I am seriously having a hard time grasping that it is the year 2009. Anyone else? 2008 was a very short year, yet it was full of beginnings, endings, hurt, joy, and everything else! God was definitely working and moving in my life and I am thankful for 2008 and everything I learned, did, grew in, everything! Both the good and bad because God was right there with me!

I *try* to keep a record of special things that happen throughout the year and I put it in my left sidebar, and had to update that stuff now that 2008 is over! I redid my bookshelf list, goals list, and happenings list.

So its a new year now *eyes pop out* and I thought I would do a Happenings of 2008 to reflect on and share with you! So here is SuperAngel’s 2008 Year In Review

*January 6th Moved SuperAngelsblog.com to our server.

*January 10-11th Suarez’s Visit

*January 11th Deleted SuperAngelsblog.com

*January 29th Great Grandma Dixon Died

*February 1st Growing In Grace Published!

*February 5th Brielle’s 18th Birthday

*February 4th-6th Fearlessly Feminine Challenge 1

*February 7th-9th Fearlessly Feminine Challenge 2

*February 11th Carnival of Principled Government: Presidential Birthdays Edition

*February 14th Levi’s 14th Birthday

*February 25th The Homesteading Carnival #38: My Girls Edition

*February 26th Carnival of Homeschooling: Political Parties of Our Government Edition

*February 26th Girls are Sold

*February 27th-March 6th Sick with the Flu

*March 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 2nd Publication

*March 10th Auntie’s Birthday

*March 12th Lunch with the Suarez’s

*March 18th 2 year Blogoversary

*March 21st-23rd Paulie’s 18th Birthday

*April 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 3rd Publication

*April 7th LucyLillie is ONE!

*April 7th met vintagegirl and BreezyTulip

*April 14th-21st Sick again!

*April 27th-28th Met Sprittibee and Family!

*May 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 4th Publication

*May 5th Graduated from Dixon Homestead Academy

*May 7th Ordered my Dell Vostro 1500 laptop

*May 8th Grandma and Aunt Jen surprise us with a visit!

*May 9th Jocelyn’s 17th birthday

*May 10 Jocelyn’s Big Bash

*May 10th Saw EXPELLED:No Intelligence Allowed!

*May 11th Mother’s Day

*May 12th Got my Vostro laptop

*May 12th The Homesteading Carnival #49: My Mama Edition

*May 16th Saw Caspian

*May 19th Met Joy and family

*May 30th Cracked my Vostro screen

*June 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 5th Publication

*June 1st Eric’s 11th Birthday

*June 4th Vostro screen FIXED!

*June 6th-22nd On Vacation

*June 6th Met the C’s.

*June 7th Met Brooke and Family and the Lirettes

*June 8th-10th At Aunt Barbara’s

*June 10th-11th At Sprittibee’s

*June 12th-19th In Las Cruces

*June 18th Caleb’s Birthday

*June 19th-20th At Aunt Jen’s

*June 20th Dad’s Birthday

*June 20th-22nd Driving home

*June 30th The Homesteading Carnival #56: LET FREEDOM RING!

*July 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 6th Publication

*July 8th Carnival of Homeschooling #132: Let’s Go To The Ice Cream Parlor!

*July 17th Sarah’s 18th Birthday

*July 23rd My Blonde’s Birthday

*July 28th Feelin’ Feminine Launched!

*July 30th Vostro AC Adapter died!

*July 31st Vostro AC Adapter replaced!

*August 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 7th Publication

*August 4th Interview With Mr. Chris Walley

*August 6th The Infinite Day Giveaway and Review

*August 13th The Infinite Day Winner

*August 26th Christian “Dozer” Drews went to be with Jesus

*August 27th 2008-2009 College Agenda

*August 28th Mama’s 40th Birthday

*August 31st Mama’s Surprise Party

*September 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 8th Publication

*September 2nd Homeschool College started

*September 2nd 2008-2009 College Routine

*September 6th Met Mrs. Wolf

*September 11th The Blue Eggs came over

*September 17th-25th Constitution Week Projects

*September 23rd Visited Great Grandparents

*September 25th US Constitution Week Projects

*September 26th FIREPROOF Premieres!

