Dave and Kara

What We Have Learned Living in Arkansas A Year...

That’s right folk’s, we have officially survived a year in Arkansas! I think some thought this day would never come. Over the course of the year, we have learned a great deal about how to survive. My first several months were spent absorbing all of the suggestions and tips given to us by professional Arkansas survivors. There were moments of complete culture shock, but here is what we have learned thus far…

1. Thunderstorms can and do exist in the dead of winter.
2. It is possible to be 65 degrees at 6:00 am, and to have freezing rain by 9:00 am.
3. If it snows (or is even predicted to snow) ½”, school and work are both cancelled.
4. We have the accent, not them (last I checked I sounded like everyone else on TV).
5. A hurricane will be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hits central Arkansas. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t pack a punch when it arrives.
6. There is both beauty and destruction with an ice storm. It can snap hundreds of electrical poles in half from the weight of the ice on the power lines. It can take more than two weeks to restore power depending on the damage.
7. Deer season is considered a “national holiday” and is means for a vacation.
8. There is about as many Waffle House restaurants in Arkansas as there are LDS chapels in Utah.
9. A tornado siren is your signal to go outside and take a look.
10. The spiders here can be described in two words, abundant and gynormous.
11. During a power outage, food will stay good for up to 2 days in a full freezer and a few hours in the fridge, so long as the doors are not opened.
12. We have seen 1 live possum crossing the road, and well over 50 who didn’t make it quite as far.
13. Bad traffic in Arkansas is when you are going 55mph on the freeway rather than 65mph. They have obviously never been in rush hour on I-15 in Utah or lived in Phoenix.
14. Camo is the new black. It is legal to where it any time, any season, and anywhere.
15. It’s not the heat, so much as it is the humidity.
16. There is an art to proper tick removal. Apparently, matches and rubbing alcohol are improper methods.
17. Who needs a fence to contain your ferocious dog, it is simply not necessary.
18. It is necessary to be a lover of bug spray; it will make your life much more enjoyable.
19. Your front yard is used as your backyard. It is common practice to open up your camping chairs or pull out your lawn chairs and sit out in your front yard. And yes, that includes bringing out the BBQ grill as well.
20. England is a city in Arkansas, so don’t get too excited when someone tells you they are taking a trip there! And don’t forget Paris, London, Bismark, and Nashville are also cities in Arkansas.
21. It is not required to label, even busy intersection, streets. A map isn’t going to do you much good here.
22. There is such a thing as a gated trailer park.
23. When an inch of snow has been forecasted there is a complete panic to go to the store and buy a month’s worth of groceries. I have even seen people fight over the last shopping cart (or buggy as they call it in this part of the country).
24. If you missed the weather on TV, empty grocery shelves are a good sign a storm is coming.
25. I have had first time experiences with fried catfish, chicken gumbo, Muffaletta, and Po boy sandwiches. I must admit I have grown to love them all!
26. I am convinced that whoever the genius was who designed the freeway ramps had to have been on drugs. They make absolutely no sense and you come out of the loop not knowing which way is up or down, left or right. Not to mention that it is a guarantee you won’t know north or south, east or west by the time you enter the freeway.
27. It is apparently legal (okay, not really legal…but many seem to think otherwise) to hunt anytime and anywhere, including your back yard. So don’t panic when you hear gun shots nearby…a deer just wondered into the neighbor’s yard.

In all seriousness, we love it here! People always seem a little taken back by that response. Yes, there really are a lot of toothless people…yes, the redneck jokes are mostly true. But I am convinced that we live in one of the most beautiful states in the entire country with some of the friendliest people in the entire country. If you ever want to come by and see for yourself, our door is open!

I'm back...

No, I did not drop off the face of the planet... just off of the face of the blogging world temporarily.

Spring in Arkansas

(Scale: that would be a quarter among all that hail)

And so it begins... that's right, spring in Arkansas! Just what does that mean, you ask? Well, crazy thunderstorms, ferocious tornado's, damaging winds, flooding rain, loss of power, and much, much more! About two weeks ago, the first opportunity arrived to move our trusty weather radio (which provides warnings if a tornado watch or warning is in effect) back into our bedroom as we received our first tornado watch of the season. This is especially important considering we can't hear the tornado sirens out where we live.

