Pressing On...

I wanted to write this post separate from the last one because I did not want to taint my fun night at the concert with more sickness talk. Blah! But before I start my update I want to take a second to say how very thankful and appreciative I have been for all the sweet blog comments, texts, and emails I've received over the past week. It's so nice to know that people care about me and are praying and its helpful to hear that others have gone through similar situations and came out of it on top! So thank you, thank you, thank you!

And now for the update... I woke up this morning very early to another round of horrible stomach pain, same as Saturday and Sunday. I thought maybe it would pass before it was time for me to go to work but unfortunately it did not :/ I ended up deciding it would be best to stay home from work, which is not something I take lightly. Getting sick as often as I have been has shown me to use my sick days sparingly so I try to never take a sick day unless I'm either contagious or need to go to the ER. Today I just knew I wouldn't be able to make it through the workday. (PS. I'm so thankful to have a supportive boss and co-workers. They've been great to me through this.)

So I went to the hospital for some more testing and finally, thankfully, got an appointment scheduled for an endoscopy (which is set for the beginning of November). I had an endoscopy done back in January before I knew my gallbladder was not functioning and everything in my stomach looked fine then so the doctors have been hesitant to do another one, saying that there probably is nothing new. But I kept telling them that this pain I am having now is NOT the same pain I had in January: this pain is not in the same location, has a much greater pain level, and stays specifically in one area of my upper abdomen. My doctor finally agreed that its worth a look.

I'm not really optimistic at this point that they will find the source of my problem in the scope but at the very least they will be able to confirm whether or not I need to be taking this truck-load of medicine that I'm currently on for stomach "acid reduction". It really has bothered me to just be taking all these different medications without knowing if they are actually treating the cause or are just treating the symptoms.

So that's where I stand on the issue. I would love more than anything to just stop going to the doctors and hope this will go away on its own but I know that I need to keep being proactive until they figure it out. They have to eventually right? There's no way a person can experience so much pain for no reason. As for tonight I am almost feeling pretty normal again... hoping I will be able to finish out this week strong. And on a very happy ending note, Jake comes home tomorrow! These past 10 days he's been gone have felt like a month and I will be so glad to have him back, even for just a short time.

Keith Urban Concert!!

Last night Cassie and I went to see Keith Urban in concert in Sacramento and it was AWESOME! I didn't feel well at all yesterday (surprise, surprise) but I figured I was going to feel bad whether I was sitting at home or at the concert so I decided to still go. And actually it turned out to be a great distraction from the pain. We sang and danced and screamed like teenage girls - oh yes we did - it was such a fun time!

During of my favorite songs "Days Go By" I decided to snap a quick video. Hmm... right around 14 seconds it may or may not show Cass and I dancing around and having a ridiculously fun time ;)

And then came the best part! Right before the very last song, Keith started walking off the stage and out into the audience. We didn't have floor seats (we weren't in the nosebleeds either... kind of in the middle area straight back from the stage) so we thought there's no WAY he would be coming anywhere close to us. Wrong! He came all the way back to OUR section, one aisle over from us and stood on a platform and sang!! It was so cool being literally right in front of him at the concert! This picture is very blurry but you can at least see how close he was standing to us and I wasn't even zoomed in :)

So that was my awesome, not-so-normal Sunday night! So much fun. And best of all... it was absolutely FREE!

Weekend Update

This was a hard week. Short story is that I have just felt awful - all week :( Please pray for me because the pain is really wearing on me physically and emotionally. I'm trying to just push through the pain and live life as normal but its so hard, and I feel myself becoming bitter about the situation. Anyways, I don't really want to talk about that though... I want to focus on the positive...

...so on to more exciting topics! And this is one is very exciting :) Tonight I am going to see Keith Urban in concert! for FREE! (well, assuming my pain level stays mild enough). A friend of mine on base had won the concert tickets in a raffle and was not able to go at the last minute so she gave them away. I was so happy to get them because Keith Urban is one of my favorite country music artists and he puts on an awesome show! Cassie is driving up from Turlock to go with me and I'm so excited and ready to dance and sing the night away. I'm definitely going to be tired at work tomorrow but hey you're only young once, right?!

Another highlight of this weekend was my friend Becky's baby shower yesterday. I met Becky and a whole group of awesome ladies through a Bible study that I've recently joined. It's been so nice getting to know them and it's really refreshing to be around women who are so genuinely nice, fun & uplifting. Here are a few photos...

On a different note, the weather yesterday was so nice and cloudy and cool! It finally is starting to feel like fall and I am loving it. Fall is my favorite season! I've got my pumpkin spice candle burning as I write :) We are even supposed to have a few rainy days this week and I'm really looking forward to it! I know all my family reading this in the Northwest are probably thinking I'm crazy for wanting rain (ha!) but we really haven't had any since May. We desperately need a good rain to green up our grass and clean out the air. And I love the smell and feel of a rainy day - we definitely don't get that enough here.

So in preparation for the upcoming rainy days and winter season in general, I've been on the hunt for a dog house for the pups. The dogs really love being outside all day while I'm at work (as opposed to having to stay in their crates) and even in the fall and winter it never gets very cold here so it's very possible that they can stay outside during the day all year long. But when it does start to rain, especially with the high winds here on base, the patio doesn't provide them much shelter. I stopped by Lowe's to see what types of dog houses they had and found a perfect little shelter called a Dogloo!

