Always Busy

Since I got to Vegas on Thursday I have been going nonstop. Time with family has been great so far. My niece and nephews are always the life of the party. As usual though even being on vacation I'm still busy. Here is what's going on in my life.

*School is going great! I am maintaining A's in both classes, I've never enjoyed school as much as I am now. My funding was approved for my next 2 classes that begin on November 4th.

*I skipped my 10 year high school reunion (it was last weekend) and I got a lot of flack for not going. Oh well, I didn't like most of them in high school so what would change now.

*I have been diligently working to make our company and battalion FRG's successful. I'm hosting our first Bravo Company Family Night next week, it will be a dinner out and hopefully we get a good turn out.

*I'm attending my SIL's baby shower this coming weekend....yay.

*I have been searching for outfits for our pre-deployment photos. The only one that I have figured out is Kyle's uniform. Good thing I still have a month.

*I am running my first half marathon in 2 weeks! I'm nervous but also very excited, hopefully my body cooperates and has no pain.

*We are almost to the end of this ectopic pregnancy journey, my levels are going down like they are supposed to and thankfully surgery nor another shot will have to happen.

Last but not least:

*I miss Kyle....plain and simple. Not being able to talk to him is for the birds. 

I hope you all had an amazing weekend!

Happy Friday!

Emma and I made it safely to Vegas yesterday, here are a few pictures from our journey! It was an uneventful 11.5 hour drive and it was so great to surprise my Dad. We successfully kept it a secret from him that I was coming.

Gorgeous Arizona sky and mountains.

Our old home: Fort Huachuca

Cardinals Stadium!

Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge going over Hoover Dam yay crossing over into Nevada.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!!!

Road Trip!

Vegas, here I come! :) I'm road tripping with my pup, Emma for 11.5 hours. I'm excited to spend time with family for a week.

Hope you all have a great day!!

Sunshine Award

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the wonderful Meg from borrowed heaven nominated me for the Sunshine Award. If you have a chance please go check our her blog, she recently announced her engagement and I can't wait to read all about her wedding plans.

The Rules Are:

1. Include the award logo in your post.

2. Link to the person who nominated you.

3. Answer 10 questions about yourself.

4. Nominate 10 bloggers to receive the award.

Here are the questions that Meg asked:

1. If you could live anywhere, where would it be? I would love to live in England, there is always a chance the Army could send us there and it would be amazing!

 2. What are you most excited about this fall?

 I am excited for the cooler temps, living in the desert doesn't make for a cool climate very often.
3. What is your favorite dessert? Bonus points for the recipe.

My Mom's Whipped Cream Chocolate Pudding Cake (recipe)
4. What are you going to be for Halloween this year?

I honestly don't think we are dressing up this year, I will probably find a cute Halloween shirt from Target and call it a day. 
5. Share your favorite GIF or Meme of the moment.

I don't actually have one.
6. Favorite article of clothing? More bonus points for a selfie wearing it!

It would have to be this super cute blue dress from Old Navy.
7. What is your favorite post you've ever written?

It would have to be the post I wrote about Kyle's homecoming from Iraq in 2011 (homecoming)
8. What is your guilty pleasure TV show or movie?

My guilty pleasure TV show is The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills haha so bad.
9. Share the fourth oldest photo on your phone.

Haha this is me in the 7th grade.
 

10. What is one goal you have for this year?

My goal is to just get through the craziness of deployment preparation with a smile on my face and my sanity. 

Here are my 10 questions:

1. What is your biggest fear?
2. Are you a night owl or an early bird?
3. If you could change one thing from your past what would it be?
4. Do you have any pets, if so what kind?
5. Did you do everything you wanted to do this summer?
6. What is your favorite song?
7. If you were on a deserted island what 3 things would you take with you?
8. Would you rather cook or go out to eat?
9. What is your dream car?
10. If you could have any job in the world what would it be?

