Ramblings

So Sam's arm looked a ton better when he woke up the next morning after only one round of antibiotics. Whew! It still hurt him, but the swelling had gone down and it looked so much better. So far all is well with it.

Yesterday, my throat started hurting and today I woke up with Strep. Yippee! This is the 4th or 5th time I have had it since October. Grrrrr. So I spent the morning at the doctor and pharmacy. I am home from church while everyone else goes. Ho hum.

Yesterday, a group of us threw a bridal Shower for a girl from singing. There was a terrible wreck on the freeway (the way everyone needed to go) and two people were killed, which caused traffic to become a standstill. People didn't get to the shower until 2 hours after it was supposed to start. It went well though, and everyone had fun. Not as good a turnout as we had hoped, but we are sure a lot of people just ended up making their way back home.

Last night there was a terrible storm. Usually I don't wake up when it is storming, but last night I did. I was also having this terrible dream about something terrible happening to Sam, and every time the storm woke me up, I would lay there not able to go back to sleep, and when I finally did, the dream just picked up where it left off. It was sad and scary, and I just wanted it to stop. I finally just got up. Plus, my throat was hurting so bad, I was having a horrible time trying to sleep anyway.

Last night AJ took the boys to Chili's for dinner, while i was at the shower. AJ got fajitas, which is cool to the boys because it comes out smoking and sizzling. Welll, Avery wanted to see how hot it was so he reached over and touched the hot, sizzling plate. He burned his finger really bad and it has a blister. Thankfully today it isn't hurting him too much. He is having trouble figuring out how to do things without using his finger though, which is pretty funny. Thankfully, he pretty much uses both hands pretty equally. He is left-handed (weird, no one in our families that I know of are left handed), but he uses both pretty well.

So Friday we were swimming in the pool. I bring my phone out because we are usually out for a few hours, plus I just prefer having it out there in case anything happens, etc. I am always careful with it, put it where it won't get wet, etc. Well, it started ringing. Sam was near it so he decided to get it to give to me. I told him it was ok, and just to leave it, and I would get to it in a minute, but he was trying to be helpful, so he went ahead and got it. He didn't want to get it wet, so he was barely holding it between 2 fingers. Just as I got close and was telling him to make sure he didn't drop it, he did. It all happened in slow motion. I reached out to grab it, but didn't quite make it. It fell into the pool and since we were near the filter, it pushed it away from me and sunk to the bottom. I dove down to get it, but it was too late. Sam cried and cried. It was a total accident, he was just trying to help, but I did yell at him when he dropped it. (Bad Mommy!) He thought he was going to get in major trouble and he felt really bad about it. I left it apart to dry for a long time, but every time I tried it after that it was doing weird, terrible things. The next morning it kinda worked, but the buttons were not working correctly. I could hear it ringing, etc, but I couldn't answer it, etc. Finally, yesterday afternoon it started working pretty normally. Hopefully it is ok. :)

Well, I guess that is all of my rambling. I am not feeling too good, so I think I will go lay down and read for a little bit, while it is quiet and I am alone. Bye!

So today was pretty much wasted away at doctor's offices. Sigh. We didn't even get to swim today, which the kids were NOT happy about. This morning some people from church came over for a little visit. As soon as they left, we left too. We went to Arby's. The kids love it there, and I had promised them we could go sometime this week. Then we went to Target. We were out of milk and I had to get stuff for a Bridal Shower I am helping host on Saturday. Then we went to get Sam's allergy shot. We usually go on Tuesdays, but we spent the day in the pool, so we put it off until today.

I am going off track a little bit, to get back on track. :) Yesterday morning, Sam woke up and he had two bug bites. One was small and on the back of his neck, and one was larger, about the size of a nickel on his upper arm. I figured they were mosquito bites and that he had probably itched the one on his arm in his sleep. He had been outside the night before with AJ, and AJ had said that he needed to spray the yard because there were so many bugs. Well, throughout the day it itched him, but he is really good about not itching so I didn't think much about it. We put some Bendaryl cream on a few times. As the day went on the bite got bigger and I figured that it was probably a spider bite instead. Well, this morning he woke up and it was much bigger, was swollen, and was warm. It was probably about the size of a half dollar, maybe a little bigger. I put more benadryl on and we went about our day.

