Latest Happening

I went to the temple with the youth last Wed. night; Jared wasn't able to get off of work in time to go with us. We ate at McDonald's afterwards. Here are the girls that went and one of the other leaders:
A friend of mine that I met my senior year of high school asked me to play at Drummers for Jesus at a Baptist Church this past Saturday. I talked about and played both the piano and the marimba. I played two songs on the marimba--one with two mallets and one with four:
The Young Womens' New Beginnings is tonight. A few of the girls came over to my house last night to make the castle cake for it. The theme for our New Beginnings is "Be the Girl of your Dreams". Here are some pics from last night, including the cake:



I think they did a great job! Tonight should be fun.

So that's about it for the last week, besides normal goings on. Oh, I got a webcam over the weekend and video chatted with Kiki and her kids on Sunday. It was so fun! Carma LOVED it; she was laughing and goofing off the whole time and making faces right into the camera. Judson didn't say much and Wyatt just sat there in Juddy's lap. :) I loved seeing them, though! We plan on chatting at least every Sunday. I've also v-chated with my friend Shelly a couple of times. It's a blast. Why didn't I do this sooner? We're hoping we can get all of our family that is far away to start video chatting.

New Callings!

I was released as 2nd counselor in the stake Primary presidency in Dec. because the president was called as our ward Relief Society president. Our bishop called me on a Saturday night (12/27), while I was still in Utah, to call me as the 1st counselor in the ward Young Women presidency! Since I was in Utah, I wasn't there when I was sustained, then stake conference was the Sunday after I got home, so last week was my first activity night and Sunday was my first time teaching a lesson in Young Women's.

Jared was just released from the Elder's Quorum presidency and called as the YOUNG MEN'S PRESIDENT! I'm really happy that we will get to go to some of the activities, dances, firesides, temple trips, etc. together! Jared was just sustained on Sunday, so he hasn't had a chance to do anything except go to a meeting and attend a fireside Sunday night. I know he'll do a great job!

The end of my trip to Utah

I last posted from Utah so I'll start from there and just tell about the rest of the trip. I pretty much spent the rest of my trip sick at Kiki's house--I think I h.

Friday 1/2--I watched most of the Sugar Bowl alone but Kiki and Michael got home early so I watched the rest of it with Michael.

Saturday 1/3--still sick, slept a good portion of the day; Kiki & them went to a wedding reception that night but I stayed home.

{The kids before the reception}:

Sunday 1/4--Felt a tiny bit better; went to church (Wyatt's baby blessing); Nikki and Levi came over and we played a couple of games

Monday 1/5--I took Carma shopping with me to the Distribution Center, Deseret Book and the Dollar Tree. It started snowing just as we got back and just kept snowing and snowing. I watched the Fiesta Bowl that night.

Tuesday 1/6--Kept on snowing; Nikki & Levi brought chicken topped with bacon and cheese for dinner and we played Phase 10 with Judson.

Wednesday 1/7--Kiki brought me to the ariport at the butt crack of dawn--we left the house at 3:30! Thankfully, all of the roads (once we got out of Kiki's neighborhood) were plowed and salted and we made it there safely with plenty of time to spare.

Here are some pics of Wyatt that I took the day before I left (the white outfit was his blessing outfit):

Suze Orman's 209 Action Plan

If any of you have debt or just want to learn about using your money more wisely, check out this book you can download for free from oprah.com.  Hurry, you only have until Thursday, Jan. 15!  She gives advice on credit, retirement investing, saving, spending, real estate, paying for college, protecting yourself and your family and more.  It's worth checking out even if you don't have much debt.  I just love her straight forward approach!

Happy New Year!!!

I can't believe it's 2009! So far, I've spent the new year sick. I started feeling a little sick Wed. night (New Year's Eve) and my voice started getting hoarse that night. Yesterday, I had no voice at all and had to whisper all day. Carma had actually asked me at one point to stop whispering, ha ha. My throat hasn't felt sore but I've had a sinus headache for two days.

Since I last posted, I've mostly stayed here at Kiki's house but here are some things that I've done:

Tuesday Kiki and I went to eat at Winger's with Nikki & Levi, then the four of us went shopping at Robert's. Later that afternoon, Kiki & Michael brought Wyatt to a dr. appt. and I babysat Carma and Judson (although Carma took a nap the whole time). I played Wii games with Juddy, then Michael joined later. They all went to a baby blessing that night and I stayed home.