I nominate the following amazing ladies:

1. Stephanie @ Life, Unexpectedly 
2. Kenya @ Life with Giggles 
3. Kristina @ Pretty Rambles... 
4. Ech @ Ech & Will 
5. Ashley @ Raising our Little DevilPups 
6. Kathryn @ My Life as a Reserve Army Wife 
7. Alex @ Munchkins and the Military 
8. Jessica @ Better Together and Forever 
9. Kelsey @ Pardon My French 
10. Rachel @ The Professional Army Wife 

I'm looking forward to reading all of your posts! 

Have a wonderful day! 

 

Hello Tuesday

Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me this picture that she found in the El Paso Times newspaper on Sunday. This was taken at the German American Run a few weeks ago. I really didn't think it would end up in the paper. Me and Kyle had a great time hanging out with 2 soldiers from his company, John and Stacey.

I know I talk a lot about running on here (sorry to those it bores lol) but I have been wanting to make something to hold medals and race bids. I found this online and I've decided to make it:

For now I just have everything hanging on a cork board and that's boring to me. Can't wait to post a picture of the finished product.

On a different subject, I am super excited for my trip to Vegas. I'm heading out later this week and actually driving. Yes, 11 1/2 hours in a car with just me and Emma haha. I may have lost my mind but it was much cheaper than flying and I get to have my own car.

When I get back it will be full steam ahead with FRG events, we have a welcome home bag packing party for the soldiers coming back from their month long NTC rotation. It will be a little pick me up for them. I am ready for the craziness, there is nothing better than being busy.

Hope you all have a great day!

Weekend Recap

Hello Monday! I opted not to blog on Friday because I wanted to focus on Kyle all day. Let me tell you it was pretty awesome to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with my husband on a work day. :) He is now off playing Army and soon I'll be off to see family.

I had a pretty good weekend. It involved a shopping trip to Target, washing both vehicles (yes I actually enjoy this) and then helping a friend celebrate her little boys 3rd birthday.

Sunday, I completed my first solo race. It was another 8k, and it was one I was excited to participate in. It was in honor of Tony Mena, an airman, who passed away from PTSD in 2009. Being married to someone in the military made supporting this cause very very important to me. It was wonderful seeing so many people come out and support this cause.

The day continued with lunch with Britt and then laying around the house doing absolutely nothing. :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Happy Lady

I am loving my new hair! It was so nice being pampered for 4 hours. I love the length because when you have thick hair like I do long hair is miserable. I decided to lighten the color and have highlights put in. You can't really see them but in the sunlight they are beautiful. It may not be a big difference but I'm happy. I was in such a good mood after my hair appointment that I didn't even care that we had to have 4 new tires put on my car haha.

To top off an already good day Kyle and I had an impromptu date night. We had dinner at our favorite pizza place and frozen yogurt. It was our last dinner out for a few weeks so it was very much needed. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

Finally...A Change!

I am so excited that I'm finally getting my hair done today! I have been putting it off for the longest time but not anymore. Can't wait to share how it turns out, I am definitely ready for a change. I think it will make me feel so much better about myself.

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Make it a great day. :)

Sweet Gestures

*First of all, I just want to send my thoughts and prayers to all those affected by the Navy Yard shooting yesterday. It absolutely breaks my heart that senseless tragedies like this keep happening.*

 We are still dealing with the process of the ectopic pregnancy and let me say that I don't wish it on anybody. My levels weren't going down as fast as the doctors wanted so I had to have another shot yesterday and it does not make me feel good at all.

During all of this our friends (and family of course) have been amazing! We received 2 very sweet "pick me up" gifts.

Britt put together this date night gift (she knows my love for Disney movies) and we love it so much!

My friend Kristy brought me this yesterday. Flowers and a to-go coffee date. I was supposed to go to her house for coffee yesterday morning but after that shot I wasn't feeling up to it so she brought it to me.

The sweet gestures from friends have been amazing, we definitely don't take it for granted. Thank you all for all the love and support.

Oh and I just have to say that I'm super excited to see family next week! I decided to drive this time and spend a week with family. It is definitely needed just wish that Kyle could go with me.

Hope you all have a great day!