All that to say, when we got to his shot today, he was worried about her giving his shot in that arm. I told him just to tell her about it and she wouldn't give it to him in that arm. Well, when she saw it, she freaked out a little and asked if a doctor had seen it. I said no, that I was just waiting to see if it would calm down. I am allergic to spider bites, and since he is allergic to everything, it really was no surprise to me that he was allergic to them as well. She took him back in the office and showed some other people (the allergist wasn't in today) and they were all worried about it and said I needed to take him to the doctor. I was thinking in my head, Geez, it's just a spider bite, it looks bad, but it will go away. Well, she put some bacteria stuff on it and he came back out to me, along with her, who kept stressing that it was terrible, blah, blah, blah, and then he actually showed me again what it looked like. Within those few hours, it had grown even more. It was covering most of his upper arm, it was bright red, burning hot, raised, and hard. It was really bad. It looked bad this morning, but you know, just like a normal bad bite, but it looked 100 times worse at that time, and I didn't even know it. So I called the doctor and they got him in an hour later. By the time they stopped gushing about it, he got his shot, and we left, we had been there forever. We then had time to kill so went to McDonald's and let them play for a little bit. After that we went to the pediatrician. By this point, it was hurting him pretty badly and it was hard for him to even move it to put on his seat belt. When the doctor came in and saw it, he said WOW! Now THAT is Awesome! LOL! Typical guy talk meaning it looks totally gross and disgusting and must hurt a lot. :) He couldn't believe how much it had grown and swollen in that short a time. He felt all around it. Around the outside part, before you even get to the redness it started hurting him. Then the further in he went the hotter it got, the more swollen and raised it got, and the harder it got. He hadn't really seen anything like it and wanted to know what in the world bit him. He said it was obviously infected and that we needed to be careful of Staph and something else. He gave him an antibiotic and he drew a circle around the bite. If it gets much bigger or he gets red streaks going up his arm then we need to come back in. Hopefully, the antibiotic will do the trick and we caught it early enough before anything else happens. I am glad he is on an antibiotic. He really needs one right now. His nose is all red and swollen, and even has little blisters because he is having to blow it so much. Poor kid. He is just falling apart lately. I can tell too, he is being really grumpy this week. Surgery, that helps, can't come soon enough!

Anyway, after all that we had to drive home (his shot and ped are 30 minutes away)and then go pick up his prescription. We had been gone all day and both kids were just ready to come home. Whew!

Here is a picture of The Bite. Sorry about the terrible quality. I took it with my stupid, little camera. It looks way worse than this, but you get the picture.


Last night was my first quartet rehearsal. It went better than I expected. I was worried and freaking out because these girls are so good and experienced that I was sure I was going to be so behind just overall lacking. That wasn't the case, at least I don't think. :) We sounded a lot better than I thought we would. Everyone seemed happy and we even scheduled rehearsal through October, so that's a good sign. :) We picked out a few more pieces of music to learn to, so we are on our way. We haven't really made a commitment as far as competing etc, but that will come later. Two of the girls are in other really good quartets that are priority right now (one of them is even going to International competition this year) so this is kind of a practice, just playing around thing. They gave me lots of compliments (maybe because they knew I was nervous) but I really do think we sounded good and fit well. I recorded it and listened to it after they left, thinking I would hate how I sounded, etc, but I surprised myself. I am sure they brought out the best in me with their abilities, but I am happy. I hope it works out for us, and if not, I am sure I will learn a lot. :) I haven't done this before, and although I love singing, can work my way around a piece of music, etc, I just never think I am good enough, and I am definitely not confident enough. Hopefully this will help with that. My goal this year was mainly to find a quartet to sing with that would teach me and help me prepare for future quartets, and I think that is just what I found. It is a little overwhelming to think I will be singing with these girls who really know what they are doing, but I will learn a lot and that's just what I wanted. So I need to get over my shyness and just do it! :)

The kids were EXCELLENT while they were here. Good job boys! They were here from 6:00 to 9:30 and the boys just played quietly and nicely upstairs the whole time. I put them to bed in the middle of it and they did great and went right to sleep with no problem. I have good boys. :) One of the ladies even asked if I really had kids up there. LOL!

