Truly Thompson

5 Question Friday!

2012-01-20T09:09:00.001-06:00

It’s been many moons since I have done 5 Question Friday and I thought why not today? I’m trying to get back in the swing of things with Truly Thompson and more than just updating y’all each Monday on our weekend! :)

Here we go!

1. Where do you hide your reallllly good snacks?

This is funny! Kody knows but I hide my chocolate in my nightstand. I used to hide it from him, but never really knew why because he doesn’t really like chocolate….or didn’t. Now he does and he knows where it is but I guess if I put it in there I forget about it until I REALLY need it and then remember where it’s at. It’s great because it lasts longer if it’s out of my sight! :) Other than chocolate or candy, we don’t buy snacks. We just eat a lot of fruit and yogurt.

2. Do you keep your vehicle clean?

Another funny! Not usually. I have a badddd habit of just throwing things in the back and I drive a Yukon and nobody ever rides with me so there’s plenty of room for crap.

3. Have you ever been to Vegas?

No. I’d like to see what all the fuss is about and go to a show or something, but I don’t have the gambling gene, nor do I enjoy it. I hate wasting money. Despise it. I also hear it’s real pricey, hot, and you have to walk around a lot. Maybe I will find another trip. HA!

4. Warm room light blankets or cold room warm snuggly blanket?

I can handle both, but during the winter would prefer a semi-cold room (70ish) with a snuggly blanket. :) With our wood furnace we can’t always control the temperature that well! Sometimes it gets a little too warm!

5. What is the worst airplane/flying experience you've ever had?

I wouldn’t consider myself an international traveler, but have been on a plane on 3 different trips. They were all fine, but when I flew to NYC with Mom and on our way home we were landing in Memphis. I guess we hit some turbulence and I got HOT, turned white as a ghost and thought I was going to puke right there. Luckily I held it together!

There you have it. A little glimpse into my oh so exciting life. :) Happy Friday!!!

What I Need Today…

2012-01-19T16:41:00.001-06:00

Have you ever had just one of those days? Where everything may be going right, but you just feel tired, grumpy, irritated, and did I mention tired? That’s me today. I need some of this in my life…

But really I would just settle for this…

Why did they have to do away with naptime after kindergarten? I think work places would be much more productive if we had an hour a day for naps.

An easy fix to all of this would be an early bedtime. Not going to be the case tonight. I’m going to get all dressed up even though my face looks like YUCK and feels droopy and I’d rather close my eyes than shake a bunch of hands. HA! We’ll be heading to the Chamber banquet tonight and hopefully I can feel refreshed once I get home. I know, can I get a little cheese with that whine?

I cleaned house last night. Well, mainly the basement while my new best friend cleaned the upstairs. Meet Millicent, also know around our house as Millie the Mint. Yes, I named it. Much to our surprise, she really cleans well. Thank goodness because we have 2 hairy dogs and track in all kinds of stuff from the outside on our hardwood floors. You simply put one of the microfiber dry cloths it came with on it OR a Swiffer dry pad and set it to go. She works until she’s done and then stops in the exact same spot she started in. Talk about a good girl! I had vacuumed the floors on Saturday and still came up with all of this hair…see below.

YUCK! I promise my house isn’t that dirty, it’s just the dogs. In my defense this bad boy does go under the couch and went in every room upstairs. You can also put a wet Swiffer pad on it and it will clean your floors wet. I LOVE THIS MACHINE!!!!!!!! I give it an A plus! :) It’s only for hard surface floors though! It does not replace my Dyson, but it’s on it’s last leg I think. Maybe it will last another year or so.

I’m ready for the weekend though! My in-laws will be here tomorrow and we always have a fun time with them. We’re going to our favorite pizza place Saturday night with my parents.

By the way, even though I wanted to sleep in today I went to the gym. Score! One more day for this week and I have a couple off. :)

So………………………I’m ready for a hut on the beach with just KT, a frozen, fruity drink, a nap, and the weekend. Is that bad?

Summer? Winter? Hmm?

2012-01-17T16:11:00.001-06:00

That’s how the weather has been lately. We had a 65 degree day yesterday and on my way to the gym (more on that later) it was 65. It poured down raining while I was in there and when I left it was 43. Now it’s around 37 and win-dy! This has been the craziest January EVER! It’s chilly during the week and sometimes down right freezing (tonight 18) but then warms up relatively nice for the weekend. Weird!

Speaking of weekend, it was a long one for Kody and I. We decided Friday night to go on a date, just the two of us. We hadn’t been out to dinner together alone in quite some time, unless it was kind of a rush thing. We met at El Charros at 5:30 and sat there until well after 7 just visiting. It was a good meal! We drove around for a bit and then headed home to watch Warrior. It was pretty good, but I was tired and may or may not have closed my eyes through some of it. Kody enjoyed it.

Saturday we both were up early. Kody went hunting and I picked up Courtney and we went to Branson and Springfield for a day of shopping. I had some returns to make in Branson so we didn’t stay long. I did get a few good deals at the outlet mall there. We were in Springfield by 11:30 and headed to lunch. We wanted something quick and good so we stopped at Qdoba…a favorite of mine. She had never been and loved it! We shopped until we dropped, literally! She got a pair of Toms and I got a few goodies. :) We had some Orange Leaf on the way out of town and got home a little before 8. I headed straight to Mom and Dad’s to have dinner with them, Alex, his friend Jasmine and KT. Good supper and lots of laughs there, mainly me making fun of Alex and then him making fun of me….and then we headed home.

We went to church Sunday and finished our Acts book by Max Lucado. We’ll start Make Your Love Last a Lifetime by Adam Hamilton next week. I’m excited! We had a big lunch afterwards with most of our class and then headed home. I cleaned a little and turned on my Mint to do the floors. I need to write a review on that machine, it’s my favorite Christmas gift so far! Seriously, if you have hardwood or hard surface floors, look into this! I LOVE mine!

We met the Skeeters for dinner since they were kid-less and had the best dinner at El Charros! Lots of laughs!! :) Monday we did a whole lot of NOTHING. We were so lazy, finally around 12:30 Kody went out to cut wood and I finally got out of the chair at 2:30 and ran to town. I found the perfect dress for the chamber banquet, which is Thursday night. I’ll post a picture of us.

As for working out, it’s going really well. I went 4 out of 5 days last work week and went again today and plan to go the rest of the week. My iPod got sent in (it’s like a 1st generation one) because of a recall and they will send me a new one (sweet!), so I’m ~~patiently~~ waiting for that to come in so at least I have music to listen to. Currently I’m just a creeper who stares around at everyone. Awesome!

Tonight I have a meeting at church and then will get to come home to honey lime grilled chicken! Yum!!

How was your weekend?!

Odds & Ends

2012-01-11T14:02:00.001-06:00

This past weekend we got together with the Hambys. We headed to Mtn. Home for dinner at Yoshi’s. Yum, love that kind of stuff…especially fried rice! :) Ashley and I spent some time in TJ Maxx (left empty handed! ha!) while the guys went to Lowe’s and then we headed back to West Plains. It was a fun night and good to catch up with those 2!

Saturday Kody went bow hunting with Brian and then wanted me to meet them for breakfast. I headed out to the country to only find our favorite place was closed! Ugh! We headed on to Bakersfield hoping we’d catch breakfast at one of their cafes, and we did. Success! I dropped them back off to hunt and went to see my Mom for awhile and my brother came in so we all got to visit and laugh. It was a good time! I ran some errands and then headed home to do a little cleaning.

