Tuesday, September 4, 2012

10-Day Vacay {Part 1: the drive & poolside}

We are coming off of our much anticipated vacation to Dallas/Fort Worth and Nebraska to see our friends and families in each area. Boy was it a wonderful vacation! 

Another Adventure Print 14x11  by Fresh Words Market
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I like to post things chronologically, so before we move on to the fun vacation pictures, I have to share my lively trip to the emergency room (ugh) the day we were set to head south. 

It was the Friday before last and long story short, I had pain/difficulty swallowing after using an adhesive pain patch on the back my neck, higher than I usually wear it. After seeing this could be an indicator of an allergic reaction, I assured myself I was fine since I removed the patch, and that I should get better with time. The next morning at work, I felt the same difficulty and just wanted to be assured it was ok, so went to a quick-clinic where I was told that with my symptoms, I needed to go straight to the emergency room. Before I even got to my car, panic mode began as I (with tears already in my eyes, and a pounding heart) called Nick to fill him in on this quick turn of events. He was on his way in a few minutes and met me in my ER room before the doc came in. 

The doc checked my vitals and was pretty quick to determine I didn't have other signs of a classic allergic reaction and he didn't think it was a reaction to the pain patch. He wasn't sure what it was (I hadn't eaten shell fish or other common causes), but told me to take Benedryl (the over the counter kind) every 6 hours and to watch it to be sure it doesn't get worse. That was it. Ugh. Frustrating in the end that the other doc got me all worked up, but I suppose that's what they're trained to do with those symptoms. I was on adrenaline the rest of the afternoon as I returned to work and that night after work, we were on the road for our even more awaited vacation!
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Back to our DE-stressing vacation...

 I took many photos to try to relive our vacation again through these posts:), I'll break up the trip into multiple posts. 
We were up with the sun Saturday morning to drive from Ankeny, Iowa to Arlington, Texas. 

 My weatherman dad;) had prepped me that we could be expecting scattered storms during our drive that day. He was right! 

 This super dark cloud was weird - I could see the beginning of it, the end of it, and the sides of it and it was much darker than the rest of the sky. It was weird, it didn't have any rain under it either. So I took pictures of it.




 A little while after that crazy cloud passed, we encountered the real rain clouds. 

 It rained off and on for a while..

 I love when you can see in the distance where the rain starts/stops.

 The rain clouds broke after a while to give us the pretty scenery we're so used to seeing on this drive. 






This is one of my favorite photos of the trip so far!  It's amazing the things you can see from the passenger seat. You see, I have to take these photos of things Nick couldn't enjoy as much since he was driving!

 Have I ever mentioned how much I love the sky and clouds? I could be entertained taking photos of the sky every day for the rest.of.my.life. 




 OooOoo...

 Ahhhhhh...

 12ish hours after our drive began, we could finally spot downtown Fort Worth! I was excited, I miss that downtown.

 I've also missed this POOL! And my parents and friends of course, but the pool is next up chronologically, so we'll start there. 
My dad takes great care of this beauty.

 This was my view for a few days while I was floating on the pool.... can't complain. A panicky trip to the ER was totally worth these relaxing days at the pool that followed. 
 Boo loves his life. Although he didn't always love his house guests (I'm his sister for cryin'outloud!), he does love my parents and keeps them protected from bad guys like Nick and I ;)
 The pool ranged from 80-82 degrees while we were there on the near-100 degree days. Perfect.


Nick was so kind to help my mom stain her new fence on one of the 100 degree days. Such a trooper - my mom so appreciated his help staining two coats of this pretty red color. It really makes all of the other colors in the backyard pop.


 I enjoyed their hard work from my cool spot in the pool. I did offer my help, but my mom and Nick thought about the potential pain/soreness it would cause in my body and encouraged me to rest (are they the best or what?!).

 Seriously enjoying the relaxation and vitamin d

 Mom and dad (and Nick now) have worked so hard on the backyard and it looks so great.

 We all went out to dinner to celebrate the fence being done along with the "Double A Day"! This name represents both Nick and I's anniversary and my adoption day we celebrated earlier in August.
 We all enjoyed sea food and conversation. Dinner was followed by ice cream (for the other 3:)) at Braums, a south-central ice cream chain. 

More to come from our vacation including the Texas Rangers game!

Today's Pinspiration: 
Yep
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 ...So I wasn't at the beach, but I used this mentality at the pool.

In 1) celebration of Iowa State's first win of the season (did you see this video? I love our Cyclones!) and 2) preparation of the big Iowa/Iowa State game this weekend:
Iowa State Cyclones! #IowaState
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