Christmas 2018

I had grand plans of writing a 2018 recap post but you know what!? I'm not going to. 2018 was a good year to us and we have been extremely blessed, but we are looking forward to what 2019 will bring our family.

Instead, I'm going to recap our pretty amazing trip to Florida for Christmas! We spent 6 days with my family and we had the best time. We arrived at my Dad's house on the 21st and E was so excited to be out of the car haha. My Dad has a little over an acre of land and she is free to roam and explore. 

She was a happy camper with her papa.

We headed over to my sister and brother in law's house on Saturday. E was elated to be able to play with her cousins. Lots of jumping on the trampoline!

Later that afternoon my sister was having an ugly sweater party! It was SO much fun. We got to see their old neighbors and meet their new ones. The kids all played and got to decorate cookies. We ate so much food, consumed adult beverages, and played Cards Against Humanity.

E was a champ!!! She was up until 11:30 (when we finally got back to my Dad's house) and was still a happy camper. Well, as long as she got to play with solo cups haha.

We slept in on Sunday which was nice! Kyle and I were able to get a workout done before we got started for the day. E was happy just exploring and taking inventory of all the sticks at my Dad's haha.

Later in the day we headed back to my sisters. The girls did some last minute Christmas shopping as did all of the guys. We had pizza and called it an early night and headed back to my Dad's. 

On Christmas Eve we decided to all go out to dinner. My sister picked a restaurant called Maguire's. A delicious Irish Pub in Destin. Holy cow, it did not disappoint (it has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives). We had so much fun and E was content going back and forth between sitting with her Auntie and Uncle. 

Afterwards, we all changed into comfy clothes and headed out to look at Christmas lights. It was so much fun! My sister's neighborhood did not disappoint. We stayed at my sister's house that night so we could all wake up on Christmas morning together. We stayed up watching movies and just having a great time!

Tuesday was the big day!!! We all got up around 8am which was pretty nice. We were shocked that E didn't get up early. 

I honestly didn't take a lot of pictures. It was nice to just be in the moment.

The kids were thrilled with everything they got and spent the day playing together and just having a good time. My sister cooked a delicious dinner and it was just the perfect day. 

The next day was our last day there and my sister had the great idea to go ice skating. I haven't done that in years and it was E's first time. We had such a great time!

We grabbed lunch afterwards and then said goodbye to my sister, brother in law, and the kids since we were leaving bright and early the next day.

It is safe to say that this Christmas was one of the best that we have had in a long time. It was stress free and just so much fun. Being together was the best.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you a very Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

The time has come! We are hitting the road and heading to Florida today. We are looking forward to spending a week with my family. E has been anxiously awaiting this trip. She has been bursting with excitement to see everyone. We have a lot of fun things planned and it will be nice to just decompress. 

As of right now I don't have any content planned until after we get back so I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

I hope it's a truly special time for you all. 

Better Together

One of my favorite things about Kyle being off of work is that he gets to come to my workout classes with me. 

Let's be honest, most guys wouldn't want to come to a workout class called Stroller Strong Moms. However, you can ask Kyle and the other husband's that come on occasion, it will kick your butt! Husbands that come to our classes are affectionately known as a SLAD (sweat like a dad). Kyle would come with me when we lived in Kansas and he was hooked. He has a stack of workouts that we have accumulated from SLAM and he uses them as part of his PT before work. 

I'm not going to lie, I was really intimated to work out with him because I thought I would feel inferior (I know how silly that sounds) but it really has been one of the best things. We motivate and push each other to work harder. He jokes any time that he comes to class that the instructors hate him because he ends up so sore afterwards haha. 

Monday, I actually convinced him to try our yoga class! He was the only husband there which I thought was pretty awesome. He was rocking that dancer pose. 

I know that most couples don't enjoy working out together for one reason or another, but I LOVE working out with Kyle now. We do races together and have fun but we don't often stay together. When he comes to SLAM it's awesome being able to push and motivate each other. 

The best part is that Kyle is comfortable enough to go by himself to SLAM. He has gone multiple times without me and no one ever bats an eye at it. It makes me happy that he sees the value in these classes and he admits that they are hardcore. High intensity workouts that include weights, core, cardio, etc are not to be taken lightly haha. We work hard for an hour every day and it's amazing. 

Even if you don't have kids and you have an affiliate close to you, please go! Stroller Strong Moms is inclusive and so darn welcoming. 

A Weekend of Fun!

Happy Monday!!! 

Another weekend is in the books and I feel like we have been doing our best to balance them with fun and also relaxation. 

Friday was Kyle's last day of work until January 2nd! Hooray for block leave! He initially wasn't going to take the full time off but we figured why not. We don't leave for Florida until Friday so we have some time to enjoy at home before traveling. 

Saturday was a busy day but we kicked it off with homemade cinnamon rolls. I mean, you just can't go wrong with that.

We enjoyed a relatively lazy morning. We made a trip to Target to pick up a few things and then it was nap time for E. She has been fighting them lately but we knew she had to take one because she had a big event that afternoon.

A few weeks ago we bought tickets for Disney on Ice! We took her last year but she was too little to really understand it. She was so excited to wear her pretty Belle dress!

We had really great seats! Before it even started, E was just so fascinated by everything.

We were a little nervous about how she would do but she was amazing! She ended up sitting on Kyle's lap for the whole two hours and she never budged haha. At one point she whispered, "this is the best ever day!", at that moment I looked up at Kyle and he was crying. These are the moments that we waited SO long for. The show was amazing! Kyle and I enjoyed it just as much as E did.

 

I have never seen a 2 year old sit still like she did haha. It was amazing. I love sharing experiences like this as a family. 

We headed home and then it was time for me to get ready for my SLAM Moms Night Out. We were all meeting at a restaurant to have a Favorite Things exchange. We all had to bring 4 of our favorite things (all items the same) and when our name was drawn we got to choose an item. We all went home with 4 different new things. We had the best time! We made ornaments, laughed, ate good food, and just enjoyed each others company. I am so thankful for this group of ladies.

The night even ended with burpees in the parking lot haha! SLAM nationwide has a game that involves our SLAM magnets. It it gets flipped you have to do 5 burpees. Well a few of us had flipped magnets, so we all did them together. I don't recommend doing them in a dress haha!

It was a great night!

Sunday was a lot more low key and we loved it. Kyle and I both were able to get solo runs in which was really nice. He is still recovering from surgery and is taking it easy. Low key days like this really are my favorite. 

Kyle gets to come to SLAM with me this week and I'm excited! It's always fun having him there. E has lots of fun activities happening at school to include two days of pajama wearing. 

I hope y'all had a great weekend!