Halloween Costume Fun!

I have to say that one of the funnest things about having a child is being able to dress them up for Halloween. It is no surprise to most people who know me well that I LOVE Halloween! I look forward to it every year and while I may not always dress up, there is just something so fun about scary movies, Halloween treats, decorations, and seeing kiddos (and adults) dressed up for a night of fun! We are bummed though to be missing my sister's Halloween party this year but such is life. Of course no Halloween is complete without dressing Emma and Fishy up as well. I have a bin full of costumes to choose from for them haha. I’m sure they will be angry at me as always. 

Last year, we all dressed up as Ninja Turtles and it was so much fun! 

 This year we have several events to attend and so this means a few costumes for E! For the record, I only bought 1 costume this year because I bought 2 on clearance last year that I just couldn't pass up (yes, I know it may be a little overboard lol). 

My workout group is having a trunk or treat after class so for that E is going to be:

A sweet little lamb! Target

I'll be dressing up as a llama (I have a llama onesie, don't judge lol) so we will both be rocking the farm animal theme haha.

There is a Boo at the Zoo event in KC the Saturday before Halloween and we will also be running a Halloween 5k that night so she will be:

Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas! 

Kyle and I will be wearing Jack Skellington shirts for both occasions. 

For Halloween night we will take E trick or treating for an hour or so with friends before settling in at home to pass out candy. For that night she will be:

An adorable little frappuccino! Party City

To fit in with the theme, Kyle and I will be dressing up as Baristas. I ordered our aprons from Amazon and they are perfect.

I just need to find some old headsets and we will be ready to go for that night. 

We are so excited and can't wait enjoy this Halloween season with E. 

Are you dressing up for Halloween? If so, what are you being?

Life Lately

How is it already the middle of October? I feel like everyday is just flying by! 

We have been staying pretty occupied lately and it's been a lot of fun. I will say that this area is a winner when it comes to activities. Here is what we have been up to lately.

*The fire station on post held an open house. We were able to go inside the station, see the firetrucks and equipment plus have some food. It was a beautiful day out and E loved being able to to walk all over the place. She looked so tiny in front of the firetrucks. 

*Kyle had Columbus Day off work (here at CGSC they do not get 4 day weekends like the rest of the military but believe me we will take any day off) so I took him along to SLAM with me. He always says that this is one of the best workouts because it works out EVERYTHING haha. 

 Let me tell you how much it sucks holding your husband up while he does a handstand pushup haha! 

I look forward to many more opportunities of torturing him in class haha.

*I went to a sign making class with some friends last week and it was a blast. I'm not the most creative person so it was nice having everything essentially laid out for us. We just had to do minimal painting so I was happy. I love how the signs turned out.

*We finally decorated for Halloween. I have yet to take a picture with the lights on but we have already had people stop and tell us how much they like it. We didn't even touch half of the lights but this is really the perfect amount.

*Last Saturday night I attended our monthly SLAM Mom's Night Out event. It was a diamond heist mystery dinner that was put together by one of the ladies in our group and it was so much fun! We all got dressed up and enjoyed dinner at a really good Italian restaurant in town. I love this group of ladies, we really have the best time hanging out. It's always fun seeing everyone not in workout clothes haha.

*The weather has been interesting here lately. We have mornings where it is 40 degrees but by the afternoon it's in the 70's. It makes outings very interesting haha. Over the weekend we attended a birthday party at a farm. E was obsessed with this turkey, he gobbled at her a few times and she loved it.

Speaking of animals, E has finally discovered Fishy haha! He is no longer safe. Also, notice how Emma is safely on the couch witnessing the torment.

We also were finally able to explore the National WWI Museum with friends. It was impressive and the grounds are beautiful. Can't beat this view of Kansas City. 

I certainly hope that we get to be here for longer than just a year but if not we will soak up the time we do have.

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

We Remember

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed that the month of October would be National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month saying this:

"When a child loses his parent, they are called an orphan. When a spouse loses her or his partner, they are called a widow or widower. When parents lose their child, there isn't a word to describe them. This month recognizes the loss so many parents experience across the United States and around the world. It is also meant to inform and provide resources for parents who have lost children due to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, stillbirths, birth defects, SIDS, and other causes."

Too often this type of loss is not talked about, some suffer in silence wondering why they have to endure such tremendous pain. It is important to advocate for those who are struggling with this type of loss and to show them that they are not alone and that they are loved.

When Kyle and I experienced our first loss in 2009 we did not know how to deal with it, with each loss after that we learned ways to get through it even though the pain did not go away. Talking about our journey and educating others has been incredibly therapeutic. Looks for events in your local area to support this cause. I am so thankful that my workout group, Stroller Strong Moms, is holding a special class today and a Hike to Remember afterwards. It is going to give solace to so many women who have been through this tremendous loss.

