I like beer...

Sheri likes beer, Donna likes beer, and Troy is a great driver. (He likes beer, too)

 Anyone who heard my Maid of Honor's speech at our wedding probably could guess that I have been waiting impatiently for a tour of The Orion Beer Factory. 

We got to do just that on the way back from a weekend up North.

Yep... you read that right... A FACTORY where they make BEER. Know what is even better, they gave us free beer at the end of the tour.

Outside heaven the beer factory.

The beginning of the tour... apparently the classic place to drink a beer?

For the tour, they showed us through the 8 steps it takes to make delicious Orion beer. 

They had the cutest drawings of each stage. I want his job!

When we got to the canning section, we learned that this many cans (1200) are bottled per minute! That's so much beer!

After the tour, it was the part we had been waiting for- FREE beer (and some really good beer nuts)!

We got two yummy beers each... and Troy got a fancy sweet tea since he was driving. Love you, boo!

The damage!

The important things we learned on the tour... 

The last one is especially entertaining. Rest your liver!

It IS possible to have my dream job in Japan. Beer Chemist- Yessss!

We got a sweet shirt to commemorate our tour. The Orion saying is "For Your Happy Time". 

 So go ahead and knock back a cold one- whether your beverage is iced tea, soda, or beer- and find your happy time!

Change of Command

During the first few days of Donna and Sheri's visit, the three of us were able to attend the Regimental Change of Command Ceremony.* Troy was acting as a Platoon Commander and got to yell out orders to his group of Marines. The Marine Band was there as well and it was a very motivating ceremony. Enjoy some pictures from the day!

* Change of Command * When a regiment switches leaders. In this case, Col Williamson replaced Col Gentry as the man in charge of 12th Marine Regiment.

Sheri and Donna ready for the ceremony.

Troy's Battalion, 3rd Btn 12th Marines. This means he is a part of 12th Marines, the Regiment that was changing command.

Troy marching along during the ceremony, making sure his Marines look good.

Troy is in the back saluting the Colonel.

Troy is not in this pic, but I think it is pretty awesome how they are all mid-march.

The new Colonel telling the Marines he is proud to be the leader of such a great group of Devil Dogs. :)

After the Colonel's gave their speeches, the platoons marched by and saluted their new leader. Troy got to lead his platoon in front of the new big wig!

Marching up and getting ready to shoot his big gun....

I mean salute. ;)

He saluted for the entire platoon and yelled out some orders. The three of us were so proud!

The 777 Howitzer. It is Troy's job to shoot these.

The III MEF Band was SO good!

After the ceremony, Troy took us to see his new office.

In front of Troy's work building.

Tune in soon for some of our adventures with Donna and Sheri!

Konban-wa Famirī!!

We are so happy to welcome Momma Sheri and Aunt Donna to our little island!!! 

It was an emotional and exciting arrival (on the same day that Avril departed) that left us all smiles. We are looking forward to the upcoming adventure with our first family guests!

Yay! There they are! Darn this glass that separates us.

Did the tears start yet?

Oh yeah... they did!

So happy! Haha. Love this pic.

Yay, Okinawa!

Tune in soon to hear about our adventures!

Sayonara, Avril!

Today, My BFF Avril's time here comes to an end. 

I am so happy to have had one of my most favorite people visit me for over a month!

She literally saw more things on this island than some people do in an entire 3 year tour. I had a blast showing her around and hope she will treasure this adventure forever!

Enjoy some highlights from her visit. 

She saw ALL the castles on the island..... :)

Got super psyched over some pineapple samples.....

Swam in TWO waterfalls....

Chased a wild pig with me.... Yeehaw!

Completed the ultimate Japanese adventure... Japanimation!

Learned to Free Dive... thanks Max!

Enjoyed the local cuisine.....

Took in the cultural sites...

And got to spend her Birthday with some girls I am SO thankful to call friends.

Thanks for visiting, Avril! And thanks to all my girlfriends (and wonderful husband) for helping make her experience one-of-a-kind. I love you all!!

Tune in very soon for a special edition of Turning Japanese that includes two special guest appearances! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

This post is a little out of the norm for me, but I wanted to share this recipe while keeping it at an easy access point for myself. :)

For Avril's birthday, she requested Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. I consulted many different recipes, reviews, and websites to come up with a fool-proof method that leaves the cake nice and fluffy and the filling squishy and delicious. 

Start the day before by making the cookie dough filling. This has to happen ahead of time so that it is frozen solid, otherwise the cookie dough will bake along with the cupcake, and what fun is that? 

Cookie Dough Filling:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
12 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
2 cup plus 4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl on medium-high speed until light and fluffy(approx2 minutes).
Add flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Stir in the chocolate chips.

To make the little cookies that go on top, scoop 25 small nickel-sized dollops of the filling onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 325 for about 6 minutes, watching closely as not to overcook.

Place the remaining dough in the freezer for 30 minutes to make it easier to roll.
Pull them out of the freezer and make 25 little dough balls. Put them on something easy to freeze (I used a pie pan) and pop them in the freezer until the next morning.

The next day, you can take the easy route... or the difficult route. I personally feel like Betty Crocker has a good handle on cakes, so I used a white cake mix (easy route). You can use any cake recipe you prefer though, I would love to taste these made with a fudge cake. Mmmm.

Cake Mix:
1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup canola oil
3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350.
Mix the ingredients and pour into 24 greased cupcake holders, filling them one third full. You should have some leftover.
Pull out the frozen cookie dough and drop one into each cupcake. Eat the leftover cookie dough ball- YUM.
Cover each dough ball with a spoonful of the leftover cake mix.

Bake for exactly enough time (18 minutes, for me) for the cake to be firm, but not brown on the edges. This ensures that the cookie dough is only soft, not baked on the inside.

Remove and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing them to finish cooling. Finish with your desired frosting, garnish with baby cookies and mini chocolate chips, and enjoy. :)

Sorry to not have more pics, Blogger is being a little testy today and not allowing me to upload.
I hope you take the time to enjoy these delicious cookie-cakes!!

Exploring the Land of the Rising Sun

Troy got back today from his latest adventure, a month long trip to Mainland Japan. 

He went to Camp Fuji for some training where he acted as the Fire Support Coordinator. In regular-people-talk, he helped tell people what stuff to blow up. Sounds fun, right?

As you can guess from the name of the camp, he was near Mount Fuji. As a matter of fact, he was in the shadow of the tallest mountain in Japan the entire time. While he was there, he made an overnight trip to Tokyo (play, not work), spent over a week in the field (no showers, eww!), took a white water rafting trip, and hiked to an altitude of more than 12,000 feet. 

While I am usually supportive of his work adventures, I was certainly jealous this time around! Troy promises he will take me to Tokyo soon to make up for it. I can deal with that. :)

Enjoy some pics and commentary from his most eventful adventure yet.

Look very closely... can you see Fuji-san?

Work, work, work. How can he see through that fog?

The "office". Think they have ergonomic chairs in there?

"Home"- Small but a great location!

Not the Japan we are used to experiencing!

It was not all work.. Troy relaxing before a white water rafting adventure!

A trip to Tokyo made me extra jealous! Look at all that shopping. *drool*

Troy hiked up the tallest mountain in Japan with nothing but a stick!

At each pit stop, stamps were branded onto the stick to commemorate having made it up the mountain.

They hiked through the night, and got to see the sun rise from the top.

The trip took 9 hours round trip!

Troy was sure to leave his mark at the top.

My personal favorite- the view landing in Okinawa and coming home to me. :)

 Tune in soon as we get more visitors and continue our adventures! Thanks for reading!