Merry Christmas!

Well, we made it to Florida to begin our Christmas vacation! It's so good to be here with family. We are already enjoying our time together. It was amazing seeing the kiddos play.

I don't have plans to blog again until after we get home next week but I might check in if I have the time. I will be back though to do a year in review.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

Weekend In Review

Hello Monday!!! I can't believe we are officially one week away from Christmas. How did that happen? 

We enjoyed a pretty busy weekend which is never a bad thing.

On Friday, Kyle got home a bit later than normal but we were able to enjoy a late night fire with neighbors and it was really nice to just be able to relax and decompress after a busy week. 

Saturday morning I was up at 6:30 to join a few friends (and fellow SLAM moms) for a long run. It was nice to get out and enjoy the chilly but clear weather. It was a nice moderately paced 10 miles. I would love to start doing this every Saturday morning with friends, it was such a great way to start the day. 

After I got home, we all got dressed and headed to the cemetery on post for the Wreaths Across America event. This was the first time we have ever volunteered for it and I'm so glad we did. It was a truly humbling experience seeing over 1,500 people dedicating their time to laying these wreaths.

This is definitely something that we want to continue doing as E grows up. It is important to raise her to respect and honor those who have given so much. 

Afterwards we had brunch with one of Kyle's classmates and her husband. It was nice to chat with them and enjoy a good meal. 

We had just enough time to get home and put E down for a quick nap before we headed off to the city. We had reservations for the Kansas City Southern Train experience. It's a train at Union Station that is decorated for Christmas that you get to walk through and also a chance to get a photo with Santa. 

E wasn't quite sure about Santa but she didn't cry so we call that a win. It was a 

It was free and we are so glad we were able to go. 

Sunday morning I went to a SLAM Ugly Sweater Scavenger Hunt event. Kyle and E were going to come but he wasn't feel that great so they opted to stay home. We got broken up into two teams and we had a list of things that we had to find and take photos with. The entire team had to be in the photos so I had a trusty selfie stick to help with that. It was such a blast!

This was one: take a photo with a reindeer. Mission accomplished haha.

We started at about 10:10 and had until 11am to find everything and meet back in the designated spot. The first team to make it back by 11 with all of the photos completed would win. My team was pretty amazing and we made it back first, completing everything including the bonus ones.

We were happy winners with our peppermint patty medals! 

The other team was not so happy. ha!

Despite who won or lost we had an awesome time!! We are hoping to do another one in the spring.

The day ended with a trip to IKEA with a friend and LOTS of laundry haha! We are preparing to our holiday trip and I swear the laundry doesn't end. 

I hope you all had a great weekend! 

Running in 2018

One of the things I always look forward to in a new year is the new events that we get to run! Since we only have about 6 months left in Kansas, we are going to be checking off some fun events.

Here is what we already have planned for 2018.

1. Battle of the Bean 5k

Kyle is excited about this one because the finisher prize is a coffee mug. However, he is Team Coffee and I'm Team Cocoa. It looks to be a fun event to kick off 2018.

2. Kickoff 5k

This one happens on Super Bowl Sunday. We couldn't think of a better way to spend the morning than running. It's an excuse to indulge in all the yummy game day food.

3. Sweetheart Run 10k

I love a good 10k race and this one I have heard is amazing! A local running company (KC Running Company) organizes most events and they are always the best. 

4. The Storybook Run 5k

I think this is the one that I am most excited about. They encourage you to dress up as your favorite storybook character for the event. I am still figuring out what we will dress up as but I can't wait.

5. St. Patrick's Day 4 Miler

We always love a good theme race and what a better day to run than St. Patrick's Day. A few friends of mine ran this last year and had a blast. I knew we had to add it to the list.

6. Great Plains 10k

This event occurs in 3 different locations to include Kansas City. It is one of the most popular events in the Spring and I didn't want to leave here without doing it.

7. Brew to Brew Relay

This is a 44.4 mile event that can be done solo or with a team. You can have up to a 10 person team to complete it. As of right now a group of us from SLAM will compete and Kyle will compete with members of his small group. Individuals will run from Kansas City, MO to Lawrence, KS. 

