A Look Back at 2012

January - My husband had knee surgery and his employer at the time only gave him one day off after his surgery. The good wife that I am drove Randy to work and would pick him since he couldn't drive while taking pain pills. 

February - Was an extremely busy month at work for me. It was my first Girl Scout Cookie season on the Council side. My husband was still recovering from having knee surgery and I spent many late nights at the office, so we didn't get to see much of each other. 

March - I was already at work getting my morning started when I received a call from my husband. "I just got creamed by a semi" were the first words out of his mouth. It took a moment for my brain to register what he had just told me. I immediately dropped everything I was doing at work and headed towards the accident. I made it the scene of the accident and I saw the car. The drivers side of the car looked pretty bad. The amazing thing is Randy walked away from being t-bones by a semi with a scratch on his neck from the glass shattering all over him. 

April - It was my turn for surgery. I had to have a cyst removed from my tail bone. It was not a fun surgery and far less fun recovery time. My doctor told me 2-3 month recovering time, so I was thinking that it wouldn't be to bad boy was I wrong! My surgery was April 19th and I laid flat on my stomach the rest of the month on my couch. A home health nurse came the first week after my surgery until they taught my amazing roommate how to change the packing. That was the worst part of my day. I was very appreciative that my parents came to visit, so I would have company. My Marmy also did all the cooking while she was here. Otherwise I would have lived frozen meals and take out. The crappy part of the month Randy got let go from his job for something that wasn't his fault. On a good note, Randy was able to pick out a truck with the insurance money we got. We were finally back to having two vehicles. 

May - Was the happiest month of the year aside from some crappy stuff still going on. Randy and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Money was really tight since Randy still didn't have job, so Jesse was kind enough to take us out for our anniversary. May also marked the year mark of Jesse living with us.

June - Randy finally landed a job. It was a great one, but at least it was a job. He started selling cell phones. The hours sucked his manager used and abused him. I don't think there was a day he came home in a good mood. I celebrated my one year anniversary with my job. I don't think there is a better job out there for me. I bleed green and love the mission I work for.

July & August - Nothing major really happened. Trying to live on a tighter budget was stressful none the less. I was still trying to recover from surgery. I didn't think about not being able to swim all summer :(  

September - Randy and I marked our 1 year anniversary of being homeowners! 

October - This was a bittersweet month. I took a week of vacation it was a nice change in pace because this was the first time all year that I had taken vacation. I made plans to take a trip to Kansas City to visit some family friends from high school. I had also decided that I wanted to see my brother. I hadn't seen my brother since the early part of 2010. I was the first family member that ever visited Joshie while he was incarcerated. It was amazing to see him, but at the same time reality sank in. I was officially healed from surgery! I couldn't be happier! October 31 is a date that will stick with me. I was able to spend the time with my amazing sister Jessica Loggins. This marked the last time I was able to see her for at least a year. 2nd Lt. Jessica Loggins was set to deploy to Afghanistan in December. 

November - Randy finally landed a job that he loves! It is amazing how a job can change someones mood. Randy never comes home in a bad mood any more. Randy was once again in a car accident. Thankfully all the guys in the truck that rolled over were fine. Randy was hurt the worst with a cut on the back of his head and his wrist split open. Randy, Jesse and I had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving with his side of the family in Marshall. This was the first year since we have been married that I didn't have to cook Thanksgiving dinner. 

December -  I only worked 6 days this month. I had a lot of vacation that I needed to work in because I had only used a week all year. Jesse and I traveled to Texas because I had been asked to shoot a sweet 16 party for Jesse's niece. As soon as we got home the count down to my parents spending Christmas with us was on. Since I didn't have to work my parents were able to spend a week and a half with us. We had a very good Christmas being able to spend time with family. This month I also made a very big decision and I became an Ambassador of Hope for the Dab the AIDS Bear Project. (I will have a post very soon talking about this project)

I am sure there are things that I forgot to put in here, but 2012 defiantly had its up and downs. There were many stressful times, but there were also joyful times. I am looking forward to 2013 and all the fun times to come. 

How was 2012 for you?

The Amazing Evernote!

A while back I was working on cleaning out my email and catching up on blogs that I follow. The blogs that I frequent often I have set up to come to my email, so when I have time I can take a few minutes and read their new material instead of trying to remember to go to their page to see if something new has been published. One of my favorite blogs to read is digitialeramom. I don't really fit the demographic for the blog, but I really enjoy the read. She published a post titled Obsessed with Evernote. I knew right away I needed to read more. I have a very OCD brain and I like to have all of my ideas neatly organized. As I was reading through her post I knew this app was going to work wonders for me. I have really wanted to get back into blogging and I needed a better way to organize my thoughts that was better than a notebook that I would end up not having when a fabulous idea popped into my head. 

