Is it Friday yet? (Giveaway Winner Announced)

Kyle's birthday weekend (which isn't until the beginning of May) is shaping up to be pretty awesome! In the same weekend we will be seeing Jason Aldean and The Killers. We saw Jason Aldean last year and he was amazing, one of the best concerts we have been too. I jumped at the chance last night when I saw tickets were already on sale. Hopefully the Army doesn't throw anything at us last second haha which we know they like to do.

I am beyond ready for this week to be over, I haven't really done a whole lot but it just had dragged by. We are having dinner with friends on Friday and then Saturday we are going to this:

Yup, I love monster truck shows!! Haha...I went to one about 8 years ago and I had a blast. It's more or less just an excuse to do something fun with Kyle that gets us out of the house for a few hours.

Now without further ado I am so excited to announce the winner of my 300 follower giveaway is:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats!! I will be emailing you soon for your mailing information. 

Have a great day everyone!

My 2013 Goal

As I checked our bank account yesterday I got the best surprise: TAX RETURN! I immediately got on the phone with USAA and paid off my car. I do have to say it's the best feeling in the world to get rid of debt. 

We now will be using the money that would have been a car payment to pay off our credit card. It feels good to have a plan and knowing that in roughly 5 months (maybe sooner) the only debt we will have is our mortgage (we will start making an additional mortgage payment every other month). We can also start building up our savings again.

I feel like we are finally in a really good financial place. I think it has helped that I have serious buyers remorse haha, I usually walk out of a store empty-handed. I have to have a real need for something in order for me to buy it. 

My one and only goal this year was to get right with our finances and I am so happy that it's happening.

Did you have any finance goals for 2013?

Wet Fishy

I don't really have a whole lot to say today so I thought I would just share this hilarious picture. I gave both Emma and Fishy a bath yesterday, and I think I traumatized Fishy.

HAHAHA! He hid behind the toilet for a good hour afterwards.The good news is he doesn't seem to be mad at me anymore. :)

Enjoy your day!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Another weekend has come and gone again! We had a great one as usual. Friday was low key, Kyle got home later than normal so I cooked dinner and we just lounged around.

Saturday it was a beautiful day so we headed off to the Wyler Aerial Tramway. This was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. The tramway takes you up about 2,000ft from the platform to the top of Ranger Peak which is approximately 5400ft up from El Paso. The views were stunning!

El Paso from 5400ft up

 This is what we rode in

Us!

 Heading back down

We did a little shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond then headed off to dinner at a local italian/pizza place called "Crust". It was amazing! Some of the best fried calamari I have ever had. We also indulged in this dessert:

Yes it's bubbling! It was a decadent chocolate cake filled with chocolate fudge. It was amazing.

Sunday was a little bit more low key. We went to Super Target to do our grocery shopping and I bought this dress for the upcoming Brigade Change of Command:

It looks much better on. I fell in love with it a few weeks ago and finally bought it. I'm so glad I did.

My sister and I also got our plans finalized for our day trip to Disneyland next month, yay!! I am so looking forward to some quality time with her.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Sunday Social

It's Sunday Social time!! I'm linking up with Neely and Ashley to answer some fun questions.

1. Biggest Middle school fashion mistake?

Hmm...that's a tough one. I was a skater girl in middle school so my style was mostly jeans, t-shirts and converse. 

2. Who were your best friends in hs? Pics?

 My two best friends in HS were Niki and Kim. We lost touch so I have no idea where they both are.

 

3. What was a typical weekend like for you in hs?

 A typical weekend was actually spent at the racetrack on Saturdays and church on Sunday. That was pretty much every weekend.

 

4. Did you have any boyfriends/girlfriends? Tell us about that

In middle school I didn't have any boyfriends. High school I had 2 serious boyfriends. My first real boyfriend was freshman year we dated for about 9 months (the weird thing about him is that he actually married a friend of my SIL's recently lol). 

He is to the right of me. 

I dated my next boyfriend for about a year and a half. I was crazy about him and thought we would get married. He turned out to be a real dirtbag and honestly still is.

