january 18, 2015

7 days….Justin has now been gone for 7 days to California (attending some school with his company). I wasn’t going to mention him being gone for safety reasons, (so if you are a bad guy reading this, I HAVE A VICIOUS GUARD DOG) but you need to know that for what I am about to tell you.

Before Justin left, I had a very serious conversation with him. The topic of conversation was : How big of an emergency does it have to be before I can call you/your leader so you can come home? (Completely normal, so don’t worry). Here are the results of this conversation:

-       Broken arm = no

-       Broken leg =no

-       Broken arm AND broken leg = no

-       TWO broken legs = yes

-       If I am on life support = yes

-       If Roo is on life support = no (sorry Roo)

The Friday before he left, I had to go to the doctor for my knee. It had been hurting for a few months and it finally got to the point where I needed to go (aka Justin tattled to my mom). Turns out I had IT band problems that led to knee cap problems and some other big words, all to be healed through physical therapy. No big deal.

Fast forward a few days….

Justin is gone, Roo has knocked me down, I land on my knee, and I go back to the doctor. I can’t drive. I can’t walk. I can’t do anything except dread my next doctors appointment where he is going to “get my knee back on track”. (Side note, if you are reading this Dr. Die (yes, that is his name) you don’t ever have to verbalize that something is going to hurt pretty bad, I already assume that).

Here is a little multiple-choice quiz on how you think I handled my doctors visit alone AFTER I tried to talk my way out of everything he was going to do:

A.     I asked him to hold my hand

B.     I cried for my mom

C.     He had to carry my like a baby to a trashcan near the bathroom because I thought I was going to throw up

D.    All of the above

If you answered D, you would be correct.

So now I am on the couch, resting my knee, reading a book called “How NOT to act at the Doctors office”.

And no, he never held my hand.

But he did pat my back until I quit crying and was breathing normal again. He is a good guy that Dr. Die.

I learned two lessons in all this :

1.     It is never as fun to do nothing when you HAVE to do nothing

2.     Don’t joke about breaking bones

Being pretty immobile, taking out my dog was more difficult. My neighbors have been really great with helping me, and driving me to doctors appointments, and making sure I have food.

One of these days, I was sitting in a chair outside while Roo was running around AND SHE RAN AND JUMPED INTO A STRANGERS CAR BECAUSE THEY HAD BURGER KING IN THE FRONT SEAT!!! Guys, you can’t even make this stuff up.

We had a long discussion about stranger danger that night!

For her punishment, she had to watch The Bachelor with me.

She was worse than Justin watching the Bachelor.

Can I just say for those of you actually watching the Bachelor, ASHLEY S?!?!?!? What in the world?!?!?!?!

Also, I spent over 45 minutes trying to find out one of the girls lipstick color. I didn’t find it.  

You know I always love ending my blog with pictures of my baby, but today I have a real reason to do that. Today is Roo’s birthday!!!

She enjoyed dining on pig ears, rawhides, and doggy ice cream.

She also really hated her hat, but I forced her to wear it.

She has brought me so many smiles, snuggles, and now a knee brace in the time she has been in our family. I love her so much!

She misses her daddy. I miss him too!

{If there are any books I need to read or movies I need to watch, let me know!}

Always,

Anna

january 12, 2015

What are three things that you will not see driving home in Tennessee? A frozen ocean, an ice sculpture contest, a herd? a gang? (I googled it) a convocation of bald eagles? Well, on my drive home from church yesterday, those three things are exactly what I saw! How cool is that?? Sometimes I get so caught up in being homesick and being stuck on how different things are here, that I forget that I LIVE IN ALASKA! There are such cool things all around me and even though it is just for a time that I am here, I need to open my eyes and appreciate it all.

