For Great Dane

Mom's tub

Her room

office maybe?

extra bathroom

den

window in our room

our bathroom take 1

our bathroom take 2

alan's man cave

kitchen

living room view 1

living room view 2

guest room

Winter Wonderland

Last Sunday our town got some unexpected winter!  We were shocked when we woke up Monday morning.  Most of the town was shut down till Thursday.  Here are a few pics!

Some of the trees behind our apartment.

The walkway at my office.

The church across the street from my office.

Lose to Win in 2010

I have my team.  We have a team name.  All we have to do is weigh in, then the hard part starts--the diet  lifestyle change.  My team consists of myself, Christy (a coworker), my Mom and Rosemary (one of her coworkers). Even though we are weighing in today, my diet will not start until Monday.  Who in the world starts their diet on a Friday?  Right before Valentine's Day?  That is nuts!  Anyhow, the competition will go from today through the end of April.  Whichever team loses the biggest percentage of weight will win money (each team member had to pay $15.00). I do no know if we will win or not--or even if we have a chance, but it will be fun to do!  Oh, yeah--our team name---the Badonkadonk Busters!

Trepidation about the Process of Getting Knocked Up.

We have finally decided to move along with getting knocked up. Trepidation creeps up my spine.  Last year I just was not mentally ready to see a BFN after losing my Grandma.  After we did our taxes, we saw that we are going to be able to go to the RE before we thought we were going to be able to.  The thought makes my palms sweat and I become sick to my stomach.  I know going to the RE we are hitting the Big Leagues.  I know that they are going to want to hit it with all there is to hit with.  I want that.  I really do.  I am tired of playing in the Minors.  I am ready to go Pro. 

But I am also scared.  I have been looking foward to trying again.  I have been excited about this next step. 

Now, I am scared to death. Why?

I am not not really sure of all the reasons.   I know these will be the people that can tell me  if a pregnancy is possible (I really do not see why not, my body does what it is supposed to when I am medicated.  I just do not think Dr. D was a heavy hitter). 

I know that they are going to want to do many tests and procedures.

I am scared about money. 

I am scared about it not working. 

I am scared of it working. 

I am scared of it working too well.

We think probably by the end of April or the beginning of May we will have our first appointment.  In the meantime, we are concentrating on losing weight (more on that in another post) and eating healthy. 

I do ask for prayer.  Peace, patience, strength and more patience.  Patience has never been a virture of mine...

Simple Pleasures

Sun peeking out on a cloudy day.

Fresh cut grass in the Summer.

Sonic Diet Coke

Real mail (not bills).

Chatting with your Best Friend.

Calls on your Birthday.

Clean sheets.

Cuddling with my Big Al.

Finding "lost" money.

Finding a forgotten box of Appleheads.

I have been a bad blogger...

Time has just gotten away from me.  One day it is a month before Christmas and now here it is almost a month after!  Hopefully things will calm down and I can get back to blogging more.  I did get my dream camera for Christmas so I should be posting more pictures soon!  I have it ready to go, just have not have anything excting to shoot!  Anyhow, one of my New Years resolutions was to blog more so we shall see!

Christmas Parade and Decorations

Here I am getting ready for the parade!

Us freezing our booties off!

Me, Mom, Brandon and Malissa

Here are a just a few of my favorite decorations!

My Grandmother loved this little birdhouse.

A cute little bow I made.

My Aunt Janie made this for me in 1981.

Just a cute cupcake!

I loved my dining room table this year!

Office Christmas Party

We had our staff Christmas party at our country club.  We had a blast, but I did not take very many pictures!

Here I am with my gag gift.  Yes it is a fire hat.  That is all I am going to say!

Here is me and my honey!

This is one of my coworkers, Doronia.  We have gotten her hooked on Twilight.  She finds Edward an absolute delight.  We changed her computer desktop picture to one of Edward.  Every evening she would tell him goodbye.  I decided to get her a picture--that way,she would not have to tell him goodnight!

I love this picture of Dr. Morris.  The look on his face is "I know I should know why I am getting this, but right now I am clueless." Do not worry, he remembered the joke shortly after.  When I came to work for two eye doctors, I never dreamed I would see the things that I have seen...

Christmas with the Family

I know I am late with these but...Things got really busy really fast!  Here are just a few pictures from our Christmas with the Rozenski bunch and then Christmas day with my family!

