I'm back folks!  Well at least for this week.  Courtney from The Brown Girl with Long Hair asked me a couple weeks ago to exchange questions with her and I'm so glad I did!  Courtney came up with some very creative questions and was so easy to work with.  For those who don't know.  I created #AskAwayFriday quite some time ago but have stepped away from it to focus on my blogging and family.  I've missed it and I'm so glad I have a chance to come back for the week.  Courtney is an NFL wife so now in true NFL style, let's get into kickoff!

Sending love to Tiffany from Mrs. Tee - Love, Life and Laughter for another award nomination!  Earlier in the week she nominated me for the Squirrely Award and now I have a nomination from her for the Sunshine Award!


So the rules for the Sunshine Award are below:

Acknowledge your nominating Blogger
Provide 11 random facts about yourself
Answer your nominating Bloggers 11 questions they provided for you
Pick 11 Bloggers to nominate for this award
Post 11 questions for those 11 Bloggers to answer for you (you can not nominate the blogger who nominated you)

My 11 Random Facts:

1. I went to Montessori school and skipped Kindergarten
2. My husband and I met on Craigslist
3. I have a high end shoe and purse obsession...a pair of Christian Louboutin and a couple different Louis Vuitton's and a Michael Kors are in my collection currently
4. I switched High School in the middle of my Junior year due to the suicide of a close friend, I couldn't cope with it
5. I was a cheerleader in my local Youth Association
6. I used to hate the color pink, now I kind of like it
7. I'm learning sign language with Hannah for my Father-In-Law who is deaf
8. I've recently gotten into photography and can't wait to purchase a better camera
9. I was a Lemur in my Middle School play
10. My style hasn't really changed, just gotten more refined...now it's jeans and a white t-shirt with cute boots as opposed to baggy jeans, baggy t-shirt and reeboks haha
11. I'm not religious, more spiritual

11 Answers to 11 Questions

1. What would your dream vacation be?  probably taking the girls to Ireland or Europe when they are older and can appreciate it
2. If you could go anywhere for a week without the kids where would it be? we just did it haha we just spent 10 beautiful days in Alaska!
3. What is your favorite "me" time indulgence?  probably getting my nails done, I have to put my phone down and just zone out
4. What was your favorite subject in High School? English, which is why I enjoy doing my blog so much
5. What is your favorite dessert?  That's a tie between Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and Red Velvet cake (YUM!)
6. If someone handed your $5,000 with no strings attached what would you do with it?  Probably split it in 1/3's with 2 of those 1/3's going into the girls separate savings accounts then take the last 1/3 and use it for me and hubby to enjoy and I might even take a portion and donate it...karma will come back around
7. Have you started Christmas shopping yet? No! I hate Christmas shopping, I never know what to get anyone but I should get started.
8. Do you shop on Black Friday? If not, why? No...well only online but even that's risky because so many people are doing it your computer can crash, I just can't stand the crowds
9. What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish? Turkey...who doesn't love Turkey on Thanksgiving?
10. What's your families favorite Christmas tradition?  I think we are actually starting that this year.  For the past 2 years we have been traveling to be with family but this year since Hannah is old enough to get the concept of Christmas I want us to be home.  I want to get everyone comfy PJ's, read a book on Christmas Eve, and watch "A Christmas Story" like I did when I was a kid then on Christmas morning have a good breakfast with opening gifts and a fire in the fireplace!
11. Have you decided what you will be for Halloween? If not dressing up will you hand out candy?  We will probably do both!  Since Savannah's birthday is about 2 weeks before Halloween and her party is a Cowgirl theme we will probably use the same outfits/costumes for that then go trick-or-treating early and come home and give out candy, Hannah will enjoy giving out candy on the porch.

