Our Trip to Arkansas!

My sister, Rebekah, and her husband, Nick, moved to Arkansas in August. Nick is going to graduate school at the University of Arkansas for a couple of years. They live in Fayetteville (yep, where the Duggars are from). So Addi and I flew out a couple of weeks ago to visit them. I was nervous about taking Addi on a plane but I talked to her Pediatritian and he gave me the okay to give her Benadryl to knock her out for the flight. I highly reccommend it!!! It's wonderful. Sure enough, by the time the plane took off she was totally out for most of the flight. AMAZING. I love drugs. LOL. So we flew into Tulsa, OK which is about an hour and a half away from Fayetteville. My sister picked us up and we set off to her new town. Well, we got so carried away with being chatter boxes and being so excited to see each other that she accidentally took the wrong exit. The thing is, we didn't realize we took the wrong exit until like a half an hour later. We didn't know where the heck we were so we used my GPS on my phone to find our way back. We were driving and driving and my sister didn't think we were going in the right direction so I looked at our destination on the GPS and it showed Fayetteville, North Carolina! Yep, I'm blonde. So who knows where the crap we were. Anyway, so I again typed in the CORRECT address and we realized at this point we were up in Missouri. Luckily Addi was still conked out from her drugs so at least she wasn't crying or anything. By this time it was pitch black outside. We were on these windy little back roads, there were hardly any street lights, and all the shops looked abandoned and closed down. And we were surrounded by trees. It honestly reminded me of New Moon when Edward leaves her and she's lost in that forest all by herself. It was really eery, but at the same time it was a fun adventure! Well a few hours later we got arrived in Fayetteville and stopped at Wendy's for some good old fashioned fries and chicken nuggets. It reminded me of the old days we used to have together.

This is my sis with Addi when we arrived. Addi warmed right up to her!


The two Love Birds cookin a nice dinner!

Addi loved this walker thing. She was cruisin all over the place. My sister and my parents have Skype so we got to show Matt and my family her new skills! She loved the toys my sister had.

My sister is known for her amazing sewing and quilting skills, something I do not have whatsoever. She makes EVERYTHING! This is such a cute halloween decoration she made for their apartment.


Addi loved to get rummage through their DVD's and flip them all over the place. Here she is taking a break from that sport and posing with Beck. She doesn't look very happy here because she had a high fever the last couple of days. But she really loves her!

Yogurt Face Munchkin.


Well.... what can I say? Nothing personal against Nick... she really just gets scared of big men with deep voices. He is a great uncle, though. She also had a fever here, too. But this picture really makes me chuckle. :)

The last day there was a lot of fun. We went down to Dickson Street, which is an old, historic street with a lot of antique shops, pubs, and jazz bars. We went shopping and ate at this place called "Hugos". It was underground and was known for their hamburgers. Oh my holy mama, they were AMAZING! It was the biggest, juiciest burger I've had in a long, long time. And we ordered a plate of homemade fries for an appetizer. Oh... I LOVE FOOD!!!

Another thing about my sister and her husband is that they are EXTREMELY HEALTHY. So I was really surprised when Nick brought home all these scrumpcious cookies one night. Oh did we dig into them. I think he was a little shocked at how much we ate. :)

I had so much fun while there, and it was a much needed break (when is it not?). We went to a humongous craft fair, an amazing outside mall, some nice, scenic drives, Hobby Wobbly's, which is kind of like Roberts Arts & Crafts (but huger and a lot more selection), Logan's Steakhouse, which is kind of like the Texas Roadhouse but better :) and a lot more!! I learned so incredibly much from my sister. She is so amazing. She is so spiritual, so faithful, so FRUGAL, she's always just happy with what she has and who she is. I love her! I also learned that I rely on Matt a whole lot more than I realized. Not just for physical support with Addi, but for emotional support. I didn't realize how hard it is to carry the burden of caring for a child alone. I really depend on him for inner strength and emotional support. I was also reminded that miracles happen all the time. One night Addi woke up and would not go back to sleep for anything. I had tried everything I could think of and she was just screaming. I was so tired and I just started bawling. I prayed and prayed that she would just go to sleep. It honestly seemed impossible for that to happen. Withing a minute she had stopped crying and was falling asleep. I know that seems so small and simple, but to me, it was a true miracle. Nothing is too small or too stupid for Heavenly Father to fix. He cares about even the little things that seem insignificant. I learned so much on that trip and had a really great time. Thanks, Rebel and Nick for letting us come crash at your place!! We will never forget that trip!