It doesn't look very large in this photo because Bailey is laying in the narrow opening but in the back there is plenty of room for both dogs to snuggle up and keep warm and dry in case of a rainy day. It's funny though, when I first brought this home the dogs were terrified of it! They would not go in it or even close to it. I literally had to crawl in it myself and entice them treats to get them to come in and show them that it's not scary :) Now Bailey loves it and prefers to sleep in there even when the sun is shining. Dogs are so funny...

Well, I think that's all the time I have for blog updates today. There is a whole house waiting to be cleaned before the hubby gets back home on Tuesday morning - Oh and sheets to be washed too considering Bailey sleeps right on Jake's pillow when he's gone :) Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

I'm coming back.

I missed a week of blogging. And then two more. And then a month went by. And another...
Now it's almost October - how did that happen? Remember when I used to blog every day? Twice a day even?

Honestly, I have been missing my blog so much lately and missing being able to write out my thoughts and experiences. Sometimes over the past few months I've found myself writing blogs in my head as if I was actually typing them out (wierd I know) but I could never get myself to the computer.

I think that after that first week, month, another month, of not blogging I started to feel really overwhelmed about all of the HUGE life events that I failed to write about. I felt that if I started writing I would be obligated to catch everyone up on everything that's been going on and frankly, that was just too big of a task. So there. That's why I've been avoiding my blog.

But I've made the decision - I'm coming back! So here's the "short version" recap of what's happened over the past few months:

1) My braces came off (woo to the hoo!) I can't believe that was the subject of my last post because it was so long ago, but seriously - Best feeling ever! And yes, totally worth it. Here's the picture I took as I was leaving the ortho office...

2) Jaclyn and Stephen got married and it was the most gorgeous wedding! I've never seen so much love in one place. They are just the most amazing couple! So happy for my little sis :)

3) I got a new job! I now work as a brand analyst for Papyrus (American Greetings) full time. It was quite the switch from designing blogs part time but it has been a pretty smooth transition so far. More blog posts to come about the job and its pros and cons (but mostly pros!)

4) I finished my schooling! It's so wonderful to have nights and weekends to do whatever I want now instead of doing school projects :)

5) Jake has been traveling the world a lot. A lot, a lot. He's been gone 2-3 weeks a month since May and that has been quite the adjustment. He's also getting ready to deploy in a few weeks and will be missing ALL of the holidays (so sad about that one). But he really is loving his job and finally getting to do what he's spent so many years training for.

6) Our new house has gotten so much more cozy! I've had a chance to decorate all the rooms except for our bedroom (I'm waiting because we'll hopefully be getting a king bed in the near future). I'd really like to post a video tour of the house sometime soon so that way all my family and friends who live far away can feel like they've seen it in person. Good plan? Here's a peak at our entry way and dining room...

7) Jake and I went on a long-awaited tropical vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic! We've been trying to take this trip for a few years now and finally got to - and wow, it was so awesome! Totally worth the wait :)

8) I also really want to talk more about the squadron and base here at Travis and how it compares to life in pilot training/Mississippi. Overall its been really good so far and the spouse group especially is really great but believe it or not I do miss some aspects of UPT (never thought I'd say that! haha)

9) And then there is one more thing. The thing I hate talking about - me being sick. I'm sick of talking about being sick. I'm sick of being sick. Remember almost a YEAR ago when I first got sick? Yep, it never went away. I just learned how to deal with it. As of now, stomach pain is the big issue.

Every week or so I will get an excruciating stabbing pain in my upper abdomen that is so painful that I literally fall to the ground, moaning in pain and vomiting. Lovely, right? These "episodes" last for about 20-30 minutes and then I'm back to feeling completely fine. It blows my mind that I can go from feeling like I'm dying and then right back to normal again like nothing ever happened. I've seen doctors, specialists... I swear that the people in the ER know my name... I've had tests done, bloodwork, MRI, scans, you name it. GAH! This is easily the most frustrating thing I've ever had to deal with.

Up until today, I actually started to think I was healed. I hadn't had any "episodes" in almost a month and last week the gastroenternologist put me on a new medicine and I have been feeling great ever since! No pain at all. Kind of ironic that yesterday at lunch I told my friend Megan that I thought I finally found the answer to all of this and was so happy to finally be better. Spoke to soon...

Today right after lunch - out of NOWHERE, might I add - this pain decides to come back stronger than ever. When I felt it coming on, knowing it would come fast, I grabbed my things from my office and rushed to the car, desperate to get to my house or the ER or anywhere else - not wanting my boss and coworkers to see me in the agonizing, torturing pain that was about to come over me. Turns out the drive home was not quick enough and the pain came on strong while I was driving. I started vomiting (all over myself, my hair, my car...) and crying in pain. I decided to head straight to the ER. Jake is gone this week so I had to just be strong and deal with this on my own. I barely made it into the ER; literally as soon as I made into the lobby I collapsed in pain and they rushed me back to a room. I'm pretty sure they thought I was dying too. I've never seen people move SO fast to help me! And then, about 10 minutes later, the pain was gone. GONE! Completely gone and I was feeling back to normal. It happens like this every single time and makes absolutely no sense. It almost makes me more mad because the pain doesn't stay long enough for them to actually see it and do tests while it's happening.

