Ali Turner

Hey guys. So most of you all know my friend Ali. She's been my best friend since 7th grade and got me into horses and different odd jobs at barns and what not. She's been my friend through thick and thin and even introduced Derek and I. Well, since 8th grade she has been trying out the career of modeling. She has done awesome awesome work and has gone to many different places to model for such companies as Tommy Hilfiger, Dillards, Glo Jeans, etc, etc... She has been on so many print ads that I can't keep track anymore. It's crazy because if you google Ali Turner her face pops up! Well, Ali has been given the opportunity to compete to be a Victoria's Secret Angel. Here's the Website for the Contest She went to Chicago to see if she would be one of the Top 8 out of the entire nation. In Chicago alone there were over 3,000 girls. They took those 3,000 girls and chopped it to 40, then 10, then 2. They told her if she didn't get a phone call by tomorrow that she wasn't going to be part of those final two. Well, she got the phone call. She was chosen as the top 2 from Chicago. There were 8 other girls picked from New York, L.A. and online. So Ali is now in the top 10, she's flying to N.Y. today and she is going to be in a Mini Series on CBS. We will find out Dec 1st if she is going to make it to the VS runway show to be an Angel. Her chances are high and we are all rooting her on.  Keep her in your prayers and visit the website often to vote for her! Good luck Ali! We love you!

First Birthday Pictures

My mother-in-law Lisa took Stratton to get his pictures taken this weekend at JC Penny's while Derek and I were in West Plaines for a wedding. Here are a few of them. He wasn't in a very good mood. We are taking more with Photography by Carrie on Nov 12 at Denis Scivally Park. Hope you like these. If you would like any please let me know so I can tell Lisa.

Ender

Today is a very sad day for our family. Ender's cancer on his head has gotten so bad that this morning Marcus had to get him put to sleep. Keep Casey and Marcus in your prayers today. Ender was like a baby to them. He was such a sweet puppy and loved on everyone around him until his very last day. Dr Sprig put him to sleep this morning around 10 a.m. and he passed shortly there after. They plan on cremating him and sprinkling him in the river that they go white water rafting on. He was a loving little dog and even though we only got a few short years with him, he became part of the family. We will always remember him and all his little quirks. Like jumping at the t.v. when an animal came on the screen, "pounding it", chasing the laser pointer, eating at least 25 of my dads t.v. controllers, and many many more. He will be greatly missed. Love you Ender. Have fun in Doggy Heaven and watch over us all.

I created a memorial website for Ender for everyone to remember him. The address is:
http://www.imorialpets.com/Ender/

A weekend without Stratton

This weekend felt like it was the longest weekend I have had in forever! Stratton went to Knoxville with my MIL Lisa and FIL Dale and Derek's grandma Mona. This was the first time he has ever spent more than like a day away from us. It was VERY quite around the house so I kept myself busy by working...a lot. I have been working at the Kostume Shoppe and Linda Murphy's barn to get some extra cash for Christmas this year. I worked Thursday afternoon, Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and afternoon, and Sunday morning at the barn and I worked Thursday and Sunday at the Kostume Shoppe. Friday night I went to Grandma Marge and John's house for dinner then went to Bingo world with my friend Ashley (Barks) Seabaugh. Saturday night I went to the Haunted Hall of Horror at the Arena with my SIL's Ashley and Steph and BIL's Garrett and Josh and of course Derek. It was actually really fun and I thought it was WAY better than it had been in the past. The only down side was the hour and 15 min wait in line to get to it. We made it fun while standing in line though. We had some very interesting conversations to say the least. We got Andy's ice cream after it was all over. The boys got to watch us girls get chased by a guy with a chain saw at the very end. That was Derek's favorite part. I waited ALL weekend for Sunday. I went to the barn in the morning and then went home for a short nap then was off to the Kostume Shoppe. I bought Stratton's Halloween costume and at around 3ish Dale, Lisa, Mona, and STRATTON walked in the door at the store. I was so excited to see him. It felt like forever ago since I saw him and for some reason he seemed SO much bigger than four days earlier. It was good to have a long weekend to work and not worry about him but I definitely missed him. I got to take the camera home from work so I took a few pictures. Here they are. Sorry no new Stratton ones I was too busy loving on him to remember to get the camera. :)

Here is the barn that I work at. This is Linda and Mike Murphy's barn. I love it out there. It's so beautiful. There are 5 dogs (2 inside), 11 cats (5 of them are brand new kittens), 6 horses, and 2 donkeys!
This is Sara. She smiles a lot. She's the sweetest dog out there. She's been kicked by a horse twice in the same leg. Poor thing. She just wants to heard them.
This is Duke. He's the really playful one. Him and Ollie (who was M.I.A.) always chase each other and bring me rocks to throw while I'm cleaning stalls.

