Family Visit

Two of Jared's sisters (Carrie & Stephanie) and their husband/finacee came for a visit this weekend. Carrie & Nathan live NE of Atlanta, GA and Stephanie & Ryan live in Tampa, FL. They both got here late Thursday night. We hung out at my house all day Friday, just enjoying each other's company, then we drove to Kliebert's Alligator & Turtle Farm in Ponchatoula:We then went out to eat at an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant in Ponchatoula, then went and walked a swampwalk as it started getting dark.

On Saturday, we went to the Audobon Zoo in New Orleans. Here's some of my fave pics from the zoo:

CUTE, right?!

After sweating at the zoo for a few hours in the awful humidity, we went and ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe' Maspero, in the French Quarter, then went and ate beignets at Cafe' DuMonde for dessert:We were all exhausted when we got home that night!

Jared's birthday is tomorrow, so we had a little birthday party yesterday evening since his sisters were here. We ate sandwiches, pizza, chips, brownies, cake, ice cream, and M&M's and just had fun together. Mom, Ben, Becky, and Belle came (Dad had to go spend the night with Maw-maw), as well as Jared's boss and his wife (they also brought four of their Pomeranians that they breed--2 of them were only 8 weeks old and so tiny and adorable!). Here's Jared with his birthday cake ("32" written with 32 candles):

During the party, Ben, Becky, Belle and I went outside to get a few pics of them before the baby is born next week. Belle wasn't cooperating, so we only took pics for five minutes and this is the best I got (I still need to tweek the photo a bit--especially the skin color)

Stephanie & Ryan left at ~1:30 this morning and Carrie & Nathan left at ~7:00. It was so nice to see them and I can't wait to see Jared's whole family in July for Steph's wedding!

Oh! LSU won their 20th game in a row yesterday (a school record) and are the SEC baseball champs! LSU was named one of the NCAA Regional hosts yesterday and will play Texas Sourthern 1 p.m. on Friday in Alex Box stadium. Woohoo! Our old stadium gets a few more games afterall before the new one is built! Best of luck to the Tigerst that they will make it to the Super Regional, then the College World Series!! GEAUX TIGERS!!!

I want to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day. Jared had to work today but is getting off a little early and we will just relax at home this evening, after the busy weekend we just had. I stayed up with Carrie until 3am and didn't sleep in enough, so I'm sure we will be headed to bed early tonight. I hope you all have a great day today!

Conspiracy Theory

It was rigged!

I read on MSN this morning that the American Idol producers wanted Cook to win because they didn't want to have to work with Archuleta's dad. So I think they rigged it!

J/J (mostly). I'm not saying Cook didn't deserve to win or that I don't like him (I think he's really good) but the scales, for me, were tipped in Archuleta's favor. But most of the voting audience disagreed. Oh well. I KNOW David Archuleta will be a great star and come out with some great music. I, for one, can't wait to buy his CD and I'm looking forward to seeing him perform at the American Idol show in Salt Lake City on July 14th with my sister, Kiki. That's right! We bought tickets to the show! I'm so excited and can't wait! Especially for the fact that I get to go with Kiki. It's gonna be so fun!!

Anyway, I got to watch the finale with the young women in my ward. We made our camp t-shirts and pillowcases while we watched it--and had a great time.

I finally have an appt. with the doctor tomorrow to have my ankle checked out--it still is giving me problems from when I sprained it 2 months ago! I hope I didn't damage it permanently! I have four piano lessons to teach tomorrow, then 2 of Jared's sisters and their DH/fiancee will be here in the middle of the night (one couple is driving from outside of Atlanta and the other from Tampa). I'm so excited to spend the weekend with them and meet my future BIL. I'm sure I'll have lots of pics to post next week!

Oh and GOOD LUCK to the Tigers tomorrow in their game against Vandy!!! 17 games won in a row and counting!!! Keep rollin', boys!!!

Whoa, that was close!!!