A little cleaning always turns into a lot of cleaning for me. Our spare bedroom upstairs has turned into a catch all room over the holidays. I am able to shut the door and not worry about it. Well, I decided it was over due and needed to get some things back in order. So glad I did! I worked all afternoon in there, filing things, taking files downstairs, taking extra decor downstairs, going through my spare closet, etc. I had fun doing it, jammed to David Crowder Band, Laura Story, John Waller, Chris Tomlin, etc on Pandora and then once the floor was clean (because I had the room astray) I turned on my Mint and he went to town cleaning the floor. I am amazed by that little thing! Love it!

We tried out a new Italian place Saturday night with Mom and Dad and it was good! Hope it continues to be that way. :) Sunday we were in charge (and for the whole month) of breakfast at church. We had some slackers and didn’t have quite enough food, but oh well! We’re about to finish our ACTS book and I loved the lesson this past week. It was about pain and understanding of God’s will when things aren’t peachy.

After church we went to lunch with a big crew and then Kody and I grocery shopped and stopped off at the gym. I had to look logistically to see if it would work for me to workout in the mornings and get ready there. Y’all, I get worked up when things aren’t the same and I couldn’t process that I may have to wait for a shower/sink/mirror/plug in after my workout during my morning routine. I also wasn’t sure if the time would work. I was getting up at 6:05 and dilly-dallying around on my phone until 6:20ish, then I would get ready and barely be at work by 7:30. (I go to work 30 minutes early for an extra long lunch…I used to workout over lunch but that slowed down once I started Metformin, however, I’m feeling normal again! YAY!) The rest of the afternoon was somewhat lazy and then we had dinner at Mom and Dad’s.

Monday I was determined to go to the gym. I got up at 5:40 with Kody, had everything ready to go, and we were out of the house by 5:55! Got to the gym and did a jog/walk thing on the treadmill for 45 minutes and then got ready and had PLENTY of time and was at work by 7:30! I felt great too and was so proud of myself for doing something so outside of the box for me. I actually really enjoyed it and planned to go at least M-W-F. I went again today and all was good except I forgot my foundation at home. Brief panic. I am not one of those girls that can go without makeup. Fortunately, my face is looking decent right now so I made do with powder and blush. I won’t forget it tomorrow! :)

That’s been my week! I’ve been in shock all week that a well known man in my town passed away suddenly and unexpectedly Sunday night. I went to school wit his girls and my heart aches for the Grisham family. I cannot imagine and hope they all can find some comfort in this awful situation. Keep them in your prayers.

We had plans to travel to Jackson this weekend but they are all pretty busy so we’re staying here. I’m going to shop on Saturday though, can’t miss the long weekend sales. :)

Resolutions? How About Goals…And When God Speaks

2012-01-06T10:24:00.001-06:00

I don’t really like to set Resolutions for the New Year. Mainly because I don’t like to set myself up for failure! And let’s get real here! Anyways, I am resorting to some goals per say for myself for this big 2012.

Here goes…

1. Continue to exercise (maybe a little more than I do now)

2. Set aside time for daily devotions/prayer. I have a 365 day devotional book, I just need to read it each day.

3. Stay on top of our house, by meaning keeping things in a more orderly fashion.

4. Try not to be so lazy in the evenings.

5. Learn to using a sewing machine.

6. Work on photography.

7. Be a better wife! (There’s always room for improvement!)

8. Give more, whether it be financially or my time.

9. Stay focused and organized at work.

10. Have a baby! (Ha!)

Do you have any ~~resolutions~~ goals for this year? What do you know you’ll get accomplished? What are you not sure about?

This past weekend in Sunday School I was reading aloud from this book

and the reflection part of this was about hearing God’s word and letting him speak. Well, as I was reading I started hearing a contact noise. We were in the old part of our church with old pipes and what-not and I honestly thought it was some pipe noise or the heat. Well after I finished there were some snickers and come to find out it was this rod iron cross on the wall. It wasn’t a noise I would have thought the cross would have made but a friend went up and touched it and it stopped. Um, wow. Powerful.

Today, as I was drying my hair I knew my hair dryer may have been on its way out. It sounded fine though but wasn’t operating at its fastest speed. Well, I’m just letting it do its thing and POOF this loud noise and it turned off and then I looked and it was BRIGHT ORANGE inside. Um, close call #1. It’s my worst nightmare (vain, I know) to have to go to work with wet hair. Like I don’t always have to look perfect everywhere, but work, I need to look good. I’m not one of those throw my hair in a pony tail type girls and go. (Cheers to you if you can!!) Anyways, I started panicking and looked through the cabinet and found an old travel hair dryer. Perfect…I thought. I plugged it in and it wouldn’t work. I thought maybe there was some plug problem so I tried another one and after messing with it for a bit it finally came on. Only the slow speed worked though. I have short hair, but at this speed it would have taken a week to finish it. I tried the fast one and each time I would try this AWFUL noise kept on and on and on and on some more. It got worse and eventually POOF out it went. HA! Close call #2. I turned the other one back and thankfully it worked long enough to finish out my hair but was BRIGHT ORANGE again when I finished. Dumb move I know.

I then go into the bedroom and turn on the light fixture. It starts flashing like off and on and off and on…Well, by this point I was so freaked out I felt like Jesus was going to appear and start talking to me!

I have often asked for signs before when saying a prayer. Was that a sign? Or am I crazy? HAA!!

2011: Year in Review!

2012-01-02T21:26:00.002-06:00

What a year 2011 has been for us! Good, bad, new, old, it’s been great and I am embracing 2012 with open arms!

January

We began 2012 at the movies, which is crazy for us! We went to see Little Fockers with my parents New Years night after having dinner at their house.

I began more diligent meal planning. I started with 2 weeks worth of recipes and they were all new recipes. We did this for awhile (I cooked) until I found out I should watch my carbs because of PCOS.

We hung out with the Orrs and Skeeters in Mountain Home at a new hibachi grill. Great night!

Our first born, Jax, celebrated his 4th birthday! We love this sweet boy!

We watched my sweet cousin, Amber, win Missouri State-West Plains Homecoming Queen! Yay!

We spent Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend in Jackson spending quality time with our nephew, Drew. We love our nephews!

February

Kody had his “roping debut” at a barn in Caulfield roping goats. HA! Yes, if you aren’t familiar with that you should read that post. We were with the Hambys and had a good time at dinner before and then after we froze for awhile watching the boys rope, we went to visit Ashley’s new niece, Ellie. Precious!

We anticipated snow and a visit from Kyle, Erica, and Drew!

Drew (and Kyle & Erica) visited us and it snowed! (See above?) We had a great time and he always leaves us laughing! It was their last visit to West Plains with only ONE boy!

Little Bo turned 3 on February 8th! He is always making us laugh!

Kody and I celebrated our 8th Valentine’s Day! We ate dinner at the Antler in Gainesville (love our pizza) and both had a bad cold. What a fun holiday!?

I found out I had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). I wasn’t sure about posting it on my blog, but I am so glad I did. I had so much support and even talked to one sweet reader on the phone about it. Thank you from the bottom of my heard for your faithfulness to our blog!

Visited Jackson again! AND here are pictures from our trip! This was a special trip for Kody and I both. We spent some time with Kody’s grandad who was in his last stage of Alzheimer’s. He passed away in April, but I am so glad we were able to see him and spend time with him. I hope that was some closure for Kody, although I know he likes to only remember him how he used to be.

