LA Times

I was invited to go on an All Girls Trip to Los Angeles, California and tossed the idea around for awhile...not because I wasn't sure I wanted to go because I have always wanted to go!  But was I ready to leave Paige?!?!  The trip couldn't have been timed better for my life, that's for sure!  It was after Paige's one year birthday, after we were done nursing/weaning and before any talks of second babies!   So I signed up and sooo glad I did! 

One of my dearest friends, Buffy, is getting married in October so her sister planned this amazing trip for her!  We stayed at the brand new W Hotel in Hollywood--FANTASTIC! If you ever travel on a grown up trip and there is a W Hotel...I highly recommend!  We ate at some incredible restaurants!  Beso (Eva Longoria's restaurant), Katsuya-fabulous sushi and service!, BLT Steakhouse-great steaks, atmosphere and jalapeno mashed potatoes!!  We also lunched at the ever so famous Ivy and it was breathtaking!  We ate outside and just lounged in the perfect weather and ate great food!  We shopped, hung out at the beautiful pool a couple days and just had incredible girl time! 

There were 8 of us all together and it couldn't have been a better group!  Almost all of us left a child and hubby behind so we had a lot in common!  We saw and talked to several celebrities, met some great people and experienced so much of what Hollywood has to offer in such a short amount of time!  Did I mention we attended Brody Jenner's birthday bash?!?!  Yes we did!!  If you don't know Brody, he is the son of Bruce Jenner (Opympian and husband to Chris Kardashian of Keeping up with the Kardashians) and one of the stars of The Hills on MTV.  He is dating Avril Livigne (singer) so she was also in attendance at the party!!  We were all excited!  Alexis from Real Housewives of the OC was also at the same place so I got to see her and her hubby!  Then some of the girls ran into Kim Kardashian in our hotel lobby with her boyfriend and she so graciously hopped in a photo! 

(The Ivy!)

Yes! That's Kim Kardashian in the center!!

We reminisced on old times before babies and hubbies, gushed about babies and hubbies and lots of laughing and fun!!  I have never seen a more beautiful, fun group of women all together!! 

(With Frakie from The Hills and Shawn from Desperate Housewives!)

To me, it is so important to have girlfriends and do fun things like this!  It was a great opportunity for Tyler to have a daddy/daughter weekend and for me to recharge!  I definitely want to do more girls trips in the future!  I am so glad I was included and had the opportunity to go!!  I so enjoyed getting to know some new awesome girls and catching up with some great old ones!!! 

Love these girls!!

When Will I Learn...

that running at 10 am...in August...is not a good idea??  I promise I am not going to whine this whole post.  It actually was a great run and I went without Tyler's nagging encouragement.  Besides the heat, it was great!  Great trails, not too many people out and just like I thought...back on track after my vacation!  Next week will hopefully be my last week of taking the 1 minute rests after run segments.  I am bumping up to 8 minute run/1 minute walk then the following week hopefully I can run my 30 minutes.  (I already push through the last 10-12 minutes without rest so I know I can do it).  Things I have learned the hard way the past few weeks:  don't eat a big meal then go run.  In the heat of the summer, its best to get right out of bed and get your run over with!  OK, on to more exciting news around here.....

We have had a great week!  My typical personality would have been to stay home most of the week with my sweet girl and get our house back in order after Oscar, Paige and daddy lived like this was a bachelor pad during my 4 days away!  But there were lots of fun opportunities and unbeatable weather so we were out and about all week!  The zoo was quite a treat on Wednesday!  The gorillas were in rare form, a sea lion show-Paige clapped and laughed the whole time, then the Children's Zoo which I was very mistaken that my babe might be too small...she squirmed out of my arms, waltzed right over to the goats and started petting and hugging them!  Since she has Oscar, she has learned quicker than most kids to be "easy" with animals so I was so impressed to see her do so much better than the "big" kids with the animals.  Then we walked over to the water feature that is only a few inches deep that looks like a small river with lots of rocks.  We stripped down and hopped in (don't worry--I only took off my shoes!).  She would have played in that river for hours!!! 

