catchin' up with the konens

this time of the year seems to be the best and also the busiest.

work is busy. our social calendar seems to be filling up. there's birthday parties to be had, baby showers to attend and weddings to be blessed. it's running season and races are in full-force. vacation is approaching (yipee!!!), our house is for sale (never-ending cleaning), which means i'm constantly keeping my eyes open for THE HOUSE to buy... just in case we sell ours. oh, and banks is busy too. running everywhere, eating dirt, digging in the trash, opening the toilet lids, talking up a storm, is always hungry and thinks the street looks more fun than the green grass. we are constantly chasing after him - but i wouldn't change that for the world.

last week i attended a photography workshop and i LOVED it. Gina Dreher was an excellent instructor. I'm totally jealous of her stay at home mom/ awesome photographer job. i have a whole new respect for awesome photos. it's a science and an art. i got to play around with the camera this weekend with baby banks and also took some maternity photos for a great friend. by no means will i be a pro photog, but it's fun to take pictures for friends. i've learned how to photoshop the photos so that banks' bbq stains on his shirt are less apparent and his 'boogies' aren't so noticeable. fun stuff.

royal script is busy too. i'm behind & need to get caught up. asap.

1/2 marathon #3 is this weekend - PR times will not be happening, so don't you need to worry about any type of celebration. I've been running slower than ever before. not sure why, but it's not cool. there is another 1/2 i'm thinking about doing in a month or so... maybe i will feel more up to speed around that time.

my brother is graduating college in 2 weeks. craziness.

i get to celebrate my mom this month - which is awesome. she deserves every bit of that day, she's the BEST mom ever. i also forget that I'm a mom when i think about mother's day. sometimes it's just crazy to think about. 

cabo is in 48 days. 

it's monday. the sun is shining. it's a beautiful day.

FOR SALE

we've talked about it. thought about it. and now we have done it. our very first home is for sale. 

we are selling it ourselves, so be sure to share, share, share away! you can find pictures on my Facebook page HERE.

happy home selling.

well, hello.

 Holy smokes. It's been awhile. I'm going to catch you up in the same manner that I feel like time has passed - quickly.

St. Patrick's Day

Alli and I ran the St. Patty's 5k together, opened a bar and had a few drinks before going out that night. It's always a great time with Miss AK. 

on the 17th I realized that it was TWO years ago I found out I was pregnant with Banks. Seems like yesterday. Made me so happy and sad at the same time. Time flies. I made B green pankcakes and we did some crafts and just hung out in our 'Lucky KU' shirts all dang day. Those days are the best.

March Madness

A great time. The following in Wichita for WSU was amazing. After working at WSU it made it all that more special to watch the guys succeed. I'm so proud of them and couldn't have asked for a better run. Of course winning it all is the goal - but, what they did is something to be proud of. KU - That wasn't cool. Of course, March is one of my favorite months because of all the basketball played. Such a fun time watching all the WSU games with our best friends and cheering them on at a wedding, bars & at home. Fun stuff.

Easter

Celebrated Easter with family at church and a lunch at our house afterward. So blessed with a great family and so thankful for New Life. Banks was spoiled with 3 Easter baskets and lots of hidden eggs. He was the absolute cutest looking for all of the eggs.

Carnival

We made the big trip to Norwich for the school carnival. B of course had a blast. Winning lots of unnecessary prizes is always fun, right? Grandpa learned not to let B take on a sucker on his own - stickiness galore. Uncle Dmo came home and we got to hang out all weekend - we wish he lived here. Mom fixed a fabulous dinner. G stuffed himself full and said "that was amazing". 

Running

A few more weeks til' 1/2 number 3. I haven't been training as much this time around, but hopefully it'll all work out. 

House

G and I are going to be working hard the next few weeks to get our house ready for the market. I think we are ready for something bigger and something west. Hoping to get closer to all of our family, friends & church. So, that should be interesting.

Banks

Growing like a weed. Had an upper respiratory infection last week and was absolutely miserable. Took him to his 16 month check up. He weighed 25lbs and was 32 inches tall.  Got some antibiotics and he's back to normal - happy go lucky. I couldn't love anything more than him. He's amazing. The life of any party for sure.

Slumber Parties

Banks has stayed the night with both sets of grandparents in the last month. To say the least he is spoiled. G and had a few good nights out.... and at home. Yes our 'night out' became a 'night in' with early bedtimes. We are getting old.

Cabo

61 days. I cannot wait!

Work

Going well. Save the date for my first event - PedalFest August 24, 2013.

