I had 5 minutes to check up on all my favorite blogs and stumbled across an award that I received from one of my blogger BFF's, Jill at Jill's World.  I was pretty pumped considering that I've been the biggest blogger fail as of late.  :)  Jill is awesome.  If you don't read her blog, check her out.  She's one of my favorites or favourites as my friend north of the border says. 

The award is circulated to those bloggers that you want to inform that  their posts brighten your day.
1. Include the award logo on your post or blog
2. Link to the person who nominated you
3. Answer 10 questions about yourself.
4. Nominate 10 bloggers to receive the award. Link your nominees in your post and leave them a comment letting them know that they have been nominated and give them 10 questions to answer about themselves.

Here we go.....

1.  I believe everyone has a “theme song” – one song that defines them, speaks to them, moves them...  What is yours? 
Black Crowes - Soul Singing

2. They’re making a movie about your life.  Who do choose to play you on the big screen?
Hmmm.... that's a tough one.  Maybe Reese Witherspoon.  I love her in Sweet Home Alabama.  "You have a baby... in a bar."

3. What is your favourite holiday, and why?
I'm going to go with Christmas.  Last year Christmas was so fun because of Aubri.  I loved watching her open gifts and play with her new toys.

4. You are given a free ticket to travel anywhere in the world for one month – where do you go, and what sights do you see?
I'd like to go to Alaska and watch whales and all that good stuff.

5. Are you a fan of Reality TV?  If so, which show would you like to be on and why?
Oh yes.  The trashier the better.  If I were to be on one though I would probably pick Survivor.  Not that I'd be that great at it but it would be a cool game to play.

6. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Were do I start?  The girl that whispers to herself that sits outside of my office.  Talking with a mouth full of food.  Slurping. People who clip their fingernails at work.

7. What is your favourite thing about Autumn?  What is this season like where you live?
My favorite thing about Autumn is cooler temperatures.  Where I live the leaves change colors and fall.  The temperatures are in the 70's now.  

8. Do you play an instrument?  If not, what instrument would you like to learn to play?
I have a guitar.  I used to play it before I was a wife and mother.  My cousin used to let me stand up with his band and play a song.  I felt like a rock star.


9. You’re on a diet, and trying to avoid certain junk foods… which is your biggest temptation – the hardest to resist?
Peanut M&M's from the vending machine.

10. Do you have a Bucket List?  Tell me one of the items on it that you hope to cross off someday.
I'd love to drive to Alaska.  My hubby says no way.  He doesn't like to drive.

Hope you are all doing well!  I'll do an update soon.

Catching up.... somewhat

Things have been pretty good in our world.

We have found a house that we want to buy.  The owners are building so we have 4-6 months to sell ours.  If we don't, we are prepared to pay two mortgages.

Aubri is still the best thing to ever happen to us.  She's such a little sweetheart.  She loves her Mommy and Daddy unconditionally.

She's getting her 1 year molars.  Let me tell you, that shit is no joke.  I can see that it hurts.  She's had a slight fever, a snotty nose, and well, the poops.  A good nights sleep has become a myth at our house.  Although, last night was better.


We went camping for the 4th of July.  We went and watched fireworks.  Aubri was tired so I don't know if she liked it or hated it.  She was too tired for us to tell. We got to do some four-wheeler riding.  Aubri got to be spoiled and ditch her routine for a long weekend.  And the pups got to run wild.

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer!

Birthday Party

Aubri's birthday party was a couple weeks ago. The party was supposed to be outside at a park under a pavilion.  The day of the party it was cold and raining.  We set everything up at the park and then decided to move the party to my mom and dad's garage.

In the garage:

We had a friend of ours take pictures at her party and I love the way they turned out.  

She loved the cupcake.  She received lots of nice gifts.  And once we got to the garage, we all had a great time. 

I think she liked being the center of attention too. 

1 year

One year ago today, we were blessed with the most perfect baby girl.   In one year, she has taught us so much and learned so much herself.

She can walk now.

She's using a potty chair (sometimes).

She's eats table scraps.

She can give high five, play pat -a- cake, dance, and give kisses and "awwws."

She can say mom, dad, Shelley (shhhh), Abby (babbby), Papaw, Gigi (grandma maybe), cup, puppy, hey, baba, and babbles like a champ.

She weighs somewhere around 25 pounds.

She loves shopping cart rides and going for wagon rides.

She loves taking baths, having snacks, and flushing the toilet.

When we brought her home, we had no idea what we were doing.  Now, we couldn't imagine our lives without her.

