Happy Thanksgiving!

Wherever you are and whomever you are with, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! 

We are running a half marathon this morning and then will have a very low key dinner at home with just the 3 of us. I am looking forward to a quiet and relaxing day. 

I am thankful for so much this year, even when things are hard. It's so important to remember all of the good things. 

Enjoy today! 

Weekend in Review

Happy Monday!!!! 

I hope y'all had a great weekend, we sure did!

Kyle finally arrived home late Thursday night and it was pretty amazing. E was so happy to see him (when she realized where we were haha). He had most of Friday off so he was able to come to SLAM with us in the morning which is a rarity these days. It's always fun working out together.

Afterwards, we stopped by our favorite bakery to grab some donuts. They are so sweet there and usually give E a free cookie, she never complains. 

We had a really low key evening which we all needed. We played outside and didn't go anywhere. It was glorious. 

Saturday morning we headed downtown for a local 10k. I was SO excited that Kyle was back because that meant I didn't have to push the stroller haha. I recently got new running shoes so this race was their maiden voyage. They didn't fail me! The course was pretty hilly (as is most of downtown Fayetteville) but that's always a fun challenge. I could see Kyle in front of me and I tried so hard to catch him haha. No luck. We both finished and placed in our age groups! 2nd for Kyle and 1st for me.

We headed home after grabbing Starbucks and it was nap time for E! We got some stuff done around the house and then it was was date night time! The babysitter arrived and off we went. We haven't been able to go out just us in quite a while. 

It was the best! We went to dinner at a yummy Italian restaurant, went to our favorite cupcakery, and then wandered aimlessly around Target. It was a wonderful few hours! I am thankful for a babysitter that has no problem putting E to bed, she is wonderful!

We got home and went into relax mode. We headed to bed pretty early as we had an hour drive up to Raleigh the next morning. 

One of my favorite thing about running races is supporting the charitable organizations that benefit from them. The 5k on Sunday was no different. It benefited the Wake County SPCA. We are both animal lovers and it was so awesome seeing so many owners and their pups there to run plus dogs that are needing homes. It was even better seeing dogs in Christmas costumes haha. E loved it!!

It was a well organized event and so much fun! I crossed the finish line behind Kyle and had no idea that I was the 1st female. I've NEVER won the female division at a race before. I was shocked because there were so many amazing athletes there.

At the end of the day we are so happy to support such great organizations!

We made the drive back home and just lounged the rest of the day. We did make a very special FaceTime call to our amazing niece, Kylie, who turned 12! I honestly cannot believe that she is 12! I remember when she was born. She is just the most amazing kid and we love her to pieces. She is rad!

It was a pretty great weekend and it's so nice having Kyle home! 

Have a great day!

Thoughts on Thursday

It's Thursday right?! Haha my days have been all messed up this week. I blame the dreary and rainy weather the last few days.

I figured that today would be a good day to share some of the my thoughts!

*Thank goodness today is yoga at my workout class. I honestly can't believe that I just wrote that sentence haha. I was never a fan of yoga before but it's just so relaxing and a perfect way to just clear your mind and forget all the nonsense going on. I am in NO way flexible (think 2x4 haha) or good at it but I actually enjoy it. 

*Solo parenting is damn hard! It's exhausting emotionally and physically. Bless all of those amazing parents who are single parents, y'all are rockstars! I love E and would do absolutely anything for her but there are days I just want to go sit in the closet with a tub of ice cream because she is wearing every part of my soul down haha. Or there are the days I cave and buy her a giant penguin just to make her smile. 

*This leads me to be excited for Kyle's upcoming vasectomy haha! E is it for us, there are no more Smith babies happening in this family. We are perfectly content and happy with our family of 3. However, I'm not looking forward to the recovery for Kyle because he will admit, he is a baby haha. 

* Why does giving up soda come with raging caffeine withdrawal headaches?! Holy cow!!! This move wrecked me when it came to drinking soda and I fell off the wagon haha. Give me all the Dr. Pepper. However, I started feeling yuck again and I knew it was because of the soda. So it is back to just water. I'm sure my waistline will be thanking me in no time haha.

*I am SICK AND TIRED of all of the ugliness, sadness, and hate in the world right now. It makes me so sad to see all of it. I wish there was a way for all of us to put our differences aside and just live. I firmly believe that it is our responsibility to make the world a better place for our future generations and it starts with kindness and respect. The smallest acts of kindness can make the biggest difference. Even a simple smile can change someone's day.

