It's Happening!!!!!

After 5 years of struggles and heartache! We are beyond excited to announce that precious baby Smith will be here in May 2014!!! We debated long and hard about telling everyone but we couldn't imagine not sharing the news.

 

Have an AMAZING weekend!!

Proof!

Here is proof that I did pie my lovely husband in the face. Haha! His response to me afterwards was "I have whipped cream in my ears."

It was so much fun! This post will be short and sweet because I'm exhausted. After the last 2 day of pre-deployment events I just want to sleep for days. I'm having a fundraiser at the company today so thankfully I just get to sit at a table for 4 hours. :)

Have a great day!!!

Wordless Wednesday

This will be happening on Friday! A glorious couples massage.

source

To say I'm excited is an understatement haha. Is it Friday yet?! :)

Hope you all have a Happy Wednesday!

Summer Bucket List- Update

A few months back I wrote out my bucket list for this summer, I was curious to see how much we were able to check off the list:

1. El Paso Downtown Street Festival featuring Bush and Third Eye Blind -The concert was a blast.
 

 2. 4th of July Under the Sun Tour with Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Vertical Horizon and Fastball -Brought back a lot of memories from middle school haha.
 

 3. Visit Carlsbad Caverns- Such a beautiful place that everyone should go to.

4. Trip to San Antonio- BEST VACATION EVER!
 

5. Spend lots of time at the Wet N Wild water park in NM- We actually haven't gone here at all.
 

6. Go to an El Paso Diablos baseball game- We went to several games and most of them for free.
 

7. Go to the Billy the Kid Festival- We didn't make it to this which bummed me out.
 

8. Go wine tasting- I'm crossing this off because we are going to a wine festival this weekend.
 

9. Go white water rafting in Santa Fe- Not enough long weekends to accomplish this.
 

10. Take Emma on lots of walks- Oh we definitely did this and she loves me for it.

11. Go hiking at Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site- We can't quite cross this off yet but this is where we are having our pre-deployment pictures taken.

I am pretty happy with how much we were able to do this summer. Even though we had some time apart due to training it was still great. 

Now we can start looking forward to fall and all the fun events that come along with it. 

How was your Summer? Did you get to do a lot of fun things?  

Hi Monday!

This past weekend was great!! We started out with our company family day on Friday. We had games, relays, silent auction and pie in the face. All of the families seemed to have a great time and I even got to pie my lovely husband in the face haha (I unfortunately don't have the pictures from it, hopefully soon I will). It was a blast and we were able to make money for the FRG. 

We ended the night with dinner at our favorite pizza place and dessert at Orange Leaf.

Saturday was a more relaxed day, we did some shopping and then headed off to the Greek Food Festival. OMG! The food was just as amazing as I hoped it would be. The Souvlaki and Greek Fries were the best! I didn't want to leave haha.

Sunday was spent relaxing and preparing for the crazy week ahead. Thank goodness it will end with a 4 day weekend!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

A Few Tidbits

It's Friday!!! 

  Anyone else excited about that?! I don't have much to say today but here are a few tidbits going on in the Smith household.

* Today is our company ORG day (family day), it will be much more organized than the last one. It will be nice to just have our relatively small group of families/soldiers together.

*I had lunch yesterday with the ever awesome Jax from the harmon squad yesterday and we set the date for her to take our pre-deployment photos!

*Kyle gets the ever dreaded multi-cam gear on Monday which means he is that much closer to the evil "D". Boo!

*We are going to a Greek Festival on Saturday, have I ever mentioned how much I love Greek Food?!

*We are already making plans for our trip home at Christmas, time to get started on Christmas shopping!

*Kyle will be applying for 2 fellowships that would start after his command time is up. Praying this all works out.

*I have registered for classes all the way through March, I'm really excited!

*I also never got my hair done when I went back to Vegas, fail. Maybe sometime in the near future I will find the time.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Love The Place You Live

I remember when we first got orders to El Paso back in October. We were beyond excited for a new adventure and to live in a new place. As excited as we were, we got a lot of negative feedback. We chose this assignment because it was best for Kyle's career (people just didn't seen to understand that). Most of the negativity was from people who had never been there. Looking back I'm so glad we didn't listen to those people. We LOVE it here, we love the people and the atmosphere. Yes it's a border town and that's mostly what people worry about. El Paso has been voted one of the countries safest cities and I believe it. 

I truly believe that if you embrace where you live and experience the local culture you will be happier. We have tried to do that and it has made a world of difference. I'm always looking for new adventures and El Paso never disappoints. We will be sad when it comes time to leave, but that is the craziness of this military life you just never know where you will end up.

Hope you all have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday

1 year and 30 pounds later. I can't even believe the difference when I look at the pictures.

To all those who are on the fitness/weight loss journey YOU CAN DO IT!

My Favorite Things

I am so glad it's Tuesday....yesterday was a crazy day. I'm looking forward to a much more relaxed day of getting stuff done around the house.

