Livin' La Vida Nomad!

This one is going to be a doozie.  So, grab a cup of coffee, glass of wine, or a child to snuggle with, because you're going to be at your computer for a while.

I started uploading pictures from my camera and realized how much I haven't blogged about!  I guess I've been so busy blogging about random crap and taking care of my 5 kids and working 60+ hours a week I just haven't had the time!! Ha!

Please be prepared for a non-chronological, completely sporatic (Clueless, anyone?) list of pictures and events here.  My brain certainly does not work in an organized manner, so why in the world would I try to do something different for my blog?

First of all, if you don't have a DSLR camera, I suggest you get one.  Like, tonight.  The quality of pictures you'll get are 203842038 better than a point and shoot.  My sweet, loving, caring husband of mine got me this baby (baby...hmmm...I'm wondering if that's why he shelled out the big bucks?  perhaps to take my mind off of a bun in the oven and focus on material things instead? yay or nay?) for Christmas:

Isn't she a beauty?  I've considered naming her since Black Beauty, but it just doesn't have the ring to it like my car has (Miss Nelly the third).

Anyway, Ron and Kim got me a Chimpsy photography class so I could learn how to use this sucker outside of Auto Focus.  I ended up going when I went up to Maryland in January for the weekend to visit my brother Chris, his wife Emily, and my beautiful niece Rena Brynn.  Since there weren't any Chimpsy classes in Richmond and I didn't want to wait until March to take one in Nashville, I decided to do one Saturday morning in Washington, DC.

The class was only 2 hours, but I learned a lot about BB (Black Beauty).  Check out some of the test pictures I got:

Test subject.  Inside Union Station in DC.  Oooooh.  Aaaaah. 

Playing with lighting

Woah!  The same wreath!  Taken from the same spot!  Just changed the lighting setting! AMAZING!

This, my friends, is what we call panning.  It's easy and so cool!  Now somebody, please remind me what I did to get this picture.  ;)

Focusing with appeture.  WOW!

Statue in front of Union Station.  No clue what it represents, but it's pretty and it wasn't moving, hence easy to get a decent shot. :)

After the class, I headed back to Chris & Emily's.  I didnt' take a lot of pictures, but I did get a few of daddy and Rena. 

How sweet is that face!  She's grown so much! 

All smiles!  I know that's not a popped collar I see there, Chris.

Sorry I didn't get any pictures with you in it, Emily!  Lucky for me, I'm heading back up to Columbia to stay with Chris, Emily & Rena next week.  Rena is such a happy baby it's ridiculous!  She wakes up smiling, gets picked up from daycare smiling, and goes to bed smiling.  She loves bath time and loves to dance (and by dance, I mean throw her head carelessly from one side to the other, much like a bobble head).   I can't believe she's turning 1 in March! Crazy!  She melts my heart every time she smiles at me!

On that note, I'll update ya'll on where I've been staying.  I don't remember where I left off, so I'll start from when I left Gallatin, TN.  I stayed with Paige & Jason for about a week and then stayed at Laura's for a week.  I've been in Myrtle Beach, SC with my parents and my brother Brandon's kids, Graden and Abigail, all week.  Pictures to come a little further down in this post.

I wrote about this earlier, but I can't help but love how my dog, Zoe, and Paige's dog, Roxie, are together.  When I first got Zoe, I was living with Paige & Ashley, and Paige already had Roxie.  SO, Roxie is Zoe's big sister.  They are so comfortable around each other and since Zoe is pretty much a b*tch to any other dog besides Roxie, it's amazing to see Zoe love another dog so much.  Paige and I took the girls to the park one day, and I unsuccessfully got a few shots.

Zoe = loner.  At least Roxie is getting her butt sniffed.

"I hate all of these dogs.  Where are the badgers and squirrels?"

"I don't know how to play with other dogs"

Other dogs are nowhere in sight.  This is not a coincidence. 

Look at those ears and sweet face!

My little booger

Okay, okay...enough of the dogs already.  As I mentioned earlier, I've been in Myrtle Beach all week with my parents and Graden and Abigail.  My parents like to vacation in January, mainly because it's their wedding anniversary month.  In fact, tomorrow will mark my parents being married for 34 years!  Congratulations mom & dad! I'm so glad that I grew up in a house where my parents showed me love, have always been there for me, and have shown that marriage isn't always rainbows and butterflies, but it's a lifetime commitment.  

I have to say, I can't remember the last time I went on vacation with my parents, but it's been years and it's hard adjusting to going on vacation without having Ryan.  I feel like I've warped into a 15 year old again.  For example, I needed tax papers (UGH...taxes....I'll save that fiasco for another post) from H&R Block so I told my parents we needed to stop by on the way to the outlet mall.  As I get out of the  car, my dad asks if I need him to come with me.   Being the adult, responsible, 27 year old that I am, I tell him no thanks, I know exactly what I need, it will just be a minute.  I get into H&R Block, and 5 seconds later, I see my dad walking through the front door.  I give him a weird look, so of course his natural reply was "your mother wanted me to come in because if they see me, hopefully they won't charge a fee to get the stuff you need".  Ugh.  

I didn't need him there, but the tax specialist didn't charge me, and maybe, just maybe, it was because he saw my big, burly, old man of a dad standing at the front door.  Maybe we're never too old to need our parents. 

Here are some pics from the week:

View from our condo balcony the first night.  I played with the coloring on my camera and this is what I got. 

Graden and Abigail loooooved feeding the birds.  It's probably illegal, but the birds picked up on our wealth of bread and they flew from miles away to have a chance at a bread crumb.  Poor guys. 

Abigail may or may not of been eaten alive after I snapped this pic. 

Does Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds" ring a bell?

I way overexposed this and made the rookie mistake of not noticing until after Abby was done trying to sit still.  It's still a cute pic though! 

Dad and I

Graden playing with a sandcastle we did not build.  No worries, we got permission from the builders.

Another beautiful sunset.

Another one bites the dust.

Graden just had a meltdown because Pop Pop didn't let him throw out the last piece of bread...which is why Graden looks like this and why Abby is looking at him in wonder. 

Alright, enough with the pictures.  I hope it hasn't taken you as long to read this post as long as it took me to write it and upload all of these pictures!  

I can't post without giving a Ryan update.  I'm still getting to talk to Ryan at least once a day, usually by video Skype.  He's doing fine, spirits are fine, and he's made a couple of friends he works out with and eats with.  His beard is getting longer and he's still refusing to shave.  I've grown very fond of his shorter hair and the facial hair, but I told him I'd like it trimmed by the time he comes home :)  He's almost halfway done with his deployment!  Thank God!

Everytime I hear this song I start to tear up because it reminds me of Ryan.  If you haven't heard it, here's the video:

The lyrics that strike me:

Hello world, hope you’re listening
Forgive me if I’m young
Or speaking out of turn
But there’s someone I’ve been missing
And I think that they could be
The better half of me
They’re in the wrong place trying to make it right
But I’m tired of justifying
So I say to you...

Come home, come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long, so long
And right now there’s a war between the vanities
But all I see is you and me
To fight for you is all I’ve ever known
So come home

Love you, Ryan.  Come home. <3