Updates from Iraq

Yup, it's official, Dallas is in Iraq. Aka: The Giant Sandbox. 

Just a sidenote: Don't google pictures of Iraq unless you want to be tramatized.

After spending a few days in Kuwait, Dallas called me Thanksgiving night to tell me that he arrived safely in-country. YAY! I was excited because the sooner he got to Iraq, the sooner he could come home! Kuwait was a bummer, 10-20 minute phone calls every 2-3 days.  Since he got to Iraq communication has been MUCH better. All I have to say is:

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I LOVE SKYPE! It's awesome.  Talking to Dallas on Skype has been soooo great.  It's so very, very fun.  Skype is about a million times better than phone calls because you can see one anothers faces and expressions, so you don't have as many communication confusions as on the phone and it's a lot more fun to joke around and tease. 

Dallas is doing really well.  He's got a great roommate, he says the rooms are nice, the food is good, and the gym is REALLY good.  If you know Dallas, you know that having a nice gym is a big deal!  Right now he's just learning the ropes from the guys who they're replacing, so he's been pretty busy. Dallas loves being a soldier and he said this in his email the other day, "I am having fun and of course I'm being safe. I want nothing more to take care of the business that we have to here and then bring all the guys back that came with and come home to you guys." I don't want to brag, but I think I have a pretty great husband.

Amaya likes to talk to her dad on the computer.  At first she seemed a little amazed, but after Dallas said her name she pointed at the screen and said, "Da!" I was amazed that she remembered him and was able to recognize him on the computer screen.  They waved back and forth and said "Hi" about a thousand times, but it was really neat that they were able to interact, even though Amaya probably thought it was pretty confusing.  Dallas has been able to see Oaklie on Skype which has been really good too because they were only able to spend about a week together before he left, so it's been fun for him to watch her play!

No pictures from Iraq yet, but here's a couple Dal sent me before he left Mississippi.

Dallas' email address is on the sidebar and if you would like his mailing address, just email me @ carissajclark@gmail.com

OVERDUE: Update from Idaho

This post is loooong overdue! And ironically, so is my sister. haha.

Well, let's start at the beginning shall we?

October was probably one of the longest months of my entire life, but we ended it with a banging Halloween.  Don't I have the two cutest little bugs? Amaya was a ladybug and Oaklie was a caterpillar. Amaya really liked going trick-or-treating and she thought it was so neat that she was dressed up! The next day she went and got her costume out of the hamper and toted it around the house. Oaklie slept most of the day, no big surprise there!

This was the best group picture I could get. Amaya is staring off into space. What a nerd! Amaya was crying because I was making her sit still to take a picture haha.  And the third one is Oaklie doing what she does best.

 After Halloween I had the pleasure of moving AGAIN! Dallas and I have moved FIVE times in the two years and some odd months we've been married.  Three have been while I was pregnant and three have been while Dallas was out of town. Joy. But after yet another glorious move, I got to go meet up in New Orleans with Dallas.

It was great. We did a lot of this:

(being dorks)

And this:

If I could choose three words to describe our three day adventure it would be amazing, fantastic, and awesome.  If I could choose three more? fabulous, delightful, spectacular.

I don't recommend planning a vacation to New Orleans.  We had a blast just hanging out because we hadn't seen each other in a long time, but it's a pretty sketchy place.  Dallas said it reminded him a lot of Europe because it was a mix of really old buildings and new ones and it was really dirty.  We stayed in the French Quarter so we saw a lot of that. The picture above is the perfect example of New Orleans.

We kept tripping (especially me) because all of the sidewalks looked like this!

Eventually I had to come back to Idaho and to reality, but it was a great time! Thankfully we have tons of people who helped us make our trip work by helping us move all of our junk and taking care of our girls. (Thanks Mom and Dad for being babysitters!)

We had a great Thanksgiving over at my parents house! All that pie was for six people and a toddler. Yum!

