If you really want to know...

Well, my trip home this past weekend wasn't exactly how I thought it would pan out.

I flew in Wednesday night and had a lot of fun seeing my parents and Celeste and catching up. Lily was even excited to see me.

I loved walking off the airplane and feeling that hot, humidity hit me. It immediately felt like home. I always love coming home to Texas. I always love doing a walk through of my whole house each time I visit. So many memories. It's home.

The next day, I had 2 photo shoots. I had a blast. I'll be posting them soon!

My dad was also working on our OLD meadowbrook house. It was empty, so they were doing some repairs before new people moved in. For those of you who don't know, the house on meadowbrook is where I grew up during my pre-school, elementary, and middle school days.

Such a fun little neighborhood. It brought back a ton of memories just driving up to the little ol house. I used to drag all the youngins ( younger than me, and older!) to play school with me. I was the teacher of course. They hated me. Luckily, they didn't hate me too much, because we always had friends to play with in our little neighborhood. Our backyard was ENDLESS, as I remember. It was HUGE. We had hideouts/clubhouses, a huge tree house ( lots of sleep overs were held there), make-believe "store", bike riding, golf cart riding, lots of play productions, and things of that sort all went on in our backyard. It was AWESOME. It was a lot of fun walking through that little Meadowbrook house again. Good times.

I also loved seeing this little one. Celeste is 17 ! I can't even believe it. When I picture Celeste, she's still supposed to be in diapers with her little blonde hair sticking up all over the place. Definitely not in diapers. She's a grown woman! and beautiful too. She's a social little thing and reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age. I enjoyed spending time with her.

I had my last photo shoot Friday morning. I actually woke up that morning feeling just AWFUL. My body was achy and It hurt to swallow... you know... THAT kind of sick feeling. I HAD to suck it up and give it my all during that photo shoot. It was a very long hour and a half, but I got through it, thankfully! I started to feel worse as the day went on... I was super bummed because my dad had already bought my mom and I AWESOME front tow tickets to see WICKED in Dallas that night! I HAD to get better. I seriously slept ALL day. When the time came to go, I rolled out of bed, put a dress on, and took some day-quil. Luckily, my mom drove, so I slept the whole way there. Thankfully, when the play started, I wasn't feeling as bad as I was earlier that day. I felt like it was a tender mercy and I was able to enjoy the whole thing! It was AMAZING. Wicked is now my favorite musical ( it's up there with Les Miserables and The Sound of Music.) I thought it was THE cutest. I loved all the costumes and everything. It was really neat sitting in the front row! I've never gotten to do that before, so it was really exciting. It was the perfect way to see WICKED. I thought it was hilarious and had a great message. My mom loved it too. I want to see it again and again... in the meantime, I bought the sound-track. That will do for now. :)

However, the next morning... I felt like death. I was awfully sick and slept ALL.DAY.LONG. I was especially bummed because I was supposed to drive down and see Ben and Emily and their girls. I can't tell you how much of a bummer that was not being able to see those guys. They were so understanding though and I am looking forward to seeing them in August. I was absolutely miserable. I still am. The Porters even called and invited us over later that night and I was just too sick. :( I haven't been this sick in a long time. I feel like the sickness is just moving all throughout my body... I started out with chills and head aches. I had a sore throat and my body ached. I felt like I was on fire or something. Recently, it's moved to my face and ears. I feel like I'm swollen all over and my throat and ears have been killing me. I also have this forsaken cough. I prayed and prayed that my plane ride home wouldn't be too miserable. I was seriously dreading it. I flew home Monday morning, woke up still feeling awful. I really said quite a few prayers and I am thankful again because the plane ride wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Tender mercies! When I got off the airplane in Salt Lake, my head felt like it was going to explode.

This was yesterday. I felt like I was in a tunnel and I couldn't hear very well. Last night, I woke up at 3 am with excruciating pain in my right ear. If you're bored reading this... or if you enjoy having sympathy for me... or if you've made it this far... keep reading...

I seriously felt like I was in 1st grade again. All I had growing up were these awful ear aches. I mean, AWFUL. I re-lived my childhood last night and was quickly reminded how AWFUL ear aches are. It was so bad, there was no way I could even sleep. I was desperate. I woke up and googled how to ease the pain of an ear infection... and I read that you can soak a cotton ball in some lysterine or mouth wash and put it in your ear. At first I was a little skeptical, but as the pain kept getting worse and worse ( it seemed) I didn't care anymore and put a cotton ball soaked in mouth wash in my ear. SURPRISINGLY, 15 minutes later, the pain eased and I was finally asleep. Thank heaven.

I'm still sick. I have a lovely cough. The earache is still there... but I have my mouthwash ready incase it decides to hurt again. Mouthwash certainily beats a $150 doctor bill. :)

All in all, it was fun seeing my family... but it was SUCH a bummer to be in bed THE WHOLE TIME I was home. I'm grateful I at least finished all my photo shoots. I will post pictures soon!

For those of you who made it to the end of this post... whew... you deserve a sticker that says:

" world's greatest friend who has an annoying friend who is always complaining about how sick she is, but I still love her."

Thank you for putting up with me and my complaints!

I could be even more sick, and I'm not, so I'm counting my blessings! :)

The End.