We love you more than words could ever describe.  You bring so much joy and happiness to our lives.  You will always be our baby girl.


Happy Birthday Aubria Rose! 

Hey, remember me?

I'm so far behind in the blogging world that my only choice is a bullet post.

• The hubby didn't end up going to WLC (Army training).  He hurt his back the week before.  He's not sure how.  He ended up having an epidural and wasn't able to go.  We were glad to have him stay home.  But my ears hurt from all the whining. 

• After a couple of months of extending contracts, crossing our T's and dotting our I's or i's, we were able to transfer what is left of Matt's GI bill to Aubria.  He has 26 months remaining.  Divide that by 9 months per school year and she has almost 3 years of benefits to use.  Tuition.  Room and board.  Books.  I am elated that we have one less thing to worry about. 

• Speaking of the little tornado, Aubri will be a year old at the end of this month.  I will do a better update on her then.  But for now, she can wave bye, give kisses, give high fives, and is showing interest in potty training.  She has a potty chair.  We put her on it when she wakes up and sometimes between naps/sleeping.  She has done great.  She prefers to poop on it rather than in her diaper.  But, we are not forcing it.  She crawls like a champ and will eat just about anything.

•  I've been slacking a little on the dieting but I'm hoping to get my butt back in gear now that Easter is over.  I'm down to pre-pregnant weight.  And have lost a total of 15 pounds.

• We put our house on the market.  So far, we have two Looky Lou's.  We take that as a good sign.  However, the town we are wanting to move to has nothing we are interested in.

• Baseball season has started.  Here is a picture from "family fun time." 

That's about all I have for today.  Sorry for the lack of posting and commenting.  I'm going to try harder.  

Hope you all have a great week!

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Well, here goes nothing.  If I lose you all, I'm sorry. 

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Liebster Award

Last week, I was awarded the Liebster Award twice.   I'm almost positive someone gave me this award when Aubri was a newborn.  This time around, I will make time to comply with most of the rules and whatnot.

First, Becca gave me the award and then Roxy  gave it to me.  They each have a beautiful baby girl that is about the same age as Aubri.  If you don't follow their blogs already, go check them out.

The Rules

 1. List 11 facts about yourself.

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.

3. Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award.

4. Choose 11 bloggers with 200 or less followers to nominate.

5. Go to each bloggers page and let them know about the award.

6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

Becca's Questions:

1. What is your favorite quote?  I can tell you my least favorite quote.   It's, "It is what it is."  No joke.  Everything is what it is.
2. What is the first thing you notice about people?  This may sound weird but eyebrows.  I don't know why.
3. If you could live in any era of history, when would it be and why? I love 70s music.  So, I'm going to go with the 70s. 
4. What motivates you to exercise?  What motivates me to exercise is that I don't want to be the fat bridesmaid in my brother's upcoming wedding.
5. What grown up job did you want, when you were a kid?  I believe I wanted to be a math teacher.
6. Did you ever want to change your name? If so, to what?  I'm sure I did want to change it but I can't recall what to.
7. What single dish do you cook well?  I'm going to go with potato soup.
8. Where were you in life 5 years ago?  Five years ago, Matt was deployed and we had just gotten engaged.
9. What makes a house a home?  Family :)
10. What is something you have always wanted to try? I want to try Zumba but I'm afraid I'll make a fool of myself.
11. Which junk food is your weakness?  Chocolate chip cooks and peanut M & M's.

Roxy's Questions:

1. Where do you live?  We live in central Illinois.
2. Do you want to be living there? Why or why not? Yes and no.  We are actually trying to sell our house and move to a town closer to where we both work and where our families are from.
3. What is your occupation? My title is Accounts Receivable Specialist.
4. Is it your dream job?  I like my job. I'd love it if I made more money.
5. What is your favorite food?  I'm on a low carb diet.  So, anything with carbs sounds good right now.
6. What types of food are you afraid to try?  Sushi.  Really any seafood besides fish and shrimp.
7. What are your hobbies?  Spending as much time with Aubri as I can, in addition to working and going to school.
8. Do you like to workout? Why or why not? Like, no.  I do it though. 
9. What is your favorite type of workout?  Well, I have a gazelle.  I wouldn't say I really like it.  Matt said I could get a treadmill. 
10. What are your goals for this year?  Lose about 40 pounds, finish my first school related micro-goal, try to relax more.
11. What does your typical day consist of? Wake up, get ready, take Aubri to Mom's, mess around there until I absolutely have to go to work, work, go to Mom's for lunch and see my baby, work, go home, eat supper, play with Aubri, work out (maybe), rock Aubri to sleep, put her to bed, and then go to sleep.      

