All posts by R.C. Liley

I'm an ex-mutual fund accountant who left the cubicle world to be a stay-at-home dad to my beautiful little girl, Avery, who entered our life on 11/15/13 and handsome little boy, Wes, who joined our family on 11/19/17. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, as of 8/17/07. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the utmost importance in our family and we strive to reflect this in our daily life. I always prepare our meals at home and only go out if it's a special occasion, and even then I tend to not get much. Food should be fun and a joy to eat, not something quickly consumed from a fast food chain or scarf down before the next meeting. I have come from strictly logging high miles to train for the next marathon to keeping exercise varied and focusing more on strength. I still enjoy going for a run when I can, but nothing crazy, and I prefer hill sprints while pushing my daughter, Avery in the stroller. She loves it and I get a great workout! I want to show the world how to appreciate their body and feed it real, wholesome food while moving more throughout the day. In doing so, everyone would be healthier, happier, and we'd all live in a better place as a result. I blog mainly about my life as a stay-at-home dad and frequently include reviews, participate in campaigns, and share my thoughts on fitness and nutrition. If you ever have any questions or thoughts to share, please reach out as I'm always open to listening or helping others however possible. That is, when I have free time since Avery is and my wife are the number one priorities!

Life, Parenting

Colorado Family Vacation Day 2.1: Vail Farmers’ Market Surprise

08/18/2015 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

After the long first night in Colorado, we were up and at ’em to go to the Vail Farmers’ Market for day 2. We had planned on going before going on our trip since it’s only open on Sunday so it would be our only chance. Knowing this, I reached out to the friendly Executive Director of the unique market to ask about helping me with a little 8th Wedding Anniversary surprise.

I had no idea just what exactly could be arranged, but I told Angela, the kind director, how it would be our anniversary soon and I wanted something to surprise her while there. I love surprises, big or small, and when given the opportunity, I’ll take it!

That opportunity arose when Angela suggested making use of the live jazz band to announce our anniversary and play us a song in the center of the market. I immediately said yes to her suggestion and couldn’t believe how generous she was just talking to a stranger from Texas. She arranged for the announcement and even told me the time to be there, asking nothing in return.

But geez, getting everyone to stick around the area proved to be an arduous task! I should’ve know how hard it is to do anything that involves standing between a woman and shopping, and it almost resulted in a little argument when I became a tad pushy about moving back towards the jazz band. Notice how I’m walking ahead of everyone in the picture above.

With the help of my wonderful in-laws and several covert e-mails with Angela (Kelley kept bugging me about getting off my phone), we made it just in time to hear the band announce us by name and say happy 8th anniversary.

Steve, Kelley’s dad / Papa, works wonders with the camera, and captured our family of three enjoying the song the band played for us.

Make that two of us enjoying the song, Avery just wasn’t excited about the large crowds and wanted to run around more. We asked her to smile for another picture, but she only looked more annoyed.

She did, however, seem interested in sitting down to finish watching/listening to the band play “our” song.

Kelley was surprised, and beautiful smile on her face filled me joy. It might sound corny, but it’s true, and I will never hesitate to announce it through and through! She’s so wonderful and I’m lucky to call her my wife and best friend. I think Avery was feeling far from being either of our best friends, especially when she had to go in the stroller.

Not that it stopped us from taking turns getting a picture with the happy girl.

All of our moods took a turn for the worse when we walked to Sweet Basil, a restaurant within the town square where the farmers’ market is held.

Avery was already hungry and cranky, and the rest of us were turning hangry as well. It took an hour before our food arrived and the unenthusiastic and uninformed waitress hardly knew what her place of employment served and forget about getting anything answered about the menu. Avery had to be taken outside several times when she turned on the vocals to scream in protest. Thankfully Cousin Ashlee was there to help watch Avery as she ran around with an “I do what I want!” attitude.

