Boot Country

Kyle and I went to Nashville TN last weekend to attend a friend from high school's wedding. We left on Friday morning and made the 5 hour trek south. The weather for the weekend couldn't have been more perfect. 80s and sunny. Friday we headed downtown to meet up with my Pearl City friends and bar hopped around until we went to the welcome party at a winery south of Nashville. Saturday we also went downtown and enjoyed the nice weather by sitting outside, drinking cocktails, and listening to live music. It's couldn't have gotten any better! The wedding was at 4:30 at my friends house- since they already got married in Napa, CA, it was more of a reception. We had a wonderful weekend, that went by way too fast!

Great news! They are finished with the construction behind our house (building a round a bout). Bad news. We now have baseball stadium lighting illuminating our house all night long. Not too happy about it. Plan on placing a call to the town to complain tomorrow. There is no round a bout in Fishers or any other town for that fact that I have seen that needs 8 crazy lights that you can see from miles away. One or two to light the street would have been just fine. Honestly, Kyle woke up at 6:00 this morning, which is pitch black outside, and our room was lit up like we had the lamp turned on. Such a pain.

In other, more positive news, I have inched up my running distance, slowly but surely. I am upto
5.09 miles- in about 48 minutes. Getting to the 5 mile mark is harder than it seems, and it taking me a bit to get past it. I really have to up my strength training in my legs to be able to get further. My legs are getting so tired around that 5 mile mark.

We also had our church's trunk-or-treat event last night. The playgroup I lead hosted a trunk which I decorated as Cookie Monster. The turn out was fantastic. We had 28 trunks, 300 kids come through, with over 500 adults. Such a great night we had! Kyle brought the kids and walked them around, since I did the game at my trunk, and I guess Reese was a bit shy, but Preston had no problem walking up and asking for candy...doesn't shock me in the slightest :) Tomorrow night we plan to hit up the neighborhood if the weather holds out- looking like rain, strong winds, and a high of 39- yikes! We may be going to Reese's school Halloween party instead if the weather is to yucky.Saturday we celebrate Kyle's (36th...shhh!) birthday! We might go out for some good sushi for dinner- we will do whatever the birthday boy wants!

Enjoy the weekend and Happy Halloween!!

Tracking my run today.

At Arrington Winery south of Nashville. Wonderful views!!

 Hanging out on Tootsie's (legendary Nashville bar) rooftop soaking up the sun

Roaming the streets with Kelsey & Jody

P.C. gals at wedding

Taking advantage of a kid free weekend :)

Trunk or Treat pictures!

Reese is Doc McStuffins (Disney character & Preston is a gorilla)

Stay tuned, Preston has a different costume for tomorrow :)

Family weekend

Last weekend, my parents came out to visit and we had a great weekend. They arrived Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday. My mom and I took the kids Saturday morning Stuckey's Pumpkin Patch in Noblesville. Even though the weather wasn't the greatest weather, the kids had a great time. You can tell they don't grow up on a farm, because out of all the rides they could do, their favorite thing was climbing to the top of the hay pile (which was huge) and jumping off! Over and over again.
Saturday was also my parents 39th wedding anniversary, so I got a babysitter and us 4 went out for a nice dinner. It was good to actually have a conversation with my parents without hearing "Mom!" "Nana!" "Papa" constantly. After dinner we stopped at another bar close by for a few more drinks before heading home. We had a great night out!
Kyle's parents arrived today and Kyle and I head to Nashville, TN tomorrow morning for a friends wedding. Should be a great weekend!
Here are some pics from our last weekend:

It's all mental

Well, ok, not all mental. I'm talking about my running adventure. I have slowly been upping my distance since I blogged last week, and I DID IT! I made 5.01 miles today. I was so proud of myself :) This is the furthest distance I have run possibly in my entire life. I think I am on the right track to this mini marathon (13,1 miles) next May. I have to say, the mentality of it has a lot to do with the distance you run. Don't get me wrong, you have to be "semi" in shape to just go run 5 miles. Endurance wise and strength wise (my legs were getting pretty weak by the end.) But I really feel like your body"adjusts" to the distance if you take it slow. I am not running this for a certain "time" per say, but anything around 9 min miles is pretty good for me. I am using this blog to hold myself accountable- so you will probably see various posts each week on my progress- hope you don't mind going on this journey with me! :) Proof of my run-

Yesterday while Reese was at Pre-K, Preston and I went to Conner Prairie (a historical settlement) in Fishers where they have so many neat things for kids to do (think Discovery Center type of activities.) They also have a 5 and under section for kids to explore, so we generally head there every other week or when it rains and we can't play outside. Here are a few pics from our morning yesterday.