Blah.

Anyways I just really wanted to vent about today's experience. Definitely not what I had planned for my day! And then it was hard coming home to an empty house - I just really needed somebody to take care of me, to talk through it and let me complain a little and process the days events.

So that's what led me back to my blog. And you know what? It feels SO good to write again. I have a feeling there's a lot more writing to come in the near future!

In the meantime, please PRAY for this medical mystery I am having. I'm starting to lose hope that it will ever go away or get resolved. I hate having to miss out on fun events and time with new friends because I don't feel well :( And if you need prayer for anything please let me know as well!

It was good catching up :)

Tomorrow!

I'm super behind on posting updates, I know I know. With the wedding coming up in less than three weeks and work and school still going full time I am swamped. swamped. swamped.

I just HAD to write a quick post tonight because in the morning I am going to get my braces off!!! Can you believe its been a year alread? Wow. I can't wait to look at all the before pics I took and compare them. I'll post some on the blog when I can. Just wanted to share my excitement with you!!

"My Room" (aka the guestroom)

One of the nice perks about having a 3-bedroom house and not having any kids is that in addition to the master bedroom we each get our own individual room in the house. Jake gets to have his "man cave" and I get a room to work and relax in and do my scrapbooking and other projects, and since mine is the larger of the rooms, it also doubles as our guestroom.

Since "my room" is where I spend a lot of my day at the desk working, I knew I wanted the decor to be light and bright and clean. After searching the web for some inspiration images, I found myself leaning towards a really fun, contemporary look but had no clue how to make those inspiration images come to life. I may be able to pull blog designs out of thin air, but whenever I try to decorate my home I always feel that I fall short of what I was originally trying to achieve.

I started shopping around but didn't have much luck... and then fate stepped in :) I was wandering through HomeGoods (a dangerously amazing place to shop) and bam! there it was! the perfect desk chair! I know most people probably don't get this excited over a chair but you have to understand that I've been looking for the right one for months and this one had both the look and comfort that I wanted. No more working from the kitchen table, yesss!!

Now because the chair is a bright yellow and white print, I wasn't left with too many options for the rest of the room, and actually I was really confused about what to do because I didn't want an all-yellow room or anything too crazy and colorful. But after consulting some friends on facebook (thanks Kristin!!) the answer was clear - make it a gray room with mustard yellow accents!

So right away I went to Home Depot and picked up some light gray paint, went to Ikea and picked up a dark gray duvet color and a simple white and silver desk lamp. Then I found two amazing (and super soft!) euro shams at Crate & Barrel and the perfect accent pillow at Target to tie everything together. It's amazing how everything fell into place; within 24 hours of finding the chair, I had the whole room practically done! And more than anything, changing the wall color from beige to gray made a HUGE difference. Ah, the wonders of paint!

Now the only thing left to do is find some fun art to put in the frames that are hanging on the wall. Any ideas? I'd also love to get some gray and white striped sheets or pillows to throw on the bed just to mix it up a little more. Anyways, here are a few pictures I took of the room but my camera isn't great for indoor photos so it really doesn't do it justice. I guess you'll just have to come see it in person :)

Bye Bye Bye!

That's what Jake and I said to our student loans today!!!!! YESSS!! With the money we made off this last move we were able to pay off the rest of our debt - almost $10,000! It's such a blessing and a huge relief. No more $600/month loan payments for us! Wooo hooo!

Quick Trip Recap

Jake made it home safe from his first trip last night! Even though it was a VERY quick trip he really enjoyed it and loved flying into Alaska and Japan. He didn't get a chance to go off base in Japan because they were there for such a short time but he said it was really pretty there, the people were so nice, and the weather felt like Hawaii! He didn't end up taking lots of pictures (boo...) but he did get a couple that are definitely blog-worthy.

Are you ready for a good laugh? Check out the awesome translation on this juice pack that he bought at the commissary on base in Japan. The last line made us laugh so hard!!

Because this was Jake's first trip in the C-17, it was also his "Dollar Ride". During these first flights, its typical for the other pilots to play pranks on the new pilot. What they planned to do to Jake was take a picture in front of the plane when they landed and then right before the photo clicked, push everyone else out of the way and dump water over his head. Unfortunately for them, Jake saw this coming and  simply stepped back and away and smiled for the picture...

Too bad because that definitely would've been a photo-worthy moment! Oh Jake...

Anyways, that's about all I have to share with you from his trip. In my next post (which I plan to write tomorrow - hopefully!) I want to tell you all about the project I worked on while he was away. I did lots of fun shopping and completely finished our guest bedroom! Paint and all! And I have pictures to prove it :)

Japan? Alaska? Jake take me with you!

Yep, that's right, Jake left this morning for his first trip in the C-17! He'll be gone for a few days to Japan and Alaska and I'm so excited for him. I tried my best to convince him that I should get to come in his suitcase but he didn't go for it. Really though, it's awesome for me to see 4 years of college ROTC  and 2 years of pilot training finally pay off for him. I must say that I'm a bit jealous he gets to travel the world without me... that's okay, I'll let Jake scope out the really good places and we can go back there for vacation together :) Anyways, please pray for a safe and enjoyable trip for him. Hopefully when he gets back I'll have lots of pictures to show you!

