I love these guys

Bob Knight is still my hero...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LWhV-Wr-RM

time for a new post

But there's not much to post about...

• Cameron's been busy, which is great. They're about to kick off a new job that should last a pretty good while in Odessa, so no traveling for a while. He's also trying to quit dipping, again, but this time it's because he actually wants to. He's gone to the pouches and is trying to dip a little less each day. I'm really proud of him for trying to kick this habit, I hope he makes it.
• D'Laney is beginning to show some terrible two signs. She will not obey, just refuses to do anything we tell her. Actually, it's more like she refuses not to do what we told her not to do. She'll pull all the books off the bookshelf, get a spanking, and then walk right back to them while still crying and pull them off again. She does that all day long, whatever she wants and when she gets in trouble she looks at you like, how dare you reprimand me? I know she's just testing us, and I'm proud of how strong we've been (most of the time,) but it's exhausting! It baffles me how she can be so ornery at such a young age.
• It also baffles me, however, how she can be so sweet and affectionate at such a young age. I've never seen a child, of any age really, just walk up to you at random times and give a hug or kiss your leg (cause that's where she can reach.) She'll be sitting on the couch with us, lean into one of us with her cheek and make the mm-mmm sound you make when you hug someone. Lol, that make sense to anyone? Then grab your face and lay a big kiss right on your lips. She pats your back when you're carrying her, and loves to wrap her arms around her daddy's neck and squeeze as tight as she can... How can anyone stay aggravated at a child that sweet?
• I have finally talked Cameron into taking family pictures. We haven't had any pics taken since our engagement, and we don't have any of the three of us. Keva is going to take some for us Easter weekend, at least that's the plan right now. I am so excited, even though I hate having my picture taken, I do want some good ones of D'Laney and I. Since I'm always the one behind the camera, there aren't any of the two of us. This is such a fun age (despite all that above) and Keva always takes great pictures. Did I mention I'm excited? This is also a motivation for me to quit lolly gagging and hit the gym. I've been working out consistently for a few weeks, but it's consistently only about once a week, which does not translate into results. Usually, if I just commit and do something, the weight comes off pretty quickly, so I've got 2 weeks to lose a little bit. I mostly want my face thinner for the pictures, and that's where I lose first, so 2 weeks should be enough time for that.
• I finally have both of my cameras charging. They've been dead as a door nail for a few weeks now. So I will have some new pictures up shortly.

Attention Nicholas Sparks fans

I had heard a while back that Nicholas Sparks was writing a screenplay and then a book (a little out of order, don't you think?) specifically with Miley Cyrus in the lead. I was looking up when it might be coming out, which I couldn't find, but I did find where Dear John has been made into a film with Channing Tatum in the lead. I'm sure that makes my sister very happy, she loves him. And I can't think of another single actor that they would have cast. That former wrestler who's acting now is too old for the role. This was one of my favorite books. I couldn't find a release date yet, but just to know that it's coming is exciting to me! Here's a link to what I found.

Catching up

I'm getting bad about posting. I check this thing several times a day (I'm a little ashamed to admit) but it's always quickly and I think, oh, I'll post when D'Laney is napping, or while she's eating, or when she goes to bed.... There's so much to catch up on, I think I'll bullet things:

• Cameron took me to a fancy schmancy Italian place for our anniversary last thursday. His steak was awesome, my alfredo was terrible! I don't know how you mess it up, but they did! I'm a bit of an alfredo connoisseur, and places have been dropping the ball here lately, so I've about decided to just learn to make my own. Cameron's mom and sister happened to be in town that day, and were coming back the next, so they took D'Laney home with them and we got the whole evening to ourselves. It was so nice to go out and eat a meal without having to make sure that the baby isn't making too big of a mess.


• We met my folks in Bronte sunday for church then went to my grandparents house afterwards for the big Cauley March birthdays. There are 5 of us with birthdays this month on the Cauley side and 3 on the Deere, so it's almost like christmas. The Deere party was the weekend before, but we missed it because Cameron was coming home after having been gone for several weeks. Once you're grown, we really only do stuff for every "big" birthday, meaning every 5th one, and this was my 25th, so for this party I got to share all the fuss with Jordan, who turned 16 on the 7th. I got the last piece to a set of dishes I have, and some gift cards.


• When we left sunday, we left without D'Laney. Since my parents had the week off for spring break, they wanted her to stay with them. It was a good time to do some painting that I have been planning in the house for almost a year now. The paint was mine and Cameron's birthday present from my folks, as well as keeping D'Laney while we did it.


• Cameron was off all week (the oil field has been slow, keep us in your prayers!) so he and I attacked the kitchen and got it painted. And I hate it! The color on the walls is NOT the color I had picked out. It's a peachy, pinky, flesh color. We will definitely be redoing it, just not any time in the immediate future.