A Run-derful Weekend

So you like what I did with the title of this post?! :) Haha yes I'm corny.

Our weekend started off Friday night with dinner out with friends. Kyle has become really good friends with 2 other company commanders. We met up with them and their spouses. Let me just say it was an amazing time, we were the last ones to leave the restaurant and continued to have a good time at our house until almost 2am.

Saturday was spent running errands before the German American Night Run. We had a blast! We have a German Air Force Air Defense Artillery unit here and this was their 20th anniversary run. It was a pretty easy 5 mile course but halfway through my knee started to hate me (I blame not running for a few weeks), I finished though and loved every second of running again.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early for The Color Run 5k. This race was just for fun and it was a great event. We will definitely be doing it again. We met up with Britt and Shane plus saw a few people from Kyle's company there. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching football. That's how most of our Sundays end.

I hope you all had a great weekend!!!

Random Thoughts

So I take back what I said about loving the rain. I love it in moderation...not this crazy all day flooding rain we have been getting. These 3 pictures are what my backyard looked like yesterday and it got worse. El Paso hasn't seen this much rain in a few years, many roads were closed due to flooding and the road over the mountain to the West side was closed due to a rock slide. I did venture out to head to the doctor but that was it, I didn't want to take my chances in this weather.

I do have some pretty awesome news to share. For the last year or so Kyle and I have been diligently working on paying off debt. We are only a month and a half away from having our only debt be the mortgage on our house! No car payments and no credit card debt. It is such a good feeling and I'm really proud of us for sticking to the budget that we set for ourselves. 

We have 2 runs this weekend that I hope my doctor will be ok with me participating in. One is a German American run on post and the other is The Color Run (this one I can walk if she says no). Fingers crossed that I get the go ahead!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

My Favorites!!

I have so much fun with these posts, I love sharing my favorite things.


1. My Disney movie collection. I only had a handful a few weeks ago and thanks to eBay is has grown to this. I'm waiting for 3 more to be delivered.

2.My Minnie Mouse coffee mug, I have been using it a lot lately. Hot tea is the only thing that seems to ease my stomach (that shot I got is wreaking havoc on my body).

3. Bath and Body Works candles. I bought 2 new ones yesterday and this one is amazing!

4. Sons of Anarchy! I'm so glad season 6 has finally started, my Tuesday nights are complete.

5. Rain! We have gotten quite a bit the last few days and the fact that I can't do too much it has been nice to cuddle up on the couch.

6.  Emma and Fishy, these two are the best! They give the best cuddles, well when they want too. :) I don't know what I would do without them.

7. Last but not least my amazing husband! Finally having him home has been wonderful. Like I said the shot I had to get has caused me some horrific pain. He has been doing the best he can to take care of me when he isn't at work. Just having him here is more than I could ask for. He is the best!

I wish you all a wonderful Thursday!

Never Forget

I can't believe that it has been 12 years since our country was changed forever. Having a husband who serves in the military and has deployed overseas make it's incredibly personal for me and so many others. We will never forget those who lost their lives that day. We will never forget those brave men and women who lost their lives defending our freedoms.We will always support and love their families.

Early last year Kyle and I had the honor and privilege of visiting the 9/11 Memorial in NYC. What a humbling experience, feeling the emotion that filled that space is an experience I will never forget.

Please take a moment today and remember all those we lost and all those who are still fighting for our freedom.

Never Lose Hope

Before I get into the reason behind this post I want to give our reasons for announcing our pregnancy so early. We have been through several miscarriages throughout our 5 years of marriage. We didn't announce all of the pregnancies and when they ended we felt so incredibly alone. We had no one to talk to and no support system. It was the most lonely and awful feeling. We knew that when we announced that there was always a possibility that something could go wrong but we took our chances.

Fast forward to now...well the worst has happened. I had a few issues that had me in the OB clinic, although not alarming still cause for concern. Let me just say that dealing with all of this while Kyle was gone is incredibly difficult but he has been amazing from far away. We got the results yesterday and they were not good. I was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy (for those that don't know it's a pregnancy that develops outside of the uterus in the fallopian tube). I was crushed, defeated and lost. They administered a shot that would help me pass everything and get my HCG levels back down to 0. If we opted against this shot it could be very dangerous for me. It will take a few days, maybe even a week or so to happen. 

