Monday, September 15, 2008
I just took a look at my blog and realized that the blogger world probably thinks we are still in New York... WRONG!! We are back! Not too much has been going on with us lately but I thought I'd give a little update, of course in pictures as usual!! We hated to leave David, but I truly believe that we are where God wants us to be!! David is doing great! He got his much deserved promotion!! He is such a hard worker and I'm more and more proud of him every single day!!
We had to spend our 10th anniversary apart... Which was very hard... But we have the most amazing relationship and are making it through this distance thing!! We are praying that the next job is closer than 1400 miles apart... That part sucks!!
I made him all of these really pretty cookies and mailed them to him overnight and he said that when they got to him they were in pieces no bigger than a dime.... I sent him cookies and he sent me diamond earrings that I've been asking for on our 10th anniversary for the past 9 years!! He's such an awesome husband and my very best friend!!
I was really down on our anniversary so Crystal and Julie took me out and we sang Karaoke!! 
We had a blast!! Thanks again girls!! We are gonna do that more often!!
Daityn Blair has all of this garb that she likes to wear now... Dawson has always been all boy.... I'm afraid that this little "Diva" is all girl!! She has to carry her purse with pacies, cell phone and usually her sippy cup and have her jewelry that Aunt Olivia brought to her on everywhere she goes!!
Not to mention the sunglasses that are permanently stuck to her head!! It's so funny!! Gustav affected so many people and didn't leave us out... 
We got so much rain... As you can see... 
Dawson and Punky loved it!
Dawson rocked it out during spirit week with a purple mohawk!! It's so funny!!
This was all his idea!! My cake business is booming!! Here are 2 of the latest ones that I've made!! 
So if you need a cake, gimme a shout!!
Here is a funny video shot of Daity trying to ride on a toy 4-wheeler...
I hope everyone is wonderful!!!
We had to spend our 10th anniversary apart... Which was very hard... But we have the most amazing relationship and are making it through this distance thing!! We are praying that the next job is closer than 1400 miles apart... That part sucks!!I made him all of these really pretty cookies and mailed them to him overnight and he said that when they got to him they were in pieces no bigger than a dime.... I sent him cookies and he sent me diamond earrings that I've been asking for on our 10th anniversary for the past 9 years!! He's such an awesome husband and my very best friend!!
I was really down on our anniversary so Crystal and Julie took me out and we sang Karaoke!! 
We had a blast!! Thanks again girls!! We are gonna do that more often!! Daityn Blair has all of this garb that she likes to wear now... Dawson has always been all boy.... I'm afraid that this little "Diva" is all girl!! She has to carry her purse with pacies, cell phone and usually her sippy cup and have her jewelry that Aunt Olivia brought to her on everywhere she goes!!
Not to mention the sunglasses that are permanently stuck to her head!! It's so funny!! Gustav affected so many people and didn't leave us out... 
We got so much rain... As you can see... 
Dawson and Punky loved it! Dawson rocked it out during spirit week with a purple mohawk!! It's so funny!!
This was all his idea!! My cake business is booming!! Here are 2 of the latest ones that I've made!! 
So if you need a cake, gimme a shout!!Here is a funny video shot of Daity trying to ride on a toy 4-wheeler...
I hope everyone is wonderful!!!
Monday, July 21, 2008
New York
Before I even start I know this is gonna be huge... So you might want to read this in shifts!!Right before we left home Dawson lost another tooth!! So now he has no front teeth!! He told me to get a pen and paper we were gonna write a letter... I said to who he said The Tooth Fairy... I said what are you gonna tell him?? He said your gonna write it and I'm gonna tell you what to write... So here we go...
Dear Tooth Fairy, My mom and I are going to be out of town for awhile and so I want this tooth to be worth $100!! Love, Dawson
The Tooth Fairy wrote back:
Dear Dawson, This tooth is great but I don't think it's worth $100. But here is $50 for you to spend while in New York!! Love, The Tooth Fairy
Have you ever heard of a bargaining tooth fairy?? Me either!! If he doesn't become a lawyer I'm gonna be pissed!!!
On the flight from Cincinnati we saw a rainbow Dawson had to take a picture!! 
On this flight and the other one I got up and appologized to everyone on the flight because the medicine prescribed for Daityn Blair had the reverse affect... And yes, I tried it the day before and it worked... Sometimes I take so many things in live for granted... And this trip is no exception... But when I get back to Arkansas I will do my best not to take the following things for granted:
1. The nosey people in the grocery store that say "hi Cara, how are you doing?" I'm gonna smile and say back "I'm doing wonderful and you?"!! Because here people don't even look you in the eye... They just look through you....