11 Blogger Nominations

1. Hill House Rock
2. Frugal Fit Family
3. What's Up With The Wilhelm's
4. W.R.I.T.E.R. Mom
5. Chaos with a Curve
6. Me and My Mini Me
7. Reasons to Skip Housework
8. Tamara Camera
9. Southern Mess Moms
10. Lomholt Family
11. Geena Bean

Finally, my 11 Blogger questions

1. What are you reading now?
2. Are you a morning person or night owl?
3. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?
4. Can you close your eyes and raise your eyebrows?
5. Do you have any pets?
6. How many rings normally before you answer the phone?
7. What's your best childhood memory?
8. What are some of the different jobs you've had in your life?
9. Any new and exciting news you want to share?
10. What is most important in your life?
11. What inspires you?

There you go! That completes the Sunshine Award! I hope everyone I nominated enjoys this as much as I did!!

I'm back!!! Sorry I missed out on the last 2 weeks of #AskAwayFriday but I was away on vacation with my husband in Alaska!  That's a valid enough reason right? haha

This week I paired up with the wonderful Megan from The Patchwork Paisley...she's done some awesome #AskAwayFriday posts recently and I couldn't wait to trade questions with her and let me tell you she did not disappoint, I love all these questions! So without further a due, let's get to it:

1. Let's talk tats and piercings. Do you have any? Describe them if so. If not, would you ever? Why or why not? I actually have 7 tattoos! I have one on each foot that read "Trust in Life" and "Trust in Love" sayings I try to "walk my life by, then on my wrist on my left arm I have 3 flowers with Hannah above it for my 1st born daughter, on my right wrist I have Alis Volat Propris which is Latin for "she flies on her own wings", on my right shoulder blade I have a K for my maiden name with butterflies around it representing my family, on my left shoulder I have a butterfly that was drawn by a friend of mine and on the bottom of my back (tramp stamp style) I have a cross that I got the day I found out my grandfather passed away...


2. Sum up your trip to Alaska in 3 pics...

leaving our mark at Red Dog Saloon

Whale Watching in Juneau

spending quality time with my hubby

3. Have you ever had your "15 minutes of Fame?"  Does blogging count? Haha, no I haven't, I don't really have a desire to be famous...maybe the closest I came was when I did club promotions in DC, being know by security, bar tenders and managers and getting free stuff is always fun!

4. Hubby question: Ok- what would HE say is your best feature? Do you agree? If you are talking physical I guess he would probably say my butt haha...I guess my butt is okay in clothes :)

Now go ask him...what did he say? He said butt as well "I just want you to live in yoga pants"

5. How would you describe your parenting style? It's definitely different then I thought it would be.  I know I'm a good mom but my PPA (Post-Partum Anxiety) changes things sometimes.  I'm definitely the more strict parent out of me and my husband but I think that has more to do with me being a SAHM and being with them all day, every day.  All I know is that they are 2 healthy and happy little girls so I must be doing something right!




6. Aside from your cellphone and keys, what is one thing you can't leave the house without? Wallet, for sure my wallet!

7. Travel back in time 15 years. Where are you? What do you look like (a pic would be fab!) What's your favorite TV show and or song/musician? Oh wow, what a question...so I'm 29 now so that would mean back tracking to 14, okay so 14 I was in my 8th grade year so that would be Junior High getting ready to go into High School.  I was dating this boy that did a lot of drama classes, I wore a lot of Adidas, had braces and wore glasses...oh I wish I could find a picture!  I was obsessed with Backstreet Boys and I can't remember a TV show to save my life so I'll guess "My So Called Life" or "TRL".

8. Dump, hump, marry: In case you've never played- you're given 3 options, sometimes hotties, sometimes not so much (I'm being nice ;) you have to dump one, <ah-hem> hump one, and marry one.

Ryan Reynolds - dump, he's cute but not that cute and he's already been married and divorced
Channing Tatum- marry, mostly because of his relationship with his current wife, he seems faithful and loving in his marriage
Ryan Gosling - hump, I mean have you seen the scene in The Notebook??

9. What's one show on your DVR you're embarrassed to admit to liking? I don't have a DVR but anytime I watch a Lifetime movie or something my husband will make fun of me.

10. If you could be featured on one blog or approached by any company to write for, who would it be?  I'd love to write for Target or even a kids clothing company.  Munchkin would be another one since they have lots of cool kids products.