Tomorrow we are going on a swim playdate with some people from church. So that will be fun, and will hopefully make up for us not swimming at all today.

Sam is getting baptized on his birthday, July 6th, and he has asked me to sing for it. I need to get cracking on learning that music and finding someone who can play it for me! I also need to TRY not to be nervous. I can do it, I know I can! LOL! That was just me trying to raise my confidence, even though I know it really won't work.

Well, I guess that is it for tonight. Au Revoir!

Tagged

Angel tagged me. This will be interesting. I don't even know who else to tag (since everyone I know has already been tagged), so I may not be able to follow the rules. We'll see!

Here are the rules:
a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blog.
e. Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I am a good direction giver. Everyone always asks me how to get places because I can tell them shortcuts, quicker ways, and landmarks to get them exactly there, and usually there aren't any problems (unless they weren't really paying attention and get lost anyway).
2. When AJ and I went to the Bahamas for our "honeymoon" (a year after we got married) we actually didn't like the Bahamas very much and preferred Florida. Too many alcohol pushers and tip nazis for us.
3. I can't stand when our yard is mowed, but it has not been weed-eaten (is that how you say that???)and I have been known to take scissors out there and do it that way, rather than let them grow wildly. (I know, I'm a freak! I don't know why it bothers me so much!)
4. Forever, I have spelled definitely (definitley) wrong, until recently when Julie told me I do it all the time. Now I spell it right, but it seems wrong and is hard for me to do it correctly. Strange!
5. I think I have the ugliest knees, and they are covered at all times, except in a swim suit, and if their was a way to cover them then, then I would!
6. I can somewhat play the piano, but really I can only do it if the keys are marked with the notes. I had to write the notes on a piece of tape, and tape it to each key so I can plunk out notes when I need to. Mostly I just have to do it by ear though. I learned some Christmas songs, the Sound of Music, and some other things just by singing it and finding the right note to go with it. Oh, how I wish I could really play the piano!


Here are the people I will tag, sorry if you have already been tagged before!: April, Tara, Christina, Kim, Kelly, Jen
OK, so I could only get 5. Close enough! ***Edited to add, wait, I just found one more! Yippee! Now I followed the rules! Whew!

I Know, I Know!

I'm slow! We've been swimming! The pool took almost 3 days to fill up, but it's up and running now! Yippee! We were in it 4 hours yesterday. Nope, no pictures, maybe I will try today. The backyard is a mess, but hopefully we can straighten that out soon. I can't wait to extend our deck to the pool, but that will probably have to wait until next year. The kids are loving it, of course, and I am sure I will get tired of it long before they do.

Let's see, what else has been going on. Hmmm, nothing really. Our life has pretty much revolved around the pool lately. :) Tonight my quartet comes over for our first rehearsal. We'll see how that goes. I'm a little scared! The other girls int eh quartet have been doing it for YEARS, are REALLY good, and know their stuff. Then their is little, old me. They might skedaddle after tonight.

AJ is gone a lot this week, camping with the boys at church.

We are going to the Y for zumba today, and then coming home to swim. After that Lindsay's kids are coming over while she goes to court, hehehe, for a speeding ticket. Then it will be dinner time, and then quartet rehearsal. Tomorrow is pretty busy too, but I am sure we will throw some pool time in there.

I have to miss playgroup today, which I am sad about, because we are going to someone's house and they have dogs. Sam is so allergic, that even though he won't be directly in contact with them, we can't go where they have been. Sigh. Poor kid! He is sad about not being able to ever be around dogs.

Well, I should go. I hear the telltale beep of a smoke alarm telling me that the battery needs changed. Sam is still sleeping so I should go change it before it wakes him up. It woke me and Avery up all ready, I think it is in his room. It's funny how it woke me up before anyone else. Must be my Mommy instincts.

Yea!

The pool is up and being filled as we "speak"! From the looks of it, it could still be filling a week from now. LOL! I will post more later!

Sorry!

Oops, I didn't post the pics from Father's Day when I said I would. Sorry! Here they are now!

My boys on Father's Day!


Here's a slideshow of Saturday (planting the tree) and Sunday (Father's Day)

Make a Free Flash Slideshow

Ignore Avery's clothes. He picks out his clothes and changes a thousand times a day. LOL!