I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite things lately.

OMG! These are delicious! I bought them a few weeks ago when I had a coupon and now I'm addicted.

I love this show!! I'm sad that this is the last season because it's been a favorite of ours since the beginning.

My Erin Condren planner! I use this for all my FRG stuff and with all the events we have coming up, it has come in handy.

If you don't have an Orange Leaf near you, I'm so sorry. It's a self serve frozen yogurt place and it's delicious. We have one walking distance and we are there at least once a week. YUM!

Halloween decorations! We are toying with the idea of having a Halloween party and I can't help but look at all the fun decorations.

Am I the only one who thinks Bath and Body Works foaming soap is amazing?! I didn't think so. I have 13 bottle of it underneath our sink. I can't get enough of it haha.

What are some of your favorite things lately?!

Have a great day!

Lucky #5!

Saturday morning Kyle and I finished our 5th race of the year. This one was the Inaugural Rhino Run 8k. All of the proceeds went to the Ronnie's Kids Scholarship Fund. It helps kids get sports equipment. We thought it was amazing what they were doing and wanted to be a part of it. The race started at 8am and it was a GORGEOUS route. It went along a golf course and the views were spectacular. It was a side of El Paso we had never seen before. I stepped it up for this race because I wanted to push myself and see how fast I could go. When we hit the clocks at the finish line we finished 4.97 miles in 52:15. I was elated!!!

In the bags we were given they had fliers for several other races coming up. I couldn't pass some of them up so I registered for 4 more.

September 7: Future Engineers 5k
September 22: Tony Mena Memorial 8k Race for PTSD Awareness
October 19: Grape Race 8k at Zin Valle Vineyards
November 9: Desert Dash 10k

This race was so well put together that we will definitely be participating again next year. 

The rest of our weekend was spent relaxing and laying around the house, which we both needed.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Full Calendar

I made it safely back to El Paso last night...my flight was delayed over an hour but it could have been worse. I have decided that the next time I go to Vegas, I'm driving the 12 hours. 

Now that I'm back, it's full steam ahead with FRG meetings/events. My calendar is filled up and I'm pretty happy about that. We are in the process of planning a company organizational for our soldiers and families next week. Thankfully it's coming together nicely without too many hiccups or roadblocks. Let just hope it stays that way. We have a great group of soldiers and volunteers that are willing to do anything to help.

 With with upcoming deployment comes getting paperwork in order, so that is on my list of things to get done. As much as I hate it, it has to be done. Hopefully we can get it done before Kyle leaves for more training.

The one thing I have been dreading these last few weeks is my dentist appointment today. I will be honest and say that I haven't been in a few years. My last experience in NC was awful and I've been putting it off. I'm praying for a good experience, because I don't think I could take another bad one. 

Hope you all have a great weekend, we are running an 8k tomorrow for a great local cause. Can't wait!!

Happy Friday.

The Downside

The downside to this military life is always saying goodbye to family. I am waiting for my flight back to El Paso right now and I always get sad when I have to leave my family. Seeing my niece cry saying she doesn't want me to leave and my Dad crying while telling me he is proud of me breaks my heart. I always miss them but I am ready to get back home to Kyle and our routine. 

See ya later Vegas be back soon! 

Wordless Wednesday

This sweet girl had to say goodbye to her uncle yesterday...lots of tears were shed. We made it safely to Vegas and I will head back home to El Paso tomorrow. Happy Wednesday!!! 

5 Things

Recently I was tagged by the wonderful Meg at borrowed heaven to participate in the 5 things post. I had so much fun doing this, so thanks Meg!!!

First, here are my five BLOG CRUSHES: Letters from a Mermaid Displaced Hoosier Hospitality Munchkins and the Military Life with Giggles sitting in a tree

And now the 5s:
Five Things I Have a Passion For: - My husband/family - Volunteering - Running - My furbabies -Drag Racing     Five Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die: - Bungee Jump - Visit Germany to see where my grandfather fought during WWII - Drive my Dad's racecar - Open a bakery - Travel the world     Five Reads I Love: - Hunger Games Trilogy

- Portrait of a Killer

- The Time Traveler's Wife

- Here Comes The Bride

- The Help

Five Favorite Movies: - Gone With The Wind - Pretty Woman - Shawshank Redemption - Tombstone - Silence of the Lambs     Five Places I Want To Travel: - Italy - Australia - Ireland - Scotland - Alaska     I am supposed to tag 5 bloggers to participate in this. I'm not good at picking just 5 so please if you want to participate go right ahead! :) Can't wait to see your responses.   Hope you all have a great day! I'm off to Vegas today to take Kylie home but I'll try to blog while I'm gone.

Last Weekend Together

This weekend was our last weekend with Kylie and we knew we had to make it fun!

Kyle had Friday off so we headed to the El Paso Zoo. She loved it (so do we) and had a blast looking at all the animals.

