I know its been quite awhile since I've posted anything but I have great reason....we STILL don't have Internet. We were supposed to have been hooked up on Tuesday but wouldn't you know Murphy's law interrupted life & we didn't. Oh well, all that means is I'm stuck with no more episodes of Scrubs to catch up on & Direct TV that is out of range of local channels. Its a good thing I have a super dee duper awesome little fambizzle otherwise I'd really be in the crapper!!!! Anyway, I haven't taken very many pictures these past few days, minus the damages that came with the movers, but I am excited to report that our house is nearly complete. There are just a few minor details that need attention.
Tonight, though, was one of those nights that reminded me just how incredibly lucky I am. We bought a new washer & dryer since our old washer is on our claims list and believe it or not I was overly ecstatic to do laundry when we got home. However, I did have a mini "woe is me" moment at the shoppette since this was the first time in quite a long time that I had to pick out my own alcohol; usually Nick does that kind of heavy thinking for me. Once back home Erik finished cleaning the garage so we could park the truck in there again. Then he got a wild hair & made a ramp for the Kaylahnator to do mad tricks off with her bike. The bad part is the neighbor's five year old daughter wanted in on the fun. She did great at first but eventually her training wheels couldn't handle the excitement and she fell, she's okay. We sat down for some din din and laughed and joked for almost two hours. Then Erik thought it would be funny to poppy my toesies. Bad move on his part. I retaliated where it would hurt him most: Mikaylah! I tickled her till she threatened to pack her things and move out. LoL....she had Daddy-O near tears!!!! It was mildly amusing watching him as his ♥heart♥ broke in pieces trying to get me to stop making her writhe with laughter. Truth be told all he did was pick me up with those things he calls arms. After my Kookerbutts got her satisfaction we all reclaimed our seats at the dinner table for more joyful banter. And now we are (okay they are) enjoying the first Matrix in each others arms. My kiddos asked and told us the most off the wall things tonight all we could do was laugh our guts out. And we did......all night long! What an amazing life I lead....
I know the future is going to be something of the legends.....soon I'll post pics and be in contact more. Till then, laugh till you cry and love like you don't know hurt....
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Some much needed Clair-ity!
We're hitting the last leg of our incredibly long drive to Georgia and our final stop off is with our fave fam...the Clair's!!! Erik hasn't seen them since right before he deployed in 2007, lucky me they came to Texas when I needed a saving grace! I just wish we had more time to spend with them this trip, but since Erik left our camera in D.C. we had to push our plans back a day. We arrived at their house just before they got off work, giving us time to just hang with Lexi-Lou and Kale. Man, I missed them. It really bites when you know and actually love kids but don't get to see them grow everyday. Its always such a shock to realize that when you're far from each other time does nasty things to kids' height. I think Lexi is just about as tall as I am dammit!!! That's okay, I'll let her slide since she even more gorgeous than I remember!!! Not to mention, Kale nearly towers over Mikaylah and she is the older one by a couple of years...hahaha... We spent that night with Mexi food and margaritas!!! And lots of catching up!!! Steph and I used to talk for hours and hours when we lived in Hawaii, but the distance and that thing, um what's it called, oh yeah her job (hahaha ;-)) make it harder to keep in as good of touch as we'd like. I don't mind since we get to gab till our jaws can't take it anymore when we see each other. Erik and Dustin were, as Steph put it: gay as ever when they took each other in their loving emBROce!!! They didn't leave each other's side except to sleep the entire two days we were there!!! It was good to be with them, it felt just like old times, old times that I miss so much. We spent two days with them, but I'm going to be selfish and keep one of those days to our memories only. I miss them already so much that as I write this tears trickle down my cheek. We've already made plans for our next visit and I can't wait. We are so blessed to have them in our life. There are people out there that say their friends are their family but it takes time and a special bond to actually know that. With these peeps, they truly are family and I am comforted knowing they will always be in our lives!!!
I took pictures but only of their killer (just joke!) lizard and the kids. We were too busy talking to remember to be snap happy, it was an awesome visit...love and miss you guys!!!
I took pictures but only of their killer (just joke!) lizard and the kids. We were too busy talking to remember to be snap happy, it was an awesome visit...love and miss you guys!!!
Friday, July 10, 2009
It's the PiTTs!!!
You know what you miss out on when you live in Hawaii your whole life? 