5. Did you have any secret codes with your friends? Spill your secrets!

I never had a secret code, although that would have been fun haha.

6. If you could relive one day/moment/experience from middle school or high school, what would it be?

I would go back to 6th grade and relive the start of my friendship with this cutie:

 Yes that is my amazing husband! :)

I hope you all have a great Sunday!!!

Organized

A few weeks ago I finally ordered my Life Planner from Erin Condren:

 

I'm in love!! I never thought that I would use a planner so much. Now that I have a ton of volunteering obligations, it is helping me keep everything straight. I used to keep everything is my phone but that got to be a pain after a while. They are pricey but definitely worth it, I'm really happy with mine. My days are filling up and I'm loving the little stickers that come with the planner haha.

Happy Saturday!

Oh and if you haven't entered my giveaway go here Giveaway and check it out!

Oh weekend, my weekend!

You all have no idea how glad I am that it's Friday! The last 3 nights I have been in a class (until 10pm) for spouses of soldiers who will either be a First Sergeant or a Commander. I have seen my husband for a total of maybe 4 hours (yes I know he is home and not deployed but still) this entire week and I have only cooked once. I never thought I would miss a home cooked meal so much haha. I'm not sure I will even get out of my pj's today, I need some time to unwind and watch a few hours of mindless tv.

I had a great time at the luncheon yesterday and have even volunteered to be the fundraising chair for the officer's spouses club. I am really very excited about it, I love all things fundraising. I have already met some wonderful ladies and I know it will just get better once I get fully integrated into our new FRG as well. I really miss being involved and can't wait to get back into a routine again.

Not sure what we have planned this weekend but if the wind stays agreeable we might check this out:

Wyler Aerial Tramway

It takes you to the top of Ranger Peak in the Franklin Mountains State Park. I think it would be an amazing experience and we have heard the view is gorgeous. There is also a pizza/italian restaurant called Crust that I'm dying to try out so hopefully we can do that as some point as well. Here's hoping! :)

Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend!!!

Dust Anyone?!

While most of you ladies are getting a wonderful winter wonderland we have been getting this:

DUST! A whole lot of dust. Driving to post last night was an adventure for sure, I could barely see the car in front of me because the wind and dust were so bad. I know that we will have this type of weather around for a little bit. It's ok when I am safely in my house but not when I have to drive in it. As I was leaving my class on post last night I noticed that it was snowing haha. I swear the weather  here is so bi-polar it has no idea what it wants to do. 

I'm off to a spouses luncheon so let's hope the weather cooperates and I don't get blown off the road by the ridiculous wind that has been happening all morning.

Have a great day!

300?!

WOW! I have made it to 300 followers! 

I just want you all to know how much I appreciate every single one of you! You have been there for me through many ups and downs. Thank you for letting me vent and post random things, blogging helps me in more ways than I ever thought possible. 

To thank you all I want to host a giveaway, it's nothing major but just a way to show you how much I appreciate you all!

Thank you all again and I hope you have a great day!

I need (ok I WANT) a vacation!

I have come to the conclusion that I need a vacation. I want to get on a plane and actually go somewhere a significant distance away. In the almost 5 years that we have been together we haven't had a real vacation. We've gone on small trips but those were usually 2-3 days long which in the grand scheme of things isn't a lot. We never had a real honeymoon either, I think after 5 years it's time.

The Army is always a factor when we are planning vacations because of block leave schedules. They usually are given 2 two week leaves. One during the summer and one during Christmas. I'm hoping this next block leave we can actually go somewhere like maybe Hawaii or the Caribbean. I would love to go back to Maui, it's one of my favorite places and I would love for Kyle to see it.

I mean seriously how awesome is this resort? I stayed here in 2005 and it was amazing. I will get back there one day. Let's just hope it's sooner rather than later haha. I just need a break from reality for a week or so. We also talked about possibly going on a cruise but I'm not a boat person and given the recent events it just freaks me out (Yes I know they are all isolated incidents).

While I go daydream about vacation at the gym I will leave you with these pictures of my lazy furbabies haha.