On another note, last night Jake and I got to do something really cool - we went out to the flightline to welcome home one of our good friends from deployment! It's not often they let civilians out on the flightline so it was an awesome experience for me to be up close with the jets. Here's a picture I took on the flightline of the massive C-5...

Something you can't tell from this picture is that it was FREEZING out on the flightline! The wind was out of control! I have proof of how freezing I was...

Horrible picture of me but you get the point :) My hair was all over the place, my nose was bright red, and my toes were numb while we waited for the guys to finish dealing with customs and get off the jet (And no I don't have 2 coach purses - I wish! The black one is mine, the purple one belongs to Sarah). But being cold was totally worth it to witness the awesome event of guys getting back from deployment, running to their wives and children, tears and kisses... Amazing! I got to video the whole thing for Sarah and was so happy to be there. Afterward we got to climb up into the plane and check it out! I had never been inside a KC-10 before so it was really cool to see. I had no idea how much cargo they hold! I thought they were just for refueling, but they had 2 jet engines they brought back as cargo just sitting in the back half of the plane.

After we got back home and warmed up a little, we took John and Sarah out to dinner to celebrate his return. Where at? In-N-Out of course! If you know John, you know there's nowhere else he'd rather go. I've never seen someone look at a burger that way before... I think he'd been eating desert food for a little too long :)

Anyways, the weekend is off to a wonderful start and I've even had two different people invite me to their Easter celebrations knowing that Jake is gone. I'm so blessed to have such good friends here. Hope you all are enjoying your Saturday morning! Happy Easter!!

This is awesome...

Everything is new and exciting.

As you can see I've cleaned up quite a bit around here.. how do you like the new look? I'm loving it! I got the title from a photo I saw the other day. I thought it was a great quote and kind of reflects my optimistic outlook on life :)

I've been really itching to sit down and blog lately. All these exciting things are going on and in the midst of them I find myself writing blogs in my head about everything I want to say but then I never actually make it to the computer to write them down.

Last time I wrote, I mentioned that we were moving into our new house. Well, we've been in our house for about 3 weeks now and are LOVING it! This house is gorgeous inside and out and we feel quite spoiled getting to call it ours. I've been busy busy busy getting everything unpacked and settled. I can't wait to show you pictures! We are getting the rest of our new furniture and area rug delivered next week so maybe once those get here I'll start posting some photos.

It's kind of funny because every other time we've moved I've had the house unpacked and decorated within 2 or 3 days but with this house (knowing that we will be here for a few years) I am really taking my time and getting everything just the way I want it. I just can't say it enough - I love it here! It's new and exciting and somehow already feels like home. I already find myself thinking that 4 years isn't going to be enough time here.

Annnnyways...

Last weekend my lovely bride-to-be sister came down from Seattle for her first bridal shower! I had such a fun time throwing it for her and it all went so well. I haven't loaded all of the photos yet but here are a few to start...

Bianca and I with the Bride-to-Be!

Me, Mama, & Jaclyn

The girls

Well I'm sorry to cut this post short but that's all the time I have for updates today! 5 o'clock on a Friday night means it's officially the weekend and I'm looking forward to spending every minute of it with that handsome guy I get to call hubby. Happy weekend everyone!

This is just ridiculous.

I have so much to write, so much to say!!! I'm in a horrible blogging rut and I need to get out of it because there are so many exciting and fabulous things going on in my life right now and I want to (NEED to!) document them all. Every time I get in a rut with blogging I give my blog a nice makeover and that usually does the trick. My goal for the next few days is to redo my blog, get myself motivated to write, and get you all caught up on our wonderful new life here at Travis AFB! Stay tuned...

It's Time!

Just wanted to stop by and say that moving day is tomorrow!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

Welcome to Travis!

After months of waiting Jake and I finally got to Travis together last Sunday! I took the above picture from outside our hotel room. Isn't it just gorgeous?! It's so beautiful and green here. I just love it! We've had such a great time getting to explore our new base over the past week and it is a completely different world than Columbus!

Travis AFB is like a perfect little town that is safe and clean and has everything you might need right inside its gates. There are tons of different food choices on base (Subway, Taco Bell, Godfathers Pizza, Burger King, and on and on), a Wal-mart sized BX for shopping (that sells Apple products -yes!), a full-sized Starbucks, a huge gym, hospital, bank, auto shop and gas station, post office, dry cleaners, movie theater, hotel, bowling alley, several different churches, community pool, a duck pond, a dog park, and the biggest commissary (grocery store) that I could ever even imagine. And then there's all the planes! We have the C-17, KC-10, and C-5. This base is massive! But even though it is so huge everything is laid out really well so it actually feels pretty small and not at all overwhelming like I thought it might be.

The great news is that if there is something that I can't get on base, we are just minutes from all the good restaurants and shopping I could ask for! Actually its kind of dangerous how good the shopping is out here... Vacaville outlets anyone? Yeah... AND we're less than an hour from San Francisco, Sacramento, and Napa. Should I say it again? I love it here!! And even though it feels like a city (a huge city compared to Columbus), the base and town are surrounded by gorgeous rolling green hills. Leaving the back gate of base actually reminds me a lot of the beautiful green hills of Austria! I hope it will stay this green for awhile and not turn brown as soon as the weather gets hot...

