Tagged!

Debbi T tagged me.


Here are my responses:

Question 1: Ten years ago
I embarked on a journey that would change my life forever. I decided to quit my teaching job and move from Louisiana to Utah, even though I didn't have a job lined up there. I found a job right away (ended up working there for over 7 years) and met Jared just over a month after I got there and the rest is history!

Question 2: Five things on today’s “to do list”
1. Finish a layout I'm working on
2. Do some laundry
3. Pack for my trip to Utah tomorrow!!
4. Make some phone calls to take care of some things before my trip
5. Get other last-minute things done before my trip

Question 3: Snacks I enjoy.
Chocolate! Little Debbie Swiss Rolls, M&M's, Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Pop Tarts, Nutella on graham crackers, Laughing Cow cheese on Wheat Thins, Funyuns and the list could go on and on

Question 4: Things I would do if I was a millionaire
Buy a new house with a pool and lots of land--hire people to take care of the yard; buy wave runners, a boat, 4-wheelers, snow mobiles (to keep in Utah); go CRAZY at scrapbook stores; travel the world

Question 5: Places I have lived
At least eight towns in Louisiana and two towns in Utah

Here are "the rules" of this tag: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 4 people and posts their names with links to their blog, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answers.

I'm tagging:
Kiki
Beth
Amiee
Becki

*****************************
About my bday cake--Amiee asked "i just happened to notice it looks like someone stuck their fingers in it for a taste! who was that?" It was Belle, of course! She LOVES cake--especially the icing and just couldn't help herself! I meant to add that to the post but I forgot, so thanks for asking, Amiee!

I'm leaving for Utah bright and early tomorrow morning! YAAAAAY!

Early Birthday

Since I will be in Utah for my birthday next Saturday, we went with my parents, brothers, SIL and niece out to eat for my birthday. We ate at Tope La in Hammond. It was yummy! My parents gave me, what else, LSU shirts! And some cash for my trip next week. Ben & Becky also gave me some $. Yipee! We then went to Ben & Becky's house for cake. They didn't take the baby to the restaurant because she's still not supposed to go out in public for a couple of weeks, so it was fun to go to their house and see her--she was across the street at Becky's parents' house. Here are some pics from the night:

{I thought this one was pretty funny--my dad was goofing around while I was taking pictures at the restaurant and Jared's face was priceless!}

{Belle made a big mess at the restaurant}
{Jared called first dibs on Brenna as soon as we walked in Ben & Becky's house}
{Paw-paw was being naughty--pretending like he was giving Brenna some cake}

It was a fun night and I want to thank my family for taking the time to go out to eat with me and especially for giving me presents. I love y'all so much!!! I'm a lucky girl to get an early bday with my family here, then spend it with my sisters, nephew and niece next week--plus Jared flies into Utah on my bday so it will be extra fun! I can't wait!

Look who we got to babysit last night!

{Trying to wake up}

{Baby yawns are so cute!}
{Squirmy, squirmy, squirmy!}

Becky took Belle (along with Becky's sister, mom, and nephew) to a circus and Ben was working, so they asked us to watch Brenna! Yay! She is such a sweet angel. My only complaint is that we barely had her for two hours and she slept for 45 minutes of that--I wanted to keep her longer. I only took six pictures of her because she was just waking up and needed her diaper changed right away (poor baby has major diaper rash) and was hungry--so she was pretty squirmy. I didn't get any really good shots because I didn't have time to play around with my camera settings and how she was situated. Oh well, still cute!

I got some cool news yesterday--I get to go to Nauvoo with the youth next month! Woohoo! It's gonna be so much fun! I haven't been there yet so I'm super excited. And I love being with the young women. The only downside is that I will probably have to drive someone else's van there and back. The stake paid for one bus but they are trying to save money so they asked a few people to drive vans because it would have been another buttload of money for a bus that wouldn't be full. So I guess the girls in our ward get stuck riding in vans and I will have to drive one of them. Oh well, one minor issue on a trip that I'm sure will be fabulous otherwise. I can't wait!

Speaking of being excited--I leave for Utah in FOUR DAYS!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!

Eliminated

So the elimination game between North Carolina and LSU started Thursday. They didn't even make throught the top of the 1st inning when the game was halted because of rain. So last night (Friday) they picked up where the left off (UNC had already scored 2 points Thursday night); there was an hour & 1/2 rain delay but they were able to finish the game last night. We entered the 9th inning tied at three and they loaded their bases and, by some miracle, got a grand slam by one of their guys who usually doesn't bat that great. Figures. We had last bat but were unable to do anything so we lost 7-4 and are out of the College World Series. I'm pretty disappointed but I have to say that I am very proud of them for making it as far as they did. No one would have thought at the beginning of the season, or even the middle, that they would go as far as they did. Way to geaux, Tigers!

