Can it stay 2010 just a little bit longer?!

I can't believe that 2010 is going to be finished in about 2 weeks! Normally I would be so excited for the start of the new year but not this time. Most of you know my hubby will be deploying and from what I calculated we will have about 5-6 weeks together before that happens. Thanks to a lot of other training besides JRTC (all this other training is due to him being on the Batallion Staff). I sat down tonight and wrote everything out in my planner (yes I carry one and it is my lifesaver), 2011 already feels jammed packed.

My last day of work on Friday went pretty well, I was done by 4pm and finally tasted employment freedom!! When I got home I was surprised by my hubby with these:

he sure does know my weakness!

and this sign that went along with them:

haha!!

 

I am still getting used to the fact that I don't have to get up for work tomorrow or any other day! It is a nice feeling. Tomorrow, I will spend my day cleaning and baking a cake and cupcakes for HHB's Change of Command ceremony on Tuesday. I am so happy that I can do this for the incoming commander, he is a great guy!

 

 

Last night we attended a Christmas party at the Batallion Commanders house. We had an awesome time!! Good food, good drinks and good people, can't go wrong with that!

 

 

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!!!!

 

 

 

Only 6 days until Christmas!!!

 

 

 



St. Barbara's Day Ball 2010

Last night we attended the St. Barbara's Day Ball for Field Artillery. I can honestly say that last night was the best time we have ever had at a military function. We spent time with good friends and danced the night away!! Here are a few pictures from the night:

Us

Captain Smith and Captain Gray 

82nd Airborne Chorus

Dancing!!

Me and Melanie

hahah goofballs!

 

We were definitely sad for the night to end but now we are looking forward to the Batallion Ball on Feb. 4th!!!

 

 

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!!

Typical Us

<3

New Journey

Well, starting December 30th Kyle and I will embark on a new chapter in our quest to have children. I met with my doctor today and he agreed that IUI is our best option for a baby. I was set up with all my medication and will start at the end of the month. If everything goes right I will have the procedure the first or second week of January. We are soooo beyond excited to get this going!!

As I mentioned yesterday my sister was going in for a follow up ultrasound. Thankfully the baby is doing well and is scheduled to arrive on July 21, 2011!! Yay!!!

We are still waiting on the results from my moms MRI, we may not know for a few days. So please keep the prayers coming, they are soo appreciated!!

Happy Wednesday!!!

Prayers

I am asking all of my wonderful bloggy ladies to keep my mom in your prayers today. As of right now she is being prepped for an MRI at the treatment center. She met with her radiation oncologist yesterday regarding the lesion on her vertebrae and he suggested they do an MRI to get a full extent of what is going on. He is worried that the cancer has spread into her bones. We are just praying that this is not the case.

I am also asking for prayers for myself and my husband. Tomorrow, I will be going in to meet with my infertility doctor about getting the process for IUI started. My husband and I so desperately want a family and this may be the only way. I am hopeful that this process will work (a good friend of mine just found out she is pregnant thanks to IUI) and that we will have a precious baby of our own.

One last prayer request, my sister, Lisa had her first ultrasound last week. Babies heartbeat was a little borderline and measuring only 6wks instead of the thought 7wks. She goes back today for another ultrasound. Please pray for a good ultrasound and a healthy little one.

Thank you all!!

The Dress

When I was in Vegas, I went dress shopping with my mom,sister, my mother-in-law, and a good friend. I tried on 3 dresses and found the perfect one! I can't wait to to wear it next week, here is a picture, sorry it's still in the plastic from the dry cleaners:

Love it!!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!!!

Vegas and Back

I had a wonderful trip home to Vegas for Thanksgiving! It was soo nice to spend time with my family, especially my mom. We ate, hung out and went to Knotts Berry Farm in CA. Instead of boring you with a lot of writing I will give you pictures instead:

Me and my beautiful Mom

Me and my sister, Lisa

Lisa, Kylie and Chris

Me and Dad driving to CA munching on Beef Jerky lol

Me and Kylie (she always blinks lol)

Yay!

Love them!

I was sad to leave but so happy to get home to my hubby. Even though we saw each other only for a few hours since he will be in the field from today-Sunday. I did accomplish a big goal while in Vegas, I found a beatiful red dress for the ball, wahoo!!