Now let me move on to the topic of finding a house. Back in August when we found out our new assignment, Jake and I researched and asked around to AF friends to see whether we would want to live on or off base. We both decided hands-down that we would live on base because you get so much more for your money (Vacaville is an expensive area), we wouldn't have to worry about my safety when Jake deploys,  we would be in an all-military community, and the housing is BRAND NEW!

As soon as we decided this we called to get our name on the housing list (back in October 2010). We entered the housing list at #20 but I thought it was sure to go down by the time March came around. Well, when we checked into the housing office on Wednesday we were disappointed to find out we were only #15 on the list. The housing lady basically told us to not get our hopes up for getting a house anytime soon. Bummer.

But in an unexpected turn of events, we got a call on Friday morning saying that they had a house for us! How we moved up 15 spots overnight is strange to me but, hey, I'm not complaining! I think I shouted "We'll take it!!!" before she could even finish her sentence. We immediately went over and signed the papers. Woooo hoooo!! And the really awesome news is that we get to move on the 28th, which is just a week from tomorrow!

After we signed the paper work, we went over to check out which house was ours. The current occupants haven't fully moved out yet so we tried to be sly as we drove by snapping pictures :) Check it out...

It's a one-story, 2000 sq ft., 3 bdrm 2 bath house and it was just built in September so it's completely brand new! And yes we have a palm tree in our front yard - sooo California :) Although Jake was really hoping for the 2-story model, I was beyond thrilled to get the one-story... I got SO tired of vacuuming dog hair off the stairs in our last house and having to go up and down the stairs every time I forgot something. Another nice thing about the house is that it already has a privacy fenced backyard that is move-in ready for the pups!

After getting this exciting and totally unexpected news about our house I couldn't focus on anything else so I talked Jake into going furniture shopping. We've been slowly saving up for a new living room set for almost 2 years now and decided it was finally time to buy! We shopped around at a bunch of furniture stores and then went back and looked at some more stores online. We came to this unanimous decision...

What do you think? I'm just in love with the whole set! I'm so excited about the ease of cleaning leather (no more vacuuming dog hair off couches every time we have guests over!) and the light color of them will definitely brighten up the entire living room. It will all be arriving just a few days after we move in and I can hardly wait! 

So there you have it. What an amazing past week I've had! The housing situation was such a huge answer to prayer. Getting the house means that in just one week I get to be reunited for good with my husband and we can officially be back to life as normal. I've just felt so blessed this week and so thankful for the wonderful things God has given me - I stress about the details of each move we make (5 moves in 2.5 years!) but He ALWAYS takes care of us and blesses me beyond my expectations.

Get ready for a whole bunch of new house/decorating posts!

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

I thought I'd do a quick post just to say that today is Jake's 25th birthday! Happy birthday Jake! I can't believe I've celebrated 6 birthdays with him already. I wasn't sure we would be together this year but as I write this, Jake is on his way to Turlock to see me! Tonight we are going to go out to celebrate with friends and then tomorrow we are BOTH heading back to Travis :) I can't wait to explore the base and local area together - actually I don't even care what we do together, I'm just glad its together. I'm going to take some pictures as we explore base this week so I'll be sure to post those soon. Have a great weekend!

Disgusting.

When I woke up this morning I let the dogs outside to do their business, as usual. I intended to let them right back in but it was really cold in the house so I actually hopped back under the covers and ended up snoozing for a bit. Anyways, when I finally got up I went to bring them back inside and was horrified by what I saw. The dogs had brought a huge, dead, decomposing rat up to the back door and were playing with it! EW EW EW!!!

I could deal with the fact that the dogs needed to be seriously bathed - I could handle that - but how the heck was I going to dispose of this horrible thing?! And why is Jake always conveniently gone when I get into these situations? Haha, just kidding Jake ;)

After pretending it didn't exist for awhile I came to the harsh realization that the rodent wasn't going to move itself; somebody had to do it. So I gave myself a big pep talk... "You are a strong woman! You can do this! It's dead, what's it going to do to you? JUST DO IT." I then proceeded to go outside and grab the shovel over by the big green trashcan, determined to get it over with.

The next part should have been video taped. I am ridiculous. For about five times in a row, I walked up to the, uh, "thing" and then ran away making dramatic "ew" noises. If any neighbors were witnessing this, I'm sure it was very entertaining. Anyways, I decided that the worst part was looking at the thing so I came up with the idea of throwing an old garage towel over it and then using the shovel. That would've worked great except I also have horrible aim so when I threw the towel I totally missed and ended up having to get even closer to the thing to pick it up. GAH! Why am I so ridiculous? Oh goodness...

Finally I maned-up and just did it. The "thing" can now rest in peace inside a towel inside my big outdoor trash can (which, I can assure you, will NOT be opened until after trash day). And they look so innocent...

Congrats to Jake!

