Weekend bliss

 This past weekend Matt and I had about 1 1/2 days to ourselves. And it was bliss. I love my boys. Matt loves our boys. But we SO loved our time together. In fact, we loved it so much that we declared we were going to do it every time we got a chance. I think we both know the benefits enough to not feel guilty about needing the time away. 

We started off our time by going on an 8 mile run at a local state park. The weather was perfect. A little cold before we got started, but just cold enough where neither one of us really broke a sweat. The roads were a little more hilly than we had anticipated, but it turned out being exactly what we wanted. We are both signed up for the Country Music Marathon in April, which is full of hills, so we were glad to say we did those 8 miles and felt pretty great. We even contemplated going 10, but figured there was no need since we aren't training at the time. Once we stopped, I think we were both glad we did. Our legs were pretty tired from the hills. 

It was so wonderful to be able to do something together that we loved. We got to talk freely and enjoy our run. It's something that I would have NEVER guessed we would do together, but something I am so glad we do. I think it has been so good for each of us individually and just as much as a couple. 

Once we got home, we ate a huge lunch and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee peacefully on the couch. We talked about how quiet it was and if we should feel guilty about how much we were enjoying it! After getting ready we headed out to do some Christmas shopping and go out to eat. First stop was Target. We ordered our drinks extra hot and they were barely warm. We took them back and they gave us a free upgrade to a Venti. DAY MADE!!! We don't get Starbucks often, especially since starting to eat the Paleo way, but man do we love those Caramel Brulee Lattes in the winter! And those red cups??? Just make me smile! That night we went to eat at Chuy's thinking it would be a pretty good spot for Matt to eat. Needless to say, the manager came over and said that since Matt has an allergy to gluten, there really isn't anything on the menu he can offer. He ended up having to get a salad with PLAIN grilled chicken. Seriously, pitiful. I really regretted not leaving. While I am thankful they were honest, we will be marking Chuy's off the list of places he can eat! 

The next morning we were able to get up, eat breakfast at the table and still make it to church on time. Solidifies that it is the boys fault we are always late ;)! After going to bootcamp that afternoon (where I repeatedly looked at him and told him just how tired my legs were), it was time to meet up with the boys. Connor was excited to see us. Not sure Cade really cared. Connor was so sweet during supper, constantly hugging and kissing us. He was just softly kissing our shoulders. Love my sweet, tender hearted boy! It was pretty obvious just how much more difficult it is to connect when you have two toddlers with you, which makes us appreciate the ease with which it came this weekend. I know that we are better parents for it and look forward to being able to do it again! Thank you, Gammie, for making it happen!!!!

Six years

Sunday, the 20th, marked six years Matt and I have been married. Six wonderful (and ridiculously quick) years. I can still remember those days surrounding our wedding like they were yesterday. I was so excited to become Matt's wife. To be able to go to sleep with him and night and wake up beside him in the morning. And six years later, I still feel the same way. He is still my best friend. The one I turn to first for everything and the one who can make me laugh at the drop of a hat. He can also make me just as mad, but what fun would marriage be if there weren't any challenges thrown in?! (And I can assure you he could say the same for me!)

I STILL love seeing that as my name! 

Six years later and I still miss him throughout the day. During the quietness of naptime I wish he were here to just sit with me. I don't think I tell him that enough. How my favorite times are with him here. Not just for the extra hands (although that helps, for sure), but for just him. 

Six years AND two kids later, I can still say that being Matt's wife is more important to me than anything else. I cannot be a good mommy if I'm not a good wife. Every single day I know there is something that I could have done differently. But, one thing I can say for sure is that I love my man. I love him every single day, every single moment and I will continue to until the day I die. 

Six years later and I still feel the giddiness of being Mrs. Matt Kegley and that is something I pray will never go away! 

Home

I was on the treadmill today and Feels like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk came on. It is the song that, from the first moment I heard it on How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, reminded me of Matt. It is the song that I used for the portion of our rehearsal dinner slideshow that showcased pictures of us. I have it on my running playlist because it reminds me that he is part of the reason I am doing this. I want to be strong and healthy for a lot of reasons... he is just one of them :). 