After the zoo we headed to post to have lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, you can never go wrong with that. We then headed home for an afternoon of pool fun! After a few hours we were all exhausted.

Saturday we got up bright and early to head off to New Mexico. We started out with the New Mexico Space History Museum. It was incredible!!! We will definitely be going back. Kylie loved seeing all the space artifacts and shuttles/rockets.

Then it was time for peach picking. We went to a local farm in NM and took home 7lbs of fresh peaches right off the tree. It was absolutely gorgeous up there and we can't wait to go back for their apple harvest next month. After we finished up at the farm we stopped at a little country store called The Old Apple Barn. Kylie had the best homemade chocolate ice cream and we had root beer floats. I want to go back and try their pies.

Sunday we spent the day relaxing and preparing for our trip back to Las Vegas. I also decided to use some of those peaches to make a peach cobbler:

I want to eat the whole thing, haha.

We have had a blast having Kylie with us for these 2 weeks. We will definitely miss her. 

I hope you all had an amazing weekend!

It's Friday!!

I normally don't get too excited if it's Friday or not. I am excited for today because Kyle is off! Thanks to being in the field for 3 weeks the brigade was generous enough to give everyone today off. We have a fun filled weekend planned since it's Kylie's last with us. 

We will be going to the zoo, peach picking, farmer's market, space museum and a few other places. 

Have a great weekend!

Decisions, Decisions

It's been over 3 months since I've done anything with my hair. It's starting to drive me crazy, so naturally it's time for a change. This is how I had it done back in May:

I loved it but not sure I want to do the same thing. The color dulled pretty quickly and with how fast my hair grows it looks nothing like this anymore. I have had my hair every possible length and almost every color imaginable. I think I may go back to something like this:

I love the color of my hair in this picture! I know for sure that I will be cutting some length off, just a matter of figuring out the perfect color.

What do you guys think?

It's That Time Again

Back in early 2011 we had a good friend of ours take some pre-deployment pictures for us. These are to this day some of my favorite photos of us. Now that another deployment will be happening in the near future we will be getting new photos done. Hopefully in between Kyle's busy work and training schedule we can find a date that works. Until then here are a few from 2011.

Happy Wednesday and Have a wonderful day!

Full Steam Ahead

After finishing the 10 miler on Saturday I can say for certain that I'm slightly obsessed with running. The feeling I got when I crossed that finish line was amazing! This was my 4th race of the year (if you count the 3 mud runs that I've already completed) and I've already signed up for so many more. This is what I have planned until the end of February:

Kyle will only be able to do a few of these with me but some is better than none that's for sure. I've registered for 5 of these (still waiting for the others to open) and am excited to keep pushing forward.

On top of all this running I officially start school on September 2nd. I'm anxious and excited for this new chapter in my life. I am fortunate and blessed to be able to do this and so thankful for all the wonderful people who have supported me. It will certainly keep me busy with Kyle's crazy training/deployment schedule.

Hope you all have an amazing day!

I Live For Weekends!

It is safe to say that this last weekend was amazing! It started out on Friday night with a El Paso Diablos baseball game, it was the first time Kylie had been to one and she loved it.

We all headed to bed early because Saturday was the 10 Miler and would be an early morning for all of us. We were up at 4:45am on Saturday to get ready. We dropped Kylie off with Kyle's 1SGT (she was gracious enough to watch her for us) and we set off for the run.

We had an AMAZING time!!!! I did better than I thought I would and I was so happy. The best part of the whole thing was crossing the finish line with Kyle. He can run a lot faster than I can but he ran at my pace and never left my side. He was my motivator and supporter the whole time. It was a great experience and makes me look forward to many more races in the future, which includes a full marathon in February!

Sunday was mostly a rest day except we had to take advantage of the Discover the Dinosaurs event that came to town. Kylie LOVED it, they had life size dinosaurs and so many fun activities for kids. I think we had as much fun as she did.

It was an awesome weekend! Can't wait to have more fun next weekend.

Hope you all had a great one!

The Big Day!

Tomorrow is a big day for me and Kyle. We will be running the Fort Bliss 10 Miler in the Heat! We registered for this back in April and I had no idea that I would be so excited for it.

Yesterday they emailed us our bib numbers with all of the instructions for tomorrow morning. It will be an early one for us but will be so worth it in the end. 

They posted the route for it and it's funny because I have driven this so many times that it will be weird running it.

We will end the day with seeing P.O.D and Flyleaf for free at the park on post. Can't wait!

Wish us luck!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

A Very Happy 2nd Birthday

On Sunday we celebrated my nephew Grayson's 2nd birthday. He turned 2 on the 15th but my sister wanted to wait to have his party. It was Cars themed because he is obsessed with anything on wheels. We decided to have a pool party at my in-laws house, we had a blast! It rained really hard for an hour or so but it worked out because by the time everyone was done eating it was clear, sunny and beautiful!

It was a wonderful day! Thankful for time with family just wish Kyle could have been there.

Happy August everyone! Hope you have a great day!