I know in a previous post I mentioned a situation going on at my work. Well it is official after the 1st of year I won't have a job. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise so I can spend some much needed quality time with Kyle before he deploys.

I hope everyone had a wonderful long holiday!

Home Sweet Home

I am safely back in NC! I will update tonight since my hubby is in the field until Sunday!



Weekend Recap

I can honestly say that Kyle and I had one of the best weekends! It started out on Friday morning, we headed to Cracker Barrell for breakfast before driving to Concord. We hit the road and arrived at Great Wolf Lodge around 3:30pm, we got checked in and made our way to our room and this is what greeted us:

Our awesome room!

We roamed around and checked out everything, we got excited when we saw this:

Yay!!

At 5pm we had our first 2 hour session, it was great and we both learned a lot. We were released at 7 to do what we wanted! We had dinner and a few drinks and enjoyed the night.

Saturday, we had all day to ourselves. We had a blast at the waterpark, went to the huge Concord Mills Mall and walked around (and bought a new Coach purse haha), rode go-carts, played laser tag, and went back to the waterpark. After dinner we spent about 2 hours in the Arcade it was awesome!!! We met a few other couples for drinks at the bar and enjoyed great company.

Sunday, we had our last session and said goodbye. We got home around 4 and I started cooking our Thanksgiving dinner. It turned out amazing!! Now Kyle will have plenty of leftovers to last him while I am gone.

I was hopeful that this week would start out good seeing as it is a short week. It did not happen! First, there was a huge blow-up at my work between my two bosses (they are brothers) and my boss has decided to leave the firm (ie: I will be out of a job after the 1st of the year). It is frustrating but I completely understand.

Second, my Dad called me to give me the update on my Mom. She had her appt in Arizona today and we found out that the cancer did not originate in her pancreas, it originated in her lungs (the cancer in her pancreas is gone) and now she has a tumor on her vertebrae (which is causing her severe pain). She will go back on Dec 5 for radiation to get rid of that tumor. It feels like for every step forward there are two steps back. In order to lift her spirits, I told her we were coming home for Christmas and she is over the moon!!! It made my heart smile to hear the joy in her voice.

Well everyone, I probably won't  be blogging for a week or so. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoys time with family and friends!!

Marriage Retreat and Thanksgiving

Tomorrow Kyle and I get to head up to Concord, NC for a Marriage Retreat(yay for having a 3 day weekend with my love). It is being held at this awesome place:

Yay!!!

So for 3 days and 2 nights we get to be here having a good time! We will have 4 1 hour sessions with our Chaplain, which he will be talking about marriage through deployment (since Kyle's Brigade will be deploying next year). When we are not in sessions we get to enjoy this:

The awesome indoor waterpark (there is lots more this is just one picture I found)

We are looking forward to having a few days away together before the craziness of the holidays start. Once we get back on Sunday afternoon, I will get started on our Thanksgiving dinner. We have to celebrate on Sunday because we will have no other time before I leave for Vegas on Wednesday.

Monday, we will be having friends over for dinner and putting up our Christmas decorations (have to get our Christmas picture taken that night so I can get cards ordered). While I am gone the hubby will tackle the decorations outside. Tuesday, we have a hail and farewell for Kyle's work (not a fan of this being so close to a holiday but oh well). Wednesday, I have to be at the Raleigh airport by 6:30am to catch my flight!

Today is a very special day for our family. Our precious niece, Kylie turns 4 years old! It feels like yesterday that she was born and she quickly went from this:

to this:

We love you so much, babygirl!!! Our lives would not be the same without you. Happy Birthday!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!



How Much!?

Over the last few days Kyle and I have been buying the new rank/mos stuff for his uniforms (mostly his blues), all I can say is wow!! It really is amazing how expensive all of this stuff is. Don't get me wrong Kyle makes pretty good money as an Officer but it is still ridiculous that these costs almost $50:

We had just barely purchased his Field Artillery Captain shoulder boards and then his MOS changed lol. Gee thanks Army for the notice!! Then you have the other fun stuff like these:

I swear the stuff on the uniforms cost more than the uniforms. Thank goodness no more promotions for atleast 6 years haha. We thought we had about a month and a half to get his Blues ready for the St. Barbara's Day Ball, but now Kyle will be helping serve Thanksgiving dinner at the DFAC for enlisted soldiers and families.

