Jarrin's 2nd Birthday

Jarrin turned 2 on August 27th. I cannot believe that he is already 2. He has changed so much over the last 2 years. All the pictures from the day that he was born are on my other computer and it doesn't seem to want to cooperate with me, so I was not able to put his baby pictures on here. They had his party yesterday. Here are some pictures from the day!

His 1st birthday party.....August 2008

He was thinking hard about something.

Digging in his cake at his 1st party!

He has grown over this last year so much. He is finally starting to talk some. Richard was away, so he wasn't able to go to the party. He was so upset about it. I asked Jarrin where Richard was and Jarrin said "the truck" It was so cute! Richard called and Jarrin wanted to talk to him, so I gave the phone to Jarrin and Jarrin put it on speaker all by himself. I asked Jarrin where Richard was and he pointed at the phone and said "in there" I finally got him to say in the truck, so that Richard could here it. Richard LOVED it! No one told him to say that either, he just started saying it.

Jarrin's 2nd birthday party.....

The birthday boy!

Opening his presents!

He was so excited about eating a cupcake!

YUMMY!!!!!!

Dania and Jarrin

He loves his big sister!

His second cupcake!

Yes, that is tape around his mouth. He begged his daddy to do that!

Sitting on his new bike!

Such a cutie!

Friday August 21, 2009

We finally dropped off our last load this morning at 3 and was able to head home. I talked Richard into going ahead and taking his truck to the shop to get it looked at. I thought that it would be a better idea to go ahead and do it now, instead of spending all day Monday there instead of driving. We got to Birmingham around 8 this morning and spent a little over 4 hours at the Kenworth Store. After 4 hours they decide to finally look at the note that Richard wrote them about the truck and realized that they could not do anything about it. The guy then decided to come out and apologize to Richard and tells him that they should have looked at that as soon as we got there instead of making us wait that long. They sent us to the ThermoKing place and we spent 4.5 hours there. They finally got the problem fixed and we were on our way home. When we got to my moms she had supper cooked....meatloaf, potatoes, and peas. That was the best meal that I have had in a LONG time. I didn't realize how much I would want to have home cooked food after being on the road that long. Now I know why Richard always comes home wanting something cooked. He doesn't even care what it is as long as it is home cooked.

I had so much fun being with Richard on this trip. I can't wait to go again. I was so afraid that we would be ready to kill each other and want to get away from each other, but we didn't even have argue the whole time we were gone. I hope every trip goes that well. I even had a couple of days that I would just cry for no reason and he just let me, he never said a word. I have the best husband in the world, he says its because he has the best wife in the world. I am not so sure that I believe that. I plan on going on many more trips with him. But for now I plan on spending time with him this weekend before he leaves out again on Monday. I hope everyone has enjoyed the pictures, and I hope that I have not rambled too much!

This is where we spent the first half of Richards first day off!

Thursday August 20, 2009

We spent the first 4 hours of the day waiting to get unloaded at Pig. They have to be the slowest people ever. They had over 100 trucks lined up at the docks waiting to be unloaded and trucks lined up that couldn't get to the docks. Everyone was complaining about it. I don't guess that Piggly Wiggly cares that the only way the drivers get paid is when they are moving NOT SITTING for hours. We finally got out of there and headed to Birmingham only to find out that they would not take us early, so we left and found somewhere to park and watch TV til we could go back. It started pouring rain which cause us to loose our TV signal. We sat up front and was watching cars drive by and saw one car coming down the road and forgot to turn when the road did and jumped the curb. Good thing that Richard wasn't a little closer or they would have gotten us. They finally unloaded us and it was off to Montgomery for our final drop off and then home tomorrow. Sorry no pictures on this one!

Wednesday August 19,2009

We are finally heading home! I have had a blast on the road and can't wait to go again, but at the same time we are so ready to take showers in OUR shower and sleep in OUR bed. I stayed up really late last night downloading pictures on here, so I fell asleep in the seat coming home and Richard made me go in the back and lay down in the bed. He said it was hurting him to watch my head bounce. The seats in the truck do not recline like they do in cars....I guess that's why they have beds. I didn't get many pictures, because I was sleeping, but I did get a few!

