Loving Life!

We have Internet! I really loathe trying to blog on my phone lol.

Since we don't have our HHG's yet (they will be delivered on Monday yay!), we have spent our time exploring the area and getting the necessities.

Our neighborhood is beautiful and has a ton of running trails, which makes us happy.

We found this trail yesterday and it made for the perfect 3 mile run to get our day going. I foresee a lot of runs here.

Since today is Halloween we knew we wanted to get at least one pumpkin to carve. So on our way to Walmart the other day we found a pumpkin patch and decided to check it out yesterday. It was beautiful and we found an awesome pumpkin. It may have been late but I'm so glad we got to at least one pumpkin patch this year.

I love our pumpkin and it reminds me slightly of Sons of Anarchy lol. Yup, I'm a happy girl.

We picked up some candy so we can sit outside tonight and pass it out. I'm sure we will get quite a few trick or treaters.

We love it there so far and are settling in nicely, we have met a ton of our neighbors and they are super nice. I can already tell that Kyle is going to be so happy with his new job. He gets to jump again and he is excited.

It's going to be a good life here, I can already tell.

New Home

Yesterday we were able to move into our new home! A week early which was pretty awesome if you ask me. We love it so far and are loving Polk/Louisiana. My friend Kim stopped by and it was really nice to see a familiar face, she assured us that we will love it here and that Kyle will enjoy his new job (her husband is Kyle's boss lol). :)

Our internet/cable will be hooked up today and we get our household goods on Monday. We are settling in great, can't wait to star exploring the area. 

It is nice to finally be settled in our new home. I know Emma and Fishy are happy too!

Hope you all have a great day!

On The Go

Well, this weekend we ran our last race in El Paso. The Flying Horse Half Marathon was a great way to end our stint in the borderlands. This is one of my favorite races because it is scenic and flat. We had a blast as usual and then we spent the rest of the day packing the cars to get ready for the big drive.

We headed out yesterday morning and made it to San Antonio for the night. We don't like driving more than 7-8 hours because of Emma and Fishy. Emma was my co-pilot and Fishy was with Kyle. She was not amused as you can see and Fishy was happy trying to hide in the hotel room. :)

Oh and can I say how awesome it was that my shirt matched the couch in our room haha!!! Pretty awesome if you ask me. Also a quick plug for Drury Plaza Hotels, love them!!! They upgraded us to a corner suite and they have free dinner and drinks (including alcohol) from 5:30-7pm every night.

We should arrive at Polk sometime late this afternoon and we can't wait, however I will be swamped with midterms once we get there, yay! ;)

Hope you all had an amazing weekend!

Flying Horse Half Marathon

Tomorrow we run our last half marathon here in El Paso! It is one of my favorite races because it is flat and the scenery is gorgeous. The first and last mile is run on the horse track at Sunland Park Casino, it is really a neat experience. This was the first half that Kyle and I ran together last year and this year it is our 10th:

Yes, we crossed the finish line holding hands. It was pretty awesome!

I am hoping for a PR but as usual I am not holding myself to that, I just want to finish and end our races in El Paso on a high note. After this run we will have completed the Half & Half Challenge (2 half marathons in 2 weeks), it's pretty cool if you ask me.

We finished up getting vehicle maintenance done so after this run we will be all set to get on the road the next day!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

You treat yourself to Starbucks when you have spent a total of 8 hours at 2 different car dealerships over a span of two days. Haha. :)

You celebrate with Jeremiah Red and a Strawberry Mojito when your husband clears post and signs out of his unit!!!! Woo!!!!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

What I'm Looking Forward To

As soon as we found out we were moving to Louisiana I started looking up places we want to visit and things we want to do. I know we have at least 2 years there but I don't want to miss a thing.

Here is my list so far:

Avery Island, Louisiana- This is where they make Tabasco, my husband loves all things spicy so I know we will visit there a few times.

New Orleans- Our first experience there will be in December for a half marathon, we may make a weekend out of it to just explore. I can't wait.

Honey Island Swamp Tours- Apparently they are the least altered swamps in the country and beautiful.

Riverboat Casinos in Shreveport- Granted we are from Vegas so gambling is nothing new to us, but this would be a neat experience.

USS Kidd in Baton Rouge- Of course we love anything military related.

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge- This is one of the worlds longest bridges, it has to be awesome!

Visit Plantations- I plan to visit as many as I can.

Mardi Gras in Shreveport- This one is a more family friendly and I really have no desire to experience the amateur show (people acting ridiculous) that is Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

The food- I mean come on seafood and all things cajun, can't wait!

Deep sea fishing- A friend of ours told us about some amazing fishing areas.

But the one thing that I have wanted to experience since I was a little kid is the Natchitoches Christmas Festival. If you have seen Steel Magnolias then you know the festival I am talking about. It is referenced in the movie and this is the town that the real people lived in and some still live there. This year is the 88th annual and I am beyond excited to experience it firsthand.