Our tree!

Santa Sadie

Me and Roxy

Big Al

Mom and the Busby tradition

Brandon and Malissa

Alan and me

Elf TJ

TJ is either going on So You Think You Can Dance or America's Best Dance Crew.

Elf Alan and TJ and Stickers the Cat

Dana and her hat

TJ enjoying the hat

Greg getting in on the fun

Best buddies

The Rozenski Bunch

"I farted" by TJ Rozenski

Dream

I have been sitting on this dream for about a month now. I have been analyzing this dream in my head over and over.

I was walking up a hill in a woodsy area.

I made it to the top and as I started to

climb down the hill, I noticed this huge tree.

Sitting underneath it was my Grandma.

She was playing with two

curly, dark haired babies.

I said, "Grandma! What are you doing?".

She said, "I'm playing with your babies!".

She picked the little boy up and was trying to teach him to walk.

I sat down and started cuddling the little girl.

I could feel her weight in my arms.

I remember hearing that perfect little girl giggling.

I remember hearing that sweet little boy belly laughing at

Grandma like she was the funniest thing ever.

I remember thinking that this was a perfect day.

I remember thinking that I do not want this to end.

Then I woke up.

At first I was so happy to see Grandma playing with my children.

Then I realized it was a dream.

I was on the verge of tears.

I had one person I deeply missed with me again

and two things that I am afraid I will never have.

It was truly one of the best dreams I have ever had.

I hope dreams do come true.

Thank You and Catch-up!

I wanted to tell everyone that has been praying for my latest prayer request, thank you! I still do not want to go into the details yet, but the situation is less of a possibility now, but I am still praying for what to do next!

Since my last post a few things have happened. We celebrated our 8 year anniversary on the 17th of this month. I can not believe that it is has been 8 years. I joke with Alan that sometimes it feels like just a few days--other times it feels like 30 years. I feel like it has always been me and Alan--I really don't remember my life without him.

On November 6th a friend of ours was killed in a car accident. She was only 37 years old and had two teenage sons. I have known her my whole life--I always considered her a cousin. She also cut my whole family's hair. She cut Alan's hair the day before her accident. Alan was the one that had to cover the accident for the paper. I still can not believe that she is gone. Her mom is taking things very hard. Please keep her family is your prayers.

It is starting "busy season" here--anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas parade, getting our tree, Office Christmas party, Christmas with the Rozenski bunch and then Christmas. Not to mention the shopping to get ready for all of it! We are going to be busy busy busy! Be on the look-our for lots of pictures!

A Day with My Bestie and Our Guys!

Dana and I met in the fall of 1995 at Williams Baptist College. Yes, Dana--that makes us friends for 14 years. Holy cow, 14 years. I can not believe that it has been that long. We have had some times of great closeness and a time where we our conversation lagged, but earlier this year Dana sent me an e-mail and I am so grateful that she did. See, about three weeks later my Grandma passed away. In spite of our lack of conversation, Dana came to her burial and that meant the world to me. From the day of that first e-mail (which I still have), we have picked up right where we left off. It is like it was when we were at WBC. We will chit-chat all throughout the day thanks to e-mail, unlimited texting and Facebook. I think without Dana's friendship, Grandma's passing would be harder on me than it has been. Grandma always told me that Dana was a nice girl and that I could always count on her. She was right. 14 years later, we are both married and Dana and Greg have a little boy named TJ. I am thrilled to be called "Auntie Brandi"! I personally think he the smartest little boy in the world! We got together a couple of weeks ago in Jacksonsville for me to take some fall family pictures and so we could hang out! We had a great time, laughed plenty and ate yummy Carino's! Here are a few pictures I took! Enjoy!

Prayer Request

Friends,

I can not really in to much detail, but I am asking for a huge prayer request. Over the weekend we have been asked to consider something big. We are trying to not get overly excited as even we do not have hardly any details. We are praying for guidance and hope to find out some more information over the weekend!

Please friends get your knees dirty!

Brandi

I Won!

Tuesday was the day that they judged the entries in the St. Francis County Fair. I was nervous all day long and kept joking to my co-workers that I was going to send the judges a fruit basket. Alan and I headed the exhibit hall that night after work. When we got up the section that held the photographs, I saw every photograph but mine! Alan had to point them out to me. I received four first places and two seconds! My white tiger and wedding rings picture won the two seconds! I was so happy and very pleased! I did not find out till Thursday that I won some money as well! Today I picked up my check for $42.00. I really enjoyed entering this year and am already coming up with ideas for next year!