Honeymoon at El Dorado Royale in 2007

Anyway, as I was listening to the words today it hit me once again how much I love this man. We have our ups and downs just like any other married couple (especially married couples with kids!!!), but at the end of each and every.single.day I am so glad to be climbing into bed next to him. I have always had this feeling of complete and utter relaxation when cuddling up next to him and that is something I pray never changes. 

Honeymoon at El Dorado Royale in 2007

There are a lot of words that come to mind when I think of the way I feel about our relationship...about him, but I would say the one that resonates the most is just HOME. 

Honeymoon at El Dorado Royale in 2007

Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk

Somethin' in your eyes, makes me wanna lose myself
Makes me wanna lose myself, in your arms
There's somethin' in your voice, makes my heart beat fast
Hope this feeling lasts, the rest of my life

1 year anniversary pics taken by Libby Barker Photography in 2008

If you knew how lonely my life has been
And how long I've been so alone
And if you knew how I wanted someone to come along
And change my life the way you've done

Christmas 2008 with Snuggles

It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from
It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong

Summer of 2009 at Matt's cousin, Tim's wedding. We had just found out we were pregnant with Connor a mere 2 days before and didn't tell anyone until we got back from that trip!

A window breaks, down a long, dark street
And a siren wails in the night
But I'm alright, 'cause I have you here with me
And I can almost see, through the dark there is light

Christmas 2011 and obviously pregnant with Cade

Well, if you knew how much this moment means to me
And how long I've waited for your touch
And if you knew how happy you are making me
I never thought that I'd love anyone so much

Fall 2012. Picture taken by Chesley Summar Photography

It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way the back where I come from
It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong

Fall 2012. Picture taken by Chesley Summar Photography

Can you pass me my walker, please?

My friend, Chesley, had been trying to talk me into doing boot camp for a couple of weeks and I finally bit the bullet and went with her this past Saturday. I was feeling pretty confident in my strength when I still wasn't sore that afternoon. Theeen I woke up Sunday morning. And overnight my calves and chest muscles had been filled with lead. By Sunday night, I was almost in hysterics (laughing, not crying) I was so sore. At one point I tried to stand up from sitting on the ground and almost fell back down! Let's not even go into detail about how it hurt to do a scrubbing motion while washing the dishes. Not to mention hoisting a 20 1/2 lb baby around. Then I wake up Monday morning and pretty much have to shuffle around because it hurts my calves to walk normally. Needless to say, I'm hooked! I do think I am going to wait until I can walk normally before I go back, though! 

We had another nice, relaxing weekend at home. On a whim, I put Cade in the bathtub with Connor without putting him in any sort of baby tub. I'm pretty sure my heart exploded because of the cuteness. 

As you can see in the bottom two pictures, they are really good at taking toys away from each other. This is something that I know is only going to get worse! 

Saturday morning Connor woke up and only had one sticker left to fill up his chart. After cleaning up his toys, he got to put that last sticker on. He got SO excited! 

Of course, rookie mom here didn't even think about the fact that most jump places would be "closed" to the public for birthday parties. Thankfully, my sweet boy was ok with it. That and Rowen stopped by and that distracted him. They had so much fun. Connor was running around like normal and Rowen was just dying laughing at him. Connor ate that up, as usual. I had never heard Rowen laugh so hard, so I was loving it, too! 

I really wish I would have taken a video of him talking. He talks a million miles a minute in his own little language and it might be the cutest thing I've ever seen! You can just tell he is taking everything in and then telling you about it! He is going to be one smart... and talkative.. little boy! 

That night, Matt and I had our date night for the week. It was his turn to pick it out. He wanted to make a dessert and play Mario Kart. I joked with him that he must like to lose, since he has never beaten me. 

Therefore, I decided to let him win... ALL of them. ;) Ugh. He made sure to take a picture of it to redeem himself from the loss of Scrabble. I told him I would MUCH rather win a game that you actually have to use your brain! 