I started off by downloading the app and getting it set up on my phone. I am never without my phone. I live off of my phone. Who now a days doesn't? All my social networks, my email - personal and work related (which is a blessing and a curse), my calendar are all at the tap of a finger. The interface of evernote on my phone was very east to use and it automatically sent me an email to the link to download the desktop version once I got back to my computer. Of course, I download the files and set up evernote on my computer and started playing around with it. I have come to love this app! It does everything I need it to and probably so much more I haven't had the time to figure out. 

I love that if I have and idea for a post I can type it up and click into another note to write a quick note and it automatically updates my notes without having to remember to manually save them. I am always working on more than one thing at a time and occasionally I forget to hit the save button and move on to something else only to realize I lost everything I had just been working on. I love this feature! 

I put my menu for Christmas dinner into Evernote and I could then write a shopping list off of that. Being able to type in an item that I need to grab at the store the next time I go is slowly cutting down on the trips that I have to take to the store and that makes me a happy panda! I have made my roommate and my husband put this app on their phone, so if they are at the store they can view the grocery list and see if we need anything while they are. This keeps us from all picking up the same thing if we don't have a chance to send a quick text or make that phone call. 

I have a notebook set up just for my blog post ideas. I have so many ideas running through my head at one time I needed an area where i could put them down and work on getting my ideas organized. I type far faster than I ca write, so it is easier for me to get more ideas down in a short amount of time. 

I really want to start focusing on eating healthier and hopefully finding some time to work exercise into my routine that is a schedule I want to work on putting together and keeping it in evernote, so I always have it with me. I have also thought about starting a food journal. I have so many ideas running through my head I am sure that I will eventually get them all straightened out. 

I love using Evernote!

Do you use the app? If so, what items do you put in it?

My Mission against HIV/AIDS Stereotypes

Today I want to write something that is very close to my heart. December 1 was World AIDS Day, this day is used to help educate people on HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS crisis that we are now being faced with in today's society. This is something that I care about passionately because my brother has HIV/AIDS. I have made it my mission to break the stereotypes that people living with AIDS face on a daily basis. Having HIV/AIDS doesn't mean your gay and being gay doesn't mean you have HIV/AIDS or you will get HIV/AIDS. 

As far back as I can remember I knew that my brother was living with HIV/AIDS. Is he gay? Yes. Did he get HIV/AIDS from being gay? No. My brother, Joshie got involved with some people that weren't the greatest and he got hooked on drugs when he was a teenager. This is something that he isn't proud of, but it is part of his past. At the age of 17 he found out he had HIV. In a few short weeks he will be celebrating his 36th Birthday and still handsome as ever!

HIV started when hunters in West Africa killed and ate infected chimpanzees. Recent studies show that HIV made the transition from monkeys to humans as far back as the 1800's.  Many people before the 1980's died without even knowing what made them sick and the few that were diagnosed were diagnosed as having "GRID" (Gay Related Immune Deficiency). GRID was also referred to as the gay plague. It wasn't until the 1980's that researchers knew what HIV/AIDS was and was able to start diagnosing people. Many researchers were concerned with the accuracy of the name of the disease because gay-related did not encompass the demographics of the disease. In 1984 the US Department of Health and Human Services announced that a probable cause of AIDS had been discovered. Two short years later HIV was named as the retrovirus.

What is HIV?

H – Human – This particular virus can only infect human beings.

I – Immunodeficiency – HIV weakens your immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection. A "deficient" immune system can't protect you.

V – Virus – A virus can only reproduce itself by taking over a cell in the body of its host.

What is AIDS?

A – Acquired – AIDS is not something you inherit from your parents. You acquire AIDS after birth.

I – Immuno – Your body's immune system includes all the organs and cells that work to fight off infection or disease.

D – Deficiency – You get AIDS when your immune system is "deficient," or isn't working the way it should.

S – Syndrome – A syndrome is a collection of symptoms and signs of disease. AIDS is a syndrome, rather than a single disease, because it is a complex illness with a wide range of complications and symptoms.

My brother plays a huge part in my life. Even though we are physically miles apart our hearts are together. We will always be there for each other no matter what. He is the oldest child and I am the youngest and we have the best relationship! 

(Don't mind the sleepy looks I don't know who decided taking photos first thing in the morning would be a good thing!) 

This is the first of many posts to come to help educate people about HIV/AIDS and to help break the stereotypes of those living with HIV/AIDS on a daily basis.  

I have started work on a very special project and I will be able to give you more details very soon. Stay tuned!  

(Facts reviewed from www.aids.gov) 

Thanksgiving... Loggins Style

Ok...Ok I know the title is not very funny, but I couldn't help myself. Gangnam Style has been playing in my head all night!