Natchitoches Christmas Festival

I am sure my list will continue to grow, because I am known for finding random things to do haha.

Have a great Tuesday!

Another Week Begins

This weekend was our last full one in El Paso! We originally planned on leaving on Monday, the 27th but we moved it to the 26th. So 6 days from now we will be on the road.

We started our with breakfast at Cracker Barrel...I am going to miss having one close (well within a 5 minute driving distance lol). It's one of our favorite places.

Afterwards we did a little shopping...Old Navy was having a great sale so I got some things and Kyle got a new video game.

We saw our photos from the half last weekend and I am really not sure why I am smiling lol. My knees were killing me but I was happy to be almost done.

The rest of the weekend was spent getting rid of things we don't need and slowly packing things up. My week will consist of getting maintenance on the vehicles taken care of and getting school work done. 

Happy Monday everyone!

22 Months in Review

I have to say in our 22 months in El Paso/Fort Bliss we have seen and done much more than I ever expected. When we lived in NC it was hard to do much because Kyle's schedule was so unpredictable and he was gone more than he was home.

We made a promise that we would see and experience everything we could while we were here.

Here is a quick rundown of all the amazing things we have done.

We bought our first home here, certainly an experience we will never forget.

Kyle took command of an awesome company, we traveled to Arizona so Kyle could see his alma mater WSU beat the Wildcats, we roamed a pistachio farm and discovered the transportation history of El Paso.

We went to Mesilla (where Billy the Kid was convicted), saw El Paso from 20,000 feet up, experienced Roswell, and even saw where the first atomic bomb was assembled and dropped.

We went to more concerts than we expected: Five Finger Death Punch, Sevendust, The Pretty Reckless

Third Eye Blind, Rodney Atkins, The Killers, Kip Moore

Marilyn Manson, Alice Cooper, Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, Fastball, Vertical Horizon, Gin Blossoms, Bush, Lit, Adelita's Way, Jason Aldean, Jake Owen, Thomas Rhett

We went to wine and beer festivals, did a unit color run, went horseback riding in Ruidoso.

We vacationed in San Antonio. Six Flags, Sea World, Schlitterbahn, The Alamo and The Riverwalk.

We had various excuses to get dressed up and have a good time.

We went to local events to include El Paso Rhino hockey games, El Paso Diablo baseball games, UTEP football and basketball games, El Paso Chihuahua baseball games and went to the city tree lighting festival and parade.

We went to the Albuquerque and El Paso zoo's, White Sands Missile Range, Las Cruces Farmer's Market.

We were lucky enough to have quite a lot of time with family, it was awesome!

We participated in and finished 40 races! Our first mud run, first 10 miler, first half marathon and first marathon.

While at times living here has been stressful there isn't one thing that I would change. We both grew as people and a couple. While we are ready for this new adventure we will always remember and love our time here.

Have a great weekend!

A Quick Update

Since we are on the downward slope here in El Paso, I figured I would give a quick update.

*We booked our hotel room for when we get to Polk. We will have a week in a hotel until we sign for our house. 1 week will seem like a cake walk compared to 33 days.

*I gave up my role as BN Senior Advisor yesterday, to be honest I feel like a huge weight has been listed.

*I am over the medical facilities here at Bliss. I have been trying to get an appointment for 2 weeks and they do not have anything until November. Yup not going to work.

*I am back in school mode. I am in week 2 of these classes and am so ready to be done. August 2015 can't come soon enough.

*I have been making lists of places we want to visit in our new area. One thing I can't wait for is camping, Kyle finally agreed to go and I'm really excited.

*We also have made the decision to run another marathon next year! Once 2015 dates are released we will decide between these two:

We are really excited and get wait to get our training started!

Not much else is going on around here, which I guess is a good thing.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Weekend in Review

Another weekend done and we are that much closer to getting out of El Paso!

Friday afternoon we decided to get tattoos that we have been wanting for a while. Kyle got the Norse symbol for invincibility in battle and I got this:

The pregnancy and infant loss ribbon with 5 little hearts springing out to represent the babies we have lost. I am so happy with how it turned out!

We had a low key night so we could get ready for our half on Saturday morning. This was our 23rd race of the year.

We were up bright and early (4:30am to be exact) and headed off for the race. For those that are not familiar with Transmountain in El Paso please google it because this mountain is a beast. The race starts on the West side of the mountain and the race goes up and over so you finish on the East side. The elevation at the top is 5280 feet, yeah needless to say it's insane.

This race was my first half marathon last year and I was so happy to run it with Kyle.When I ran it last year I had just gone through treatment for an ectopic pregnancy and I had a sinus infection but I ran it anyway. My goal was to finish in under 3 hours this year because it is a really taxing run. I finished in 2 hour and 55 minutes (Kyle finished in 2 hours and 12 minutes show off lol).