Saturday Summary

Today we woke up to the sound of a high pitched, TERRIFIED SCREAM of "MOOOOMMMMYYY!" I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs where Avery was SCREAMING in the foyer. He was just standing in the middle, screaming, and I couldn't tell what he was saying at all. I finally got the word SPIDER! LOL! He was terrified! Crying, screaming, just hysterical. He said it went under the chair in the computer room. I finally saw it running quickly across the room and it wasn't a spider, it was a big centipede! YUCK!! Poor kid! I don't think he had ever seen one before and he was downstairs by himself and sees this scary looking thing running across the floor. LOL! Kinda funny, but sad at the same time. He was really afraid, he was even shaking. Even Sam came running out of his room. He woke us all up. Needless to say, we all got up earlier than we wanted to today.

We gave AJ his Father's Day present today. We gave him a tree that we could all plant and each year we will take their pictures in front of it to see how much they all have grown. We made a stepping stone for the tree. It is so cute. So today we went to Lowe's to get all the accessories we needed for the tree, like mulch, soil, etc. Then we came home and planted it. It looks so nice. I love it. AJ does too. I will post pictures tomorrow.

It rained yesterday and today, which means our pool is probably going to be a little later than we wanted it to be. Oh well, it will be this week some time.

Last night we went to see Hulk. It was good. I felt sorry for Bruce/Hulk the whole movie. It was intense and sad at the same time.

Pictures to come tomorrow!

Cool Clouds!

This is what the clouds looked like outside just a little bit ago. It was really cool with the storm clouds underneath the big, white fluffy cloud, and then the sun behind.



*Edited to add: Darn, they look much cooler in my photo program and in person than they look on the blog. Oh well, you get the idea.

Oops, a Little Late!

I thought I had just posted a new blog just a couple days ago! Almost a week has gone by! Geez!

Well, let's see. Monday we went swimming at the Y and I had singing that night. I can't remember what else we did.

Tuesday we went to the Y and then went to get Sam's shot. That night I had my last PTO meeting of this school year.

Wednesday we went to Wave Country. It was so much fun. The kids LOVED it! I accidentally left my camera in the car. Oh well. Sam loved the waves and the slides. Avery LOVED the slide he could go on. At first, I had to sit with him on my lap, but after a few times he did it by himself, and I just caught him at the end (he couldn't reach). It was a pretty fast slide with 3 curves in it, so he did really well. We did that over and over and over.We stayed all day and Avery still didn't want to leave when it was time for dinner! We will be going back several times, I am sure.

Our backyard is now being prepared for the pool. Here is what it looks like at the moment.


Tomorrow 4 tons of sand will be delivered!

Now, on to my Lowe's story.
Over 2 months ago we ordered a light fixture from Lowe's for our kitchen. (Hmmm, I wonder if I have already blogged about this. Well, if I have, I guess you are reading it again. :))The fixture we had made the kitchen very dark and it had started flickering. We changed the bulbs and it wasn't that, I forget what AJ said it was, but we had to replace the whole thing. Anyway, we found one we liked at Lowe's but we had to special order it and it would take 2 weeks to get here. So we decided to shop around at other Lowe's to see if they had it in stock. AJ went to a Lowe's by his work and found it there for much cheaper, and although we still had to special order it, we decided to go ahead and get it from there. After about a week and a half, AJ just called to check and see if it might be in yet. Well, they couldn't even find that we had placed the order or anything. The manager called back later and said that he had ordered it and put a rush on it so it would be in in 2 days, and that he would call when it came in. A call never came. We waited another week and then AJ went in to see what was going on. Once again they could not find the order. It took several minutes, and several different people trying, but they finally found the order, but it hadn't even shipped yet. AJ just got a refund since it was such a hassle and decided to order it from our Lowe's here in Smyrna, where we have never had any trouble. We placed the order, they price matched it to the other Lowe's, and they were also going to have it shipped for free directly to our house.