Fishy loves laying on my blanket on the back of the couch. He was actually watching the dog show when I took this. Not sure if he was scared of all the big dogs or just zoned out. :)

Emma has officially given our backyard the big thumbs up. She will lay out there for hours and roll around. Best money spent ever! :)

 

Have a great day lovelies! 

 

Monday already?!?!

Today marks 4 days of being back in the gym and I'm loving it! I'm already feeling a difference in my energy levels and I know it will just keep getting better. Kyle and I both love Planet Fitness and the atmosphere, it is nice to be in such a positive environment. Since I am back into my groove of working out I asked Kyle for this beauty for my birthday:

I know a few people who have this and they love it!! I'm not really looking to lose anymore weight I just want to maintain where I'm at and stay healthy.

This week should be a big one for Kyle, we should find out for sure when he will take command. The new brigade commander gets here on Tuesday and hopefully meetings will happen to determine the time frame. We have heard that it could be within the next 90 days or so. I can tell Kyle is getting anxious and just wants to get things going especially with all upcoming training happening for their deployment. 

The rest of our weekend was good. Kyle went golfing and I was able to clean/do laundry in peace. I don't know about you guys but I love cleaning when it's just me in the house. We met up with some friends for dinner last night and for anyone in the El Paso area you must try the restaurant, Amuse (it's a yummy Asian restaurant), it's AMAZING! I may be biased because I just love food haha.

We are spending today relaxing after dropping my car off to get the brakes replaced and hitting the gym. I may even take a nap, sounds like a good idea to me. :)

I hope you all have a great day!

Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday from us to you!

Have a great day!

everyone loves a sale

We went to the outlets yesterday and Old Navy was having an awesome sale. 40% off the entire store! I wasn't looking for anything in particular but I did find a few things I had to have:

seriously how cute is this???

 

I got this shirt but in black

Kyle picked this trench coat out for me. I love it!

I love these pants and the best part, I was able to get a size 6!!! Oh this made me so happy.

All in all it was a successful trip!

We ended the day with a trip to the gym (woo!), Target and then Kyle grilled steaks for dinner. I call that a good day. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Sweet Friday!

Today is the beginning of a long weekend with Kyle. You can never go wrong with a 4 day weekend! Yesterday we had a very quiet Valentine's Day at home just relaxing, which was exactly what we wanted. We are heading off to the outlet mall today because I am in desperate need of some new clothes. Plus it will be nice to just walk around and browse. Oh and the new Planet Fitness finally opened so we can get our memberships and start going. Yay!

I did however make some of the most delicious ice cream I have ever tasted:

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. OMG!!! Here is the super easy recipe:

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup mini peanut butter cups, chopped

Directions

Using a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, cream peanut butter sugar together until smooth (about one minute on medium speed). Turn the mixer off then add the whole milk. Mix on low until most of the liquid has mixed with the peanut butter mixture--mix for a good 2-3 minutes until it's a thinned out peanut butter consistency. Add the heavy cream and mix for 30 seconds or until incorporated.

Pour ice cream mixture into ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturers directions. *I use the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment and this batch churned for 25 minutes. The ice cream will be the consistency of soft serve. Carefully, fold in chopped peanut butter cups, store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one week.

I am surprised that there is any left because it's that good, definitely make it. :)

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

  

Q&A With An Old Married Couple :)

 To all of my wonderfully amazing blogger friends: Thank you so much for all the love and support you showed me yesterday! I have had a good day and a half of relaxing. Yes I still managed to comment (thanks to my phone) but it was nice to just rest.

I am posting today because I wanted to link up with the awesome Sara from You.And.Me.Are.We for a cute Q&A with my hubby. 

How long have you been married? Me: 4 1/2 years Kyle: (while counting in his head lol) 5 years in June

 

Where was your first date? Me: We went to a show called The Rat Pack is Back (in Vegas) that his Dad plays in. Kyle: My Dad's Show

 

Where was your first kiss? Me: The Las Vegas airport. Kyle: Airport

 

Who first said, "I love you"? Me: He did Kyle: I did

 

What were your wedding colors? Me: We didn't have a big wedding, it Vegas themed hahaha. Kyle: Red and White....I wore a red shirt and you wore white. lol.