Thanks Megan! I loved the questions and I hope that you enjoy mine as much as I've enjoyed yours! 

Okay, so I'm an idiot (by my own admission!) I totally asked two bloggers by accident to do this weeks #AskAwayFriday and they both said yes...so instead of putting someone off to the side I decided to do 5 questions with each blogger!

Below are the first set of question from Sarah with Lomholt Family, Sarah resides in Iowa and she's just a super sweet gal and so glad she accepted my invitation.  Here are my 5 questions from Sarah:

1.  What is your best advice for new moms?  I addressed this one in a previous post from Week 10 of 52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose, it's definitely to take all the help you can get!  If someone offers to help feed the baby or do laundry or cook or well just anything, take the help!  If you don't you'll be wishing you had.

2.  Is there anywhere in the world you want to go that you haven't been to?  Well I would say Alaska but the hubby and I are headed there next week.  I would probably say somewhere like Bora Bora, I mean that place just looks amazing in pictures and anyone who's been there only ever has wonderful things to say, so I'll go with Bora Bora!

3.  What is your greatest accomplishment?  I think most moms would probably say their children and while they are one of my greatest accomplishments I would probably say my relationship/marriage with my husband...because without him I wouldn't have these 2 beautiful baby girls!

4.  What is your biggest fear?  Again, I think all moms or even just wives would say leaving their family behind.  I hate thinking of something happening to me and my hubby and girls being left without me.  Recently we've been planning and writing a will and that's really made me reflect on how much it scares me to be away from them.

5.  How did you and your husband meet?  Ironically (well maybe not) we met online through Craigslist.  I know, I know...insert gasps here.  But let's be honest A LOT of relationships start online now and we are one of the few success stories and I'm happy we are!

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Now onto Blogger #2 which is Nick from Dad with A Blog...someone last week stole my idea of using a guy so I'm copying them haha...here are my 5 questions that I got from Nick:

1. What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?  To be honest I don't really remember any of them, I know I did the whole ghost with a white sheet one year but the only other one I remember is dressing up as Elvira from the show but I was more a teenager for that one.

2.  If you were able to design your own house what would it be like?  We currently live in a ranch style house so something ranch style but maybe in a square shape with the middle open full of flowers with the interior walls done in glass so you can see the garden...it would definitely have a wrap around porch with a lot of land!

3.  Rubik's Cube or Scrabble (word games or puzzle games)?  I'd say word games, we actually really like Scrabble...I'm also big into Monopoly even though that wasn't an option.

4.  What is one saying you use all the time (maybe too much)?  My husband would probably say it's when I start a statement with "I hate to say it but..." he hates when I say that and says I use it way too much!  That and I have the mouth of a sailor but I'm trying to tame it down with the kids learning more words now.

5.  What is your favorite thing to shop for online, whether you buy it or not?  Hmmm...good question...I would say it's probably a camera as of recently...I really want to invest in a great DSLR camera but just can't bring myself to do it.  I think for Christmas I'm going to ask for just Best Buy gift cards so that I can actually get one!

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I really appreciate both Sarah and Nick joining me on this weeks #AskAwayFriday and like always below are the links to all the others who are joining us!  Please check out everyone of these awesome people, they really are great and it's so fun to learn a little more about the people you read from everyday!  If you can try to follow them on Twitter as well as everyone who links below is very active on Twitter and have become an awesome support for me and my blog!

We're back!!! Welcome to the 3rd installment of #AskAwayFriday, we've returned to our original format after last week and will be asking AND receiving questions from our featured bloggers!


This week I've chose the lovely, talented and super sweet Karen from Karen's Soiree...she's a party planner, wife, mom with a love for mason jars and pom poms...love it!

Please check out Karen's page for her answers to the 10 questions I asked her (I put some goodies in there!) but for now here are my answers to the questions she sent me:

1.  What is your favorite time of the day?  I would probably have to say it's a tie for 1st thing in the morning or just after naps...the girls are so happy to see me, smiling and in a really good/refreshed mood! 

