Thanksgiving 2013

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday! Ours was fantastic! The festivities kicked off on Wednesday morning with our brigades annual Turkey Bowl. It was cold but well worth watching everyone have a good time. Afterwards it was time for Thanksgiving lunch at the dining facility. Every year it is tradition for the command teams to serve the enlisted soldiers, Kyle always has a great time participating.

We had a wonderful time, it was great having lunch with everyone and having a few laughs. Before everyone was released we handed out the Thanksgiving dinner baskets to soldiers that had been nominated by fellow soldiers. Seeing the joy in their eyes was amazing, it reminded all of us what exactly the holiday season is about.

 

Me and Kyle

Kyle, Me and 1SGT Rhoads

Thursday morning I woke up bright and early to prep everything for dinner. We had our good friends Britt and Shane over and it was awesome! I didn't get a picture of the whole meal but my favorite part was the assortment of mini pies that I made.

 

Yum! 

We enjoyed lots of good food, games and laughs. Even though we couldn't be with family it was great to spend it with our Army family! 

I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving and have a great weekend!

Fresh Start

Over the last few months I haven't spoken about our continuing journey to start a family. Since our ectopic pregnancy in September we have put any infertility treatments on the back burner. To be honest I was scared, I was scared to get to try and get pregnant again, I was scared to have another ectopic. The toll that it took on my emotions and my body was beyond painful. I am no longer scared and I want to continue this journey and see where it takes us. We have already talked about surrogacy, IVF and adoption..these are always very real options for us. After 5 1/2 years and 6 miscarriages something has got to give.

All around us we have had many people announce pregnancies, have babies and some that are due to give birth any day now. While it is hard to not wish it was me, I know deep down that it will happen for us one way or another. After the new year we plan on getting back on the infertility treatment road, if miraculously we end up pregnant before the end of the year that would be a huge blessing. We are going to essentially start from square one, new blood work and tests will be done. There is a reason that we are going through all of this, I just know it.

The one thing that we are 100% certain about is that we will be parents, one way or another. :) 

 I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Just Because

I have the best husband! This sweet gift showed up yesterday, he said he sent it just because. Despite how busy and crazy our lives have been lately he always finds a way to make me feel special. You can certainly never go wrong with an Edible Arrangement. :)

I hope you all have an amazing Tuesday!

Oh What Fun!

I feel like the weekends keep flying by and I'm not okay with that. We did however make the most of these two days. 

Saturday we got up bright and early to head off to Mesilla, NM. We ran a Turkey Trot 10k and had a blast. Besides the rain and freezing cold it was a great event.

After the run we headed home to warm up and relax. The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping and enjoying dinner at BJ's Brewhouse (if you have one near you it's a must, best pizza and strawberry mojitos haha). 

We made no plans for Sunday because we were expecting some not so great weather. It was a great surprise to wake up to this:

It wasn't much but it was sure pretty to look at. Thanks to the weather we got into the Christmas spirit and decided to decorate:

 

I still can't believe Christmas is right around the corner, this year has flown by. Before we know it we will be ringing in 2014. We have a ton of events coming up for Kyle's work so it will be nice to stay occupied.

First though we get to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving this week with friends! 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Let's Run!

Since we found out Kyle won't be deploying we have been filling up the open space with lots of races. He is pretty awesome about it and never objects to any of the ones I suggest. Right now this is what we have already registered for:

November 23rd: Turkey Trot 10k

December 7th: Fort Bliss Holiday 8k

December 14th: Virtual Half Marathon

January 11th: Fort Bliss Half Marathon

January 26th: Biggest Loser Half Marathon

February 23rd: El Paso Marathon

April 12th: The Jailbreak Mud Run 5k

Are we a little crazy?! Probably but we have the best time running together. We have the most random conversations and while I know running at my pace is hard on him he still does it with a smile on his face.

On Tuesday I was able to pick up my commemorative medal for running the Transmountain Challenge and Flying Horse Half Marathons. I had a great experience running both of these.

Speaking of running I did recently get asked about what I suggest for running gear. To be honest, I'm a pretty simple person. I don't go for name brand I go for what is comfortable. The only thing I will recommend is get fitted for good shoes! This can make a huge difference in your running, good shoes are essential. All of my running capris, sports bras, tops have come from Old Navy. They are decently priced and great quality. Now with the colder weather pullovers have been my favorite thing, I found a few at Nordstrom Rack and at Target. I will be investing in a camel back for the marathon...staying hydrated will be the biggest challenge.

Hope this helps, I'm not a huge wealth of information I just know what has worked for me. :)

Hope you all have a great day!

Random Things

I recently decided to start making my own seasonings! So far I'm loving it, I will be testing out the beef stew seasoning today. I hope it's good.

Anyone else love National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation?! I couldn't resist ordering these glasses haha. Priceless!

Yup this is a giant peanut butter cup that I bought Kyle, 8oz of chocolate and peanut butter goodness. :)

I made this cake last week for Kyle's 1SGT's birthday. Chocolate chip cake with chocolate chip buttercream. It was divine!

I broke out my Christmas slipper socks, I got these at Target several years ago and they are still my favorite.

 

Happy Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday to my amazing sister, Lisa! She is not only my sister but my best friend. :) I couldn't have asked for a better sister.

Also, congratulations to our good friend Shane who was promoted to SSG yesterday! Kyle and I were happy we could be there with Shane and Britt to celebrate.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Photo Session

Last Friday I received the disc of all our photos. All I can say is WOW!!!! Jax did an amazing job and we are so thankful that we had the chance to work with her.

Have a great day!

What A Weekend!

This weekend was one that Kyle had been looking forward to for months. He was finally able to see his alma mater, Washington State University Cougars, play football (he hasn't seen them play since he graduated in 2007). We headed up to Tucson bright and early Saturday morning, the weather in Tucson was gorgeous and made for a great game day.

We sat in the visitor section with all the other Coug fans. The game came down to the last play in the last few seconds and the Cougs defeated the Arizona Wildcats 24-17. Our section went ballistic, and the team came over to our section and we all proceeded to sing the fight song. It was awesome! Before the game I was a fan by proxy, now Kyle says I am an official Coug fan haha.

After the game we headed to our hotel to check in and head off to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Since we don't have one in El Paso we always have to go when we find one. Kyle ended up getting the s'mores cheesecake for dessert (tell me that doesn't look amazing?!), he was in love haha. We ended up walking around the mall for a while and I found my dress for the battalion ball, eekk! It looks even better on.

We got home yesterday after and spent the rest of the day doing laundry and getting ready for the week.

I also want to take a moment and wish the cutest 7 year old in the world a very Happy Birthday! Our niece Kylie is so special to us and we can't wait to see her soon! We love you sweetpea!

I hope you all had a great weekend!