The rolling hills throughout the country, the wind on your hand driving down the freeway for hours at a time, and the road kill! Yup, we hit the road again, next stop Pittsburgh to visit Erik's lil sis, Alicia. He hasn't seen her in about 4.5 years now so needless to say this visit was long 
overdue. We only have a day to spend with her so we did what any other good tourist would do. We ate at a true local fave called Fuel and Fuddly, scrumdidliumptious!!! Then we had Alicia give us a short tour of her thumping grounds. Little did we know that we would see the tallest school in the world, we won't count the one that beats it by a beam or whatever they put on there. The view was magnificent from way up there. It reminded me of Harry Potter's school, 
Hogwart's. It was that kind of great, it was castle-ish. And I also experienced a first: the school had a 13th floor! I was a little weirded out by that but we didn't stop on it so all was well. We stood on the exact street where the riots took place when Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl, pretty sweet. Then we went back to the house for
some drinks and good catching up. Not to mention midnight takeaway from the nearby chinese was a Godsend! I was afraid to go in the basement because the house reminded me of Kevin Bacon's house in Stir of Echoes. What's with the movie connections you ask, I don't know, it was probably the atmosphere. However, it was so great to see Alicia, I see her a lot more than Erik does and he was just in heaven getting to spend time with her and see how she lived her oh so exotic city life. I can't wait until she comes to visit us in Georgia, its definitely not going to be soon or long enough.
Sadly though we had to leave early the next morning to make good time while stopping back in D.C. for our camcorder that Erik left in the hotel. On our way we stopped off for some gas and a potty break, inside a convenience store we found a jewel. A tiny diner that served home cooked meals, so we had to indulge. Had we known it was going to take nearly two hours to leave there we may have thought twice. At least it was some good grub! We recovered the camera and made it back to Tiari's house in just enough time to chat a little and say our goodbye's since we are making our way to South Carolina to see Dustin, Stephanie, and the kiddos. I'm going to miss hanging out with my sisters but I know I'll get to see them again soon. Hopefully they can make it down to Georgia before T and David are stuck across the world again.
The rolling hills throughout the country, the wind on your hand driving down the freeway for hours at a time, and the road kill! Yup, we hit the road again, next stop Pittsburgh to visit Erik's lil sis, Alicia. He hasn't seen her in about 4.5 years now so needless to say this visit was long 
overdue. We only have a day to spend with her so we did what any other good tourist would do. We ate at a true local fave called Fuel and Fuddly, scrumdidliumptious!!! Then we had Alicia give us a short tour of her thumping grounds. Little did we know that we would see the tallest school in the world, we won't count the one that beats it by a beam or whatever they put on there. The view was magnificent from way up there. It reminded me of Harry Potter's school, 
Hogwart's. It was that kind of great, it was castle-ish. And I also experienced a first: the school had a 13th floor! I was a little weirded out by that but we didn't stop on it so all was well. We stood on the exact street where the riots took place when Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl, pretty sweet. Then we went back to the house for
some drinks and good catching up. Not to mention midnight takeaway from the nearby chinese was a Godsend! I was afraid to go in the basement because the house reminded me of Kevin Bacon's house in Stir of Echoes. What's with the movie connections you ask, I don't know, it was probably the atmosphere. However, it was so great to see Alicia, I see her a lot more than Erik does and he was just in heaven getting to spend time with her and see how she lived her oh so exotic city life. I can't wait until she comes to visit us in Georgia, its definitely not going to be soon or long enough.
Sadly though we had to leave early the next morning to make good time while stopping back in D.C. for our camcorder that Erik left in the hotel. On our way we stopped off for some gas and a potty break, inside a convenience store we found a jewel. A tiny diner that served home cooked meals, so we had to indulge. Had we known it was going to take nearly two hours to leave there we may have thought twice. At least it was some good grub! We recovered the camera and made it back to Tiari's house in just enough time to chat a little and say our goodbye's since we are making our way to South Carolina to see Dustin, Stephanie, and the kiddos. I'm going to miss hanging out with my sisters but I know I'll get to see them again soon. Hopefully they can make it down to Georgia before T and David are stuck across the world again.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Happy Independence!