Not much else going on except hoping I feel better tomorrow. I started getting a sore throat yesterday and woke up this morning feeling yucky, with more of a sore throat and some coughing (trying really hard not to cough because it hurts my throat so bad) and feeling tired and headachey (is that a word?). I missed a wedding shower I wanted to go to and got a sub for Primary tomorrow morning. I hate missing my Primary class but I don't want to get any of them sick--two of them have brand new babies in their home. So not the best weekend for me but I can at least look forward to going to Utah in 10 days!!!

What a comeback!!!

LSU played Rice today. The loser of the game was headed home. We started the bottom of the 9th inning trailing 5-2 (for those of you that don't know baseball, that means we batted last and it was our very last chance to score). Our first batter up grounded out. Yikes, I thought. Our next two batters got base hits, then the next batter got a base hit, bringing one of the runners home and the others advanced to bases 2 & 3 off a field error by Rice (heh heh!). Things were looking up but I was SO nervous!

So then it was 5-3 and bases were loaded. Blake Dean went up to bat, hit a double off the leftfield wall (it was almost a homerun) and the three other runners scored, putting us up 6-5, making us the winners! Whew! That was way too close for comfort!! I'm sure most of you can just see me jumping and screaming by myself here at home. Then, of course, I had to call my brothers and dad.

So the Tigers are still in the College World Series and I will be rooting them on in their game Thursday night. It would be so awesome if they could be the first team to lost the first game and go on to win it. It would be a very long shot but anything can happen. GEAUX TIGERS!

I survived Girl's Camp!

I went with the Young Women in my ward to Girl's Camp. I had so much fun with the girls. They are really great girls--sweet, helpful, obedient, valiant. I sure wasn't that good when I was their age! I still feel a little tired, even though I've been home since Friday mid-morning! We did all kinds of stuff: had classes on all kinds of stuff (fires, sanitation, first aid, nutrition, etc.), played water games and swam (just the girls did this but it was fun watching them), did some line dancing, had a family home evening lesson and activity, played games ("Do you love your neighbor?" was SO much fun, even though I have a bruise on my arm from being elbowed!), saw a presentation at the Nature Center which included a tarantula, snake, millipede, and hedgehog, watched each ward's skit (our was the best!), went on a 3-mile hike (felt like much longer in the hot humidity with long shirts and pants on!!!), went canoeing down the river, fished, made placemats for kids at St. Jude's and lots of other little fun moments. We got to stay in air-conditioned cabins with a mess hall but there were only two toilets and two showers on each wing (with ~24 girls/leaders on each of the two wings). BTW, my mom went as one of the cooks. We had lots of great food! We did a lot of walking so my back is still hurting a little (and my paddling the back of the canoe didn't help much). I was so happy to get home, put a load of laundry in the washer, take a long shower, nap for a couple of hours, take a long, hot bath in the jetted tub and sleep peacefully in my own bed without the sounds of creaking beds! I hope I get to go again next, year, though.

We went to my parents' house straight from church yesterday. My mom made baked chicken, baked potatoes, corn, salad, and rolls and Jared and I made brownies and homemade ice cream. Tim, Ben, Becky, Belle, and Brenna were there, as well. We gave my dad a new camera memory card and card reader (Kiki and I went in on it together). We stayed until the LSU baseball game ended after 9:00.

It was LSU's first game in the College World Series since 2004 and they lost to North Carolina. There was one play in the 8th inning where the ump called an out on us but the replay showed that he was totally safe. That was the 3rd out and we had other guys on base so I wonder what would have happened if the ump had gotten it right. Oh well. We're still in the tournament, as it is double elimination, but no team has ever lost in the 1st round and come back to win it. Maybe we can be the first!

Here are some pictures I took yesterday:

Brenna has hip dysplasia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_dysplasia_%28human%29 if you don't know what that is). Poor thing to wear this brace for four weeks but it's so cute on her! BTW, I had it when I was born, too, and had to wear a brace. I never knew that until yesterday!

This is for Kiki to see Dad opening our present. He said he was going to buy that very same picture card but kept putting off buying it. And he was excited about the new card reader!
Daddy Ben with his 2 girls. Aaaaw!

Not too much going on the next couple of weeks--just piano lessons a couple of church mtgs. I'll just be gearing up for my 2 week trip to Utah that starts on July 1!!!

Tigers headed to Omaha!!!

Just a quick post to say congrats to the Tigers, who WHOOPED UC Irvine tonight 21-7!!! They are headed to the College World Series next weekend! The game was over four hours long and we were ahead so far by the 6th inning that they switched to another ballgame on ESPN, so I had to finish it by listening on the radio. I had to watch/listen while I packed for camp. I'm all packed now, just gotta get up at 5am to get ready go. Later!

GEAUX TIGERS!!!!

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Just to give you and idea of what I've been doing:

Wed.: got up early to practice the piano, drove to Hammond for my uncle's funeral (at which I played the piano), stayed for the family luncheon afterward, drove to Baton Rouge to see my new niece again

Thurs.: Went and picked up my parents at their house so we could pick up my sister, Kiki, from the New Orleans airport. We stopped to eat then drove to B.R. to see Brenna again. I stayed at my parents' house that night.