We struggled our Sunday School class topic and spent time with friends of mine from work.

March

I participated in the 30 day Challenge. I had fun with this and it was a successful month of odds and ends posts for my readers!

My baby brother, Alex turned 20!! He began that day counting down the 365 days until he turns 21 !

I began the EXCEL class, which was a leadership class for people in the community. I was skeptical, but Courtney did it with me and we met some great, new friends. I am so glad I did it! I also traveled to Lake of the Ozarks for the City Clerk Spring Institute and we spent a night at the Skeeters out by the fire pit! Ella and Paige LOVE Kody!

I switched back to my old OBGYN who was much more understanding about my PCOS.

We tried to make our new nephew arrive while we were in Jackson, but no luck. He was born just a few short days later. We did have a great weekend loving on Drew one last time before he became a BIG brother!

We started Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University!

Six pound, fifteen ounce DRAKE RYAN THOMPSON was born on March 31, 2011! We were so excited, but were worried about his scary entrance into this world!

April

I introduced Drake on our blog!

We traveled to J-Town to MEET Drake! Love that little boy!

Kaci had a birthday on April 11th! 28 years old!

I whined a little here and showed poor BoBo’s booboo!

Began thinking our blog needed a little change/update!

I went to Jefferson City and Columbia with my EXCEL class, but sadly while I was there Kody’s grandad passed away. It was a quick trip home (ok, 3 1/2 hours), I repacked, and then drove 3 hours to Jackson to be with our family.

We celebrated a wet, soggy Easter!

(See above) It flooded BAD in April!

May

My Mom and I went to Branson with several other ladies from church for the Women of Joy conference. We had a great time! I have never been a part of so many people praising the Lord at once!

Celebrated Mother’s Day with Mom.

I got a new blog design! I was so excited!

Grandma and Teresa visited and we stayed home for Memorial Day weekend.

I did not blog about it until June, but May was life changing for Kody and I. After several months of soul searching and prayers, I sent an email to our bank president about Kody and a future regarding work in banking. I almost instantly received a reply back, and a positive one at that! He wanted to meet with Kody after Memorial Day. Long story short, he met with Kody one week later for an interview and a week after that KODY HAD A JOB! My favorite part of the story was the day before his interview when we were nervous, anxious, excited, etc…we sat in church and listened to a sermon on work….and how to leave your job if you aren’t happy. Thank you Lord for speaking to us….but by the evening he was yelling at us. We went to our Dave Ramsey class and it was about jobs and leaving them if you aren’t happy.

June

We revealed on the blog Kody’s new job!

vacationed in Gulf Shores with the Thompson family! A week full of fun in the sun!

Celebrated Kody’s 26th birthday while in Gulf Shores!

July

We spent the 4th of July in Jackson celebrating Drew’s 3rd birthday! And also cuddling with Drake!

Enjoyed one of our first Saturdays off together….and began painting out basement.

Had a weekend of friends! Hambys over for steaks and then to Dawt Mill with some church friends.

Finished painting our basement and hanging things. Looks great with the new furniture!

Another visit from Teresa and Grandma!

Had cousins from NYC visit!! Loved seeing them!

August

Celebrated my 25th birthday in Destin! Kody and I were blessed to spend both birthdays on the beach this year! Yahoo!

Spent a week in Destin with my family….perfect!

Kody’s best friend, Aaron Randolph, got married! He was a groomsman and we had a fun, yet exhausting weekend in St. Louis after driving 12 hours straight from Destin to the rehearsal dinner….yawn!

I had the pleasure of going to St. Louis with my parents and grandparents to see my brother receive his white coat in a ceremony and become a student pharmacist.

Kody started school!

September

We spent Labor Day weekend at Kentucky Lake with the whole family. It was a wild and fun time!

September 11, 2001…10 years later.

Traveled to Kansas City for work, our church had a community outreach weekend, the Budweiser Clydesdales came to town and I helped as a Chamber Ambassador, and Bo had strep throat.

October

Hosted a wedding shower for my friend Casey and visited the pumpkin patch with friends.

So proud of Kody, he and his brother competed in the Warrior Dash outside of St. Louis. It was quite a race!

We celebrated TWO Years of marriage! I love being Mrs. Thompson!

One of many fun trips to Springfield…

Mom and I had a trunk at our church’s Trunk or Treat on Halloween! Fun time!

November

Kept the Skeeters’ twins, visited with Alex, and Kyle ran the 100 mile Ozark Trail run.

We went to our favorite place in Missouri, Hermann for our anniversary. We had the BEST time and were so glad to get away, just the two of us!

Thanksgiving!

December

December was full of parties, homework (for Kody), family, friends, shopping, doctor appointments, etc.

2011 was a blast, we have had a good year. God has done great things for us; and for that we are grateful.

We wish you all the best 2012 has to offer! Many blessings!

Me & You, Just Us Two…Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T09:58:00.001-06:00

Kody and I celebrated our little Christmas on the 26th since we both had the day off. I slept in and he got up and made a huge breakfast that was so good I have been eating the leftovers all week. He’s such a good cook! After we ate we opened the little gifts we had for each other. We didn’t feel the need to buy much since we get so much from our families and we both are wanting a lens and gun, respectively. We’ll just buy both of those things after Christmas! I didn’t think I would have anything to open, other than the candy I had already bought and put in my own stocking, but I was surprised!

Kody got me 2 new praise CDs, the soundtrack to Courageous and then the David Crowder Band. I love them! He also got me all kinds of fancy candy, including different flavors of truffles from Grapevine! He does that every year and picks out the flavors I will like and they wrap them in the prettiest package. He was also thinking and got me some new gloves that will work with my phone! :)

I actually got him 2 things….a balance bracelet he’d mentioned he’d like to try and an old city parking meter. That one sounds weird, but we’ll get a stand for it and put it in our basement. I think it’s really neat, plus it’s a piece of West Plains history. He loved it! Excuse the pictures, we look rough…traveling got the best of us! Santa Paws even visited the boys. They both got new bones and a toy for outside. They were so tired from their stay in Jackson they literally laid around all day with their bones.

We got a lot done on Monday. After we finished with gifts, we started in on laundry and putting stuff away. Kody cleaned out drawers to make room for his new clothes and we tried everything on. We washed our new sheets, flipped the mattress, and put on our new memory foam topper—which we LOVE. Kody set up the new tv so we would be ready come bedtime. We worked hard all day. I’m going to deep clean the house this weekend and maybe next Monday on our day off we can be lazy! ;)

We both talked on Monday how this could possibly be our last Christmas with just the two of us and no mention of a baby. We’re very hopeful by next Christmas we either have one HERE with us or on the way. Keep us in your prayers! :) We had a great Christmas and little break. It is nice just being the two of us because we call the shots and do whatever we want. And we know that will change someday so we’re enjoying it while we can! HA!

Christmas at Mom & Dad’s

2011-12-29T09:40:00.001-06:00

Are y’all tired of seeing my never-ending Christmas posts? Well, we’re almost done!

After my Aunt Judy’s house we went over to Mom and Dad’s and opened gifts there. We got some awesome things! I love my Mint Floor Cleaner (like the Roomba, but for hardwood) and amongst several other things the camera straps my brother got me and the set of CDs and book from Jackie Kennedy. I love listening to her raspy, proper voice!