To redeem ourselves from the jump place mishap, Matt took Connor to play golf with him on Sunday. He had a BLAST! I'm so glad that they have something like that that they will be able to do together forever! I also think it's pretty special that Matt will take him on something that is very important to him. Because we all know that nothing is as relaxing with a toddler in tow! So proud my boys have him as their daddy!!!

Hope y'all had a good weekend!

Weekend relaxation

I figured out today that this is the first weekend since the first of December that we haven't done anything. It was nice! Don't get me wrong.. I love the hustle bustle of the holidays, but it sure does make me appreciate nestling in at the ole homestead, too! Even more so when you have kids! 

Something Matt and I decided to do better at this year is dating. It is so easy to invest all of your time and energy in your kids, leaving little to none for the person who helped you have them! So, last week we began our dating and are hoping to make it a once a week affair. We kicked it off by going out to eat and to see a movie. We are hoping to make them as creative as possible so that they feel more out of the norm. We might do ordinary things, but with a twist. I am going to document them on Instagram (username:krkegley) by using the hashtag #datingmyman2013 so that I will be able to go back and look at all of them quickly. I'm excited to see what we will come up with, especially since we will probably only go out once a month, leaving the rest to be at home! This week, I came up with the plans. Since I didn't want to spend any time cooking, we just ate some leftovers and played scrabble.. under a fort! I know that sounds cheesy, and I am ok with that! After scrabble, we caught up on some of our shows in the fort. So, all normal things, just being under the fort made it seem more secluded somehow?? :)

Matt had a nice little lead in our game and started throwing down 2 pt words because he thought he had it in the bag. He wasn't paying attention when I played the word "ha" for 22 points, which gave me a lead he wasn't able to catch!! Whoop, whoop!!

We had a good time and it will be Matt's turn to pick our date next! If you have any good ideas of fun things to do at home, please share!!

Connor and Cade woke up the next morning and were pretty pumped about the fort :) Nothing like watching some Saturday morning cartoons with your brother! 

Seriously, the sticker chart has done wonders with Connor when it comes to sharing. I haven't heard the "MINE" word in over a week!!!! I'll probably update on that soon!

After eating breakfast and making sure I had consumed my cup of coffee, I finally took Connor to Target. He had been begging to go for two days! Who am I to crush his dreams?! ;) He loves to go and push the buttons on all the talking Sesame Street characters. Let the record state, GRANDPARENTS, that he does not need one of them. That is totally one of those toys that he would not play with at home! Trust me! 

Matt had plans Saturday night to go watch hockey with some of his friends. Chesley's husband was going to be there also, so she asked the boys and I to come hang out with her and her kiddos. We had such a good time and didn't leave until 9:45! The entire time we were there, Connor wouldn't let anyone but Claire (her 5 year old stinkin adorable daughter) take him to the bathroom. Bless her sweet little momma soul.. she did it every time! I knew he had gotten completely comfortable there when he walked out of the bathroom in nothing but his shirt! HA! I'm am having the hardest time convincing him that he doesn't have to take everything off every time he goes! 

Connor went off to spend the night with BeBe and D-daddy tonight (Sunday) and I'm pretty sure his little brother was missing him! He kept crawling around kind of whining. I think he was looking for him! He did, however, love all the special attention he got in his solo bath! His favorite? Water trickling down his face from me getting his hair wet! And he really starts laughing if you splash him. I hope he always loves water as much as he does now! 

Can I just say I am insanely jealous of his eyelashes??? Seriously?! He did NOT get those from me, that's for sure!!!

So, did y'all have a good weekend? Be sure and let me know if you have any fun at home date ideas!!!

Annual anniversary fondue dinner

I have mentioned before that every year around our anniversary Matt and I have a cheese fondue dinner. We do it because at the resort we stayed at on our honeymoon one of our favorite meals was at their fondue restaurant.  We only have it this one time throughout the year. We decided this time that it was good that we do that, because while it is DElicious, it is also very rich.

