Mardi Gras 2009!

First, I'd like to show you what one of my former Primary kids and her sisters made for me; her older sister is one of my Young Women and the three of them came and brought it to me Monday night:
Isn't that sweet?! The bag was filled with fruit and chocolate. Yum! The girl who was in my Primary class was sick a couple of weeks ago and had a minor surgery. I had made a get well card and brought it to her last week so I guess that's why she wanted to do this for me. The older sister told me it was all her idea. It was definitely appreciated and made me feel really good.

I finally started to really feel better Monday night so I decided to go with my family to Mardi Gras on Tuesday. We had four cars of people: my mom, Ben, Becky, Belle and Brenna and Becky's parents, brother, sister and nephew and her cousin and her husband and kid (14 of us). We went to the Argus parade in Metairie and that parade is followed by two truck parades (the truck parades were going on forever and we finally left before they ended). We got there a while before the parade got to where we were and we all had chairs and lots of food, including King Cake, of course! The weather was perfect and I even got a little burnt on my face and forearms. The girls were so cute dressed up in their LSU cheerleader suits and they had a great time. Here are some pics from the day:

{An ice cream truck came and parked at an adjoining street and Belle got an ice cream treat}:

{She loved being on her dad's shoulders and seeing all the bands and floats}:

{Cute little family pic}:

{My mom & I just before we left}:

{My favorite float in the parade :) }:

{Brenna taking everything in--wonder what was going on inside that pretty little head?}:

{She was having a blast playing with her daddy and being on her mommy's shoulders}:

It was pretty fun, even though my back was killing me by the time we got back to the car and drove home. We went back to Ben & Becky's house, where my car was and I had just enough time to wash my face and freshen up a tiny bit before I drove straight to the church in Denham for Young Women night. I was pooped but it was a fun day. I just wish that Jared (who had to work) and my dad (who wasn't feeling well) could have been with us at the parades. I hadn't been to Mardi Gras since 1999 and I'm glad I went. It's one of the things that makes me glad we're down here. Also, Jared surprised me by bringing home boiled crawfish yesterday. They were so good!!! Definitely one of the perks about living here again! :) Well, I'm off to teach piano lessons. Have a good day!