Wore plum out after a fantastic day at the zoo!

Tyler and I went out with some work friends and a friend/business associate that was in town from Houston too which was very nice to catch up with them. 

Then yesterday we loaded into the car and headed south to see my best buddy Kim and her family then head over to Tyler's grandparents house!  It was such a great day visiting with everyone we haven't seen this summer!  I love Kim's new home and all the possibilities it has!!!  She is right by the lake, right by a state park, right by a huge covered pavilion where she can host lots of birthday parties or family events!!  I have already been dreaming of taking Paige camping there with her little tykes!  Paige loved Nana's house!  Its big and open and has lots of treasures for her to hunt~!  She didn't sit for more than 10 seconds the whole time we were there!  She had a BLAST!!   

Helping Nana make homemade ice cream!!!

Hope you had a splendid weekend with family and friends too!!!

Dreadful

Its the nicest word I can come up with to describe my feelings abut running this morning...I am a creature of habit and I was just starting to get to the point where I was looking forward to my runs right before I went on vacation last week!  So much so that I got up at 5 am the day I left just so I didn't miss my run!!  Well, I only missed one day-this past Sunday-since I got home too late and was very tired!!  So when Tuesday rolled around I was still catching up on my zzzz's and not interested in running.  So I promised Tyler I would run in the evening.  It was miserable because I decided to eat dinner before running...huge mistake and lots of pain--hubby told me not to do it but I rolled my eyes and chowed down.  I got up this morning to run and was not happy about it. At all.  But it was MUCH easier than running with a wrap, some soup and a bag of chips sitting in my gut, I promise you that!  I'm hoping that come Sunday I will be back to normal and looking forward to my morning runs again.  Does anyone else get a little grossed ou when I say "runs"?!  Every time I proof read it sounds gross but I can't think of a better word...oh well. 

As I ask Tyler why he keeps forcing me to run--in my cranky morning voice--he reminds me that he is not making me, that I was the one who signed up for the half marathon.  Oh yeah, I forgot.  So I am going to end this on a positive note and remind myself why I like to run:

• 
  
  Its a great way to start the day...doing something outside is just good for you.  Fresh air!
• 
  
  I'm nosy...I like to see what people in the hood are up to!
• 
  
  Its cool to run...I have always been envious of runners...it's just "cool" to be a runner.
• 
  
  Exercise does a body good
• 
  
  I accomplish so much more during the day if I start off with exercise.  Lots more energy!  Cleaner house, better chance of a hot dinner being prepared! 
• 
  
  I get to check out lots of landscaping--one of my other mini-hobbies so I make mental notes of flowers I should incorporate into our yard. 

Ok, I think I have pumped myself up a bit.  I think next week is my 6 week mark so I should be on track to running a 5k with no problem (besides, problems listed above).  Then the next hurdle is 5 miles.  Honestly, I think 5 miles is the worst.  I feel like getting to where you can run 5 miles is the breaking point.  If you can run 5 miles you can run 15.  That's not just my theory either...I have heard it from so many real runners.  Te weather has been a dream and I am excited that I will have some cooler climates to look forward to as I cross the dreadful 5 mile hurdles.  I can do it, I am sticking with it!  It will be soooooo cool to cross the finish line in Austin, TX completing 16.1 miles  13.1 miles thanks Divina! whew!!  Also super excited that I am heading to the BIG 3-0 and will be in the best shape of my life if I stick with it!! 

Have a great weekend and get outside, get some fresh air and maybe a little exercise!! 

It Happened So Fast! 12 Months

We went from this:

To this:

In a blink of an eye! 

Paige came into this world three weeks earlier than expected at a robust 7 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long.  At her one year checkup she was just shy of 21 pounds and 31 inches long.  She is in the 75-80% range for height and weight and 90ish for her head.  She is brewing up some mad information in that brain!! :)

She is walking everywhere and loves exploring and experiencing everything. I try to be the kind of mom that isn't always saying NO and just lets her experience things even if I have a big mess to clean up! 