Thanksgiving started out nice and early for me. Randy had already made the trip to Marshall in order to go hunting with his cousin Fig. I decided that I didn't need to chance sleeping away from home because I had just recently gotten off bed rest from hurting it and hadn't ventured to far away from my heating pad.

Jesse had worked all night at the hospital came home and got about an hour of sleep and we hit the road to go join the family for Thanksgiving. As we were driving I got a text and the boys wanted to play football but didn't have the ball. So, the nice wife that I am stopped by Wal-Mart and picked up a foot ball to play with.

After we all enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal and ate to much everyone headed out to play football. I stood on the sidelines and took photos. I didn't want to do anything worse to my back then what it already was.

Enjoy the Loggins family football game.

Team 1 figures out their strategy

Everyone lined up and ready to go

Pookie scored a touchdown 

Priscilla making her way into the end zone (She showed up the boys and make 3 of the teams touchdowns!)

Part of Team 2 working on their strategy

  

Everyone needs a little bit of a break between touchdowns

I couldn't help but snap a photo photos of this precious little guy

This is what happens when you tell Dominic to cheese

He was being so photogenic! 

Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving? Do you have any family traditions? 

I Guess I am not Superwoman...

November has proven to be a rough month for me. I had a lot going on at work and I was stressed trying to meet deadlines. My back over the last few years has acted up from time to time. Normally it would hurt for a few days and the pain would subside and slowly go away. This time things were different. The pain stayed and got worse each day. After a week of the pain not getting any better I decided I would put my stubbornness aside and I scheduled an appointment to see the doctor. I called first thing Monday morning and luckily my doctor had an opening at 3:30 pm. I snagged that appointment before anyone else could. I went ahead and went into work because I could sit at home and be miserable or I could go to work and sit and be miserable, but get some things knocked off my to do list. Needless to say, extreme amount of pain and productivity do not go so well together. 3 o'clock finally rolled around after seeming like an eternity I finished up the last few things I was working on and headed out to my doctors appointment. 

I walked in the doctors office at 3:15 because they always tell you to arrive early to fill out paperwork. At my doctors office to matter how many times you have been there you have to fill out a half sheet of information every time. I sat in the waiting room until almost 3:45 when my appointment was scheduled for 3:30. I finally made it back to the room and the nurse did all the stuff she needed to do and I say around and waiting until almost 4 for the doctor to come in. This is what I don't get they tell you to be there early and then all day they run behind. They should schedule the appointments a little further apart in order to get through everyone that they need to and stay on time. Don't get me wrong I am very thankful for modern medicine, but at the same time I wish my time was respected more. 

When my doctor had me stand to get on the bed he could tell something was pretty bad with my back. He tested the reflexes in my knees and ankles to make sure all of that was working properly. He felt around on my back to see where the pain was coming from. Luckily it is not around my spine it is all the muscles in my lower back. He asked what I have been doing and if I could recall doing anything that would pull on my back. Honestly, I have no idea what I did to hurt myself. I just know that my back has never hurt this bad before. After figuring out that it was muscle relating I was put on some muscles relaxers and two days bed rest. For anyone that knows me bed rest is not my friend. I hate being tied down and not being able to do anything for myself. I have come to realization I like to be a homebody, but only when it fits my mood. I don't like being stuck at home when it is not my choice. Since, I couldn't get off the couch (my couch is far more comfortable when my back is hurting) I did what I do best. Take photos! Enjoy! 

Tassellhoff is my fat lazy kitty, so he spent a lot of time with me. 

Tassellhoff didn't want his photo taken again...

Luna Belle Being her sassy self.

Gizmo came inside just to lay on the couch with me. 

Simba my baby kitty wouldn't lay down long enough for me to get a good picture of him and we left the two bigger dogs outside. They would have sent me through the roof if they would have jumped on me! 

I am thankful for...

I know this post is late, but please bear with me November was a rough month for me. I spent some time on bed rest which I will tell you all more about in another post. I spent many nights after work trying to decompress from the stress and business of my day. Hopefully I will get my blog back up to date quickly. I have ideas jotted down in my hand dandy Evernote App that I will be bringing you shortly.

I started out the month of November by posting each day one thing I was thankful for on my Facebook page. It didn't seem to matter how much I tried I never remembered to post something each day or I was already crawling in bed with my eyes half open and decided I was just to tired to pick my phone back up to make a post. I know there is plenty out there that I am thankful for. So, I decided that I would put 30 days of thankfulness into a post here. I hope you all enjoy!