2015 has already brought “new” things. One of which being a new area code and phone number. I now have an Alaskan number. Did I want one? No. Did I have to get one? Yes. Apparently, getting married means your dad quits paying your bills and your husband starts. Yes, of course there were tears shed. Not just because of a stupid number change, but because of the area code change. Those three little numbers, so much emotional stress. I felt like losing my 901 number, I was becoming a little less of a Tennessee girl. And just so happen as I texted my friend Kendall German

( I got to see her over Christmas break! YAY! Hey Kendall!)

to tell her my number, she responds with “You’re an Alaskan Now”! To which I responded with “TAKE THAT BACK!” Geez, I thought we were friends haha. This also was bittersweet because I am no longer a part of the Fowler ATT Family Plan. Now that is truly “leaving and cleaving”! Dad, there is your sermon illustration for your new marriage series! Anyways…..now that I realize I just typed a whole dramatic paragraph about changing my phone number, and that being one of the biggest things that has happened, and that it only went from 901 to 907, I feel a little pathetic. But then again, y’all read it , so we are even!

I mentioned the marriage series that my dad just started Sunday night. Roo and I live streamed it and we learned so much

Especially that my mother was a prankster back in the day. Who knew?

Our friends Jake and Kenzie got married on January 6^th! We were very excited to be able to be there and celebrate with them! (Jake was one of Justins groomsmen in our wedding). Being married is basically the most fun thing, so I am happy that they found each other! I am also selfishly excited we got to go and be a part of their day because on our way home, we saw this moose:

Justin even drove close AND let me roll down the window! He is the coolest!

Roo is also the coolest because she drools whenever we eat and I think it is so cute, and not disgusting at all!

Now….moving on to something, well someone who is OH so very important. My little sister, Sarah.

Last week when I posted my blog, not very long afterwards I received this tweet :

And it was very true, she did post something so very sweet on instagram the day prior for my 6^th month anniversary (a day late, but still sweet)

So in honor of my sister, I am going to close out this blog post with a poem I have written just because I love her and she is so cool! I will attach some pictures just for your viewing pleasure!

Sarah is my favorite sister

Sometimes more annoying than a blister

Now that I live far away

I grow more fond of her each day

I never want her to feel left out

Cuz if she does, to Twitter she goes to pout

She is about to end her highschool career

Which makes me want to shed many tear(s)

I wish her the best in her future endeavors

I want her to know I will love her forever.

Thank You. Thank You. I will ship out autographs for anyone who wants them!

Always,

Anna

january 6, 2015

I am good at a lot of things, such as (but not limited to) sleeping late, supervising Justin while he vacuums, deeply analyzing riveting shows such as the Bachelor, and spoiling my puppy…Obviously writing a blog post every decade is not on that list. 

This whole “apologizing and promising to do better" thing is getting extremely exhausting. I know I know! That is why I made a New Year’s Resolution (because you absolutely can’t break those, right?) I have decided that I am going to post SOMETHING at least once a week. Now mind you, ‘something’ can be a picture, a sentence, or a 10 page novel, that just had to be said. I hear the laughing and snickering from all of y’all all the way up here in Anchorage. I can hear it now : “She can’t even post once a month, what makes her think she can post once a week?” “We have had at least 3 holidays since we have had a blog update” “Im not going to hold my breath for this once a week thing” !  Sheesh guys, you don’t have to be so mean , I hear ya I hear ya ok! I know my record isn’t great, but hey, I bet all y’all haven’t been to the gym everyday of the New Year either so GET OFF MY BACK. Just kidding guys, the only reason I am telling y’all this is so that there can be at least some resemblance of accountability. If you don’t hear from me in a week, by all means call me out (just don’t be a bully, ok mom?) 

With that being said…There is no way in the entire world if my life depended on it could I catch you up with everything since my last blog post. That was October 28^th for crying out loud. So I am going to give a quickish timeline of events and things my dog has eaten until I can confidently remember what I did and I am not mixing it up with the latest TV show I watched.

• We had Trunk or Treat for Halloween at ChangePoint. They put the poor Tennessee girl parking cars. Yep, I live in Alaska if you forgot. I think my entire body went numb at one point.

•  Roo ate an entire batch of Rice Krispie Treats

• The entire month of November was spent preparing/being nervous about preparing for Thanksgiving. I honestly don’t even really remember the entire month of November. Should I be concerned about this….