A few of Kody’s items were money for his gun, clothes, and a neat ash box for our wood furnace. I always enjoy our stockings at Mom and Dad’s, she goes all out and this year was no exception! I am still laughing at the witty poem my mom wrote that was attached to Kody’s money. :)

Time for a little photo session!

We hung out for awhile and then I could barely keep my eyes open! Such a wonderful Christmas, so blessed to have spent it with all of our family!

I’ll Be Home for Christmas

2011-12-29T09:21:00.002-06:00

The holidays were hectic, but it’s always so good to be with our family over the course of the crazy few days. We packed up and headed back to West Plains on Christmas day. Luckily I got in a little nap on the way home so I was ready to go for our next to Christmas celebrations!

Our car was so packed that you couldn’t even see the dogs!! They were so tired from playing outside most of the time they laid down in the very back and never made a peep. It wouldn’t have mattered because we really couldn’t see them!

We unloaded when we got home and then quickly got ready for Christmas with the Prewetts at my Aunt Judy’s. Normally my family gets together on Christmas day at lunch, but this year they waited on us. My whole family on my dad’s side was there, but we’re pretty small compared to the Thompsons. There’s only 14 of us total! I have 4 cousins and then my brother, and I’m the oldest on both sides of the family. We had a nice big traditional Christmas meal with ham and turkey. Everyone brought stuff so it’s always really good. After dinner we opened gifts. We all draw names and we had my MaMa and Aunt Janet. I got some Bath & Body works stuff, I’ll be set for awhile too! Kody got a Hibbett’s gift card. We had a great time!

Thompson Family Christmas Eve

2011-12-28T15:43:00.002-06:00

I figured this needed a post in itself! I purposely slept late on Christmas Eve knowing that it would be a late night and it was, but it was a lot of fun!

We really had nothing going on during the day. Kaci, Teresa, and I just kind of lazed around the house most of the day. The guys went to shoot guns! I got ready and met them at Stooges around 4. The Thompsons are a large family. My father-in-law, John has 4 siblings who are all always in Jackson for Christmas. Between him and the 4 siblings (1 sister is deceased) there are 13 grandchildren, 9 people married in, 3 great-grandchildren, and a partridge and a pear tree. Just kidding. There were 29 of us there I believe on Christmas Eve. There were some family members unable to make it.

Kody’s grandparents are no longer living on his dad’s side, but his Aunt Robin and Uncle Joe moved into their home to take care of them at the end of their life. They now live in the house and so they’ve brought their own things in, but it still looks like it did when his grandparents left (dining room, living room, upstairs, etc.) They have made some upgrades though! So it’s neat that they have Christmas Eve in the house they grew up in. In the picture where John is holding Drew and everyone else has their hands up was during the prayer. Open Shut, Give a little clap, Open Shut, fold them in your lap, God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. Amen. That’s the Thompson prayer and the youngest one always leads.

We played games, ate a big prime rib dinner, and then opened gifts. Thankfully we don’t have to buy for all 293472938 of them. Instead, everyone gets money and the girls get a piece of jewelry. We played some hilarious games afterwards. They included blowing up little balloons and sticking them in panty hose and the first one to get 10 balloons in the stockings and walk through the living room singing jingle bells with the stocking on your head like a reindeer won. Hilarious. We won and Grandma was our reindeer. Also, we wrapped people in paper for the best outfit. Again, hilarious and my husband’s picture is not on here because it was not pretty! HA! Kody’s Aunt Trudy looked beautiful in her blue ensemble.

Riley, Trudy, Grandma, and Uncle Jim (all with the exception of Grandma are Texas Thompsons)

Erica loved these light fingers…she really liked them…

Susan graciously took over the games from us this year and I know the family is appreciative, they would have been bored with the game I came up with!

As you can see we had a great time. In all of my years with Kody (9), this was my first experience at Thompson Christmas Eve. I was thrilled to see family we don’t see often (Texas Thompsons) but we talked on the way home we wished everyone could also get together one weekend in the summer where it was just a big reunion, same time every year. I know 2 of his cousins weren’t able to make it and once we have kids we probably won’t travel on Christmas Eve so it’s just hard when you want to see everyone. We only saw them that day though! :( Hopefully we’re able to make it again soon, we’ll for sure see them at cousin BJ’s wedding in October! That’s one good thing about a big family, lots of fun weddings!

And just for fun, looks at these pictures of the Thompsons through the years…that still hang on the pink, wallpapered walls….Can you tell who is who? Seriously, these crack me up!!!

Christmas in Jackson, Part I

2011-12-28T14:02:00.001-06:00

Prepare yourself, these next few posts will be FILLED with pictures. Sorry in advance.

We scurried around Wednesday night finishing up Christmas wrapping, gifts, and packing the car. We were ready to head east and celebrate Christmas with the Thompsons. I worked most of Thursday and we had the annual fish and chicken fry in the shop, that’s always a fun event. I took off a little early and headed to the cleaners, grocery store, bank, to see my mom and tell her bye and then to my dad’s store to say bye to him. I had everything ready to go when Kody got off at 5. We hit the road!

I would have liked to have napped on the way there (it’s just 3 hours) but it was dark and that wasn’t fair to KT. Plus there were deer on the side of the road in spots so I was his watch dog! ;) We arrived about 8:45 and I was 9 kinds of tired. Fatigue and all, I went up to my SIL’s house and helped her wrap gifts and watch Friends with Benefits. Interesting movie. My FIL and BIL were at the Mizzou/Illinois basketball game in St. Louis so they weren’t home. Kody stayed with his mom and helped her make marinade for the lamb he cooked the next day. Yes, lamb! She wanted something pretty and different. It was not bad either! It was a late night and almost 1 by the time I got in bed!

Friday was our Christmas with the immediate Thompson family. Friday morning Drew came over and we went and ran errands. Kody, Kyle, and John ran to Perryville for a bank deal. We all met up at Estes’s for lunch and then I went to get my nails done. By the time I was done with that Kaci and Luke had arrived and we were ready to cook, snack, and eventually open gifts! Everyone came over about 5 to snack and then eat around 6. My MIL always goes all out for her decor. I snapped a few pictures of everything before it got messed up!

The guys were in charge of the meat, Kody roasted a lamb and Luke made beef tenderloin. Both were really good. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy much meat over the course of the weekend (or now for that matter) because of this dumb medicine.

And I love meat! Dinner was wonderful though. We were all there, Teresa, John, Kyle, Erica, Drew, Drake, Kaci, Luke, Kody, myself, Grandma and her neighbor Marion. It was everyone’s first Christmas without Grandad Hilton, who we said goodbye to him in April after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. He was missed!

We tried snapping some pictures of the boys after dinner. Drake was easier than Drew….what is it with a 3 year old and a camera? Ha! You can see the progression! Hilarious.

Kody and I did a little better! ;-)

We played with the boys for awhile before they opened their gifts. Drake is such a chubby baby, much different than his skinny big brother Drew. They are both so cute! I can’t believe Drake’s cheeks!!

Because the hat is camo, you can barely see, but Drake is wearing a West Plains Bank hat (Kody’s bank) and his Daddy & Grandpa are Bank of Missouri employees… ;) We thought it was funny.

Then it was time for the boys to open their gifts from everyone. John went outside and jingled bells and Drew heard them and knew Santa came. I think this was probably the only year that will work! Next year he may know it’s PawPaw ho-ho-hoing outside the window! We went outside to see what Santa left.

