2012 in Review

I can't believe that today is the last day of 2012. This year has absolutely flown by!

Here is a little recap of your year.

January:

We took our very first trip to NYC. We took the train from NC and it was amazing. 

Kyle received his Senior Parachutist Badge:

February:

Kyle unfortunately lost his grandfather, we traveled to Erie, PA for the funeral. Kyle was a pallbearer and his Mom asked him to be in uniform:

I was excited to finally have LASIK eye surgery done. I now have 20/15 vision wahoo!

March:

We celebrated the 1st anniversary of my Mom's passing. 

April:

We had our annual Easter trip to Myrtle Beach, it was our last and we were so sad!

May:

We unfortunately went through our 4th miscarriage during our fertility journey.

We attended our last Black Falcon Formal:

We also celebrated Kyle's 27th birthday:

We were officially farewelled from the Black Falcons and the 82nd Airborne:

We began our journey to Fort Huachuca, Arizona!

June:

We spent 2 wonderful weeks with family in Las Vegas. We were able to celebrate my Dad's birthday with him.

We settled into our new home in AZ:

We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary at the happiest place on earth:

July:

I went back to Disneyland with my sister, Lisa and niece, Kylie:

We fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine and went to Tombstone:

We traveled to Las Vegas for our nephew, Grayson's, 1st birthday:

We celebrated my 27th birthday:

August:

Our niece, Kylie, started Kindegarten:

We took an amazing trip to the Grand Canyon:

September:

My Dad came to visit us in Arizona:

My in-laws also came to visit:

We went to our first NFL Game:

October:

I spent almost the whole month in Las Vegas with family. Even took the kids to a fun pumpkin patch:

We celebrated my brother-in-law and new sister in law's (Justin and Erin) wedding:

We found out we were going to Fort Bliss, Texas! We traveled to El Paso and signed a contract on this beautiful home:

November:

I traveled to Las Vegas to celebrate our niece's 6th birthday and my sister's birthday:

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family:

December:

Kyle graduated the MICCC:

We officially moved to El Paso and spent our first Christmas in our new home:

Well that is our 2012 in review! I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2013! Let's make it a great one!

Happy New Year!

Airborne!

When we bought our home the first thing Kyle wanted to do was find those little plastic paratroopers and drop them from our 2nd floor haha (since it looks out over the living room). Well, after going to several different stores we finally found them at Kmart yesterday:

This was mine (his parachute fell off, I didn't have it tied very tight lol)

Kyle was so excited (you can take the soldier out of an Airborne unit but you can't take the Airborne out of the soldier haha)

Sorry for the blurry picture, but it worked. I love that I have a husband who enjoys having fun. We are always laughing and joking, this was most certainly no exception. I'm sure every now and then I will see these little guys floating down to the living room. 

I hope you all have a great day, we are going to a few museums which I know is going to be awesome.

Artificial Grass

When we moved into the house we started talking about landscaping the backyard. We knew we wanted grass/rocks but really were not keen on doing the work ourselves.

This is what we have to work with:

Awesome, right?!

My Dad had suggested that we look into artificial grass. We were immediately all for it. The maintenance would be minimal and the water usage would be next to nothing. We wouldn't have to worry about it dying or watering it.

We found a company called SYN Lawn. They came out yesterday to do a free estimate. The best part is that they also do rock landscape. Well, the price was right and they will start everything the week of the 7th! We will have an 800sq ft area of artificial grass and the rest will be rock with a stepping stone path from the patio to the grass.

I am excited to see some green in the backyard instead of dirt. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

We are fun!

It's no secret that Kyle and I love to stay busy, we are always searching for fun things to do.  We were sooo excited when we found out that El Paso has a hockey team (the Rhinos haha love it). When we were at Bragg we spent a good chunk of our time at Fayetteville Fireantz hockey games.  I bought tickets to a game in January and we can't wait to go. 