This year was the first year we had been able to do it sans kids since our 1st anniversary. Both boys stayed with D-Daddy and BeBe, so we had the house all to ourselves. It was very weird to see their doors open at night! 

We started off by going to the grocery store together to get the ingredients. As much as I love going to the grocery store with Connor (Cade doesn't care yet), I didn't realize how much I missed doing something small like that with just Matt. It's the little things :)

After leaving the grocery store, I convinced Matt that it was probably a good idea if we went ahead and stopped by Baskin Robbins and pick up a little ice cream cake. Needless to say, it didn't take much convincing! 

Our meal was delicious and the cake hit.the.spot! We had a nice uninterrupted meal and finished up the night with a movie in bed....with the volume actually loud enough to be able to hear everything. HA! 

Here we are in years past. I couldn't find the picture from our first anniversary, which of course is driving me crazy. From L to R: 2009: 2 year anniversary. Pregnant with Connor, which is why we were able to eat supper before it was dark. No kids! 2010: 3 year anniversary. Connor was 6 months old, which is why I look like a hot mess. 2011: 4 year anniversary: Connor was 18 months old and I was pregnant with Cade. I'm pretty sure I had just gotten over being nauseous and inhaled the meal. 2012: 5 year anniversary. Sans kids!!!!

NOTE: I will not be pregnant in 2013, although that seems to have been the trend thus far ;)

I love having traditions and am glad we thought of this one. I can just imagine us being 80 and dipping our pieces of chicken and bacon out of the same pot full of cheese, using the same bag of tea light candles we bought that first year. Love it! 

5 years

10 years ago, when I walked into my History 101 class on the second day of school, I didn't realize that I would choose to sit by my future husband. Yes, I choose to sit there because I thought he was hot, but little did I know what the future would hold for us. God is funny like that, I suppose. 

We were friends first. We were the kind of friends that when other people see you on campus they think you are dating (and our friends joked that we might as well have been), because we were around each other a lot. And..umm..flirted a lot. After a month or so, we had a serious conversation about our feelings and both agreed that we could see this becoming a serious relationship (not talking marriage, mind you) and neither one of us were quite ready for that. So, we just kept up with the whole friendship gig for another 2 months or so. Finally, in November of 2010 we went on our first date to the Ko Jo Kai Murder Mystery event. And pretty much, that was all she wrote. We had our ups and downs as most normal college couples do. We even went on a couple of "breaks", with the longest one lasting 5 days ;). I put breaks in quotation marks because I'm pretty sure both of us knew we would get back together. 

I can very distinctly remember the first time we talked about marriage. It wasn't crazy, mushy gushy, "Oh, I can't wait to be married to you, etc." But, it was honest and serious and something that I will forever respect about my man. He takes what we have seriously and that means the world to me. 

Almost 5 years to the date that we officially became a couple, we got married. It was, hands down, the best day of my life. I knew that from this point on I was going to be waking up beside my best friend. That I would get to see that beautiful smile that totally stole my heart every day. 

That I would get to hear those hilarious sarcastic remarks every day. That I would get to have an insider's point of view of that somewhat reserved personality every day. That I would get a sweet hug and kiss every single day. 

I know for a fact that I couldn't have imagined where we would be, now, back on that day in 2007. We have a bond that is even stronger than I had dreamed. A bond, for me, that in part has come from watching him go from my husband to the father of my children. I am so, SO proud for my boys that they have this man as their daddy. 

 There are so many things that I love about our relationship, but my #1 favorite thing is he is my absolute best friend. He is the first person I want to go to about anything and I want him with me almost all the time.  In fact, I think my ultimate dream would be for him to be able to stay home with us! HA! 

Instead, he works his tail off so that I can live my dream and stay at home with our babies. I don't think he fully understands how much this means to me and I hope one day that I am able to return the favor. 

I don't know what the next 5 years will entail, but I do know this. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as I am with him it won't matter. He is my home, my heart and my forever. 

Happy 5 year anniversary, honey. I love you!