1. My loving family.
2. My sweet husband who has always stood by my side. I have no idea where the last 5 years has gone. 
3. My Marmy you can set her clocks by my daily phone calls. 
4. My friends without guys I would be a very lonely person. 
5. Volunteering at my local animal shelter to help stray and abandoned animals fine forever homes. 
6. A job that couldn't be any better suited for me I really do bleed green.
7. A house to call my home.
8. the men and women who serve and have served our country so we can be free: My daddy. Larry Daum, Jessica Loggins, Justin Loggins, Robert Figeroua, Jeff Wilchman, Jessica Arredondo Micheal Babker, Kyle Goodwin.
9. Juliette Gordon Low and the vision she had for all the girls of savannah and all the girls of the world.
10. The wonderful Girl Scout volunteers I get the pleasure of working with. 
11. My fur babies that keep me entertained.
12. Waking up each morning and being able to enjoy the day.
13. Being healthy (for the most part)  there are too many people that suffer on a daily basis.
14. For the friendships that I have held onto through thick and thin.
15. For being asked to be the matron of honor in my best friends wedding two years ago. I wish you the best 100 yeara jess and justin.
16. Caring co-workers who help keep me sane.
17. Being able to volunteer with Baca and see the difference i make in a childs life.
18. Have reliable transportation that 30 mile commute would not be easy with out it.
19. My husband and myself both having jobs we enjoy! (It is about time that something worked out for Randy!)
20. Who ever invented wine. It is nice to sip on and relax after a hard day.
21. The little things in life.
22. Social Media, this is by far one thing I spend a lot of my time involved in. I love how I have been able to stay in contact with people from my past so easily and meet new people along the way.
23. Pinterest, this one explains itself! I can't even begin to describe the countless hours I have spent on that site. I have always thought I was a pretty crafty person, but some of the ideas on Pinterest I would have never come up with. I love to use Pinterest for inspiration at work and at home. 
24. My cell phone, I would be lost without it. 
25. Evernote, Thanks Jenni aka Digital Era Mom. I am not only using this program for my blog and home life. I even made my roommate and husband download the app to their phones so, we can all stay on the same page! Evernote makes organization so much easier in the digital realm!
26. Medication that has helped my brother lead a little bit of a healthier life. 
27. Advocates that aren't afraid to stand up for someone else who doesn't or not able to stand up for them selves. 
28. Living in a county where we have the right to be who we want to be. 
29. My parents letting me grow into the person that I wanted to be and support me in everything I do. 
30. My Brother Joshie! My only sibling I still talk to. Even though we are miles apart and our only communication is through snail mail I would jump over backwards for you! Our love with always keep us close.

What are you thankful for?

Election Nightmare!

I will be the first person to say I hate politics and everything that comes with it. I will be one of the happiest people when today is over with. This will most likely be the first and last political post I ever write!

First and foremost, I really hope that everyone went out and voted. Men and women have served our country and some gave their life for our freedom to vote. I saw statuses pop up on Facebook today like: I just don't feel like voting, My vote doesn't count anyway, The polls are to busy when I tried to go. People this is your civic duty!

Women's rights have come a long way since the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. It made me proud to stand in line to vote this morning and I saw more women than men. A woman who is 8 1/2 month pregnant stood in line with me for over an hour to cast her ballot - with a few bathroom breaks in between, of course! Many women had toddlers in tow just so they could cast heir ballot.

This should make a women proud to cast their ballot and not have to worrying about being arrested, prosecuted or fined! In the 2008 Presidential Election only 66% of the women registered voted and less than half of women on the US Census were even registered. Here is to hoping the numbers for the 2012 Presidential Election turn out better!

A Very Special Woman

I had the great pleasure of meeting Sarah Burkybile while we were attending Pittsburg State University. We were both Communication Majors and ended up having numerous classes together, as well as, being part of Lamba Pi Eta, the national honor society for Communication Majors. I have never met a woman who fought as hard as Sarah did. Sarah never had a problem fitting in with the younger crowds around campus. Everywhere you saw Sarah she had a smile on her face and that smile would light up the room.

Today would have been her 32nd birthday, but she lost her battle with Metastatic Breast Cancer two months ago leaving behind her husband and son. 

Sarah was one of the most inspirational woman I have ever met. To see the drive in her on a daily basis to beat breast cancer at the same time be a spokeswomen for awareness. She never let anything drag her down. Even through the tough times of chemo she always found something to be thankful for and always looked at the bright side of things.

Sarah you are truly missed! I hope you are enjoying your celebrations with the angels above. 

Extended Stay - Day 6

I had every intention of only spending 5 days away from home for vacation. I am to much of a home body to be gone from the comfort of my own home for to long. As the time was starting to wind down I realized that I wasn't quite ready to leave Kansas City. I missed my husband like crazy, but something was still holding me to the city. We settled in for the evening with Heather who is amazing to let us stay with her for as long as we wanted. We sat around and chatted and enjoyed watching a movie. So, here is finally day 6 of vacation!