On Monday Jake passed his final checkride and completed his C-17 training at Altus!! This is such exciting news because it means he's finally coming to California! He did such an awesome job through the whole program and I know he's so happy and ready to get to our new base and finally be out of the AETC training world. Today he drove back to our old base in Mississippi to gather all our things from the storage unit and start preparing to head west. And since I'm not much of a help with moving right now, his dad is flying out to help with the big move - Thank you Tim!!

I can't believe that in just about a week I will have my husband back :) It seems so surreal! These past six months flew by much faster than I ever expected but I am very much missing Jake - It's been 8 weeks since we've seen eachother.. Yikes!

Our next hurdle is to try and get on-base housing at Travis. We've been on the waiting list since last fall but still have 8 people in front of us. I'm really hoping we can get a house before we have to resort to signing a lease off-base. Until then Jake will live in a TLF, Temporary Living Facility, on base and I will come to stay with him as much as I can (Our dogs will still be living in Turlock until we get a house at Travis because the yard at my dad's house is so much nicer than forcing them to live in a hotel room with no outdoor area).

So thats the plan as of now. Yay for big exciting changes!!

Post-Operation Update

Well I can honestly say that this has been one lonnngg week. The surgery (and recovery) didn't go exactly as planned but in the end everything seems to have worked out just fine. Here's the story...

I went in on Thursday morning and was taken right back for surgery, and just an hour after surgery I woke up from the anesthesia and was cleared to head home. A short while after being home I started having really severe pains in my stomach, right below my ribs in the center. Without exaggerating, it was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. The pain was so bad that it was causing me to pass out and throw up continuously. Nervous and scared, I rushed back to the hospital where my doctor met me to look at my incisions. I was given morphine and finally experienced relief from the horrible pain. The doctor said that everything looked fine and the pain was probably from built-up CO2 in my stomach from the surgery, although to me it did NOT feel like gas pain to me! Either way, the pain was gone so I was happy. The doctor admitted me to the hospital for the next two nights to keep an eye on my recovery and help manage the pain.

It really was such a blessing to be able to stay in the hospital for a lot of reasons. First off, the bed was super comfortable and helped to lift me up and down from the bed when needed. I was also able to stay on the good pain meds and have the comfort of nurses taking care of me through the night. But the most unexpected thing that happened is that my mom got really sick on Thursday and even worse on Friday and was unable to do much of anything to help take care of me, even though she wanted to. I felt so bad for her! Me being in the hospital gave her a chance to go home and work on getting well without having to worry about taking care of me (And now she's feeling much better by the way!).

On Saturday morning I got to come home and was happy to get settled in my own bed. The Doctor prescribed me Norco (Vicodin) to help with the pain and while it worked well and helped me sleep, it started giving me some awful side effects like chest pressure and nausea. Sunday and Monday I continued to take it easy and started to slowly wean myself off the heavy medication, which really made me feel much better. I think I'd rather have the surgery pain than the medicine side effects - I guess I'm just really sensitive to meds! Yesterday was the first day I was up and around the house and today was the first day I was able to completely stop taking my pain meds (Woo hoo!). I'm starting to feel like myself again, just a bit sore and slow-moving. I have my post-op check up tomorrow so we'll see what the doctor has to say about my recovery. I would say I'm probably pretty average... I'll have to take it slow for another week or two but it's not too horrible (with the exception of the first two days of course!)

The good news in all of this is that the doctor gave me confirmation that my gallbladder definitely was the culprit in this roller coaster of illness - He said it was inflamed and infected when he removed it. Thank goodness because I would hate to have been told that it looked perfectly healthy and was not actually the cause of my troubles. Now, I guess only time will tell if I am able to resume a completely normal diet again (I'm still too nervous to try some foods...) but at this point I'm remaining optimistic. Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement! I'm beyond ready to put all this medical drama in the past and move on to bigger and better things :)

Surgery tomorrow...

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 I'll be going in to have my gallbladder removed. I'm really happy to get this over with and get back to feeling healthy but I can't help but be super nervous about this whole thing. I've never really had surgery before and hospitals in general make me all queasy... and lets not even get started on the whole IV thing - I HATE needles - eek! Prayers and happy thoughts are much appreciated...

I'm actually really surprised by how many people have had their gallbladder taken out - it seems like everyone I talk to lately has had this surgery! One thing I have gathered from talking to over a dozen people I know who've had this surgery is that the results and recovery time vary A TON. Some people said it was no big deal and were back on their feet in a day or two while others have told me it took them a month to feel good again; Some people said they could completely resume a normal diet afterwards and others said they have to watch fatty foods and dairy.

I'm usually an extremely optimisitic person but I can't help but think I'll be on the slow side of recovery. Any time I have a "routine procedure", such as when I got my wisdom teeth out a year ago, I seem to be very sensitive to the meds and have the pain tolerance of a baby. Who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself?

With all that said though, I am finding comfort in knowing that I have a great surgical team, a wonderfully supportive family to take care of me, and an ALMIGHTY God who loves me and wants the best for me. A saying that has been getting me through my nerves is this: "The opposite of faith is fear". What do I have to fear when I have faith that God will take care of me? Who am I to ever doubt Him? I know everything will be just fine and I will be so thankful that I got the surgery done and over with!