2. The people at The Cleaners that always do exactly what I ask to my clothes and never ask questions no matter what... I will run around behind the counter and hug their neck... Cause some hussy up here tried to cut my son's shorts off to be Daisy Dukes.... Without my consent and then went on to tell me how she liked them like that and why didn't I.... Cause I'm the momma... that's why.. And more than that, I'm paying you.... If I tell you to cut off one leg and leave the other and spray paint them purple that's what I want cause I'm cutting you a check that's good!!
3. The beauticians for not ever doing this
to anyone that I know or have ever seen in the town of Hamburg.... 
I mean really.... What the hell is with those do do rolls down the side of their heads?? Somebody please tell me!!! Thank you!!!4. My car for never breaking down on me while driving down the side of a freaking mountain once... Much less a second time in a week....
5. My two ovens in my house...
6. All of my countertop space...
7. The people in our wonderful town!!!
8. My momma!!
9. My momma in law!!
10. My Amanda!!!!!!!!
11. Again the nosey people in the grocery store!!!
K, this is so not going to be a negative post!!! I won't let it!! We have had a great time so far! Even with all of the drama!! It's beautiful here!! I would love to live in the mountains! It's so nice and cool (compared to Hamburg).... Don't get me wrong, I've broke a sweat... But not like Arkansas!!
I'm gonna post lots of pictures and tell ya bout a couple of our experiences and I'll write more later!
I know my mom is dying to see some pictures off of myspace!! (she should get one herself... hint hint and you too Olivia!!!)
So the first morning I got up early as soon as David left for work and started cleaning!! (coming in where two men have lived for a couple of weeks alone with no female... I had to clean the pot before I could have my morning pee!!) Then I called Andrea and she and the girls came over and we piled, and I do mean piled
up in Daddy's truck to venture into the unknown!! 
And into the unknown we went!! And yes, they were all in seat belts!! But I do believe if we had been stopped by a police we would be in a little bit of trouble!! So here we go... Into some unknown town... And I go around a curve and I'm thinking to myself "this steering wheel is getting really hard to turn".... I didn't say anything while I was breaking a sweat and steering... And then I start flying down the hill and notice that the brakes aren't slowing me down in this hella big truck.... I'm like standing up on the brake and it's barely slowing down at all... So finally I said "Andrea this truck is broke".... So I fought it to the side of the road in what looks like the slum part of town and I get out and I don't even know why cause I know how to put gas in it and get in it and drive and that's about it for my car knowledge... I try to call Daddy... And if you live in New York your cell phone service SUCKS!!! AT&T should be ashamed... no freakin' signal...
There are people driving by ninety to nothing and no one even slows down...
So to make a long story short after 3 hours of sitting on the side of the road with 5 kids and after 3000 text messages to Daddy, David, Cliff, John, Phil, Meredith.... I've just called 911 and I decided to try Daddy one more time... Lo and behold he answers....
This is how that call went
me: daddy were broke down on the side of the road come get us.
dad: what happened?
me: i don' t know the brakes quit working and the steering wheel wouldn't turn and I fought it to the side of the road and we're broke down!!!
dad: where are you?
me: we're between two curves in Swan Lake at an old abandoned restaurant and..... daddy?? DADDY???
thanks at&t... for your perfect timing of a dropped call...
so I walk a little ways and get one bar and try again... This time in panic mode...
me: DADDY, WE ARE BETWEEN TWO CURVES IN SWAN LAKE AT AN OLD ABANDONED RESTAURANT AND WE'RE HOT AND TIRED AND HUNGRY AND THE KIDS ARE TOO COME GET US!!!!!
daddy: ok, I'm sending David.
So about 10 minutes we see the most beautiful site a white Precision Pipeline truck!!!! Woo Hoo!!! It's a stranger and I don't even care I know that truck!!! So this nice guy takes us to his house which is about 300 yards from where we were broke down for 3 hours for us to sit another 2 1/2 hours and wait on the truck to be fixed only to get a call that it wouldn't be ready until the next day!! About 4 o'clock Cliff and Meredith finally get my texts... Anyway the nice lady took us home and all was good in the neighborhood!!
That night about 9 o'clock David's cell phone starts going nuts and Andrea said John's did too that's when they finally got our messages...
Sorry no pictures of that whole extravaganza!!
So the next day we all go to Bubba's to eat! Which is great they have food drinks and a huge sand box in the back by the lake to keep the kiddos occupied!!
