Crime To Remember series - Betty's Ghost is said to haunt Odessa High School, where I went for my sophomore year. I've always heard stories about Betty but I never really knew what happened. I looked for a snip of the episode and had no luck but here is an article in Texas Monthly that talks about it if you're interested in reading (it's kinda long!). To sum it up, according to the show and article, she claimed to be depressed and wanted her ex boyfriend to kill her and not get punished for it. He did and got away with it; the courts declared him as temporarily insane.




Odessa is also home to Odessa College (OC) and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) - both of which I attended. OC is home to the replicas of Shakespeare's Globe Theater and Anne Hathaway's cottage where they host local theater performances. UTPB is home to the Stonehenge replica.

Every even numbered year Odessa hosts the Permian Basin International Oil Show. As mentioned above, oil is a huge part of Odessa and the oil show is always a big deal. People come in from all over, hotels are booked months in advance (as in - the oil show is in October and they're probably already booked for that weekend - advanced) and don't even try to go out to eat anywhere unless you're okay waiting 2-3 hours to be seated. I used to think people that weren't from here were crazy when they said you could smell the oil but after being gone for over a year - you totally can! When there is a boom going on you see a ton of rigs everywhere and pumpjacks!






If you happen to be in Odessa when a dust storm comes in from the north be prepared to get dirty or get inside! Yes, it really is just a huge brown cloud of dirt. Oh, and tumbleweeds. Yes, that's a real thing.




Driving through Odessa (unless your only on the interstate) you'll probably see a large jackrabbit statue. The original one (Jack Ben Rabbit) is downtown by the administration building but a while back the city did an art fundraising event (Jamboree Rabbits) to where sponsors could have their own colorful bunny. You really will see them everywhere! We did a scavenger hunt in high school for these one time as extra credit. They're actually neat to see. Here are Jack Ben, Uncle Sam and Oil Patch.

If you are only on the interstate, you'll see signs for the Meteor Crater. Throughout the years the dirt has really settled so it doesn't look quite as big as I'm sure it once was, but it's said to be the second largest crater. I wish I could find a better picture!

If you're looking for a good concert head to Dos Amigos - it's like a west Texas icon! They're about to have their grand-reopening after being closed for about 2 years now. I've seen so many country artists play there when they were just getting started (Eli Young Band, Dierks Bentley, Billy Currington, Brantley Gilbert) as well as older artists (Tracy Lawrenc, Darius Rucker, Clay Walker) and the great Texas Country artists (Randy Rogers band, Ely Young Band -before they went Nashville- and Aaron Watson) just to name a few! I've spent many, many weekends there! 

The Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center and the Ector County Coliseum are always holding events. Wagner Noel has both concerts and broadway plays. The Coliseum hosts many expos and live shows (like Disney live and the circus) and is home to the Permian Basin Fair, the Oil Show (above) and our Odessa Jackalopes hockey team.



Speaking of the Coliseum, if you're in Odessa in January the Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo is a must! This was the first year I have not gone to the rodeo! It is a big deal. Here are Brylee's first and second rodeos! :)

And last, Odessa is also home to some of the prettiest sunsets! I've seen a fair share of sunsets on the ocean, in the mountains and from the Empire State building but none compare to sunsets from home. Maybe it's because it's just flat land and you can see the sunset for miles, although I will add that driving into that sunset is quite blinding!

And there ya have, my hometown!

Linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesdays.

Previous Show and Tells:
Reintroductions and Resolutions
Favorite Pinterest Things