Brother + Sister Weekend

This past weekend, my youngest brother, Tucker, came to stay for the weekend with me! It was a nice little treat for him, since he doesn't get to spend a lot of time with his big sis, let alone, get to come to downtown Springfield all that often.
On Friday, Blake and I took Tucker, Philip & Vern (Blake's nephews) to 1984, a super cool classic arcade. Tucker had been a few times, and loved every second of it! Saturday morning, Blake picked us up and took us to breakfast at our favorite spot, Aunt Martha's Pancake House. Tucker had never eaten there before, and was amazed by the pancakes! "Wow. These are the best pancakes I've ever had. Wow." It was so cute!
Later that afternoon, we went to Ozark to eat at Lambert's, this famous restaurant where they throw rolls at you. Tucker had never eaten there, and didn't believe me. He was very surprised when a roll came at him pretty hard. ;)
We saw Hunger Games Friday night, and then got up and went to church in the morning. It was a pretty perfect weekend. I love my little bro!

How was your weekend? :)

xo Haley

hello from florida.

we're having fun just chilling poolside and today we ventured out to the beach.

i didn't last too long. i'm not a fan of sand. haha

i think tonight, little brother + his girlfriend + blake + me are going on a little double date tonight to go eat and see Hangover 2.

last night, mr. blake took me on a date to the sugar shak to get ice cream and to look through all the local shops (that closed early - silly us, we forgot it was sunday). but we sat on a bench eating out sweet treats, and he gave me a promise ring.. this one, to be exact. i love this boy quite a bit. ♥

see you soon. :)

xo haley

proud sister.

my little brother graduated last night! i'm so super proud of that kid. especially since up until the last week of school he wasn't even sure if he was going to graduate (it was all up to whether or not he passed his math class! haha). so seeing him walk across the stage and get a diploma made me so, so happy and incredibly proud.

the night started out very,very fun at Ebbet's Field in downtown Springfield for dinner. dad made sure to let everyone know it was 6pm, and we were in fact still alive.

(what a cute boyfriend i have)

it was a good night, and it reminded me so much of my own graduation (which was only a year ago. ha). and it made me so thankful for where i am now: that i'm finished with my first year of college, rather than just now starting.

i am so proud of you trevor and amber! i can't wait to see where life takes you both. :)

xo haley

surprise, surprise.

i'm sorry for my absence this weekend, but we had two surprise birthday parties this weekend!

momma, dad, and my aunt & uncle put on one for my brother, trevor, on friday for his 18th birthday. we had no plans of really doing anything other than having friends over and ordering pizza and playing video games (and when i say we, i mean trevor and his friends would play the video games - not me. haha). but mom & dad came up with a cute plan to surprise him with a party last minute.

saturday was the huuuge surprise for my momma's 40th birthday!

blake came with me:
we had the party at The Dickey House, which is a bed and breakfast, and we also got a room for my parents so they could spend the night there instead of coming back to the house after the party. It was so much fun!
it was a good weekend.

very good weekend. :)

xoxo hay

p.s. i made blake watch The Business of Being Born with me. i think it may have scared him a bit... :)

My Momma's Pretty Darn Cute..

I found THE sweetest photos of my momma when she was little. They were too cute not to share..

This little lady turns 40 a week from today! :) I wanted to save these photos for then.. but I just couldn't wait.

I'll be back later tonight with a blog love post.

xoxo haley

november 5.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 26: Family.

This is the most current picture I have with my entire family. We get together as often as we can, but we only take pictures together at Christmas. Haha:)
30 Days of Truth: Day 15: Someone you can't live without, because you've tried.

This boy:


A few years back, we tried the whole not-being-friends thing.. and it didn't work at all. We didn't talk/hang out for a month. We made it one month. After that, our friendship just got better. We got over our "differences" and continued our awesome friendship. And since we are both bloggers at heart, we had to blog apologies, too.. haha Read his & mine.

