Family in town!

One thing we love about living close to our hometown is being able to visit family and friends easy and having family come visit us! We had James, Lexi, Brock, Lyv, Harley, Tarron and Chad come down and spend Halloween weekend with us. The kids were definitely anxious and looking forward to them coming to visit. We enjoyed having them here and the weekend actually didn't fly by... felt like we got to spend a lot of time together. Brock and Harley was able to go to Kenzie's school "Fall Festival" with me. Brock loved sitting next to Kenzie and playing the games with her. Harley of course loved to see Kenzie's classroom and enjoyed it. We spent one of the days in Tombstone walking around. The kids had a good time looking at shops, horses, the people walking around in costume. Aly and I went on our own adventure while everyone was waiting for lunch. We found a neat reptile shop, looked around random stores and she waved and said Hi to everyone! I sure enjoyed the one on one time with her! Hate living so far away from my niece and nephew. I love them to pieces! Brock and Kenzie walked around together most of the time. It amazes me how much they both have grown! They still are the best of friends though!

While they were here I took some family pictures for them and a few of everyone else as well. I think they turned out great. Love the one that I got of the four cousins. They are impossible to take pictures of with all four smiling but the backs of them holding hands is definitely one of my favorites! All four of them are so special in their own ways! Titan and Alyvia have not had the time to bond like MaKenzie and Brock did but they are getting there! I of course loved having my sister here and getting some pictures of her too. She is gorgeous and growing up way too freakin' fast.

We had a great time with everyone visiting. We also did pumpkin carving, had a Halloween party, and spent Halloween together. That will be in the next blog :)

Happy Birthday to Myself & Melissa ♥

On October 19th Melissa turned 30 and October 22nd I turned 24. Our great friend Anne put together a wonderful night for us. Anne made amazing food while Melissa made amazing desserts. It was fun to dress up and have a good time with just us. We had a very relaxing night.. drinking wine, eating and snacking all night. It was a lot of fun!

Thank you Anne for putting this together... it was beautiful! Thank you for cooking and thank you to Melissa for her desserts :) Thank you both for my birthday presents as well!

Kenzie's 1st Field Trip! ♥

MaKenzie is hitting so many firsts this year it's crazy. Kindergarten really is such a huge milestone! I love every second of it though. She is doing great in school and I couldn't be more proud of her! Her first field trip was to a pumpkin patch on October 20th. Arek was the one to go along with the class. He also brought Titan with him. Titan was so excited to get to spend his actual birthday with MaKenzie on her field trip.

Arek sent me pictures through the trip. They had a good time at the pumpkin patch. They got to pick out pumpkins, feed and meet different animals, go on a hay ride and loved it. After the pumpkin patch they went to the park to eat lunch. I wish I could have been there with them. Due to babysitting I had to stay home, Arek go to enjoy it though. It will definitely be my turn on the next field trip :) They both came home telling me how much fun they had. It was precious ♥

Happy Birthday Titan ♥

It feels like just yesterday Titan was still in my belly. How is it possible that he is now three years old? Where does the time go? I would appreciate it if it would slow down some. My two love bugs are growing up way too fast. We celebrated Titan's birthday with our little family and lots of friends. Thank you to everyone that was able to come and enjoy Titan's birthday with us. The theme was easy to pick this year. Titan has a new found love for Thomas, he wanted to be Thomas for Halloween and for his birthday. Melissa made the awesome Thomas Train cake for him, that he LOVED! Arek and I bought him the huge Thomas Train he has been wanting for a long time. Along with other things, but he could not have been happier with his Thomas Party. He enjoyed everyones company. Playing on the trampoline, opening presents, eating cake and ice cream. He had a blast. It was adorable to watch him open his presents. When we told him to say thank you he would look for the person who got him the present smile and wave.. his way of saying thank you :) It was cute! Thank you again to everyone who was there to celebrate with us!! ♥

MP Ball ♥

I have anxiously been waiting for a Military Ball to come up that we could go to! I soo wanted to play dress up and enjoy the evening ♥ I loved going dress shopping, doing my hair and getting ready. Also enjoyed seeing Arek dress up in his Class A's. The ball was nice. We met "RUDY" from the movie and Arek got to cut the cake with him. We had a nice dinner and couple drinks. It was a relaxing night and we enjoyed each other's company. :)