8. Heartland 39.3 Challenge

This is the event that has me the most nervous, haha. That's saying a lot because there aren't many things that make me nervous. For this event we will be running 3 half marathons in 5 weeks. Rock the Parkway Half, Garmin Half, and the Running with the Cows Half. We completed the Heartland 30k series this year so we figured why not complete the 39.3 mile challenge.

All of this will be leading up to Chicago Marathon on October 7th. These will be vital training miles as well as fun. Speaking of the marathon for those that are interested I am still actively fundraising for Homes for Our Troops. Feel free to share my page and lets get the word out about this amazing organization. Homes for Our Troops Fundraiser

Here is to an active 2018!

Weekend Wrap-up

I feel like I haven't been as committed to blogging lately. I find myself lacking things to do talk about and to be honest it seems to happen around the holidays. Hopefully I'll find my groove again, I do have some posts ready to publish so at least I can keep some content coming.

We found out late Thursday night that Kyle didn't get accepted into the school that he wanted. Was he disappointed? Absolutely. It's hard seeing your spouse want something so much only to be told no. So what does that mean?! It means that we will be on the move again next summer. Kyle is actively working right now to (hopefully)get us back to Fort Bragg. He want to be back in an Airborne (jumping out of airplanes) unit. I love the area and we have friends there so I'm on board 100%. 

Neither one of us really wanted to be in the house on Friday so we packed E up, roamed around Target and had dinner at Red Robin. An Oreo milkshake and beer did help the disappointment.

 On Saturday, we attended a birthday party for a friend's son. It was at a bounce place, which was really cool. E enjoyed running around and seeing all the kids. Kyle and I also played a heated game of air hockey haha. 

Afterwards we headed home so I could get ready for a cookie party that I was co-hosting with my friend, Lauren. It was a fun afternoon with friends and we all went home with lots of cookies. I'll be eating them for days.

Sunday, we were supposed to be up bright and early for a Jingle Bell 5k. However, none of us got much sleep. Poor E was up most of the night with what seems to be the beginning of a cold. I knew it was bound to happen. We finally got her back down to sleep at 6am and we both crashed. She was up for good 2 hours later haha. Oh well. We had breakfast and decided to go for a family run instead. It was relatively warm so it made that 4.5 miles go by quickly. E is always happy when we go running as is evident by her yelling "PUPPY!" everytime she sees a dog haha. 

We spent the rest of the day working on laundry and cleaning up around the house. 

I'm in countdown mode for our trip to Florida for Christmas. I can't wait for us to be with my family and celebrate the holidays together. 

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Christmas Card 2017

Every year I always look forward to putting together our Christmas card. It is something that I have always done and it's just a great punctuation to the year. I always include a brief overview of what has happened in the year. I do that because not all of our family and friends are on social media. I feel like it brings a personal element to the card.

First, let's take a look down memory lane of some of my favorites. 

I was excited this year because we had Christmas themed photo taken and I knew that I wanted to use them for our card. My friend, Liz, is a brilliant photographer and she always captures the best images. Emma and Fishy are not fans of being held most of the time so I have to capture their photos separately, which is fine by them haha.

I am happy to introduce our 2017 Christmas Card!

I was able to put an image on the back and this is one of my favorites.

She was more than happy to take pictures as long as she could eat cookies. Thank you, Walgreens!

Do you send out Christmas cards? If so, have you sent them out yet?

TBB Asks: Christmas Edition

I saw this fun Christmas prompt yesterday hosted by the ladies at The Blended Blog and wanted to participate. 

1. Real or Fake Tree? We are on the fake tree team as of right now. Real trees are known to be toxic to cats so because of our sweet Fishy we have to have a fake tree. I'm okay with that though, I love ours. What you can't really see if the lack of ornaments on the bottom haha. Blame the cute little blonde that lives in our house.

2. Favorite Christmas Cookie? Oh man, this is a tough question because I love most Christmas cookies haha. My favorite though would have to be my moms Spritz Cookies. I've tried to recreate them but they just never turn out the same. For the last few years I've made a raspberry almond thumbprint and it's delicious!