Oh - and - by the way...

Happy Guy Fawkes Day.

I was reading about this "holiday" the other day, and it said that Guy Fawkes Day in the UK is not what it used to be, and Halloween is slowly replacing it. Let me just say.. Halloween is not nearly as cool as celebrating the dude that tried to blow up parliament but failed. For real.

xoxo Hay

Day 5, 6 and 7.

Heyy! I'm going to be gone on a youth retreat for church (as an adult this time!), so I thought I'd go ahead and post days 5, 6, and 7. :)

Day 5: My siblings.

Wellllll. What can I say about my brothers, other than they annoy the living daylights out of me, but they are super awesome. I love them.

This is Trevor. He and I have some major differences. But he is the most loyal brother (and friend), that I could ever ask for. I have gone through a lot lately and he's always been there for me, first to make fun of me, and then second to offer to kick the butt of whoever is messing with me. He and I are very close in age (about a year and a half apart), so we've always been there for each other. My little bro is graduating this year, and I couldn't be more proud of him. He is a wonderful, and creative young man. He is so incredibly gifted when it comes to working with cars. The truck in the above picture? Completely reworked it and painted it himself. He's awesome. I love you, Trev.This is Mr. Cooper. He is in 8th grade, and will be 14 next month! He is getting so old, and I can't believe he is going to be a little high schooler a year from now. Cooper is a country boy at heart. We live in the middle of town, but he has worked on my grandpa's farm for years and years. He is so tall. Taller than me. He's always been big for his age, but he's finally growing into himself, and he's such a cutie. Right now, he's going through his typical teenager phase, and it is super obvious. He's a little jerk sometimes, but what 13 year old brother isn't? :) This little cutie is Tucker! He is 11, and the cutest little boy you will ever see. (And as I read in Claire's blog today, one of her little bros is a lot like Tuck! They both can tell you anything about Star Wars! Such cool kids) He loves to ride in my "cool car" and when we listen to the radio, he loves to sing along to Ke$ha and Katy Perry. He has always been my little buddy and I hate that he's getting so old on me. He's in 5th grade now, and I have a hard time keeping track of his age (I think I'll always think he's 10). I love the little boy a lot. He's awesome.

(Trevor isn't one for group pictures...or family trips, so we very rarely have pictures together)

I have a wonderful family. I can't wait to move out. But I love them a lot and I'm so blessed.

P.s. this is my 'little sis,' Savannah Reed :)

She is my 6 year old (I think she's 6..?) cousin and I love her so much! She loves all things Disney, and iCarly is one of her favorite shows. She plays all kinds of sports already (recently she's been really into cheerleading. Ha!) and she loves having girls nights with her Hay (that would be me) and grandma. We have a date in a few weeks to go out to dinner and go see a movie of Miss Nanna's choice. She's super excited to make all the decisions and go out just the two of us. I'm excited to spend the time with her :)

Day 6: Photo of something that makes me happy.

I absolutely l o v e these photos. They will always be wonderful memories for me. It was always "our thing" to do this before homecoming & prom. We seriously have been doing this since freshman year. Except for sophomore year, when we didn't even go to homecoming together (that was a strange thing). I love these girls. Its awesome seeing Breigh (the blonde one) every day, but I miss Cassie so much. My girl is off in St. Louis for college, and I'm way stoked to see her next weekend! <3

Day 7: Favorite movies.

I have a few:

Wristcutters: A Love Story. This movie has been a favorite for a few years now. The plot is a little on the dark side, but it is absolutely wonderful. It has such a cute love story in it. I just love this movie. I mean, its soundtrack is completely Gogol Bordello, and it has Tom Waits in it. What more could a movie need?!