Today was definitely not the best day for me at work. It was already a struggle since it is Monday but then getting cussed out by a clients mom really set the tone for the rest of the day. I was professional and handled the call the best I could, what I really wanted to say was "I'm sorry that you are upset with us because your son is a FELON, we can't help that he likes to steals cars and finally got arrested for an outstanding warrant!!!!" We have been dealing with these people for a few months and finally are rid of them! Thank goodness!!

I'm not sure if I am allowed to post this yet or not but I found out last week that Kyle and I are going to be an Aunt and Uncle again!!!!! My sister, Lisa and her husband, Chris are expecting Baby Glass #2!!!! Yay!!!! I am sooo happy for them!!!

Sorry that this is such a random post!!!

Happy Monday!!!

 

Christmas Shopping

Kyle and I have decided to get some early Christmas shopping done this weekend. We are the people that buy gifts for their pets. Yes, Emma and Fishy are extremely spoiled and we are ok with that. We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and got Emma this:

A new bed! She loves it!!!

Then we headed off to Petsmart to find something for Fishy. He loves the play-towers for cats and we found him this:

He isn't quite sure what to think of it (if you look to the right you can seem him sleeping on his other structure).

Overall, we have had a great weekend. We have done a lot of relaxing around the house and just enjoying time together. We watched "Get Him to the Greek" last night and laughed soooo hard. What makes that movie even better is that my father-in-law is in it!!! He is a musician in a Vegas show and they filmed there so we got to see him. It was pretty cool!

The next few weeks are going to be really busy for us. Next week we are headed off to Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte for a marriage retreat and then a few days later I am getting on a plane to Vegas! Kyle and I will celebrate our Thanksgiving early which I am really looking forward to.

Not much else going on right now, I better go check on my cheesecake thats baking! Happy Sunday!!

Yummy Cheesecake resting in the oven

All finished! I am really happy with how it turned out (cheesecake is not the easiest thing to make)

Happy Veteran's Day!!

Today is the day that we honor and celebrate all those who have served and continue to serve in our Armed Forces. Thank for the sacrifices each and every one of you has made for our freedom!!

With so many veterans in my family, I wanted to give them their respect here:

Larry Niswonger- My grandfather (Army)

Tom Niswonger- Uncle (Army)

Paul Niswonger- Uncle (USMC)

Marty Niswonger- Uncle (USAF)

Joe Niswonger- Dad (USAF)

Kyle Smith- Husband (Army)

I am so grateful for each of you!!!!! Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do!!

Weekend in Review

This weekend was definitely an awesome few days, here is a recap of the events:

Friday: Kyle and I were both off work by 3pm which is a rarity for both of us. We both have been battling horrible colds all week so it was nice to just relax. I was in bed by 7:45 that night and got a much needed 12 hours of sleep.

Saturday: I woke up refreshed and was surprised by Kyle as he got me a spa day gift certificate to use whenever I want. He is soo good to me and I am truly blessed. We met up with our friends at the driving range on post. I honestly never thought I would say this but I love playing golf!! I even acquired my own set of clubs last weekend. I find it incredibly relaxing. After an hour there it was time for lunch at Jason's Deli (one of my favorite places) and then off to Best Buy. I bought "Sex and the City 2", so when we got home I put my jammies on and relaxed in bed. We watched "Clash of the Titans" that night and headed off to bed early because we had a big day ahead on Sunday.

Sunday: This was day we had been looking forward to for the last few months. Kyle, Jeremy, Kristina and I headed off to Raleigh at around 10:30am. When we arrived at Fred Fletcher Park we were welcomed by a sea of Purple!! What a beautiful sight! After registration we listened to a local band play and then it was time for the introduction. We found out that over 700 participants had entered and over $90,000 was raised for Pancreatic Cancer research. Amazing!!!! Before the race started I called my Mom to tell her I loved her, of course I got teary because I knew that what we were participating in has an affect on her. We were so honored to run in support of her! Kyle was nice enough to run at my pace and we finished, it was emotional and so humbling!!

Almost to the finish

After we finished we headed back home and went out for a celebratory dinner! It was an honor to participate in such an amazing event!!!

