Goodbye Utah, Hello Tennessee Part 2

The drive wasn't bad at first. It was actually going really well. I drove from Blanding into New Mexico. I drove from 10 am till about 5 or 6 am. Brad drove an hour of it. Then we switched. While driving, I couldn't find my ipod ANYWHERE and my CD's were tucked under all of our stuff. When my dad called me later, I learned that I left my ipod at my parents house in Cedar City, UT...

REMINDER: ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOU HAVE YOUR IPOD BEFORE YOU DRIVE 37 HOURS ACROSS THE US.

Luckily, my friend Jen gave me a CD with some stories on it from her husbands "adventures" all over the world so I listened to that a multiple times, a couple random CDs I had by change and spent A LOT of time flipping through the radio stations. You can find some really interesting stuff on the radio...

Texas was pretty exciting as you can tell from the picture to the left :)

The wind in Texas is ridiculous!

It killed the tarp on our trailer once again. We stopped in a town called Amarillo. The whole way to the city I couldn't get the song "Amarillo by morning" out of my head!

Never heard that song? Well, here's a link! It's an old country song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvEvplTE0VU

Nelly slept pretty much the whole way! 

She did really well which was 

a good thing for us!

Arkansas in the morning :)

Arkansas

My favorite state we drove through was Oklahoma. It's a different kind of pretty but I really liked it.  We stayed the night in Oklahoma City on the 16th. We woke up at 3 am so that we would make it to Jackson at 1 pm and we could sign our apartment lease. Brad drove through the first part of Oklahoma and then I finished driving through it. We got to drive by Checotah!!! I was so excited when we drove by it because that's where Carrie Underwood is from. Brad just laughed at me...

I ain't in Checotah anymore by Carrie Underwood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCHP99ESapc

 Soon enough, we made it to Arkansas! Everything was really green. Then... 50 miles outside of Memphis, TN the adventures began.

Our car started overheating. We were okay for a while. We could drive for a while, stop and then keep driving but then, it got worse. Brad called his brother who is a Mechanic and asked what we should do. We were driving in 90 degree weather, with 100% humidity and the heat on high. It was miserable. I thought I was going to die! Literally. 

We started having problems at about 10 or 11 am and finally a tow truck came and rescued us at 7 pm. THANK YOU MOM AND DAD FOR HELPING US! We got our apartment lease signed at 9 pm. We unpacked that night and crashed. I've NEVER been so happy to take a shower before. The humidity and no air conditioner for multiple houre, killed me. I was really gross...

Our Trailer...

Cedar City, UT

Attempt #1: Leaving my parents house in Cedar City, UT.

FAIL. We made it to Brad's parent's house in Blanding but the trailer had a rough time.

Attempt #2

Blanding, UT

FAIL. The wind was really bad in Texas and the wrapping around the trailer didn't make it. We had to stop at a Home Depot in Amarillo, TX and try to wrap it again. 

Attempt #3

Amarillo, TX

Attempt #4... Final Attempt...

 

Goodbye Utah, Hello Tennessee Part 1

Brad got offered a scholarship to play baseball at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. They cut the team at SUU so, everyone had to find a new school to play at if they wanted to keep playing ball.

Not long after the offer Brad recieved, we packed up our apartment, sold our furniture, got things figured out in Tennessee and hit the road!

We left 1 week after my surgery, August 14th. That wasn't the brightest idea... Our goal was to leave at 5:30 am. Do you think that really happened? Nope. We left at about 11 am. I am NOT a happy camper in the morning. It was official though, we were moving to Tennessee. Just us, our dog, and the stuff we thought was important enough to bring!

We spent that first day driving to Blanding to see Brad's parents. We spent the night and planned on leaving in the morning but, I didn't feel well. We decided to stay in Blanding an extra day so I could sleep more. We had a black tarp on our trailer but the wind killed it so we had to fix that also. I slept all day, went to the lake for a bit, and then slept some more.  After so much sleeping, I felt a lot better. We left Blanding that night at about 10 pm.

Nelly loved the boat.
She was a little scared and
wanted to sit on our lap but, she loved it!

Brad and his sister

Surgery

I got surgery on September 7th. I thought it was fun! Brad thinks I'm a freak because I love hospitals. We got to the hospital at about 7:30 am. Everyone says that IVs hurt really but when I got mine, it didn't hurt at all. To all of you guys in the future who need IVs, don't worry. They don't hurt that bad. Surgery was at 9:15 ish. I hung out with Brad and we watched "Bones" until it was time. My friend's dad was my anesthesiologist which was pretty cool. Gotta love living in a small town. Him and Dr. Heath came in and spoke with me for a second about what was going to happen.

Watching "Bones" on the ipad

Eventually, I was wheeled back to the OR. I was having fun talking to everyone in there who was prepping. They were really nice and thought I was crazy. They said most people aren't so "happy" and "calm" before surgery. The anesthesiologist told me he was going to put something in my IV to relax me then he would put the mask over my face so that I would go to sleep. After I was asleep he would put a tube down my throat. As soon as he put the stuff in my IV the room started spinning and it was making me sick. I told them, "The room is spinning and it's making me sick so I'm going to go to sleep. Good Luck!" My surgery was an hour and a half so it got done at like 11 ish.



Right after surgery.

When I first woke up I cried for a second because the pain was so bad but crying made it worse so I stopped and they gave me more meds. I didn't throw up or have any problems other than breathing. When I go under I forget to breath or don't breath enough. It's weird. They put me on oxygen for a while and I was discharged at about 1:30. 

The burned off my Endometriosis (google that word if you don't know what it means.) and put dye in my Fallopian tubes. The dye wouldn't go through one of the tubes which means it might be blocked... Dr. Heath also took out my appendix because I showed signs of appendicitis. Lastly, we also discovered that my body is making too much insulin which is slowly giving me Type 2 Diabetes. Everything went really well! Things could be much worse!


Surgery isn't scary at all. If you every have to get it, don't worry. Like I said, it's kind of fun! 


-A

 

The Royers, Established 2010

I figured I'd start with some of our wedding pictures before I jump into present time and all of our upcoming adventures! For those of you who are still getting to know us, We're quite an interesting couple.... but, we have LOTS of fun!

I am originally from Las Vegas, NV but moved to Cedar City, UT 3 days before my freshman year of HS. My husband is from a small town called Blanding, UT.

Brad served and LDS mission in the Indianapolis, Indiana Mission and came home December 23rd 2009. We met at Southern Utah University on January 4th 2010. I thought he was a stupid jock and he thought I was a ditzy blonde. He is an Athletic Training Major and I am an Elementary Education Major. He proposed in the mountains at Brian Head on March 6th 2010 and we were Married in June.

I married my best friend on June 26th 2010 in the St. George Temple. For all of those girls who are waiting to someday get married in the temple, it's worth the wait. It's absolutly amazing. Promise.

”When you come to the temple you will love your family with a deeper love than you have ever felt before. The temple is about families.”

-Richard H. Winkel

"If every husband and every wife would constantly do whatever might be possible to ensure the comfort and happiness of his or her companion, there would be very little, if any, divorce. Argument would never be heard. Accusations would never be leveled. Angry explosions would not occur. Rather, love and concern would replace abuse and meanness."
--Gordon B. Hinckley

”Married people should be best friends; no relationship on earth needs friendship as much as marriage...” Marion D. Hanks

”I urge all who have not yet received these greatest of all blessings within the walls of the temple to do whatever may be necessary to qualify to receive them.”

- James E. Faust