Category: Family
4 Years
| June 5, 2013 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Family |
4 Years
3 States
2 Babies
1 Love
Happy anniversary to my best friend, soul mate, and partner in crime. Four years ago we set out on a crazy adventure in life and haven’t stopped laughing and loving since. I am so blessed to call you mine now and forever.
Easter 2013
| April 1, 2013 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Family, Holidays |
**Congratulations to Sarah G. for winning my THINaddictives giveaway! Email me at foodfitnessandfamily (at) gmail (dot) com to claim your prize!
Happy Monday friends! We are enjoying a long weekend here since Chris has today off of work. The last couple of days have included multiple egg hunts, trips to the park, and a certain basket delivering bunny 
This was Emmalyne’s second Easter but definitely the first that she could participate in. The Easter Bunny left her a pretty fun basket!
She got some crayons, sidewalk chalk, books, shorts, and the Sofia The First movie. Chris popped the DVD in while I got breakfast ready. Em loves Sofia and I managed to catch this gem of her watching:
After a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit, and cinnamon rolls we headed out the door to church. I LOVE Easter mass and this one was no exception. I also love cute little girls in pretty new dresses 
We got home in time to have a light lunch and attempt a nap for Em. Unfortunately for us, she decided to skip it all together. FUN. Our friends Bryan and Cassie rented out the club house in their neighborhood and had a bunch for us over there to celebrate Easter. When I can’t be in Phoenix, I am thankful for my Army family to fill in the gaps on holidays! We had an awesome food spread:
The company was even better. We spent the afternoon chatting away with our friends, watching tons of babies be cute, and stuffing our faces. The day ended with an Easter Egg Hunt which was the highlight for Em.
It was SO MUCH FUN hunting eggs with the Emster. She definitely understood and was on a mission to hunt all the eggs. She even figured out how to open them thus leading to her first M&M consumption. I’m so proud.
I hope your weekend was full of good times with friends and family. I have to get the house together today to get back on track for the week! Happy Monday
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Hunting the Good Stuff
| March 11, 2013 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Army, Family, Wellness |
*There’s still time to enter my Sunglasses Shop giveaway! Enter HERE.
My parents divorced when I was pretty little so I grew up living with just my mom. She’s a pretty incredible person and I am lucky to call her mine. That being said, it was eleven years before she married my step-dad which meant for eleven years it was just her and I. Well, except when my brother-in-law Mark lived with us before my sister’s wedding and when Heather lived with us while Mark was at Notre Dame for his MBA. I cherish a lot of the family traditions she started with me and plan to carry on many of them to my own family. One thing we always did was eat dinner together at the dinner table. Naturally she often had candles and classical music playing (she’s super mom I swear). We would talk about our day and she would ask what random act of kindness I did for someone else, and what was something awesome that happened to me. Half the time I would roll my eyes and come up with something but looking back I realize she was teaching more than I ever knew.
As you guys know, I recently attended Master Resiliency Training through Army Community Services on Fort Stewart. I am loving sharing some of the things I learned in the hopes that it touches your life the way it did mine. One of the things we learned was to hunt the good stuff. Hunting the good stuff means taking stock at the end of the day about what good things happened that day. The best way to reflect on the good stuff is to sit down and journal it. Hunting the good stuff helps reinforce the positive in our lives and cherish the moments that matter. It’s absolutely key for putting problems and situations in perspective.
Little did I know that I have been hunting the good stuff all my life thanks to my mom. Her daily dose of positivity is probably why optimism and hope are high on my character strengths. Granted my mom holds a masters degree in counseling so it doesn’t surprise me that she was training me to be a resilient person I still take a special moment before bed to sit down and count my blessings from the day.
So I challenge you to think about hunting the good stuff today. When your day is over and before you go to bed, sit down and take a moment to reflect. Our lives get crazy busy and between the hustle and bustle everyday memories and moments can be lost. Hold on tight to those and use that positive energy to keep you centered and your outlook bright. Teach your kids to hunt the good stuff now to help them be more resilient later.
Here is a some of my good stuff from the weekend:
Emmie playing in the bounce house at the Bark for Life event.
Emmie coloring and playing with dad.
A picnic in the park with my family.
A great church service … homily was on the prodigal son which is a favorite of mine.
Emmie after our group run on Sunday.
Not a surprise that so much of my good stuff involves the Emster
What is some of your good stuff?
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Christmas 2012 Recap
| December 26, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Family, Holidays |
Welcome back to blog-land friends! For those that celebrated I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We sure did. Ready for picture overload? Good because so am I.