Last night a sever thunderstorm rolled through and brought a little present along with it... large quarter sized hail! I couldn't miss the opportunity to show everyone the size of it, so at 11 o'clock last night I found myself running outside in my PJ's, while getting pelted by this stuff, all for the sake of a picture of it! There were larger pieces than this, but for obvious reasons, I grabbed what I could without getting further pelted.

My daffodils, which bloomed last week, look less than happy after the storm. We will see if they make any kind of a recovery today! On the flip side, spring in Arkansas is always so beautiful with all the flowers, and trees, and fields, so green and in bloom. That's the part I love... but I really could do without all the other craziness!

How it all began...

On February 14th Dave and I not only celebrated Valentines day, but we also celebrated 6 years since we were engaged. It is always fun to have the day dedicated to love also be the day we dedicated our love to each other!

It all started that Friday just 6 short years ago. Dave and I had discussed marriage and shared our feeling about each other previously. We decided to take a weekend trip down to Farmington, NM where I grew up so that he could do the officially meeting of the parents/ family. I suspected that Dave might ask my dad for permission to marry me while we were down there so I gave my dad a little bit of a pre-warning. It was a very quick trip. We left that Friday (Valentines Day) and returned on Monday to Utah.

Friday evening Dave asked my dad if they could "talk". My dad then announced that they were going to go get ice cream at Cold Stone for everyone and that they would be back soon. My brother (who was 9) began to whine and complain because he wanted to go with them. My dad thankful made him stay home. Before they left Dave asked me if we could go to a park and exchange Valentines when he got home. In the car ride over to get ice cream my dad said Dave was as stiff as a board and wouldn't hardly say a word (we still laugh about it). The entire time they were gone I was in a complete panic because I hadn't gotten him anything for valentines day (what a good girlfriend I was, huh). My friend had come by to visit and she helped me make him a card while my mom ran to Chili's to get a gift card to put in it. I finally told him this part of the story about 3 years ago. I was too embarrassed to tell him before, but we just laugh about it now. When they came home, Dave and I went to a park right down the road from my house. What would follow, I was certainly not expecting...

We sat on a bench as we gave each other our Valentines. I handed over my lousy card with a gift card and he gave me the most adorable hand-made Valentine (the old fashion way), with a box of candy conversation hearts and a red rose. Now you have to understand that those nasty Valentines conversation hearts that the rest of the world seems to hate, just so happen to be my all time favorite candy! I gave him and hug and a kiss and told him thank you. He then asked..."aren't you going to eat some of your hearts". I became slightly suspicious at his comment, but I proceeded to open the box up and dump a few into my hand. On the second dump out came a beautiful ring with a candy heart tied to it with a little red string. That candy heart read, "Marry Me". Instantly every part of my body began to shake as he dropped to one knee and asked me those sweet, precious words, "will you merry me?" I think I squeaked out some form of a yes!

The next few moments were filled with more emotions than I had ever been faced with. I wanted to cry, scream, and laugh all at the same time. I think the predominate emotion was laughter. We walked around the park for several minutes just talking as I tried to compose my emotions before we went home to make the announcement to my family! It was a wonderful day, a day that I will never forget. It was perfect that I could go home and tell my family rather than to have to call them because I lived away from home. I was not expecting it to happen that weekend, but deep down it was when I wanted it would.

So every Valentines day we are reminded not only of our LOVE for each other, but for how it all began.

A Few More Scars...

On the 27th of January I underwent surgery to remove a portion of my uterus which was considered to be non-functioning and potentially causing pain and bleeding. It was a surgery which has been in the works for almost two months, but it was scheduled just over three short weeks ago. Within those weeks I have had alot of anxiety surrounding the thought of the surgery. Although I have undergone surgeries more extensive and with longer recoveries than this as a child, I found that having an adult understanding of the process creates a bit more apprehension.