Heather headed off to work and we slept a few more hours :) Vacation is the time to be lazy, but she also leaves for work before 7 am. We eventually got up and moving and we headed over to pick up Kayla and Kimmi. Staying an extra day allowed me to catch up with Kayla some more and spend more time with my mini me :)

There was no better way to end vacation than a little more retail therapy. We headed back to the Great Plains Mall, even though it didn't have many stores there were a few things we had our eye on from our previous trip. Jesse wanted to revisit the stores that had knives and daggers and I had to revisit the store that had the panda figurines, even though I had bought each of the poses the trip before. I had to make sure they hadn't gotten any new ones in. That would have been a crime to miss.

After we were done visiting the stores we decided to take Kimmi to the kiddie area for her to play before we headed back to Kayla's house, so Kimmi could take a nap. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the slide at first. I think we played her out and she had a good time. We headed back to Kayla's after stopping to grab a smoothie and Kimmi went to lay down for a nap and we turn on a movie to relax the rest of the afternoon. We said our see you laters and headed back to Heather's to spend the rest of the evening with her.

Once we got back to heather's we dined on home made nachos, cake and an Oreo dessert I had made the previous night. We decided it was the last night of vacation, so why not pig out. (Now I get to work on losing some of those pounds I gained during vacation!)

I had a blast getting to spend time and reminisce with my friends from high school and Uncle and his family. I didn't want to leave everyone, but at the same time I was ready to get home to my hubby and the comforts of my own home. My long over due vacation has finally come to close! I hope you enjoyed the ride!

High School Memories - Day 5

Yes, yes I know...I have been slacking! This thing called life has been super crazy busy here lately. So, on to day five of my way over do amazing vacation! 

We started out the morning by visiting one of my favorite places on earth.... can you guess it? If you guessed Starbucks you were spot on. I was also excited to be meeting up with one of my best friends from high school, Kayla and finally be able to meet her daughter. It is crazy to see everyone that I went to high school with having babies! We can't be that old yet :) I had seen numerous photos of Kimmi on Facebook and I already knew that she was precious, but I was ready to meet her in person. When Kayla and Kimmi got to Starbucks I headed over to her van and after Kayla got Kimmi out of her car seat I put my hands out and asked Kimmi if she wanted to come see me and she practically jumped out of Kayla's arms. Kayla later told me that she had never done that for anyone else. That made me feel really special! 

This precious doll decided that my purse was her new playground. She was a smart cookie because the first thing she went to was my Girl Scout Cookie pen, she really is my mini me. :) 

We quickly decided we were hungry and we made our way over to Subway that was a short walk from Starbucks. I gave Kimmi back to her mom long enough for me to enjoy my sandwich. One of the joys of enjoying someone else's child. Love you Kayla :)

  

Kimmi was in a super good mood and being super photogenic before we left Subway. How cute is she???

After Subway we headed over to Oak Park Mall to take in a little retail therapy. Nothing is better than a little retail therapy while on vacation. 

We gave our hugs and our see you laters and of course snapped a few photos and we parted ways because I was headed to Overland Park Arboretum for a photo shoot that I had planned. Hopefully next time it won't be another 5 years before we have a chance to get together again. 

You put a camera in my hand and I turn into one of the happiest people on the planet. At the Arboretum I met of with another high school friend Nicole. It was great to be able to catch up with so many people while I was enjoying my vacation. I had done a photo shoot for Nicole when her daughter was about six weeks old. It was time to update some photos. Let me tell you photographing a baby is vastly different than photographing 2 toddlers! Kayah and her half-brother Damian were a blast to shoot with even though I was a little worn out by the end of the shoot. I learned my lesson to next time down some red bull first! 

 

We managed to get in a cute posed photo

Then they were off...running...

and crawling...and couldn't keep them down!

and you couldn't miss this cute mother - daughter shot! 

It was wonderful to take this day to reminisce on old memories as well as make new ones along the way!

Do you have long lost friends that you wish you had the chance to reconnect with?

Lunch With A Good Friend - Day 4

Monday finally rolled around and I knew what that meant! Lunch with Jenni aka digitaleramom (Follow the link to her blog). I was planning on eating at K&M BBQ that was one of my favorite places to eat in Spring Hill. I normally do not like eating eat all that much but, when it is amazing BBQ I will make an exception. I was sadly reminded Sunday afternoon when Jenni told me that K&M was closed on Mondays. So, slight change of plans and we made plans to eat at a new to me restaurant BB's Grill. For not visiting Spring Hill for almost five years quite a few things have changed.

It was nice to have lunch with a good friend from high school. I was nice to be able to take a trip down memory lane. I even got to meet her son Zack. I didn't get to snap any photos of him because he hadn't been feeling very well and he napped throughout our lunch. When he was awake he was super cute!

  Amanda and Jenni

After our lunch ended so, Jenni could get her little man home Jesse and I headed over to the outlet mall we always used to hang out at when I was in high school. Back in the day this mall was full of stores and people. As soon as, we pulled into the parking lot I started wondering if it was even open. We finally found a few cars in the parking lot and decided to go in. We started walking around the circle of the mall and we noticed for every one store that was open four were closed. It was a depressing site to see. We decided to have a little fun of our own. 