She eats everything I put in front of her and especially loves fruits and vegetables.  She is a little questionable of chicken but eats it.  Her favorite food is probably yogurt right now. Oh and we are up to three teeth now.

She is overflowing with personality, talks nonstop and is an avid dancer.  Literally when the music starts, so do her moves!  I LOVE it!  She says Mom, Dad, Bubba, No, Baby, Hi, Ugh! and MMMMMMM (for kiss) She claps and waves when appropriate and it is so cute to me! 

She is a scheduled young lady!  She likes consistency and is still doing her morning nap and afternoon nap.  She is a night owl like dad so she hangs with us until 9 pm then hits the hay until about 7:30 am. 

She is such a healthy, good baby girl!  She has had one minor cold and that's it!  The only time she has been to the doctor is for her well checks.  She LOVES all animals and bugs...she was terrorizing a rolly polly on the porch yesterday.  She also LOVES the water!  Last but not least, she just loves all of her friends!  Playing with kids has got to be her favorite past time! 

Before I send this post into picture overload, I guess I will wrap it up!  We are so blessed and honored to have spent the best year of our lives with her!  We look forward to everyday with her. She is turning into such a beautiful young lady and we could not imagine a more perfect special person to be our daughter!  We will continue to watch her grow and thrive and will be by her side no matter what being her biggest and loudest cheerleaders!  We love you so much Paige!!! 

Prayers for Paige-INTRO

Today was not the day I planned on starting my "Prayers for Paige" but I just read a beautiful piece-link at the end that sums up a lot of what I discuss with Tyler and my good friends about what I want for our daughter.  Things I always want to instill in her, things I MUST portray for her to follow.  So today, I start my piece on Prayers for Paige.  Everyday I will pray for her and for me to be a leader in what I consider the most important lessons for a young woman.  My parents were brilliant at raising me to be a self-confident leader.  Not to follow the crowd, to be different.  To believe in what I wanted to believe in, even if it was different than what they believed in.  I wish being raised that way made me an expert, it doesn't and the world I live in is harder...growing up in a military life most people were like us.  It will be harder for Tyler and I.  But I am committed to it 150% but it will take work, everyday. So here goes...a lot of this is copied from a post but credit is at the bottom...I changed several things since "she" was talking about her teenage daughter and well, I have a baby...but you will get the point.  I think its the perfect place for me to start. 

Have you ever prayed for your child to be... uncommon?

I’ve never prayed that Paige would be the most popular, most witty, most smart, or the most athletic child among her peers. But, I have prayed for her to rise above all that seems common in kids her age and live in the beauty of who she is created to be.

Rising above is not easy. Being uncommon is rare.  So, I’m not only praying this for her, I’m begging God for it from the depths of my heart. 

My precious daughter, Paige, may you…

Rise above the girlish chatter and gossip. When people talk about others in hushed whispers, they are saying nothing but how insecure they are about themselves. Be uncommon sweetheart.

Rise above the daily beauty contest. You can’t see it now, but you have the makings of a gorgeous woman inside and out. Be uncommon sweetheart.

Rise above the incessant need most girls have for someone else to validate your worth. No boy will ever be capable of truly making you feel pretty, witty, and loved. Let Jesus fill up those spaces in your heart and eventually show you a boy worth your time. Be uncommon sweetheart.

Rise above the talk about first kisses and stolen moments. Realize how precious and priceless your purity is. What a beautiful thing it is that you still have the gift of a first kiss to give. Be uncommon sweetheart.

Be uncommon. Rare. Incredible. Amazing. Precious. Priceless. Different.  People will love you for it and if they don't, its OK.  Your real friends will! 

That’s who I pray you will one day be.

