One of my favorite places

Valley of Fire. For those of you that visit Las Vegas this is a MUST go place. Yeah, a little out the way (45 mins from the strip), but seriously breathtaking! When I lived there I took trips to TVF all the time. Mother Nature sure created something wonderful there! 

Letting go ....

Seems to be the title of the day. We say goodbye to Daddy for a year (less or longer). It also seems this is my biggest struggle with my son - the letting go. He'll be 8 in a few months, but he's so much like a toddler in many ways - mostly in the impulsive department (and language). He's been gaining my trust more and more by proving me wrong in certain situations .... recently. I've been allowing him to roam more without such a tight leash .... but believe me my hawk eyes are still on him at ALL the times. It's just a real hard thing for a mom that has dealt with SO much horror ... having to call the police a NUMBER of times, losing him in a dept store (he jumped out the cart and RAN .... found him chowing down hotdogs in the break room), the ups truck driving picking him up naked not knowing (little sneak), broken windows, all the fences he climbed ... all the many times I had that OMG I LOST MY KID feeling! And even worse knowing he couldn't tell you his name, who his mom was, and more than likely naked! LOL (I still can laugh over all this) Letting go and giving him some freedom can send me in panic mode, LOL! I have to do it though. I tell myself this a million times a day ....

Anyway this photo reminds me of letting him go ... but not too far, haha!

Before and after

This isn't a great before and after, but I wanted to start doing these more so you can see what I start off with and show you how I process. This was just a quick minute edit. I promise I'll get more creative =)

 Strait out the camera (SOOC) with the usual resize and sharpen -

The quick edit

I can't wait to share more before and afters with you!

Reach for the sky

This was an old photo I edited tonight. I'm glad I went back and found it, because I love it! It makes me think of all my hopes, dreams, and reaching as far as I can to get them! I also get a free feeling when I look at this photo. I think I may have to revisit more of my old photos. 

I heart faces photo challenge: Best 2010 face

I heart faces is having a "best of 2010 face" contest. I had so many to choose from, but I feel like this was my most powerful image this year. 

Just a memory: Christmas

So, our entire Sunday was spent cleaning, putting away the x-mas decor, cutting up, and burning our 15 foot tree! What. A. Mess. that tree made! We saved the trunk of the tree to burn in our fireplace. It feels so empty in my house now. It always does the day we pack Christmas away! Makes me wish Christmas was everyday. I'm going to miss the gatherings ... the food .. the pretty lights .. and of course my beautiful tree! Until next year =)

A New Year

I don't like making resolutions for myself and these past few years I've set small resolutions hoping to reach them all. And I do, some. Even something like taking to time to blog everyday is hard! My goal is to blog once a day and hopefully include a photo to get me picking up my camera for myself, but it seemed last year once I missed a few days I stopped. So, this year I'm not going to be so hard on myself for a few missed days. I'll keep on and hopefully can get a year of our life documented.

Anyway here are a few of my New Year resolutions - not all just a few I'm sharing here are:

1. Read more books (I think I read 3 books last year and all were Autism related). I want to read more novels.

2. Find and be apart of something - weather it be a support group for moms with kids that have autism or a group with our church - something! Maybe I'll even get really rambunctious and start something .. =)

3. Go to church more

and since my husband is going to be deployed for all of this year ....

4. Spend more wisely, save more, and pay off debt

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year!

College Football Holiday Bowl: GO BIG RED

Well we scored some last minute tickets to go see my favorite college football team, Nebraska Cornhuskers. I know most people are surprised when I say I am a Huskers fan. I was born and raised in New England and love my New England teams but for some reason, and I'm sure there was one, I became a Huskers fan when I was in my teens. This was my first game I got to see at a stadium. It was was disappointing, yes because they lost, but the game overall by both teams wasn't a very exciting game. Not like I thought it would be. I guess I'll just have to keep my plans to see them play Ohio State in October at Nebraska. Now that'll be a game worth seeing! Here are some pictures of the night.

These two were great! So glad I got to sit next to them. I wanted to steal her hat!!!!!

Hot cocoa was needed it was COLD for San Diego!

What do you think they were talking about? LOL

Replay anyone? He looks proud of that shot!

There are ALWAYS one of them! haha

The popcorn man! 

The band - they were good

We did originally have seats together, but we traded them for better seats - we still sat together. 

What a show. The fireworks were insane ...

A chef in the making: Amelia

Amelia has been showing more and more interest in cooking.  She likes helping me make bread - adding the ingredients and all. She likes to watch me cook dinner. Although, she won't peel potatoes or peel the carrots ... it's too much work for her! She loves baking cookies with her dad. As far as cooking on the stove I've always been a bit nervous about. Well, I don't know why I was - she's a natural =) She now can mix the pancake batter and cook us up breakfast! This will be great for when daddy is gone and mommy needs a helper in the kitchen and someone to serve me breakfast in bed!

Sailing the San Diego Bay

We got the opportunity to sail with Heart of Sailing - a program for families that have children with cognitive disorders such as Autism. George is the founder of this AMAZING organization. He took us out for an hour of sailing. This program is to help families create memories, help build team work skills, RELAX, and spend time together sharing the experience. It does so much more for the child that has a disability. My son with Autism became relaxed, less impulsive, and aware. It was a very calming stimulation for him and he enjoyed the sail, so much! 

Ashton with George

Nick, Amelia, and Anthony - after the sail.