Tis the Season

13 more days until Christmas, 12 more days until our ski trip, and here's the scary one...11 more days until our Christmas Party!  I am not sure if I feel excited or like I want to go hide under the covers and cry because of what I have gotten myself into this time.  Normally I would be beyond excited to host a Christmas Party, but this Christmas Party is not what I would describe as normal.  Paul and I decided to organize a Christmas Party for all of the soldiers in his Platoon, thankfully the other LTs have decided to help too.  However, even with all of their help the cooking has been left up to me.
You see, I know I could just have all of the food ordered and sit back and maybe make a dish or two, but that defeats the purpose of why we decided this party was such a good idea.  We are blessed, I am able to live here with Paul and our house feels like home.  Of course we miss our families, but we still have that feeling of family here.  Paul and I get to enjoy home-cooked meals every night (every night I feel like cooking that is!).  The soldiers who don't have their families here are required to live on post in barracks, and the food available here gets old quick!  So this year we are going to try and give them a Christmas meal and a few hours that will make them feel like they are back home.  This means I am cooking for 30 people, organizing games, and trying to find holiday decorations that will make plastic tables and chairs look like a family table.  If only Martha Stewart could come and help!  I know she could make it work!
But alas there is no Martha here, so I will take it day by day....My goal today: bake at least 60 cookies, hopefully more.  I am excited about this party, I will just feel better once I see it coming together.

I love Fall!!!

We found a quiet spot to eat at the Rock Festival

Fall in Korea is absolutely fabulous!  The sun is shinning, its just cool enough for a sweater in the mornings, and during the day all I want to do is be outside!  This last week we really were able to take advantage of this weather because we were dog sitting one of our favorite dogs!  Zara had a great time visiting Soyosan for the Rock Festival, I think she may have liked all the attention more than the music though!  
I have also been keeping busy working out.  Maybe its the second trimester or maybe its the weather but I have been so motivated to get out to the gym!  Swimming has become my favorite cardio (we did 32 laps tonight)!  I am still able to beat Paul rowing!  Hiking is so great this time of year I just wish I could do everything everyday!  If Korea were like this year round I would never leave.

14 weeks 4 days

 

I'm pregnant not paralyzed!

Finally my normal energy level is back (unfortunately for Paul I am back to getting up early even on the weekends!), the weather is amazing, and I am so excited to workout!!!!  However, I have found not everyone is as excited for pregnant women to be working out...  I understand people are concerned for the safety of the baby, but I am not going to push myself so hard that it is uncomfortable.  That being said, I STILL WANT A WORKOUT!!!!!  I guess I need to vent.  Do not tell me to go to physical therapy because I am pregnant...there is nothing wrong with my body.  Last time I checked it was designed to do this whole pregnancy thing.  So if you don't think I can handle your fitness class fine, but don't think that is going to stop me from working out the way I like and doing what feels good to me.
I still have a little bit of hope left.  I am meeting a trainer on Tuesday and I will give her a month, I am going to be very honest with her.  I want a workout not a brisk walk, and a few old granny strength exercises.  I want to feel good after my workout, and I want it to be WORK!
For extra inspiration I have found my new favorite blog!  http://onefitmom.ca/

Oh Baby!

We're pregnant!!!!!  Somehow those words sounded so much better before morning sickness...but I have made it through three horrible months and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Yes, I can see the glorious second trimester light!
Those three months were far from easy, ending with a trip to the ER.  However, this was not a bad thing, you see I met the most amazing doctor in the world!  He gave me drugs that stop the nausea, I love him!  So now that I am eating somewhat normal foods again, and this cold (that I seemed to have caught while I was in the hospital) is going away I have to say I have never felt so good before in my life!  I can't wait to get back to the gym everyday...spin class here I come!  The other news that is so exciting...mangos the commissary has boxes of mangos and I am going to buy some today!  Maybe this is just exciting to me since I have been craving that glorious, juicy, so sweet, and soooooo YUMMY fruit for a couple of days now!  I feel like this is going to be the best fall ever!!!!

Bastrop Wildfires

I have been following the news lately about the wildfires in Bastrop and it breaks my heart.  Thankfully my parents sold their house last year, so they were not hurt, but all of our neighbors have lost everything.
It is one of those times when looking back I can see that God had a wonderful plan for my family, and I am so thankful for that.  My parents were able to sell their house and find another place they love, I'm not sure that they had ever planned on moving exactly when they did, but now I am so glad they followed God's plan and not their own.
The wildfire started a street away from where we lived, I'm not sure if they would have been able to get all of our dogs out in time.  Even if they would have there is no way everything in the house could have been saved.  I can not imagine how people who still live there must feel, to me it is still unreal that the house I grew up in is gone.  It hasn't sunk in that the rose garden I built when I was little has been burnt to ashes.  Or that the trees I climbed aren't there.  But those things aren't what really matter in life.  What matters is family and loved ones.  So while I am so sad for everything that has been lost, I am so happy everyone is safe!

Thanksgiving in Bastrop

I feel like God has put me in a position to really reach out and help those who lost their houses, unfortunately since I am on the other side of the world it is not as easy as driving to Bastrop with donations.  I will continue to pray for everyone, but I wish more than anything that there was something else I could do to help!

What do you do everyday?

"What do you do everyday?" seems to be the question I get asked the most...so here is the answer, and I am so sorry if it is extremely boring, you asked.  This morning I slept late so my morning cleaning was cut short, and to be honest I am not too disappointed about that!  Morning cleaning consists of cleaning the floors, picking up stuff that gets scattered around the house, cleaning the kitchen, laundry...fun stuff!  After that I spent 30 minutes reading "Water for Elephants" still not done with the book.  By that time it was 11:15 which means time to start getting lunch ready...today I made green monster smoothies, potatoes, and green beans.  I usually start eating before Paul gets home so I have time to put some make-up on and look like I kinda tried to get ready.  I drop Paul back off at work so I will have the car for the rest of the afternoon (YAY!!!!).  Since I now have transportation I try and run a few errands, today I tried to go by the finance office, but it was closed, so instead I went to check mail.  I don't know why but checking mail has always been my favorite.  Even when I paid for all of the packages we get it is still like Christmas time (this could be because it can take up to a month for stuff to get here so half the time by the time I get what I ordered I have completely forgotten exactly what I ordered...).  I use this excitement to get me through a tough workout at the gym and now its 3:00 so time to go home.  Now I usually get rushed, I make a quick snack eat, do any extra cleaning that needs to be done, maybe start on supper, and pick up Paul from work anywhere from 3:30 to 6:00.  We eat supper, then he either has a flag football game or needs to study for the LSAT (I prefer flag football!).  After that we are ready to sit on the couch and watch a T.V. show, read, or talk (yeah WE aren't always so into the talking!).  That is a normal day here.  I am starting a new project, that end up taking LOTS of my time, but for now I am going to keep it a secret. ;-)

They do exist!

I would just like to share my joy with everyone, and perhaps you can not truly appreciate this joy unless you have dealt with the lovely military health care system...but after being referred to an off post doctor (which took weeks to process) I spoke to a receptionist who was friendly!!!!!!  She was not able to get back to me this morning and she apologized for it.  So to all of those people who work in customer service and take responsibility for your actions and who are not lazy and who do not tell people to call back in a week and who do not give clients another number to call just so you don't have to do work...THANK YOU!