I got to ride on a little Zebra! I finally found something I was to big to get on :(

Driving a stylish pizza slice.

All my biker friends will like this one. I finally found a motorcycle my size.

and I managed to make friends with an alien! 

Jesse even joined the fun and found this adorable donkey.

Tug at the heart strings - Day 3

Day three of my vacation was one that I knew was going to pull on my heart strings. After a night of tossing and turning, hardly any sleep and waking up multiple times thinking I over slept my alarm. The time finally came when I knew I was going to be able to see my brother. This visit was a long time coming.

The week before my college graduation I received a phone call that an incident had taken place and later found out that my brother was going back to jail.

No matter what life choices Joshie has made I will still jump over every mountain and swim across the largest ocean for him. He knows some of the choices that he has made weren't the right ones and he is paying the price for those decisions everyday. There is no reason to punish him further and have his entire family turn their back on him, so many already have. Whether my brother is behind bars or not he is still my brother and I still love him and nothing will change that.

So, the time finally came Jesse drove me out to the prison since it was an hour away from Kansas City. I wanted to make sure that I got there early so, I got a spot in order to see my brother. We pulled into the jail parking lot around 8:30 am and was quickly moved back off the property. Apparently, they don't allow visitors on the property until 9 and check in for visitation starts at 9:30. That felt like the longest hour of my life. The time came to line up outside the door for check in. We stood in line for 15 minutes before they allowed us inside. I waited as patiently as I could in line until it was my turn. I walked up to the guard and gave him my brothers number. He looked for it in the system and he said I have no one in the system. This is where I was baffled. Apparently, there were two jail facilities next two each other and they weren't marked very well. I had spent all of this time trying to get there early and then find myself at the wrong facility. :(

I quickly got directions and drove less than a quarter of a mile down the road and came to the right complex. This time I was in the back of the line. It took me longer than I had wanted in order to get checked in. I finally got checked in, turned out all my pockets, walked through the metal detector, received my black light stamp and finally made it to the waiting room. I was told to sit down and wait until he was brought out. I sat down, fumbled with my fingers, walked to the water fountain, returned to my seat, walked to the restroom, stopped by the water fountain again...walked back to my seat. It was taking forever to bring him out. I finally started to walk the length of the room because I couldn't take the anxiousness anymore. It was then I spotted Joshie in the booth. I stood by the door in order for the guard to notice me and open that heavy steel door. I couldn't get through that door fast enough. There was my Joshie sitting there. I walked into the booth picked up the phone and sat down.

After two long years I was finally able to lay eyes on my brother again. As I walked in the booth I kept telling myself no tears, no tears, no tears. They wouldn't be sad tears they would be happy tears to finally see him again. I knew if I lost it Joshie would too. I couldn't do that to the two of us. We needed every second we could get. We knew that we would only get two hours together and I wanted us to enjoy those two hours. It was kind of humorous we would get on a topic and talk pretty fast to make sure that would could fit everything and not miss out on anything. Then we would come to that awkward silence part because we were both thinking of what to talk about next. Those two hours of sitting there and talking to Joshie was the fastest two hours. I saw the guard walk up to the door behind Joshie and I sadly knew our time had come had come to an end. We were able to say our good byes and Joshie made the I love you sign with his hand and we both walked out of the booth going our separate ways.

I showed my ID and stuck my hand under the light and I was able to walk out of the visitor area and headed for the car. Jesse asked how the visit went once I got back to the car were she had been patiently waiting for the last two hours. I told her about the visit and the next thing I did was pick up my phone and called my Marmy. I knew she would want to know how he is doing and how our visit went. I talked to my Marmy as Jesse drove back to Kansas City. Once I got off the phone with Marmy I got in touch with my uncle where we were headed next.

Darryl and Kristen are the only aunt and uncle that still have anything to do with me. I made it a point to see them while I was in Kansas City. We ended up heading over to their house and spending a few hours. My uncle had hurt his back and wasn't able to move very well, so we just relaxed at his house and caught him up on my visit with Joshie and the happenings in my life. Darryl was able to sit up long enough for us to snap a family picture minus my cousin Jesse because he is a typically teenager and was out with his friends. I did get to see him for a few minutes before we left.

 Cute Uncle and Niece photo!

Jake, Kristen, Darrly, Me and Jordan.

Once Jesse made it home from his friends house he really made me feel old. I remember him when he was two watching Blue's Clues and now he is taller than me! I know, I know that isn't a hard thing to do, but it is amazing to see how much he has grown up! I hope it doesn't take another three years before I get to see these wonderful people again!

