Baby Sprinkle

As I mentioned in my last post, while I was home visiting my family I got to throw my sister a Baby Sprinkle to celebrate my nephew. I wasn't able to attend her baby shower when she was pregnant with Lilly so I knew I wanted to do something big this time around. Everything turned out amazing! We decided we didn't want to have any specific theme, just blue 'sprinkles' everywhere and a light lunch.

I am obsessed with the banner I made! When I worked at Michaels in college I bought a Cricut machine and am so happy I did so I can not only use it for scrapbooking but also for things like this! I also made the confetti garland with the machine, and then just sewed the circles together with some white string & my Singer. It turned out really cute!

 Since it was only a baby sprinkle (smaller than a shower) we decided to keep it light for the food. I bought chicken salad croissants from HEB, cut up fresh fruit and whipped up a delicious and simple dip for them, and made an AMAZING cheese ball to eat with some crackers. Everyone loved it! I'll post the recipes later this week (maybe?).

 This Raspberry Wine Punch was to die for. Oh my gosh, I wish I could have some right now! By the end of the party, the container was drained! (Of course I had to buy some blue dotted paper straws to match the decor!)

Overall, the sprinkle was a huge success! 

Baby Mason got a bunch of clothes, diapers, and a few other things.

Thompson Family Reunion 2015

A couple weeks ago, I returned from my trip back to the States. Man was it hard having to leave my family, especially since I was coming back to a home without Dustin!

I started my trip off in Chicago/Wisconsin for the Thompson Family Reunion. It was so much fun seeing all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandpa! It really is a shame I didn't grow up living closer to them but I think that's what makes each reunion more special. We pick up right where we left off 3 years before and always have the time of our lives. Here's this year's official photo! :)

Since the reunion 6 years ago, at night it is tradition to play flip cup until the wee hours of the morning, consuming an insane amount of beer. Needless to say, this reunion was no different. The first night was quite intense...so intense that I lost my voice and had the worst hangover in the history of hangovers!

Some random people heard us partying and decided to join us! 

After the reunion, I flew home to Texas! When I walked in the door to my sisters house, I was excitedly greeted by my niece, Lilly! I was so happy she wasn't shy, I guess those hours of attempted FaceTime with her paid off! It was also AMAZING getting to see my sister pregnant with our nephew. When Kelly was preggers with Lilly, I was living in Las Vegas and didn't come home until after she was born. Unfortunately that mean I never got to see her baby bump or feel Lil kicking and moving. It was the best feeling getting to do all that with baby boy! Not only that, but I got to throw her a 'baby sprinkle' to celebrate his much anticipated arrival (I'll write another post all about it)! We didn't take many pictures so I'll leave you with some of Lilly and I being goofy!

 (She likes to push the button on my iPhone to take the pictures)

Our Wedding Video

A few posts back I mentioned that I was working on our wedding video 

and would hopefully be done with it soon. 

Well soon is TODAY!

I was kinda bummed we couldn't afford a videographer so instead we asked my Uncle who officiated the wedding to wear a GoPro on his chest to get a neat close up shot of Dustin and I during the ceremony. Though things didn't work out quite as well as I had hoped, I'm so glad we asked! The perspective of the shot is so awesome and we are really fortunate

 to be able to re-live our special day that close. A lot of the video is just a slideshow of the pictures our awesome photographer took (Jackie Ray Photography) mixed with some GoPro footage. 

Hope you enjoy!

Locks of Love

Happy Sunday!

Today's post is a recap of my day yesterday. What did I do other than watch 3 movies and drink some wine? I got my haircut! For anyone that knows me, this is a very rare occasion. The last time I had my hair actually cut [not just trimmed] was when I was a sophomore in college! Y'all...that was over 5 YEARS AGO! I guess I've just always thought of myself as a long-haired kinda girl.