To start off our celebrations we took some pictures of Emmalyne in her beautiful party dress. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate for good natural lighting. Oh well
Afterwards we headed to mass for the Christmas Eve service. We went to the children’s liturgy and watched the Christmas pageant. I can’t wait until Em is old enough to be in one.
After church we had to run home, eat, and change into comfortable clothes before loading up the car with plates of food for Chris’ Soldiers who were working. We hung out at the Military Police station for about an hour before getting home to tuck Em into bed. We jumped on Skype with my family to open our annual ornaments for our Christmas tree.
From top left: Emmalyne got the most epic ornament of all time. It’s a Packer’s helmet with a baby in it wearing a onesie saying “newest fan”. I die. My mom rocks. We got her the Mickey Mouse to commemorate our trip to Disney World in May and her undying love for the mouse himself. I got the sunflower from my mom because they have always been a special thing for us and our family ornament was the holy family. Once again mom nails it.
Our work wasn’t done though because now we are *gasp* parents and are now responsible for assembling Christmas gifts. A couple hot choclates later and sometime after midnight we collapsed into bed.
Only to wake up to having Santa outdo us
Emmalyne got absolutely and ridiculously spoiled by everyone who loves her. Highlights? Her Radio Flyer wagon, a rocker, a Tricycoo, and so much more.
I also got positively spoiled rotten by my family. I have a BIG family so I guess that means more gifts? My life is complete with an iPhone 5, new Toms, Lululemon clothes, and Oakley sunglasses. Chris was tired of me running in my normal sunglasses so I feel like the gift is half for him? Some of the items were one my Fit-Christmas list and others were complete surprises.
My favorite gift this year though was from my sister. It’s my wedding video. It’s been missing for 3 years in their house and she found it this year. Seriously best gift ever
By 10AM we had a house full of Soldiers enjoying a Christmas brunch and watching Elf. Perfection. The truth behind Christmas though? Once Emmalyne saw her baby stroller (IE: the first gift she saw) it was game over. Homegirl pushed her baby throughout the house all. day. long.
Overall we had a nearly perfect Christmas. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if I was with my family. Luckily technology makes that possible and we were able to Skype in while they were opening gifts in Phoenix.
Now, it’s time to get back on track, look back on 2012, and set some goals for 2013. :)
If you celebrate, what was the best gift you received this year?
Like what you see? Make sure to subscribe to my feed! I would love to hear from you on Facebook or Twitter! Need a daily dose of Emmalyne? Find us on Instagram!
Strong Bonds Retreat + The Nothing Box
| December 10, 2012 | Posted by Madeline @ Food, Fitness, and Family under Army, Family |
Happy Monday folks! We got back from Orlando and holy cow did we have a great time! We were in Orlando for an Army Strong Bonds marriage retreat. The Army pays for your room, seminars, and most of your meals … you just have to get there! On top of that, they hire a nanny service to provide child care during the event so you and your spouse can focus on the message. Since Orlando is a short 4.5 hour drive, we were all over it. Chris, Emmalyne, and I hit the road Friday at lunch and checked in by 5:30PM. We got lucky and our retreat was held at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress and we were given glasses of champagne upon check in. My kind of hotel
Rather than give a play-by-play, I want to break down the weekend and provide some information on our experience with the Strong Bonds program. This post is kind of lengthy … so read on at your own risk
THE SEMINARS
Our retreat was “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage” with Mark Gungor (via DVD).
I really enjoyed the presentations. I feel like Mark Gungor is half pastor/stand of comic. While he presented the male vs. female scenarios as stereotypes (and says so) I found a lot of the situations to be relevant to my own marriage. First, he described men’s brains as being compartmentalized with boxes. A man has a box for each thing (IE: job, house, spouse, kids, etc.) and the boxes don’t touch. Women’s brains however were described as a ball of wire with everything interrelating and connecting. Additionally, men have a “nothing box” where they can literally think about nothing. This particularly resonated with me. Over the last 6 years I have never believed Chris when he said he said he was thinking about nothing because obviously he had to be thinking about something. HA. Mr. Gungor went on to give 4 steps to get a man to do what you want which I made sure to take elaborate notes on Overall I truly enjoyed these presentations and plan on borrowing my friend’s DVD to catch some of the parts we missed.
CHILDCARE
I was extremely impressed with the nanny service that was hired for this event. They separated the children by age into separate rooms. Each room was spacious, fully staffed, with tons of age appropriate toys. I felt completely comfortably leaving Emmalyne there while we attended the sessions. Additionally, on Saturday child care was available from 8AM-10PM so couples could have focused processing time together. Chris and I took advantage of this for a date night. Emmalyne throughouly enjoyed her time in child care and all the nannies knew her by name and would tell me stories about her antics when I picked her up.