We also saw that there is a Monster Jam event in March, yes we are 27 but act like we are 15. How can you not enjoy watching monster trucks destroy things?! We bought tickets of course, super excited for this!

I also decided that the time has come for me to go back to work. Don't get me wrong I am so thankful that I have been able to stay home for the last 2 1/2 years but I'm ready. Even Kyle is shocked that I lasted so long without a job. I am actively looking (even submitted a few applications already) and even if it's just part time I will be happy. Wish me luck! :)

Today we have an appointment with a synthetic lawn company. Instead of dealing with the hassle of real grass we are opting for artificial. In the long run it will save us money and we are all about that. Just have to make sure Emma approves of it. Here's hoping!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Oh the boxes..

I was so excited to finally get our household goods yesterday...this is what my life consists of right now:

I am always amazed at how much packing paper they use in each box. Thankfully we have everything unpacked just need to organize it all. We are getting there though. 

Have a great day everyone!!

Holiday Wrap-Up

Kyle and I had a wonderful 1st Christmas together in our new home. We got up early and skyped with my family, it's always fun watching Kylie and Grayson open presents. We so appreciate the gifts they sent us as well. We send them Christmas jammies every year so I love seeing them in their cute jammies.

 Kylie with her gift from us

 Grayson with his gift from us

I made breakfast and we watched "A Christmas Story" (to me that movie never gets old). We helped Emma and Fishy open their gifts, they each got a new collar and seemed very happy. Emma even got taken on a walk and she was such a happy girl. Our neighborhood is awesome, everyone is really nice.

I was able to make dinner even with all the limited supplies we had. We had honeybaked ham, sauteed green beans, mashed potatoes/gravy and rolls:

We didn't want to eat on paper plates so we got awesome $1 plates from Walmart, haha.  After we ate we skyped with Kyle's family and got to see his brothers new dog, Lana. It was nice to see both our families today.

Over the weekend we did some shopping for house and picked up some items that we have been wanting:

Entryway Bench. We got cloth bins to go in those cubby hole. It is awesome for us to sit and put our shoes on and also store our shoes.

A new Christmas Tree!!!! We got an awesome deal thanks to Target.com. We have been wanting a new tree for the longest time and I'm so excited.

Since we got married we have wanted to get our last name done like this. I found a website called Frame The Alphabet, I found a coupon code for $75 off so basically with shipping and everything we got it for 50% off. I can't wait to get it and hang it.

We are excited for today since our household goods will finally be delivered. I am ready to have our stuff back and be settled. I probably won't be blogging much since I will be unpacking, but knowing me we will be unpacked by tomorrow night.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!

Kyle and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!! Wherever you are and whomever you are with, I hope it's special.

Thinking about all the men and women who are currently deployed overseas and can't be with their families today. May God bless you!

Love you all!

Christmas Tag

Today I was tagged by the awesome Whit @ Black Little Button in a wonderful Christmas post!

Here are some questions that she asked:

-Are there any traditions you have started, or have been doing since you've been little with your family?

To be honest growing up we really didn't have many traditions, it was always just a wonderful time together. Now that I'm married our tradition is that we always watch "Claymation Christmas" and "A Muppet Christmas" they are so funny. 

-Did you make a Christmas list this year? What was on it?

Nope, no Christmas list. The only thing we were hoping for was to close on our home in time for the Holidays and it happened. :)

 

-Favorite, memorable gift you have received?

Oh gosh, I have received many wonderful gifts over the years. I have to say that it would be being able to spend Christmas with my Mom in 2010. It was her last Christmas and it is very very special to me. I cherish those memories.

 

-Best gift you have ever given to someone?

As far as gift giving I don't know what would be the best gift but the most enjoyment I get is buying for our niece and nephew. I love hearing and seeing their reactions. It is absolutely priceless.

 

-Favorite Christmas song/CD?

Believe it or not I actually do not like Christmas music. I think it just starts getting played way too early and I get burnt out.

