Summer Ketchup! {Post 1 of 5}

So I know I vanished, and if you don't stalk my photos on facebook....well then, you have no idea what I've been up to this summer.

A whole lot of CRAZY and a whole lot of FUN.

Keep checking back, I'll promise you'll be filled in...

Join me for a photo tour of my summer...

Ever wonder what those weird mormons do for fun? Well, we ride dirt bikes in our Sunday best through the neighborhoods, of course!

 

^^ Tristan's first time sitting on a real dirt bike. 

I've successfully brainwashed my child.

All he talks about is, "bike, bike, bike, bike"

I LOVE IT! 

CAKE SMASH!

I'm proud to say that my boys sure know how to eat a cake.

Anyone remember this? :)

Following suit...

Followed by the epic wash down. There was some debate about how to clean said Birthday Boy. I voted for the hose. If he's going to be a boy and live in my house, he's gonna get the hose when he gets this dirty. He might as well learn early on that this kind of mess is not allowed in the house...Eric didn't agree. He didn't want anything to do with the hose and crying baby. I think Ryan handled it well. A couple of tears, but they were brief :) 

Daddy was kind enough to give him a real, warm bath directly after. What a nice Daddy, my boys are lucky! ;)

Little Man Mustache Party!

This post is going to be VERY LONG, so bear with me! Lots of fun pictures to share :)

Our little man's birthday party was yesterday. It was so much fun, and SO EASY. Far less stressful than any of Tristan's parties. We had one of the women in our ward volunteer to help with the invites, so we sent out digital invites instead of mailed invites. We may go this route every year, for several reasons. So much cheaper (FREE), convenient, and you typically get RSVP's a lot faster and easier. The only downside to this was that Eric & I missed out on our date night of making the invites. I do enjoy making them together.

We used this digital invite--
(this is a sample-- didn't want to blast our address all over the internet)
I LOVED the wording and couldn't resist.

The best part about this was when I was doing some last minute shopping the night before and stumbled on these shirts...on sale, nonetheless...HOW COULD I RESIST?!

These were both Men's tees, so I just cut mine to make it a little bit more feminine :)

and then I found this bad boy for my mom...she loved it. She wore a mustache the whole party. I think the mustache made her feel very suave because as soon as the mustache went on, she had insta-swag.

Some of the party decor and fun: 

We set up a photobooth for people to get silly with the mustaches...

 Popcorn-- we got these bags for a couple bucks with the cotton candy machine rental and just popped regular popcorn from Costco (total cost: under $15)

 Old fashioned coca cola from Costco as well. We HEART COSTCO!

 Party supplies from First Wishes

 Homemade cupcake toppers, Cupcakes made by my BFF/MadeOfHonor aka the beautiful redhead Kristen Raab :)

 Cake also made by the lovely Kristen Raab

Our friend Felicia helping Eric make Cotton Candy; the machine rental was our "big splurge" for the party-- sooo worth it! Fun and easy, and an ENDLESS amount of Cotton Candy-- we will be giving away Cotton Candy for a few months if anyone would like some....lol

And then some finger stache fun... :) 

My personal favorite part of the party.

And then of course, some candid shots of our guests enjoying themselves... 

I'll have to do an entirely 2nd post of the cake smash & the photobooth pics...so keep your eyes out for more! :)

Little RyRy turns ONE!

Can you believe this tiny baby is now a WHOLE YEAR old!? I cannot, and it's slowly breaking my heart. Ok, it really would be if he wasn't such a monster. 

This tiny baby is not even walking yet (kinda late compared to big bro who was walking like a pro at 10mo) but that doesn't stop him from getting into EVERYTHING. Just the other day, I went to the bathroom (in our master bath)-- came out, couldn't find Ryan ANYWHERE. I asked Tristan where Ryan was and he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. Finally heard little monster growls, and found him in the guest bathroom...in the cupboard under the sink. He had taken everything out, and climbed in. I guess he wanted a man cave.

We kept his actual day simple and went to Ryan's favorite restaurant. Red Robin. Ordered his favorite food-- Red Robin French Fries...and then we had them sing to him and let him eat the sundae. The simplest things can be soo pleasing to a 1 year old. 

Happy Birthday baby boy! We love you sooo much!

Love, Mommy & Daddy

and even big brother :)

People {and blogs} I love

I love people who are honest, real, and open. They are my favorite kind.

I have a hard time finding these people sometimes, but when I do... they are so worth the wait! Sometimes I hate social media. I hate that sometimes life feels like a big status update, and nobody is ever really sincere or genuine. I guess that's why I've been hiding from my blog; because I'm a big chicken. I became concerned with how my life felt and less with how it looked and I just kinda wanted to hide for awhile.

 And then, there are days like today where I am just carousing Pinterest for ideas for Ryan's upcoming birthday, and I find something that helps. That might even be life-changing. We'll see. 

It is some kind of miracle when you stumble upon a blog-- from a perfect stranger no less, that really hits home with you. I found this couple's blog while on Pinterest, and I immediately felt inspired by their story. They openly admitted to needing help and guidance from family, friends and God and they were rewarded sweetly.