*September 28th Saw FIREPROOF!

*October 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 9th Publication

*October 3rd Grandma Starr moved in with us!

*October 4th Spent the day with The Brown’s

*October 10th Designed Mrs. Michelle’s site

*October 15th Photoshoot 2008

*October 17th Why I’m Voting for Baldwin

*October 23rd Why I’m Voting for Baldwin 2

*October 26th My 19th Birthday

*October 30th Why I’m Voting for Baldwin 3

*November 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 10th Publication

*November 5th Rachel’s 15th Birthday!

*November 10th Designed Mrs. Chasity’s site

*November 12th Got a Perm!

*November 15th Bloggers Together Time

*November 19th My Home School Blog Awards Nominations

*November 27th A Thankful Heart I have

*November 30th The Daily Planet gets a NEW DESIGN!

*December 1st Growing In Grace Magazine 11th Publication

*December 4th Learned the Hebrew Aleph Bet

*December 8th The Homesteading Carnival #73: Building Mr. Perfect

*December 9th Carnival of Homeschooling #154: Anniversary Gifts

*December 10th Two Decades Together

*December 11th Received my Poor Girl Hat from England!

*December 16th La Bella Vita USA Organics Review

*December 18th Hanner’s 9th Birthday!

*December 19th Ice Storm and No Electricity

*December 21st-22nd No Internet!

*December 21st-29th Celebrated Hanukkah

*December 24th Made a 2009 goals list

*December 31st Launched Gleaning The Harvest Ministry

*December 31st Saw the last sunset of 2008

*December 31st Stayed up all night!

WOW! what a year! While it is sad to me that yet another year has passed, I am so excited about 2009! I am really looking forward to filling up the Happenings of 2009! I have a feeling that God is going to some AMAZING AWESOME things in my life! I cannot wait! Living life with God is so great!

So what about you? What things happened in your life; both the good and bad? When you post about the Happenings, link yourself up in the linky!

Love, Prayers and Blessings,

Thanks for stopping by “Daily” at the “Planet”!!
©AmandaDixon2009

Tags: 19th birthday, 2008, 2009, agenda, Alabama, Aleph Bet, Amanda Dixon, anniversary, Aunt Jen, author, blog, bloggers, blogoversary, books, breezytulip, Brielle, Caleb, Carnival of Homeschooling, Carnival of Principled Government, Carnivals, challenge, Chris Walley, Christian Drews, Chuck Baldwin, college, computer, Constitution, contest, cracked, creation, Dad, Dell Vostro 1500, Dozer, driving, Dude, dvd, election, electricity, England, English, evolution, EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, Fearlessly Feminine, Feelin' Feminine, festivals, Fireproof, flu, Freedom, Georgia, giveaway, Gleaning The Harvest, goals, God, Graduate, Graduation, Grandma Starr, hair, Hanners, Hanukkah, Hebrew, Home School Blog Awards, Homeschool, ice cream, ice storm, internet, interview, Jacque Dixon, Jennifer Wallace, Jesus, Jocelyn Dixon, Joy, Judi Starr, Kim Wolf, La Bella Vita USA, laptop, Las Cruces, Lirette's, Louisiana, LucyLillie, Mama, Matt Dixon, Movie, My Girls, New Mexico, new year, Organics, perm, photoshoot, Political Parties, Poor Boy Hat, Poor Girl Hat, presidents, Prince Caspian, record, Reviews, routine, Sarah, science, screen, server, sick, sleep, snowman, Sprittibee, style, Suarez's, SuperAngel, Texas, thankful heart, thankfulness, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Homesteading Carnival, The Lamb Among The Stars Series, Vacation 2008, vintagegirl, voting, year in review

I just remembered the other day that I hadn’t posted the rest of our vacation, so when I asked Jocelyn what the Homeschool Memoirs Theme was this week, I was so excited that this week would be Summer Photo Essay .