Fri.: Went to breakfast with my mom and sis then we waited for Brenna to get home from the hospital. We went to Ben & Becky's house when they got home, left for a bit to go out to eat with our good friend Shelly and her Mom, then went back to their house and stayed until after 11pm. I stayed another night at my parents' with Kiki.

Sat.: Kiki, Mom and I went and shopped at the French Market in New Orleans and met up with my brother, Tim, and had lunch. We drove my mom back to her house then headed to my house, where our friend Shelly came and spent the night with us. We had a great time snacking (never go grocery shopping with two pregnant ladies!) and chatting the night away (we stayed up until after 2am).

Sun.: Kiki, Jared and I went to church, then Kiki and I headed to my parents' house straight from church. Jared went to work after sacrament mtg. and went to my parents' house a little later. We had roast beef and ham po-boys at my parents' with our family and Becky's family and watched the LSU baseball game--they were losing but came back and won in the 9th inning! Whew! I stayed yet another night at my parents'.


Mon. (today): Brenna had a dr.'s appt., so Becky dropped her off and Kiki, Mom, Dad, Belle and I went to eat at a great place in Hammond. When we got back to their house, Dad brought Kiki to the airport. I stayed with my Mom until Becky picked up Belle (so I could see Brenna for a minute), then I drove home to shop, do laundry, and pack for girl's camp in the morning.


I'll be at camp from tomorrow until Friday. I hope it doesn't get any hotter over the next few days so we won't burn up and be miserable. At least we get to sleep in air conditioned cabins and all our food will be prepared. BTW, my mom is going as a camp cook, ha ha! Don't envy that job! I'm sure I'll have a great time with the girls but wish me luck!


Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure :

{Brenna on her pink LSU blanket in the hospital on her 2nd day}

{Angel Baby--day 3}

{Kiki, Jeannie, Shelly, Me Fri. night}

{Belle, ready for bed, Fri. night}

{Kiki, Mom, Me in New Orleans on Sat.} {How cute is that?! She has enough hair to have bows clipped in, not stuck on with Caro syrup, like most baby girls!} {This is at my parents' house on Sunday}
{Jared & Brenna}
{Kiki & Belle this morning}

A new niece!!!!

My brother and his wife had their 2nd girl today. She is BEAUTIFUL!!! She looks a lot like Belle did but she has darker hair, and more of it. Her name is Brenna:
Her Daddy and big sis:
Her favorite aunt, heh heh!
A kiss from her big sis:
A kiss from her Daddy:
Check out that hair!
Cute little tootsies!
Beautiful girl with her eyes open:
Anxiously awaiting mealtime with her Mom:

I already can't wait to see her again! Huge congrats to Ben & Becky! Y'all are one lucky couple! :)

Lagniappe Days at Alex Box

Lagniappe is a Cajun French term meaning "a little something extra." Since the last game at Alex Box Stadium was supposed to be May 11 (due to a new baseball stadium being built at LSU) but the Tigers continued to win and sweep through the SEC championship, LSU fans and officials are referring to the regional tournament as "Lagniappe Days". And, since they won all three games they played this weekend, they will now get to host the Super Regional tournament next weekend. BTW, their win streak has been extended to a whopping 23--a new SEC record. Two more wins and we're in the College World Series! Here's to more Lagniappe at the Box! Laissez le bon temps rouler!!! [Let the good times roll!]



I haven't posted since last Monday but not too much has been going on except lots of church stuff--Young Women's Wed. night, a Cub Scout pack mtg. on Thursday and lots of prep for both. Jared's bday was Tuesday but he just wanted to stay in so I made dinner and we just relaxed. I gave him some stuff for his gas BBQ grill--a meat thermometer, spray-on cleaner, and a cleaning brush. He got some good stuff at his birthday party--a shirt and money from my parents, a "The Dirty Dozen" DVD (one of his all-time favorite movies) from Ben & Becky, and cologne from his sister.



I got my birthday present really early:22" monitor! This baby is huge--notice the two programs sitting comfortably side-by-side. Trust me, this thing is bigger IRL than it looks in the picture. We took advantage of a Memorial Day sale and it arrived only three days later! I love it!

We had stake conference last night and this morning. It was really good--yet another reminder that we really need to get more food storage, though!

One of my dad's brothers died on Friday; the funeral is Wed. I might play the piano at the service but they haven't told me for sure yet. On to brighter news:

Tuesday afternoon I will have another niece (Ben & Becky's 2nd girl)! Can't wait to see what she looks like! Then Kiki is fyling in from Utah Thursday night. Woohoo! She leaves the night before girl's camp starts so I will be extremely busy for the next two weeks. It will all be fabulously fun, though!


Happy Summer, y'all!!!

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!