Throwback Thursday: Tyler Rooskie

This week's Throwback Thursday is dedicated to my big brother, Tyler!  This will just thrill him to pieces...Not!  Tyler does not necessarily share my love of old pictures and videos (There is an old video of us dancing to my Barbie tape that he hid so we couldn't share with Andrea, which is so sad. I'd die if I could post it on here - it was a true gem.). But that's just too bad. Tyler moved to Austin this week - so in his honor, I am sharing lots of old pictures and memories of my big bro.

I rarely refer to Tyler by his name (If you don't know this already - I am a nickname person.  You know I really love you if I have a nickname for you).  To me - he is Rooskie (Roo for short), which he really, really hates. (I don't care.)  When we were younger, my uncle substituted Georgie Porgie with Tyler Rooskie (you know - Tyler Rooskie, Puddin' and Pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry, When the boys came out to play, Tyler Rooskie ran away) and it stuck.  Feel free to call him Rooskie next time you see him!

Ty and I are 17 months a part.  For the most part, we got along pretty good when we were younger. We were partners in crime when it came to tormenting our baby sitters. Roo also gave me one of my first haircuts.  During this time of our lives, Rooskie sported a really awesome spiky mullet.  It was awesome.

Hellllo chunk

When we were younger, Tyler was very shy and I was very outgoing (to say the least).  My mom used to be so worried about Tyler that she would go and watch him from the parking lot during recess to see if he played with anyone. (This would later significantly change!)  Tyler always had to have a toy in his hand.  Once, one of my mom's best friends took us to the dollar store and told us we could pick out whatever we wanted...I got 3 rolls of tape and Tyler got a tire gauge.

Tyler and I were extremely picky eaters growing up (Thus the multiple chins I'm sporting in the pictures above - my favorite meal was Cheetos and a Coke).  One time, we were eating rice and some of the grains were black.  I'd never eaten wild rice or seen this before, so I asked Ty what it was.  He told me to "show her" - meaning for me to ask my mom.  I thought he was saying it was called a show her, so I went on to tell my parents there were show hers in my rice.  From that point on, I've always called "weird" foods - show hers.

Model Rooskie

To Tyler's dismay, my mom always loved to dress us the same.  She would continue to try to do this for Christmas pictures as we got older.  Tyler finally had to put his foot down.  Tyler is very particular about his clothes.  I warn you - do not EVER go shopping with Tyler. It very well may be the absolute most tortuous process in the entire world.  And after you've spent 10.5 hours watching him try on approximately 5 whole outfits - he's done and not willing to wait 10 minutes for you to look at something for yourself.

Once Tanner came along, Roo and I shared a room and slept in bunk beds.  For a period of time, Tyler decided it was appropriate to wake me up in the morning by punching me in the nose.  This went on until I sneezed blood all over my shirt one morning and my mom discovered what he had been doing. Such a nice big brother...

When we moved to Coppell, we moved into a great neighborhood and met some of our best friends.  We spent our days playing kick the can, hide and seek, and flash light tag with the gang.  Braea and Addison Spurlock were our very best friends and we were constantly together.

 We went through a phase of playing WWE - we even had our own "ring" (a mattress).  We would jump off the 2nd floor balcony onto the mattress - how none of us broke a bone blows my mind.  Anyways - when we played wrestling, the boys decided Braea got to be Sable and they made me be Chyna.  It scarred me for life.

You will not get to see any pictures from our middle school/high school years.  My goodness - to say we went through an awkward phase is an understatement.  Tyler went through a really bad period of dying his hair "blonde" (aka yellow) and I was just flat out awful looking.  During these years, we really switched roles.  Tyler became super outgoing/life of the party and I was painfully, painfully shy.  I refer to these years as the Lost Years (because I wish they would just disappear from my memory).  I could also call them the years Roo let his friends take turns farting on me while I was sick on the coach or the years Tyler and his friends would hop in his car really fast and lock the doors so I had to walk home by myself or the years when Tyler would have parties at the house and make me cover for him.  (During one of these parties, I told Tyler I didn't feel very good - he gave me THREE Tylenol PMs!!!!  I was drowsy for days!)

Tyler and I have pretty much been banned from watching Texas Tech vs. Texas games together.  Some serious family fights have broken out during these games.  My senior year of college, Tyler came out to Lubbock for the game thinking he was going to get to rub a win in our face (Texas was ranked #3 at the time and a National Championship game looked to be in their future).

Lucky for us, Rooskie and Crabtree had different dreams.

At my wedding, I did a "first look" with my daddy and brothers.  When I came out, I might as well just have been wearing sweats by Tyler's reaction.  Jaime (my amazing photographer) gave him a hard time, which led to the first picture.  Typical Tyler...

Luckily, Tyler and I were born with some rythmn and did not get our parent's dancing skills. 

Tyler Rooskie - 

I am so lucky to have you as my big brother.  Even though we will miss you greatly, I am so proud of you for working so hard to get this job.  Enjoy every minute - you were made to live in Austin (you liberal weirdo! :-) )  I love you lots.  

Oh... and hurry up and propose to Andrea so she can officially be my sister.  I didn't throw my bouquet in her face for no reason...