Yes he is home! I can't believe this is my first time to be on here since June. Things have been going great! Jeremy called me from Germany at 1 a.m. on July 6
th to let me know that he was on his way home. We had 2 options:
1.) He could wait at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport all day on our anniversary (07-07-08), until he flew into Little Rock that evening.
2.) I could drive to Dallas and pick him up.
Of course, I packed my bags and was in Dallas by 11 p.m. on July 6th. To keep things in order on here, I will get to Dallas later on in the post!! I guess I will have to go backwards from today (we aren't doing anything today and it is great).
Last night we went to
Jonesboro to hear Brian sing. They did a tribute for Jeremy and afterwards he stood up front with Brian. Everyone came by to shake his hand and give him hugs. It was really sweet.
Before we left home last night.
The place was packed
And it was such a beautiful night.
We went to
IHOP afterwards since it was 10:30 p.m. when the show ended. I think we get home around 4 a.m. Ashley was asleep in the back and we forgot to drop her off at her house in East End, so we got to
Ico and realized we needed to turn around :). Needless to say we slept good.
On Friday, we celebrated Jana's Birthday at Electric Cowboy. It was really funny, we had SO much fun. It was Jeremy's first time to go there, but I think he fit in all right.
Andrew (Jana's Husband) and Jeremy
Jeremy and his brother Eric
Wednesday and Thursday were kind of unplanned days. We are trying to NOT make plans as much as possible. On Wednesday, Jana worked us in at the dental office that she works at in Otter Creek. Jeremy was having some pain in a tooth that he has always had problems with. On Thursday he had a root canal. It went well and he is doing fine now! At midnight on Thursday night we even went to the midnight showing of Batman. We loved it.
Monday and Tuesday were spent in Tunica. We had some free rooms there and had been planning on using them on our R&R. Jeremy and I stayed at Gold Strike, while mom and Brian stayed at Harrah's. It was a good get away for us.
The room was really nice.
Our view of the Mississippi River from the room.
Brian with the
Bat Mobile at Hollywood Casino
The sunset was beautiful on the way home.
On Saturday, Jeremy's Grandparents had the family over for lunch. It was lots of fun and the food was great! I wish we had a group picture.
This is
Katlyn, Jeremy's sister
Jeremy and Chloe needed a nap after the
barbecue.
Logan had fun playing outside
We all had a good time.
On Friday night, we went to Dorey's with grandma and grandpa. There was a new baby pony there that was so cute!
Another night we went to Red Lobster with Jeremy's dad! We have been eating way too much. We were headed that way after stopping at
Wal-Mart in the picture below.
The rest of the week once we got into Arkansas, we just hung around the house and visited with family. Jeremy was so glad to be home.
We arrived in Arkansas on July 8
th.
We had a very fast trip home from Dallas. Jeremy got to know his new Tahoe and we got to talk about anything and everything. We only had one hold up, which was traffic about an hour outside of Dallas.
When we left our hotel, we went to Red Robin for lunch before we headed home. It was very good.
Our time in Dallas was great! It
allowed Jeremy to readjust to the United States without being overwhelmed with everything all at once. It was really hot, but at least he was already used to the heat. I arrived at about 11p.m. on July 6
th. The trip to Dallas by myself was way better and went way faster than I expected. I was very pleasantly surprised! The navigation system in the Tahoe came in very handy. Anyway, I decided to go on down and spend the night at the airport so I could be there and ready when his plane landed. From my hotel room(located inside
DFW airport) I could see the runway. I loved the room, it was very nice and new. The bed was awesome! It was
sooo soft, I actually slept! I figured I would be too excited to sleep.
I liked the ice bucket.
So I went to sleep at about 3 a.m. It was so pretty in the room, I turned off all the lights and left the curtains open. I had my alarm set for about 7:30 the next morning. I knew his plane was landing at 8:30 a.m., but they told him he would be free to go at about 10:00 a.m. So I figured I had plenty of time to get ready and go down to get him. When I rolled out of bed at 7:45 a.m I walked over to the window and saw this.....
and I knew he had made it!! His flight was the only North American flight coming in that morning. So he was about 45 minutes early. I figured I better hurry and get ready to go meet him! Next thing I know at 8:30 a.m. he is at the hotel door. He said there were lots of veterans and other people down there to welcome them. They finished everything very quickly and he was texting me telling me he was finished. He was actually glad that he didn't have to meet me down there, he just walked up to the receptionist at the hotel and she gave him a room key! So I never even made it down there to greet him, but at least I was there and I saw the plane land :) We were both very glad that I went down there early, becuase we wound up having a whole extra day together.
We went to Cheesecake Factory in Dallas, and on the way back to the hotel I took a turn that toppled over our ice chest.....Jeremy hopped in the back and I had to keep driving because I was holding up traffic. There was soo much water in the back.
I know he was so glad that I was there to stand around and take pictures.
Another view from the hotel at sunset on our anniversary
It was windy on the rooftop! We went up there to watch airplanes. There was a swimming pool up there too.
We had a great time in Dallas, but it was good to be HOME
So that just about has me caught up on what has been going on with us! His last week home, all he wants to do is stay home. That is one big difference in military life vs. civilian life. In our civilian world, vacationing involves getting away from home. Coming home from a deployment, you only want to be home.
Here are some pics from our July 4th trip to Degray (before Jeremy came home). I haven't had a chance to post these since things have been different around here!
A storm came up, but we lucked out and it blew over
Ready for the fireworks
Pretty sky
Brian stepped on a landscaping border on our way to the truck. He was in so much pain. We thought it was ironic when we saw the picture on the boat next to us.
It was a really deep cut but he was fine. We put alcohol on it and a band aid from the first aid kit.
Happy 1st Birthday Chloe Mae.
Happy 26th Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!!
It is also Josh Cotton's birthday, I don't have a picture but Happy Birthday Josh! 
Also, I forgot to post before that we ate our wedding cake while Jeremy was here. We got around to eating it around July 25th instead of July 7th, but oh well! This cake topper flew home with our luggage (in an ice chest) all the way from Hawaii last year. In fact, the whole point in me carrying an ice chest to Dallas was to make sure we had our anniversary cake. Of course, I forgot it. Anyway, we only took one bite a piece and gave some to the dogs. It kind of tasted like the hibiscus flowers that were still on it....
I went with mom to work the past couple of days, just to get out of the house. We had fun but we did a lot of driving! We wound up at a hotel in Mississippi. She usually stays away from home once or twice a week because her territory is really large she does marketing for Mars Company. So we were way down in south Arkansas and Mississippi driving around everywhere. The towns in that area are so old and interesting. It can be kind of depressing though, just seeing everything that used to be. Anyway, I loved the room at the hotel!
I was working on a migraine, so I decided to take a bath. I was SHOCKED when I saw this! I left the water running, and when I went back to finally take a bath the water scared me. To think, this is normal? Crazy! How am I supposed to relax in what looks like "boil order" water. I gave it a try but still took a shower afterwards.
My headache got so much worse as the night went on. I was in tears with a terrible migraine. Mom went and got me Tylenol since that's pretty much all I can take. I fell asleep pretty quickly, luckily.