So the SEC (Southeastern Conference) baseball championship started today and LSU (seed #2) played the first game of the day vs. South Carolina. SC scored 1 in the 4th inning, 2 in the 6th, and 1 in the 9th. So it was 4-0 at the bottom of the 9th and LSU got 3 runs off a homerun then another run batted in, making it 4-4 but they weren't able to score the winning run so it went to the 10th inning. SC was not able to score at their bat, then it was LSU at bat. The first batter struck out, then LSU won off a homerun by Blake Dean! What a thrilling victory! WOOHOO! That's the 17th straight win! I listened to it on the radio and, even though I'm home alone, I was yelling and cheering in glee. Bet y'all would have loved to have seen that, ha ha!

So now the Tigers will play either Vanderbilt or Florida (probably Florida) tomorrow afternoon. GEAUX TIGERS!!!!

Goosebumps!

That's what David Archuleta gave me last night. All three performances were FLAWLESS! Wow! I LOVED him singing "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". That is one of my favorite songs (the George Michael version, not Elton John) and I knew as soon as they said that was what he was singing that he would do great with it. I really liked the 2nd song (the new one) and, of course, "Imagine" was AMAZING--even better than the first time he sang it on the show. I think David Cook did very well but he completely paled in comparison to Archuleta and even Simon gave all three rounds to Archuleta. Now I just hope that all the fans voted enough to make him win. I can't wait to see who wins!!! I haven't been this excited for an AI finale in a few years. In case you missed it, check out Archie singing "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me":

Amazing, right?!

Busy Weekend!

On Friday, I went and played volleyball, then went home and got ready to go to my brother's graduation at LSU. Ben got his degree in Environmental Engineering with a GPA of 3.7-something. That's with being married for the last almost 7 years and having a kid the last three years. I'm so proud of him and my other brother, Tim, (who would be graduating from LSU with a Master's but has decided to go on for his doctorate in Bio-Stats). After graduation, we took some pictures (which I will have to get from my brother because Jared has my camera in Utah) then we went out to eat--my SIL's family were all there, too, so there were a total of 11 of us. I then had to run to Wal-Mart for a few things, so I didn't get home until late and went to bed really late, even though I had to wake up before 6:00 the next morning!

On Saturday, I helped the young women with a car wash to raise money for girl's camp. Boy, was that fun. I was exhausted and aching but, after a very short nap, I got up and went to Ben's graduation party. We had lots of food, hung out, played a couple of board games, and played the Wii that he got as a graduation present. I didn't get home until after midnight then had to go to my parent's ward this morning for a meeting with their Primary presidency and their ward conference. They had a potluck afterwards with tons of great food. Needless to say, I came home and had a nap and have just been vegging the rest of the day at the house by myself, missing Jared.

btw, LSU's baseball team is now at 16 wins in a row and have won the SEC Western division. They are headed to the SEC championship on Wed. There's a good chance they will go to the College World Series. I just hope they keep winning! GEAUX TIGERS!

Bad Weather!

There was huge storm here yesterday evening/night--heavy rain and really strong winds. Thankfully, Jared had the day off and kept me distracted--otherwise I would have sat and watched out the window, worrying that a tree would fall on the house. I went up to the church for Young Women's last night after the major part of the storm and traffic was horrible because all of the power in my town was out--so all of the traffic lights were off (let me just say that some drivers are idiots and have no idea how to treat intersections as a 4-way stop!). There were branches and debris everywhere and even lots of whole trees uprooted!

The worst part--we were without electricty for 19 HOURS!!!! It went out at 4pm and didn't come back on until 11am this morning. I missed the American Idol results show. Jared flew to Utah this morning and had planned on doing laundry and packing last night but he ended up just waking up early (at 4am!) and packing in the dark (with me holding a flashlight for him). I guess he'll just have to do a bit of laundry at his mom's house when he gets there. And driving him to the airport this morning was not fun! It rained really hard again with a little bit of wind, it was still dark because it was so early, and the fallen branches and trees all over the place just off the sides of the roads made me really nervous (not to mention all the water on the roads). Every time I hit a big puddle, I would white-knuckle the steering wheel and let out a little "aaah!" I was so stressed out by the time I got home! But I am thankful we made it through the storm w/ no harm to us or our home.