Then it was time for more presents….

Kyle & Erica put the boys to bed and then it was time for the adults to open! It’s always a crazy mess when we open because everyone goes at once and paper is thrown everywhere. A crazy, fun mess!

Kody made Grandma a Pinterest inspired wreath with sewing things on it. It was so neat! She loved it. John worked with my Dad and got Teresa a new wedding set for Christmas. She hadn’t ever had a carat or more ring, well she does now! The stone is so pretty and the band itself is definitely HER! I love it! She was SOOO surprised! You can tell by her reaction. ;) My Dad wrapped it in several boxes so it was fun to see her open each one.

We received some really nice things. I got an external hard drive for my pictures, memory foam mattress for our bed, we got a new tv for our bedroom, lots of clothes, money, gift cards, etc.

It was 11:30 by the time we were done opening and playing games, we played the pickle game and Kyle & Erica won. We won last year, but this year we all 3 got a prize! ;) Late night once again, but so fun filled with memories!

Props to you if you read this far!

What Christmas Really Means to Me…

2011-12-27T16:54:00.001-06:00

Hurry here and hurry there, eat this and eat that….that is what Christmas seems to be construed as these days. I don’t like to be rushed, therefore I don’t like that. ;) It’s not about the gifts and how much you got, it’s about family and friends!

In a perfect world Christmas would be a joyous week of days leading up to the one and only, our Savior’s birthday. Instead it’s a crazy week where I barely have time to blink. We did our best to enjoy the holiday this year. We had a great one and I promise to blog later tonight with PICTURES. I will share a couple from the Sunday before Christmas at our church. I love, love, love our church at Christmas (really anytime of the year…) but at Christmas it just seems magical. I love the Christmas Eve service and how there are always tons of people in town for the holiday and the pews are bursting at the seems and we sing Silent Night by candlelight. I love that. This year we missed it, but that’s ok we had a great time in Jackson. I just can’t wait to have our own traditions someday and Christmas Eve service will definitely be one of them. We didn’t go this year :( and I could have but chose to stay with Kody and some other family that was in town. I love how our church is decorated in red, white, and gold. So pretty this time of year!

We spent our Christmas with family and had a great time. We were able to see all of Kody’s family and most of mine so it made for the perfect holiday. I felt like I had to come back to work to rest! We are so blessed to have two incredible, loving families. Can’t wait to share our Christmas posts tonight!

I feel like such a huge slacker since I didn’t get up our Christmas home tour, Christmas card, etc. I will do it all tonight. So bare with my burden of 15 posts in one night. I was spending time with KT since our time together had been scarce! So there was no time for blogging!

I hope y’all had a very, Merry Christmas spent with those you love most and also worshiping Christ, our Savoir who was born on that sweet day!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T22:56:00.001-06:00

We have traveled this year and another Christmas is coming to an end. We went to Jackson Thursday night and left this morning. We had two Christmas celebrations over the two days and we had two today in West Plains with my family. Perfect!!!

We hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas with loved ones. We are so incredibly blessed. Our time was very special, can't wait to see what this next year holds for us. I hope everyone had the opportunity to celebrate the reason for the CHRISTmas season!

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Tomorrow I will update with a million pictures.

Merry Christmas!

More parties…..

2011-12-22T10:39:00.001-06:00

The week of December 12th proved to be just as crazy and hectic and the weeks previous. Monday night I had a meeting at church and didn’t make it home until 7:30 (long day!) and then Tuesday Mom and I rang the bell for the Salvation Army. Wednesday I ran up to Springfield very quickly for a doctor appointment and ran at speeding light to Bath & Body Works and a couple of other stops. I even made a stop at Qdoba (my fast food love) before I headed back to WP. I worked in the afternoon and then shopping for our adopted Christmas family that night with my girlfriends from Sunday School. We went to eat afterwards (Kody was at his man Christmas dinner with my dad and friends) and so he beat me home and I got there around 9. I had been up since 5:15 and literally CRASHED. Not to mention with all of this stuff going on it was also extremely busy at work with planning our Christmas party and City Council preparation. Thursday night Kody stayed at school until 9 and I baked until 9…….

Friday night was our Christmas party for city employees. It was actually a lot of fun and the food was very good! I was so glad we pulled it off without running out of food! We had a good, diverse crowd and everyone had fun with the games. Colton’s catered again and if you want good food and service, call them for your holiday party! :)

Afterwards Kody, my brother and I went to have Christmas with my Mom’s side of the family. It was a good time and I’m glad I got to see them. We got home around 10 and I was so glad the week was over.

Saturday I slept in and Kody made me breakfast when I got up. I shopped around town with Mom and bought more stuff to bake and some last minute gift stuff. I iced cookies that afternoon while Kody and Craig worked on my grandpa’s farm truck. Craig, his wife Ericka, and Kody and I went to dinner that night and came home pretty early.

On Sunday Kody spent his day finishing up his class work while I baked some more. I baked over 11 dozen cookies in the last week. Y’all I’m worn out! I decided I would have time to ice cookies one day this week so I took a 3 hour nap instead of doing any other work. Good or bad idea? I’m not sure, I didn’t get my wrapping done (until last night) but I needed the rest!

I don’t know why we think we must bake 9 million cookies/candies/etc. for the holidays, or why we think our packages must look like something you’d pay professionally for, but I’m tired!! I talked at the beginning of this month about taking time to enjoy things…and I have, but lately I’ve just been so tired!

I’ll just post about this short week on this post….just for my memory sake. I doubt anyone has actually read this far!

Monday I had my City Clerk Christmas party at Rockbridge. It’s a really neat trout resort about 45 minutes (in the middle of nowhere) from here. It was a fun day and we had a little gift exchange. Their fireplace and cozy couch in front of it were very tempting for an afternoon nap!

Monday night I had a Council meeting and we’re always treated after December’s meeting for one of the councilman’s wives pecan pie. I never knew I liked pecan pie until I tried Ann’s! It is out of this world crazy good!! I made brown sugar scrub (thanks Pinterest) for a few little gifts and Kody got home from class early so I helped him with his English final and HE’S DONE! For this semester!

Tuesday was a rough day. We had food at work and I took cookies…imagine that. We did a little gift exchange and then I ran around like a crazy lady at lunch running errands. I got sick at lunch (Thanks Metformin) and lost everything I had eaten (which wasn’t much) in the last 2 days. I went back to work for a little bit but eventually went home because I was so tired and weak. I slept for 2 good hours and then Kody got home and made me PB&J (my regular) and an apple. It tasted better than Christmas dinner. I’m afraid my Christmas dinner this year may not be the same, real food doesn’t really sound good. I did feel well enough to ice cookies with Kody’s help while we watched Elf. And no worries, I do not have the stomach flu, just the Metformin blues!

Wednesday was a better day though! I ate good and felt good. After work I shopped for the boys’ Christmas gifts and then came home and finished up my wrapping. Kody made his grandma a Pinterest inspired wreath. She’s a seamstress and we thought this would be cute in the spring/summer on her front door or on the door to her sewing room.

I think it turned out really well. And I kid you not, Kody did it all. I did glue a few spools on there, but he did the major work! Proud of him! We had a good night watching our favorite, Christmas Vacation!