Two weeks came and went. No light. We called the store. They said it was a manufacturer problem and they would look into it and call us back. Another week, no call. We called back again, they weren't sure what was going on they would call us back. Another week, no call. Then we went on vacation, etc. Come back call again, they said the order had been canceled and a refund issued. Um, no, we never got a refund. They would look into it and call us back. Another week goes by. Now 9 weeks after we originally placed the order, they finally called and said they didn't know what happened, but the light was at the store ready for us to pick up. Ummm, hello, it was supposed to be delivered. Whatever, today I went and picked it up. I went to the lighting department, told them I needed to speak to the guy who had called. There's no one here by that name. For real!? I explained, AGAIN, what had happened and that this guy had called to say it was in. The guy looked it up in the computer and once again told us it had been canceled and a refund issued. ARGH! Finally, he decided to go back and look for it. 10 minutes later he comes back and has this beat up box with him. I made him open it right there to make sure everything was ok with the fixture. Thank goodness it was. At that point, the store manager comes over and says, "I'm sorry it was such a problem, we don't know what happened. After reading all that happened (I had finally complained with corporate 3 times so we could get something taken care of), all I can say is when Lowe's messes up, they mess up big!" Ummm, yeah, you think?! ARGH! Then he says they would give us a $25 gift card for all the trouble. A $25 gift card???!!! 9 weeks later, several phone calls later, 3 complaints to corporate, and we get a $25 gift card?! I guess I shouldn't complain about getting something free, but hello! A refund for the stupid light would be nice AND a $25 gift card! Anyway, at least we FINALLY have the light so our kitchen won't look ghetto anymore.

After that fiasco, we went to Snappy Tomato, which is a local pizza buffet. We love it there. It is priced fairly well, Avery gets to eat for free, and everyone gets yummy food. They also have the yummiest cherry dessert pizza! YUM! It's the kids favorite place to eat.

We have spent the rest of the day playing video games and doing AJ"s Father's Day stuff. I can't wait to give it to him. The stuff we did today is sooooo darn cute! I want one for my self. Tomorrow we will finish the rest of it, and then I will post pictures when it is all done. Cute, cute. The boys did a great job and are very proud.

This weekend will be busy. Tomorrow we will finish doing Father's Day stuff, AJ is taking the kids to a movie, and I am taking some more pictures. Then the pool will be worked on, Father's Day, etc.

Happy Father's Day, Everyone!

Happy Birthday AND Happy Father's Day to my Dad on Sunday! Have a great day, Dad! :)

Fountain Fun

Yesterday we went to play in this....


but the little kids had more fun doing this...


Hmmm, might as well have just done that at home. :)

Sam loved the fountains though.


Avery and Kinley would not go in the water at all until they found the sprinkler. Taylor and Sam played in the fountains for a long time, and then Taylor found the sprinkler.


Since Sam ended up all alone, he went exploring. Here is what he found.


After playing in the sprinkler for a long time, they all decided going in the fountains was a good idea, and of course Avery loved it.




He wasted all that time at the beginning, like an hour, not playing in the fountains. Then when he finally decided he loved the fountains it was time to go. He was very upset about having to leave. Silly kid!

Here are some pics after all the fun.




Kinley wanted me to take a pic of her and her mommy.


Today we went to Barnes and Noble and got Sam his free book for participating in a Reading Program at school. Of course we walked out of there with 4 books, but I am so glad they love to read.

Tonight we went to the place that is going to set up our pool. We will have a pool next Saturday! Woohoo! We can't wait. It's been 90+ degrees this week, so water is a must around here! After that we went to Sonic for some tasty treats. Now the kids are about to go to bed and I will be busy working on a photo session I took yesterday. My busy season is usually Christmas and the spring, but for some reason this year summer is the busy photo time. Anyway, I should get to work. Have a good night!

No Surgery

So, Sam's Doctor called this morning and he has had an emergency and will not be able to do Sam's surgery tomorrow. The next available date was July 14th. That actually works out better for us I think. Before he was going to miss pretty much all of June, which means all of our normal summer fun. Now his surgery isn't until the middle of July, so he will have most of the summer to do everything, have his surgery, and then be in recovery until school starts. The timing is much better. He will now get to have his fun birthday party on July 12th and then surgery. That means he will get to do all of the swimming he wants until then. yea! :) He was a little bit sad because he is ready to feel better, but when I told him he wasn't going to be missing a lot of fun stuff anymore, he was fine with it.

The kids are both better now, no more fevers. My eye is looking MUCH better today, thank goodness! So the first part of the week, terrible, the second part, much better! Whew!