Gone with the Wind. Gosh. I can't even explain to you how much this movie means to me. I first saw it when I was 12. I was in 6th grade and grew to love it to the point that I watched at least half of it every single night. I own 3 different copies of the movie (1 VHS, a DVD set, and on Blu-Ray) and I have numerous postcards, books, dolls, etc. (I even have a tin lunchbox..) This is one of theee best movies ever. For real.

Another one of my favorites is Requiem for a Dream. I would post a trailer for it, but I can't find a decent one (sad face). Just trust me- its a good one. Its sooo sad though. When it's over, you find yourself to be emotionally exhausted. It has that weird effect on people. It is about a woman who is addicted to her prescription diet pills, and her son and his friends who are addicted to heroin. Ultimately, their addictions ruin them. Such a sad story, but so good. Plus...it has a wonderful score (give it a listen. so beautiful). Oh, and it has Jared Leto in it. Umm, amazing, much? :)

This has been one incredibly long post. Sorry for the boringness. <3

Enjoy your weekend!

xo haley

Momma Tyson

So.... I have the coolest Mom in the world.

Words can't even express how much I love her. So... I thought I'd let some pictures do the talking:

my mom is sometimes an incredible cook. Lately, she's become more "experimental" in the kitchen, and she's been making a TON of dinners from scratch. i.e. the above pizza, cinnamon rolls, cashew chicken, etc. She's awesome!

She's also INCREDIBLY creative! She absolutely loves scrapbooking and making things for people. She currently leads a group of kiddos at church who make little gifts for people in the church, and in the community. So cool & inspiring.
She and my aunt Leslie are the coolest sisters ever. Our shopping trips are the best!

She (..and my aunt and my grandma) took me on an awesome graduation vacation to New York City. That alone equals awesome mom award. She and my Papa have been married for nearly 21 years! (and...yes, my dad actually enjoys wearing that hat...)Thanks to Momma, our house is the coziest little place during the Winter. She does her best to make the Christmas tree look flawless, and she spends countless hours rearranging picture frames and candles and whatever else on the shelves. So cute.

And of course, any woman brave enough to let their husband keep this lit up all Winter on the side of their house is awesome! My Papa made this a long time ago and it never fails, day after Thanksgiving, it is lit up on the side of our house until football season is over. With the way the Chiefs are playing now, I'm surprised its not already up!

And, here's the current convo, via text, going on between me & mom:

Mom: Can you tidy up the house a bit?

Haley: Maybe. Haha

Mom: I shall not hold my breath. LOL.

I love you Mom! You're the coolest!

Love, your favorite (and only) daughter :)

happy me day.

i decided early this morning that today would be a "me" day.

and it was absolutely wonderful! i went for lunch at oriental inn (i cannot express just h.o.w. much i love mr. lee's cashew chicken!).

after lunch i went over to my church to give my youth pastor a painting i had been working on for him, and we talked for a while. i am officially going on the fall retreat next month as an "adult chaperon". how exciting!

i then went to springfield, and had some time to kill, so i went to starbucks and did homework. i felt like a legit college kid. it was super awesome ;)

p.s. iced pumpkin spices are my new favorites! i'm still a sucker for the hot version, but since its still warm outside, the iced version is an incredible alternative!

i went to see a movie by myself, which was a definite first for me. (i saw the last exorcism) i thought i would be the only one in the auditorium, but as soon as the previews started, a creeeepy old guy walked in. and sat right. behind. me. i was freaking out the entire time!

after that, i went over to my dad's office to chill for a bit, and enjoy a coke.

today was a good day.

tomorrow means school day, and i'm not so happy about that. but a certain someone is going to get a birthday present (that's a month late), and hopefully i'll get to eat lunch with the two beeeest friends ever!

i hope this weekend my parents will end up letting me go to st. louis for not only blog weekend with a bunch of my bloggy friends, but also, partying it up with cassabee in her dorm, and playing in the living room floor with little max at aunt leslie's house. its a full weekend! just crossing my fingers that the parents will let me do it!

:)

mucho love to youuu.

xo hay