The Special Olympics Montana Spring Games 2017 took place this past week on the University of Montana campus, in Missoula, MT. This is the first year I was able to go to the event with my team. Even though I have been coaching track and field for a few years I always had a scheduling conflict. This was also my first year coaching the adults (Purple Hornets) track and field team. We had such a great but exhausting time because we went non-stop for four days. Jordyn accompanied me for this trip too which quadrupled my level of tired. Ha! We took a charter bus to Missoula, MT for the games. It was Jordyn’s first time on a bus trip and she loved it. Between seeing the animals outside and movies playing on the bus, she loved every second.
Road Trip Must Haves
I love road trips! As you are reading this, my family and I are on a road trip, to multiple destinations in multiple states. I’m pretty sure my love of road trips has a lot to do with the fact I’m never the one driving on them LOL. In my defense, my husband loves to drive, and I do not enjoy driving for the most part, so we are a match made in heaven.Read More
"Come Little Children"
Happy October everybody! This is the month that officially kicks off the holiday season. We can officially have those Halloween movie favorites marathon we’ve been missing too!Read More
R.I.P. Prince Rogers Nelson
Today, I’m actually speechless. I’ve known since I found out this morning about Prince’s passing I was going to write a blog post, but about what? Who in the world doesn’t know how important he was to the music industry? Who doesn’t already know how he single handedly transformed music as we know it. Who doesn’t know how unbelievably talented he was? Who doesn’t know the musical GENIUS he was to so many generations? WHO DOESN’T ALREADY KNOW THESE THINGS?
Every comment thread I read today from Billboard to Fox News to CNN there was not one negative comment about Prince. All the comments consisted of were people meeting up in one place to mourn the loss of a legend, and tell personal stories of the first time they remember a Prince song changing their lives in some way shape or form. This in itself is a testament to how important Prince was to this world.
I watched Purple Rain this afternoon, I’ve been watching the Prince marathon on MTV since the movie ended, and I’ve been listening to my favorite Prince songs in between commercials of the video marathon and nothing will ever be enough. However, my daughter has been dancing her little heart out to Prince’s upbeat songs and it’s been putting the biggest smile on my face. She WILL grow up listening to and knowing the musical genius and importance of Prince Rogers Nelson.
My heart hasn’t hurt this badly for a celebrity/person I don’t personally know since Michael Jackson back in 2009. I’m still not over Michael’s death and here we are 7 years later mourning Prince. I was doing pretty okay not crying today until the actual performance of Purple Rain in the movie took place and the tears started flowing. Prince always talked about his belief in the Lord, he knew the Lord was real, and there’s no doubt in my mind he is putting on a great show for Him, tonight.
We lost a legend today and although we’ll never get over the passing of someone still so young, we can make peace with knowing he changed so many of our lives, and his music will live on forever.
R.I.P. Prince!
Brie <3
[04.21.16]
R.I.P. Doug Banks
It’s interesting how as we get older, and major life changes such as death occur, we’re reminded how influential many people have been in our lives. Some of these people we’ve never even met before, but we can remember certain points in our lives when their presence, however they presented themselves, changed our emotions and maybe even our lives.
I say this because reading the news about Doug Banks passing away this morning truly broke my heart. Growing up in the surrounding Chicago suburbs I remember listening to the Doug Banks Radio Show daily, on v103, in middle and high school. As if his voice and laugh weren’t memorable on their own, his sense of humor and ability to connect with his audience are what made him one of the legends of radio personalities. I remember going through the typical teenage drama back in the day and feeling like his jokes and music selections were specifically picked for me and my issues at the time. I’ve also always been raised listening to and appreciating old school music. His show allowed me to hear the best old school music on a daily basis without having to search and listen to it myself.
Since reading about his passing this morning, I’ve been reading the captions and comments on the photo memories of Doug Banks, and I’ve learned that he made A LOT of people feel like the friend they never met, but always knew what to do and say to make life better. A lot of people are already missing hearing him on their after work commute.
I will pray for Doug’s family and their healing throughout the process. Thanks for the great memories, quality personality and radio, and more importantly the laughs.
R.I.P. Doug Banks.
Brie <3
[04.11.16]
“So Beautiful”
Happy Wednesday, everybody! We’re slowly approaching the first official day of Spring, but here in Montana, we’ve been lucky enough to have Spring like temperatures for the last month or more. It’s been strange to not be freezing while walking outside, but I’m not complaining at all. The Spring season always gets me in the mood for many Spring related things, but no matter what I do regarding Spring time, it’s not right to do it without some music.
Musiq Soulchild’s song “So Beautiful” always reminds me of Spring time. It takes me right back to Spring of 2009 in college, which reminds me of the nicer weather and great memories with friends. However, you simply can’t complain about a Musiq Soulchild song, right?
So enjoy the song, as I enjoy the weather, and if the Spring weather hasn’t reached you yet, just know it’s almost here!
Happy (almost) Spring, folks! 🙂
Brie <3
[03.16.16]
See You Later, Grandma Toni!
Kris, Jordyn and I were lucky enough to have my Mother-in-law a.k.a. Grandma Toni, here in Montana with us for about a month and a half. We really enjoyed having her here and we are so sad she had to leave us. Jordyn especially loved having her Grandma Toni here to follow EVERYWHERE like she was her little shadow. Jordyn adores her Grandma Toni (because Grandmas are always the superstars) and I’m sure she’s wondering where she is, and why she didn’t get to see her this morning.
I’m sure you’ve all heard the classic Mother-in-law horror stories, but I’m one of the select few who can brag about not only having an awesome mother-in-law, but a great relationship with her as well. As always when we’re together we always have such great, in-depth, conversations about life in general. It was especially nice to have an adult to talk to during the day while Kris is at work and I’m hanging with the munchkin. All of my fellow SAHMs (stay at home Moms) understand what I mean! Oh, did I mention how much she HELPED us around the house. I think I’ve done the dishes and laundry ONCE since she’s been here, and I’m not going to lie…I got spoiled rotten. While she was doing the dishes last night I said to her “I’m going to have to start doing my own dishes again” in the most pathetic sounding voice ever LOL.
From bath time, to potty training, to hanging out in the man cave watching movies on the projector and sharing popcorn together, Jordyn and her Grandma were able to create a lot of fun memories. I’m sure the little munchkin will expect Mom (as she calls me) to keep most of these fun traditions up now that Grandma has gone back home. However, she will surely miss Grandma Toni’s cell phone (and sharing Sesame Street videos to Grandma Toni’s Facebook wall LOL) because Mom isn’t as willing to let her play with hers since she broke Mom’s last phone -_-.
One of the hardest parts of being a military family is being based so far away from family and friends. You would think as many times as we have visitors we would get used to the “see you laters” but in all honesty they only get harder. Being married, and even more so, being parents, you learn exactly how much family means to you, and how much you took them for granted when they lived up the street. Thankfully, it is 2016, and we have amazing technology that allows us to be closer to loved ones even when they’re hundreds of miles away. There will be plenty of Facetime calls and Facebook posts until we are able to see each other again. (Prayerfully sooner than later!)
Thanks again for spending so much time with us, Grandma Toni. We are surely going to miss you around here. Safe travels back to Illinois, and we all love and miss you already. Try not to be too sad, because although it’s extremely hard to be so far away from each other, we’re blessed to have people to love and miss as much as we love and miss each other.
We love you!
Brie <3
[01.10.16]
Farewell, Miller Family!
Today, our awesome and close friends, the Millers, started on their journey to start their new chapter at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Talk about a bittersweet (definitely more bitter than sweet) feeling. They have been stuck here at this base for a very long time so this new journey of positive changes and more opportunities is much deserved. But to start a new journey it requires leaving your current one, and that is where the sadness comes in.
Krissy and I have become extremely close since I moved here in January of 2012. She’s for sure my best friend here, and we’re so close we even call each other “Sister Wife.” Let me explain…(LOL) when either of our husbands were gone for long periods of time doing Air Force stuff, the other’s husband stepped in and helped out where the other couldn’t. For example, when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy Kris was gone for six weeks doing work in California. This means Krissy’s husband, Isaiah, would come take my trash out, lift heavy stuff around the house if needed, invited me over for dinner etc. We joked that each other husbands was our second husband and started calling each other Sister Wife.