Today begins our own Christmas Vacation! Glad to be off work and with family and friends. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

December 10: A day of parades and parties

2011-12-21T11:24:00.001-06:00

Saturday, December 10th Kody and I worked the West Plains Christmas parade. Our Chamber of Commerce puts it on and one of my BFFs works there. I felt it was our duty to help them out…plus we got to drive around a cool 6-seater RTV! The only probably was at 10 am when we arrived it was 20 degrees. It was colder than that at 8 when she had to be there, but she was getting paid!!! ;)

We were bundled up, but not quite enough and got our assigned RTV and headed to work. Our job was to take people from the parade drop off to their assigned floats, take people from the floats to the restroom (before the parade started), and drive along the parade route telling crazy kids (and adults) to back up off the road. It was an adventurous day to say the least. I don’t have any pictures because I was completely bundled all.day.long! We were finally done around 3 and went home and I was STILL cold! I napped on the couch for a couple of hours and woke up and my legs were STILL cold! Took me awhile to thaw out.

That night we had Kody’s bank Christmas party. It was at the Civic Center and Colton’s catered. It was a really good meal and good visiting amongst the other co-workers. They had a little program with the drama club from the high school putting on an act from A Christmas Carol. They gave out years of service awards and introduced new employees. It was a fun night for sure! Afterwards we went out with one of the couples for a drink to Cafe 37. He is more or less Kody’s mentor so it was fun to talk to him and his wife about things besides work!

We were home fairly early skipping out on another party we were invited too. We go easy on the Christmas cheer this time of year! ;)

Day in Springfield

2011-12-21T11:17:00.001-06:00

It’s been a couple of weeks since my procedure in Springfield. Everything went very well and we moved on to the next step. It wasn’t bad and afterwards Kody and I got to enjoy a really fun day in Springfield shopping and eating!

We made a few stops before my appointment and then afterwards ate at DOE’S! I was so excited and had been wanting to go there, but didn’t want to go alone because I knew Kody would love it. (We love steak…especially exceptional steak.) I had never heard of Doe’s until I started reading Kelly’s Korner. If you read her blog faithfully you know that’s one of their favorites. I thought we had better try it and I am so glad we did!

Excuse the bright picture, we have my phone to thank for that. I was literally about sick by the time I got there because I was so hungry. Like stated in a previous post, this medicine is doing wacky things to me, but I’m thankful I was able to eat at Doe’s! They had these biscuits they called and brought out to us, but they were little deep fried doughnuts really without sugar! SO GOOD! Can’t wait to go back. If you live in Springfield and haven’t been to Doe’s yet, go today!!

We spent the rest of the day shopping for Kody new dress shoes and finally found 2 pairs! He is extremely picky when it comes to that kind of stuff. He wants to look good (and always does!). I did a little last minute shopping and then we headed back home. We didn’t make it home until close to 8:30, but it was a really fun day with my husband. He never goes to Springfield with me, let alone shopping, but we had a blast. I’m pretty lucky to have him around! ;)

Tis the Season!

2011-12-15T11:42:00.001-06:00

See this picture?

Well I am ready to pack that table up for a few weeks. Kody is back in school and is in a program where he goes one night a week (Mondays) from 6-10 and will be finished in 2 years and then will do the same thing to get his bachelors degree. So in 4 years I hope to never see this table again. ;) Really, he is a rock star and has done so well….especially for being out of the school part of everything for 7 years. (Woa, that 10 year reunion is sneaking up on him…) He is a very diligent student, I wish he would have wanted to do this when he graduated, but that’s all behind us now! He’s making better grades than he would have then. :) How the GOAL program works at our satellite Missouri State campus is he takes one class at a time and on occasion, two will overlap with one being online. That worked perfectly until October….then he started 2 online classes that will be done Monday. WELL…if you know anything about online classes, it’s mainly busy work and that’s exactly what these two are. Then 5 weeks ago they decided to throw in a seated class, so the poor guy has 3 classes at once! AND works full time and is a full time husband!

So, about the first week of November he set up this table in our basement and has done homework down there most weeknights until bedtime. That leaves me plenty of time to watch Christmas movies, stare at our gorgeous tree, play with the dogs, wrap gifts, pin things on Pinterest, and even make things from Pinterest. I just miss him though, he likes to bake with me and watch Christmas movies with me and even help with Pinterest stuff so I’m ready to have him back!!!! We have a FULL next few days of adventy type things planned for just us. I know we haven’t done a full month of things but we will whenever we have kids….

Here’s the rundown…

Tonight….make cookies and candy

Tomorrow night….City Christmas party and then watch Christmas Vacation

Saturday night….Stay in and make sugar cookies and Chex Mix!

Then next week we will do things too!

He’s worked so hard the last few weeks a break will be so refreshing! We get to see his whole family next weekend too, with the exception of a couple of cousins. We’re talking there will be a good 35 people there! It’s been a Thompson tradition for many, many years to have a huge Christmas Eve gathering. After his grandparents passed away, his aunt and uncle have their house. It’s a big 2 story house where everyone still comes for Christmas. Kind of neat! I’m all about tradition and I can’t wait to experience this and start our own traditions when we have kids. I can remember Christmas morning at my mom and dad’s….Santa never wrapped our gifts, he always put them in huge, awesome piles so we had to wake my parents up first, they would set up the video camera (while making us wait) and then let us run in! I also love the Elf on the Shelf idea and have had one in our closet for 2 years now waiting on kids! I was afraid the fad would die (it only got bigger) so I wanted to make sure and have one.

Hopefully our Christmas cards are here tonight and can go out tomorrow…hopefully! I feel very behind!

Enjoying the Season

2011-12-07T20:53:00.001-06:00

You read that right, I have thoroughly enjoyed this holiday season so far. I have a NO stress attitude this year and it is working wonders for my soul. Here are a few things I am doing to help me remain calm and to really enjoy CHRISTmas and what it really is all about.

1. I started shopping early and have gotten great deals because of that. Score!

2. Because we are conservative anyways, I am refusing to go overboard on gifts this year. Kody wants a gun and with the money he saves from Christmas and the money he has still from last Christmas and his birthday we will go buy his gun after the new year. We are really only doing stocking stuffers for each other because of the gun and the lens I want. Doubt we can get that right after Christmas, but I am hopeful. ;-) Sometimes I hear guys at work talk about all the stuff they've bought and it almost makes me jealous (for one, that they are a husband that shops! LOL) but then I think who cares? We get so much from our families that it is not worth going broke over just so we can open stuff up that's from each other.

3. We have learned to say no. We aren't overdoing ourselves this year. Holiday parties are at a minimum and we are trying in our spare time to do for those less fortunate. We will both, and I already have, ring the bell for the Salvation Army, we will shop for our adopted family's Christmas gifts, deliver those gifts, and remember that we are super blessed. Besides the fact Kody spends most of his time at home doing homework!

4. Learning to sit back and reflect. Like right now, the tv is off and I'm sitting here in the living room in awe of our Christmas tree. This has been an incredible year and we've been through a lot (good and bad) I am still thanking God for KT's job opportunity. I will never forget that life-changing day!

5. Instead of thinking about what didn't happen this year I am looking forward to the possibilities 2012 holds for us. We have 366 days coming to us!

6. Every little Christmasy thing I am taking in. Last night it was snowing out and I went to "listen" to it on our deck. We live out so there wasn't any traffic noise and you could hear the snow falling. It was a very pretty snow, almost fake like, and I really started analyzing it. I looked at the flakes as they landed on our deck and you could perfectly see each and every detail of the flake just like you had cut it out of paper. I was amazed by this until Kody told me it is always like that. That just goes to show I am in too much of a hurry. Time to stop and smell the roses.