3. Home on Christmas Morning or Travel? This is all depends on where we are living. Last year we stayed home on Christmas morning because it was E's 1st but this year we will be traveling to see my family in Florida.

4. Clear or Colored Lights? I'm indifferent when it comes to this. I love all sorts of lights! We have colored lights on our Christmas tree. Outside we have blue lights with garland that has colored lights.

5. Send Christmas Cards? YES!! I am a huge fan of both sending and receiving Christmas cards. There is just something special about opening the mailbox and seeing it fill with notes from friends and family.

6. Favorite Christmas Present Received? This is a hard one because I have received so many amazing ones. However, I will say that when my parents took my sister and I to Hawaii for 10 days is probably at the top. It was incredible.

7. Favorite Christmas Present Given? Oh gosh, I've given a lot of gifts over the years. Not sure I could really pick which has been my favorite. The custom Game of Thrones cutting board that I gave my sister was pretty cool. I just love seeing the joy on people's faces when they receive a gift. 

8. Stockings or No Stockings? Definitely stockings! Even the furry kids have a stocking in our house haha. They are a must and the perfect vessel for fun little gifts.

9. Christmas PJ's? I do like a good pair of Christmas PJs. We had National Lampoon Christmas Vacations pajamas a few years ago and they were awesome haha. I always get Christmas PJs for our nieces and nephew, now that we have E she will get new jimmies every year as well.

10. Favorite Christmas carol? Can I be honest?! I'm not a huge fan of Christmas music, I think because most places start playing it so early that it just drives me crazy. 

11. Favorite Holiday Tradition? This is one that Kyle brought into our family. We do our best to watch Claymation Christmas and A Muppet Family Christmas on Christmas Eve. They are the best and you should definitely watch them.

12. Early shopper or last minute? I'm definitely an early shopper. I have to get it done early because if I don't, I tend to panic and no one likes a panicky Jen. Plus, most of the time gifts have to be shipped and beating the rush is important.

13. Favorite Christmas Movie or Show? Of course, the traditional A Christmas Story but it is followed closely by Elf. I just can't get enough of it haha! 

14. Favorite Holiday Beverage? I'm not a huge fan of seasonal drinks so I tend to go for a plain ole' hot chocolate. 

15. Cookies and Milk for Santa? Yes!!! I plan on starting this with E this year and I'm really excited. You can never go wrong with this tradition.

Link up and share your answers!

Friday Five

Happy Friday and Happy December!!! I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that the year is almost over. 

Here are five things happening around here.

One:

We found out about 2 weeks ago that Kyle will be getting promoted to Major in January! We are thrilled and have been figuring out the ceremony/reception details. I wasn't able to be at the ceremony when he was promoted to Captain so I am extremely excited for this! His mentor and dear friend is (hopefully) going to come and conduct the ceremony.

Two:

Our favorite snack of the year has arrived! Cougar Gold from Kyle's alma mater, WSU. If you have never had it please go order some from here. It is the BEST white cheddar you will ever eat. I'm doing my best to not eat the whole thing ha!

Three: 

We have been having some unseasonably warm weather lately so a friend and I took advantage of it by taking our girls to the Kansas City Zoo. We both have memberships so you can't beat a free trip. E loved being able to ride the train and carousel. It was a nice way to spend a few hours. 

Four:

Now that it's December it's fair game for all things Christmas! Yay! I'm even finished with Christmas shopping so that's a huge win. I have my holiday party for SLAM tonight and we are potentially running 3 holiday themed races this weekend (we are signed up for 2 right now haha). I love any excuse to break out the ugly sweaters however our weather will be in the 60's this weekend so it might be ugly t-shirts. Hopefully I will get to wear this sweater soon!

Five:

I have to say that morning time in our house is my favorite time of day. We all get to spend about an hour together before Kyle heads off to class. Evenings are great but E is usually tired and not as active. She spends the mornings running around and making us laugh. I did snap this photo of her and Kyle yesterday having a "conversation" about her book. I just love seeing these two together.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!