This week I want to invite you to take a moment and post a Summer Photo Essay memoir. Starting from around the official date of Summer to this past week – just give a basic summary of your summer as I know someone of you are photoholics! Haha! Make sure you jot down your memoirs about each photo so everyone can read about your summer. You can do the essay however you want. You can journal a lot of just caption the photo! Can’t wait to see what you all do!

So here is my Summer Photo Essay of 2008, well it is part of my photo essay of this summer’s Vacation 2008. I have already done the first week of it. We went to Georgia,Georgia 2, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, then New Mexico.

Here is Vacation Day June 12th and there are 5 more days to post about! You can click on the picture to see the original sizes.
We drove straight through from Sonora, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico. We got there about 5 something in the morning. Mostly everyone was sleeping when we got there, but woke up and were so happy to see Grandma! After we gave hugs and kisses, everyone except Mama, Caleb, LillieGirl, Grandma and I went to sleep. I got on Grandma’s bluetooth and called Aunt Jen to let her know we arrived safely and couldn’t wait til they got their that night! If you want to know what I look like with no makeup and no sleep, there you go! –>

After that, Mama and I were hungry, so Grandma and I went to Roberto’s and got red chili and bean burritos for us to eat for breakfast! Man, I missed those! Roberto’s has THE best tortillas. You must go to Las Cruces and try them!

After Caleb ate I think he realized how tired he was! lol! Because he crawled up in Mama’s lap, and fell asleep!

Aww…

After Caleb fell asleep, Mama took LillieGirl over to the trailer we were staying in to get some sleep too. I stayed up with Grandma and talked with her! We had a great time! I got cleaned up, maked up, and dressed because we were going to be seeing family when everyone got up.
Really late in the afternoon when everyone woke up, Grandma, the beautician, asked if we wanted our hair washed or anything, and of course, Caleb did!
This was his first time in the wash bowl and he was a little skeptical about it! But he got his hair washed and had fun! By this time everyone was cleaned up, refreshed and ready to see family! We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Dixon’s. It was good to see them because it had been 3 years since Jocelyn and I had seen them and 6 for everyone except Dad who saw them in January.
While we were there, Uncle Danny came over too. Being the funny guy that Uncle Danny is, he took pictures of each of us…
There is me… with no sleep…*yawn*

and Cutie Caleb….






He is such a sweetie! I love that boy!

We stayed and visited for awhile, then it got late and Uncle Adrian and Aunt Jen were going to be at Grandma’s. They live about 4 hours away from LC, so they were coming down for the weekend to see us! When we got back to Grandma’s, they were already there and we hadn’t eaten dinner. So Dad and I went and got Pizza Hut. Man it was so good! I love pizza!

Caleb loves to walk around in Hanner’s tennis shoes… and also looking in the mirror at night when he is getting his picture taken.
Doesn’t he look like one of those Sandpeople from Star Wars? LOL!




When we were finished eating dinner, we got spent time together and talked. Uncle Adrian, the computer geek, wanted to look at my Vostro…
He said it was nice! I think so too! I really love my Vostro!

And of course, it wouldn’t be seeing Grandma without giving her a shoulder massage.

I have been rubbing her shoulders ever since I can remember. Always had a knack for getting rid of those hard, stiff muscles in her shoulders and Mama’s shoulders, and Aunt Jen’s too!

That is day one of being in Las Cruces for Vacation! Next will be the birthday party for the boys at my favorite restaurant, Nellie’s!