St. Francis County Fair

Tomorrow starts fair week here in Forrest City. It is a small fair, but we go every year to take a stroll on the mid-way. I love the way the fair smells--corn dogs and funnel cake mixed in with cooler temps and the freshly mowed field and the farm animals from the exhibits! Our fair is like any other small town fair. We have pageants and exhibition hall where people can enter farm animals, handmade items (blankets, dresses, dolls, etc), canning goods, art and photography. This will be the first year that I will be submitting anything. I am sure I will not place, but I thought it would be fun to do! Here is a picture of what I am entering.

Alan is taking them out to the fairgrounds for me tomorrow. Judging will happen on Tuesday. Alan has to cover one of the pageants on Wednesday so I will find out how I did then! Wish me luck!

Shutterbug Photography

I love to take pictures. I have since I was a little girl. If someone would have told me that I could have majored in Photography, then I would have done it in a heartbeat. I was recently asked me what I liked about photography. I could not give them just one reason. I love to capture the moment--the emotion, the occasion. I love snapping and not really knowing what you are going to what you got till you develop the pictures (pictures look totally different on paper, then they do the computer!). I love planning the poses, adjusting for shadows and lines. I love being creative! I love the editing--trying to make that picture perfect, seeing if it looks better in color or black and white. I love watching someone look through their pictures for the first time and hearing the excitement in their voices--"Oh my gosh!! There are so good!".

Last fall I was asked by a coworker to take pictures of her and her husband. Another coworker heard us talking and she asked me to take pictures of her family! I went from never taking any one's pictures to having two shoots in one weekend! I was so nervous, but as soon as I had my camera in my hands it all fell into place. After editing over 500 pictures, I had my discs ready to go. I was anxious to see if my pictures would live up to their expectations. The first picture rolled across the screen...Monique's face lit up and I knew that she loved them!

Because of that weekend, I have decided to start Shutterbug Photography. I need a professional grade camera, but till we can afford one Alan is going to let me borrow his work camera for my shoots.

In October i have three shoots already on the book. The first is for my bestie Dana and her family. It will be in a park in Jacksonville (AR). I look forward to seeing what kind of poses I can do there! I also look forward to seeing my "nephew" T.J. The second shoot is for my coworker Monique. Last fall, I shot her, her hubby and their son Jay. This time I will be a family shoot--her mom, dad, sister and her family, and her brother and his wife. This will be the first time I have done one this size, I am nervous but excited!! I also have a date to shoot my cousin Merribrooke--she is a pretty girl so I hope to get some great shots of her and am able to capture her personality!

I plan on getting a Shutterbug blog up and running soon! Till then you can check the pics out on my Facebook!

Wrapped in Her Love

My Grandma loved to sew. When I was a kid, most of my clothes were made by her! She loved all kinds of sewing, but I think she loved to crochet most of all. She was so talented. She would enter her afghans in the county fair and not only would win First Place, but also Best in Show! For my Sweet 16, she crocheted me a hunter green afghan. I loved to wrap up in it on a cold winter day. It followed me to my days at WBC--everyone knew to be careful with it! On cold days, rotten days and homesick days--I would wrap up and feel safe, comforted, loved and warm. Just like I felt when I was with my Grandma.

A few weeks after my Grandma passed, my family and I gathered on a rainy Saturday to through her things that had been in storage. My Aunt Janie suggested that we start with the dresser and go from there. She pulled open the first drawer and stopped. She looked at me and said, "Mother told me to make sure you got this for when you had your baby." She pulled out a pink baby afghan. Tears welled in my eyes. All I could do was place it is a plastic sack to protect it from the rain. That is where it sat till today. I want to share what it looks like with you.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

What no one else knew (other than my Mom and Alan) is that Grandma had already given Mom two afghans to keep for me and my Brother. I remember her telling us that she was giving them to us now just in case she was not here when our babies came. I do not know if she forgot or she had the same feeling that I do. For the last year, I have felt that Alan and I are going to be blessed with twins. Call it wishful thinking. Call it dreaming. Call it whatever.

Regardless of what we are blessed with, I love knowing that my baby(ies) is going to know the love of their Great-Grandma and what it feels like to be wrapped in her love.