To be honest, I have been thinking about doing this for a while. My hair has gotten so long and is already pretty thick/not naturally pretty in any way. I get tired of fixing it and then I get hot once its done that really, there's just no point. So when I woke up, I told myself- "I'll call the salon. If there is an open appointment, it's a sign that I should just take the plunge." Welp, I seemed to find myself at the salon at 130pm, ready to do it!

I ended up with over 12 inches of hair, ready to mail to Locks of Love! This wasn't the first time I have done this, it's actually the third time. The first time, I was in the 6th grade, and my best friend Julie and I both donated. The second time was when I was in college as I mentioned. 

Overall, I am completely, 100% satisfied! It's a bit shorter than I originally pictured in my head but overall, it's the exact length/cut/style I wanted. So crazy to think how much a haircut can change how you fell about yourself!

Hope you all have an enjoyable rest of your weekend and great start to your week!

2015 Trips [so far]

At first glance, 2015 was looking to be quite a boring year. With Dustin deployed/on TDY for 8 months out of the year, I didn't think I would get much traveling in other than the occasional day trips to the beach and IKEA. Luckily, along with the help of family and friends, it looks like I will still be able to do a bunch of fun vacations! Here's what I've got lined up [so far]...

J U L Y

About 6 years ago, the Thompson side of my family had our first of what would be many family reunions. Okay, maybe not first, but definitely the first in at least 10+ years. This July will be our THIRD gathering since! I am beyond excited to see everyone and spend time with the family that I love and miss being around. One of my absolute favorite parts are our matching shirts. My dad is 1 of 7 siblings so once all aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, grand babies and spouses are gathered, we total upwards of 30 people (and it keeps growing)! Having the shirts made is a really neat way to group each family in each picture. I'll be traveling to Chicago & Wisconsin for about 11 days towards the end of the month.

S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R

Towards the end of September and carrying over into October, my dad, best friend, and her parents will be flying to Europe to do some visiting and traveling! We have been working on nailing down their final itineraries and flight schedules but we are just about done. While here, they will be seeing Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Sacile/Aviano (where I live and where the USAF base is located), Milan, Athens, Munich and Paris! It is going to be crazy fun and I am absolutely ecstatic to show them the town we have come to love and some of our favorite places in Europe, not to mention go to Oktoberfest!

N O V E M B E R

November Dustin comes home! We haven't made any concrete travel plans for after he arrives since we don't have a set return date. But we are really considering going on a 5-day trip to London! We have heard NOTHING but good things from our friends and hey, there is nothing wrong with wanting to travel to a city that speaks the same language as you! If we do go, we plan on seeing Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Warner Bros Studio tot our some wicked Harry Potter sites, and plenty more. Fingers crossed that we get a return date and flights booked soon!

D E C E M B E R

Winter is one of my favorite times of the year. Between decorating, spending time with family, and eating amazing foods, there really isn't much more you could ask for. Being overseas has TONS of opportunities for us to see and do things we never could have imagined but, it does cut back on time spent with family. Luckily, my mom and step-dad will be joining us for Christmas! They will arrive on the 22nd, spend time in the local area, and then all four of us will travel to Rome for 4 days. Dustin and I have been aching to go to Rome but never really found the best time to go. Plus, we always knew we would end up going when family/friends were in town so it wasn't necessarily at the top of our list. After Rome, they will head back to the States but Dustin and I will continue on to Berlin, Germany to celebrate the New Year! 

After all, 2015 is turning out to be an adventure-packed year. I would never take living in Europe for granted and am looking forward to all the fun, beautiful places we will get to experience.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!

Hopefully your week wasn't too bad, but if it was, 

hopefully you have a date tonight with Mr. Mexican Food and Mrs. Jumbo Margarita! 

Today I am going to share with you a few things that I have been a bit obsessed with lately! Since Dustin has been gone on TDY (or temporary duty), I have really been able to focus on myself and doing things I've been putting off for quite a bit, as well as trying new things that normally I wouldn't.