If you would like to join the Homeschool Memoirs, visit Homeschool Memoirs Meme. I hope to see you there!
Love, Prayers and Blessings,

Thanks for stopping by “Daily” at the “Planet”!!
©AmandaDixon2008

Tags: Alabama, Aunt Jen, beautician, beauty shoppe, bluetooth, burritos, Caleb, Dell Vostro 1500, Georgia, Grandma Starr, Home School Blog Awards, Homeschool Memoirs, Jacque Dixon, Jen Wallace, Judi Starr, laptop, Las Cruces, Louisiana, LucyLillie, Mama, massage, Meme, Movies, New Mexico, Pizza Hut, red chili, Roberto's, salon, Sandpeople, sleep, Sonora, Star Wars, Summer Photo Essay, Texas, tortillas

Alrighty… I have about 6 more posts about vacation… whew! Here is Vacation Days June 10th and June 11th! I changed the days to dates, so you all know that I am not on vacation…:D You can click on the picture to see the original sizes.

When we left Aunt Barbara’s, we stopped to get some drinks and a new outlet plug for our laptops to be able to plug into the lighter. The other died on the way to LA! Then we left! Mama wasn’t so sure she wanted to when she saw what was ahead! –>
That actually wasn’t even the BAD part of the ride to TX. It was pretty neat (and scary) to go on this bridge that bridges the gap across the Mississippi River.
This is the river
<–
It was pretty neat to see it from above it!

Ok.. so you know how you go on bridges for a space, then get off… well we didn’t get off this bridge for about an hour… SCARY!

Here is the NEVER ENDING BRIDGE!

Mama was freaking out while we were driving on this bridge… I mean, I was a little too when I saw the alligators below us! :O
Here we are still driving on the bridge…
driving… driving… driving..

Finally I just fell asleep, because we were still on the bridge and it was nicer to sleep than stay awake and watch the miles go by on this dangerous bridge…
……………………….

FINALLY! LAND! Yes, hard, solid, green land with no alligators!
You can see the bridge… we will NEVER go on that piece of torture again!

So we get on dry land once again and are in Texas… and I see the most awesome sign ever!

Know why its awesome?? Look in the top left hand corner! We hadn’t been online for like 2 days and I really, REALLY wanted to stop and download email and check stuff… but Dad said no, so we kept driving! Not to mention that burger and blizzard look good!

We drove for about an hour or more and got to Houston! We really wanted to meet our sweet friend, Marshiemallow, but she had other guests and we weren’t able to meet! One day, Marshie!

This is what we saw when we got into Houston….. –>
Yep, we got stuck in traffic for about 2 hours… there was an accident, so it was backed up! That was something we hadn’t figured in our time, so we were behind schedule. We were about 5 hours from Sprittibee’s!

As we started to go away from Houston, I was able to grab this picture of the skyline:

I thought it was pretty cool looking.  There were a bunch of trees in the way though!
So we finally got out of traffic and headed on the open road again.
We drove and drove… Jocelyn and Rachel and the backseaters all watched Pride and Prejudice.We finally got to Sprittibee’s about 11:30pm, and everyone was cranky! Not to mention starving! We were so glad to be at Spritti’s house finally and there was food waiting for us too! And Chicky was there too waiting for us!
She had made a delicious meal of burritos and tacos with an amazing corn salad! I am so serious about this salad! It is so amazing! That was the best thing ever! I mean, just looking at it makes me want a whole huge bowl full! I am still waiting on Spritti to put the recipe up so I can make it! I am having corn salad withdrawals! Just ask Mama!
So we all finished eating a delicious meal, brought some clothing in, and hit the sack! Well… I didn’t… Mama and I were trying to catch up on some work with Spritti’s wireless!

The next morning I got up, everyone else was up and playing! I went and got cleaned up and made up and such.

Look at the HAPPY girlie I woke up to! LillieGirl was so happy to be out of the carseat and able to play and roam on the floor! She is such a sweetie!

Then we went and had some breakfast and chatted with Spritti and Chicky! Pretty soon it was lunch time and we had some really good leftovers from the nite before’s dinner. More corn salad! I was so happy! Seriously, I can’t say enough about that corn salad. It was so awesome!

Here is Rachel, Ike, and I eating lunch! We sure are goofy looking, arent’ we?