Do me a favor, please?! Do or say something kind! It's not that hard and can change a person's day. 

Have a great weekend!

My Veteran

Veteran's Day is a day to celebrate and honor all of those amazing Veterans who have given so much to our country. 

Of course, I am married to a veteran and an incredible one at that. 

I thought about how I wanted to honor him in a blog post and I thought instead of getting incredibly mushy that I would share some of the highlights (and my favorite moments) from his 11+ years of service. 

1. Homecomings from Haiti 2010 and Iraq 2012

Obviously the reasons behind these are self explanatory. Any military family will tell you that there is nothing quite like a homecoming! Even when they are in the middle of the night and you can barely keep your eyes open haha.

2. Kyle receiving his Senior Parachutist Wings.

In order to receive these you must be a Jumpmaster and have completed 30 jumps with 15 of them being combat equipment and 2 night jumps. He worked SO hard to get these wings before we left Bragg in 2012 and he got them a few months before we left. He is now working towards his Master wings (65 jumps). Granted, I will never understand why he wants to jump out of a perfectly good airplane on a regular basis haha.

3. Taking Company Command.

As a MI (Military Intelligence) Officer, it is extremely competitive when it comes to getting company command. Kyle was extremely lucky and took command of an MI Company in 2013. It was one of the best experiences for both of us. This company of soldiers was more like a family. Kyle will tell you to this day that he learned more from them than they ever could have from him. 

4. Being recognized for saving a classmates life.

Back in February while attending CGSC, Kyle noticed that a classmate of his was choking. Without hesitation he sprang into action and administered the heimlich maneuver. He saved his classmates life but acted as if nothing had happened. He was recognized about a month later by the leadership of the school for his actions. He was a bit embarrassed because he didn't want a big deal made out of something that he felt anyone would have done. I didn't even find out about what had happened until about a week later because he didn't think it was a big deal haha.

5. Promotion to Major

As some will tell you the first few officer promotions are pretty much a guarantee (well unless something crazy happens). However, when you move into the field grade ranks it becomes more competitive and it's nerve-wracking waiting for that list to come out. We were thrilled when Kyle's name was on it and so excited for when the time came for him to actually promote. I had missed his promotion to Captain so we wanted this to be special. Watching him take the oath again and move into this part of his career was pretty amazing. This was also our first military event with E and gosh that was so special.

At the end of the day I am just so proud of Kyle for his willingness to serve. He truly loves what he does and even when things get hard he stills see a purpose and he still sees the good in this job. 

Thank you Veterans, for all you have done and continue to do.

Life Lately

Happy Friday!!!

I feel like it has taken a long time to get to this day haha. This week has been a long one. 

Here is what's happening in our house lately!

*I've been doing a lot of Ambassador promo events for the All American Marathon, we had two alone this week. My fellow ambassador, Liz, and I held two events this week. Our main goal is to get the word out and in the process we raffle off fun prizes and give out discount codes as well as important information about the event. We were able to team up with local businesses and get their names out there as well.

*For the first time ever, I left E with a babysitter on Wednesday night. Of course, we have left her with family and friends before but a babysitter was completely new. However, she did amazing and they loved each other! It made me so happy to know that E was comfortable with someone other than family. They became instant buddies. You never think about these things until you have kids. We are so happy that we have found our babysitter!

*We received the proofs from E's first school pictures! Oh my goodness!!! I can't handle how cute they turned out. They were able to get 8 really adorable photos of her, but this one is by far my favorite.

*Kyle has been gone for over a week and we have a little bit to go before he comes home. For some reason this short TDY has been a bit rough. I really can't pinpoint why. We have dealt with a lot of separations in our 10.5 years of marriage but this one feels extra hard. It's weird how that happens. 

*E and I have been keeping extra busy while he has been gone. She is lucky to have school 3 days a week and then I have SLAM everyday. She also has dance class which she just absolutely loves. We have enjoyed the occasional Starbucks date after I pick her up from school. 

*With Thanksgiving on the horizon, we are going to be staying home for that. Kyle has to work that weekend and my Dad is going to come up for a few days which will be really nice. I'm not going to lie, it's not my favorite holiday so it's really just another day for me. Bring on Christmas!!! :) We are heading to Florida for that!

* I've also been spending the last few days working on adding races to our calendar for next year! We entered the lottery for the Chicago Marathon, fingers crossed we get in!  I also signed up for a 50k race, yes you read that right, a 50k! 

Not much else is happening in our house! Overall, just the standard day to day stuff. Honestly, it feels like we are much busier than we really are haha.