B.A.C.A. Seminar - Day 2

This is the day that I learned that I am to old to enjoy beverages of the adult variety until 2:30 am! My alarm went off at 7:30 am in order to get some breakfast before the all day seminar started. Let's say I rose, but I did not shine.

I hit the shower and made a b-line to the nearest coffee pot! After 2 cups of coffee I made my way to the food line. I grabbed an extra bowl of Cheerios and headed into the Seminar. This wasn't the best choice after all. The Cheerios ended up giving me heart burn :(

For those who are not familiar with B.A.C.A. it stands for Bikers Against Child Abuse. This organization is very important to me because I hope to make a difference in the life of at least one child and break the chains of abuse. I was fortunate enough to not have to deal with issues of abuse, but there are to many children that deal with abuse on a daily basis. This hits close to home for me because I have friends who had to deal with many different forms of abuse throughout their life. If I can be here to help at least one child (I hope I can touch the lives of many more) I know that I have done my job.

We had a good time at the seminar, but it was also information overload. I was proud of myself I managed to keep myself awake throughout everything.

Jesse and I were able to hit the road to Kansas City in time to get there before dark.By the time that we hit Kansas City we were both starving so, we met up with my friend Heather and headed to one of my favorite restaurants Chipotle! I was amazed that in under 10 minutes we were there. I am used to driving much further than that when I am at home in Arkansas. Nothing seems to be close to where I live. I recently found out that Little Rock just got a Chipotle, but it is also an hour drive for me!

After we managed to all get fully belly's we headed back to Heather's house and we just hung out and reminisced on the good times and caught up on each others lives.

I am really appreciative of the friends that I have today. All of the relationships that I have with people today are the ones that were worth fighting for. You all have a special place in my heart. We were able to get past the high school drama. We were able to forgive and forget. We were able to come out on top. We were able to remember all the silly times.

There is one friendship that I hold dearly to my heart today. We were the best of friends on middle school and unfortunately, high school drama got the best of us and drove us apart. I couldn't be happier that we were both able to be the bigger person and move on past everything. I wouldn't give anything to change how things happened. Yes, it sucks that we missed out on a few year of being friends, but I think our friendship has a much better meaning after everything we have been through together.  *Hugs - you know who you are*

Way Over Due Vacation!!!! - Day 1

I am a little late to getting around to this but, life have been super crazy trying to get caught back up on things after vacation.

I have worked at my current position for almost a year and a half and I was finally able to take a vacation. This is something that I haven't really been able to do. The only sad thing is once again the hubs couldn't go with me because of his job, so awesome roommate to the rescue. Jesse made the trip with me. 

I love that I get off at 1:30 on Fridays it allowed us to hit the road by 2 pm! It made the trip SOOO much easier. We were planning on getting to Springfield, MO Friday evening in preparation for our B.A.C.A. seminar all day on Saturday. We joined up with one of our B.A.C.A. brothers and hit the road, but soon found out if was going to be a very adventurous trip!

For those who are not fellow bikers Missouri has a helmet law, which requires a helmet to be worn at all times. We were about 40 minutes down the road and one of the people we were traveling with asked our B.A.C.A. brother if he had a helmet in his saddle bag. I bet any of you can reading this can answer that question. :) So, we decided to go ahead and continue the trip and we would stop and buy one somewhere. We were trying to make it to Harrison, AR before the motorcycle stores close. We traveled another 20 minutes and our B.A.C.A. brother pulled over to the side of the road and decided to try and call one of our other B.A.C.A brothers because he lived in the area. Thankfully, he answered his phone but, he wasn't at home. Back to the road we went. We managed to get into Harrison, AR with about 15 minutes to spare. He was able to get his helmet and we nicknamed his helmet "Chrome Dome." It just happened that a reflective chrome helmet happened to be on sale at the motorcycle shop. 

Now, that he had his helmet we were able to continue on to Springfield, MO. From Harrison, AR to Springfield was a hour and 20 minute ride. Being that our B.A.C.A. brother was now legal to ride on the roads in Missouri we were able to finish out our trip to Springfield. 

Traveling is always an adventure especially when there has been construction and you have no idea! Being that we were in the car we were following the bikes. Once we got closer to Springfield we passed the bikes since, we had the GPS. The funny thing is the bikers didn't realize we got in front of them and they kept slowing down... from 70 to 60 .... to 55.... to 45... Now mind you we are on a busy highway just coming into Springfield. We ended up taking the exit and the bikes did not. Once we took the exit and pulled over the bikers realized that it was us in front of them the whole time :) They walked their bikes backward to be able to get on the exit. The GPS decided that we needed to take the scenic route to our hotel. I ended up pulling the car over and making Jesse drive because I was tired of making the wrong turns.

I kept telling myself that all the fun is in the journey not the destination! 

We did make it our hotel a little later than we had planned, but I wouldn't replace all the wrong turns and the time spent together for anything!