Can We Have a Worse Week?!

Sighhhhhhhhh...... This week has not started off well at all!

Both kids have been sick with high fevers since Sunday. Yesterday I had to call Sam's Doctor to see if they still wanted to go ahead with his surgery. They did. They put him on antibiotics and another medicine. He had to go yesterday for a pre-op appointment (in the middle of him being sick). He got blood drawn, etc. He did really well. He is actually excited for his surgery because it will make him better. We really hope it works this time!

I do have an infection in my eye and am now on an antibiotics and an antibiotic eye drop. I also have to spend several times a day doing hot compresses and massages, etc. Geez! Stupid, stupid allergies!

This morning I get up, start some laundry, do all my eye stuff, and throw up!!! None of the kids have had throwing up issues, so I don't think I have what they have. It is probably caused by my medicine. Argh! Just what I need. Two sick kids, a throwing up, eye infected mommy, and a kid having surgery in 3 days. I also have two people wanting pictures taken this week, which is probably not going to happen, so I feel bad. Sighhhhhh......

Anyway, the week is starting out terrible, but hopefully things will even out soon!

Anniversary Trip

Like I said in the last post, this week was our 10 year anniversary! Man, we are getting old! AJ planned a trip to Gatlinburg this week for just the two of us.

Wednesday was the day we were leaving. First we had to go to Sam's school to say goodbye to his teacher and to pick up his report card. He did great this year! Almost every report card had all E's and many of them were E+'s. E is the highest grade you can get for those of you that have different grading systems. ;) He learned so much, had lots of friends, loved his teacher, and did lots of new things. He is reading the 5th Harry Potter book, which had like 900 pages. I attribute that to his teacher last year, she really emphasized reading and taught him well, AND to his teacher this year who gave them LOTS of time to read. I am so glad he loves reading and loves school. Thank you to the 2 best teachers in the world!!! We love you Mrs. Tarpley and Mrs. Gunder! :)


After that we packed all up and took the kids to Lindsay's house. It seems like we took their whole bedrooms with them! LOL! They were excited to stay there and had been waiting all week. We then went to get tires on the car. AJ is worried about them because they were very bad and he didn't want to drive all that way on terrible tires, especially since it was raining when we left. It ended up that we went to 4 different places looking for the right tire at the right price. We ended up not leaving until 4 hours later! Oh well, we weren't in a hurry or anything. We played like 8 games of the ABC game on the way to Knoxville with me winning each and every one of course. :P Here is what we saw on our way in to Knoxville.



Do you think that is a good sign for our next 10 years of marriage?! It was the hugest, fullest, brightest rainbow I had ever seen!

****Disclaimer****
I did not take my good, nice, expensive camera with us, and so far I am not too happy with the new, cheap camera I got for Mother's Day. So bare with the bad quality pictures. Also, I am so used to my big camera, with all the knobs, settings, etc. that I am still trying to get used to just pointing and shooting, which also makes for bad pictures. LOL!
******************

Our cabin was in the Smoky Mountains. It was so nice! To get to it we had to drive up the mountain, turn on to Boogertown Rd. (I had to throw that in there because AJ, of course, thought that was the funniest thing and mentioned it each time we came to that road. Boys will be boys after all.....) and then turn onto tiny little one lane roads, well barely roads, more like pathways through the trees. I hated that part of our drive every time. Here is our cabin! You have to click the link because I didn't take pictures of it, since I knew there were already good ones on the website. It was so nice and quite. I recommend staying there if you ever go to Gatlinburg. It was very close to Dollywood/Pigeon Forge and took no time at all to get there. That night we sat in the Hot Tub, more AJ's thing than mine. I only like it for about 10 minutes before I get too hot and bored. :) Then we played Scrabble and went to bed really late.

