Catching Up

I could say that I have just been very busy, which is true. But I have really meant to update the blog here for some time and just haven't done it. I will post some pictures from our Arkansas trip at the end of this post. Just a quick couple of notes for those who don't know. I did finally get a diagnosis for my mystery illness. The specialist that I saw in Grand Forks said that it was probably caused by a Parvovirus B19 infection. If you want to know what that is or more about it, you can follow the link or look it up on your own. Suffice it to say that it is no fun for an adult to have this at all. I had a blood test done in early September as a follow up that basically confirmed that diagnosis, so we are confident that I am basically done with that whole mess. According to what I have read, there are a few of the symptoms that can recur for months(particularly the joint pain is what I have noticed), but I am grateful to put it all behind me. The doctor still wants to run some blood tests to check my liver numbers again, but I don't know when they will do that. I have to see the doctor at some point this month because my Singulair prescription will run out, but we shall see.
We had a great trip to Arkansas to see family and friends and unfortunately couldn't see everyone that we wanted to see. Even two weeks just isn't enough time to do everything you want to do. It was a little warm for my taste though. We went through and entire summer here without ever seeing 90 degrees and it was already into the 60s most days by the time we left, so it was like hitting summer all over again with the weather there(except it was far more muggy than most of our summer).

Here is a shot of Amelia's family with the kids and me in the middle of it all.

Here are the kids with my parents.

This is me on the tee at Stonebridge Meadows in Fayetteville. I had a fun time playing a round with Doug that morning and he was kind enough to take this picture for me.

Thanks to the fact that my birthday follows the annual National Talk Like a Pirate Day; I was able to also participate in my sister's annual crazy piratey party. It was a lot of fun.

I was also able to see the Hogs play on my birthday this year. It had been five years since Gina and I had gone to see a game together. This game was not very memorable, but I had a good time and the Marching Razorback band rocked the house by doing the Thriller dance during their show. Man, I miss playing in the band sometimes.