It was back to the normal grind today but my boss was nice enough to let us go at 4:30 definitely not complaining. Looking forward to the day off Thursday and playing some more golf!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Happy Monday!

We did it!!

At the finish line!!! It was such an honor runnning for an amazing cause!! From this event alone over $90,000 was raised for Pancreatic Cancer Research! We love you, Mom!!

Today is the Day!!

Well, today is the day that Kyle and I have been preparing for these last few months. We will be headed up to Raleigh in a few hours for our Purple Stride 5k for Pancreatic Cancer! We are both so proud to be running in honor of my beautiful mom!!!! Wish us luck!!!! 

Dear Tropical Storm Tomas

Please leave Haiti alone! That is all!

Thank You,
Annoyed Army Wife

Wordless Wednesday: My favorite little girl



Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

November is such a huge month for our family. Today marks the start of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. As most of you know my mom, Kathy was diagnosed with Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer in June at the age of 54. You never in your worst nightmare think that your family would be affected by something as horrible as this. From day 1 she has been a fighter, never letting cancer get the best of her. There is a wonderful quote that is very fitting: "I may have cancer but cancer doesn't have me".

Pancreatic Cancer is the 11th most commonly diagnosed cancer in the U.S. About 29,000 people are expected to be newly diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer each year. It is the 5th leading cause of cancer death. About 20% of patients diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer survive the first year and only about 3% survive 5 years. We are hopeful that she can live a great life the next few years.

To show support this month, wear a purple ribbon for those who have lost their lives and for those who continue to fight this disease. We so desperately need to find a cure!

Here are a few links you can visit if you want to get some more information:

Lustgarten Foundation

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

Kyle and I are so proud to be participating in the Purple Stride Raleigh-Durham 5k for Pancreatic Cancer on Sunday. As I'm sure it will be an emotional day for all who are in attendance, it will be a great showing of support and love for those affected. As of right now, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has raise over $59,000 for research!! It is truly amazing!!!

Lets spread the word and fight this disease!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Our Halloween festivities were last night here on post and we had an awesome time!! Of course we dressed our dog, Emma up in her bumblebee costume and she loved it:

Our friends Jeremy and Kristina came over to hang out with us to pass out candy. We grilled up some burgers and hotdogs for dinner and then sat outside to greet all the trick or treaters. I do have to say that we saw some incredibly creative costumes, my favorite was an 8 year old girl dressed up as Michael Jackson! It was awesome!!! Although, the best part of these night involved her:

A couple walked up dressed as "Killer Clowns", immediately Kyle pointed out that Kristina hates clowns and this is what happened:

They followed her all the way to our backyard haha it was all in fun though, they were awesome!!!

We managed to not run out of candy this year and still had a few pieces left at 8 when trick or treating was over.

Earlier in the day was great as well, I ended up purchasing a set of golf clubs so now I can join Kyle when he plays. We went to the driving range so I could get accustomed to my clubs, I can honestly say I had the best time!! We also decided to purchase our Christmas gift to each other:

A nice new 60" TV lol

Kyle loves it and so do I! It was definitely worth it, have to love the PX and no tax!!

Well for those who are passing out candy or venturing out to trick or treat with your kids tonight, be safe and get lots of candy!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

*NOVEMBER 1ST IS THE START OF PANCREATIC CANCER AWARENESS MONTH, PLEASE HELP BY SPREADING THE WORD AND WEARING PURPLE TO SHOW SUPPORT*

Coffee anyone?!

Last night I finally went to my first "Coffee" for my husbands current batallion. Although we have been with this unit almost a year now, I either didn't have the time or honestly just did not want to go. I figured last night was a perfect chance to go (since it was being held 3 houses down from me). I ended up having a wonderful time, our batallion commanders wife Heather is a crackup and made it so much fun! Maybe this was the motivation I needed to start going more often. Our FRG leader sent us our updated calendars through May 2011, wow so much will be happening and all the red marked dates for things such as JRTC and Deployment kinda bummed me out. A few things that got me excited is that now instead of 2 balls (Division Ball and St. Barbaras Day) we now have 3 to attend! I love getting dressed up, my husband on the other hand hates his blues lol. I am taking advantage of the dress shopping while I'm in Vegas so I can spend some quality fun time with my mom. Also know we have a general idea of his block leave dates before deployment, we have decided that this will be a trip for us to:

YAY!!!!