Here is a precious picture…LillieGirl wanted to eat, and Chicky wanted to hold her, so Chicky kinda conned LillieGirl into holding her by sharing her lunch with her!
Look at that big girlie eating! She is such a great eater!

Oh! I found a really super picture that I just cherish! My two FAVORITE people in the world!

Look at those BEAUTIFUL girls! I just love them to absolute death! I need to print this off and frame it in my room! Such a precious picture!

After lunch, everyone enjoyed some good company! LillieGirl was finally warming up to Chicky….
Hanners was having so much fun playing with Morgan! See that HUGE smile on her face?

Jocelyn, Mama, Spritti and I went upstairs to upload our pictures on her computer and her pictures on my Vostro.

Here is one of the blogger gals… well some of them anyway.

Look at those beautiful gals! Hanners has a weirdy look though!
So we loaded up and went on our way! Spritti, Morgan and Kaden were all sad to see us go and we were sad to go!
We had a long drive ahead of us! We drove and drove and drove! We left Spritti’s about 5:30pm and we didn’t stop til Sonora, Texas… which was about 4hours from her house!
It was late and everyone was hungry, so we stopped at a little steakhouse

It was pretty good… just a little hometown place in the wall. We got there about 20min til closing time, so we hurried up and ordered… wanna see what we got…

Steak, french fries, and salad bar. I am really particular about my salads, and was doubting this place’s bar, but to my surprise, it was pretty good!
That steak and fries was mighty fine too! I even got some A1 with it! Yum!
One of the waitresses was nice enough to take a photo of all of us together!

We were so happy to eat there! Jocelyn got some really neat pictures of the room we were dining in. It had a western theme, pretty neat! Hopefully one of these days, she will up and post about vacation since there are photos that she took and so we weren’t allowed to use them!
So we finished and everyone was full and tired! We packed up the van and headed the rest of the way to Las Cruces.We had a 5 hour drive ahead of us, so everyone slept all the way there!

About half an hour later, we see flashing lights behind us. Yep, we got pulled over… not for any reason you would think though. They pulled us over because our license plate light was out! He gave Dad a warning and sent us on our way. So we are driving… driving and again we see flashing lights behind us… so we pull over and the trooper asks Dad to get out. Dad gets out and the trooper takes him to the license plate to tell him about the light… Dad told the officer that we would fix it as soon as we could. It was like 2am!
So we continue driving and as we are, we see the troopers just swarming the interstate! They were out like crazy! We passed a couple and were just praying that the other troopers had radioed the cars ahead of them that we were ok! Fortunately, we continued driving without being pulled over again!

While you are waiting for my next trip post, go check out Paulie’s blog because he is on a trip too and is posting like every hour! The non blogger is not so non blogging anymore!

Love, Prayers and Blessings,

Thanks for stopping by “Daily” at the “Planet”!!
©AmandaDixon2008

Tags: blizzard, bridges, Corn Salad, Dairy Queen, fries, Houston, Las Cruces, Louisiana, Mississippi River, New Mexico, officers, Paulie, Sonora, Sprittibee, steak, Texas, traffic, troopers, vacation, WIFI

I hope you all aren’t tired of seeing pictures about vacation. We aren’t close to being done! Here is Vacation Days June 8th, June 9th and June 10th! You can click on the picture to see the original sizes.

After leaving the Lirettes, we stopped to get gas and drinks. We then headed to Louisiana. It was a nice drive and everyone was pretty much happy… well sleeping.

We were making good time and were going to be there before 9pm. Everyone was happy about that because we had been getting in late to our stops.
About 8:30pm, we were about half an hour from Aunt Barbara’s, then we see some flashing signs that said one lane highway. So we get over in plenty of time and get stuck in traffic. Now mind you, it is Sunday nite about 8:30pm. We are in traffic and driving VERY slowly. We were driving like that for about 15miles at about a stop and go speed. Then the cars from the back start passes us… and people are letting them in in front of us. That was not smart. After driving like this for about half an hour, we just went around the traffic. Supposedly there were workers doing something and we hadn’t seen anyone for the whole time. This goes on for about an hour to an hour and half. We are pretty frustrated, LillieGirl is upset and so is Cal-Eb. So FINALLY we see some workers on the road… wanna guess what they were doing? \:)… laying down the road reflectors. Yep at 9:30pm on a Sunday nite, they are laying reflectors on the highway. We were not a happy family.

