Memories | Midwestern At Heart

Best or Worst Halloween Memory #TBT | Blogtober '14

So Halloween really hasn’t ever been my thing. I grew up in the country, except for the 4 years I was working on my Bachelor’s degree, otherwise, trick-or-treating wasn’t really a thing. Our town used to have a huge thing for kids to come up and parade around the square and sometimes my parents would take me up there, especially since my mom’s work was up there, but otherwise… nope. I dressed up in grade school because that’s what we all did. You’ll also learn pictures weren’t really taken when I was a kid so I was lucky to find this picture from 4th grade…

Hmmmm can you figure out which one is me??

So then in college one year some friends of mine decided that they were going to dress up. I really didn’t have clothes other than normal every day clothes so they ransacked my roommates closet and dressed me as a “slut”. I always thought that was ironic… her every day clothes and they said I looked like a slut. hmmm…. The shirt, although you can’t tell from this picture is one of those that has the 2 crisscross straps in the back holding it together, otherwise it’s backless… Oh and randomly we thought it would be fun in the dorm halls to masking tape our bodies all through the halls.

And finally, the last time I dressed up was a few years ago, circa 2009. My PEO chapter got together for an after Halloween party and we were all to dress up. At work I used to get called Secretary Barbie (which actually does exist) and so I thought I’d dress the part as a joke.

So definitely not very exciting memories… non are good or bad. I just really have never had any fun on Halloween I guess… I dunno. I’m ready to change that this year though with da baby!

Best/Worst Vacation | Blogtober ’14

Not going to lie… this particular prompt really stumped me. Why you might ask… well because I can tell you the BEST vacation but the worst vacation was a bit harder. I went through all vacations trying to decide if I even had a worst vacation… yeah some aren’t nearly as good as others but a worst… then I finally came up with this one…

Now I absolutely LOVED this vacation! Why would it be the worst? Well, because… let me explain.
The trip: 1995 – Charleston, South Carolina.

This was the summer I turned 12. I begged and begged my parents to let me go with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousin and my grandma’s cousin to South Carolina. They usually went every other year and this just happened to be the year. My parents weren’t ever able to go and I really wanted to go to the ocean. They finally decided they’d allow me to go. This was the first trip I had ever been on without my parents and I was many states and miles away from my parents for a whole week. Now granted I was with family but not my parents. Home sickness kicked in big time. Cell phones really weren’t a thing back then so I had to use the house phone to call my parents. I called home every. single. day. There were nights I went to bed crying because I missed my parents. In the end I’m sooooo glad I went and I had an absolute blast when we kept the home sickness at bay… but… because I was home sick, I would say this was probably my worst trip to date.

Now the Best trip…
That is absolutely EASY!
The absolute best trip would be to Hawaii for our 1 year anniversary in 2011!

Post 1 – Friday night
Post 2 – Saturday
Post 3 – Saturday Post 4 – Sunday Post 5 – Sunday Post 6 – Sunday Post 7 – Monday Post 8 – Pineapple Selection Post 9 – Tuesday (Vow Renewal) Post 10 – Tuesday Post 11 – Wednesday Post 12 – Thursday
Post 13 – Friday

Yes I broke that trip down into 13 posts… sorry! But… I took over 2,500 photos. I went there with at least 6 cameras… I had my Nikon D5000, my Kodak underwater camera, My Nikon Point and Shoot, my iPhone, Hubby’s iPhone and my Mom’s iPhone… yeah I figured I’d only be in Hawaii potentially once in my life so I took a crap load of pictures. I was absolutely ready to move here after a week there but realized that wasn’t an option. Someday though I will go back :).

10 Things to Smile About September

Wow the last Tuesday of September happens to be the last day of the month, that works out very nicely when you’re talking about EmmyMom’s 10 Things to Smile About {Month}.

1. So I’ve been back to reposting our story, but let me tell you that I’ve actually been writing new stuff for when I get there!

2. Labor Day Weekend

3. My husband and I celebrated our 4 year Anniversary

4. My husband, Peanut, Tbug and Memaw (MIL) headed to Mermet Springs to Scuba Dive for a weekend. And now we can laugh about our hotel experience

5. We took my parents for Pizza at Marshiano’s Olde Time Pizza.

6. I remembered to do my Time in my Life

7. My dad and Tbug had deep conversations about Coke vs Pepsi

8. Tbug is hilarious!! I just love that girl! And luckily she loves her little sister.

9. Baby girl turned 3 month’s old and while it makes me sad, it makes me happy too. And we reviewed Baby Girls 2 month photos

10. And yey I got my camera bag! And I happened to read about 2 other gals who have the same camera bag. (Tiffany) (Beth a-dilly) See it’s love :).

Throwback Thursday: 9/11

Do you remember where you were 13 years ago? Holy cow, is it really 13 years ago? It is crazy how time moves on after tragic events that happen. People heal, people move on, but we never forget.

I know where I was. I still remember hearing Tom Brokaw’s voice and that feeling of, you don’t hear him in the mornings unless something is happening bad. I remember walking into Jess’s room and sitting on her bed and looking at the tv just as the 2nd tower was being hit live. Then the emotions that everyone went through. We may be located in the middle of the US, a few plane rides away, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t affected too.