I did wake up in time to see one of my favorite things!!!

yep, another bridge

a barge in the Mississippi River

getting closer to home!

and we are back in BAMA!!!

We stopped for the night in Bessemer at Piggly Wiggly Distribution, hopefully they will get us unloaded early in the morning!

Tuesday August 18, 2009

Today is my birthday. I woke up and read what my mom wrote on Facebook and cried. So I had to call her and cry. This was the first time ever that I have been away from her on my birthday. We had to go to Waco to pick up a load at the Coca-Cola Plant and then take it to Rockwall to swap trailers at the yard, so that we could pick up our load to come home! We got to Rockwall and dropped off the trailer at the yard and then bob-tailed over to Applebees for a birthday supper. Richard had them sing to me. I was so embarrassed. I really enjoyed being able to get out of the truck for a while and go out and eat. We had a really good day!

Bass Pro Shop in Katy

Palm Trees!!!!

Houston

The road that Richard lived on when he lived in Houston several years ago!

Sam Houston

that's where I wanted to go, and we were so close too!

Waco, Texas

Willies Truck Stop...the nicest and cleanest truck stop that I have ever seen!

We hope to go back when we actually have the time to eat. We only stopped long enough to get fuel and check out the gift shop.

Willies

Whiskey River Saloon at Willies

Ennis, where my mom was born

Some kind of space ship thing at the Ennis exit

Caterpillar

Texas Sunset

Monday August 17, 2009

This morning we woke up in Grand Bay, Alabama. So close to the beach, but don't have time to go see it. We are off to one of my favorite places.....HOUSTON!!!!! Richard loves Houston too, he just didn't seem as excited as I was to see it. Maybe it was because he was the one having to drive in the traffic. I offered to drive, but for some reason he wouldn't let me. We saw wreck after wreck today, the majority of them were in Louisiana. We arrived in Houston at the Budweiser Plant and they were nice enough to go ahead and unload us instead of making us wait til the morning. It only took them 10 minutes to unload us and then we drove to Katy, TX and stayed there for the night.

and we are back in Mississippi!

Biloxi, MS

We could even see some of the condos on the beach from the interstate as we were driving thru Mississippi, but were not able to see the water. I did get to see palm trees, so I got really excited about that, so excited the I didn't get pictures.

This poor man was hauling 2 brand new boats and lost one of them on the interstate, then moved to the shoulder of the road dragging it behind him. That boat will have some damage!

Bass Pro Shop in Louisiana

Baton Rouge, LA

Port of Baton Rouge

another one of my favorite things.....a bridge.....it doesn't take much to thrill me!

I love bridges and my mom hates them!

This is the start of the 19 mile long bridge in Louisiana...

one of the rives that the bridge goes over......

and the end of the bridge!

then right after that one, we get to go on another bridge!

YEAH!!! we are back in Texas!

Texas rest area!

We learned this trip that every time we stop at the Texas Welcome Center that we always end up in a bad traffic jam due to a fire. So therefore, we have decided that we will no longer stop at the Welcome Centers in Texas anymore. A few days ago as we came into Texas, we saw a SUV that had just caught on fire, and then this trip......well you will just have to look at the pictures!

This was a mile after we got back on the I-10 after stopping at the Welcome Center

we are informed from other truckers on the CB that an 18-wheeler had caught on fire

police started sending card down the service road to avoid it, but as you can see they were not getting anywhere either.

people started getting out their cars and sitting on the barriers

this horse was terrified of all the smoke

our first view of the truck

the fire melted the trailer completely away. To make matters worse, the truck was carrying corrosive materials

the driver was ok, he was walking around and talking to DOT officers

another beautiful sky

and we are finally getting closer!

and we are here!

arriving at the Budweiser Plant

HOUSTON!!!!!