Catch-up #2 {May}

First off, I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jared! I love you, babe! He had to work today but he was able to come home a little early. I've just let him relax and watch TV since he got home and now he's playing Lego Star Wars. I'm making a special dinner (a cheesy shrimp pasta) and some dessert for him. He got his birthday present early--something he bought for himself, ha ha, which is good 'cause I would have had no idea to get him that--a wicked awesome drill kit (it hammers and screws at the same time?). He seemed pretty excited about it so I'm really glad he bought it.

OK, back to catching up. May began with a youth dance--our 2nd one since being called to Young Women and Young Men. We have fun dancing together!

That first week of May, I was visited by an old friend of mine:
We were friends throughout jr. high and high school; we both played clarinet in band and both played percussion in the same drum & bugle corps all four years of high school. Then, we roomed together our freshman year at LSU and were in the Tiger Band together. We had so much fun! We lost touch after that first year of college, however, when she left LSU. After college, she ended up moving to Colorado and getting married and I moved to Utah and got married. We had both searched for each other online but were never able to find each other...UNTIL we both joined Facebook. I was so happy when I got a message from her! She ended up flying to Louisiana to visit family and go to the Jazz Fest and she came to my house to see me. It was so cool seeing her again. She is truly one of the sweetest, most genuine people I have ever known. Not a mean bone in her body. Anyway, I'm thankful for Facebook for putting back in touch with so many people I hadn't talked to in years. Really cool!

My dad's and brother's (Tim) birthdays are both the first week of May and our family went out to eat to celebrate them both. Tim is now 30! Some pics from the restaurant:

On Mother's Day, we had my parents over for lunch; I made a really yummy crockpot chicken dish over rice and cupcakes for dessert. Dad had to leave for work a short while after we ate but Mom stayed for a while. That night, Ben, Becky and the girls came over and we played Guitar Hero.

{This is the picture blanket Kiki and I had made for Mom with pics of all her grandkids; she loves it.}:

Last week, I had some of the young women come over to watch the American Idol Finale results show. We had all kinds of snacks and had a blast watching it together. The video of us screaming when Kris won (watch below) is hilarious!


The next night, Jared and I drove to Hammond to go to Belle's pre-school graduation, then we went to my Mom and Dad's house to eat dinner and see Maw-maw (she stayed at my parents house for a few days). We all hung out for a while, then we drove home.

{The girls sure did love the spaghetti my mom made!}:

Not too much else going on the rest of the month. I just have Enrichment tomorrow, we're having a family over Friday night, and we have a wedding reception to attend Sat. night. I'll post next month! :)

Loooong catch-up! {April}

I was just gonna stop blogging because, it seems to me, only a couple of people were looking at it and those couple of people pretty much know everything I do or keep up with me through Facebook. However, Jared said he misses my posts and wants me to keep posting. Plus, I really don't add many photos or videos on Facebook. So now I'm gonna attempt a really short version of our goings-on for the past couple of months, then I'll start posting more again.

The first week of April, we finally got rid of the uncomfortable twin bed in our TV room (and moved the elliptical into the master bedroom) and got a new sectional couch! One problem: We couldn't get it to fit through the door to the TV room! I have an extremely ingenuous husband, though, who figured out how to take part of the couch off, get it into the room and put it back together so that you can't even tell it was ever taken apart. It's so much more comfortable to watch TV now, and 1,000 times better for my back and neck! Here's a pic of the couch in the room:

The Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula was the first weekend in April. I hadn't been to it in about 12 years and couldn't believe how many people go to it now! Jared saw one of his drivers from work who lives in New Orleans and we saw some people in our stake who live in Mississippi. People come from all over now. It use to be much smaller. It was pretty fun, though. We got there early enough to watch the parade, then we rode a few rides (my fave was the Chainsaw, pictured below) and, of course, had lots of great food--boiled crawfish, crawfish pie, seafood baked potato, strawberry beignets, chocolate covered strawberries. We just had a great day together, just the two of us, and I loved it!

Even after eating all that yummy food at the festival, we still went out and ate a huge meal at Texas de Brazil with another couple--all you can eat meat, baby!

The second week of April, we did some major shopping--new desk chair and mat for my scraproom, Wii (with Wii Sports), Wii Play, Wii Fit, Guitar Hero World Tour band w/ extra guitar, Lego Star Wars & Lego Indian Jones. We have spent many hours playing Lego Star Wars together and have a lot of fun playing it together. I've had fun playing Guitar Hero with friends and family, too. Jared doesn't like to play it as much as I do.

Easter Sunday, we went to my SIL's parents' house after church and had dinner and the kids hunted eggs in the house because it rained most of the day. Here are some pics and videos from the day:

{Belle had gotten into some of her Grandma's chapstick and rubbed it all over her face; Ben about had a heart attack when she came out, thinking she had burned her face or something}:

{Just some funny videos of Brenna; she is mostly the sweetest, most cuddly baby but can be pretty feisty at times, ha ha}:

The weekend after Easter, Jared flew to Utah for business and stayed a few extra days to visit family and friends.

{He got to see his little brother perform in a piano recital and they got to hang out quite a bit}

{He went and visited my sister, Kiki, and her kids}

{He drove up to Idaho with one of his sisters and one of his nieces to visit two of his other sisters and their seven kids}I was quite jealous of his trip to Utah but I was happy for him that he was able to spend some quality time with his family and see a niece we hadn't met yet (I still haven't met her, boohoo!). He was also able to visit one of his best friends, who was one of his mission companions, and he was there for one of our nephew's birthday party. It was a great trip for him. I can't wait 'til we both go in July!!!

While he was partying it up in Utah, I participated in the Day of Service. Our ward cleaned a park in our town. I picked up branches and stuff and helped paint a fence. It felt good to do some service. That pretty much sums up April, besides all the youth activities and other normal stuff we do.