As I sit here and look at our precious miracle, Emersyn, I wonder how our lives would be different had we not experienced these losses. I wonder if we would be the same people we are now had we not endured all we did. We have been forever changed by the five precious lives that we never got to see on this earth and I chose to honor them forever with this tattoo, there are five hearts representing our babies who never got to know how much we love them and wanted them. 

We are beyond grateful for our daughter and as she gets older we want her to know the journey we experienced, to know that these babies (her siblings) were so wanted as was she, we want to be honest with her so that she will understand how loss like this happens far more than people think. 

To all those who have experienced this unspeakable loss, we remember your babies, and we will light a candle in their honor. 

Please consider lighting a candle at 7pm on October 15th which has been designated as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day to remember all those precious babies that have been lost. 

October 15th

E's 1 Year Photos

A few weeks ago we had E's 1 year photos taken. Our sweet friend, Liz, is a wonderful photographer here and was working with a new setup so she invited us over to have some fun.

I am absolutely in love with how these photos turned out. I cannot recommend Liz enough for those who live in this area. She utilized some of the decorations from E's party and that made it all the more special.

Once we finished with this setup, Liz had a cute bathtub setup idea and oh my gosh! 

I can't wait to see the rest once we get our gallery, it's already so hard to choose which ones to print.

It is still hard to believe that we have a 1 year old (well now 13 month old). 

She has such a sweet heart and is happy 99% of the time haha. We are so lucky that we get to be her parents, even the hard days are so so worth it. 

A Run-derful Weekend!

Well, I took an unintended mini break from blogging and it was actually pretty nice. :) 

Before I get this post started I just wanted to report that my sister's sweet pup, Clarence, is cancer free! His surgery was successful in removing the cancer and he will just have to have checkups periodically. Thank you all for the well wishes!

We had quite the busy weekend. We participated in the Fall Fermentation race series, this meant running three 5k races in 24 hours. 

We started with the No One Fights Alone 5k held at the Night Hawk Winery in Paola, Kansas. The morning was dreary and a bit rainy which made for a muddy course especially since it was a packed gravel road course. The location was beautiful and the organizers were wonderful! We appreciate courses that are a loop course versus an out and back. It's nice not having to pass the same thing twice. 

They had free wine samples at the end of the race and we were given souvenir wine glasses to take home. The results were posted and Kyle ended up placing 1st in his age group! Of course, E just wanted the medal haha. 

 This race was about an hour away from home so we headed back to shower, change, eat lunch, and put E down for a nap. We got some stuff done around the house before changing to head out to the 2nd race of the series. 

The next race was the Louisburg Cider Run 5k held in Louisburg, Kansas. We have been here before when we went to the Cider Mill and it's such a cute town. Very small town USA with wonderful people. They had food vendors set up so we walked around prior to the start. We chatted with some other people who were at the morning race. Before the event got started the announcer had a moment of silence for Las Vegas, that was an emotional moment for sure.

This was another beautiful course! A portion of it ran along a lake at a golf course and the weather was perfect. A little humid but not unbearable. We finished the race and grabbed our free drinks. You could either get regular apple cider or hard cider. I opted for apple cider and Kyle took the hard cider. By this point results were posted and we placed! I placed 2nd in my age group and Kyle placed 3rd. Let me just say that we never have an goal to place we just go out to have fun. 

We got home around 8:30pm. E was such a trooper, she is the happiest kid and just goes with the flow. We fed her and put her right to bed because we knew we had another early morning. 

Sunday morning rolled around and it was time to head to Martin City for the Oktoberfest 5k. This was the last leg of the fall fermentation series. It started out pretty chilly but quickly warmed up, thank goodness! This was the flattest course out of the three and we were so happy haha. I swear every race we have done has had some sort of horrendous hill, so this was a welcome change. 

It was a semi out and back but only about the last 1/4 mile. I could deal with that, the straight away to the finish was downhill! Brilliant! 

I finished a few minutes after Kyle and we grabbed our medals for completing the series! This ended up being my fastest time of the weekend and I was shocked when I found out I placed 1st in my age group! We also received beer steins for running this race which for Kyle was the best part haha. 

This event has put us at 97 races (well Kyle is at 98 but I will even us out when I run the KC 1/2 in 2 weeks) and we are close to our goal of 100!

We decided to finish the weekend with a trip to Wamego, Kansas. It was almost a 2 hour drive but it was worth it. They have the Oz Museum and Oz Winery there. On Saturday, they had the OZtoberfest, which we heard was awesome but really busy. 

We enjoyed the museum and picked up some wine from the winery. The museum has over 22,000 artifacts revolving around the book and movie. It was so cool seeing everything. We saw the original ruby slippers in the Smithsonian several years but it was amazing seeing all of these items. If you are ever in this area, definitely go!

We spent about 2 hours there and then stopped in Topeka for lunch.

I decided last night that it was time to do a little treat making and introduce the mice for 2017! I love this time of year because it means I get to make these!

We had such a great weekend, it was tiring, but so fun to make so many memories together! 

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

How To Help

There are really no words to express how I am feeling about the tragedy that occurred in our hometown. We have dear friends that have been affected, and it's absolutely devastating and we have been affected emotionally. There are still some who have not been accounted for and waiting is the worst. This is still my home and I will always consider it home. I was born, raised, and spent 22 years of my life living, working, and loving this city. It may not always be perfect but in times like this the spirit of all the wonderful people there is shining through.

I have had several people reach out to me and ask how they can help in the wake of what happened.

Here are some thing that can be done if you are in the local area or far away. 

1. Donate Blood.

This is one of the most immediate needs right now. As there are hundreds upon hundreds who have been injured the need for blood in the valley is at an all time high. Here are locations you can go to in order to donate if you are in the area.

*As of this moment they are not accepting any further blood donations but these services will be needed in the future so please be willing.*

2. Donate Money.

The Sheriff of the LVMPD (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department) and the Clark County Commission Chair set up a go fund me account that is directly for the victims and their families. This fund has been remarkable thus far and have successfully raised over $2 million dollars. Please consider donating! While supplies are wonderful, it becomes difficult for organizations to find ways to transport these supplies especially when shipping is involved.

Las Vegas Victims Fund

There is also the National Compassion Fund that has been setup for victims as well. 100% of these donations will directly go to them.

National Compassion Fund

3. Share Mental Health Resources.

When a tragedy like this occurs it is imperative to ensure that all those left behind have access to services that they need. I have several friends who are mental health professionals and they have been offering their services to those who have been affected by this. 

Crisis Call Center's 24 Hour Hotline: 1-775-784-8090

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

There is a need for mental health professionals! If you are in the area please help.

4. Gift Card and Toiletry Donations

There are two points of contact that can be utilized.

Liberty Baptist Church
6501 W. Lake Mead Blvd
Las Vegas, Nevada 89108

The Las Vegas Convention Center
3150 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109

5. Support First Responders and Medical Staffs

Also, if you are in the local area consider taking meals or coffee to first responders who are working tirelessly at hospital. UMC Hospital is the facility that is handling the most urgent and horrific injuries because they have the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the entire State. These individuals are working tirelessly to save lives please consider helping them as well. Even if you aren't in the area you can call orders into local restaurants and have food delivered. I know several people who have done that.

6. Write Your Representatives.

I do not want to make this a wholly political post but if you feel that gun laws need to be and should be adjusted please write your representatives and make your voice heard. Senseless tragedies like this should not happen. More needs to be done. I obviously do not have all that answers and I don't think anyone does but we all need to be educated regarding gun safety and teach the youth of this country the same.

I hope that these resources are able to provide support to those who need it most during this horrific time.

#VegasStrong

Highs and Lows

Of course in life there are highs and lows that always seem to impact us. We are lucky that we have few lows these days but unexpected ones tend to creep up. 

Here are some highs and lows from life lately.

Low: This is the biggest low for sure. My sister, niece, and nephew's sweet pup, Clarence, was diagnosed with cancer last week. He is the sweetest guy and a big baby who just loves everyone and everyone loves him. He will have surgery on Wednesday and we are hoping that everything will turn out okay. If you wouldn't mind sending some good thoughts that would be wonderful. I do wish I could be there to give him lots of snuggles.

High: Kyle and I ran two races this weekend. Both were equally challenging but so much fun! On Saturday we ran the Triple Trot 5k where Kyle placed 1st overall and I placed 3rd overall for women (E is chewing on our trophies in this picture haha). It was the 

Yesterday we ran the WWI 8k race that was pretty unique (We ran a 5k stopped for 30 minutes and finished the additional 3k). It was held at the WWI Museum and beautiful! I ended up placing 2nd in my age group with my friend, Lauren, placing 3rd. 

 Low: This isn't so much a low as it is an annoyance but it's still a downer. One of the biggest pains of being military is dealing with vehicle registration. Some states are ridiculous and won't let you renew if you don't live there (looking at you, Louisiana!), even if you are military. So now we are in the process of moving my registration back to Nevada and good gracious it's expensive. $$$$$$$$$ Oh well, it must be done. It will be nice to have everything back in one state.

High/Low: We have a walker in the house!! E has been taking steps here and there but walking is now her preferred method of movement! It's so fun watching her walk around the house and discover everything, well except the things she shouldn't be getting into, haha. Yes I categorized this as a high and low because it's equally amazing and sad that our little girl is growing up so fast. 

What are some highs and lows you are experiencing lately?

Hope you all have started October off on a high note!

*Let me just say that this post was written before the tragic events in my hometown of Las Vegas. My heart is breaking for the city that I was born, raised in, and called home for 22 years of my life. We still have family and friends there, some of whom were at the concert last night. I'll be sharing a post soon regarding ways to help in the wake of this terrible tragedy.