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I go through a camera a year.

My husband swears that I'm careless with them, but I think it's because the el crapo cams are made in China.

So before I headed home on my most recent visit to Kansas, I had to get a new camera. Because of course in the two weeks since my last visit I managed to ruin mine.

I gave up on the sorta cheap $300 cameras.

I've given up on the fairly cheap $200 cameras.

And this time I made the mistake of buying a $100 camera.

It ate most of my pictures.

They disappeared into thin air when I was uploading them.

But somehow, about 50 extra pictures showed up. And they all looked a lot like this:

Apparently my friend's little toddler son can operate the stupid thing better than I can.

But I was able to salvage a few pics from my trip home. And thanks to my continued Instagram obsession, my phone had a plethora of pictures.

Like this one.

Forget the "Welcome to Kansas" signs leaving the airport.

All I need to see is a sign that says "Drive it like you stole it" to know I'm back in the Midwest.

Gotta love the 75 mph speed limit. It's more of a suggestion really. You can push the limits to near 90 in my experience.

People drive at a snail's pace back here in the East.

There was a big Swedish festival in my hometown while I was there.

My best friend and her dad road in the parade.

He is the mayor of a town of 641 people -- making him pretty famous around those parts.

I spotted this guy across the street from me during the parade.

Who in their right mind would sport a half blue, half yellow mohawk ... complete with hot pink goatee?

Oh hey Pastor Ethan, what's up?

That'll teach him to challenge the youth group to a bet again.

Thankfully he cut his hair and rinsed out the dye for my grandmother's funeral a couple days later.

Later that night after the parade, I went by the liquor store to pick up a case of Boone's Farm.

Because that's what you do when you're going to your 10 year high school reunion.

You act like you're in high school.

Which, by the way, the reunion was AWESOME thanks to Sarah at Elegant Occasions by Sarah.

I am so mad I lost all of my other reunion pictures because she did such an amazing job. Girlfriend hooked us up.

If you live in Kansas and need help planning a big event -- call Sarah. She thinks of every last detail, down to interviewing potential babysitters for party-going parents and putting together a little resume for each one. She is simple amazing!

I was able to salvage a class photo.

It was so fun seeing old friends -- many of which I hadn't seen since graduation.

That's the downfall of leaving town and never looking back.

During the next couple of days, I got to spend some much needed time with my best friend and her daughter, Sophia. They were visiting from Las Vegas.

Just for the record, Sophia is the coolest 4 year old on the planet.

It was her idea for me to chill in the backseat with her and make her mom chauffeur us around town.

Cruising in the PT Loser. I mean PT Cruiser.

Sucks when you are in from out of town and you get stuck driving whatever vehicle your parents leave around for you.

At least you didn't have to drive the Smart Car, Eva. You would have had to strap me to the top.

Sophia had all kinds of fun activities planned for us.

We went to Dollar General.

Because that's what cool 4 year olds do.

We went downtown and ate at the Sugar Shack.

With a name like that, what preschooler could pass it up?

And we hit up the park.

Where Miss Social Butterfly made friends with strangers in minutes.

I swear I didn't beat the child, she managed to bruise up her legs all on her own.