Catching Up

I know...it's been forever since I've posted. Can you blame me though? Life is so much better now that my Soldier is home!

We had a great time in Florida with Jeremy's parents...BUT, I got sick the second week we were down there. I had a horrible sore throat and just felt awful. I'm almost positive it was strep throat, but the doctor I saw didn't even swab my throat. He prescribed me a Z-pack, which took forever to make me feel better.

We came back home to Alabama on Friday, the 18th. We spent the night Friday and Saturday night and left out for Tennessee on the 19th. We got to our cabin a little after 4:30 and unpacked the car. Our cabin was so cute! (I will try to get the pics off of my phone when I get a chance.) Then we headed to Wally World for groceries.

We spent most of the week in and around Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Monday we went to the Ripley's Aquarium and bought the military package (at a 90% discount!)that included the 2 put-put courses, Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, World Records Museum, Mirror Maze/Candy Factory, Ripley's Haunted Adventure, the Moving Theatre and of course, the Aquarium. It was a great deal! We did all of the museums and the Aquarium the first day and one of the put-puts.
 Then Tuesday we finished the rest. We had a great time too! After playing the last put-put Tuesday, we went and played Hillbilly Golf! We love put-put!
  We went to Ober Gatlinburg on Wednesday and Jeremy dropped his brand-new phone while we were on the Sky Lift. It fell about 20-25 feet and landed in the concrete slide. Then some guy hit it on his way down. Thankfully the attendant saw it and retrieved it for us. And amazingly, the phone is fine. It works and the only damages it endured are the scratches on the back plate!

 Thursday we spent most of the day in Gatlinburg just walking around and shopping and planning our hiking trip.

 We went hiking on Friday, and even though it almost killed me to hike 5 miles, the view at the top was totally worth it!

Saturday we slept in and watched tv most of the day. Then J decided he was hungry and didn't want anything that we had at the cabin, so we got dressed and left the cabin. J decided we would take a road we didn't know, so we ended up driving for over an hour until we finally ended up near the interstate. We passed the Bush's Baked Beans factory on the road we took too. LOL. It was really the only interesting thing we saw. When we got back to town, we ate and then went to watch a movie. We saw The Town...which really wasn't all it was made out to be. I recommend waiting for it to hit the redbox.

When we got back to the cabin, we packed up everything and loaded the car. Then we crashed because it was REALLY late. We got up early Sunday and finished cleaning up and packing. To check out of the cabin, all we had to do was call the office and let them know. We drove into Pigeon Forge for breakfast. It took FOREVER to find somewhere that wasn't completely packed! Apparently everyone gets up at the same time on Sundays. LOL.

After eating breakfast, we went to find a hotel room since we didn't want to drive home on Sunday and it was raining. We drove around to a few different hotels until we found the Clarion Inn. It was super-nice! It had an indoor pool and hot-tub AND an outdoor lazy-river, slide with mini-pool and another hot-tub! Plus a splash-pad. The water was really cold, but we got in the water anyway. Inside was a lot better though. We swam some, then got dressed and went out to eat. When we got back, we changed clothes and went to the MagiQuest down the street. J thought it would be dorky, but we ended up having a LOT of fun! It's kind of like being in a video game/ scavenger hunt. After our time was up there, because they were closing, we went back to the hotel and swam. When we got hungry, we ordered Papa John's and went up to the room. Our room had a jacuzzi and a fireplace. It was very cozy and relaxing! 

Monday morning, we packed up and checked out. Then went down the street to the MagiQuest to finish playing the game we started the night before. We also did the laser maze, mirror maze and pirate black light golf. :) Afterwards we headed for home.

It rained most of the way home, which was awful. People forget how to drive when it rains. Thankfully, we didn't get caught in too much traffic, so we made good time getting home.

Since being home, we've just been spending time with our family and friends.

Last weekend, including Friday, we went camping. We also had the Yellow Ribbon Program meetings to attend Saturday and Sunday. I don't know why J thought it would be a good idea to go camping with his sister and brother-in-law on the same weekend we had other plans. But it all worked out ok. I was supposed to go with him on Saturday to the meetings, but when we got to his sister's house to shower, she had changed the locks and forgotten to tell us, so we couldn't get in. He had to take me back to the campsite and drop me off. I ended up showering at the camp facilities and spending the day with his sister. When he got back that afternoon, I was putting up the tent and other camping stuff. Apparently we had a room at the Winfrey for the YRP that we didn't know about. So instead of camping again Sat. night, we spent the night in a nice hotel room. (Which was fine with me, since we weren't prepared enough for the cold night outside!) Sunday, after the meetings were over, we grabbed some lunch at McD's and then watched a movie; Wall Street. It was too long and really boring. I was hoping it would be a great movie since it had Michael Douglas and Shia LeBeouf. But, it wasn't.

About half-way through Sunday, I started feeling really awful. By the time the movie was over, I was running a fever. We went home so I could change clothes and grab Tim's b'day present. I checked my temperature and it was 99.7. Then we headed over to Amanda and Tim's house. I felt even worse. So when Mom left, I left with her and came home and went to bed. I slept from 6:30pm until about 9:30am.

Monday morning I made an appt with my Dr. That afternoon we went for my appt at 2:45, sat there for 2 hours before we saw him, and we were there almost 4 1/2 hours! He tested me for strep and it came out positive. I told him I wanted a referral for an ENT. He made me an appt for Friday with an ENT. 

When I got to the appt Friday, I was in and out in less than 30 mins. The Dr. told me I could have my tonsils out, but he made it sound like he was trying to talk me out of it. But no way! I'm tired of being sick, so I'm definitely getting them taken out!

My surgery will be on Nov. 10. I'm nervous, but I know that after I have my tonsils out, I won't be getting strep throat every month anymore! Woot!!!

Sorry it took me so long to catch up with what's been going on. Hopefully now I can get back into blogging regularly. I hope everyone has been doing well! Please forgive me, but it may take a few weeks to catch up on all of your blogs!

Love, Whit