• Tuesday I turned 25! And spent the day covered in paint, but I don't mind, I don't like alot of fuss anyway. I'm glad I finally hit that mark. For some reason, I've always felt that my age and my life didn't match up. I got married at 20, had a baby at 23, and have been a housewife since I was 22. Those ages just seem so young, so now that I'm officially closer to my 30s than my teens, it matches. I know I have a weird train of thought.


• We met my mom and sister to pick up D'Laney in Sterling City last night. I think half the town was at the dairy queen (is it always like that, Shaunna?) It's good to have her home, we miss that little munchkin when she's gone. It's good we had so much to do, she's usually our entertainment, we'd have been really bored.


• Well, that's about it. It seems like we've had so much going on, but when you itemize it like I just did, it doesn't seem like much. I noticed I've been neglecting my flashback fridays, and honestly didn't' even realize today was friday until late this afternoon. For today's edition, we'll flashback 25 years in honor of my quarter of a century on this earth, and of Easter being right around the corner. This is the youngest picture of me that I have, I think I was just a couple weeks old, I'm not sure when Easter was in '84. Aren't my parents cute?! And you talk about young! They were 22 and 24. Love the dark hose with the open toe white shoes, Momma!!

4 years!!

On this day, 4 years ago, I married by best friend. That is so cliche, but it's true! I woke up and came downstairs this morning to roses on the kitchen counter attached to a Bird of Paradise candle, which is one of my favorite flavors, even though Cam didn't know that. He did remember, however, that my favorite flower is the yellow rose (of Texas, you can't say just half of that!) so amongst the beautiful red roses was one single yellow rose (of Texas!) Apparently he's got big plans for tonight, so I'm sure I'll have a much bigger post tomorrow!
AND, it's raining!! I've been google-ing rain dances, thank goodness I don't have to do them now. I'd look kind of silly in the middle of the street dancing and chanting! It's actually more of a sleet than a rain, it's only 30 degrees here right now. But it is rodeo weekend. I don't care when they actually schedule the rodeo, this coming weekend has been rodeo weekend since I was born, and it always will be! And almost every rodeo weekend it rains. The one year that I don't remember it raining was the year I got married, the weather was beautiful! and the wedding was beautiful! and the honeymoon was.... well...

Reality Show Junkie

What has gotten into me? The Bachelor, American Idol, now Dancing with the Stars? I have never watched these shows before, but I actually look forward to them now. Maybe it's because Cameron is on the road again. I tuned into DWTS tonight to watch Ty Murray and see how graceful a cowboy could be in the ballroom, which is not very. Thankfully, there are a couple others who were worse, so maybe he'll stay around for a couple weeks. I feel bad for the guy, because you know his wife talked him into this, and then she gets hurt and leaves him there all by himself. And did anyone else notice (if any of y'all even watched) that Ty's partner was sporting an Abilene Christian sweatshirt during a practice? I wonder if she's from around here. I was so glad to see Melissa out there, too, and she's so good! But come on, she is a Texas girl, we can handle anything!

soundtrack of my life

I saw this on facebook and thought it looked like fun.

We all have songs that remind us of certain times in our life. You'll hear a song and then *WHAM* you're taken back in time.
Here's what you do...think back to your senior year of high school. List 10 songs, then the memory that corresponds. Tag all your friends, especially the ones that you actually went to high school with, and see if the same memory has different songs, or the same song has different memories!
1. Alabama~Cross Canadian Ragweed
Lubbock basketball tourney, a van instead of a bus for some reason, and Coach Chitsey telling us to quit singing and get serious about the game!
2. Slave for You~Britney Spears
that whole album really, all the cheerleading stuff that summer
3. Road goes on forever~Robert Earl Keen
me and marlayna cruising around the parking lot during the cotton patch relays in my old blue truck, checking out all the guys from the other schools (mostly just looking for Renfro!)
4. Take me out to the dance hall~Pat Green
Rowena dances
5. She thinks my tractor's sexy~Kenny Chesney
It's Wall, the guys thought that was their theme song
6. I love it when you call me big poppa~ ???
I don't know if that's the name of the song, and I have no idea who sings it, but seeing Brian Woner on the mound with his "hands in the air, if you a true playa" was one of the funniest things I've ever seen!
7. Run~George Strait
Marylana, it still reminds me of Marlayna
8. Where were you when the world stopped turning~Alan Jackson
Remember where you were? I remember every single detail of that day and the few days that followed.
9.The Streak~Ray Stevens
Johnny Kissko, cross country, and that's all that needs to be said!
10. Ride that donkey~ I think that's what it was called, but I don't know who sang it
Prom

That was so hard! It was so long ago, but this was fun going back and reliving some of those times.

another prayer request

When you grow up in a small town, you get to know people from small towns around you. This seems especially true for the little communities that surround San Angelo. You compete against them in everything from football to academics to band, and then you see them in the mall on the weekends. Those you don't know well, you at least know their name (and usually who they're dating.)
Some of you may have seen some postings about the Joiner family on Facebook. These two were a few years younger than me, but I knew who they were. My brother and sister competed against them. I knew they were at A&M, so I looked up that newspaper to find out what happened. Here's what I found: http://www.theeagle.com/local/Siblings-shot-dead-in-CS
Please pray for these parents. And for Eldorado, that poor little community has been through the ringer the last couple years.