• Roo ate half of a pan of cornbread while I was skyping with my mother making dressing.

• Oh yea! My mom had a birthday and they threw her a surprise party and they FaceTimed me in and I cried. That was memorable…

•  Thanksgiving got here and the day went by perfectly. This was my first holiday away from home (traumatic) and so it was so nice to have a house full of people.  As far as I can tell, the food was all edible and nobody got sick! I could never in a million years have accomplished that without my mom and Katie Oelke and Paula Chance. JUST SAYIN! After lunch, just about every single guy fell asleep and I was able to take a quick selfie with every one of them (cuz that’s normal right?). That’s the sign of a good meal though in my book, if it is followed by a nap. I really want to post those pictures…but I better not.
  

•    Roo discovered the trash can and all the contents inside. Who knows what she ate?

•  My grandparents, mother, and sister decided to go to my favorite restaurant (Rib Shack in Corinth, MS…DUH!!). I obviously was not particularly happy with this. Then I received this picture…..
  

That says “Out of Ribs” in case you can’t tell! HA HA HA serves them right! I know that was ugly of me  to say, but I take the Rib Shack very very seriously. (That’s my friend Trish in the picture. Hey Trish!)

• The countdown began of when I was GOING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!
• Roo ate Pizza out of the Pizza box on the counter while Justin slept….
• Roo ate an entire container of Crisco
• Roo ate some apples and possibly part of an onion.

Wonderful December. Wonderful Tennessee. Wonderful Family. It’s all coming back to me now. (Yes Brittney Darby, I just sang that as if I was Celine Dion) December I remember quite vividly. It has been no secret to anyone that I have been INCREDIBLY homesick. I had big plans for when I got home. I couldn't wait to hug my dad. Every other plan included either : Family, Chickfila, Friends, Chickfila, more Family, Rib Shack. I am here reporting to you back in Alaska, that I successfully nailed all of my plans. I believe I ate at Chickfila a total of 7 times and Rib Shack twice in less than 24 hours. I did not want to leave my moms side the whole time. She kept offering "Want to go see people, you can use my car" and I would just say "No Thanks" and remain no more than 2 and a half inches away from her. We didn't do anything big, just a lot of games, movies, and just being in the same room. Gosh I missed my family...

Just typing that made me cry...

I couldn't have asked for a better trip home. 

For any of you wondering, goodbyes weren't easier the second time around. And Justin so encouragingly told me, that they never do. Great.

Moving on, wiping tears, now onto some random things :

I am so incredibly blessed to call these ladies my best friends. They are seriously the greatest women in the entire universe. Thank y'all for picking me up from the airport (and taking me directly to Chickfila)! That was a perfect welcome back in the state of Tennessee!

Remember when Justin got his wisdom teeth taken out? When we got home that day, this is where he decided to spit blood out of his mouth in our driveway. Why did I take a picture you ask? This picture was actually taken over a MONTH later! His blood spit froze to the driveway. Yep. I have a easily fascinated sick mind people, but this was cool to me.

Justin and I were sitting in church one Sunday and we learned a very valuable lesson...DON'T sit next to the large black curtains in the back of the room. Static Electricity is real people... Also, we do pay attention at church, this was not during a prayer like it looks like, just clarifying.

He is so handsome!

My dad got his motorcycle license. How stinking cool is he?!

Soooo... I saw this at Target and I really tried to not take a picture, but i mean....come on....

We have reached the point in the blog where you can totally stop reading, but I am about to go all “weird-dog mom” on you. If you don’t want to look at some adorable pictures of my puppy, go ahead and stop reading…

Waiting on Dad to get home. 

"Mom, Stop taking pictures of me and pay attention to the road!"

Roo LOVES selfies

 Roo also loves my cooking. She drools like this every.single.night! It is such a self-esteem booster 

 

She snores...like a grown man!

Merry late Christmas from Roo!

OK i really wasn't going to post these, i promise you i wasnt.....

Until next week y'all.....

Always,

Anna