What are you doing to really enjoy the season and not be so stressed out?

Tomorrow Kody and I are off and going to Springfield. We are going to do a little shopping and eating! I also have a doctor appointment where I'll be getting a little procedure done to just rule out things so we can move to the next step of project Baby T. Ha! Say a little prayer if you can. I have gone from one pill a day of Metformin to 4. It is now kicking my butt, if you take it for PCOS, how many did/do you take? I'm nauseous most of the day!

Have a great Thursday!

iPad post, so ignore any weird typos!

Thankful Thanksgiving!

2011-11-29T21:16:00.001-06:00

Kody and I had a great Thanksgiving week. Last Tuesday I ventured to Springfield about 2:30 with Courtney, Jen, and Tara. We went to look for a new Sunday School study and to get a little eating and shopping in! We found Adam Hamilton's The Journey. I'm really glad we found this, it's a Christmas study and we weren't planning to get something like that but it was the perfect fit. And crazy enough, it goes right along with our pastor's sermons! They shopped until they dropped and I dropped about 8:30! I hit a wall at Target and was exhausted. We didn't leave Springfield until 10....and it's an hour and 45 minute drive home! Needless to say I was exhausted on Wednesday. Exhausted.

Wednesday we had food at work and besides being exhausted I ate way too much. I then didn't eat for 26 hours because I just didn't feel the need because Thanksgiving was right around the corner!

We made deviled eggs, 24 hour salad, and yum yum corn for Thanksgiving. We went to my grandparent's house (Mama & Nandad) and had a great lunch there. It was a special day, it was Mama's 76th Birthday. I was lame and didn't get any pictures besides this one.

The whole Prewett clan was together. We didn't make it to Jackson this year. It's tough because Kody works on Friday. We will be there for Christmas though! My favorite thing is either my 24 hour salad, Mom's dressing, or my mom's chocolate chess pie. YUM!!! Afterwards we went by my Mom's dad's house and visited with them before heading back home. I'm so thankful for my family, especially my grandparents. My Nandad said some really sweet things about Mama before the prayer at lunch. She is a Saint!

Kody did homework, but did get out our Christmas tree for me. I wanted to get it ready to decorate on Friday but we had a little light issue. Kody ended up fixing it Friday night late. Thank goodness!! The tree is only 2 years old. GRRR. Anyways, I think it's beautiful and I love the mesh!

My mother-in-law Teresa and her mom are here to visit now. We love having them here and we're lucky that Teresa & John (FIL) will be back to stay this weekend. They'll leave for Jackson tomorrow and we'll miss them! We took Christmas pictures for Grandma's Christmas cards last night. I thought they turned out really cute.

I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving. What a blessing it was to spend time with family. Christmas will be here before we know it, are you ready? I'm getting there. Most of my gifts are bought.

Last Day in Hermann

2011-11-29T15:55:00.001-06:00

Saturday, 11/12/11, was our last day in sweet Hermann. I had a sick feeling all day because I simply did not want to leave. We ventured out after breakfast in bed (both mornings by the way) Kody made waffles on Saturday though!

Here are a couple of random shots from Friday. After we went to Adam Puchta we saw this sweet old Dodge truck at a church. Kody was intrigued so we stopped for pictures. It was so cool! I’m sure some of these shots will go downstairs in the man cave. And earlier on Friday we went to Hermannhof cottages and took pictures of the Hermannhof grounds…because I love them.

We had lunch at the Barrel/the Concert Hall (I had their pizza…delish!) and then went over to Tin Mill Brewing Company. It’s a small brewery in Hermann. Neat little self tour and then you can buy samples of their beer. Afterwards we just snapped a few shots around town.

We then hit a couple wineries we missed and snuck Hermannhof back in too. I can’t imagine being in Hermann during Oktoberfest. Saturday in November was crazy enough for me and it wasn’t that bad. I like it nice and quiet though. We went to Bommarito Winery. They are a very small one and only open on the weekends. I was surprised how good the wine was though! We then went to Oak Glen, mainly for the view. We tried their wine but just like last year it was all nasty! They do have killer views though.

We had checked out of our cottage earlier…actually on our way out loading things into the car Kody locked us out. Right before the lady came to let us in he figured out he could climb around back and climb onto the deck and go in the back way….he made it! Good thing, this was our view from the back so I’m glad he didn’t fall in! ;)

Before leaving town we stopped at the cemetery in town. Kind of morbid, but I love cemeteries, especially old ones. I love all things historic and Hermann is the PERFECT place for that. Seriously go if you live in Missouri and even if you don’t drink wine! It’s just a beautiful little town!

We stopped off at the local park before leaving town to have a few more snacks and enjoy Hermann one more time. I was literally depressed having to leave. It was SOOO awesome to be out of town, worry-free for 3 full days. I’m so thankful for the time with my husband!

He tried to cheer me up so on our way home before we got to Rolla we stopped in St. James at 2 wineries there! They had NOTHING on Hermann though!

It was the perfect trip and just what we both needed. Time away! We plan to make our fall trip an annual trip every year and possibly go back in the spring, just because we love it so much.

Hermann: Take 3

2011-11-29T15:07:00.001-06:00

Friday (11/11/11) was just a wonderful day in Hermann. It was gorgeous weather and we ventured out to so many wineries and had the perfect time just being together and laughing! After our stop at the coffee house we walked around town going in neat little shops. The Gold Rhino was my favorite. We spent at least 30 minutes in there. Not only were there antiques, but there was a lot of vintage items. (Meaning 1960s era) Lots and lots of vintage clothes that surprisingly I wanted. Maybe surprisingly for y’all, but not for me or Kody. I tend to like classier things that stay in style and not come and go! We were determined to find at least 1 Christmas gift while shopping there. We’re going for unique gifts this year and we found his Dad the perfect thing for his office. It’s called a Putter Prayer and he can sit in on the shelves in there. It still has the tag to explain what it is, and it’s from the 1960s! The owner was so sweet, she told us about this restaurant called The Cottage. We made reservations for Friday night….

We had lunch at Simon’s on the Waterfront, it was OK….maybe better at night. We then headed to the famous Stone Hill. They have a great tour and then an even better tasting time. Unfortunately we had an awful tour guide this year, but she didn’t stop me from taking pictures left and right. It was just Kody and I on the tour…and her. She was thoroughly annoyed that I kept snapping pictures. Excuse me!

After our time at Stone Hill we went to Adam Puchta Winery. Last year Adam Puchta had an employee that we loved and she paired the wines with great food choices. She now works at Hermannhof, so we’re glad we got to visit with her there, but missed her at AP. AP actually had our favorite wines last year but this year was more of a toss up. We enjoy being out there and took our snacks and enjoyed a little afternoon sunshine and some yummy treats.

After AP we headed out towards New Haven to Bias Winery and then on to Robller (sp?). Robller surprised us! It was really good so we had to take home a bottle. We headed back to the cottage after those two stops to get ready for dinner!

Before the dinner we went to the Barrel, which has great food and we just went for a drink. I’m not really a bar person, but this is a different place! I love it! We headed out to the Cottage. Check out the website. It was an old house with tables just all over it in a very intimate setting. You could smell the ribeyes cooking when you got out of your car! YUM! They were actually famous for their fried chicken so Kody got that and I got a steak and we shared. We had to have dessert too…or so we heard! We had caramel chocolate chip bread pudding and left feeling sick! It was SOOOO good. Again, it was an early night just because we were so full…and a little lame.

