Summer Time

As most of you know I have been struggling through each day that Dennis is gone, not knowing what will come next or even if anything will come next. Each day I find myself contimplating the future, the past, and everything else that fills my head from the comfort of Dennis and I's bed. Accompanied by no warm blooded man that I love, but instead, the gifts that Dennis has given me to take his place. Slushie and Slurpie and now my newest edition Spooner sleep each night by my side, keeping me warm and giving me the slight comfort of companionship. More often than not I still wake up with large white hairs in my mouth, and occasionally my eyes.

It never seems to get easier knowing that he is out in some foreign land facing all of the elements of war, and i cannot be there to help him. I cannot comfort him when he has a bad day or make him feel better when he gets an owie or sunburnt (which seems to happen often). But I guess in some ways he must feel the same way, knowing how much I miss him and how he wants to be the one going on of of the silly adventures with me. It has now been 7 months and 4 days since I got that final kiss and hug. Since he told me he loved me and walked into the brick building where he would start his "war" adventure. I am sure he has his own stories to tell and with due time I am sure they will come creeping out from the wood work. But for now, here is mine.

I am sure it is never easy to have the one that you love gone, and I am sure that I am not the first person to experience the lonliness that comes with a year deployment. I know many other women that have gone through similar things (army wives all seem to have this one thing in common). After seeing a dear friend go through her second deployment and then seeing her and her husband reunite, I realized that reuniting will be the best day of my life. And until then, it is just another day and I must push on.

Living with my sister has been a blessing. She is quite often busy with school, work and her boyfriend, but occasionally finds a couple of hours or if I am really lucky a whole day to spend with me. This summer she was able to give me a full day of just us sisters! Our adventure started at 8 oclock in the morning with showers and getting ready for the hour drive to Wasilla. The Alaska State Fair is a 2-3 week fair about an hour North of Anchorage. Mom and dad used to take Sierra and I out to the fair every year, but that ended quick as the rides got more and more expensive and dad's attention span began to depreciate. If only we could get a snowmachine and a fishing ride and some beers to start a booth at the fair! haha

By 10 we were on the road, I had my redbull and sierra her Arizona tea (I think?). Sierra drove her Durango so that we could nap in the back before the concert. Sierra and I wandered the fair looking at all different goodies. One of my favorite places that we stopped was the flower exhibit. The flowers were perfection. From the sunflowers that stood 10 foot tall to the smaller flowers with the most intricate details. I had my camera on me so I took a couple pictures!

After admiring all of the flowers, I decided that I wanted to try the Turkey Legs I had heard so much about. After waiting 15 minutes for the turkey legs to be ready we went over the the pig racing stadium to wait for the pig races and eat our turkey leg. Well, the turkey leg expericence wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. I am not sure how to describe the mess of delicious BBQ sauce that covered the outside of the leg. I litterally wanted to lick the BBQ sauce directly off the leg. But then, when I took a bite into the leg my moment was destroyed. The ligaments and such that held the turkey leg together were caught in my teeth. The meat that I had just ripped off was so salty I thought I had just taken a bite out of Spam on a stick. Turkey legs are definately not my thing. But after waiting for 15 minutes, and then walking all the way to the seats I was a HUNGRY Girl Sierra and I documented our eating. So here you go!

After eating the Turkey, walking around the fair and eating completely random things such as cheesecake in a cone! We walked through the Barn very quickly due to the fact that Cows, Pigs, horses and bunnies do not to anything good for my asthma or allergies. I got to pet a baby chicken that was about he size of a well.. baby chicken! haha and then i saw little baby birds hatching in an incubator. It was absolutely amazing, they come out so small and then grow into big egg laying beasts!

The vegitables were next in line. This year at the fair we had 2 world record breaking cabbages! I could almost live in one of these things! I don't know how they even got it in the building. Thank goodness someone invented the fork lift! The room was crowded with people we were about 20 people away from getting a good look at the world record cabbage so I got my sister to pose with the 4th or 5th place Cabbage.

Pushing our way through the building pedestrians we made our way out to the car. IT WAS NAP TIME! The sun was shining and the car was hott. Sierra opened the back and jumped for the shaded area. We both laid there almost asleep when someone walked by and started pushing the alarm button to their car. Finally after they found their "lost" car the honking stopped. Then the next person followed the same pattern. Every 5 minutes a series of beeps and honks echoed into the car. Sierra and I just looked at eachother and smiled. After laying in the back of the Durango for about 45 minutes we were both asleep. But not for long, about 7 minutes into our nap Sierra's phone began to ring. "AHHHH Sierra, Where is your phone???" I yelled as we both flailed around looking for the cell phone that Sierra never exactly knows where it is. Finally after emptying the contents of her purse on the floor of the car (which happened to be our bed at the moment) she found the phone! 2 minutes to late to answer, but we say that it was our parents. After returning the call, we decided nap time was over and that it was time to head into the concert.

We made it to the gate about 10 minutes before it opened. People with General Admission tickets were running all over the place trying to get the best section of grass for their money. Mean while Sierra and I had our free tickets in an assigned seating area, so we were free to take our time to our seats. When we walked over to our seats it was like there were sun beams coming down from the SKY right onto our seat. They were center stage on the second teir (outside arena) it was PERFECT! 110 dollar tickets for free! So, we took our seats and prepared ourselves for Rodney Adkins.

Compared to all the other concerts that I have been to this one was pretty low key. Security prevented anyone from getting too close to the stage, and then everyone in seats would yell at you if you stood up. So it was more of a sit and sing along. This being my sisters second concert with me really showed me that she isn't as crazy as me. I would tell her to run up front and go take a picture, she would hand me the camera and say "you". When the semi final song came on and 50 people rushed the stage I said "Go Sierra GO!" and she said "you first" So I ran up to the front just intime to get to the front, we were right up on the stage as everyone else started heading up. I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures as Sierra waved her ticket and a Sharpie in Rodney Adkins face. People were pushing all around us as I placed my hands up against the Brick wall that separated us from the stage. Spread my legs in a little wider than shoulder width stance and I was there like a statue. Sierra was of corse oblivious to the fact that I was holding back a ton of girls with raging hormones! Sierra got her signature, I got 2 guitar picks that had been thrown out to the crowd and there was now way out of the gaggle of ferocious girls. Now, I have worked for 6 radio stations for over 3 years now, I have been in mosh pits, and know how to drop a shoulder and get out of a crowd when needed. So I prepared my sister to follow me, I dropped my shoulder and plowed our way to saftey. Sierra was so excited that she got her ticket (I am pretty sure she will get it framed!) and I was excited that I got my sister day!

So we headed home to Anchorage, where the both of us fell fast asleep once our heads hit our pillows!

Well that is my story for tonight. I have 13 more days until Dennis gets to Leave the FOB.. So I am guessing I will blog a couple times before he gets here and then A good long one after he leaves AGAIN! YUCK I hate that word!