The next day, I got up about 11:00, AJ at 12:00. We got ready for the day and then sat there forever trying to decide what to do. You can tell I didn't plan this trip! :P We ended up going to WonderWorks. It was a cool looking, upside down building. Inside they had lots of cool exhibits like a rock wall, what it feels like in an earthquake, how to fly an airplane, a bed of nails you could lay on (AJ did that, I did not), etc. Just a cool place, filled with lots of neat stuff. My favorite part of that was feeling what it was like in the water when the Titanic sank. That water was FREEZING. You had to see how long you could hold your hand in it. AJ did like 23 seconds I think, and I think I did 34. It HURT and was terrible. I can't imagine your whole body being in that water . We couldn't even handle 30 seconds! It even hurt my bones. I am sure AJ's favorite part was laser tag. It was a neat place, not as cool as I expected it to be, but cool enough. Our favorite part of that though, was the dinner show. It was a really good show. Not the stupid, country humor that we have seen before, but just genuinely funny and good. AND they served italian food, instead of BBQ and ribs! It was yummy and a great show. We DEFINITELY recommend that part of Wonderworks! After all our play time we went to Wal-mart, we needed milk, and then went and rode Go-karts. A must-do in Gatlinburg. Then we went and got ice cream and went back to the cabin about 11:00. I opted out of the hot tub that night and fell asleep while waiting for AJ to get out of it.

The next day we went to Splash Country, which is a water park adjacent to Dollywood. It was the perfect day for it. It was hot, but not too hot to wait in lines, etc, and it wasn't very busy at all. We rarely had to wait any time at all. The longest line we waited in was for lunch! When we got there I sprayed on of my arms with sunscreen and then AJ took over on my back, etc. Well, neither of us did my other arm! We didn't realize it for quite a long time, so I have one burned arm. Thankfully it still wasn't that bad, I really don't burn, and I only have a small circle that hurts a little bit. We spent a lot of time in the Lazy River and rode lots of water slides. We stayed about 6 hours and it was fun. When we came out there was a note on our car. I thought someone had hit our car or something and left a note, but no, it was addressed to us! It was some friends of ours that had lived here in Smyrna that we went to church with a few years ago. Somehow they figured out it was our car and wrote us a note! They had moved away, to Texas, I think like 4 years ago maybe. Anyway, they happened to be living in Knoxville, happened to come to Splash Country on that day, and happened to park right next to us! How weird is that!! We never even saw them inside the park! It was very strange and cool! I had sung a duet in church with the Dad before they left. Funny! We ended up writing them a note back, but never did see them. After Splash Country we went back to the cabin, got all dressed up, and went to eat dinner at a super nice restaurant, The Peddler, for our Anniversary. We had a table that looked out right on a river. It was nice. The food tasted the same to me as any other food, and I would have been fine going to a regular old restaurant and spending way less money, but AJ had a gift card and wanted to do something extra nice for our 10 year anniversary. :)

The next day it was time to go. We left the cabin and went to eat lunch before leaving Knoxville. The drive back seemed extra long and boring. We got back and picked up the kids, who were happy to see us. They had fun, but of course, missed their Mommy. :) They were pretty good. Sam and Lindsay had some arguing incidents (what can I say, he is my child) and Avery had a hard time sleeping there so there was some too tired boy incidents, but I think overall it went well. She may say differently. :) Her kids were sick the entire time with high fevers, headaches, and sore throats. She ended up taking them to the doctor, but don't know results of their labs yet. They still did lots of fun things and enjoyed playing together for the most part though. Avery got the fever last night and is not feeling well at all today. His temp a little while ago was 103.4. Poor kids! Last night, before we realized Avery was sick, we took them to see Indiana Jones. It was ok, none of us loved it. There was also quite a bit of language, which we of course, did not like. We went to eat dinner and had promised the boys new Webkinz if they were good with Lindsay. Sam got the dragon and Avery got a furry, brown dog.

Avery and I stayed home from church today. While I was gone my eyes really started bothering me (allergies) at Splash Country. Each day it got worse and worse and now I think I have an infection in one eye and one starting in the other. Underneath my eye is so swollen and red, and it HURTS. I look terrible. Here's a gross pic, and this doesn't even look as bad as it did last night!


Tomorrow is busy! I hope I look better and I hope Avery feels better! I have a Doctor appt in the morning, we may have to fit one in for Avery after that, and then in the afternoon Sam has a pre-surgery appt. at the hospital. His surgery is supposed to be Friday. Hopefully he won't get this sickness and everything can go as planned.

Here is a picture of us after being married for 10 years!



And here is what a typical day with us would look like, me being normal and AJ being a dork! ;p