{Nikki & Levi at Winger's}

{Me & Kiki with Asphalt Pie at Winger's, yum!}:

{Judson & Carma before heading to their cousin's baby blessing}:

Wednesday I had to "watch" the LSU game on the puter (Gamecast on ESPN, where you can read the play-by-plays) 'til we went to Michael's brother's house for their New Year's Eve party. We had dinner (Hawaiian pork and ham, rice, bread, veggies & dip, chips...) and lots of snacks and root beer floats there. I kept an eye on the game on Kiki's laptop (LSU whipped #14 Georgia Tech. 38-3) and we mainly just hung out. I played a few songs on Rock Band and they set off some fireworks at midnight. Carma was my New Year's kiss, since Jared wasn't here with me. My voice started going out that evening and got worse as the night went on. We left just after the fireworks and got home ~12:40.

{Carma's cousin came over and played princess dress-up with her}:

{Juddy eating a root beer float}:

{Carma and her root beer float}:
{Wyatt and a big New Year's smile}:
{Juddy playing Rock Band}:
{My New Year's kiss}:
{Our fireworks display}:
{Kiki & I toasting sparkling pear juice}:

Thursday 1/1--I felt pretty crappy; we watched the Rose Bowl parade--I was hoping to see Ashlee Smith (a girl in my ward), who marched with the Band of America. I watched the kids for three hours while Kiki & Michael went to Ikea and grocery shopping. I watched most of the Rose Bowl but hated to see USC win (against Penn St.) so then I watched TinkerBell again with Carma and Judson (we had already watched it that morning and Judson said it was dumb and weird and Carma said, "It's not a dumb movie, it's a beautiful movie". She cracks me up.

{Carma loves her baby brother and is constantly saying, "Hi, Baby Wy-wy! You're so cute!"}:

Friday 1/2--We had pancakes with blueberries and condensed milk for breakfast. I was still sick so I stayed home while everyone else went to a church to help decorate for Michael's brother's wedding. I watched the Cotton Bowl (Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech). They got back at the end of the game and brought lunch for me. They are going to hang out with Michael's family tonight but, since I'm really not feeling well, I'm going to stay here and watch the Sugar Bowl by myself.

{Carma looked super cute today!}:

Well, I hope I feel better tomorrow so I can enjoy the rest of my stay here. I hope everyone is enjoying the new year!

Christmas presents

Here are the presents we received this year:

To Jared:
From Me: a cell phone charging station, socks, movies
From my parents: a smoothie/shake blender
From Laura & DJ: a video/MP3 player
From his dad: pajama bottoms and socks
From his mom: an outlet power strip and 5-blade razor
From Jason: chocolate covered cherries and some cookie sticks

To Me:
From Jared: a LSU bumper sticker, a wooden football to commemorate the 2007 national football championship, LSU earrings and necklace, The Bee Movie
From my parents: a LSU blanket
From his mom: a collapsible storage bin
From Laura & DJ: lots of girly goodies (lotion, face lotion, razor, make-up, etc.)
From Kiki: some scrapbook stuff
From Jason: a really cute hooded sweater
From Laura: a scented oil burner

To Us:
From his mom: an alligator kitchen dish scrubber holder
From Kiki: a chair back massager
From Cindy & Jim: See's chocolates, yum!

I may post everything we gave later--I don't want to post it now because the family up in Idaho hasn't gotten their stuff yet. I guess they'll get it whenever Jared's mom goes up there.

White Christmas

Boy was it ever white! Let me start at the beginning of our trip to Utah...

We were supposed to fly out of Baton Rouge on Sat., 12/20. We were to go through Memphis, then Minneapolis, then to Salt Lake City. Weather was extremely bad in Minn. so we wouldn't have made our flight from Memphis to there. Instead of flying to Memphis and getting stuck there, we decided to go and sleep at our house and try again the next day. We were able to fly the next morning to Houston, then SLC. Once we got there, we hung out at Jared's mom's house, had a ham dinner, Jared went for a ride with his dad and Jason while the rest of us watched some Christmas movie with Ben Affleck and, of course, we played with our niece a whole lot.