Rise above sweetheart. Be you. Continue to seek the uncommon.

http://www.incourage.me/2010/08/she-seeks-the-uncommon.html  I loved this piece and can't wait to read more on this blog!!  I bet she and I have more in common! Hope you enjoy:)

Its easy to pray for your children and hope that is enough...but its not.  Really as moms we need to pray for ourselves too.  If I try to teach Paige to be all these things but show her with my actions something else what will she learn?  So I pray for myself almost as much as I pray for her.  Let me be the woman I want my daughter to become.  Let me shine with confidence.  Let her see how I am filled with self worth.  That I think I am beautiful and secure in my own skin.  In a world of stuff let me teach her to be happy without always needing more.  So here's to praying for our kids and praying for the uncommon. 

What do you pray for your children?

Kid Tested, Mother Approved!

Now that we have a BIG girl and she is eating more food than drinking milk officially, I have been coming up with lots of new creations to be sure she gets a balanced diet of all the important stuff!  Here is an easy recipe that combines lots of good stuff and easy for the over-achievers to feed themselves if they want to.  Paige is very determined to feed herself!

What you need:

2 eggs
splash of milk
small handful of cheddar (or any cheese you have on hand)
1/2 of a carrot-shredded

To get your carrots soft enough (if your munchkin doesn't have plenty of teeth yet) I put the shreds in a bowl with water and let cook for 8 minutes in the microwave-then drain

in a small pan, spray with non-stick and pour in your egg/milk/chz combo, cook on low and cover.  After a few minutes throw in your carrot shreds and cook up scrambled-style.  Paige absolutely loves this recipe and its a very balanced meal she can feed herself.  Although it sounds like breakfast, its usually a dinner meal for her since its pretty filling but as she gets bigger it will be a great breakfast too! 

Other fun add ins: diced tomatoes, diced mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, zucchini, ground beef...the options are endless of the things you can sneak in~!~

Hope your little ones enjoy!

Quick & Easy

So I usually right off putting my super simple recipes on the blog because I feel like everyone already knows about the quick/easy/delicious recipes but those are the ones that we use the most!!  We love chicken but I get sick of eating the same things so I try to be creative.  This is my take on those "healthy" taco bowls you can get at Taco Bell.

What you need:

1 package chicken breast or tenderloins (I prefer tenderloins)
1 taco seasoning packet
I can Rotel mexican tomatoes
1 can pinto beans with jalapenos
rice (I use brown)
Sour Cream-optional but in my opinion, necessary!

In a crockpot throw your semi-frozen chicken breasts in and sprinkle with your taco seasoning--some people only use half a packet if you are concerned about your sodium intake--I am a salt junkie so I dump it all in.  I set it on low for 6 hours.  At that point I add the Rotel tomatoes.  Heat up your pinto beans and cook your rice. 

To serve, I use a shallow pasta bowl and layer the bottom with rice, then a layer of beans, then add chicken/tomato mixture and top it with a dollop of sour cream.  Yummy!!!  Tyler and I both love it and it literally takes less than 10 minutes to throw together and is really healthy!  Sometimes I use corn or black beans just whatever is in the pantry.  We always have chicken, rice and taco seasoning so I just substitute whatever beans and veggies we have on hand.  Paige loves this meal too so its nice to have a few meals in rotation that ALL of us can eat! 

Hope you enjoy! 

August Frenzy!

We have had a busy, fun-filled summer but the last few weeks have been so busy and crazy!  I was busily planning Paige's first birthday, **which I will have a proper post on soon**! Then Paige got the best birthday present EVER and her grandpa flew all the way from Las Vegas to be here with her for a long weekend to celebrate!  It was so great having my dad here and watching him with Paige.  He spoiled her and Oscar rotten before skipping out of town! 

We had lots of other family in town too and lots of great friends from near and far for the big birthday bash!!  Our home was filled with so much love and I couldn't help but look around and feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives and surrounding our daughter.  In the middle of all of that my best friend was loading up her Uhaul and heading to her new home 2.5 hours away:(.  So I had to soak every last minute with her and her beautiful children before they left.  We had a little going away dinner for her with a few of our girlfriends and it was a blast!!