I am supposed to tag specific bloggers but honestly I would love to hear from all of you! :) 

Here are my questions for you:

1. Do you have a traditional Christmas meal or something different?

 2. What is your favorite Christmas decoration?

3. When do you start decorating?

4. Are you a Christmas goody baker or just the eater? haha

5. Do you open any gifts on Christmas Eve? 

Merry Christmas Eve!

 

5 Wishes

Yesterday I was tagged by the wonderful Cat @ This Little Life of Mine in a little blogging game called 5 wishes. The rules of the game are to share 5 wishes I have for this upcoming year 2013 and then I get to "Tag" five other wonderful bloggers!

1. To become a Mother. We are praying that next year will be our year to become parents. We are stable and ready. We have so much love to give and we are praying that we will be blessed with a precious little one.

2. Enroll in Culinary School. After the first of the year I will start looking around and finally get everything figured out.

3. That my husband won't deploy. I know that the likelihood of this actually happening is slim to none. I am absolutely 100% proud of him but I want to keep him here safe.

4. To not worry and enjoy life. For those that know me well know that I have a tendency to be somewhat of a worry wart. I try my hardest to not be (I can hide if really well if I need too) so I'm going to work on this in 2013

5. To let things go. I'm human, I let certain things get to me and I let them eat away at me. I need to learn to just let things go. Life goes on and there are some things that just don't matter.

Here are the 5 fantasically wonderful bloggers that I'm tagging:

Kenzie @ Life According to Kenz

Whit @ Black Little Button

Liz @ Liz's Diary

Angi @ Into the Forest Dim

Katie @ Katie Did What

Of course anyone else may participate and do this! I would love to see all your wonderful wishes!

O Christmas Tree!

Yesterday we were finally able to put up our Christmas Tree! Yay!! I was going to put it up by myself but I decided to wait for Kyle to get here. We still have a few more little decorations to put up inside but here is our 2012 Christmas Tree:

I got a new tree skirt this year and I love it, can't go wrong with Target. :)

Many of the ornaments are special to us, we have a lot from our time at Fort Bragg and some given to us by family.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Winter Gift Exchange

A while back I signed up for the Winter Gift Exchange hosted by Allie from A Day in A Joyful Life and Melissa from [insert sarcastic remark here]

The one thing I loved most about this swap was that it wasn't just a gift exchange. You had to also do something charitable. What an amazing idea! 

I decided that I wanted to do something special for children for Christmas. I came across an organization called Letters to Santa, they not only help out children for Christmas but also back to school supplies. They have lists of children that are in need of Christmas presents or gifts for stockings. I chose a brother and sister, Alex and Faith. I was emailed their wish lists and they were so cute:

I had the best time shopping for them!!! It felt so rewarding. I shipped off the package and got confirmation that their Mom received them. On Christmas morning they will get their stockings and I will get pictures of them when they open them. I can't wait to see their faces.

I was lucky enough to receive a package from the awesome Rima from Bolu By Rima

What she sent me was absolutely perfect:

Cinnamon Apple Spice Tea

Gingerbread Cookie mix

Mustache cookie cutters (how awesome is that?!)

Spatula

A super fun homemade card

Thank you Rima!!! I love everything!

Thanks again to Allie and Melissa for hosting!!

We Are Homeowners!!!

Today was the day we had been looking forward to for 2 months. We finally closed on our first home!! It was a completely surreal experience as I signed the last paper and the title agent handed me the keys to OUR HOME!!! It was the most amazing feeling. We are beyond excited to start this new journey and without further ado here are some pictures of our new home:

Front door/Entry Way

Living Room

Kitchen

Dining Room

View of the living room from dining room

1/2 bath downstairs

Laundry Room

Master Bedroom

Closet

Master Bathroom

Separate jetted tub and shower

Spare Bedroom

Spare Bathroom

Office

Kyle's Man Cave haha

Looking down at the entry

View from the stairs

Patio

Backyard, we can't wait to landscape it!

We are so excited to create many amazing memories in this home! 

Hope you all enjoyed the tour. 

Have a great night!