Normally, it’s just kids being kids, but we all wanted to do the same and couldn’t blame her. She would hardly eat, and would not have it sitting in the high chair. She went back and forth to Kelley’s and Nana’s lap and we felt it was a win after she ate the watermelon and red onion salad I had to piece together from two separate entrees.

Notice the surprised face on my wife after Avery took a bite. It was clear we had an unruly toddler at the table, but waitress even took her Sweet Basil ass time to bring us the tab we asked for. But don’t worry, she had plenty of time to stand and talk to the patrons at a table next to us about her college plans and probably how she sucks at hearing or just life in general.

Sorry for the rant, but we all left the place extremely irritated and unsatisfied. Plus we were all still hungry! In sum, go to the Vail Farmers’ Market (it’s full of unique crafts, fresh food, and local wine and spirits), but DON’T GO to Sweet Basil!

The Vail Farmers’ Market was only half of our day 2 adventures. Once we returned home to Nana and Papa’s Kelley and I took off to the nearby trail I went on the first day to spend time hiking together. I’ll save our hiking story for the next post so as to not drag things on in one post.

Don’t worry, it won’t be long. For a little teaser, I’ll say that at one point, I found myself stuck between a rock and hard place.

Have you ever had a horrendous dining experience? With or or without kids?

Do you enjoy Farmers’ Markets? Any favorite finds?

Life, Monthly List, Parenting, Photo Journal

21 Month Photo Session + Happy 8th Anniversary to Us!

08/17/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

I interrupt the expected continued stories of our Colorado vacation to say Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary to my wife, Kelley aka Going Mom! Note: the font color is the official html code for Bronze, the traditional 8 year wedding anniversary material.

We don’t have anything special planned for the day. After just getting back from our family trip and frantically trying to restore order back home by grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, getting new smartphones (Wow, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is cool!), and picking up our neighbor’s cool play house with swing set, I don’t know how we’d fit anything in anyway.

Don’t worry, we have a fun camping trip planned for October with just the two of us while G-Ma stays at our house with Avery. I still need to get sleeping bags and several other camping essentials first. Any pointers/suggestions?

Oh yeah, and we had to make sure a get 21 month pics of Avery on the 15th to carry on tradition. Same chair, same bear, and same, but constantly changing/growing, little girl.

Just wake me when you're done. — Just wake me when you’re done.

My belly? Of course I know where it is.... — My belly? Of course I know where it is….

See? It's right here! — See? It’s right here!

Oh, I know what you just did, good trick. Well, here you go, you win a smile from me!

We only have so much time before she just gets irritated that we’re making her sit in the chair. We consider it a win if we get one smiling pic, so, YAY! #Winning

Although we have a future anniversary celebration trip planned, I always have to find something traditional to give. Since bronze is the traditional material for 8 years, I found a really cool compass which fits in perfectly for our first of many camping trips together.

On the outside of the box, I made a quote saying:

No matter where life takes us,

may we always go together.

I didn’t get it from somewhere else, otherwise I’d give credit where credit is due, so please let me know if it’s been used before. I also gave a 30 pound kettlebell. It’s not bronze, but she’s been wanting something heavier than the 25 pound she currently uses. Plus I left a cool handmade note I put together with glue and construction paper; go me!

Aside from the personal note on the homemade card, I wrote a quick poem in true corny dad/husband style..

7 is done, wasn’t it fun?

Now we’re at 8, ain’t that great?

Next up is 9, I’m so glad you’re mine!

And then shared 8 (because 8 years, duh) quotes about marriage I felt were appropriate.

·       Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, 1966

·       It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. ~Rita Rudner

·       A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~Mignon McLaughlin

·       True love stories never have endings. ~Richard Bach

·       We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness – and call it love – true love. ~Robert Fulghum, True Love

·       A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short. ~Andre Maurois

·       We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. ~W. Somerset Maugham

·       More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse. ~Doug Larson

That’s about it for today. I’ll get back to sharing our trip soon, but I have a play house I need to figure out how to get level in our slanted back yard first. I’m open to your thoughts. Oh yeah, and I haven’t forgotten about my monthly memories post, but still need to find 21 things…hmmmm.