I hope Jared is having a wonderful time with his family! Love you, babe!

I just have to say YAAAAAAAAY for David Archuleta!!!! I KNEW he would make it to the finale and I really hope he wins it! If you're curious to hear what his recording voice sounds like, listen to this:


If that's what he will sound like, I know I will love every song on his album! GOOD LUCK, DAVID A.!!!

Temple Activity, LSU baseball, Mother's Day

We had a Primary activity Sat. morning at the temple. We walked around the temple and had a few short lessons on "my body is a temple". The kids were dressed in Sunday clothes; most of the girls wore white dresses and most of the boys were in white shirts and ties. They looked so good! Here a snapshot I got of the temple:

Jared had to leave for work while I was at the temple and, when I went home to get changed out of my dress to go to a baseball game, this is what I found on the fridge (it was filled with $):

SOOOOO SWEET, HUH?!

I went to the LSU baseball game with my parents, brother, SIL, and niece. We play Mississippi State and it was the last game in Alex Box Stadium--a HUGE new baseball stadium is being built and will be ready for next season. Here are some pics from the game:

Belle (who was such a trooper in the hot, sunny, humid weather):

Mom & Dad:

Belle cheering "Geaux Tigers!" (notice the adorable outfit I gave her for her bday):

One of the four homeruns of the game--this one was a three run shot by Ryan Schimpf in the bottom of the 8th:

LSU won 16-4. They beat them Fri. night 15-6 and Sunday 9-6. That put them at 12 wins in a row. They've moved up to #16 in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball rankings, and to #21 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25, and have a good chance of going to the College World Series. GEAUX TIGERS!!!

Jared woke me up Sunday morning and dragged me to the kitchen table to eat this breakfast he made for me (cheese omelot, toast & jam, sausage links, pancakes and yogurt). How sweet is that?!

Jared had to go to work after church on Sunday but I went to my brother's house, where we had a BBQ with my family and my SIL's family. Here's my mom's reaction to one of the gifts I gave her (I also gave her a LO I made of her as a baby with her dad holding her):

We had SO MUCH FOOD on Sunday! Ben BBQ'd pork, sausage, and chicken and we had green salad, potato salad, baked beans, artichoke casserole, asparagus, pasta, ambrosia, and garlic French bread. It was all so yummy and I made myself sick eating so much of it!

Ben's graduation from LSU (in environmental engineering) is this Friday; his "surprise" party is Sat. night. The STINKER found out about it when he heard his wife and MIL talk about it last week. It figures he would find out about it and ruin the surprise. It will still be loads of fun, though.

Birthday Celebration

My dad's birthday was last Thursday and my brother's was on Sunday. My SIL's brother's was also last week, so our two families got together Friday night and ate out then went to my parents' house for cake and ice cream. Some pics:

Tim LOVES my chocolate chip cookies, so that's what I gave him for his birthday (his last 20-something birthday ):

We gave my dad an LSU t-shirt for his birthday:The three birthday boys:

Belle and her cousin, trying out the birthday favors:
Belle cuddling her mom and her sister, who will be born in less than four weeks:

What else have I been up to? Went to the temple Thurs. night when one of my friend's daughter's received her endowments, went to a BBQ at that friend's house Sat. afternoon, went to a farewell party Sat. night for another friend who is moving, babysat three boys Monday morning, went to a high school band concert Monday night (one of the girls going to camp invited me). Tonight is busy because I have a pack mtg. planning mtg., followed by a den mtg. (I'm helping the den leader), then mtg. with the young women to write the skit for camp. Lots of fun stuff coming up this month, so I'm sure I'll be posting again soon! :)