Monday, we went with Jared's sister and niece to an appt. in SLC. We also went shopping at Sam's Club, ate at Winger's and went and visited a cousin, Craig, and his wife and baby. It snowed the whole way there and back:
Tues., we had wanted to drive up to ID to see Teresa & Michelle's families but the weather was just too bad so we stayed home; I watched "27 Dresses" with Laura & JaNene, Jared went to Wal-Mart with his dad, then we watched "Made of Honor"; we went and visited Aunt Wilma that evening, then came home to watch movies (but I fell asleep and went to bed at ~9:00)

Wed., 12/24--We (including Laura, Daisy & JaNene) went to Grandpa Ted's for a while, then we stopped at a diner for lunch; Jared, Jason & I went to a convenient store and talked to some people (Wilma's brother and niece) for a while there then went home and had dinner; Jared, JaNene & I took Jason to Hennefer to see a girl and give her a gift (we had to wait in the car the whole time); we came back and did fireworks out in the freezing cold & wind, then hung out for a bit; everyone went to bed except Jared, Jason & I--I got on the computer and they played games on the XBox. Then they went and slept outside in the snow!!!

{Snow pics}:"

{Jared & Jason setting off fireworks}:

Thurs., Christmas Day: slept in, had Christmas breakfast, opened presents later, went and exchanged gifts wtih Norman (in the car in front of Cindy's), visited with Cindy, Jim and Tyler's fam for a bit, went back to the house and got ready, went to Grandpa's, drove home, hung out (cousin Spencer came home with us) and I went to bed after a short while. Here are pics from the day:

{Christmas breakfast--German pancakes, sausage, oven-baked sausage)}:

{The LSU earrings and necklace from Jared}:

{Road conditions on the drive to Grandpa's that evening}:

{Deer we saw on the way to Grandpa's}:

Fri. 12/26--had crepes for breakfast, stopped to say bye to Norman, drove to Kiki's; Nikki and Levi came over and brought Cafe Rio for our Christmas lunch then we opened presents; they left and Jared and I hung out at Kiki's until he left to drive back to Hoytsville

{Leaving Hoystville}:

{Jared & Carma}:

{Jared, Judson, Carma, Me}:

{Carma opening the present from us}:

{Judson opening his gift}:

{Nikki opening part of our present to her & Levi}:

{Jared & Judson with the Lego things they put together}:

{Jared & Wyatt}:

Sat. 12/27--We just hung out at the house until ~noon when we went to Michael's parents' house; we stopped at Beto's and got lunch to bring there; we played games and hung out, had turkey & ham subs with chips and soda for dinner

Sun. 12/28--Went to church (9am), came home and had lunch and lounged around, went to Michael's parents' again for dinner

{Wyatt in his church suit, how cute is that??}:

{Carma in her church dress}:

Today (Monday), Nikki came over in the afternoon and had pizza with me and Kiki. I watched Carma while Kiki went to the chiropractor (Judson went to play with his cousins). Kiki and Michael went back to his parents' house for dinner but I stayed here by myself and am getting this blog post done. :)

I wish Jared could still be here but I'm having fun. I also am very sad that we weren't able to go up to Idaho to see the SIL's and the 7 nieces and nephews up there. I hope we get to see them all soon.

Oh, here are two really funny videos of Carma:
{"Georgie Pordgy"}:

{"Frère Jacques"}:


I'll be here at Kiki's until Jan. 7. I'm sure I'll have tons more pics to post when I get home!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y'ALL!!!

Our Gift Exchange

Jared & I exchanged gifts last night, since we are flying to Utah tonight and don't want to pack more than we absolutely have to. Jared got a pretty little red bag filled with.......coal. Bwahaha!


He gave me a new LSU bumber sticker:


I also gave him a cell phone charging station:


And he also gave me an LSU 2007 National Championship wooden football to match the 2003 one I already have in my scrapbook room:


A few minutes ago, I was wrapping a small present we'll be taking with us to Utah and Chloe decided to jump right in and "help me"; she's so funny!:


I'm so excited to go to Utah tonight! There is lots of snow in the forecast, including snow on Christmas Day! Woohoo! One problem: I left my big snow coat at Kiki's and we're not going to her house until Friday. Ooops! Guess I'll freeze to death in the little fleece jacket I'm bringing!