We finally get to Aunt Barbara’s about 10:30pm. It was so neat meeting Aunt Barbara and Grandpa and Uncle Leo. I had not see them since I was about 1, so I don’t really know them. I am happy to say I do now!

Here is LillieGirl meeting Grandpa… She was so tired from crying! Poor baby!

When we got in, Aunt Barbara had a delicious meal of beef and noodles with rice and veggies waiting for us. It was really nice to have a home cooked meal after being on the road.
We ate and since it was pretty late, we all headed to bed. We were so tired!

We got up on Monday, at a decent time. Aunt Barbara had already left for work and Grandpa and Uncle Leo were outside with the kids. I was able to get some laundry in and get a shower! Joy!

When I finished the laundry and went outside with the rest of the posse, they were out on the front porch with Grandpa. He had just shown them around and they were now sitting and talking. When I came out, look who I found:

Mama and I made a list of groceries, so we could make dinner for everyone. More of the family was coming later and Jocelyn, Rachel and I were making dinner.
When we finished the list, Dad, Jocelyn, Caleb and I went to Wal-Mart, after stopping at a gas station to download email and stuff. We had a fun time at WM. I found a really awesome purse! I have been wanting one like this one, but couldn’t find one in my area. So I was so happy to find it in LA! It was so great to have on vacation, because I could fit my cosmetics and stuff in!

When we got back, Aunt Barbara was here because she was able to get off work early! Woohoo! Look at her here lovin’ on LillieGirl –>
Of course, who can help but love on her? She is so sweet and loving!

We came back and started prepping the stuff for dinner. We made organic
spaghetti, fried green beans with olive oil, turkey bacon, and onions, salad, carrots, and garlic bread.
You can see the green beans and sauce in this picture.
<–
And of course, my Sonic Blue Coconut! I tried to have one everyday.

Here you can see all of us girls cooking. Jocelyn is making the salad dressing, I am scooping out the green beans, and I am not sure what Rachel was doing… watching me I think.

People started getting there and we ate. I must say it was sooo good! I really love spaghetti!
Since everyone was pretty much together and it probably wouldn’t happen again, we had a big photo shoot!

Here is Great Grandpa with all the grandchildren and great grandchildren:

Here is Grandpa with Dad:

This picture is so precious! Can you see the tear in Grandpa’s eye? I am not sure why he was crying, but I think its because all his family was together! I just love this picture! Priceless!

Here are the Dixon chicks plus one more Dixon Chick:

Aunt Barbara is so awesome! I *LOVED* spending time with her and getting to know her!

Aunt Barbara, if you are reading this: Thank you so much for spending time with us! I had a awesome time getting to know you and I hope we can see each other again soon! Love you!

Here are just the Dixon Chicks:

If only the LillieGirl was looking! She has a habit of looking at the camera, til you hit the button and then she looks away! So most of her pictures her head is turned! Isn’t my family just beautiful? I sure think so!

When everyone was finished eating, Mama put a new zipper in a new skirt for me. The one that was in it was really bad and it was broken, so Mama fixed it for me! Aunt Joy came and sat down with us to talk.

While I was sitting there, watching Mama, Jocelyn the photographer decided to get a close up…WAY to close up!
She is so weirdy sometimes! I don’t know how many pictures I have like these because she decided to do a face shot!

Pretty soon, it was late and everyone went home. When they left, we stayed  up longer and talked to Aunt Barbara. Had a super time!
Then we got the kids to bed, well… except for Caleb. He wasn’t ready yet.
Mama and I stayed up with him til he fell asleep which was late!