Daityn Absolutely loved it!!! Although I think the water intrigued her a little bit more..
Since there was no hose when we got ready to go David dipped Daityn Blair in a sand pail filled up with Lake water before she could get in the truck to go home! Dawson was also stripped!!;)
We spent alot of time at McDonald's in the first few days before we upgraded to wireless.. 
And believe it or not after a while the kids were dreading going to McDonald's!!
The circus came to town!! And the kids loved it!! (I can't speak for Andrea but I did as well!)
Here is Dawson and his toothless smile and Daityn scouting for crumbs over there behind him... I should have known something was up right then..They had some really neat acts!!
oh yeah, chick is hanging by her hair!!! freaked me out totally.... Daityn Blair sneaked around and I caught her eating popcorn off of the bleachers from the kid sitting behind us.... I had to flag down the man carrying it on his shoulders to keep her from catching cooties!! And then she was good to go for the remainder of the show!!
On Friday the fourth of July we went into Monticello to watch the fireworks display! It was held at the race track. 
The kids enjoyed this as well!!
It was a job trying to hold down Daityn blair... She is just too busy!! She is kin to Dawson and knows when it's her bedtime!! Amber, Emily and Reghan are always helping me keep up with her!!We had to wait on the fireworks to start for 3 hours... If Dawson wasn't so excited we would've gone home!! But we just couldn't disappoint him...
Here is me and David at the race track!!On Sunday morning bright and early we got up and headed to middletown to catch a train to go to New York City!!!
Dawson loved this!! He said this wasn't Thomas cause it was too fast.. It wasn't James cause it wasn't red.. And it wasn't Gordon, it was the Evil Diesel!!!
It was so surreal to step through the doors of the train station and look up and see this....
AAAAfreakin'mazing!!!!
We hopped on a tour bus that took us all through the town to see all of the sights that we could see in a day and boy did we!!
Below is the NYC post office. This picture gives it no justice it's really beautiful!!
This was some random guy just sitting on the street jammin!!!
This is Ground Zero... I'll tell you, looking at this is just looks like a hole.. But the feeling that I got while walking towards where The Twin Towers once stood was unforgettable... It was the most eerie feeling, it's hard to explain... Just sadness... Looking at all of the surrounding buildings and how they are still black with smut and then looking at the nearby church that wasn't touched. Just knowing all of the mothers and fathers that died that day for no apparent reason is absolutely sickening... Meredith and I were totally fighting back tears... We couldn't stay there long, we had to leave...
This is just something that has never really been explained to Dawson in detail.. But when we got there I told him what happened.. As soon as he called home he told everyone what happened and what he saw at Ground Zero and how these mean men took over planes and crashed them into these huge buildings.. And that's another thing. Its hard to imagine 2 buildings being taller than the buildings that surrounded them.... Just crazy!! I'm glad that we went there, but I have no plans of going back!!
On a better note, we saw The Statue of Liberty!! Absolutely enormously breathtaking!!
We accidently took the wrong ferry to Staten Island instead of the island of Liberty or whatever it's called... But it was all good anyway!! 
We went right in front of it!
The kids had fun waiting on the next ferry from Staten Island.. There were pigeons outside and I found some raisins in my purse.. Dawson started feeding them and they came right up to his feet and took the raisins.
Daityn Blair was wanting to get her hands on one so bad!!!
Then on the way back on the ferry we saw some pretty sights!!Some new waterfalls in NYC that are only there until like October I think.
I'm gonna feel really stupid if I'm wrong but I think this is the Brooklyn bridge...
NYC
David telling Phil about this chick who had on a dress made of pantyhose I swear!!
It was so funny!! You can see her standing behind them!! Real cute girl, if she had worn drawers!!
Then David decided to take a nap the rest of the way!!
Then off to Chinatown!!! OMG I could stay there forever!!! I loved it!! The whole bargaining thing was great!!Afterwards David was trying to bargain for a coke at a hotdog stand... I'd rubbed off on him!! I was too busy to take many pictures there!!
So here we are walking!!
Poor Daity!! She was so tired!! Thank goodness for Nicole letting us borrow her stroller... I don't think Dawson would've made it!! We did ALOT of walking!!!
After a long day we had to get back to catch our train on time.. So we grabbed a taxi!! Here we are riding in the yellow cab!
This was the most awesome experience of my entire life!! And before I go home I'm going back to NYC!! But after about 15 hours, my babies were give slap out!!!
So back to the apartment we went and off to beddy by!!!Where I'm headed right now...
I've got lots more pictures, but I'm gonna retire for the night!!