2.  Who do you admire? As a whole I'd have to say the women in my life who are mothers, my mom obviously because she raised me and put up with me for all these years but I've also found great admiration for my MIL, she took care of my husband's grandmother for years and put her life on hold for so long and now she's retired and living her life for her and I think that's so amazing.  Finally, my cousin through marriage Rani, she's raised 2 really amazing kids and has just celebrated 14 years of marriage to her husband, they really are my idols for a relationship.

3.  What is the best part about blogging?  I would have to say the lovely ladies I've met so far through blogging, the support for my posts and what I've been writing has been appreciated more than they probably know.  I love interacting and getting to know a little more about everyone!

4.  What is a typical day in your life?  Hmmm...well we normally are up around 9:30 AM, we go through diaper changes, bottles and breakfast, from then until nap time we play, read books, watch Elmo or Baby Genius, watch YouTube videos, etc.  Savannah naps from probably 11:30 AM to 2 PM, I'm lucky if Hannah naps at the same time but recently she's been up with me, somewhere in there I sneak in lunch and maybe a shower if I'm lucky.  Once Savannah is up it's diapers, bottles all over again with 2nd lunch for the kids then we have a repeat of the morning until David gets home.  Then it's dinner, bath, bottle, bed, we are lucky if they go down at the same time but usually Savannah is up an additional 30 minutes after Savannah.  Once both kids are in bed, I blog, check all my social media and relax before crawling into bed to start the day all over again!

5.  What is your idea of a great date night? To be honest it's dinner and a movie...I know it's lame but my hubby and I LOVE movies and recently a new theater near us offers this really cool "speakeasy" kind of place that's all VIP style where you pick your seats and it's only 21+ so no stupid teenagers to worry about.  We have a drink, eat some food then see a movie and enjoy a couple more drinks!

6.  What was the last movie you saw in the theater? Haha see question #5 but we actually just went this past weekend and saw "You're Next", we enjoy horror/thriller movies a lot.

7.  What are some things you are looking forward to? GREAT QUESTION! We are actually prepping to go on our cruise to Alaska in a couple weeks, we haven't been away together for more than a night since we got married so this is like the honeymoon we never got!  I'm looking forward to spending quality time with my husband, traveling, seeing Alaska, doing my hair and make up without worry of a child breaking something and just to relax and really just breathe and rejuvenate myself.

8.  How long did it take you to realize your husband was "the one"?  Honestly, I knew pretty quickly...we met off Craigslist and he was just a really great guy and after dating awhile when I found out I was pregnant I knew he was the one when I told him and he said "well then we need to focus on being Mr. & Mrs. Chevalley, not just boyfriend and girlfriend"...the way he stood up to the plate and took on the responsibility of a family so willingly made me fall in love that much faster.

9.  What do you think your daughters will be like as teenagers?  I have no idea! I joke right now that Hannah will be my sporty, get in the dirt girl and Savannah will be my prim and proper ballerina but the more I watch them grow I think it might be opposite.  When I do my make up Hannah wants so badly to help and Savannah is so tough and aggressive that sometimes I wonder.  Overall, I just want them to be healthy and happy, I'll support them through whatever activities or things they want to participate in as long as it's safe for them. 

10.  Where was your favorite vacation that you took?  Can I count my wedding as a vacation?  We got married in Vegas and were there for 4 days, it was a great trip surrounded by our closest family and friends so I couldn't have asked for more.  We constantly say we want to go back because we really did just enjoy ourselves.  We are talking about going back for my 30th but definitely going back for our 5 year anniversary to renew our vows!

Okay, how amazing were those questions! Great job Karen! I hope she likes mine just as much as I enjoyed hers, she even made my husband happy because he loves being mentioned in my blog and he got 5 or 6 mentions in this one!  Definitely check out Karen's blog to see her responses to my questions!

We are switching it up this week with our Blogger to Blogger: 10 Question Swap.  This week each of my co-hosts (linked below) have selected one blogger each to feature.  We each asked our chosen blogger 10 questions which they will answer on their respective blogs (again, linked below).