Everyone wanted to get up early to say goodbye to Aunt Barbara who was leaving early for work. I was up way to late to get up as early as they did, but I did get up in time to spend some time before she left!

Aunt Barbara left for work, and then we started to get everything ready to leave. I helped pack the van and get everyone’s laundry together.
You can see me loading things in the van. Like my Awesome Supergirl picture and afghan.
Rachel was telling me that Mama was taking my picture…
Ok… van packed!

When the van was packed, we then got dressed and ready to leave. Said goodbye to Grandpa and Uncle Leo, packed up the kids, and headed out!
We started on our way to Texas to see Sprittibee!

I was so happy that we got to go and spend time with Aunt Barbara and everyone down in LA. We had such a great time!

So our next stop is Sprittibee! We had such a sweet time with her and crew! Can’t wait to share it with you!

Also, I will be doing the Feelin’ Feminine Challenge too. I can’t wait to share my story with you!

Speaking about trips, Paulie the absent-blogger just left on his trip today And They’re Off! He is not so absent anymore! haha… He was in Knoxville and now he is in Atlanta! Go check it out and leave him a comment!

Love, Prayers and Blessings,

Thanks for stopping by “Daily” at the “Planet”!!
©AmandaDixon2008

Tags: 2008, Caleb, cowboy, Dixon Chicks, driving, family, food, Louisiana, LucyLillie, Magnolias, Paulie, photos, pictures, sewing, Suarez, vacation, Wal-Mart

Are you ready? I know you are! Here is Vacation Day June 7th and June 8th! You can click on the picture to see the original sizes.

We left Brooke and Co. and went on our way to Alabama! I thought it was a very pretty state, well the part I saw of it anyway. I think I slept through some of it.
When I woke up we were at a little gas station a couple hours away from the Lirette’s. We finally got to their town, and were trying to find their house. We turned on a county road and then pulled over to check directions. While we were stopped, a police car pulled up behind us then came to the window to see if we were ok. They told us where the road was and were very helpful.
We got to the road soon and then we looked at house numbers. When we saw their number, everyone got excited and ready to get out of the van. As we pulled into their driveway, I saw Mrs. Lirette, Sarah and Jordan come out. I got out of the van and Mrs. L grabbed me and hugged me! Then I grabbed Sarah and Jordan and gave them hugs!

From the yard, I could smell the delicious meal that was cooking inside! A TRUE cajun meal. It smelled so good! I just couldn’t wait to eat it.
When we got into the house, we were introduced to Sandy and her children. Then we were taken straight to the kitchen to eat the meal that Mrs. L, Sandy, Sarah and Jordan had prepared. It was so good! I loved it. I have since craved the cajun food.

Everyone sat around eating, getting to know each other, and just having a super time!

When we finished eating, we all cleaned off the table and then went out to the living to visit. Mrs. L got out some of her grandchildren’s toys for our children to play with. I know she had a wonderful time watching them play with the toys!
Here is LillieGirl getting out the toys from the bucket. I had fun playing with her.The L’s were very gracious and let me use their washer and dryer to do some laundry. After 2 days of being on the road and 10 people wearing clothes, the dirty laundry had started to pile up.
While the laundry was washing, the little children were playing in the living room and it was the perfect time for a photo shoot!

Here is Jocelyn, Sarah, I and Jordan. Those girls are so awesome! I just love them to death!

Here are the Mama’s: Mrs. L and My Mama! I love them both dearly. They are awesome examples!

Those Mama’s are some of THE BEST EVER!

LillieGirl was getting tired and didn’t want to play anymore.
She is asking me to hold her. Aww! She is so loving!

After the shoot, we got ready for bed and headed out to the trailer.

When we got up in the morning, breakfast was waiting for us! We all ate, and then I finished the laundry. When everything was done, we went outside to talk and play.
The Lirette’s had a swing on a tree and everyone had fun swinging. Here are all the children getting on it –>
The were able to play on it for awhile, then a chain broke, so not everyone was able to swing.
After they finished swinging, we all stood around outside talking while Dad cleaned out the van.

