Still running!

Well the time is here, tomorrow is my first 5K!!  Sadly we haven't totally completed our couch to 5K program so I'm a little unsure if I'll be able to run the entire thing.  We are about 2 weeks away from completing the training, but I'm totally excited about the race and know we'll have so much fun even if we have to walk just a little bit.  I've been more sick the past 2 months then I have been the past 2 years, so it's been a little hard to train consistently... 2 stomach bugs, 2 colds, sinus infection and strep throat! It might mean I'm stretching myself a BIT too thin lately.

Last weekend we had a great time running at a local park with Emery.  Tyson enjoyed swimming in the creek afterwards and Em slept almost the whole time.  Really fun Saturday morning run, we are just LOVING the cooler weather around here!

Hope you all have great weekends!

Hope

The past couple months Kyle and I have cried with so many of our friends who are being pushed to their limits emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  

We've gone to two funerals, and wished we lived closer to Raleigh to attend 2 more.  We've prayed constantly for strength and healing for our friends.  We've done what we can to be supportive by dropping off personalized baskets, cooking meals, baking muffins and mailing cards to friends and neighbors...and still we feel helpless... like there is nothing we can do or say to take all their pain away.

When we attended Maggie's funeral (click here to read their story), Ginny Owen's song "If you want me to" was playing as we found our seats.  I've always loved this song, and in particular love these two lyrics:

"But you never said it would be easy, you only said I'd never go alone"

"So if all of these trials bring me closer to you, then I will go through the fire if you want me to" 

"If you want me to" by Ginny Owens

One thing that really hit home with Kyle and I at Maggie's funeral was when the pastor said "It's okay to mourn.  It's human.  But never mourn like you have no hope".

I just finished reading "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo.  If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend doing so!  What comfort heaven gives us, knowing that our loved ones are happy, and are excited for the day when we'll be reunited there. THAT is what gives me hope.

To all of our friends going through these trials, we love you and are continuing to pray for you every day. 

LG here we come!

The letters "LG" are not only my initials, but also the company that Kyle just took a job with!

Ky's last day with Hunter was September 2nd, a bittersweet day for sure.  After 4.5 years of working together Ky's boss, Tim, has become one of his best friends so it was definitely a difficult decision to move on.

The opportunity that Kyle was presented with was one that he felt he could not pass up.  He will be focusing on LG's new LED lighting division and is responsible for selling their product line to retailers like Home Depot, Walmart, and Costco.  Since he's getting into this division so early, it is a challenging job but one that has the potential to be really rewarding.  He will be traveling around the same amount and is even going over to Korea later this month!

One difference from Hunter is that this job does not provide a company car (oh free gas we will miss you!).  So for the past month we have been test driving every kind of car we liked.  We made the decision to go with an 2008 Acura MDX and are really loving it.  I'm enjoying all the bells and whistles that it has and we love how it drives like a car but still has the space of an SUV. 

Unfortunately the other change is that Tyson can no longer go into work with Kyle.  Although, I think he'll be just fine hanging out with Emery and me, and going on our walks at lunch time.  At least one of us will get to lounge on the couch all day!

Congratulations again Kyle! I am so proud of your work ethic and the career choices you make to provide for our family.  Love you!

Labor Day Lake/Family Time

We had so much fun up at Smith Mountain Lake with Kyle's family.  Sunday was a beautiful day, perfect to be out in the water and relaxing.  Emery and Caleb were finally big enough to try out their floats, and even though the water was a little chilly they both LOVED them!

Emery just chilled in hers.  Looked around and even kicked her feet!

Caleb ended up falling asleep in his!  What a laid back baby!!

Gunney tried out the boogie board:

And then put on his life vest suit, it cracked us up!  Em enjoyed getting warm on daddy!

Later on in the day we all took a boat ride out to watch the guys ski.   The grandparents, wives and kids rode in the pontoon boat and floated while we watched the guys ski and wake board.
The "sisters" and kiddos:

Em even drove the boat for a bit!  Don honked the horn and Emery (being the startle queen that she is) got scared haha... ONE day she won't spook so easily! 

Face time with daddy:

You can tell that we kiss her cheeks A LOT ... doesn't even phase her:

She loved the wind blowing through her hair :)

Our fam:

And lastly the grandparents with all the kiddos.  Love this picture!  

Thank you again for letting us come up and enjoy the lake with you all, we had so much fun!

Labor Day ASU vs. VT game!

For Labor Day this year we headed up to Virginia to spend some time with Kyle's family at Smith Mountain Lake and go to the ASU vs. VT game.  Kyle's sister, Kerry, went to VT so once we saw that our colleges were playing each other we knew we would all have to go!

Before we left our kids with the grandparents at the lake house, we had to get pictures of them showing their team spirit!  Unfortunately my camera ended up dying right after I snapped these two pictures, but they are still adorable! (I'll try to get all the others that were taken and post them soon!)

Emery and Caleb:

HOW PERFECT is this next picture... Caleb is holding up a "1" hand in Emery's face... ha so funny!

It was neat to walk around Virginia Tech's campus and be in their huge stadium!  It was a HOT day with a pretty blue sky most of the time!

I really do enjoy half time shows:

Kyle and I:

Rach & Mike:

Kerry & Brad:

The 3 original siblings:

Thank you again Brenda, Don, Julia and Randy for watching the kiddos so we could all enjoy the game.  It was a fun day for sure!

Chicken Enchiladas

*Sorry this has become "food week" on the blog.  I haven't had time to upload pictures and write anything, so here is a recipe I've had in my "drafts" for a while!  More to come on our actual life happenings next week!*

 My friend, Jen, made this recipe for us one night for dinner and we loved it so much I just had to get the recipe!  It's so good, enjoy!