In the reading "tee-pee" checking out all the books

Making blanket forts with the bigger kids

My partner in crime yesterday -a pretty cute partner I must say :)

Last but not least, Izzy and I graduated from her Novice dog class last night. She already did Puppy Kindergarten at Dog Dayz in Fishers and now I did training with her at First Friends K-9 Academy. I really enjoyed this 8 week class with her. I learned a ton of stuff and she listens to me so much better. I would love to take the advanced class with her, but I'm going to take a few weeks off right now. Last night was graduation, and Reese and Kyle tagged along and watched as Izzy and I got to show off everything she learned. Reese LOVED seeing all the dogs (both classes combined last night so there were 38 dogs there!)

I spy Izzy! This was just half of the dog class and one of our main exercises. Getting the dogs so sit, stay, and not bother the other dogs. It took a lot to get them to this point, but overall we succeeded! Izzy did great! It was kind of amazing to see 38 dogs all sitting (away from their handlers) and not moving- a little training can go a long way!

Frozen in the park

Last night we braved the chilly temps (low 50s) and went to see Frozen in the park. The Nickel Plate Amphitheater in Fishers does movies outside every weekend from June-October. Frozen was featured last night, so we decided to try it out. We met up with some friends and the kids had a blast. We went a little early so they could run around and get all their "sillies" out, that way they would be ready to sit through the movie. We took popcorn, snacks, and had a little picnic too. The kids loved it. They all sat so well for it!

Kyle's brother, sister in law, and kids were supposed to come visit this weekend, but his brother came down with a nasty virus so they had to cancel the trip. Next weekend, my parents are coming out to visit, and the following weekend Kyle's parents will be out here watching the kids while Kyle and I head to Nashville for a wedding. It's a family filled October!


 Here are some pics from the night:

Buddies! Reese, Preston, Kensley, Avery, and Madelyn

What Are You?

Time for "What are you?"

Eating: Anything apple related (donuts, cider, caramel apples, crisp) and anything cold weather related. I am ready to pull our my cook books and rev up my casserole and crock pot meals. This past weekend was very chilly, so we did Taco Soup yesterday. It was so yummy and warmed us right up!

Reading: I just finished "The Kite Runner" by and I am now reading "Mercy" by Jodi Picoult. I highly recommend "The Kite Runner", it's a little longer but a great read.

Doing: October is a very busy month for us. This past weekend was our only "free" weekend, and we closed up the pool, enjoyed a festival, went to church, and lounged around. The next few weekends we are spending time with family, and the last weekend in the month we head to Nashville, TN for high school friends wedding. I am excited about heading back (Kyle and I went last October for a long weekend.) It should be a really fun time with nice weather!

Listening to: You guessed it- kids music. Our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group gave the kids a new bible based CD last week, so we have been listening to and learning all the new songs.

Watching: Kyle and I are on the final season of Breaking Bad on Netflix. Our house also consists currently of the baseball playoff games (go Cards!) and football games on Monday and Thursday nights and on Sundays (man, when you think about it, football is on ALL the time?!) I am also on season 2 of How I Met Your Mother- which was on CBS but I never watched it when it was actually on, so now I am catching up on Netflix whenever I have time.

Excited about: A few things! I lead a children's play group at our church every other Wednesday of the month, and this Wednesday we are having our playgroup at Stoney Creek Farms (a pumpkin patch.) The kids will have a blast. Our church is also doing a "Trunk-or-Treat" at the end of October, and my playgroup is sponsoring a trunk. We decorate it (ours will be Cookie Monster) and hand out candy to all the kids in the community that come to the event. Last year over 300 kids came, so it will be fun- plus the kids get to wear their Halloween costumes twice! And of course, we are looking forward to Halloween. The kids have their costumes all picked out and are ready to trick-or-treat through the neighborhood!

Looking forward to: I can honestly say I am looking forward to gorgeous Fall weather. I can  only hope for sunny days in the 60s for the next few weeks- instead of 50s and dreary, but I'll take what I can get. Each year, Fall becomes more of a favorite season for me. Just the right temps without all the rain that Spring has. I love the sweater, jeans, boot weather- all without the freezing temps and snow that winter brings :)

Riley Fest 2014

This morning, after hitting up Tim's Bakery (our go-to donut spot on Saturday mornings), we headed to Greenfield, IN (about 30 min Southeast of us- where Kyle works) to go to Riley Fest. It is a huge festival with street vendors, lots of yummy food tents, kids play areas/rides, and of course, a parade. We mainly went for the parade, not rides or such this time as we have already done two other festivals/fairs this past summer. Note: It was only 45 degrees- so we were chilly! Luckily the kids were nice and bundled up and didn't mind the cold, but I wasn't too thrilled with it. The kids had a blast at the parade. Reese was all over catching candy, and half way into it Preston got the hang of it. He then wanted to eat it instead of keep catching more. I'm pretty sure he had at least 3 suckers, 2 tootsie rolls, a pack of gobstoppers, and Laffy Taffy all in the 45 min parade. As you may guess, his favorite part was the firetrucks. He was amazed at how big they were up close. Reese loved the horses and the "princessess" (the girls who were the town's homecoming queens.) We had a great morning, but are hunkering down on this chilly afternoon, making soup, and watching football. Go Illni! By the way, anyone see the Cardinals game last night?! What a game, Kyle was about to have a heart attack, but the Cards pulled through! Hope they can keep going in the playoffs. 

Here are a few pic:

Waiting for the parade to start

 Snuggled up, watching the Cardinals game last night

Vegas

Last Thursday, I ventured off to Vegas for the first time with 12 other girls to celebrate my best friend (basically since birth) and her bachelorette party. Relaxing, kid free weekend, right? Well, it sure didn't start out that way. I woke up Thursday morning, shuffled the kids off to preschool, went to a chiropractor appointment, and got home around 11:00 am. My flight left at 5:20, so I needed to leave by 3:00. Plenty of time to shower, finishing packing, tie up loose ends, one would think. Little did I know that when I got home at 11:00, Kyle would drop a bomb on me saying he had to fly out that night to Germany for work. "Ummm, wait, what?!" Was my reaction. Followed by, "You've got to be kidding me! Who's going to watch the kids?! I'm not cancelling my trip! You sure will do anything to get out of watching the kids for a few days :)" Ok, so after the initial shock that he was really serious, my mind went crazy. Fortunately, Kyle's mom had that day off, but had to work the next 7 days. But, she hopped in the car, drove 6 hours, picked up the kids, and drove them back to Illinois. Yes, a godsend. Kyle ended up flying out around 8:00 that night. Crazy, right? Expect the unexpected in this household. The kids spent 2 days with Kyle's parents, and 2 days with mine. I flew back on Sunday late, and then met my Dad 1/2 way (In Bloomington, IL) for lunch on Monday and picked up the kids. Without our parents, we have no clue what we would have done. They saved us (and the kids!) I can honestly say though, after spending 3 days in Vegas, coming home Sunday night to a quiet house was pretty nice :) And I got a full 10 1/2 hours of sleep Sunday night- it.was.awesome!

Ok, so now that the pre-vegas story is out of the way, time to tell the real Vegas story. I had such a great time. We did an Ice Bar the first night there, it was freezing and we wore parkas, boots, and mittens, and it wasn't as "glamorous" as we expected, but I'm so glad we did it. Friday the weather was perfect! We did a pool day, a bottomless mimosa brunch/lunch, pizza for dinner, and "Thunder From Down Under" that night. It was a "strip show" but not really :) Their bottoms stayed on the entire time. But is was quite the experience with 150 screaming women in one place :) Saturday we were all quite "tired" a.k.a. hungover from the night before, so we had a relaxing pool day and took it easy that afternoon. We then had dinner plans at TAO and I had the best sushi I have EVER had. I am a newbie on the sushi scene, so I'm not really cultured and able to speak great lengths on it, but this was some darn good sushi. We hit up some fun bars, nightclubs, tested the water at some gambling, went through the hotels and did a casino "hop." It was a great time, but I was ready to come home Sunday!

Running. You will see in my previous blog that I talked about being a "runner in progress", wanting to tackle a 5K next Spring. Well, plans have changed a bit. I have a friend who is/has convinced me to do the Indy Mini Marathon next Spring (May 2). Yes, a Mini Marathon....13.1 miles. THIRTEEN point ONE MILES. You heard that right. I've never even done a 5K, but, here goes nothing. So, today, upon going to the gym, and having never ran more than 3.2 miles on the treadmill, I challenged myself to get to at least 4. Well, I made it to 4.2 miles. My furthest distance to date. I honestly probably could have kept going endurance wise, but my legs were getting tired, which means I need to strength train more to build up my leg muscle. I know 4.2 is a long way from 13.1, but there are great training programs to follow, and I have a few good runner friends I can lean on for advice. Kyle said he would join, but I'm not sure he has 100% made up his mind. So, wish me luck. I can say that running is now becoming a "hobby" for me. As a stay at home mom, I look forward to my time at the gym each afternoon, kid free, sweating it out, listening to music, and watching HGTV- all uninterrupted. I feel so good when I am done running, and think it puts me in a better mood overall. Not many stay at home moms get time to do things for themselves, and this is one thing I can do for myself, that no one depends on me for, and that affects no one but myself. This challenge is really just for me. To see if I can do this, for myself. We will see how it goes once training starts (in January) but I'll keep upping my distance until then, hoping to be able to do 6 miles by the time training starts.

Proof I did 4.2!

 Me and the bride to be, best friend since 18 months old

Amazing flower crowns that Kelsey had delivered for everyone to wear one night

Our view of the city- straight off our hotel balcony at the Cosmopolitan