Kudos to you if you read all of these entries. I really just want to document it all so I can remember one of the best trips we’ve taken so far.

Hermann: Part 2

2011-11-29T13:54:00.001-06:00

I have no excuse other than pure laziness for my lack of blogging! SORRY! Anyways, I need to finish the recap on our wonderful anniversary trip to Hermann, Missouri. In my last post, you saw that we went ziplining. Always a fun time!

After ziplining we drove back into Hermann (about 10 minutes) and stopped off at a local grocery store (They have no BIG BOX stores) and got some crackers, cheese, snacks, and of course some wine! It’s cheaper at the grocery stores and I love a good deal. We headed to the main house at Hermann Hill. There we checked in and got a delicious cup of coffee. The main house overlooks Hermann and has some breathtaking views, much like this one taken from the kitchen.

Our cottage wasn’t quite ready yet so we ventured downtown and went to a little meat shop. We soon got the call our room was ready and headed to the cottage. Look at this. This is why I am in love with Hermann and Hermann Hill!

We stayed in this same cottage last year. We had a kitchen, stocked fridge (and we couldn’t even eat all the stuff in it!), living room, 2 fireplaces, killer view and deck with grill and private hot tub, king size bed, huge Jacuzzi tub, steam shower, and large vanity station. If we didn’t leave the room I would have been completely content.

After we oo’ed and aww’ed over things we headed out on the town to try to make it to one winery before dark. We made it to Hermannhof. I love the atmosphere at Hermannhof. It’s a quaint, really old, beautiful building. I just feel like there’s a lot of history there. We sampled a view wines and then bought one! :) Here’s a couple shots of us enjoying the finer things in life!

Hermannhof is beautiful at night too! We also snapped a few shots from their wine cellar. Beautiful, old, moldy bricks! :)

After our tasting at Hermannhof it was only 5 p.m., but wineries close at dark and with the time change that was all she wrote for Thursday! We headed to our FAVORITE spot to eat in Hermann, Wings-a-Blazin’. It’s like a hometown Buffalo Wild Wings, except better. They always have killer specials. We literally ate until we were sick feeling. We headed back to the cottage and were asleep by 8 p.m! I actually napped on and off and Kody was out. It was just what we needed, good rest! We were rearing to go by 7 a.m. Friday!

Friday morning we headed out early and went up on this huge hill that we drove by each time we went to our cottage. It was nestled on a Century Farm, the Kallmeyer Farm to be exact. We had no clue what we would find at the top of the hill but there was a white picket fence with a very small and extremely OLD cemetery up there. We took all kinds of pictures (because that’s what we love to do!) We spent a good hour up on the top of that HUGE hill. It was a HIKE up to it. And then I wanted the tripod so Kody ran down it and HIKED back up. He likes to exercise! ;) Here are the awesome views.

Blah, I know like a ton of pictures of ourselves. My other pictures are somewhere on another computer. I will have to get those tonight.

After we did our mountain climbing we headed down to a little coffee shop! It was wonderful coffee and the cutest little gifts. I got our nephew Drake’s Christmas gift there! We then headed back to change clothes and get ready to head to the wineries! More on that later!

Our Trip to Hermann: Part 1

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I apologize for the lack of blogging this past week. I’ve been busy preparing for the City Council meeting. I am so excited to share our Hermann trip with you. For those of you who do not know where Hermann is, let me tell you. I live in south central Missouri, about an hour and a half southwest of Springfield, MO, 15 minutes or so to Arkansas, 2 hours to Rolla, 3 hours to Cape Girardeau and St. Louis. Hermann is a very small, quaint, German town nestled in rolling hills near Owensville and Cuba, MO. It’s off of I-44 on our way to St. Louis outside of Rolla. There are a ton of bed & breakfasts and wineries.

Our 2nd anniversary was October 24th, but we waited until we had a day off and decided to take an extra day too. We were both off for Veteran’s day so that seemed like the perfect time. Plus, it’s more than double the price to stay where we do in October during Oktoberfest. We could actually go to a cheap resort in Cancun for the price!! Crazy!

Anyways, last year we went and LOVED it. I mean FELL.IN.LOVE. We knew we’d go back this year and we decided to zipline again. I got the perfect Groupon for it and we basically paid for 1 of us and the other was free. On Thursday morning (11/10/11) we headed to Hermann and stopped at our favorite meat store, Swiss, for a quick lunch and then headed into Hermann and then outside it about 10 miles to New Florence, MO. We arrived just in time and it was just us and the two guides. We had a blast. It was really windy so I had on like 4 layers and stayed warm!

You will see in a couple of the pictures that we spotted a doe while we were going through. I went right over it and Kody was already playing paparazzi in the woods getting shots of it. We were pretty close to it and it never ran off! Neat!

What a fun day! We headed to check in after ziplining. We could have spent an hour at the main house, just because it’s beautiful inside and they have amazing, flavored coffee! I will keep updating, I took too many pictures for 1 post! Thanks for reading!

Christmas Card Time!

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It’s just about that time, time to think about Christmas cards. I love, love, love sending and receiving cards this time of year. It’s just fun to check the mail! :)

Tiny Prints has asked me to do a post on Christmas cards. I’m having a really hard time deciding on the perfect card. Maybe y’all can help me out on the perfect card quest and give me input on which ones you like best. Also, how vain do you think it is to have more than 1 picture of Kody and I on our card? I just seem to like the collage cards better! Here’s a few of my favorites. HAVE YOU STARTED CHRISTMAS CARD SHOPPING YET?

I liked the the Cheerful Postage card just because of the simplicity of it. (Those kids are pretty cute too)

I thought the Chic Sophistication card was very classy. I love the gray and red colors together.

I am constantly needing the reminder of counting my blessings and I thought the Counted Blessings card was perfect. I loved it.

I like how symmetrical the Distinct Wishes card was and the fact it said Christmas really big on it.

I love all things monogrammed so when I saw the Festive Monogram, I loved the simplicity of it and the fact that it would have a T on it and that it said MERRY CHRISTMAS.

My favorite Christmas song is Have Yourself a Merry little Christmas and so this card was perfect for that. Little Berry Bunches would be cute with different kiddos pictures from throughout the year.

Normally, I’m a traditionalist, but I loved this bright, fun card! Merry Fine has great colors and gives you the option for more than one picture.

I’ve never done a tri-fold card, so I’m not sure if I would this year, but I love the Swirly Plates. Perfect way to capture your family with bright, festive colors.

And if all else fails, these two below are ones I can design on my own. The black in the first one will make your pictures POP and the red below is so very traditional with the monogram, wreath, and the cross.

What do you like best?

If you have not yet looked at the Tiny Prints website, please do! They have the best side panel that will you narrow down your results from 1 to 5 pictures, colors, etc. Tiny Prints is truly a one stop shop for your Holiday Greeting cards.

If you are a blogger and interested in this GREAT opportunity from Tiny Prints, please fill out this form.

Thanks Tiny Prints for making our holiday a little bit brighter!

11/11/11

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Thank you Veterans, we are forever grateful of your great sacrifice for our country.

I had the BEST DAY EVER. I am so thankful for this time away with KT. Seriously, best day ever. Thank you God for bringing Kody in to my life.

And now, here's why (just one reason) I never want to leave Hermann or this fabulous cottage we are in. I love this bed!!