  Once the celebration weekend was over and all the family went home, I started getting myself geared up for my upcoming GIRLS TRIP!!  Being a mom now, there are certain luxuries from my "old" life that I don't get to enjoy as much as I used to.  Its no secret to those that know me that I LOVE clothes, shoes, jewelry...really anything that sparkles!  But it just isn't realistic wearing dry clean only silk blouses, 3 1/2 inch heels and dangling earrings in my day-to-day life.  So I will be dusting off my heels, jewels and dry clean bags for a nice long weekend with some great girls!  I am so excited and look forward to coming home refreshed and ready to hit the ground running with lots more activities and projects. 

On the exercise front, it has been going surprisingly well!!  I haven't missed one day of running, even with Tyler out of town for a couple days last week!  I am giving less and less excuses and really look forward to my runs!  Basically I am up to doing three days a week between 30-40 minutes and have weened myself to only stopping 2-3 times for a one minute walk!!  I always finish the last 10 minutes running at a faster pace and up hill without stopping to challenge myself and help build my endurance.  That was a tidbit of advice my trainer always emphasized and I guess it sunk in!  In just a month, I already feel so many benefits!  I have so much more energy, my body is firming up all over and mentally it is just great having 45 minutes to think and do something for myself before the day starts!  I highly recommend getting out and walking, biking, running...anything for 30 minutes before your day starts! 

On the home front, we had a new roof put on, a new air conditioner installed and several organizational projects still underway!  I packed up all of Paige's baby clothes and toys she has outgrown and organized her closet a bit.  I was only able to come up with a small sack of items for my garage sale out of her room but I can't let go of her things just yet!  We also are refinancing our home with these record low rates right now its just a no brainer!  I have been watching them for about 4 months and locked into a great rate today! 

Things to come:  I have lots of things I have wanted to incude in my blog but haven't had the time to get after it yet with all of our activities!  But one thing I think I would really like to share is a Prayers for Paige section.  I received the loveliest gift at one of my baby showers from a teacher at Janet's school.  It is a prayer scrapbook that lines out instructions and scripture to get me started on things to pray over our daughter and with her.  It was the only gift I received that brought me to tears, so beautiful and such a great idea!  Although I am more on the private side when it comes to this stuff most of the time, I thought it would be a great thing to share for those of you that may like a little inspiration on different things to remember to pray over your children and maybe give me some feedback too.  I also have been coming up with lots of recipes for Paige.  Trying to be sure she gets a well-rounded diet, interesting tastes and textures and making sure some of it is self-feed because she loves feeding herself!  I don't want to forget these recipes when I have another munchkin so the successful ones will be documented here!   

I think this is all the updating I have in me for now!!      xoxo

The Girl Who Stole Our Hearts

It was a cold morning in January 2009 and I had just arrived home from Germany visiting my parents.  3:45 am to be exact and I couldn't sleep another minute until I took "the test"!  I was certain it was no because I took two tests two weeks before I left and they were both NOs.  I was planning on it being a long, boring three minutes but within miliseconds it was like I was in Las Vegas and my test was blinking neon lights--PREGNANT!  I can't describe the excitement I felt and I rushed in to wake up Tyler to tell him the good news. He was as excited as one could be when someone wakes them up in the middle of the night.  I don't think he could get his head around how I mysteriously found out in the middle of the night that I would be having our baby.  We were so excited and scared and prayed about every last detail and still do.  I was in love with that baby in my belly the second I read the test.  Every day the love grew stronger.  She kicked and I was overjoyed with emotions.  Then at 16 weeks we went to find out the sex and found our our first born would be a little lady and tears of pure happiness streamed down our faces.  There was a spunky, healthy baby girl in the oven and before I could even get out of there I was in full pink mode!  I talked to her everyday, played her music and rubbed my belly all the while.  I loved every second of being pregnant with her. 