1. Kashi Snacks

When we found out Dustin was going to be gone for two months, the first thing I thought was "Amen! I can lose some weight!" I'm not blaming my husband for my recent chubby state, but eating heathy when we are together is definitely something we suck at. I mean, who wants cuddle and watch movies on the couch with a salad?! No thank you, we prefer pizzas! The day he left, I cleaned out the refrigerator and pantry and went grocery shopping for healthier options. These two Kasha snacks are BY FAR the best purchases I made that day! The Garlic Pesto Crisps are sooo good by themselves and even better with some Laughing Cow Garlic Spreadable Cheese. They are seriously like a healthy, yummy version of chips and queso [kinda]. The Apple Cobbler Chewy Bars- perfect afternoon snack to hold me over until dinnertime. I honestly have eaten both of these for the past 10 days and am still not sick of them.

2. Serial

Serial is a podcast, produced by the same people as another famous podcast, This American Life. I have never been a fan of podcasts for no reason other than the fact that I had never listened to any (except Dustin's annoying sports radio podcast which doesn't count). When a few friends told me I should check it out, I decided to give it try. I just finished listening to the 12th and last episode of Season 1. Oh my gosh! It was intense, it was nerve-racking, it was confusing, it was frustrating, it was so many things. If you haven't listened to it, I recommend it. I won't go into deep detail on what its about but, pretty much the writer/producer investigates a case from 1999 where a 17-year-old male is charged with 1st degree murder of his ex-girlfriend. They have recordings of the trials, she talks with the male who has since served 15 years in jail and she interviews others from the case. It's very interesting and made my drive to and from work a lot more tolerable. I will most definitely be trying out other podcasts to fill the now vacant void.

3. iMovie

One thing I really wanted for our wedding that we honestly could not afford was a videographer. Weddings these days are not cheap so when the time came to divvy out the budget, we decided to forego a videographer and instead put the money into other things. Plus, we figured if our family and friends took videos on their phones, cameras, etc, we could use that footage to make our own video. The wedding came and went, toasts were made, videos were taken and afterwards, I harassed people for the footage. Well ladies and gents, I'm finally coming around on the video! I am so excited and so happy with how its going so far. iMovie is seriously a great program for beginners and novices, plus it came free on my MacBook. It's easy to use and when I can't figure out how to do something, there are tons of how-to videos on YouTube. Hopefully I will have it done soon and will be able to share it!

That's all for today! Do you have any new things you've tried that have really impressed you?

Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend! ;)

Over the Past Three Months...

Over the Past Three Months…we visited the world's largest Maserati Collection, took two Ferrari California's for a test drive (crossing off #57 from my Bucket List), and toured the Ferrari Museum.

Over the Past Three Months…our 2015 Volvo XC60 arrived, beautiful as ever.
(she still doesn't have a name unfortunately)

 

Over the Past Three Months…we dressed up at Uncle Eddie from Christmas Vacation and a Rockford Peach for Halloween.

Over the Past Three Months…we hosted a huge Thanksgiving feast at our house where 12 of our closest friends in Italy joined with us in giving thanks for this roller coaster we call life.

Over the Past Three Months…we drove to Munich, Germany, explored the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market), drank Gluhwein, and ate at the famous Hofbrauhaus.

 

 

Over the Past Three Months…we attended our first two squadron holiday parties in Italy.

Over the Past Three Months…we threw a White Elephant Christmas Party with 15 of our friends, ate the best pizza in Sacile and had a huge array of desserts (included my epic fail snowmen-cake-balls).

This wasn't even all of them!

Over the Past Three Months...we drove to Cortina, Italy to snowboard for two days.

Over the Past Three Months...we celebrated the New Year in Budapest, Hungary and Ljubljana, Slovenia.

 

 

Only picture we took of Slovenia.

It's been a crazy, stressful, busy, tiring time since we have been in Italy but we have had the time of our lives and enjoy planning where to go and what to do next. Can't make any promises but I'll try not to wait another Three Months before I blog again. ;)