I really can't believe that October is almost over, but November is going to be a wonderful month for so many reasons. My beautiful niece Kylie will be turning 4 years old. I swear it feels just like yesterday that she was born:

Isn't she beautiful?!?!

My sister Lisa will also be celebrating her birthday (she and Kylies birthdays are 2 days apart), I love my sister so much and wish I could be there to celebrate their birthdays with them. Not long after that I will be there for Thanksgiving, yay!!!

Me and Lisa on my wedding day

As I'm sure most of you are I am beyond happy that it is Friday!! It has been one heck of a week, we are going on a Hallows Eve cemetary walk tonight, which should be interesting. Tomorrow we plan on watching a marathon of Ghost Adventures and passing out candy to all the trick or treaters!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

All I want for Christmas is..

Kyle and I really hadn't talked much about where we wanted to go for Christmas. We finally made the decision on Sunday (purchased plane tickets last night wahoo!!!) and this is where we are going:

We are going HOME!

I am so excited for 2 reasons:

1. We get to see our niece open gifts on Christmas morning, last year we had to settle for a DVD of her opening gifts. She is such a character and we are so excited.

2. My Mom (need I say more?!)

The best part is that she has NO IDEA we are coming. I have told my Dad and my sister Lisa because I want them to be in on it. Kyle and I can't imagine a better way to celebrate the holidays then with our families. He will be gone for Christmas next year and I want him to have this time with family.

This weekend went by way too fast for my liking. Friday night we went on the Historic Hauntings hayride in downtown and we had a blast!! It was perfect weather and we heards lots of awesome stories and some pretty cool reenactments.

us on the hayride

Saturday, we ate had breakfast out, did some shopping ( I took advantage of JCPenneys buy 1 get one for .88!! sale) and watched "The Lovely Bones" that night. If you have not seen this movie I highly recommend it, it was beautifully done.

I am back to work today after my procedure yesterday, everything went well there is no cancer and now the issue is under control. Thank goodness! All I can say is that the anesthesia they gave me was AWESOME! I have no recollection of the procedure at all. I slept until about 4:30pm and felt great after.

I better get back to work, have lots to get caught up on!

I hope everyone has a great week!

I wanna be sedated.....

If you are reading this right now I am currently under a lot of anesthesia having a not so fun procedure done (promise I won't go into detail). I have spent the last few days freaking out about this not knowing what to expect. Over the last month or so I have been experiencing a few issues that I needed to get checked out, then this procedure was recommended. Hopefully, this will help them diagnose what is going on (please pray that it is not cancer, as that is a very real possibility).

Hopefully I will be back to blogging in a few days. Please say a little prayer for me!

Good times..

These next few months are filled with a lot of fun things!! Tonight, Kyle and I will be going on a Historic Haunting Hayride in downtown Fayetteville. There are a lot of historic sites to see and I'm sure some awesome stories that go along with it. Saturday we are going to the 82nd Airborne Museum to walk through the "Haunted Hercules" it's a C-130 on display that will be converted into a haunted house!!! Awesome! If you live in the area you should check it out:

Next Friday we are going on a Cemetary Walk in downtown as well. We just bought these tickets today and are really excited. We love anything to do with paranormal activity, spirits and ghosts. Hopefully we can catch "something" on camera.

November will be fun-filled as well, we run the Raleigh-Durham Purple Stride 5k for Pancreatic Cancer on November 7th. I am praying for good weather and an awesome turnout! Towards the end of the month will be the busiest we are 3rd on a stand-by list to go on a retreat with Kyle's battalion to Great Wolf Lodge (we are pretty sure we will go), we have never been before and are pretty stoked about it. Then a few days later I hop on a plane to Vegas!! Yay! (I'm planning on getting my nose pierced while I am home, might even have another tattoo done but we will see)

I am excited to go here with my family:

My mom is the most excited out of all of us. Even though she can't ride the big rollercoaster anymore she plans on taking my niece Kylie on every kiddie ride.

Now we just have to figure out what we are doing for Christmas. (Maybe Disneyworld?!?! We shall see)

Happy Friday!!!!