Daddy Comes to Visit

My sweet daddy came to visit this weekend!

Friday night, I decided to make him a homemade chicken pot pie 

& some pumpkin white chocolate chip brownies. 

{Check back for the brownie recipe later this week.}

 Saturday, the hubs & I took my dad to our favorite hole in the wall breakfast spot.

& after my dad took me to Raleigh to get some maternity clothes.

We spend the rest of the afternoon and the movies watching, The Family.

That night we caught up on some football & then headed out for margaritas & Mexican. 

{Of course I only had water...}

Sunday morning, my dad left early but I will see him next Saturday morning, 

as I head back to Memphis to visit my family. 

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Beach Babes

Friday, Mr. Army Man & I headed down to Wrightsville Beach 

to kick off my first day of summer vacation.

Fedora: JC Penney ($5) || Swim Suit: ASOS (Old) Similar 

We checked into our suite at The Surf Suites around noon..

(Such a nice hotel with great staff that gave exceptional recommendations.)

                     

And then hit the beach...

After spending hours on the beach we headed to dinner...

The hubs & me decided earlier that night that we would do a progressive dinner.

Dinner at 22 North. 

(They change out their menu every week.)

& Dessert on the water at The Oceanic. 

(Which was right next to our hotel.)

We hit the sack early & then headed to the beach again..

I got a good tan & some reading in.

We buggy boarded & relaxed a bit before lunch.

We headed to the Fish House Grill for lunch, 

of course we had to sit by the water.

We had such a great weekend with going to school at night, 

preparing for the restaurant opening, barely seeing the hubs 

& all of his training we definitely needed this weekend beach trip.

Both of our swim suits are from Old Navy..
Hers || His (On Sale)

Hope y'all had a great weekend! 

{PS} We also came home & went hiking yesterday.

We've skipped a weekend & managed to do about a mile & a half. :)

#chrestfest

This past Thursday I headed up to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to visit my family.

(The hubs had to work..)

My parents rented a cabin. We had such a great time catching up. 

Of course no weekend getaway is complete without a little relaxation..

Or shopping.. #duh

On Friday morning we hit up the Tanger Outlet, 

where I racked up on some JCrew Factory necessities. 

Then Bass Pro & finally ended the day sight seeing, riding the Sky Lift, 

& eating pizza as well as birthday cake.

(My brother celebrated his 25th birthday!)

Saturday, we got up early and visited the Ole Smoky Mountain Distillery.

It was so neat to see how moonshine is made!

We ate a little lunch at Crawdaddy's.

The have the best food. 

Wish I would have taken a picture of the carrot cake.

#phenomenal 

Lobster Bisque

The Chrestman girls rode the Sky Lift again..

A must if you ever go to Gatlinburg!

 

And then I said goodbye. I hadn't seen Mr. Army Man in a week.

And we needed to catch up!

The views on the way home were absolutely breathtaking.

It was so glad to see the whole fam damily, since I haven't since Christmas!

Love them & our especially making more memories.

The Easter Two

This past weekend was huge for me.

***

Mr. Army Man got some time off from work.

We got our income tax money in.

Lent was over. My chip obsession continues.

And today, I can finally shop again.

We started out Good Friday at our favorite local breakfast spot The Landmark Cafe.

It's so good that it only serves breakfast, frequented by locals only.

And is usually so packed you can't walk in the door. Literally.

The two of us both got ham biscuits. #thebest

We, then, headed up to Raleigh for Adventure Landing.

Where we played two rounds of putt-putt, laser tag, and go carts.

Where I got two hole in one's!

We headed to Trader Joe's, where we bought two jars of cookie butter!

And then to the mall. The hubs wanted me to scope out what I would need for Spring.

I managed to leave intact without buying anything. He bought a meat grinder for our stand mixer.

Which we've already made fresh sausage with.

Before heading home, he we stopped by one of my favorite local boutiques.

Mr. Army Man wouldn't let me go in. #easterbasketnecessities

We then went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

I only managed to take a few pictures. Who cares I was enjoying the day.