This is one of the new horses. He's beautiful.

Sara loves to sneak up on the cats. They don't seem to bother with her.

Grandma Marge's pretty Fall Decorations. Aren't they pretty.
I love this picture. It had just gotten done raining and I took this in front of Grandma's house.

Grandma Marge talking with Derek.

This is such a good picture of Grandma Marge.
John resting in his chair listening to Derek complain about me taking pictures.
Derek hates getting his picture taken. Obviously.



Derek's dirty sneakers.
My dad!

Eating dinner. We had spaghetti. It was SO good. Thank you Grandma!



BINGO WORLD!!!All the pull tabs that were no good.
This is why I love bingo. You see the most beautiful specimen of humans around. Like this fine creature.
This old lady may look like a sweet old woman but that lady has the loudest "BINGO" I have ever heard.
All the pretty bingo dobbers.

Ashley and I were mad we didn't win anything.
This was the last game. We had our fingers crossed the whole time...and it didn't help.
The old man with the black shirt on looked like my Grandpa B from a distance. Once we got closer he didn't look like him that much at all.
This is Marcus's (my sisters boyfriend) poor dog Ender. He has cancer on his head. If you can't tell.
We call this his stink eye look.
This is my sisters dog Sage.
What a dogs head should look like from the side.
What Enders head looks like from the side.

Fun New Things

As you can probably hear, I added some new gadgets onto my blog. If you don't like the music you can pause it. It's at the very bottom of the page. Also there is a place where you can carve a pumpkin down there as well since it is getting close to Halloween! Lastly there is a place down there where you can make your own Jackson Pollock picture. Hope you like the additions. :)

Updates on the Family

Well, first of all. I'm not sure that I've mentioned it but my sister in law Stephanie (who's birthday it is today) is officially 3 months pregnant!!!

Derek and I are so excited and (un)patiently waiting for April to come so we can meet our little niece or nephew.

Also, Derek's step brother Josh and his wife Ashley just found out yesterday that they are going to be expecting their first.

So, that means there will be TWO babies within two months of each other next year!

This weekend is also the first weekend that Derek and I have spent away from Stratton. He is in Knoxville visiting with his Grandma Lisa, Grandpa Dale and Great-Grandma Mona. He is out there visiting Derek's family. I know he is having a great time but his mommy and daddy definitely miss him.

I'm also now working at the Kostume Shop for the season making some extra moolah and also for Linda Murphy cleaning stalls. I love it.

I'm going to be taking some more pics this weekend and hopefully have them up on Sunday.
Hope everyone is doing well.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Stephanie!


Love you!

A-Z about me.

A-Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend(s): Derek and Ali
C-Cake or Pie: I like cake but I prefer pie. Rhubarb is my favorite!
D-Day of Choice: Sunday, Derek, Stratton and I have a routine. We wake up, Stratton gets in bed with us, we play for a little bit, Derek goes and gets the paper, I make eggs for the boys, then we have the whole day to our selves.
E- Essential Item: My phone. I can't leave home without it.
F- Favorite Color: Brown or Blue
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: gross! Gummi bears regular, gummi worms the sour kind
H- Hometown: Cape Girardea, Mo
I- Indulgence(s): Nutella and facebook.
J- January or July: Ick! Well, January is really cold and means that there is a new year and July is hot and muggy. I'm going to have to go with January.
K-Kids: Stratton is One Year and Two Weeks old today!
L-Life is incomplete without: my family and friends
M- Marriage Date: Feb 23, 2008
N- Number of Siblings: One older sister Casey LeMay
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges definitely
P- Phobias or Fears: Oh gosh, well, I'm a worry wart. So I always worry about Stratton and something happening to him. I also worry about Derek getting hurt at work everyday. Other than that I would like to think I'm pretty brave.
Q- Quote: "... I say God bless you, I don't say bless you ... I am not the Lord, I can't do that ..." - Dane Cook
R- Reason To Smile: My family, My son, My husband. The fact that I'm going to be an aunt times 2 next year!
S- Season: Fall, definitely fall. Because first you get my Dad's birthday in Sept, in Oct you get my and Stratton's birthday, then you get Thanksgiving in Nov, then Christmas, then New Years. It's like a 5 awesome things rapid fired. I love it! Not to mention the fact that you get to eat MOUNDS of awesome home cooking!
T- Tag Six: I'm not a tagger.
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I can wiggle my ears and I enjoy cleaning horse stalls.
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Yeah for Chicken!
W- Worst Habit: I ramble when I get nervous. I talk too much like my mom.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I've had a few x-rays and one ultrasound. The x-rays were for the most part during the time I was getting my teeth fixed and the ultrasound was to see what Stratton was going to be.
Y- Your Favorite Food: Cabbage Rolls that Mona makes. Mmm mmm good.
Z- Zippers or Zebras: Definitely Zebras.

Questions

Question #1: Where were you 10 years ago?
Well, lets see...10 years ago I was 13 years old. Which means I was in 7th grade. I guess around that age was when I met my now best friend Ali Turner. I started riding horses and learning how to take care of them. My Grandpa B died that year. Overall, that year was one of the hardest I had had that far. I remember the weekend that Grandpa B died like it was yesterday. I remember going to his house the Thursday before and realizing something wasn't quite right. I had a youth retreat that weekend. Saturday I went to bed listening to the sound of thunder and rain and woke up to a sheet of snow on the ground. My mom was the one who had to tell me about him.

Question #2: What's on your to-do list today (this list includes today and tomorrow morning's list)?
1. get myself ready for work at Rapco (without Stratton)
2. get some projects done at work
3. Go to the barn after work (not picking up Stratton first)
4. Clean stalls and make sure the horses are taken care of.
5. Go to Grandma Marge's house for dinner.
6. take a shower
7. get ready for bed, maybe watch a little t.v.
8. get to bed at a decent hour

Question #3: What if you were a billionaire?
If I was a billionaire, I would go to school and get my degree finished in Art. I would buy my parents a new house, my dad a new boat, myself a new car, my sister a new house, my BIL & SIL a new house, my MIL's & FIL's a new house (Brenda and Jim's would be closer than Chicago!). I would pay back Derek's grandparents. I would get Stratton a savings account for his college fund and so he can get a nice house when he gets older. I would build a new house for Derek and I and Stratton (and another baby when they come), make sure I had a nice barn for a few horses, a lake in the back so my dad would come visit us and could take Stratton fishing. Give some to a church, and then put the rest in savings.

Question #4: Name 5 places you've lived.
1. 1915 Whitener
2. 2513 Jonquil
3. 1207 E. Main
4. 523 Otto
5. 1706 W. Jackson

Question #5: What are 3 bad habits you have?
1. I bite my nails too short
2. I nit pick at stupid stuff (like projects at work. they have to be PERFECT!)
3. I don't clean my car or my house as often as I probably should.

Question #6: What kind of snacks do you like?
Mmm, that's a hard one. I like:
1. dehydrated mango's
2. sour cream and onion pringles
3. beef jerky
4. nectarines with NUTtella
5. Nutella with pretty much anything
6. Nutella alone
7. popcorn
8. rotel dip

Sitting Around the Fire

Since the weather is getting colder it's perfect outside for a campfire so, Saturday night Casey and Marcus built a little fire in their pit. It was perfect outside and we even got to roast some marshmallows. Here are some of the pics my dad took with his $7 garage sale find. Sorry no Stratton in these. He was with his Great-Grandma Mona.

Marcus enjoying the lovely fire
I kept on having to scoot back and forth from the fire because I would get hot then cold. Haha.

Casey fixing the wood. I think this one looks really neat with the fire.
More adjusting.
Almost there.


Right after my dad took this I freaked out because I look so much like my mom. AHH!
Casey enjoying the fire. She looks mesmerized.
Oooo, perfect marshmallow roasting fire.
Sage likes the fire too.
Isn't she adorable?
FIRE!
Casey Snuggled up by the fire.