Painful Braces & Gallbladder Trouble

Goodness, I have so much to blog about! The problem with that is that sitting down to write a post has become a completely overwhelming thought so I just put it off and put it off, all the while my list of posts to write grows even more. So instead of writing a massive update post, I'll just write on one thing at a time and see if that helps kick my blogging priority up a notch :)

As you probably can tell from my lovely post title, this post is a health update. Let's start with a quick recap on my braces situation. Can you believe they've been on for over 9 months already? Time is flying! This past week I had the forsus spring appliance added to my braces (remember when I talked about that in this post a while back?)... Check out my sweet new gear...

And by "sweet" I actually mean horribly painful and awkward.

Between the jaw and cheek pain caused by the giant spring, and the tooth pain caused by the added "power chain" to close the gaps in my upper teeth, I was in misery for the few days following my appointment. But now, the pain has worn off and my mouth has adjusted to the new appliance so all is well :) This spring is a great option considering my other ones include wearing braces with rubber bands for two years, or having surgery to have my jaw realigned (eek!)... Yeah, I'm definitely appreciative of this hard-working little appliance in my mouth. And the exciting news is that I only have two more appointments before the braces come off for good! Just in time for my sister's June wedding :)

Alright, moving on to my gallbladder trouble... Two weeks ago when I met with the surgeon, he was not convinced it was my gallbladder giving me trouble - He gave it an 80% guess that it could be the problem which to him wasn't enough to go through with surgery. Honestly, I very much appreciated that because I was not at all wanting to rush into a surgery, especially if it wasn't going to do any good.

So anyways, the doctor decided to put me on a strict, low-fat diet for two weeks to see how my symptoms responded. This diet has been MISERABLE - No dairy (no milk, cheese, whaaat??), no butter, no eggs, no chocolate, no tomato sauce, nothing fried or cooked with oil, no bacon, only lean/grilled meats, no gravies, and absolutely no eating out (as there is nothing on most menus that adhere to my diet plan). Thank goodness I was still allowed to have coffee or I might not have made it! Anyone who knows me, knows that I have horrible eating habits so this was definitely a new experience for me. But to my wonderful surprise, within just two days of eating on this diet my pain and symptoms were gone! Not better... but actually GONE. I continued on with the diet and have felt almost completely back to normal ever since!

Then, this past Saturday night all of friends decided to go out to Mexican food. I was NOT going to stay home just because of this dumb diet. Mexican food is my absolute favorite! I knew I couldn't have any chips and salsa but I thought I'd go ahead and try to eat one chicken enchilada, with no cheese of course. Harmless right? Nooo. That night the pain came back with a vengence and this time it not only was in my chest but it also radiated around my back which was a completely new symptom. I guess I overlooked the fact that the tortilla was fried in oil...oops! Anyways, today I had my follow-up appointment with the surgeon and he now says without a doubt that I need to have my gallbladder removed. I will be scheduled for the surgery to happen sometime within the next two weeks. I'm really praying that this will relieve my pain and let me resume life as normal again, and I'm hoping for an easy and speedy recovery as Jake and I prepare to move to our new base next month. Prayers are very much appreciated! I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading!!

Five months down, One to go!

Way back at the beginning of September, I said goodbye to my husband and sent him off for 6 months of training. Back then I remember thinking that March was forever away and that time would definitely pass so slowly until we were back together. Today I realized that its already February, which means that there's only one month until we're back together and at our new base! 35 days to be exact...

Where has all the time gone? How is it already February? Granted I was dead to the world for 2 months - Oh shoot, wait, pretend I didn't say that - I'm not talking about being sick anymore :) But aside from that and the awfulness of being away from Jake, my time here in Turlock these past 5 months has been pretty awesome! I get to have coffee or lunch with my mom most days, spend time with my little brother and dad most afternoons, and have girl time with my friends most nights. Life is good! I had forgotten what it's like to live by my family and best friends... and it's wonderful.

Here's a picture of me and my favorite girls on New Years Eve. I've known them for over 10 years and am so happy to have them in my life.

And thankfully I haven't been only hanging out and sitting around for the last 6 months (or I'd be going CRAZY by now). I've been working 25+ hours a week designing and doing schoolwork for 12+ hours on top of that. Having more time on my hands has been great for my business and I've been able to put in the time it needs to really get started and keep growing. I've been booking design clients steadily now two months in advance (which is great for budgeting my income) and in April I'll be moving to a full-time, 40 hour work week!! I can't say enough how amazing it is to be working for myself and doing something I enjoy. School has been going well too, although the classes are SOO very challenging at times. But in March I will have completed the first portion of my certificate and will be over half way done with the program already! Although school has been hard, I really do enjoy it and with every class I get more and more excited about my new career path.

Hmm, what else do I have to tell you. OH! As most of you know, my sister is getting married in June so as her MOH I've been in full wedding planning mode. I'm so excited for her and feel lucky to be involved every step of the way - I don't want to miss anything! This wedding is going to be FABULOUS! Can you feel my excitement? :)

I had the pleasure of designing their "Save-the-date" postcards a few months ago. Here's the front of the card... Aren't they just the cutest couple ever??

Well, I think I'm going to end on that lovely note. I have lots more to say but it's late and I need to get some sleeeep. I'm just so happy to be blogging again! Did you miss me? :)

Running in Circles

Well another month has gone by and honestly I've been too depressed to blog because my life has been nothing but sickness, medical tests, and laying in bed, while also trying to keep up with work and school. There's really nothing about this past month that I want to remember so I had no motivation to blog. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic... I'm just so ready to feel healthy again!

