Logan Study Techniques

Logan is one of the hardest workers that I know! From the very beginning of Pilot Training he has been extremely diligent to his studying! Here are a few examples of how he does it because it never ceases to amaze me of how creative they can be!

One thing Logan started was using the card table to lay out all of the stuff he uses. I often see him have it set up in the living room or office. In the picture above is also his white board. He sketches and makes his mental lists on it. 

In the first picture above is our shower! When Logan started having to get up super early he found that he liked to take longer showers to help him wake up but then he also needed to make sure he was studying so he wrote all his lists around the shower walls. Very good multitasking! 

Above is also the posters of his cockpit. Logan sits in front of this and does what is called "chair flying". It has been very useful for when he has other guys in the flight come over to study with and originally to help him learn where everything was. 

Later on in his training, he then needed to map out his flights so we bought him a roll of large butcher paper. On them he draws out the flight and adds in all the info he needs to do at each location. 

Other examples of his studying have also led him to use chalk to draw the flight pattern on the garage floor so he could walk his flights out and mentally fly them in his head. 

I am so proud of the hard work and many hours Logan puts in to make sure he is doing the best he can! 

Another Trip for Anna!

So I kinda felt bad to go on another fun family trip while Logan had to stay and go to work but I did! Logan told me I could go and reminded me that he gets to fly fun planes all day so I should get to have some fun too- he is so good to me!

This trip took me to Las Vegas, and California! My cousin got married in Las Vegas so I flew there and meet my mom, dad and little sister Shelby there along with the rest of the extended family. The Wedding was great and after we had fun walking the strip and seeing several of the attractions there!

This is the casino we stayed at. 

Shelby and mom giving tips to their favorite street entertainers. 

Stratosphere

My favorite thing that I saw was Cirque Du Sole - Mystere and the aquarium at Mandalay Bay! They were awesome!

After a few days there, dad flew home and just us girls drove to California! We had so much fun going to Disneyland, swimming in the Ocean and visiting Catalina Island! Here are all the fun pictures we got!

I think it is funny to see all the pictures of us in the rides! Most of the time I have the same face on except for Splash Mountain for some reason where I look pretty surprised even though it was the Tower of Terror that freaked me out the most!

We actually split up our days at Disneyland a little bit by taking a ferry out to Catalina Island! On the island we had a ton of fun snorkeling, shopping, going on a glass bottom boat tour and
a bus tour of Avalon! It was a beautiful place!

Most of the time you just get to see fish on the boat tour but there was actually a seal out and it dove under the boat several times! 

Logan's Solo

I was super sad that I was in Chicago for Logan's first solo but I made it up by going to his second one a few days later! Here are some pics of him doing his checklist before he taxied out to the runway and then when he got back! 

Our friend, Tim Marti, was my escort so I could go out to the flight line. He was also super nice to let us use his camera! 

Tim took the pictures of Logan before takeoff and then I met up with Tim just before Logan's landing time. It was so hot outside! We are in a drought right now and every day had been getting to at least 105. Its especially hot on the pavement! I don't know how the boys do it walking around in long sleeve outfits and then in the glass top planes! Logan said afterwards that it felt like the hottest day he had flow in so far! 

We waited for about 25 minutes on the side of the flight line because I didn't want to miss Logan. During that time I know we got to see his plane fly over head one or two times. Then he landed and we got to walk out to the plane.  Here he is just after parking!

I always love it when I get to participate in Logan's training and see where he spends all his time! I love telling people that my husband flies planes! It was also really cool getting up on the wing to take a few pics! My favorite one is of Logan checking the wheel and when he is walking back looking so cool! Great job honey! 

Chicago

This last week I got to attend the Craft and Hobby Association Conference in Chicago! It was a great trip and so fun to spend time with my mom and sister! Here are some highlights!

Inside the hotel and the convention center. 

Lake Michigan, me ready to go to classes and my Lobster! 

It took a lot of work to get pictures of all three of us. Here are some good ones: downtown Chicago, eating at Gino's East and at the convention. 

Navy Pier at night!

We parked at Soldier Field and went to the aquarium. 

They had a special Jelly Fish exhibit. 

Chicago skyline. 

Mom and Dad Dixon come to Visit!

Last weekend was so fun because we got to have a quick visit form Logan's parents! They were in Kansas City and I was super impressed that they would drive 4 hours here and back just to see us for a bit! That was so kind of them! 

That morning before they came, I was informed, as they were rolling up in their tractor, that they needed so dig up my gas line because it had a leek that was close to the house. I'm glad they caught it but of course it had to be the day my in laws were coming! It really just ended up being funny, except, I'm not sure my grass is going to make it now - poor grass!

Anyway, Dan and Sue arrived and got to put up with me for several hours as we waited for Logan to get home from training. Right now, he is in the middle of his "15 day program" where he has to stay for 12 hours every day and memorize a lot of new information word- for-word! It has been tough but Logan will make it through. I just felt bad because I got to see his parents more than he did! But it was really fun getting them updated on our lives here and touring them around the base!