And here's a little bit of what we've been up to lately:

We hope everyone is having a great holiday season! I'm sure not liking this snow, but since I live in Idaho, I don't really feel like I am allowed to complain :)

Amaya:

It seems like Amaya learns something new every day.  She just learned how to say "No." Except all she says is, "Nyo, nyo, nyo, nyo, nyo." ALL DAY LONG! It's funny, but terribly grating.  She just graduated to nursery and she's doing GREAT! She practically leaps out of my arms when we reach the magical room and all I get is an afterthought of a goodbye wave as she toddles off toward the toys.  Nursery has been awesome because she does so much better during sacrament meeting.  She sings all the hymns with me and sits on my lap most of the meeting.  She's still taking great care of her baby doll and her baby sister.  She loves to give Oaklie kisses and loves.  She's a great little girl and I love her so much!

Oaklie:

Wow, Oaklie is a good little baby. I'd like to take all of the credit, but she was honestly born that way. She's been going to bed around 8:00 pm and waking up at 6:00 am to eat, then sleeping in until 8:00 am.  It's been sooo nice! She's full of smiles and is still rolling over and she is such a good sport when Amaya smothers her with kisses and accidentally sits on her. She's getting to be quite the chubber as well! Lot's of people have told me that she looks like Dallas, and I see it a little bit, but she's definately her daddy's girl because her body tempature is at least 3 degrees above everyone else's.  She's a little toaster oven and it's awesome to cuddle with her in the cold winter!

Carissa:

I'm also doing well. Everyone else has been really happy lately, which makes me happy. I'm just working on finishing up my classes this semester and trying get our new place all unpacked! Of course, I miss Dallas like crazy and I can't wait for him to come home, but we have been soooo blessed while he's been gone that it's impossible to just complain about it all of the time.  So many people have done so much for our family, the amount of love we have felt from friends and family has been overwhelming.  We are so blessed and are so thankful for our Heavenly Father and His promise that He will be with us in our trials.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." --Matthew 11

Be sure to check out the update from Dallas here. He has officially graduated to his own post!

11/11/10

Happy Veteran's Day
"In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children." --Alma 46:12

"Please know that we love and appreciate you and that we pray for you, and that we send our blessings for your safe return." --President Uchtdorf

Happy Veteran's Day to all of our veterans.  We love and support you and are grateful for your sacrifices so that we can be free. 

 

"All gave some, some gave all"

To see last year's Veteran's Day tribute on my blog, click here

***pictures of Halloween and my New Orlean's trip to come!***



Soldiers Angels

I know a lot of people who don't have a family member in the military want to show their support for our troops but don't know what they can do.  There's a fantastic website I found called http://www.soldiersangels.org/ for deployed troops who don't get packages, letters, or love from home.  You can adopt a soldier or donate items or money to help our soldiers know that people at home are thankful for them, it doesn't need to be a time consuming project.  I already decided that when Dallas gets home we will always have an adopted soldier. It makes me so sad to think that there are men and women who are defending our freedoms who won't even get a Christmas package this year.

Just a sidenote: I don't like when people turn their blogs into a place to whine to the world, but I will say this: I don't understand what it is about our country that people think they have to be in the military, or be close to someone in the military, to be patriotic.  I don't understand why you have to have a justification to put a yellow ribbon on your car.  I felt a lot of the same way before we found out Dallas was leaving, like that I couldn't say I was proud of him for his service of thankful for it because I wasn't here when he was deployed the first time.  I'm not sure why I felt like that.  In a way, some military families can be a bit snooty.  "Oh, you say that you're proud to be an American? You don't know what that means.  I've lived it. I know what sacrafices it entails." (complete with head bobbing and finger waving). Anyway, all I'm saying is that I think we all can be thankful to live in a free country, just like I support the fight against cancer even though my mom doesn't have cancer, or I donate to March of Dimes even though none of my babies were premies.

 So don't be scared to say that you're patriotic if you are!