Christmas Wrap-up!

Kyle and I had a wonderful Christmas together here in NC with our "kids", Emmy and Fishy. Christmas Eve we spent the day lounging around and just enjoying each others company. We woke up at around 8:30am on Christmas morning (well Kyle was up before me) and decided to open our presents. I do have to say Kyle always does so good with presents for me and this year was no exception. I was able to surprise him with a few of his gifts: Playstation Move, Zelda game, Family Guy and Simpsons Beer Glasses, gift cards to Old Navy and Kohls and a great new jacket. He had received gifts cards from his family, cologne from my Dad and new shoes from my sister and brother-in-law. 

Here is a rundown in pictures:

New Crock Pot!!!

Foodsaver!!!

14 piece Simply Calphalon pots and pans

Super cute brown boots!!!!

I love these games, they are so much fun!

At one point or another during the year I had asked for all of these and he was so amazing in remembering. I love him so much!!!

After we finished opening gifts we skyped with my family to open our gifts together and it was so fun! We love watching our niece and nephew get so excited opening presents. My sister and brother in law got me these:

AMAZING!!!!

and my Dad got me this:

One of my favorite perfumes!!

After we finished skyping with them we were able to Skype with Kyle's family and it was good to see them!!! I received 2 gift cards from my brother-in-law and his fiancé. I also got several gift cards to Old Navy and Target from my in-laws which definitely got put to good yesterday with all the after holiday sales. 

We enjoyed relaxing the rest of the day and we watched "A Christmas Carol" and then enjoyed a yummy dinner of honey baked ham, homemade cheesy au gratin potatoes, corn and homemade rolls. 

I probably won't have another blog post until after the New Year. I hope everyone have a safe and Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas

I can't believe that today is Christmas! I am thankful to be spending it with my amazing husband but of course I miss our families. One person in particular is on my mind today, my Mom. I miss her so much everyday and today is no exception. I know she is having a beautiful celebration in Heaven. 

I hope you all have a blessed and very Merry Christmas!! 

Proud Army Wife

Today at Kyle's battalion was the End of Tour Awards. They were finally acknowledging all of the hard work that these amazing soldiers had done while deployed to Iraq. 

I was beyond proud when I found out Kyle was being presented with this:

Bronze Star Medal

Only 20 soldiers in his battalion were given this and I am so incredibly proud that Kyle was one of them. He worked so hard to ensure the safety and security of the camp and he worked 17 hour days 7 days a week. Words cannot express how proud I am of him and all that he has done and continues to do in the military. He is my American Hero.

Kyle receiving the Bronze Star from LTC Bailey

 I love him!

After the ceremony 

I will have a few scheduled posts over the holiday weekend but I still want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Low Key Weekend

This weekend has been pretty relaxing (which we both need). On Friday Kyle was home early from work and we lounged around the house until we met up with some friends for dinner. We headed off to meet two other couples at one of our favorite mexican restaurants. It was a great night of food, fun, and great conversation. We headed home at about 10pm because Kyle was on Jumpmaster duties for a jump on Saturday so he had to be up at 2am.

Saturday was my day to get some cleaning and grocery shopping done. I headed off to the store while Kyle was still at work, I didn't realize how busy Walmart would be but then again there are only 7 shopping days until Christmas. After Kyle got home we decided to go play bingo on post. We had the BEST time, I had never really played "real" bingo and thankfully you can get all the cards on a little hand held computer device. It made things so much easier. We decided to play all the games and special games (about 19 total). We just went for the heck of it and had no expectation to win. Well, I ended up winning a game!!!! We walked out of there $300 richer lol. 

This was definitely me! LOL!

Today is our typical Sunday routine: breakfast, laundry, cleaning and lots of football. I am going to start looking at hotels for our trip to New York at the end of January, we are so excited for this trip!!!! 

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Sweet Christmas Kiddos

I love these two!!!

Grayson and Kylie

Fun times!

Oh man what a weekend! Yesterday was the anticipated jump for Kyle and it was awesome!!! We got out to the drop zone at 3:30am and he headed off at 4:30 to get ready. A friend and I waited patiently for his Jump which was at 8:20am. Well time passed quickly and finally saw this:

(sorry for the small print but the arrow is pointing to Kyle, lol)

After the jump they had the presentation of the foreign wings:

The Cambodian Jumpmaster pinning on Kyle's wings

Here they are:

Awesome, huh?!

So excited and super tired!

He will only wear these wings on his dress blues and if he receives any others he can only wear one set at a time.  He had a pretty rough landing and is nursing a pretty sore back today.

We came home and got some much needed rest. We headed off to a friends house for a promotion party for her husband and stayed for an hour or so. It was a good time but we were both wiped out and headed home. Today has been a very lazy day, I headed to the store to pick up all my ingredients for my baking extravaganza for Kyle's work. Every year I made a bunch of goodies for the guys for Christmas and this year is my biggest year since it's our last with the battalion.

I will post pictures tomorrow once I get everything done! Hope everyone has a great week!

2011 Operation Toy Drop

Every year Fort Bragg participates in the largest Airborne Operation in the world. The 14th Annual Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drops consists of Americans being partnered with Jumpmasters of Allied Countries. There will be approximately 4,000 paratroopers jumping tomorrow to receive foreign jump wings. In order to be a part of it (if you are put on the jump by your unit) you have to provide a new unwrapped toy to donate. Today was the manifest for all the jumpers to get info for tomorrow and there was also a lottery held for those who were not given hard slots, 300 additional jumpers were selected. 

We were so excited when we found out that Kyle was going to be on this jump. He was supposed to do it last year but unfortunately it didn't work out. This year he is on Chalk 2 and will be jumping for Cambodian Jump Wings with his XO, Sergeant Major and Battalion Commander. He is the only staff officer who does not have foreign wings so this is very exciting for him. We will be getting up at 2:00am to head out to the drop zone. I love watching Kyle jump and he loves it!! So I will be seeing a lot of this tomorrow:

It is also very inspiring that this operation will donate thousands of toys to Toys for Tots.  This is the 14th year for this event and according to reports it just keeps getting bigger. I will post pictures after the jump tomorrow! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Trip to the ER

For the last few months I have been experiencing some breathing issues. I was having a hard time catching my breath and then I would get this horrible pressure feeling in my chest. Of course I didn't think anything of it and thought everything was fine. Well last night it got really bad so I decided it was time to go to the ER. 

I got through triage and they decided it was best to do an EKG and a chest x-ray. Of course at this point I start to panic. I tried my best to stay calm. After they finished those two things the doctor wanted to do a blood test to make sure there were no clots anywhere (being on birth control puts you at a higher risk for bloodclots). Thankfully everything came back normal and was finally told that I have lung tissue that is inflamed and that is what is causing the breathing issues. I was put on an anti-inflammatory so we will see if it helps.

I am so thankful it was nothing too serious and also was extremely impressed with the ER staff. They were thorough and quick (definitely better than our previous experiences). Now I am spending the rest of my weekend relaxing and taking it easy. My husband has been amazing taking care of me all weekend. He is really the best!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!