Saturday was busy with errands.

Trip to Lowe's, grocery shopping, yard work, planting spring flowers, etc.

Sunday, we enjoyed an amazing early Easter breakfast with our church family. 

The church had a flower cross ceremony and plus our regular church service.

It was so beautiful.

We headed home where I proceeded to nap and Mr. Army Man crossed watching basketball off his to do list. And later we made dinner.

Mr. Army Man completely surprised me with two amazing Easter presents!

Hope y'all had a Happy Easter Weekend & were bless through and through!

Day Date at the Museum

Here lately it seems like the hubs and me have been leading two separate lives..

You see he has worked eleven days straight, 

staying away from home three of those nights.

What's been going on you ask?

He just recently got a new dom and 

she has been keeping him quite busy with his submissive training.. 

But no.

Seriously, the Army has been a little bit nuts lately.

He's had staff duty, field exercise training 

& had to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

No biggie.

So Saturday, we had a day date.
It started at this cute little bakery called
The Cupcake Shoppe Bakery.

I had the Banana Maple Bacon Whoopie Pie.

Mr. Army Man had the Peanut Butter Cup or something..

So delicious.

#breakinforbacon

Then we headed over to the 

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

 It was so much fun.

There was too much to see in just one visit.

We drove around Capitol Square and loved seeing this Confederate Tribute.

"To Our Confederate Dead.."

#nofilter

We then ate a late lunch at Big Daddy's Burger Bar.

We both built our own burgers. 

Can't believe I spent almost $22 on a burger, 

but oh my it was worth it!

Buffalo Burger with Pepper Jack Cheese, Jalapeno Bacon, Guac,
Lettuce, Tomato, & Garlic Aioli

We ended our date with a Target trip were I teased myself

& proceeded to buy nothing except for two birthday gifts for both my nieces.

Seriously the perfect day after barely seeing the hubs for two weeks!

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Four Christmases

We have been beyond blessed & extremely busy this holiday season.

Four Christmases, busy!

We came home for vacation & couldn't ask for a better one.

Now let's begin the recap.

Excuse the picture overload.

Christmas Eve.

"The Lee Family Christmas"

We started off Christmas Eve with the hubs family.

We all had such a fun time catching up.

Since last Christmas we've had two new additions.

So fun to see everyone & get some baby love. 

All the grand-kids & great grand-kids with Grand Dad.

The Originals. 

Us with Grand Dad. He's such a "G."

In Laws.

We had some new additions. :)

Next up..

"The Chrestman Family Christmas"
We then headed over to my parents house to open presents with my two brothers, since they were going to their in-laws on Christmas day.
We had such a fun time opening gifts with my niece. 
She is a mess!

Mom's Tree

Brother & his girl.

The Girls

Husband & my brothers.

After we finished up at my parents we headed to my grandparents house.

We ate, played bingo & ate more.

I was so excited I won bingo four times!

My niece loved the presents we got her & kept putting her "lip lick" on me.

She asked me which color I wanted. 

Purple, lello {yellow} or boo {blue.} 

She told my Papaw that he was fired from being the bingo caller.

Hilarious. 

My niece, Ella Grace.

My Papaw

Christmas Day..

"The Neal Family Christmas"

Every Christmas morning we gather at Mr. Army Man's parents house.

We always eat a huge breakfast, have mimosas & open gifts.

It is so fun. 

I forgot my camera for this one so the photos are limited.

My other niece Meghan had to try on my dress from my mother in law.

Too funny!

 

"Another Chrestman Family Christmas"

We had a massive lunch at my parents & got to open presents with my Great Grandma. It was so yummers to eat my mom's home cooking since we were out of town for Thanksgiving.

We had the best Christmas an awoke this morning to a true winter wonderland. I absolutely feel blessed beyond belief for all the love & family time that was cherished in the past few days.

So sad we will be leaving soon. 

Up next on the blog roll a massive recap on our cruise trip to Mexico.

Hope y'all had a very Merry Christmas!