But the real transformation came when the doc handed me my babe.  I became a whole new person and experienced the most pure, whole-hearted love that was like nothing I have ever experienced.  Every day I love her more, in different ways and for different reasons.  I have learned so much about myself and about life by having her.  I love Tyler in completely different ways by watching him as her father too. 

One year has passed and our lives and family will never be the same.  Paige is the most remarkable thing that has ever happened to us.  We can see so much of ourselves and our family in her.  She can brighten any room, place or mood.  Her smile is contagious and her cheeks delicious.  There is nothing in this world we would not do for her.   I love every second of being her mommy and feel so blessed and honored to be called to this role. 

We love you so much Paige McKenzie-Kay!  You are such a big girl and we are so proud of all of your accomplishments this year!!! 

Oscar the Great

Today was the first run of the week!  Oscar and Tyler ran 4 miles while I was sill in zzzz-land.  That works out good for me since Oscar is in impeccable shape and if I go run with him when he has all of his gas I end up gasping for air and get lots of offers for an ambulance!  I was scared I was going to cheat since Ty and P weren't with us.  But we got started and it felt good!  It was so much cooler than 9 am Sunday!  I decided right when I started I would do 20 minutes of my run 3 minutes, walk two minutes and then the last 10 minutes run straight through.  I feel like this plan has been working perfectly for me as it is challenging yet I don't get so sore that I can't get out of bed.  My muscles and back are tight in the mornings but I can easily stretch them out. 
On our 10 minute leg I started dreading the huge hill.  Can we make it up the hill??  Oscar is already running behind me! When we turned the corner to the hill, 4 minutes into our last leg, I got worried.  Oscar immediately turned into an Alaskan sled dog!  It was seriously a scene from a Hallmark movie!  He is such an amazing creature and is taking his role as my co-trainer very seriously! 

"My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am" -author unknown

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too. ~Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912

We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment. ~George Eliot

"A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk." ~O.A. Battista

Persistent Pete

Last week was a success on the exercise schedule front!  I managed to complete all three of my days of running!  Well, Tuesday and Thursday we (Oscar and I) did more walking than running but we went!  Yesterday Tyler made coffee then said he and Paige were going to come along with us!  Grrrrrr, I had no motivation to run.  NONE.  Not only that, I had no desire to go outside period!  By the time I had my coffee and worked through every excuse in the book, it was 9:00 am and almost 100 degrees outside.  I listened to a Kanye West song and tied my shoes.  Tyler loaded Paige in the jogging stroller and we were off.  Since we had an audience there wasn't going to be any "cheating".  So we did 30 minutes of run 3 walk two.  I didn't want t do the last run 3.  It was hot and I was over it but Tyler yelled from behind, how much more you got and I told him one more instead of lying.  So we took off.  All of a sudden I realized I could keep going!  We ran 8 minutes instead of 3 and I could have kept going but Oscar had enough and put on the breaks!  Runner's High!!!  YAY!  Its always nice to end a workout with something positive like this to hang onto s you can think about that for your next workout! 

Here is an email correspondence between me, my husband and my father from this past week after I told Tyler I really wished I could punch him in the face as he was making me get up for my workout:

Tyler:  Quote of the day:  "You don't know how bad I want to punch you in the face right now!" ~Heather (1982-present) Avid "Runner"

He continues to explain to my dad that I signed up for the half marathon and asked him to help me get trained for it.  

Dad:  a) getting Heather to sign up for a half marathon: funny

b) getting Heather to prepare/train for this event: challenging to say the least...you will need to develop different levels of tactics well beyond the subtle "pats on the back". I have a few suggestions that have been father tested but may have different results when employed by husband.

c) getting Heather to show for the marathon: very funny

d) Heather finishing the marathon: start checking the temprature in Haite

Note:  If you can battle past the excuses Heather will have for not training and/or not going to the marathon she will probably finish the marathon just to spite us. 

This was really funny and obviously I have used many excuses on my father over the years and he knows how I do not like exercise!!! 

I asked Tyler if he and Paige will come along during our Sunday run and one of our weekly runs to "keep me honest"!