I wanted to share some of the post that I loved in case somebody else out there finds it inspiring the way that I did. I personally like the first 3 the best, and #3 is my all time favorite because I love to write letters and journal but I strongly encourage you to click the link and read the whole post. The hubs and I want to try a few of these out! I am so excited to start new traditions to strengthen our marriage! We'll keep you posted :)

1. Weekly Questions: For the past five years Tim and I have been asking each other the same five questions every Sunday night. These questions have made the biggest difference in how we love and serve one another throughout the week. If you're going to incorporate one of these 10 things into your marriage, we hope it's this one.

2. A Small Metal Box: After reading this story, Tim and I made a pact that each time we made love we would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for our 50th anniversary trip to Hawaii. This has surprisingly been a great way for us to creatively pursue intimacy with one another over the years. Our only advice would be to not count the money in your box. Focus on quality, not quantity.

3. Traveling Journal: There is a journal we share that's filled with words that would make you blush. We take turns writing in it, always hiding it for the other to find in an unexpected place. It's been foundduct taped to our shower, in suitcases when traveling, even in the refrigerator behind the Cool Whip. (Pretty sure Husband was trying to tell me something). Overall, this has been a great way for us to verbally affirm and encourage one another.

This is why I love the blogging community. Putting your life on public display can be scary, especially when things aren't smooth sailing... but the thought that something that you may have struggled with, and learned from may help someone else (or even yourself) is the point of this all right? With that said, I vow to return to my blog and not hide from sharing my life and my lessons with all the people I love.

WE thank all of our family and friends for all the love and support and encouraging words and phone calls and texts and messages, and babysitting, and...anything else I'm missing...we appreciate it :) We love you all!

XOXO,

Thompson's :)

My quarter life crisis

Well friends, family, anonymous readers, ETC...

I've been slacking I know. It's not that I've fallen out of love with my blog...it's just that I needed some space to think without the whole world knowing what was going on in my life. Yeah? This happens. Don't be offended.

I suppose that I was overdue for a little unsettledness in my bones and well...we're going to call it "My quarter-life crisis". Other people might call it, "The Grass is Always Greener" syndrome.

But here's the honest/raw/real deal because that's the only way I know:

I woke up one morning and felt like my life just wasn't enough. I know those of you that know me are thinking right about now that I'm the biggest brat in the whole world. How could my life- the very life that I have worked so hard for, created, nurtured, and loved for the past 4 years just not be enough? Don't get me wrong-- this has nothing to do with my husband or kids, and everything to do with me. I'm not going to go into detail but I just felt an unsettledness within me and felt like I needed to be 24 and live and experience things outside of changing diapers and making bottles.

I can see clearly right now that I have everything that I have ever wanted-- and more and I am not in any way intending to give the impression that I am sacrificing any of this-- I am trying to find a balance. I am trying to be true to myself and find out who I really am and what I really want from this life.

So the truth is that this past month I haven't had much to blog about because I've been navigating off my GPS. Or is that I've had too much to blog about but didn't want to share any of it with the world? Either way my GPS lady was screaming, "REROUTE-REROUTE" at me over and over and I just ignored her, and finally she irritated me enough that I decided to turn it off all together. I decided to find my way on my own this time because if I'm honest with myself--- I hate having people telling me what to do. And besides, I'm really good with directions.

At this point, who knows whether or not I'll do what I know is right and just listen to the GPS lady or if I'll just continue to travel blindly, but I promise I'll let you know.

So of course I found myself here today, and I think it was mainly to share with my family and friends what I've learned..and what I've learned is that I know nothing about what I think I know. I learned I have a lot of learning and growing (up) to do. So that's what I'll be doing for awhile. I'm going to try to keep up with my blog but if I go missing for awhile, you'll know why.

I love you all and I am soooo thankful that I have had good friends and family to be able to lean on, but most of all I am thankful to have a husband who is trying his hardest to be patient with me while I find my way on my own. And for any of you that have ever had to deal with me, you know this is no easy feat.

Till Next Time :)

Playroom Ideas

I finally printed and framed our family photo- only 8 months later... but at least it got done before the kids graduated. My most recent addition to the playroom, and what inspired drastic makeover ASAP. I've just been letting this room sit, but once the photo went up... I decided we're getting this done.

This is the 2nd home I've had a bonus room in that I just can't figure out what to do with. The angles are weird, there's no door...it leads to the kitchen... it's kind of a bizarre place. And with kids, there's no point in trying to have a formal sitting area, so my first thoughts go to playroom. In the past, I've wanted it to be a "Bonus" room, meaning toys/tv/video games/big comfy couch. But with my goal of squashing tv addiction in mind, I've decided to ex that idea and create a playroom that inspires creativity, and leads the children away from the TV. I can't tell you how much I can't stand couch potatoes, and I refuse to let my boys become obsessed with video games. 

We will have imaginations in my home, and we will play outside.

^ Family Rules. 

If I chant it enough, it will happen... right?

To the right of the fireplace is a long wall where this will go: 

^ Found on Etsy. Ordering this next weekend! Can't wait for it's glorious arrival on my doorstep.

^ Don't mind floating balloon. We buy dollar store balloons on occasion because they are hours of fun...this one was given to us at the last Relief Society Activity. It was still floating, a week later.

^ Crate bookshelves found 

My next project.  This will go on the wall to the right of "couch" (that is non existent as of yet) so that we can create a comfy place to read and cuddle :)

^^ All of this will go in this area: