The Thompson Adventures: Happy New Year from the Thompson's 2017

What an incredible year. It has been such a journey from January 1st 2017, to January 1st 2018.

I wish I remembered every detail but it has gone by too quickly.

From Alaska, to Arizona, to Texas.

That is a lot for our little family!

I will be honest, our year started rough. Even with a brand new little baby, it was bumpy beginning. We still had monitors and medicine, and no sleep. But we were doing okay. We had jobs, Jeff was doing great in school. The baby was growing, feeding great. I was working a lot.
We blessed the Baby on February 5th, Mom and Dad were able to come up to Alaska and turn into little popsicles and then we flew home with them.

We enjoyed a trip to Arizona for my birthday as a family and had a wonderful time.

Katie turns 21!

We went back to Alaska, had a really difficult decision arise. Do we stay or do we go?

I headed back to Arizona and ended up staying and we made the decision to take the plunge and move to Texas. I landed a job at Methodist Richardson in the Mother Baby unit. Easton and I with the help of my amazing sister Jill and my selfless Mom, found us a house to move in to. We moved to Texas and stayed at Jill's house for several weeks till the house of "ready". Easton and I with the help of our friend Khrisandra and my parents moved into 9417 Timberwagon Dr. The house needed a lot of help, it has things we love and hate but it has turned out to be just the house we needed and we love it. It is ours, just ours, and it is our happy place. It is in a WONDERFUL ward that has been nothing but a blessing to our family.

I started my job at Methodist Richardson. This place, I was very skeptical at first, but it has been a huge blessing. I have been welcomed with only warm arms. I have made wonderful friends, learned incredible things, and now work as a mother baby nurse and a charge nurse ( which let's just say, didn't take a lot of qualification apparently lol!). But they love me here for some reason and it is just what I needed for my confidence as a nurse and a person. It has been a wonderful place to work. The drive is a little long but it is a great time for me to annoy Mom and Dad :)

The ward we moved into ( which is also Jill's ward), from the beginning poured their love upon us. Mom and Dad brought a big trailer of a LOT of things (courtesy of Dennis and Margaret Palmer) couches, beds, kitchen essentials, and refrigerators, washers and dryers that ended up not working so went and bought us brand new beautiful ones ( AND I LOVE THEM), yet our house was completely empty it felt like. We had no bedroom furniture besides a bed and the beautiful crib I bought Easton off of craiglist ( which was a blessing and a score) in our bedroom as well as nothing in the other two bedrooms. Having a connection with real estate through Jill was a blessing as well as Jill having a home teacher that just moved and needed to get rid of a bed. We ended up with a full master set ( minus a headboard), a captain bed for Easton's room with a nice mattress, and a queen sized bed from the South's. Can you say yowza! I wasn't planning on all this extra furniture, I will say that. But it has been a huge blessing!

Jeff finally made it about mid May. It was a long trip for him. It was a long trip for all of us. Being away from him was really hard on me and Easton. I think totally time apart was 2 months at least, and these were really long two months. Easton missed his Dad and I missed Easton's dad. It is a lot easier to rely on each other than asking for help. As grateful as I am for it! Easton tried his first foods, went swimming for the first time, and I feel like he really changed completely since the time he had seen his Dad last. It broke my heart every time something new happened cause I knew Jeff was missing it. I think my first mother's day was a huge one for me, but my sister really made it special for me. Thank you Jill!

Jeff's trip was a lot longer than it was suppose to be: he had a wonderful friend Bryan fly up to Alaska and then drove back with him. So he packed the Jetta with as much as he could, which was not enough... I miss a lot of the things we took up haha. Jeff dropped him off in St. George, grabbed a hotel and slept for a few hours ( after not sleeping for like 4 days straight.... crazies). He then drove himself to Texas.... over 2,000 miles and the last 300 hundred he couldn't make it. He broke down just outside of Amarillo where he had a hotel waiting for him... 5 miles away. Our car literally fell apart. After spending about 1300 dollars of borrowed money, just to find out it wouldn't be fixed unless we pain another 1500. We ditched the car and got Jeff to McKinney. Jeff drove back a week or so later to get the rest of our things and the owners of the mechanic after a lot of harassing by Jill payed back the money we spent on getting it not fixed and then paid for the car. It was a surprise but also very helpful. We were blessed by another ward member by them letting us use their beater car for a few weeks to get to work and around town. We desperately looked for a car and have a day of searching with no luck, kept coming back to one of the first one's we saw ( that actually was torn apart getting hail damage fixed). We both just felt like it was the one. SO after lots of hours, low blood sugars, and too much money: we got our Santa Fe. We LOVE this car. It is perfect for us. But of course, our first road trip had to be a trip to Magnolia. Lol! Jeff wasn't able to come, but it was super cool. And ridiculously hot. lol. Maybe next time we will all go :)

We survived the summer with swimming, sleeping, and working.
Jeff had his first Father's day! Best dad ever!

Around mid August Jeff got a job working at the Frisco school district as a crossing guard. This started out really fun for him. He got up early everyday, we would trade places watching the baby, he I would sleep, and he would go back in the afternoon. This was an okay bandaid for the stressors going on his and our life, the transition from Alaska was really hard on him. It is a huge change going from mountains and small towns your whole life to city, concrete, and LOTS of people. After a few weeks, a lot of doctor appointments, starting counseling, and getting a job at Cabelas ( that he LOVES) we all got to a really great place mentally, emotionally, and physically. At first, we thought Jeff had an allergy to red meats ( random, but it came up in a conversation so we tried it out haha). So for a month or so we tried the no red meat diet. Man, we were eating HEALTHY that month. lol! After ruling that out, due to it not working, we all were happy with adding burgers back to our diets lol. We haven't eaten as healthy since but we all learned we could do it if we wanted to right?! ha ha!

We have been meeting with an LDS counselor, Kevin Hinckley, and he has been an absolute life changer for us. For our family, our marriage, and each of us individually. I know it's probably not totally kosher to talk too personal ( sorry Jeff) but dealing with a peak points of anxiety , to the point of anger, feeling like passing out, depression, long nights. Meeting with a counselor every week and finding the right balance between physical, emotional, and mental, and finding out Jeff has just been misdiagnosed for years and really didn't need such a high dose of blood pressure medicine....We have never been a happier and more wholesome family. It truly has been an incredible blessing. An incredible challenge, there is no doubt about that; it was HARD. Especially on Jeff. But I can't imagine we would've gotten to this point without the fire he walked through. He is such a light in our family and I am beyond bursting with joy that he is his absolute happy self. It really has changed our family forever.

We have had incredible spiritual experiences among all the dark. Some that may or may not change our lives forever but we will see what happens. They have brought Jeff and I closer together, has brought the surety of our Savior and the power it is to be close to him, to converse with him, and to be willing to listen. We again are so grateful for our Bishop Katseanes and for his incredible connection with the spirit and our Father in Heaven. He has been nothing short of amazing in all of Jeff's and I's struggles and really brought us to the point of breathing above water. He answered the call, no matter the crazy time of morning.

We would not have survived any of this Texas transition without my amazing sister and her *new* husband Nathaniel. They have saved our butts. They have been the best babysitters, friends, and advocates. Easton loves them to death and I have NO IDEA what shape we would be in without them. They make me sane, and sometimes even insane. ;)
We survived the total solar eclipse!

We survived the Hurricane that rocked the southern United States. It really didn't effect us in any way but we were extremely grateful that Jordan, Ashley, and Lux were able to make it out safely ( by 15 minutes!) and were able to stay with us. We wish it was under better circumstances but it is always great to see them. They didn't have any damage or lose anything to the flooding and that was so great for them. I wish we could've done more for those in need.

Jeff turns 25!

We celebrated Easton's first birthday! What a year it has been with that sweet boy! He is the absolute light and center of our lives. Every day we learn and grow with him is a day our hearts expand 4 more sizes. We adore him. He decided to take his first yardage crawling on his first birthday. Now he is more mobile than ever. He isn't quite holding himself up yet and walking but we see it happening really soon! He will probably just take off one day! He is in to everything. He loves forks, especially the ones I am trying to eat with. He loves his dog. He takes two naps a day. Sleeps in two to one hours at a time at night. It is exhausting but we will figure it out, he hasn't been feeling good. He can eat basically everything but anything we want him to eat right now lol. We are working on that too. He still loves Moana but has expanded his genre to Monsters University, the Office, and sometimes Little Einsteins. Thank Jeff for the Office.... he dances every time the song comes on lol. He is 23 lbs of pure love and joy. He has 11 (?) teeth including 4 molars. Those were fun ones to bust through..... poor baby. He loves riding on anything that moves, except in his car seat. He loves talking and can say Bear, Mom, Dad, Hi Pup, Grandpa, Hey, and Cheese. We can lay him down and he will put himself to sleep ( most of the time). He loves getting on all fours and shaking his booty, and or dancing. It is so great haha. He is really into music right now. He is just so fun!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving as a party of 4 with Nate and Jill. We had a beautiful and delicious dinner and enjoyed the quiet.

Easton and I escaped to Arizona for a week the first week of December. Of course the day I got home I got really sick. Looking back after seeing what all my coworkers had and then what my Dad got, I am pretty sure it was the flu but no matter.... it felt like death and I am happy I was home when it hit. Mom fixed me up before I went home. It ruined some of our plans but I always feel so rested when I get to go home.

After too much frustration and stealing my sisters cars, my parents finally convinced us and helped us find a second car. We landed a great deal on a Hyundai Elantra, it's a little older and needs detailed but we got it for a great deal and after a new battery and new visor it has been running great. It has been an incredible blessing and taken so much stress and sleep stealing off our plates. Maybe we should call it the blue blessing? Blueberry? I dunno... It needs a name though.

Mom and Dad got their second mission call to Lima, Peru as International Digital Communication Specialist..... Leave date pending... It keeps changing ha ha!The paper says February 19th but it could be earlier or later.

Mom and Dad came for Christmas! Jeff really knocked Christmas out of the park. Easton was a blast to shop for. We really had a blessed Christmas. We had blessings upon blessings in dollar form pour on us. When someone brought brownies, Jeff said, " finally someone brought us something other than money! We can eat this!" lol! Between $50 dollars in quarters, an unexpected $500 dollar check for photography and videos, and the ward. We had a WONDERFUL Christmas, could still pay our bills, and not feel the stress of the season. For me at least, it was a very financially stressless Christmas and I felt like we really could enjoy it. We set a good budget that for the most part we sticked to and still were able to spoil each other.

To round out the year Easton got hit with the WEIRDEST VIRUS. At first we thought it was bug bites. We hot washed all of his linens, told Jill to wash all of her stuff, we shaved the dog, sprayed our house with tick and flee spray, put him in a pack in play.... none of it helped. It still kept getting worse. After it spread to his back and all over his tummy we went to the urgent care before I went to work, maybe thinking it was the chicken pox or something. The doctor there said, " oh it is just bugs, here is some antibiotic cream and take some benadryl." Turns out after seeing a pediatrician the next day and it looking MUCH worse, that it was a funky weird virus. It eventually turned into bruising. That was the weirdest part for me. What in the world would go from red, weird, hive ish, bug bite looking things, and turn into bruises?! He looked like we beat him! Right now it is looking much better but it is still there as of now. He still has a runny nose, but his cough seems to be letting up so hopefully he will start eating, sleeping, and feeling much better.

We are starting the New Year with jobs, health, anticipation for Jeff to finish school, plans for food storage, savings, walking, traveling, sleeping, eating better, coming closer together as a family, and closer to our Savior.

I am IN LOVE with our family, with the joy and peace we have in our home, and the happiness that the end of this year has been. I didn't realize at the beginning of last year how unhappy we were until I sit and ponder over the last year. This truly has ended in the most magical way. We are a blessed.

January