 

What is her most commonly used phrase? Me: Bazinga! Kyle: You call me cupcake a lot, even though that's not really a phrase.

 

Who is her celebrity crush? Me: Sean Connery (yes I'm serious) Kyle: Sean Connery.

 

If she was ordering drinks for both of you what would you each get? Me: Iced Tea for me and a Diet Coke and Water for Kyle. Kyle: Me: Beer Her: Unsweetened Iced Tea

 

What is the best meal she has ever cooked you? Me: Everything :) Kyle: It was after a long 2 weeks in the field and I came home to homemade lasagna and garlic bread. It was the best meal ever.

 

What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you? Me: Nothing haha Kyle: Nothing (aww he is earning brownie points haha)

 

What is the most-played song on her iPod? Me: Runaways by The Killers Kyle: Anything by Jason Aldean (that is a close second to The Killers)

 

What would she say is your most annoying habit? Me: Not cleaning up after himself, drives me crazy! Kyle: Leaving messes around the house

What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed? Me: Check my phone. Kyle: She checks her phone.

 

If you could throw out one item of her clothing what would it be? Me: My granny panties haha they are so comfy to sleep in. Kyle: Shoes (he said that while trying not to laugh)

 

What would you say is your favorite thing about her? Me. He will probably say my personality or that he loves everything about me. Kyle: Her laugh, because she hates her laugh and I love when I can get her laughing really hard.

 

What's her go-to drink at Starbucks? Me. Venti Shaken Black Iced Tea Unsweetened. Kyle: black iced tea shaken (he said he almost had to pull out his phone to check it haha)

 

What's her blog's name?! Me: The Adventures of our Army Life. Kyle: (at this point he is searching the internet because he doesn't follow my blog haha) The Adventures of our Army Life (yeah I ended up telling him lol)

 

This was really fun for us to do and I hope you enjoyed our answers. We aren't celebrating Valentine's Day so it will just be a typical relaxing even in our house with me cooking and a new episode of The Big Bang Theory. :)

 

Hope you all have an amazingly wonderful day! 

Taking A Break (Update)

Thanks so much for all the support this morning. Things did not go well this morning so while I pull myself together and continue to figure out next steps I will be taking a big of a break from my blog.

It's very discouraging when you have a doctor tell you that you are broken without even looking at your records and trying to come up with a plan of action. He does not do iui or ivf which is fine but he just didn't seem interested in helping in any way. I suggested going back on clomid or something and he just shrugged it off.

I ended up bawling back in my PCM's office and he was appalled at what happened. He put in a referral for me to be seen at an RE clinic off post. It may not get approved right away but I have my fingers crossed.

New Beginnings

Today, I'm finally meeting with my new RE doctor. I am of course anxious because I know with this appointment will come more tests and more uncertainties. I'm hopeful that this new doctor will come up with a good plan once we have a baseline after testing is complete.  For some reason I feel that this year will be different. I feel a sense of peace about this year and that it could be ours. 

I said to Kyle last night that I'm tired of feeling broken, I'm tired of feeling like I will never be able to accomplish what I was born as a woman to do. We have had 4 1/2 years of heartache and I don't want to feel this way anymore. I want to put all the wonderful baby stuff my sister has given us to good use.

Let Operation Baby Smith 2013 commence!!

If you have a spare second please send a little prayer our way. You have no idea how much all the love and support means to us.

Have a wonderfully amazing day!

What to do?!

Thanks to my awesome sister, I now have a hair appointment for when I go to Vegas next month. I'm very picky with who I let tough my hair so I am thankful I get to go to someone I know and trust. Now that I have the appointment I need to decide what I want, that's where all your lovely opinions come into play.

I usually go lighter for the spring/summer but I'm not sure if I want to do that this year. I know I want to take some length off because my hair is ridiculously thick and feels like it weighs 1,000 pounds. Here are some photos I like, thoughts?!

I love this hairstyle and I love the color but I would go a little bit darker.

I love this hairstyle and the color as well. I would add either some blonde or maybe even red to break it up.

My hair is in desperate need of some TLC, so I can't wait! I might keep it simple or just go a little bit edgier. I will have my sister with me and she is always pretty good at talking me into doing things haha.

Enjoy your day!

Oh how I love weekends!

Besides being a little under the weather this weekend it was a wonderful one! Friday we started it out with dinner here:

I had one of the best filets, it took all I had not to lick my plate and ask for more haha. We had dessert at Orange Leaf, the amazing self serve yogurt place by our house. I could live there.

Saturday we spent most of the day relaxing and lounging around the house since we both were battling colds. That night we headed off to the UTEP basketball game, they were honoring all service members since it was military night. We had a blast!! Even though they lost we had a great and thanks to a mix up we even got free tickets to next Saturdays game as well. 

view from our seats

member of the Fort Bliss reppel team

Sunday morning I woke up with the most awful upset stomach and I really thought it was the flu but as the day went on I was feeling better. I think it may have been caused from all the coughing I was doing. I feel great now. I wanted to take advantage of feeling good so we headed off to the El Paso Zoo, finally!! We had a blast, it took us about 2 hours to walk the whole thing and they had so many amazing animals.

These 3 giraffes were hilarious they kept head butting each other.

sleepy lion

this spider monkey dropped her food in the water to soften it, she was so smart!

seriously how cute is this meerkat!?!?!

this orangutan was so funny, he would not go anywhere without this burlap sack.

After we left the zoo we had lunch at Taco Cabana and did some shopping at the Super Target (will start doing my grocery shopping there from now on!!).

We settled in for the night to watch the Grammy's and Kyle made mandarin chicken, broccoli and rice for dinner. Such a good man!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

***Oh and a disclaimer for all you wonderful people who have to wait to file your taxes because of the education credits good news is they will start accepting them on February 14th!!!! Woo Hoo!***

Sunday Social

I figured I would link up with Ashley and Neely today for the Sunday Social. I haven't done one in a while and I really need to get better about it. :)

1. What was your first car?
I got a 1993 Saturn. My parents were so excited to give it to me and I loved that car, minus the fact that it didn't have AC haha.

2. Who was your favorite childhood teacher?
Definitely my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Rembert. She was absolutely amazing. I would go back and visit her even when I was in HS.

3. Were you involved in any sports/extracurricular activities? Share pictures if you can!
I was in key club and theatre. Oh yes I was a drama nerd here are pictures for ya:

I played Mercutio (I'm on the left in both pictures) in Romeo and Juliet at the Renaissance Fair. I got to sword fight and it was amazing!!!

4. What was your favorite birthday party?
I'm pretty sure it was for my 16th birthday. My parents had a party at the house, it wasn't all sweet 16 but it was a blast.

5. Who was your teen celebrity crush?

Taylor Hanson!! Oh my gosh I was obsessed. I had all of their cd's and any time they were on tv I always recorded it. Yup a bit of a crazy fan.

6. What show/movie did your parents not allow you to watch?

Beavis and Butthead haha! Our older brother would always let us watch it when my parents were gone.

It's always fun to look back and remember fun memories. Now I'm going to lay back on the couch because I'm pretty certain I have the flu. Ugh. 

 

Happy Sunday!!

 

Happy 1 year!

1 year ago today I went through one of the most life changing experiences. I am celebrating 1 year of being glasses free!!

Getting LASIK done was the best decision I have ever made. I now have 20/15 vision and was able to drive the day after my surgery. If any of you are contemplating having it done, just do it!! You will not regret it at all. Now I can't say that I wasn't terrified as I was laying there while the Dr. was working but I would make that choice over and over again. Yes it is pricy but comparing it to the costs of contacts and glasses for the rest of your life made the choice a no brainer. 

I have not had any issues with my vision, no blurring or anything out of the ordinary. 

I used to be this:

and now I'm this:

 100% glasses free!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!