T-Man makes 3

The new man in my life.

September 1, 2011

Travis Mark.

I love him. ;)

Cleanin' out the cobwebs

Wow!!

I have got to be the most slowest person to get this blog thing going. It's been well over a year since I last blogged...that's bad.

So, what's new in the Thompson household, you say?! Well......absolutely nothing!!!

Since a year has past I'll give a short recap:

• I finally learned how to actually stand up on a snowboard, and yes, get down the hill in one piece as well as perform a 180...with my feet still planted on the ground ;)
• We spend an extended weekend in Santa Barbara to celebrate Nate's youngest brothers wedding, that was a blast and a half!
• We went camping in Hume Lake again, this time along with my parents my sisters and their boyfriends came and we had a great time. Kelly and her BF were able to stay a bit longer than the rest and we got to really spend quality time which was awesome!
• We remodeled our kitchen...finally!! We got inspired to do so after seeing my parents go through the remodel process (which my mother had been waiting to do for well over 20 years!) and I must say our kitchen looks way better than it's old former 80's self.
• I took a Plienair watercolor class over the summer with my mom, and am continuing to take a watercolor class through the fall/winter. Watercolor has never been my forte with art, but I'm learning alot and have definitely seen an improvement in my watercolor.
• I started taking online classes through a University to become a Certified Forensic Nurse. Yes, I've decided I'd really like to learn more about the Dr. G, CSI and Bones aspect of nursing. So far I'm having a great time learning all there is to know about forensics and I can't wait to see what kind of stuff I can get into once I'm finished!
• We celebrated by grandmother's 80th birthday. All the family got together and took her out on a brunch bruise in the SF bay. It couldn't have been a more lovely day, the weather was perfect, the ocean was calm and the food was fantastic!
• And finally, Nate and I took a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean for our 3rd year anniversary. We made stops in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Marteen. We went all out this time and got a veranda suite room, and boy was it grand! We decided if you're going to go on a cruise the veranda is the way to go! We spend most of our time on the ship on that deck, it was so quiet and peaceful and didn't have a million people all around you hunting for the next available lounge chair :) Not to mention the weather was perfect the whole time we were there, a few days of rain, but not enough to let you down.

So, there's a small recap of our year. Hopefully in 2011 I'll be able to keep up with the blogging.....I hope!

Here's some photos of the past year, enjoy!

can't forget a picture of my "twin" :)

family photo 2010

thompson boys and the wives

new kitchen!
one of the places we went this summer to pleinair watercolor
my grandmother (ain't she pretty? i think so)

relaxin' :)

Fall Time

this blog seems to becoming a tri-yearly blog (is that even a word? i don't care)

so for the fall, september, nate and i started off visiting our super cute new nephew, james. apparently he looks exactly like a "thompson boy"....he really just looks like a boy to me :)

october, we then went to disneyland for our 2nd year anniversary and had a blast!!! the weather was fantastic, a little on the warm side, but not too bad. and we had breakfast with the characters TWO days in a row!! i know, we're special :) since it was october, disneyland was set up in halloween attire. there were 3 rides that they made "halloween-ish", the haunted mansion, space mountain and tower of terror. the haunted mansion was cute, they decked it out in nightmare before christmas props, but of course nothing like the original ride :) space mountain was kind of a downer, they changed the soundtrack, slowed the ride down and projected some kind of ghoul resembling a mix between "the mummy" and the balrog from lord of the rings. and to top that off we waited in line for over and hour to ride space mountain. oh well, it's all part of the fun. to end, tower of terror was pretty much the same ride, no real changes that we could see, i think they were just advertising it as a special halloween ride because it's twlight zone-ish.

on the ride back from LA we had a chance to stop and have lunch with nate's brother and his girlfriend, that was a lot of fun! we had some good laughs, mediocre food, and a great time of fellowship. we're all hoping that the girlfriend becomes a thompson soon! she's fantastic!

then at the end of the month my sister and i hosted a halloween party where the attendants had to dress up as a holiday of the year. we had some wild costumes! it was also fun, because it was where our youngest sister stepped out with her boyfriend for the first time! he's a great guy, real sweet.

now into november, we started off by celebrating my grandfather's 80th birthday. it took a long time to plan, and with lots of the usual family bickering(probably more than should have been), the party went off fairly well. we all had fun, and was a really neat thing to celebrate the life of a man who joined the US Navy, married my grandmother, who persisted even though she said no 3 times, live through WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, has 6 children, 9 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchilden. and to this day is walking every morning and drinking his one glass of wine every day, and still has a mind as sharp as a tack! all in all we had a great time.

now approaches the holiday season and boy do we have plenty of holiday things to do. and of course with my job i get to juggle both working holidays and spending time with family, oh the joys of life! :) so far though it's actually working out ok. i get to spend thanksgiving with both families, and i get christmas eve and day off. so far so good! i can't complain.

so thats what we've been up to in a nutshell, kind of a large nutshell, oh well...

Summertime!

after such a long absence...We're all doing well here, my back is doing excellent after the surgery, the pain that i had before is completely gone, praise God! i only have risidual pain from the surgery, ie numbness to my right leg and intermittent slight lower back pain, which the doc says is normal and should decrease in about a year. i'm taking a yoga class this summer to help keep my muscles stretched, so far it's really helped. i am soo glad i had it done, its amazing!

nate and i are enjoying our summer just working and trying to fit in play time. not too many get-aways this summer but it should be enough. we're going camping at the end of august and going to LA in october. maybe a few weekends away here and there...

this last weekend we both walked the "Wharf to Wharf" race, i knew i couldn't run it because of my back but i thought i could walk it. it was a blast!!! it only took 1:52:35 to complete the 6 miles....that's not too bad for walking, right? maybe next year we'll be able to run it, or at least jog.

Healing Well

Hey there folks,
just a note to tell all that i'm doing well and recovering well. the pain that i used to have in my back is gone! although it's replaced by aches that are related to the healing process. so let's hope that this will be the end! i've been doing good, hanging out at the house, trying not to do too much in one day, which concesquences into back pain at the end of the day. But thankfully i've had alot of friends/family come and visit and help out, which has been soo nice. i started physical therapy last week, just doing stretching and strengthening exercises, i was hoping to take advantage of prescription that my doc ordered for deep muscle massage....but that hasn't happened yet, darn it.
before i return to work in the middle of april, nate and i will be taking a week long vacation to cabo san lucas, i can't wait!! what perfect time to take a vacation than when i'm recovering from surgery, i love it.
hope you are all doing well and loving the wonderful sunshine that God's given us!
Thank you everyone for the help and prayers!

I'm at home

Hello all,
Just letting you know I'm at home now from the hospital. I'm walking around now with assistance from a walker, yes, it's kinda funny I'm hobbling around with a walker. My pain is actually tolerable for the moment, the hard part is not being as limber as I want to be. I can't bend down and really can't reach for things, So I'm relying alot on family members to get things for me. I am soooo thankful for them! Total Godsent.And they're all doing a wonderful job.
Right now I'm staying at my parents house, because they have a single level house and its easy for me to manuver around. I hope to be at home by Monday, when Nate is done putting in the banisters in the stairs.
I'd love to have any visitors stop by, just give me a call to make sure my super busy (not) schedule is open.
More later

A Little Update

Hello all,

Just a quick update, I'll be going in to the hospital this friday for a lumbar fusion/back surgery. I should be in the hospital for about 5 days and then at home for about 3 months. I'm really hoping to keep myself occupied for 3 months at home, since I won't be able to drive or do alot of moving.
I'll let you know how the surgery goes when I'm out. I'd also love to see any of you who can come visit :)