I hope y'all have a great weekend!

What A Weekend!

I'm sure I'm not the only person who is hating daylight savings right now. Not because my child wakes up early but because it just makes the days feel so long haha. 

We did have a pretty busy weekend but it was so much fun! 

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the Fort Bragg 10 Miler. With Kyle gone right now that means pushing E defaults to me. I had a lot of people ask me why I didn't just get a babysitter. Well, I don't mind pushing her and it's free lol. 

It was an absolutely beautiful morning! It was about 50 degrees at the start which is perfectly running weather if you ask me.

The race went far better than I expected. I've run this route before and it has a mild hill at the start and then is mostly flat. I saw quite a few friends on the course which was awesome. I did have a goal in mind but didn't dwell on it. I wanted to finish in 1:30 minutes which I knew was a lofty goal pushing her. I was thrilled when I crossed the finish line and my time was 1:30:47! E and I had a blast, she was cheering on runners and I was just taking it all in. I was proud to represent the All American Marathon at this event!

Afterwards we headed home to have lunch and relax a bit before heading up to Raleigh to pick up my race packet for the next day. I had originally planned for us to stay there for the night but opted to come back home. We did make a stop at the mall to walk around a bit and we picked up a few ornaments. E was enamored by all of the Christmas decorations which was the cutest.

We both went to bed early as we were getting up at 4am to make the hour drive up to Raleigh. It was a beautiful morning to run the City of Oaks Half Marathon! Yes, I was pushing E for 13.1 miles haha.

All I can say is WOW!!!! I have never been more challenged in my life. This was by far the hilliest course I have ever experienced. It was one hill after another. It wasn't just rolling, it was steep hills that seemed to never end but gosh I was determined to finish. I saw a fellow All American Marathon ambassador and he graciously snapped this photo of me as he was cheering on the sideline.

As with the 10 miler, I did have a goal in mind, 2:30. However, with the course I knew that it would be difficult. I just kept pushing and putting one foot in front of the other. It was really hard at times but at one point a gentleman ran beside me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, "you inspire me and your daughter has an amazing role model in you." That meant a lot. Then I got a text from Kyle at mile 11, telling me I was doing great. <3 He is the best.

I made it to the finish line and realized I achieved my goal, chip time of 2:28:51!

I felt so accomplished and E was an awesome running partner for both races! She was content with snacks and her iPad. I am so grateful that she is the best stroller kiddo. We did miss Kyle though, doing these races as a family is my favorite thing.

The rest of the day was spent picking up groceries (thank you online ordering and grocery pickup) and lots of playtime. E deserved it after being stuck in the stroller for 23.1 miles.

If I can leave you all with a message it's that you CAN and WILL accomplish the goals you set for yourself. No matter how big or how small, you can do it! Don't ever underestimate yourself. 

I hope y'all had a good weekend! 

Halloween Happenings!

I feel like we have been celebrating Halloween all week in our house! It has been so much fun!

E was able to dress up twice at school because not all of the kiddos are there everyday. Tuesday and Wednesday were so fun for her. 

First up was Super Girl!! 

Then on Wednesday it was Bumble Bee time!

She came home with lots of treats and fun crafts that she made. Since she wasn't able to be at SLAM for trick or treating, I brought a bag of treats home for her. 

I absolutely love dressing up for Halloween, so any chance I get I will! We had a Halloween themed SLAM class yesterday and I wore this gem.

Yes, I was a cactus. Let me just say, working out in this was a challenge haha. It was so fun though. If you happen to see a photo of a cactus running down a road near Fort Bragg, that was me haha. 

Kyle was released from work early to get ready for festivities. It was nice since he will be leaving soon. 

I am all about planning family costumes. E's 1st Halloween we were all Ninja Turtles, and then last year she was a frappuccino and we were baristas. This year I went with a Disney theme.

Our sweet Alice in Wonderland.

Kyle and I were happy to tag along as the Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit.

 We had the absolute best time trick or treating in our neighborhood. E mastered saying trick or treat, she followed it up every time with "Happy Halloween"! Trick or treating was from 6-8pm but we only lasted until 7 and then it was time to head home. 

Once we got home we sat outside and passed out candy. We ran out at about 7:45 and headed in for the night. 

It is safe to say that Halloween was a huge success in our house. She got lots of treats and enjoyed running around our neighborhood with so many other kiddos. I'm already working on costumes for next year haha. I can't wait!

I hope y'all had a very Happy Halloween!