That's all for now. I'm sure I missed about a million things, but basically life is BUSY and GREAT.

cabo.

wal mart trips with mom are the best!

breakfast with mama

sports with gpa

cheering on the shocks!

brudder love

bubbles with auntie k

fun in the yard!

sick baby banks

breakfast at cracker barrel with gma ju ju

cake walk with uncle dmo

winner winner chicken dinner!

slumber party fun

st pattys

happy birthday uncle dmo!

bikinibody

motivation.

a lack thereof.

so, what do i do? follow bikinibody on instagram. i can't figure out if this is a good thing or not. super jealous of these bods. and their swimsuits. but, the motivation may be working. only 93 days until we are laying out in the sun of mexico tanning our 'bikinibody'. haha. is there such thing has 'tankinibody'? i think that may be me.

we've booked our rooms/resort, flights (this weekend) and need to call about exclusivity.

we had pondered the option of buying an exclusive deal for 5 of the 7 nights, or 3 of the 7... but, after a full week's work, i'm thinking i will be drinking more than the $78/day exclusivity cost. so i've just decided that we will be going 7 for 7 on that deal.

vacation. get here already. please.

and, thank you.

PRIORITIES

i think about things to blog about about 100 times a day. 

rarely do they ever make it to the tips of my fingers and through the keyboard to a screen, but i do think about these thoughts often. if i had my way i'd be a stay at home mama and spend hours upon hours with the most precious boy and make sure my husband had a clean house and a yummy meal to eat when he got home from work everyday. i'd also blog and workout during naptime. sounds like a perfect life. trust me, i've spent days home with banks before and it's not a scripted day like i just stated, but i'm pretty sure it's a lot better than taking my baby to daycare everyday, the stress of work, picking him up from daycare and worrying about the stress of work the next day. that i can assure you.

what i have realized is that my priorities in life have changed. yes, i knew they probably would and for that matter, they probably should.

for instance, blogging. that used to be a top 5 priority. like i had a deadline. like i was being graded or earning some sort of blogging certificate. don't get be wrong, i love to blog. it's relaxing. it's like my journal.. but then again it's been shoved down to #32564 on the list of priorities.

a lot of times i find myself overwhelmed. i try not to show it, which sometimes i tend to think i'm really good at because I am often asked "how do you balance everything" or "when do you have time for that"? umm... I don't and I don't. those are my two answers.

something else i like about blogging.. rambling.

anyways, i think i'm trying to make two points.

1. prioritize by what makes you happy.
2. it's okay to say no.

if you do these two things your priorities will most likely make sense. 

LIFE LATELY

Apparently it's been busy, because I haven't had the chance to update the blog.

I've started my new job and i'm liking it quite a lot so far. Very busy. Lots of learning, but also lots of opportunity to make my own marketing decisions ( which can be scary!) .  I know this job will be and already has been very rewarding. Right now I'm working on hearspring pediatric services' marketing plan which includes introducing social media, doctor luncheons, and exhibiting at various conferences. If you hear of the CARE walk, PedalFest or Lights On The Lake - those are the events I will be planning. So... Go to them! :) CARE walk is well underway tHis year so I will be taking over the 2014 event. I'm keeping plenty busy, and for the time being I've been home by 5:30 everyday. I'm loving watching the shockers on tv instead of being at the arena 3 hours before game time.

Speaking of work, I've began working out again. Ahhh, it's lovely. Basically, with winter ( getting dark outside before I even get home ) and the time I refuse to give up with banks, there wasn't anytime to hit the gym or run outside. Garrett's Christmas present to me - a legit treadmill - has solved this problem. I can now workout morning or late at night after b goes to bed, whether it's cold, rainy, dark or light and I don't have any excuses. If I have 30 minutes I can manage to squeeze in a good run, rather than using the 30 minutes to drive to the gym. It's awesome! We've decided to add a flat screen tithe gym 'area'. Hello junk tv and running. To kick off the workouts I signed up for my 3rd 'official' half marathon in may. I say 'official' because while training for the full I feel like I ran 13.1 miles every weekend... Ahh. So happy running!!!!


Banks is keeping us busy and we're loving every minute of it. He loved the snow and would cry when we made him go inside. Apparently the freezing cold, wet clothes didn't bother him as much ad it bothered me. He has 13 teeth now, and 2 are coming in. He uses them often as he is a eating machine. His new favorite - hot dogs. Well, turkey dogs... But you get the point. He enjoys sitting in the kitchen when I bake or cook. He will take his dirty Clothes to his room and put them in the basket on
 command, fetches his own diaper when he needs changed, stands by the door with trash and 'asks' someone to open it so that he can throw the Trash away,  and the minute you say bath he runs to the 
bathroom door. His hair is long and crazy, but I just love it. He will run to the tv when basketball is on and say something that sort of sounds like basketball.... He points to his ears, eyes, nose, belly and feet on command and says please as cheese....and cheese for cheese which gets confusing  at times. We just can't get enough of him and his perfect personality.

So all is well, and it looks like our next few months will be busy and good... If the jayhawks can win out the rest of the year :) happy march!

PERFECT IN MY EYES.

lately...

life seems too perfect. mostly due to Banks. How could I ever be so lucky to be his mama?

I'm so madly in love with this little creature. You'd think it'd get easier leaving him every morning, but it doesn't. Actually, I think it gets more difficult. ugh.

But, the time I do have with him in the evenings is such a joy and such an escape from the busy, chaotic work-life.

I'm so in love with this hilarious boy. Muah. xoxo