When I found out I was pregnant Krissy was the second person in the world who knew. When she found out she was pregnant six months later I believe I was the second person to know about it as well. And when I say we shared this news with each other, in both instances it was an actual picture of the positive pregnancy test right after getting the results hahaha. If we ever needed anything or someone to rely on for any reason, we always knew (and still know) we could count on the Millers. They’re the type of friends who become family and a part of your life forever. In this crazy world, military life world to be even more specific, it is hard to find people you genuinely can call lifelong friends. It’s part of the life we live to meet people, become friends, and start over again once getting orders to a new base. Thankfully, we had a pretty great group of friends here in Montana who have all left by now, but are still some of the closest people to us.
It’s going to be a huge adjustment for my family and I to not be able to call you guys and hang out whenever we want or watch our baby girls play together. Jordyn and I will actually have to start attending playgroups without our BFFs :-(. I think I’m even more emotional than usual because of the holiday season. We always spent Halloween at you guys house eating delicious soup of some sort and passing out candy to the kids while looking at their awesome costumes. Isaiah always deep-fried the Thanksgiving turkey (which I refuse to eat any other way now lol) for our big f(r)amily dinner and the same goes for Christmas.
Although we will miss you guys for the small activities and huge holidays, I am so happy you all get to finally be near an ocean again! (The Pacific will just have to do for now 😉 ) Have tons of fun for us, and prayerfully we will meet you guys there in Vandenberg one day soon. Safe travels, we love you guys tons, and miss you so much already. But of course we miss Norah a.k.a Chunky Cheeks the most ;-). Thank you for being great people and even more amazing friends. We are thankful for all of the memories we have created over the years.
It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t take one last group picture filled with hilarious-ness and attitude from our little divas LOL.
Farewell, Miller family!
Brie <3
[11.01.15]
To My PD Girl…
Dearest PD Girl,
Today marks one month since you have been gone. You went on to glory exactly one year to the day after meeting Jordyn for the first time in person. I believe it’s safe to say September 3rd will always be remembered as a cherished and emotional day for many people who were so close to you. If I am being completely honest it still hasn’t quite hit me that you’re gone. I would imagine this is what people mean when they talk about a disconnection between our hearts and our minds. My heart knows you’re gone, but I don’t think my mind has caught up just yet.
In the midst of all the craziness and planning going on while we were home, believe it or not I only cried twice. You would be proud of me! LOL. The truth is, I didn’t cry as much, or become as emotional, because all I could think about was how HILARIOUS you were. I was so busy replaying memories of you doing and/or saying funny things I couldn’t do much outside of laugh. I know you saw how loved you truly were by the number of people who showed up to your memorial, and had so many beautiful and funny stories to share about you. I didn’t even realize how many of my own family members and friends you had touched over time until the beautiful condolence messages and phone calls poured in.
A month sounds like a long time, but in actuality it’s much shorter than we realize. Four weeks translates to thirty days, and reminds us how fresh everything still is, and will be for some time. But it’s okay for us to be sad sometimes. It’s okay to let out a long cry or spend a day to ourselves in deep thought, because that is what you do when you lose someone who has made a major impact on your life. However, to remember you, and the spirit of who you were, I am going to share some of my favorite P.D. Girl memories with my readers. I even have a few pictures to go with some of these memories. (I don’t wanna hear it PD Girl! I can hear you cursing me out for sharing your pictures with strangers LOL)
- I’m already laughing at this picture. PD, Toni and I, took a trip to California in the summer of 2011 to see a test launch Kris had been part of for the United States Air Force. Kris and I were acting a fool as usual when we noticed PD standing like this on the statue. In the midst of Kris and I playing around, PD couldn’t get her leg down and was yelling “Kris…I can’t get my leg down…Kris…I’m stuck!” LMAO! We still aren’t quite sure why Pd thought this was a good idea in the first place.