A very special thing happened when we were there too. Celeste, Sarah and Jordan’s older sister, had bought me a Supergirl shirt. They gave it to me, but I already had it, so I gave it to Sarah.

Now Sarah and I have matching shirts! Here are the Supergirls!

I love Sarah! She is so sweet and loving and just a SUPER girl!

All too soon we had to leave! No one wanted to leave either. We all wanted to stay with the awesome Lirettes! But the van was packed and everyone was saying goodbye anyway.
Before we left, we made sure to get a picture of all of us. Here is all of the Lirettes and Dixons…

It was so amazing to meet these wonderful ladies! They are truly great friends and I love them all so dearly! I hope that we will get to see them soon, because I miss them a lot!

For more pictures and a different take on our visit, make sure to stop by Sarah’s blog and read her post about our stay: What’s Been Going On Around Here~Part 1~ The Dixons!

Please remember to pray for Mrs. L, Sarah, and Jordan as they continue on with their lives without Mr. Lirette, who passed away on Mother’s Day. Friday will be 2 months since his passing and I ask you to say a special prayer for them as they deal with the sadness of him not being with them. You can leave each of them comments: Mrs. L, Sarah, Jordan.

Ok… so next up Louisiana to meet some family I haven’t seen since I was a baby! It was a great time and I am excited to share with you all about it! Stay tuned!
Love, Prayers and Blessings,

Thanks for stopping by “Daily” at the “Planet”!!
©AmandaDixon2008

Tags: 2008, Alabama, bloggers, Cajun, driving, family, food, LucyLillie, photos, pictures, Supergirl, vacation

I know you all are waiting for this, so here it is… Vacation Day June 7th! You can click on the picture to see the original sizes.

Brooke and Co. weren’t too far from the C’s, and we had a fun ride to her house. We past Atlanta, but we didn’t get a shot of the skyline. We did however get to see Six Flags which was neat.

It was relatively easy to get to Brooke’s, and it was so awesome getting out of the van and seeing her! We all hugged first off then went into the house to eat some lunch Brooke, Holly and their mama had made. They had this awesome pasta salad that was sooo good! I really enjoyed it!
While everyone was getting sandwiches, Brooke, Holly and Jocelyn all got more acquainted. I had Sleeping Beauty (LillieGirl) so I wasn’t able to sit up at the bar with them.

LillieGirl finally woke up and had to meet everyone. She, along with Jeremy, enjoyed watching the koi fish out the beautiful window in the dining room.
Isn’t she a doll? Love that girl!

Here is the pond they enjoyed watching:

When everyone finished eating, Brooke, Holly, their mama, Jocelyn, my Mama, Caleb, Jeremy and LillieGirl all went out to talk. The rest of the family had gone to the workshop to meet Brooke’s dad.
Here is Caleb’s view of Brooke and Holly. We let him use the camera and there were like a million pictures. lol!

After we talked for awhile, Brooke and Holly took Jocelyn and me out to give us a tour. We went to the workshop first, and they showed us how they make tshirts! It is so neat too! We talked for awhile too. I so enjoyed getting to know them both!
Here is the Dude outside… He is so sweet… most of the time.

All too soon it was time to leave. No one wanted to go because we were having way too much fun spending time with friends, but alas we had to get going. Not without a group picture though. Here are all the girls together!

I had such an amazing time getting to know Brooke and Holly. They are so sweet and darling girls. I am blessed to know them!

Next stop… The Lirettes! It was so awesome meeting them! I can’t wait to share about that stop! Stay tuned!
Love, Prayers and Blessings,

Thanks for stopping by “Daily” at the “Planet”!!
©AmandaDixon2008

Tags: 2008, Atlanta, bloggers, Caleb, driving, family, Georgia, Koi Fish, LucyLillie, photos, pictures, Six Flags, vacation