To not have my husband here has been the worst part of it all. He is struggling right now to stay focused on work but I know he is hurting. I can hear the pain in his voice, he finally comes home tonight and I can't wait. 

To have the love and support of family and friends has been so comforting. After I left the hospital I met up with Britt and we had lunch. It was so nice to be with a friend and have time to talk about anything and everything.

Through all of this we haven't lost hope, we know that our time will come and that we will be blessed with the most perfect child. We don't know how it will happen whether it be naturally, adoption or surrogacy we WILL be parents. I don't doubt that at all.

I promise I will get back to reading blogs sometime this week, just taking time to process all of this. Hugs everyone!

Lazy Weekend

Since Kyle left early last week I haven't really done much. I am been exhausted (thank you baby) and have had no desire to do anything. Makes me even more thankful that I opted to do school online. I can just wake up and work on school while staying in my pj's. The first week of school was good, I'm enjoying it and thankfully not bored.

This weekend was spent resting and lounging around the house. Saturday was deemed a Disney movie day. I watched Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Aladdin. Fishy decided to join me for a bit, he slept on the recliner with me.

Overall it was a low key weekend, looking forward to Kyle coming home this week so I have someone else other than the animals to talk to. 

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Good Company

I just have to say that while Kyle is away I have the 2 most precious companions to keep my company. Of course they spend most of their day sleeping but that's okay with me.

Emma and I ventured out yesterday for a walk and we both were miserable. It was very hot and windy so the walk didn't last very long. I'm ready for some cooler weather, I have already stocked up on cardigans and long sleeve shirts from Target haha.

I'm having a much needed lunch date today with a very dear friend to catch up. Good food and good company, it doesn't get any better than that.

I hope you all have an amazing day!

Such A Gift!

I'm sure over time you all will get sick of these updates about my pregnancy haha. I went in yesterday morning to schedule my first appointment and also get the results from my 1st blood draw that was done on Friday. I was beyond excited when those results came in and showed that everything was going good. 

My first appointment is scheduled for September 12th, I will be roughly 7 weeks. I had more blood work done and had to wait for those results to come back. I got the call and was so relieved to hear that my levels had tripled since Friday!!!! 

We are so excited that all is wonderful with Baby Smith, my estimated due date is May 1, 2014! This is something that we have hoped and prayed for for so long and for it to finally be happening is remarkable!

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday!!!!

Back To School!

I officially started school yesterday and I couldn't be more excited! I just have to say it's pretty cool to go to school while still wearing pajamas. Haha. I'm slowly getting acclimated to the system and can already tell my first 2 classes are going to be great! Here is to a great year for everyone!

 This post will be short since I'm off to the doctor today to try and make my first appointment, lets hope it goes smoothly.

Hope you all have a great day!

A Long Weekend

First of all, I want to thank everyone for all of the congratulations and well wishes! It means a lot to have so much love and support.

This past weekend was a lot of fun! We already had quite a bit planned before we found out I was pregnant so it made it that much better. Friday we were supposed to have massages done but we opted to cancel those and just relax around the house.

Saturday we had a barbeque to go to, so we got to hang out with a lot of people from Kyle's work. A few people requested my hot artichoke and spinach dip. It smelled so good, too bad I don't like it. Haha.

Saturday night we went to a body building competition to support one of Kyle's fellow commanders. We had never been to one before but we had fun and our friend did really well! Definitely an experience we won't forget.

Sunday we headed off to Las Cruces, NM for the Harvest Wine Festival. We had a great time, there were 17 different wineries that you could sample from (don't worry I didn't sample anything but water). We left with a few marinades and 2 bottles of wine.

Kyle has today off as well but we have plans to relax since he leaves tomorrow for a week.

I hope you all had an amazing weekend!! :)