I think we both looked pretty good ;)

Fun at the Fair ♥

MaKenzie and Titan absolutely love when the Carnival comes to town. So of course we can't miss it! We ended up going on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we went in the late afternoon but it was still ridiculously hot. The kids didnt care and loved every second of it. They ran around to all the rides and loved it! They went on almost every kid ride there. I thought Titan would be nervous on the catipillar roller coaster but he loved it. He got a little nervous on the flying animals one, but as soon as he saw Kenzie was enjoying he had started smiling and laughing. He definitely adores his sister! They won a stuffed animal each.. although technically both times neither of them actual won, the people just gave them prizes. Apparently they are too adorable to resist ;)

On Sunday, They had family day events going on. So the kids got free face painting, made sand things, a tote, got tattoos and made home play dough. They loved it. Then of course we had to let them go on all the rides again! They had a blast together. I absolutely loved just watching them run around and enjoy themselves ♥

Family Retreat ♥

One thing the Army does that I love is "Marriage Retreats". Last year we went to the retreat at Fort Drum in Lake Placid and loved it. So we definitely wanted to go again this year. This retreat was at the JW Marriot. The Army pays for your room, meals, etc. The hotel was absolutely beautiful. We left for the retreat Friday early afternoon. It's only an hour drive so we had some free time before dinner. We checked into the hotel room and took the kids down to the pool. As most of you should know.. Titan is not a fan of the water. He cries if we make him get in the pool and much rather sit on the sidelines. He is just terrified of being in the water. So we took the kids to the lazy river first. MaKenzie absolutely loves Lazy Rivers and they had a slide so she was excited. She was sliding down the slide by herself.. loving it. Titan would hold us tight the whole time and just kept asking to get out and go to a little pool. I just told him over and over again everything was okay, don't be scared and I'm proud of him. Apparently that worked because as soon as we left the Lazy River we went over to the splash area.. of course he loves that because he can play in the water without actually being in the water like a pool. So he loved every second of it. Then we took them to the main pool so Kenzie could swim and Titan could hang out on the Sunbathing part which was only a few inches deep. I stepped in the pool with Titan and he just out of the blue said "Let me go Mom, Me not scared!" So he kicked and swam and played the whole time.. loving every minute of it. MaKenzie was excited because she is a fish and loves to swim, so she was always trying to get Titan to swim with her.. now that he does she loves it! After hanging out at the pools for a couple hours we went up to the room, showered and got ready for dinner. Dinner was good then we took the kids for a walk around the hotel and to play in the grass outside.. very relaxing day ♥ & We were all passed out by 8:30pm!

Saturday morning.. MaKenzie and I were first to wake up. We walked out on the Balcony, sat and talked. She is becoming so mature and way too "grown" up. I love having conversations with her. We got ready for the day and woke the boys up. After breakfast we took the kids to child care while we went to class from 8:30am-12:30pm. The classes are fun and really you get some interesting and helpful information out of them. Even if you think you have the perfect marriage.. you learn things that can make it even better. I enjoy them! Titan didn't do so well in Child care though. We left him and he was perfectly fine good for this first hour or so but then didn't want anyone but Mommy or Daddy. Apparently one of the boys was "mean" to him and he didn't want to stay in the same room as him! Poor boy. I was proud how well he did though being the first time he has ever been left in a child care! MaKenzie loved it though.. she had a girl from her class there and our neighbor so she loved it. After class we had lunch then spent some more time at the pool. Part of the retreat was "Date Night" they set up credit for us at the restaurant of our choice and provided child care. The kids had a nice dinner buffet while we were at the Signature Grill at the Resort. We sat outside on the patio. I enjoyed the view and watching the sunset :) It was a relaxing dinner. Then we were both anxious to pick up the kids even though we had another hour and half of child care we picked them up early :) Enjoyed the night with them and let them swim some more!

Sunday wasn't so easy with Titan in Child Care.. he wasn't having it AT ALL. So we ended up leaving class a little early and checking out of the hotel early. We had a great weekend though. I love the marriage retreats and hope we can get one more in before Arek gets out. The kids also had a blast. We stopped by the Tucson mall before we headed home to look for a dress for me to wear to the MP Ball. We also got new cell phones, finally :) We loved staying at the hotel, but its always nice to get home in your own environment again!