We both had an awesome time and I ran the last few miles with a super nice Air Force LTC, I love that running introduces you to some pretty cool people.

The great thing about this race is that it's the first year it has been sponsored by Spartyka so a portion of the proceeds were donated to the wounded warrior project! :) Now it's time to get ready for our last race in El Paso in two weeks, the Flying Horse Half Marathon.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and working on school, which is pretty standard these days.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

New Look and New Name Reveal!

I am so excited to reveal that The Adventures of our Army Life has now changed to:

Marathons and Dog Tags!!! 

(Thank you everyone for all your awesome ideas)

I worked with the amazing Kristen from WTF designs and she created an amazing new look for my blog. I hope you all love it as much as I do. 

Hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Buying New Things is Fun!

When we finally get settled in our new home there are two things we have to purchase. A new couch and dining room table. We sold our couch before we moved (but kept the loveseat) and our current dining room table is on its last legs.

I have been looking around online (the Ashley Furniture website) and finally found a couch and table that we both like. The upside is we can purchase these from Amazon for significantly cheaper. 

I am in love with the table mostly because of the storage, how awesome is that?!

We love having reclining sofas, they are more comfortable to me and the microfiber is easy to clean.

I will also be looking for new dishes, the ones we have are nice but we are missing a plate and 2 bowls because of moves. I am loving these:

I'm sure I will find something else that I love even more but for right now I want these.

This is the first move where have to purchase big items but it will be nice to add some new things.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Life in Pictures

I Living in a hotel is certainly interesting. One of the not so fun things is not being able to decorate for my favorite holiday, Halloween. Thanks to a great idea from a friend I picked up a few things to make the room a little more festive. It does make me feel better haha.

A few months ago I had a friend of mine custom make this galvanized bucket to give to Kyle once he cased his colors. I decided to fill it with lots of goodies that he would like: candy corn pumpkins, golf balls, plastic practice golf balls, wine, Guinness screen tee, and a Luke Bryan cd (yes my husband loves country and is not afraid to admit it lol). He loved it!!!

The one thing we don't have to worry about is Emma and Fishy. They have been such troopers throughout this transition and enjoy lounging around on the bed all day. I can't say that I blame them. :)

My view while running now is not the prettiest, I do miss the mountain view that our house had. Now I get to stare at strip malls and car dealerships. I guess it could be worse.

Happy Thursday everyone!!! :)

New Home

A few weeks ago my awesome friend Kim texted me and said she was going to scope out the area we would be living in once we got to Polk. She called me a few days later and gave me the details. We will be in a pretty nice area, full of places to run, down the street from the neighborhood center, and only 7 minutes from Kyle's work (you really can't get much better than that), and close to her house.

She then sent me a few pictures of the area to include a pictures of what the houses look like.

The houses are older but to be honest we don't care, we are happy that we will be living on post again. Especially with how crazy Kyle's schedule is going to be. We can't wait to get there and get settled. Oh and let me just say that I am ridiculously excited to live in a place that has green and trees! North Carolina spoiled me for sure haha.

We will also start back up with fertility treatments and testing once we get settled. We decided to put it on hold while we are in transition and it was the best option for us. We are still 100% committed to having a family and that will never change (no matter what anyone says or thinks). 

Only 20 days left in this hotel before we leave Texas!

Uneventful Weekend

This weekend for the most part was pretty uneventful. We mostly stay close to the hotel and just lounged around. Living in a hotel causes the days to run together.

I did however take the opportunity on Saturday morning to get my hair cut. I love how it turned out, it's not much different but she did cut about 3 inches off and thinned it out some. I'll go back for a trim before we leave El Paso at the end of the month.

I have been able to run though which is nice, I was a little hesitant running near the hotel because there is a major street right next to it. Plus the scenery is pretty ugly haha. We are prepping for the Spartyka Transmountain Challenge Half Marathon on Saturday and we can't wait! This was the first half I ever ran and it's a favorite. Kyle gets to run it for the first time and he is excited!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Color Casing Ceremony

Yesterday, Kyle cased the colors of his company. He is no longer the commander of Bravo Company, he is the last Stalker 6. It was a great ceremony full of emotion and good things being said about he and the company. Kyle gave a wonderful speech and you could see how hard it was for him to say goodbye. It was sad to the see the guidon rolled up and cased, there will never be another Bravo Company 3/1 BSTB,  though the legacy and lineage will live on.

Afterwards we held a small reception with refreshments and cake (you can never go wrong with cake). I was given a beautiful bouquet of red roses for my work with the FRG.

This was the perfect time for company to present Kyle with his gifts. They had a beautiful plaque made for him and also gave him a hand painted (by one of the amazing soldiers in the company) replica of the Company logo.

There are no words to describe how sad it is for us to say goodbye to the soldiers and families of Bravo Company. We will always be thankful for our 17 months with them. Kyle will now move up to BN and basically hang out until we leave.

Here is to new adventures!