We woke up Friday and loaded up both the trucks 
with probably much more than any of us 7 would need for the weekend. We started our trek east. After Erik's skillful and irritating☺ driving we arrived at David's sister, Zulma's, house, 
who makes me jealous with her cute little 8 month preggers belly. I sure wish I looked that cute with either of my two poopies! David's momma, Adale, was anxiously awaiting us because that sweet little lady had been slaving over the stove all day making the most mouth watering pork tacos! Tiari is so spoiled, Adale made her a special bowl of salsa sin onions because she turns her nose up at anything that even remotely has traces of onion smell. Okay, not that bad but pretty darn close! After Erik and Tiari took a little catnap we headed to a reservation, which I can't remember the name of. We got to get up close to a family of deer,
not for very long though because Stryker kept scaring them away. We
walked through what was supposed to have been the home of old war hideouts but we didn't see any. Nikelis gave the gift of his slipper to the lake Gods for no real reason except to see it float away from us, his booteh paid for it. It 
was so serene and beautiful, there is so much to see out here and every new place takes my breath away. Later that night we had every intention of taking all 7, 8 including Darrylynne I guess, kids bowling. Much to our disappointment the bowling center on Fort Eustis closed for the holiday. That seemed a bit excessive since the 4th wasn't till the next day and obviously people are going to want to go bowling that night. Well, leave it to Erik, Mr. Fix 
It to punch bowling into his handy dandy Magellan. After twists and turns and loop dee loops we found ourselves in neighborhoods that couldn't possibly harbor bowling centers. Yes, and what's worse is, it wasn't one, but two; we humored Erik by letting him lead after his first attempt ran cold. Turns out the GPS, ignorant as it is, guided us to private bowling associations, exasperated and not interested in joining a league we all headed back to Zulma's house, we had a busy morning to wake up to, we were headed north.
with probably much more than any of us 7 would need for the weekend. We started our trek east. After Erik's skillful and irritating☺ driving we arrived at David's sister, Zulma's, house, 
who makes me jealous with her cute little 8 month preggers belly. I sure wish I looked that cute with either of my two poopies! David's momma, Adale, was anxiously awaiting us because that sweet little lady had been slaving over the stove all day making the most mouth watering pork tacos! Tiari is so spoiled, Adale made her a special bowl of salsa sin onions because she turns her nose up at anything that even remotely has traces of onion smell. Okay, not that bad but pretty darn close! After Erik and Tiari took a little catnap we headed to a reservation, which I can't remember the name of. We got to get up close to a family of deer,
not for very long though because Stryker kept scaring them away. We
walked through what was supposed to have been the home of old war hideouts but we didn't see any. Nikelis gave the gift of his slipper to the lake Gods for no real reason except to see it float away from us, his booteh paid for it. It 
was so serene and beautiful, there is so much to see out here and every new place takes my breath away. Later that night we had every intention of taking all 7, 8 including Darrylynne I guess, kids bowling. Much to our disappointment the bowling center on Fort Eustis closed for the holiday. That seemed a bit excessive since the 4th wasn't till the next day and obviously people are going to want to go bowling that night. Well, leave it to Erik, Mr. Fix 
It to punch bowling into his handy dandy Magellan. After twists and turns and loop dee loops we found ourselves in neighborhoods that couldn't possibly harbor bowling centers. Yes, and what's worse is, it wasn't one, but two; we humored Erik by letting him lead after his first attempt ran cold. Turns out the GPS, ignorant as it is, guided us to private bowling associations, exasperated and not interested in joining a league we all headed back to Zulma's house, we had a busy morning to wake up to, we were headed north.I tell you, my kiddos just don't realize how fortunate they are. This is the first 4th of July I got to spend at
our nation's capital and my lil poops are experiencing it at such a young age, the glory of it all is that this is just the first for them, they will most likely find themselves back here later on reminiscing. Knowing it would be packed we tried to get there early so Erik could see most of what we already had. The kids couldn't stop asking when we were going to visit the Smithsonian (all of them!) but Erik was dying to see the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. It was a pretty muggy day making rushing around all that much more uncomfortable,
however the endless grease pits they had eased that a bit! There were hot dogs galor, the worst sangria I ever had, and mexi food that was severely overpriced; we swallowed it all with huge smiles! The museums were just as amazing as I remembered and the kids were still awestruck the second time around, as was Erik. We took a bit too long walking the mall, though, by the time we thought to find a suitable place to watch the fireworks we were all out of luck. Once the sky started to be lit up by the amazing spectacle of glitz we didn't care that we were standing. Our "oohs" and "ahs" were at an all time high today, another memory for the books. How lucky we are to be able to show our kids these truly incredible things/places.
our nation's capital and my lil poops are experiencing it at such a young age, the glory of it all is that this is just the first for them, they will most likely find themselves back here later on reminiscing. Knowing it would be packed we tried to get there early so Erik could see most of what we already had. The kids couldn't stop asking when we were going to visit the Smithsonian (all of them!) but Erik was dying to see the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. It was a pretty muggy day making rushing around all that much more uncomfortable,
however the endless grease pits they had eased that a bit! There were hot dogs galor, the worst sangria I ever had, and mexi food that was severely overpriced; we swallowed it all with huge smiles! The museums were just as amazing as I remembered and the kids were still awestruck the second time around, as was Erik. We took a bit too long walking the mall, though, by the time we thought to find a suitable place to watch the fireworks we were all out of luck. Once the sky started to be lit up by the amazing spectacle of glitz we didn't care that we were standing. Our "oohs" and "ahs" were at an all time high today, another memory for the books. How lucky we are to be able to show our kids these truly incredible things/places.