Please take a moment to check out all my amazing co-hosts!  As always I encourage you to not only read their blogs but add them on Twitter, Facebook and all social media...these gals are amazing and have made these #AskAwayFriday posts so fun!
To see our questions to our featured bloggers and their answers please click the links below.  This week I was able to ask my questions to the wonderful Kate from The Sticky Mom!  She has 2 babes that are 13 months apart! My girls are 15 months and 3 days apart so she gets how crazy it can be having 2 kids so close together!  She's stunning and I just love her blog so definitely check it out along with all the others below!


Enjoy and as always #AskAwayFriday!!!

I'm SUPER excited about this, last week Amber over at The Bold and Fab Mom and I traded 10 questions and surprisingly everyone loved the idea, so this week we are adding 6 other bloggers into the mix!  This is so great, I'm super excited to see what everyone's Questions and Answers are!

To make things a little easier we paired everyone up and also instead of mentioning everyone there will be links below for each blogger to add their questions and answers from their respective blogs.  This is how the line up goes:

The Vanilla Housewife swapping with Mrs. AOK: A Work in Progress
Get Fit, Healthy Life swapping with Southern Mess Moms

and of course...

I am swapping with the wonderful Mrs. Tee: Love, Life, Laughter

Can't believe this many wonderful ladies wanted to participate in this and I'm so thankful for each and every one of them and their support!

Now onto my questions from Mrs. Tee:

1. Who was your favorite female character/heroine as a kid? I guess I would have to go with Super Woman...I mean she was just so cool and pretty much the only one that wasn't a blonde!

2. What was your favorite cereal as a kid? Is it weird that I didn't really eat cereal? But I guess if I had to pick one it was probably Cheerios...as an adult I like the Multi-Grain Cheerios now.

3. Were you the sporty girl or a book worm in high school?  If I had to pick one I was probably sporty, I never DID any sports but I was a team manager with the JV and Varsity Football teams.  When I was a freshman I joined just so I could get to know all the cooler kids haha how lame!

4. Did you walk, take the bus or get a ride to school?  The 1st 2 years of school while I lived with my mom I used to get a ride of her or one of my football player friends.  When I moved with my dad my junior and senior year I had a car so I was cool beans :)

5. Did you ever have a beeper/pager as a teenager?  Oh yeah, do you remember 143 and 911 and 411 and all your friends had a different pager code so you knew who to call back?

6. What was your first job?  I was a service cashier for a car dealership, I remember hating going to work but it got me out of school 3 times a week earlier and I had my own money and didn't have to borrow from my parents as much.

7. What's a weird fact or quirk about yourself that people may be surprised by?  Maybe I've seen too many horror movies but to this day I will NOT look up into the mirror if I'm using it in the dark at nighttime, I'm paranoid to look up and see some gruesome face.

8. What's your favorite color?  It's probably purple, although my husband would tell you black cause I wear a lot of it but I do love purple.

9. Have you ever done an extreme hair style change?  OMG, yes and never again!  February (not this past one but 2012) I did the pixie cut...big mistake.  Oh well hair grows back and now it's back at my shoulder so I'm happy but NEVER AGAIN!

10. Would you ever go bungee jumping?  I'd probably jump out of a plane before bungee jumping but given the opportunity and my husband was with me I'd probably do it...it's on the bucket list but I'm too scared to die and leave my kids mom-less.

Great questions!  Thanks Mrs. Tee!

Please check each and every one of these awesome ladies out!  They are so amazing!

The other night I as literally so bored that I just wanted someone to ask me questions...I could have asked my husband to do it but he was enthralled with his new video game so I started talking to Amber over at The Bold and Fab Mom and we decided to do a Blogger to Blogger question sessions...so exciting!!!

We each sent each other 10 questions, nothing off limits, could be as random as favorite song to personal stuff about one another.  Here are the 10 questions that Amber sent me...

1.  What inspired you to start blogging? To be honest I was looking for an outlet, so many days I had pent up emotions and thoughts in my head, sometimes so many that I couldn't sleep.  One day while on Twitter I noticed all these other moms I interact with had blogs and I thought "why not?" so I gave it a shot and so far so good.  It seems to be going well and now that I'm in a rhythm of posting it's definitely a lot easier.