Thank you both for passing this award along to me!

If you are reading this, consider yourself a recipient of this award.  

Hope you are all having a great week! 

Army related news

I haven't talked about my husband being in the Army for awhile now.

The hubby was active duty Army, then Army Reserves, and now he is in the Illinois National Guard.

One weekend a month, he packs up his gear and leaves.  We live about 70 miles away from where he does his drill.  More often than not, he spends the night.  He is usually gone from 6:00 Saturday morning until 6:00 Sunday evening.

A couple of months ago, he signed a new contract.  A three year extension.  As of now, he has a commitment until July of 2016.  Around the same time, he was also promoted.  He is now a Sergeant. 

This all means a couple of things for us.

First of all, he will have a 10 + year (actually 12) commitment to the Army.  When you have a commitment of over 10 years, you can transfer your GI bill (the thing that pays for him to go to school).  From what I understand, he can't transfer it to Aubri because he already starting using it and it has to be used within 9 years from the time he started using it.  So, basically, we are going to try to transfer it to me.  If my school is paid for, I will go as long as I can.  Matt has done a great job with school and has one class left.  I'm super proud of him for going.  

Also, because of his promotion, he will have to go to WLC.  That stands for Warrior Leader Course.  I'm not sure how much of the details I can share.  But, what I can share is that it is a couple states away.  He will be gone for two and a half weeks.  And it's coming up soon.  

When I think about him leaving for two weeks, I get a little nervous.  Aubri has went from a perfect little angel that likes to sit on a blanket and play quietly to almost a toddler that likes to roam, yell, and get into things.  Taking care of her has become a two person operation.

But, then I remind myself, it's only two weeks and a half week.  I can totally do it. 

He should be able to text me and call me everyday.  We can probably even Facetime.  It's two weeks, not 15 months, or a year, or 9 months.  We will all be fine.  

The thought of him leaving is a big reminder.  A reminder that it could be a lot worse and it is a lot worse for some people.  Having him home with us every night is something I try to not take for granted.  I will never forget what it was like when he was deployed.  But, I think we both grew a lot when he was gone and looking back, I'd do it all over again.

Aubri and I will miss you!

Selling/Buying a House

I don't think we ever planned on living in the house we bought forever.  It's a nice house.  It is exactly how we want it.  Matt has his man cave.  The dogs have the yard.

There is a problem.  Our house is in a town that is about 15-20 miles from where we work.  And also where my parents live.  (My mom watches Aubri while we work.)

So, if we stay in our house that we are in now, how will Aubri get from school to our house if we both work past the time school gets out?

I also figured that we are spending about $300 a month driving back and forth to work.  

So, we have decided we want to move back to the town we work in and are from.

The price of a house in the town we live in now is a lot lower than were we want to go.  That's why we bought a house there in the first place.  That was also when gas was $2.50 a gallon.  (God, I sound old saying that.)

We stuck a "For Sale By Owner" sign in our front yard two weeks ago.  We've had people ask for pictures.  A few nibbles, if you will.  

I think there are somewhere around 40 houses for sale in the town we live in. On the other hand, where we want to go, there are six.  And all of them are no-gos.

If we don't sell ours by this summer, we will most likely list it with a realtor.  If we do sell it before we find something else, we can stay with my parents or rent somewhere.

At least we have made a decision to move.   That's a start.

Vacation is Over

Today, we had to go back to the real world.  No more staying in our pajamas all most of the day.  No more lounging around and watching Judge Judy.

Vacation was good to us.  Aubri had a great 1st Christmas. There were times during our vacation I just tried to freeze time and remember.  Remember all the little things.

Christmas morning at our house.

Christmas day at my parents.

Grandma & Grandpa got her a slide.

She got a horsie named "Sugar."

Here is everything she got.  Santa brought her the wagon, Little Tykes swing, and a few small things.

Partying in the garage on New Years' Eve.  

For the New Year, I am going to lose weight.  My brother is getting married next February and I don't want to be the fat bridesmaid.  I weight more now than I did a week after I had Aubri.  I never really much cared about how much I weighted.  Maybe that's the problem.  Anyways, here goes nothing.  I'm not posting "before" pictures of my fatass but I'll let you know the numbers.  I know I can do it, I lost 30 pounds once before.  Gained it back too, and then some.  

Hope you all enjoyed the Holidays!