In high school I was in band, I got out before my senior year of high school because I was lazy. The band teacher tried to talk me into staying in and he’d help me get a full ride scholarship to a university. Had I gone to SMS in band like he tried to talk me in to, the SMS band actually marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in November of 2001. I always wanted to go and see the Twin towers but I never got the chance… but I missed out on a second chance of going in November of 2001. I have mixed emotions on that as well…

As a graduation present from college my mom and I went and spent a week in NYC in 2005. One of the destinations I had on our agenda was to go where the twin towers stood. So here are the pictures I took of that area… obviously not all of them because if any of you know me I have a ton! I just got started into digital (plus I had a film camera then) so it made it easy to take an extreme amount of photos…

As I write this post I”m watching CMT’s Throw Back Thursday. It’s crazy to hear all the songs that came out due to 9-11-01. It is also a very surreal feeling that both of my kids will only know 9/11 because of history books. 1-2-03 and 6-26-14.

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The County Fair

This summer has been really crazy, especially with the addition of our beautiful bundle of joy! Baby girl was born the 26th of June which put her here in time to take to our county fair. She made her first visit to the county fair at 14 days old (2 weeks exactly).

There are those people who have their stories that always take them back to the county fair. They were kids who were able to grow up at the county fair. And while I was in 4-H starting around the age of 10, I never really partook in the county fair. I showed at the horse show which wasn’t during the big part of the fair and that was usually the extent of going to the fair. Every once in a while my dad would pick me up on his lunch hour and take me out to see what was going on, then took me back to whoever I was staying with (grandma or babysitter). But I never really got the chance to show there until I got in FFA.

As a Freshman in high school I joined the FFA. I always wanted to be in FFA so I knew that was where I needed to be. When the FFA teacher/adviser started talking about FFA Projects I knew that of course I’d use the horses but I wanted more of a challenge. I went home and talked to my parents and told them I really wanted to show cattle. I had ever since I was in 4-H but never got the chance. My dad traveled for work and then when we moved they said a cow couldn’t live in a 12×12 box stall. Our new place didn’t have fences at the time.

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Throwback Thursday – Senior Year of Highschool

Good morning friends! Well, I’ve survived my first 2 night classes of the semester. I just hope I’ll make it through the rest of them. I don’t really care for night classes to be honest. Anyway I’ll quit complaining! So, I was at my parents house this weekend cleaning out my old bedroom and found a paper I wrote for my Senior Year Cadet Teaching Class. I got 100 on it. Since this is my first week back at school, I thought it would be fun to share it with you. So welcome back to Fall/Spring 2000/2001 which was my senior year of high school.

“Why I am taking Cadet Teaching”

For the past few years of school I have watched the teachers teach students. They come up with new ways to get a point across so that students learn to the fullest. It seems like teachers have a little bit of a different way to get a point across but they all have the same outcome. While I watch the different teaching techniques my mind always stores the cool ideas. Now that I am in my last year of high-school it is time to start planning my future. Now that it seems like my future is coming faster, teaching has always stuck in my mind. I have always wanted to take some of the ideas I have seen presented to me and present them to other students who are younger. When I found out I could have the chance to work with a teacher and see if teaching was really what I wanted to pursue I jumped at the chance. I have committed myself to students just as I once had an older person committed to me. What I really hope to get from this is the skills of working and communicating with younger students. When you work with younger students you have to think more about how to talk with them. It is different talking to different age groups. If I realize that teaching isn’t for me, at least I will have the know how of how to communicate which will make me an all-around better citizen. I hope to bring to the children the “want” in doing better in school and so they continue their education and not drop out. I have had older students and adults touch my life and I want to be one of those life touchers.

My Husband’s Bracelet

So when I started talking to my husband and invited him out to dinner all those years ago (wow I make that sound like it was a really long time ago… only 5 years…). I told him that we had to dress up at least like business casual. He said, I should tell you something about myself. Um… okay?? He said, I wear this bracelet and I refuse to take it off.

A bracelet? That’s all that you’re worried about? I don’t care. But I am curious… what is it? Why is it so important? Again I didn’t care, I was just curious.

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First Day of School

Today I am sad. Why you might ask? Well, this is my first day back to school after the summer break. After a CRAZY summer school that ended in me having a baby on the day I was supposed to take my final and I wound up having to take it a week later. Then an even more crazy and hectic summer. Today is the first day back to school and I’m torn.

I’m excited to be starting back because there were times this summer I was bored, but at the same time, I have this gorgeous baby girl! Now if you think about it, from the time I had her until now, that was 7 weeks (4 days) ago which makes it a week longer than if I had to work and go back after the 6-week maternity leave that is typical here in the US (although I don’t think all businesses offer that, I don’t really know…)

I’m sad because now I’ll be missing out on 2 nights per week with her. I’ll be missing out on 2 afternoons with her. But my schedule is so great and I know she’s in GREAT hands! But Mommy might just cry today when I drop baby girl off with my grandma. Although I can tell you my grandma is extremely excited about watching her for me!

So anyway I don’t think this post has any great thoughts in it. It’s a little discombobulated just like my brain seems to be right now… so I’ll just leave you with this… (more…)

Hello, is this thing on?

I promise, I haven’t forgotten about this little place… this has been a pretty rough week… but It’s Friday… I’m not sure how I feel about this…

1. The Peanut got to experience the county fair this week. This is pretty much where her mommy grew up during the summers so she got to meet some of mommy’s friends. It’s crazy that we’re all growing up!

2. Naps are GREAT! That’s all :). Baby girl has enjoyed sleeping on my chest for naptime 🙂

3. All the hay is finally mowed. We still have to bale some but it’s all mowed! Whew!

4. Hubby took 2 weeks vacation to spend time with the Peanut and me after she was born. He’s spent most of his time in the hayfield and sadly today is his last day of vacation. I’m not sure I’m excited it’s Friday… He goes back to work on Monday.

5. I have the most awesome family. They’ve helped hubby and me out this week way beyond what I would have ever expected we might need. Wow! My family is awesome!

And now for 5 pictures 🙂

Family 4th of July Picture