Since I last wrote, I've had a battery of tests done including an EDG scope, CT scan, multiple ultrasounds, and multiple blood tests - and all of my tests came back "normal". The scope showed that my esophogus was inflamed and swollen but the Dr didn't find any ulcers or anything that would be causing me severe pain.

Next the Dr wanted to check my gallbladder. He said that could be the reason for the inflammation in my esophagus and the cause of my chest and stomach pain. I got a Hida scan done and it came back showing my gallbladder functioning but only 2% away from not functioning. It seemed like we finally found the problem. Well, today I met with a surgeon to see if getting my gallbladder out would relieve my pain and he seemed to think that it wouldn't. He thinks my symptoms don't necessarily point to a problem in my gallbladder and taking it out might not even help at all. Is it crazy that I was praying that it was my gallbladder? I was so hoping that having a small surgery would take away all my problems.

I feel like I've been running around in circles for the last 9 weeks. I get my hopes up every time a doctor says "this is your problem - here's how we fix it" and then get let down every time they find nothing and leave me with no answers. After every appointment I end up back where I started. The only improvement is that I've been prescribed medicine to help with the pain while they try to figure out what to do next.

Maybe I just have a virus that needs to work itself out. Maybe I will wake up one day and feel back to normal...

On a positive side note, I did mange to get everything straightened out with insurance so I don't have to stress about going to the doctor when I need to. It actually turned out to be super easy to switch my insurance from Mississippi to California (Thanks for the advice Angela!)

Anyways, I'm so tired of talking about being sick... For the month of February, I'm making it my goal to blog at least once a week about something other than sickness :) I'm going to attempt to take my life back even if my body doesn't want me to!

Prayers for a Better January...

Sorry I've been MIA for the last month. I had so many great holiday posts I wanted to write but to be honest December was one of the worst months I've had in a long, long time and writing on my personal blog was the last thing on my list. On top of several things going on with my family and friends (that I don't feel are appropriate to talk about on a blog), I've been very sick for several weeks and nobody seems to be able to help me. WARNING: This is going to be a long story, but I really need to vent... Don't feel like you have to read all this :)

Last you heard (on this blog anyways) is that I had bronchitus, the same bronchitus I get every year that has always been easily cured by one simple round of antibiotics. Well, no such luck this time. I've been sick for over 5 weeks now, seen 4 different doctors with 6 different appointments, 1 trip to the ER, several blood tests & xrays, and about 10 different prescription meds... and with all that I feel no better than when all this started and don't really have any answers.

Essentially it started when I got meds for bronchitis and was prescribed a zpak and prednisone (the same meds I get every year and have never had a problem). This time, I had an awful allergic reaction to the zpak that sent me to the ER. Then I went on ammoxicylan, which seemed to work great at getting rid of the bronchitis but I was still feeling horrible chest pain and severe exhaustion. Come to find out out I have an ulcer in my stomach caused from the prednisone (or so they think...) and was put on meds for it. They also took some blood tests and found that I have an underactive thyroid (Hypothyrodism).. which apparently accounts for my exahuastion. After these tests (two weeks ago), I was optimistic that everything was figured out and I would be feeling better soon. Again, no such luck. I've tried 3 different meds for this apparant "ulcer" that I have and none seem to help at all - in fact, I've ended up getting worse because of the side effects of those drugs which makes me wonder if I am being treated for the right thing. The only thing thats improved is the exhaustion since they started me on medicine for my thyroid, but the chest and stomach pain have not improved. Apparently, the next step is for me to get an endoscopy of my GI tract... where the put a tube down your throat into your stomach to take a look around... yeah, not fun...

And to make matters worse, I've been having a hard time even getting in to see a doctor at all because of Tricare (military insurance). Technically right now I am not at any base - we've outprocessed from Columbus but don't report to Travis AFB until March 14th and I'm not at Altus AFB with Jake so I really have no doctor in all of this medical mess. It's been such a pain dealing with the insurance and the clinic at Columbus and trying to get so many out-of-town referrals from across the country. It's been a very stressful situation, which I'm sure isn't helping me recover any faster. Any tips on dealing with Tricare are very appreciated!

On top of all that, today I had to say goodbye to Jake for another 10 weeks :( We were able to spend the last 10 days together (which were wonderful, even if I wasn't feeling great... everything's better when my husband is with me...) but now he is back in Oklahoma to complete his last few months of training. At least this time, when he gets back we will be able to finally resume our lives together at our new base... we've been apart 4 months already so now I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Okay, now that I've had a chance to vent, I'd love to ask for your prayers. First please pray for my family as they are going through some tough stuff right now and can really use your thoughts and prayers this week, and secondly I ask you to pray for my healing. This ongoing sickness, especially being off and on so many different medications with no relief, is really taking a toll on every part of my life - physically, mentally, emotionally... and I'm starting to really wear thin.

Anyways, I hope you all were able to enjoy a great holiday season with your loved ones; despite everything going on, I was still able to have a really nice time with my family and friends.

Praying for a better January and a wonderful 2011 for everyone!