2.  What's your least favorite chore?  Hmmmm....that would probably be a tie between unloading the dishwasher and folding laundry.  I wish I could snap my fingers and both could just be done.  I always forget that I've got clean dishes in the dishwasher so when I go to put dirty stuff in I'm like "ahhhhh, man....no not again" but folding laundry is just a pet peeve especially when I know Hannah will end up in the drawers ripping it all out anyways! Nothing like folding the same t-shirt 5 times in one day to motivate you.

3.  Where would your dream vacation take place?  Actually the hubs and I are going to one of our bucket list places this year...ALASKA! We aren't really hot weather people so Alaska is a definite must do for us!  But after Alaska I would say it's a tie between Iceland or Australia.

4.  What is your worst fear?  Leaving my girls, not for short periods of time or even a day or two but leaving them for good, obviously by that I mean dying and leaving them all alone in this world.  They would of course have their daddy but no one can ever replace mom, you know?  I want so badly to always be there for every scrap on their knee to their first heart break or hold their hand as they prepare to walk down the aisle.  The thought of not being there for those moments with them gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and makes me tear up (yes I'm crying as I type this, I'm a wuss I know!).

5.  What item could you not live without?  If we are talking purely materialistic here it would probably be my cell phone.  We don't have a land line and before I had my fancy new lap top my hubby got me it really was my connection to the outside world with Facebook and Twitter.  If you want to talk about an ultimate item I couldn't live without it would probably be a pot of some sort...with a pot you can boil water, cook food and provide your body nourishment to survive in most any situation.

6.  What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a parent?  This can be touchy for some people but I'm game...

Favorite would be that I'm a SAHM (stay at home mom) and for the past year or so have been apart of my girls lives all day every day.  I'm their one constant and I don't think I realized that until I went to leave one day and Hannah had the worst tear scream as I left, it took that moment to hit me in the face of "they don't know a life without me" and that's a very intense feeling to know.  

Least favorite would be the gross factor of poop and pee and diapers and spit up and all things that come out of babies.  It's not like it gets better as they get older, it actually gets worse and more gross as they grow.  I definitely don't look forward to potty training for the gross factor of accidents in the car or beds...it's part of being a parent and I do it the best I can but I wish I had a robot for diaper duty.

7.  What's the biggest lesson you've learned in your life?  I learned a long time ago that I have to take the time that I have with those I love for the moment and enjoy it thoroughly.  When I was 16, I was exactly 34 minutes too late before my best friend committed suicide.  There's not a day of my life since that day that I don't wish I was 34 minutes earlier or more.  But I've learned from that moment in my life that no one is here forever, people can go out of your life just as quickly as they came in and you really have to enjoy the time and moments the best you possibly can.  I've tried to keep my arguing and tension with people to a minimum because I know how important it is to just "be" with the people you care about.

8.  If you could change one thing about you, what would it be?  I could say physically that I wish I could change my metabolism and be back into my skinny-skinny jeans again but honestly I'd probably change my judgement on people.  I can be harsh, mostly because I'm protective of those that I care about in my life and usually once I get a bad vibe off you that's the end of it for me and I probably won't make too much more effort to get to know the person you are.

9.  What's your favorite dessert?  See, this isn't fair for someone with a super sweet tooth like me but if I have to focus purely on dessert it would probably be Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream...good gravy that made my mouth water just typing it!  It's just perfect, I can't explain it, it just makes me happy, happy, happy!

10.  What is one random fact about you?  I used to be on the professional circuit for hunter/jumpers (equestrian riding).  I miss it but when I was 17 I had a bad fall and severely injured my right arm in several places and now I can't put the pressure that would be required to continue to compete.  I still have a strong love for the sport and of course the horses, that will never change.

Ohhhhhh...Amber, I LOVED your questions!  Thank you so much for doing this with me and I look forward to reading your responses to mine.  Check out Amber's answers to my questions here.

P.S. If you are interested in doing this with me as well, let me know! I'd love to!