DATE NIGHT
Chris and I treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at the hotel restaurant Hemingway’s. The atmosphere was quiet and intimate. We were able to discuss some of the things we learned and brainstorm ways we could help the other and strengthen our marriage even more than it already is. I had the Alaskan king crab legs with boursin whipped potato gratin and steam asparagus. The potatoes were seriously heavenly and the crab legs were pre-split to be enjoyed without the mess. Chris had the cast iron rib eye with grilled asparagus. Our server surprised us with dessert … coconut ice cream encrusted with milk chocolate and key lime pie. Every bite we had was delicious and our time together was special.
I highly recommend married couples to attend a marriage retreat at some point … whether that be through the military, your church, or another organization. Being married isn’t always easy and a good marriage takes work. Retreats are a good way to arm yourself with the best tools to make your marriage and relationship successful. I would love to attend some sort of marriage-strengthening experience every year or at least every other year!
Before leaving Orlando we did have a chance to hit up the awesome outlets. More on my finds later but let’s just say Emmalyne takes after her mommy …
Have you ever attended a marriage retreat? What’s the best advice you have ever received in regards to relationships?
Like what you see? Make sure to subscribe to my feed! I would love to hear from you on Facebook or Twitter! Need a daily dose of Emmalyne? Find us on Instagram!
Happy Monday folks! We got back from Orlando and holy cow did we have a great time! We were in Orlando for an Army Strong Bonds marriage retreat. The Army pays for your room, seminars, and most of your meals … you just have to get there! On top of that, they hire a nanny service to provide child care during the event so you and your spouse can focus on the message. Since Orlando is a short 4.5 hour drive, we were all over it. Chris, Emmalyne, and I hit the road Friday at lunch and checked in by 5:30PM. We got lucky and our retreat was held at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress and we were given glasses of champagne upon check in. My kind of hotel
Rather than give a play-by-play, I want to break down the weekend and provide some information on our experience with the Strong Bonds program. This post is kind of lengthy … so read on at your own risk
THE SEMINARS
Our retreat was “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage” with Mark Gungor (via DVD).
I really enjoyed the presentations. I feel like Mark Gungor is half pastor/stand of comic. While he presented the male vs. female scenarios as stereotypes (and says so) I found a lot of the situations to be relevant to my own marriage. First, he described men’s brains as being compartmentalized with boxes. A man has a box for each thing (IE: job, house, spouse, kids, etc.) and the boxes don’t touch. Women’s brains however were described as a ball of wire with everything interrelating and connecting. Additionally, men have a “nothing box” where they can literally think about nothing. This particularly resonated with me. Over the last 6 years I have never believed Chris when he said he said he was thinking about nothing because obviously he had to be thinking about something. HA. Mr. Gungor went on to give 4 steps to get a man to do what you want which I made sure to take elaborate notes on Overall I truly enjoyed these presentations and plan on borrowing my friend’s DVD to catch some of the parts we missed.
CHILDCARE
I was extremely impressed with the nanny service that was hired for this event. They separated the children by age into separate rooms. Each room was spacious, fully staffed, with tons of age appropriate toys. I felt completely comfortably leaving Emmalyne there while we attended the sessions. Additionally, on Saturday child care was available from 8AM-10PM so couples could have focused processing time together. Chris and I took advantage of this for a date night. Emmalyne throughouly enjoyed her time in child care and all the nannies knew her by name and would tell me stories about her antics when I picked her up.
DATE NIGHT
Chris and I treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at the hotel restaurant Hemingway’s. The atmosphere was quiet and intimate. We were able to discuss some of the things we learned and brainstorm ways we could help the other and strengthen our marriage even more than it already is. I had the Alaskan king crab legs with boursin whipped potato gratin and steam asparagus. The potatoes were seriously heavenly and the crab legs were pre-split to be enjoyed without the mess. Chris had the cast iron rib eye with grilled asparagus. Our server surprised us with dessert … coconut ice cream encrusted with milk chocolate and key lime pie. Every bite we had was delicious and our time together was special.
I highly recommend married couples to attend a marriage retreat at some point … whether that be through the military, your church, or another organization. Being married isn’t always easy and a good marriage takes work. Retreats are a good way to arm yourself with the best tools to make your marriage and relationship successful. I would love to attend some sort of marriage-strengthening experience every year or at least every other year!
Before leaving Orlando we did have a chance to hit up the awesome outlets. More on my finds later but let’s just say Emmalyne takes after her mommy …
Have you ever attended a marriage retreat? What’s the best advice you have ever received in regards to relationships?
Like what you see? Make sure to subscribe to my feed! I would love to hear from you on Facebook or Twitter! Need a daily dose of Emmalyne? Find us on Instagram!