Logan ended up getting home around 8:30pm (earliest he had been home since the program started!) and we got to eat dinner, have fun talking and hear Logan explain what pilot training was like.

The next day, we spent the morning with together and then took them to Logan's favorite place to eat around here called the Bar-B-Q Joint. It is about a half hour away but a really fun unique place to eat. We also ran into some of Logan's Flight members so his mom and dad really got a good taste of what Logan gets to look forward to for the next year as all the stories of the first few days were shared!

It was a short and sweet trip but I think we all had a great time! I love seeing family and I know it means a lot to Logan to have so much support!

Memorial Weekend

This last weekend Logan needed to get out of town and finally got the chance with the four day weekend for memorial day! We had so much fun going up to Kansas City to spend a few days with my sister and her husband! 

On the drive up, we got to see some beautiful clouds that quickly turned into an awesome storm! Lots of cars pulled off because it was raining so hard you could barely see. It was very exciting and after we got out of it, our car was so clean!

We packed everything we wanted to do in the two days that we were there! One of the things that I requested was to get my favorite milk! Cotton Candy! Logan got Root Beer Milk! So good! (Funny too that there are cows in the picture above).

Unfortunately, I didn't get any more pictures of the things that we did but we also saw The Avengers, Battleship, went out to eat at some of my favorite places, went to the Farmers Market and had a great time with Katie and Jeff! 

I think it was a really great break for Logan too because he didn't really have to stress about studying. I quizzed him when we were in the car but I am so glad he got to sleep in a few days and get out of Enid for a while. He is back to the grind now but doing so well! 

Chair Flying

For FHE this last Monday, Logan took me flying! Okay, so we didn't actually leave the ground, but we did get to sit in a working cockpit and pretend! It was really fun getting to see what Logan does to train and help him study at the same time. He was working on his checklists so I quizzed him and pretended to be his IP - except, instead of yelling at him, I gave him a kiss when he got everything right :) 

Then he let me sit in and take it for a ride! I love how all the instruments work and act like you are really flying. You can even crash but we tried not to. I just love it when Logan finds ways to include me in with his job; it makes me so happy!

That same morning, I also had three more moles removed. This time they came off my right leg. That takes up my total to 14. It's not the funnest thing ever but it sure beats getting melanoma later on in life (its on my "not to do" list)!

Shelby's Graduation and Mother's Day

So this weekend me and my three sisters drove out to Albuquerque to surprise my little sister for graduation! Mom and Dad took her out to eat and that's when we snuck up on her! It was so cute because she almost lost her balance when we popped out! It has been just the funnest being here with my family (except I miss Logan).

The other benefit was that we also got to be here on Mother's day! We went to the Tohajiiliee Branch with my dad and it was three members and our family! Right before church Cynthia asked if we wanted to sing a special number in sacrament for mother's day and we all decided that would be fun so we picked a song, sang it one time through and then gave the number later in sacrament! I love singing with my sisters more that anything else in the world and it was a great number because we all sound like we have the same voice! My mom said it was the best mother's day surprise and she never wanted the song to end!

Sunday night we had a great time playing games and spending time together! That night Shelby also all called us in together as a family and read us a special Thank You letter she wrote to all of us! Here is what she wrote about me:

"Anna. Baby. Thank you for being my first older sister. Thank you for finally loving me after I was born. Thanks for letting mom put us in matching clothing, I thought it was kinda cool. Thank you for letting me watch anime with you. Thank you for all the quote jokes we’ve shared over the years. Thank you for always showing me how to make the right decision, and being a close role model for me as I grew up. Thank you for all the times you let me tag along and play with you and your friends. Thank you for coming out to my graduation. Thanks for teasing me about what the word epidermis meant when I was in 2nd grade. Thank you for all the times you comforted me when I was sad, and singing hymns to me in our beds. Thank you for “accidentally” spitting on me from the top bunk. Thank you for showing me how to wonder and dream about my future, and the places I might go. Thank you for teaching me the preamble when I was young so I could impress other people for knowing it. Thank you for the intense kindness you have showed me, through making me finals care packages, and always checking up on me. Thank you for showing me how staying close as a family is a blessing, and how you can accomplish this by calling every member of the family, especially mom, 3 times a day. Thanks for being the baby of the family, and I love you."

Isn't that the cutest thing in the world! She is a great writer and I am so proud for all she has accomplished! She even graduated in the top 20 kids of her class! wow! It was just amazing to be there with all my family for Shelby's graduation!

 (Fun Fact: Shelby and me graduated with the same class rank number!)

I love my Family!

I put together a little collage showing the awesomeness of my family :)

Me and Shelby making funny faces with the page on the fridge.

Family Pictures

Logan and me finally took some new family photos! We have been wanting to for a while and needed to send one to his mother on Mother's Day. Thanks to Cox Family Photography (ie our friends that live down the street) we took some pretty good ones with my phone! Here are my favorites! Thanks Rachel and Brant!