:*:•☄•:*:•☄•:*:•☄•:*:•☄•:*:•☄•:*:•☄•:*:•☄•:*:•☄•:*:•☄•:*:
Happy Independence America...God Bless us all, especially those that selflessly serve to give us that right
☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆♥☆
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
On the road again...
The last time I was in North Carolina it was to welcome home my 
big sis from Iraq and as luck would have it, this visit is sort of a farewell for her next upcoming deployment. I love the life we are building and the places that the Army takes us, but it always makes me spite the Army when I have to watch one of my closest family members trek off to do their job. Anyway…
So here we are.
We’re only going to be here for a short time, but man, are we packing in adventures. Tiari and David wanted to take us down to Carolina beach and let me tell you, I do not like the Atlantic. The Pacific ocean will do for me until I am thoroughly shown proof that the Atlantic has more to offer than brown water and sand 
so fine it actually looks like salt. Of course that didn’t stop my kiddos and Darrylynne from frolicking the entire day. Watching them all together made me realize how lucky we are to have each other. In a sense my sisters are what make our family. We aren’t that close to our mother and our dad is so busy it’s challenging to keep in good contact, although he tries. I love that my kids know their aunts and are as close to 
them as they are. It’s funny, the things I remember the most this trip are the feelings I experience not the places we have been or seen, don’t get me wrong we’re having a grand old time doing all that we’re doing.
Back to the beach – we bbq’d on the beach and spent the majority of the day sitting under our makeshift tent made of a tarp and Tiari’s explorer trunk propped open. Erik even got Stryker to get into the water. He is so funny, for a big dog he sure is a scaredy cat! We wanted to spend a good part of the night out there but a
freak storm trampled all hopes for that. There was excitement on the sea when the wind capsized a small sailboat, no one was hurt but the drama was high…lol. It was also quite entertaining to watch cars get stuck in the sand and have to be rescued by bigger trucks and albeit more skillful drivers!
Later that night us four adults went out for a drink stopping at a couple of pubs in what I guess would be
called the party area of Carolina beach. We did get a really cute bartender at the last pub we went to to make me a white gummy bear and I have to admit it wasn’t half bad. The best part though was stopping at a little mom and pop store to suck down some mango ice cream…yum! We came back to the hotel that night to find that the hibachi we used for dinner had been stolen from the gazebo while we let it cool. Lesson learned, secure all personal belongings before heading out to drink.
We spent most of this past week doing pretty routine things. Tiari and David had to work and Erik and I actually tried to sleep in, they have really light curtains leaving us sleep deprived at about 6 every morning. We took Darrylynne to the gym in the mornings and played with t
he kids in the afternoon, and had dinner ready when Tiari and David came home. On Thursday we all made our way down to Fort Bragg to go to Tiari’s brigade picnic. They sure know how to feed a community, not once did they run out of food or drinks. The ribs were pretty darn scrumptious considering it was from the DFAC! However, the kids were pretty bored because the only entertainment they thought to have was a dj and food. We had to play keep out of the sun with all of the five branches growing out of the ground in that huge field. That night T and David had a dining out so instead of cooking we opted for fatty hamburgers at Five Guys, Erik
had to refrain from eating everything in sight, it was that good. No night would be complete without some ice cream. Since there isn’t a Cold Stone here we had to settle for some DQ, which really is the next best thing. Tomorrow we’re waking up and heading east to Virginia. Like I said the adventures never cease!
I have to let you know that during our cross country road trip I only had to drive a total of maybe 4 hours. That’s right, my knight in casual civilian clothes is here to do all the heavy steering. I am back on cloud 9 with him here with us. It seems like we’ve had to wait a lifetime or three just to be able to be a family again. Now that we are I can’t imagine us being anything but together, I know those dreams will be shattered eventually but right now it’s us. Together. And I couldn’t be soaring any higher! My hubbster is the bestest!
I'm doing this from phone so forgive any errors....lol ;-)
big sis from Iraq and as luck would have it, this visit is sort of a farewell for her next upcoming deployment. I love the life we are building and the places that the Army takes us, but it always makes me spite the Army when I have to watch one of my closest family members trek off to do their job. Anyway…So here we are.