Do you get annoyed be taking wrong turns and getting turned around or do you go with the flow?

Stayed tuned for the coming days of my long over due vacation!

Focus on Life

I know that my recent posts have been scattered from topic to topic. I am trying to work on finding the content that I want to write about but, also keep it entertaining for my readers. At the beginning of this year I told myself that I was going to dust off my blog which I hadn't really kept up with since college and I was going to post once a week. As you can tell that hasn't really happened this year. When I revamped my blog with a new look and a name I thought that it was going to be easy for me to keep up with.

My intentions for the year 2012 was to take a simple word and focus on that throughout the year. Sounds easy enough right? I thought that I chose a word that was suited me well and something that I could play around with. I chose the word "focus." This word pretty much sums me up in many ways. The first reason why this word came to mind was because I am a photographer. I like to think of myself as a pretty good photographer but, I will leave that up to you all to decide.

One of my favorite shots from a recent child session. 

The Blue Angels came to perform at the Little Rock Air Force Base.

I also thought that the word focus would be easy to always come up with ideas to write about for the simple fact that I wanted to use this years to look back over the last few years and focus on how far I have come. This last year a lot of amazing and some not so amazing things have happened. 

A few of the good things:

• I celebrated my 5 year wedding anniversary with the best man that I could ask for. 
• I landed a job in my desired career path. 
• I started riding a motorcycle! At first I was pretty terrified  but, now you can't keep me off!
• I volunteer with the local animal shelter by taking photos of all of the animals so, we have good photos to post and hopefully get them adopted. 
• I have gotten really involved with the local Bikers Against Child Abuse Chapter. 

A few of the bad things:

• My husband got t-boned by semi that totaled out the car (Thankfully he was able to walk away from the accident)
• My husband had knee surgery in January and his boss wouldn't give him more than one day off so, I ended up driving him to work for a few days since, he was still on pain medication. 
• I had to have surgery in April that took me out of work for over two weeks and here it is September and I am still trying to heal! 
• My husband lost his job the week of my surgery and searched for 6 weeks before landing a minimum wage job. 

I think I will leave this list at that... sadly I could go on but, I like that the positive things outnumber the negatives. 2012 has proven to not be a very good year. Even though there were rough times I try to focus on all of the good things that have happened. 

I am going to work on trying different ways to play off of my word I chose at the beginning of the year.

Have you ever chosen a word to life by? if so, what was your word and were you able to keep up with it?

Click Happy!

In what little spare time I can find I spend time reading one of my friends blogs. Most of the time I am at work on my lunch break eating with one hand and scrolling with the other. A few days ago there was a post that I could really relate to. The topic of her post was taking photos. Photography is a major passion of mine so, this post was right up my alley.

"I have this habit when I photograph things. I’ll snap about 400 photos of something, and then I’ll open them up and really look at them. I may adjust the lighting, I may tweak them, and I’ll go through and delete every photo that just doesn’t… work. If there’s a blurry patch, it’s gone. If there’s poor lighting, it’s gone."  - DigitalEraMom.com

I don't think I could have typed those words any better than she did. I spent a few years taking photography classes in college and learning how to take the perfect photo with the perfect lighting with the perfect subject with the perfect focus. There are just times that it is near impossible to capture all of those perfect things needed for the perfect photo in a single shot. Yes, you can take multiple shots throw them into Photoshop and spend a few hours tweaking things until they are just right. But there is no better feeling than snapping a photo and bringing it up on the computer screen and it looking amazing straight from the camera.

I there there are times that I am more critical of my own work than others are. This past weekend I had been hurting really bad due to a little bit of a relapse from a surgery I had back in April but, I was tired of being in the house. A friend had reminded me that the air show was in town. We were able to take our own chairs so, that worked perfectly for me. I was able to go outside and enjoy myself where I didn't have to stand the whole time.

My friend and I headed over to the Air Force Base and after 45 long minutes we were finally being directed into a field to park in that was across the base of the entrance to the air show. They loaded us up on school buses to drop us off at the main gate. I couldn't remember the last time I had been on a school bus. I didn't remember how tall those steps where! After we finally made it to entrance we decided to walk around a few minutes before we found a spot to set up our chairs.

I am a huge Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan so being about to stand beside his car made my day. Of course his car was next to the National Guard recruitment booth. 

But back to my main point of this post. As I was going through all my photos from the air show I took 386 photos and I ended up only sharing 19 of them. This lines right up with what DigitalEraMom was talking about. My professional side of me comes on very strong when I am editing photos and now there are over 350 photos from the air show that are just siting on my external hard drive.

Here is a sampling of the photos I posted on my Facebook Loggins Photography and Design:

Do you take 100's of photos and only use a limited amount?

Be sure to surf on over to www.digitaleramom.com and check out her blog.