Videos

I just noticed that it has been a very long time since I have posted any pictures or videos. I'm fixin to make up for it. Some of these are kinda long, but like Amy Grigsby said, there are lots of grandparents and great-grandparents that check in to see what they're missing. So here goes, lots of videos, I really haven't taken many pictures, my camera has decided to really suck.

This cat was waiting on our porch one day when we got home and quickly made friends with D'Laney. We'll never have one, but I hope she doesn't inherit my hatred of cats.

D'Laney "helping" me do laundry one day.

We're in a big girl bed!

This is how she naps during the day...on the floor. At night, she has stayed up late enough to get really tired, so it doesn't take long with me sitting with her for her to fall asleep. For her naps, though, I've just put her in bed and left. Only once have I gotten her after about 30 minutes of crying, every other time she's played for a little bit, grabbed her blanket and fallen asleep on her own on the floor. Up until now, I've always put her in her bed, but when I picked her up this morning, she woke up and wouldn't got back to sleep, so I left her where she lay this afternoon.

Told you I'd make up for it. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

prayer request

I lived for several years in Grape Creek, and while I don't have the best memories from my years there, there are some great people in that community, and most of them worship at Grape Creek Baptist Church. This morning, their 20 year old youth minister was found hanged in his garage. I'm not sure if he was a local boy or someone that they hired, but I'm sure this is devastating for the congregation. The worst part, at least I think, is that it was a school bus full of children that first saw him through an open garage door this morning. Please, please keep these innocent children, the congregation, the whole community, and the family of this boy in your prayers.

toddler bed

Last night went really well. I let D'Laney get good and tired, then put her in bed and sat on the floor beside her for a little while singing to her and rubbing her hair. I tried leaving a couple times and she'd fuss, so for a couple nights, I think I'll stay with her until she falls asleep. Because her room is upstairs and the stairs are right outside her door, and I don't want to shut her door so I can still hear her, I put a gate up in her door frame. When I put her down for her nap this morning, I just sat with her for a couple minutes and then came down stairs. She talked and played for a few minutes (not with any toys, I put everything in her room up where she can't reach it or in the closet with the door closed) and then the monitor got really quiet. I waited a little bit longer and then went up to check on her. She had fallen asleep on the floor with her blanket right in front of the gate. I guess she had been standing there waiting for me and just couldn't stay awake any longer. She has refused to nap this afternoon, but she's exhausted, so I just layed her down and left. She was out of bed before I made it to the stairs, but she's quiet right now, so maybe she'll go to sleep on her own again. I think it'll take several days before she'll get in bed and stay there until she falls asleep.
As for my first episode of the bachelor, I think I picked a bad one to start with. The staged kissing scenes didn't bother me so much, and the fact that Jason cries more than my toddler, although most of the time it did seem a little fake, really didn't turn me off, either. I don't care what ABC says, it all looked very rehearsed and scripted. Maybe not all of the seasons are like that, but if I had to go off of last night alone, I don't think I'll be tuning in again. I'm all about cheesy reality shows, but it just didn't hook me. I did LOVE Melissa's yellow dress though, and does she remind anyone else of a darker Jessica Simpson? Something about her mouth and the way she talks.

yada yada yada

It's been a while since I posted and I got tired of looking at the same thing. Although we've had a lot going on, I just haven't been in a blogging mood.

• D'Laney and I made a trip back to Weatherford last week and stayed a couple days with Cameron.
• We got back in time to have my aunt and cousin stay with us thursday night. Jordan had a softball tourney in Midland and they would have gotten home around 2 am, only to be back at the school to leave at 6am, so they stayed and got to sleep in.
• My mom and Cadye came in friday afternoon and stayed until sunday.
• I watched the Lady Wall Hawks play in the regional tournament friday night, and it wasn't pretty. I'm very proud of how they came back, it just wasn't' quite enough. But we're young, there's a whole lot of promise there.
• I worked out for the first time in 3 weeks today. (not that y'all care, it's just the only thing that happened today:)
• I'm actually cooking supper tonight. I usually don't when it's just the two of us, microwavable stuff is usually what we eat.
• I'm going to watch my first ever episode of the Bachellor.
• Tonight, I'm taking off the front panel of D'Laney's crib and we going to try sleeping like a big girl. I think it's going to be a long night.

Even that's more that what I felt like writing. I'm in such a blah mood, a sleepless night is just what I need!!!