We’re only going to be here for a short time, but man, are we packing in adventures. Tiari and David wanted to take us down to Carolina beach and let me tell you, I do not like the Atlantic. The Pacific ocean will do for me until I am thoroughly shown proof that the Atlantic has more to offer than brown water and sand 
so fine it actually looks like salt. Of course that didn’t stop my kiddos and Darrylynne from frolicking the entire day. Watching them all together made me realize how lucky we are to have each other. In a sense my sisters are what make our family. We aren’t that close to our mother and our dad is so busy it’s challenging to keep in good contact, although he tries. I love that my kids know their aunts and are as close to 
them as they are. It’s funny, the things I remember the most this trip are the feelings I experience not the places we have been or seen, don’t get me wrong we’re having a grand old time doing all that we’re doing.Back to the beach – we bbq’d on the beach and spent the majority of the day sitting under our makeshift tent made of a tarp and Tiari’s explorer trunk propped open. Erik even got Stryker to get into the water. He is so funny, for a big dog he sure is a scaredy cat! We wanted to spend a good part of the night out there but a
freak storm trampled all hopes for that. There was excitement on the sea when the wind capsized a small sailboat, no one was hurt but the drama was high…lol. It was also quite entertaining to watch cars get stuck in the sand and have to be rescued by bigger trucks and albeit more skillful drivers!Later that night us four adults went out for a drink stopping at a couple of pubs in what I guess would be
called the party area of Carolina beach. We did get a really cute bartender at the last pub we went to to make me a white gummy bear and I have to admit it wasn’t half bad. The best part though was stopping at a little mom and pop store to suck down some mango ice cream…yum! We came back to the hotel that night to find that the hibachi we used for dinner had been stolen from the gazebo while we let it cool. Lesson learned, secure all personal belongings before heading out to drink.We spent most of this past week doing pretty routine things. Tiari and David had to work and Erik and I actually tried to sleep in, they have really light curtains leaving us sleep deprived at about 6 every morning. We took Darrylynne to the gym in the mornings and played with t
he kids in the afternoon, and had dinner ready when Tiari and David came home. On Thursday we all made our way down to Fort Bragg to go to Tiari’s brigade picnic. They sure know how to feed a community, not once did they run out of food or drinks. The ribs were pretty darn scrumptious considering it was from the DFAC! However, the kids were pretty bored because the only entertainment they thought to have was a dj and food. We had to play keep out of the sun with all of the five branches growing out of the ground in that huge field. That night T and David had a dining out so instead of cooking we opted for fatty hamburgers at Five Guys, Erik
had to refrain from eating everything in sight, it was that good. No night would be complete without some ice cream. Since there isn’t a Cold Stone here we had to settle for some DQ, which really is the next best thing. Tomorrow we’re waking up and heading east to Virginia. Like I said the adventures never cease!I have to let you know that during our cross country road trip I only had to drive a total of maybe 4 hours. That’s right, my knight in casual civilian clothes is here to do all the heavy steering. I am back on cloud 9 with him here with us. It seems like we’ve had to wait a lifetime or three just to be able to be a family again. Now that we are I can’t imagine us being anything but together, I know those dreams will be shattered eventually but right now it’s us. Together. And I couldn’t be soaring any higher! My hubbster is the bestest!
I'm doing this from phone so forgive any errors....lol ;-)
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Georgia bound...but first°o.O °o.•´¸.•´¨¤
We had the heartwrenching task of telling the family and friends in Texas goodbye, God, it was nothing short of horrible. I will miss them all more than they know, they helped me through such a hard time and they truly mean the world to me. Waking up on Tuesday morning having to say goodbye to yet another great friend, Angela (along with Pat and Austin ;-)) made leaving all that much more difficult. We are already planning trips to return to Texas and to have peeps from Texas come visit us, can't wait!Our first stop of the road trip we have planned was in Kentucky/Tennessee to see my cousin Jeannette and Daymein and a couple of my greatest friends, Jackie and Erin and their families! It was so so nice to see them all again. It's amazing that no matter how much time passes there's always that bond that keeps us close, I'm so thankful to have them all in my life. We ate dinner at the Black Horse where they serve my oober fave drink, white gummy bear, which no one anywhere has been able to reproduce. The next night Erik, Jeannette and I took the kiddos to watch Transformers. We had planned to watch it after dinner, but as luck would have it all the shows were sold out. I will say it is a movie that must be watched ASAP...it was awesome! That Shia LeBouf, he sure is getting better looking as he gets older, what, he's of age I can say that...lol. It was sad to say bye bye to them, but we had another leg of our trip to get started...next stop, North Carolina to see my sis'! Love to all our fambam in Texas and Kentucky/Tennessee...till we meet again!
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