- This picture was taken at Longhorn Steakhouse the night before Jon left for basic training. This memory makes me laugh because I remember this was originally supposed to be a picture of just you and Jon, but I jumped in at last-minute. When I yelled “wait, I wanna be in the picture too!” You said to me “don’t nobody want you in this picture little ugly girl!” Hahahaha! But look at nice the picture is even with me in it PD Girl!
- This story isn’t specifically from our wedding day, but this picture is perfect because anytime I used to tell cute lovey dovey stories about Kris, or referred to him by some adorable name, your classic response was “So! Nobody cares about y’all..” LOL. We love you too, PD.
*These next few stories don’t have pictures to accompany them but they’re just as hilarious*
- When I was in sixth grade and hospitalized for viral meningitis, you came to see me in the hospital multiple times. You actually drove us home from the hospital once I was discharged too. But what I do remember was your first visit to the hospital and your reaction to my hair not being combed. You said to my Mom “Kim, why you got my baby in here looking like this.” LOL. You then pulled a comb out of your purse and put my hair in two french braids :-).
- In college I loved getting frozen custard from a place named, Andy’s, downtown Evanston. When I would walk over to Andy’s to get a concrete mixer or shake of some sort, you always made sure to tell me to bring something back for you. Considering you were diabetic, I would tell you I couldn’t bring you anything, and Toni would say the same thing. You would proceed to tell us how much you couldn’t stand either of us and turn your head to not face us anymore. LMAO.
- This last story isn’t one that happened on one occasion. I used to always give you kisses whether you wanted them or not. I would say to you “I think you want me to give you some kisses PD Girl. Come on over here and get these kisses.” You would beg me not to kiss you as I walked towards you with my lips puckered up, and kiss you on your forehead and cheeks multiple times. It only took you a few years to realize my kisses weren’t going to stop which means you stopped fighting me and accepted your life LOL.
I could go on for days telling stories and reminiscing about how much you were and still are a part of my life. I had my own relationship with you and I am so thankful for that. I loved being able to talk to you about any and everything going on in my life and knowing you would give me straight to the chase, honest advice. That advice although honest, was always filled with love. When we cleaned your closet out I took this sweater of yours with me as my PD moment. It fits and looks perfect.
I will miss being able to give you forehead kisses when I see you or listen for one of your many hilarious comments about any and everything, but I’m at peace because I know you’re at peace. You are in a place where there is no more pain and suffering, but tons of love and happiness. Thanks for being an amazing extended Grandma, and beautiful person to know. You have blessed my life by being in it and for that and many other things I want to say, thank you. We all love and miss you more than words could ever express. At the end of it all I just want you to know you will always be and I will always love my PD Girl <3
Brie <3
[10.03.15]
Happy 15th Birthday, Mayacita!
Today is my baby sister’s 15th birthday. I still can’t believe you’re in high school, let alone, starting your sophomore year of high school. The craziest part of all of it is, I still remember you being this big:
Kris said to me the other day while looking at this same picture of you, “I feel like Maya just looked like this..” to which I responded “I’m not sure when her growing up happened either”? While looking at this same picture, I decided to go look at the photo album from this same weekend. I think it’s safe to say much hasn’t changed between you, Kris, and I’s relationship either. It seems to have been the usual me taking pictures as you two act a fool…
You’re the greatest baby sister, and Auntie to Jordyn, we could ever ask for. This is the second summer you have spent with me and it’s always so nice having you around. I love talking to you and seeing how mature you are, as well as, how helpful you are with everything from watching Jordyn to doing chores around the house. You are always looking to lend a helping hand without being asked which is what makes you so thoughtful. I also love spending time with you, because being goofy is pretty much the standard. I mean, who else can take pictures as great as these ones besides us?
I hope you have a great birthday and I pray God blesses you to see many many more. If anything, you can at least guarantee your niece is going to harass you, as you two argue and love on each other all day long LOL. You two have a special bond that just works, because you know she loves you so much. Driving you crazy and beating you up is how she likes to show it. 😉
We love you so much! Happy 15th birthday, Mayacita!
Brie <3
[07.24.15]