The doctor informed me that it would be a 7-10 recovery with the first portion of that being bed rest. My mom decided that she would come and help take care of me so that Dave could go to work. Her flight was scheduled to arrive the Monday evening before the surgery. She was flying out of Durango, CO and she had a layover in Denver. Her flight out of Durango was very delayed several hours and she feared she would miss her connecting flight in Denver. By the time she reached Denver, her connecting flight to Little Rock had been canceled due to an ice storm we received here, and thus she was stranded in Denver till the next flight out at 11 the next day (the day of my surgery). I was scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning on Tuesday. It was a long slow drive to the hospital because the roads were icy, but we arrived safely.

The surgery went well and as planned. I awoke to a lot of pain. When they brought Dave into the room, I broke down into tears. To be honest I still haven't quit figured out why I was crying, but I think it was due to the fact that Dave was not in the room when I awoke and for those few moments I was alone I wanted nothing more than to see my husbands face and for him to hold my hand and tell me he loved me. So when they did bring him in, I just cried.

The plan was for me to be released around 11 that morning from the hospital. But for the hospital to release me, I had to be able to urinate and keep fluids down- neither of which I could do. They gave me ice chips, water, grape juice, and saltine crackers and each one produced a painful result of vomiting (I have discovered that vomiting while trying to use no stomach muscles is impossible). Each time I threw up my three incisions hurt more and more. Dave found humor in the fact that on multiple attempts of eating a saltine cracker, I would fall asleep, only to awake with a mouthful of un-chewed cracker (sorry if all this is too graphic). After 4 extra hours added my hospital stay, I was able to urinate successfully and keep a little down and they released me. Dave helped me get dressed which caused me to throw up once more. I thought for sure they were going to change their minds and make me stay longer, but thankfully they allowed me to go. We went straight to the airport to pick up my mom and then home.

The next few days were filled with sleeping, eating, watching movies, and visiting with my mom (you would think with all that time laying around, doing nothing, I would have found time to blog, but the thought of sitting at a desk or laying the computer any where near my incisions didn't seem to appealing). It was wonderful to have my mom here, and her help was a tremendous blessing. She even baked Dave a cake for me on his birthday. It was unfortunate she wasn't able to be here for the surgery, but she arrived just in time to take care of me for all of my recovery. I also can't thank you enough to all of my friends here in Arkansas that offered their help and love. It was all much appreciated and my heart is filled with love for each one of you.

I have my post-operative appointment this coming Thursday. I am anxious to talk with the doctor and discuss what he did and found (I remember absolutely nothing of what he told me right after surgery- I must have been on some good drugs!). As for now, I am left with three healing battle wounds (one incision below my belly button, one on my lower left abdomen, and one on my lower right abdomen) and about 30% of my normal energy level, but I am nonetheless recovering. Thank you for all of your prayers...

BEFORE

AFTER (trying to eat a saltine)

My swollen stomach with the incision below my belly button (the white streak through the bruising is a portion of a scar from a previous surgery)

Note: If you are interested in further details of my medical trails and my emotional struggles of trying to become a mother, you can visit my other blog (now public) at:

http://aroadtomotherhood.blogspot.com/

Mr. Lumberjack

I have been begging Dave to get some firewood so we could build fires in our our fireplace. We actually have a real wood burning fireplace (I have mixed feeling about it). It is an advantage to have a real fireplace in Arkansas when we get the nasty ice storms and you loose power. The disadvantage is the smoke smell in the house and the clean up. We have had a few ice storms this winter and each time I get nervous about loosing power and freezing our little behinds off.

Dave finally broke down, and we went and purchased a chainsaw so we could get some firewood. There is a utility easement near our house and they frequently cut down trees to keep them away from the utilities. There is certainly no shortage of trees here in Arkansas! So Dave loaded the dogs up in the truck and became my Mr. Lumberjack for a day. He filled his whole truck bed up with wood and enjoyed the process of getting it. He even got to take his truck for a little 4 wheel drive fun. When he returned, I couldn't resist a picture. Dave seemed to have this sense of accomplishment and manliness about him- it just made me laugh! The dogs had a blast exploring and helping Dave in the woods.

Sledding in Spokane

I know... I know... I am STILL working on getting all my postings complete from Christmas. With lots of snow on our vacation, I finally talked a few people into going sledding with me (mostly my nieces and nephews, but a few adults agreed as well)! I enjoyed photographing everyone (until my camera ran out of battery). One of the things I miss most about Utah is playing in the snow (but I certainly don't miss driving in it)!