Chicken Enchiladas

Enchilada Sauce

2 Tbl olive oil

1/2 c. chopped onions

2 tsp chili powder

2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce

1/2 c. chicken broth

1 tsp cumin

salt & pepper to taste

Enchiladas

1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup

1 c. sour cream

3-4 c shredded cooked chicken

1 (16oz) can re fried beans

10 (6-8in) flour tortillas

3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 c sliced green onions

1/4 c. sliced green olives

1/4 c sliced black olives

Directions:

Prepare enchilada sauce.  Saute onions in oil.  Add chili powder, tomato sauce, chicken broth, cumin, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, stirring well.

Preheat oven 350 and grease 9x13in dish.  In large bowl combine soup and  sour cream.  Stir in chicken pieces

Spread 2 Tbl beans over each tortilla.  Spread 1/3c. chicken mixture down center of each tortilla.  Sprinkle with 1 Tbl cheese.  Roll up each tortilla and place seam-side down in baking dish.

Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas.  Sprinkle with green onions, olives and remaining cheese.  Bake for 35 minutes or until bubbling.

I doubled the recipe to be able to freeze one for later.  YUM!!

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells Recipe

Here is the Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shell recipe as promised that we tried from Pinterest.  It was so good and actually made 1 9x13 pan, and 3 8x8 pans that we froze!  So good and I love that it makes so many!!

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells

1 (12-ounce) box uncooked jumbo pasta shells (if all of yours survive the boil this is enough, to be safe you may want 1 1/2 boxes)

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

2 cups fresh chopped spinach

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (15oz) container ricotta cheese

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened

1 (5oz) package shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1 2/3 cups)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (26oz) jar prepared spaghetti sauce (If you like it saucier use more)

1. Cook shells according to package directions. Be careful not to overcook them or they will tear easily when trying to fill them. Drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two 9x13 baking dishes.

3. In a large bowl, combine chicken and all the rest of the ingredients except mozzarella and spaghetti sauce. Stir in 1 cup mozzarella. Spoon into shells. *Tip: For easier filling, fill a gallon ziplock baggie with the filling and snip a quarter size hole off the corner of the bag. Then you can just pipe the filling into the shells.

4. Spread half of spaghetti sauce into prepared baking dishes. Arrange shells over sauce; top with remaining sauce. Cover tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. If you are freezing one of the 9x13 prepared pans, freeze it after this step. Include a baggy of the remaining mozzarella for when you cook it.

5. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Bake for 5 to 10 more minutes.

Wordless Wednesday: Smiles

The Famous Cafe Du Monde

On Sunday morning before our flight out of New Orleans we walked to Cafe Du Monde as we heard we had to try the beignets!  We arrived right before a huge line formed and had a fun time trying out the fried dough.  YUM they were delicious!

New Orleans trip!

On August 26th, we headed to New Orleans to celebrate our friends, Taylor and Courtney's wedding (Courtney is from Baton Rouge).  It was our first flight with Emery and our first time visiting New Orleans, so we were pretty nervous/excited!  We tried to plan as best we could with Emery's feeding/sleeping schedule so that she would be well behaved on the plane, and also bought some last minute covers for her stroller and car seat.  I would definitely recommend buying these to save your equipment from dirt and germs!  (Click here - except ours has wheels- and here to see what we bought from Babies R Us).  We actually checked every piece of luggage at curb side check in and then put Emery in the Baby Bjorn for security and for walking through the airport.  It worked out perfectly!

The flight took an hour and a half (compared to an 8 hour drive!) and Emery did so great on the way there, didn't even fuss!  We traveled with our friends, Chris and Kathleen, and it was so great to spend a whole weekend with them!

I ended up finding a Living Social Deal a while ago for a 3 day, 2 night stay at the Hilton in New Orleans for $49! PLUS when you check into the hotel they'll give you a $50 gift card... so basically they are paying you $1 to go on a free trip!  The only catch was that you had to go to a 90 minute presentation for a timeshare, which is not a huge deal since Kyle and I like to hear the latest things they offer (my parents had a timeshare growing up).

We checked into the hotel, showered and headed to the rehearsal dinner that was held in the House of Blues.  They had delicious food and we loved meeting all of Tay and Courtney's friends.  It started at 7:30 so before long it was way past Emery's bedtime.  I found a comfortable chair and she sacked out while we watched the slideshow and toasts.  Unfortunately this was the only picture taken the whole night, whoops!

Saturday morning we headed downstairs for breakfast and then out to the pool!  Kyle, Emery and I were the only ones there, score! (There was a Mechacon conference going on where everyone was dressed up like anime characters.. a little weird but very entertaining and let us have the pool all to ourselves so we're not complaining!)

It was hot and humid the whole weekend, so the the pool felt amazing.  I feel like Emery is so big, but when we can wrap a hand towel around her I remember that she's still very very tiny!

Our timeshare presentation was at 1:30 and lasted until 3:30 or so.  EUGH it was long and our lady was very offensive and annoying.  Oh well we got through it and successfully did not buy a time share.

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for the reception (only family were invited to the wedding). Here are the pics from the night!

Their daughter Gracyn (in the middle) had the best time dancing in her fluffy dress:

Mikey, Chris and Ky

The gals: (Emery was SO tired poor thing)

Chris and Kathleen.  So excited to meet their little one arriving around Feb. 9th!  (They aren't finding out the sex!)

Em loved wearing her cousin, Natalie's dress!

View from the River Room:

Group shot:

Congratulations again Tay and Court, we are so happy for you.  You clearly make a great team already!

We took the trolly back to the hotel which was really fun.  Wished we had figured out to take it sooner!

 

 Fun night for sure!