Do you enjoy keeping with traditional items for wedding anniversaries?

Any cool anniversary gifts of your own you’d like share?

Life, Parenting

Colorado Family Vacation Day 1: Her First Flight

08/16/2015 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

There are many things I could tell you about each day of our family vacation, but that would a) take forever, b) probably bore most of you, and c) I just don’t want to.

Day 1 of our trip to visit Nana and Papa in Colorado was mostly spent just getting there. Early in the morning, after running around for last minute packing and Avery rolling around in crib NOT sleeping (we tried to tell her she had to get up in a few hours), we were at the airport thanks to a good work friend dropping us off.

babywearing, ergo, baby carrier — Can we check this?

Wearing your baby/toddler is a huge help when lugging luggage around the airport. Until, that is, they realize they had little sleep and get really cranky. Yeah, she started crying out loud while in the security line, but once on the other side, I let her down and she happily ran amok. Meanwhile, Going Mom and I sucked down black coffee at the expense of burning our tongues.

We would’ve loved to charter a private jet through Jettly since I made it clear how nervous I was about Avery’s first time flying, but she did surprisingly well on the plane as we made the 90 minute flight to Colorado. Don’t get me wrong, she was still crazy and sitting still was never an option, but she really didn’t fuss/cry as I expected. She did kick the chair in front of her and Kelley a lot, but it was just another kid, so….meh.

Despite the better-than-expected first flight, our arms were still tired (see what I did there?), but not from flying as much as from holding down our toddler. We swear she seems to have hit another major growth spurt making it that much more difficult. But nothing can keep us from a family selfie after landing to celebrate her first complete flight.

Notice our wide eyes and forced smiles. We obviously had stress, lack of sleep, coffee (I had to pee a lot), and parents to a toddler all over our face! Of course Avery had nothing to do with the picture, but she too had a lack of sleep despite our pleas to take a nap.

Kelley’s dad, Papa, met us at the airport to bring us to their beautiful home 2 hours away. Two hours turned into to more than 3 after searching for a place to eat (we wanted Snooze, but it had a 90 minute wait which was not an option for us) and sitting through the never-ending traffic of people heading to the mountains for the weekend. At least this gave Avery time for a quick nap in the car.

When we finally arrived in Silverthorne, I was anxious to get out and explore. I haven’t had to sit for so long in years, and my legs were in need of a good stretch. We unpacked and took in the lush scenery of mountains surrounding Nana and Papa’s home as Avery made use of their stairs.

We don’t have stairs in our house, and she’s only used them a handful of times, so these things were the place to go for a rambunctious kid. I soon found that after Steve/Papa told me about a nearby trail, it turned out to be my “stairs” while there.

After getting the okay from my wife, I took off to explore and fill my need to move. I was tired, weak, and hungry, but couldn’t rest until getting my heart rate up and running a bit. My first trip to the trail only lasted about 45 minutes, but it was bliss. I found a large boulder to climb where I did 2 rounds of 100 squats and 50 push-ups while staring out at the mountains and surrounding trees.

Back at the house, the rest of the family hung around outside while Avery, still with little sleep, continuously explored her new environment.

On the upstairs balcony, Avery tried out one of the chairs as she flashed her pretty blue eyes at Papa’s camera. Naturally, those eyes and her overall adorableness, Nana had to come in for some cuddles.

There were plenty more over the course of our stay, and I know Avery enjoyed every bit of it. But, for whatever reason, she did not enjoy sleeping that night! We rented a crib locally (such an awesome idea!), and had it in the room we were sleeping in.

Kelley nursed her to sleep like she always does and laid her in her crib. We were certain she’d sleep great after such a long day, but not long after, Avery woke up screaming. Crap. After trying everything under the ~~sun~~ moon for over an hour, Avery ended up co-sleeping with us.