I'm most excited to see the nephew (on my side) and niece (on Jared's side) that we haven't been able to see yet. I'll have to wait 'til Friday to see the nephew and next Sat. to see the niece. Unfortunately, Jared was asked by his company to cut his trip short so he'll be leaving Utah next Sat. and won't be able to see the niece in Idaho (they're not coming down for Christmas, so I'm going with Jared's mom and brother up there). So sad that Jared won't get to see the 7 nieces and nephews who live in Idaho! But I'm sure we'll have a great time on our trip and I can barely wait!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!

Another Epidural Steroid Injection

I had one this morning (Wed.), this time in my neck. It went OK, they did things a little bit different this time. I had to change into scrub bottoms and a gown and put paper booties over my socks (last time I didn't have to take any of my clothes off, not even my shoes). Another difference was that they put an IV in me, whereas last time they just did a local anesthetic, then administered the epidural. They gave me some meds (Elavil, I think, and some other stuff to calm me and make me forget); I was still awake but I don't remember anything between the time that they gave me those meds and the walk back to the changing room. They administered a local anesthetic and the epidural after the meds (or so they said, ha ha). They helped me change back into my clothes and I was outta there! Thanks to my mom for taking me and making sure I was taken care of when I got home.

I came home and rested all day today. I was in quite a bit of pain once all the pain stuff wore off. I did take a couple of Lortab throughout the day but they barely helped at all. It's just really sore and stiff, hurts to look around (especiall down!) so I'm keeping my neck pretty straight. It will be well worth it if it helps in the long run--please pray that it does! I finally got tired of just resting so I decided to come and blog. I'm almost sweating from pain so I think I'll go to bed now--plus it's almost 1am, yikes! TTFN! And Happy Holidays!!!

Our weekend in Georgia

A tidbit on the snow first--it actually covered the yards until after 1pm (have pics to prove it) and it was finally gone by that evening. It was so great to see snow again! But, then again, I didn't have to drive in it.

We went to Georgia to visit my SIL, BIL and a new nephew this past weekend--they just adopted him in Aug. and this was our first time getting to see him; Jared's Mom and aunt were also there visiting from Utah. The baby is such a cutie! Poor thing is starting to teeth or something, though. We left after Jared got home from work and I finished up wrapping presents we took with us--at 6pm. We stopped for dinner at Waffle House, ha ha, and drove all night to get there at, I think, 6am their time. We stayed up for a tiny bit with them and the baby, as he had just woken up to be fed, then we went and slept for 3 hours.

We woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking (hash browns and French toast, yum!) and hung out for a bit then we went to a Cabbage Patch Doll Hospital, Nora Mill grain mill (can buy really good grits, biscuit mixes, grains, all kinds of awesome baking goods there) and an antique store. We had a ham dinner that night and played some games.

Sunday morning, we went to church then ate a roast dinner (the roast cooked in the slow cooker while we were at church and it was so good); the roast was part of the Christmas present we got from Jared's company--I think we got a whole mess of beef. We just hung out the rest of the day then Jared and I left at 9pm their time and got home at 6am our time. I drove the last 5 1/2 hours and went to bed as soon as we got home; Jared had to go into work. I got up about 3 1/2 hours later and worked on Christmas stuff, even though I felt really crappy all day from lack of sleep all weekend.

I also spent some of Monday learning how to use CVS bucks--my SIL gets TONS of free stuff from there and she told me how to do it. Go see iheartcvs.com for details if you have a CVS nearby. I went and bought $41 of stuff, used $8 in coupons and got 20 extra bucks (can be used like cash at CVS). Woohoo!

Anyway, here are pics and video from the trip:

{James in a very cute hat}:

{Jared holding a "baby" at the Cabbage Patch Hospital}:

{A "baby" in the nursery--there were babies EVERYWHERE throughout the place!}:

{A sign that cracked me up}:

{Me and a baby girl}:

{We even got to see one delivered}:

{Silly pics taken outside the hospital--Natan & Carrie}:

{Me & Jared}:

{Jared's aunt and mom}:

{James' naptime with Uncle Jared}:

{Two cute boys!}:

The Cabbage Patch Hospital was hilarious--especially since it was us 6 adults and one sleeping baby, ha ha! The place was filled with all kinds of Cabbage Patch babies and kids. It's pretty funny. We had a great time in GA and can't wait to go visit again!