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!

Top 36 week 2

Last night was very disappointing.  I wasn't completely wowed by anyone and was extremely disappointed by almost all of the contestants.  Here are my thoughts on each performance (once again, these are notes I took during the performances, before I heard anything the judges said):

1. Jasmine Murray: BEAUTIFUL girl but that was HORRIBLE!  Off-key nearly the entire song and way too nasally for my taste; I never really liked her voice, anyway, but that performance was atrocious.
2. Matt Giraud:  I REALLY wanted him to do awesome and blow everyone away but nope.  He chose the completely wrong song and the arrangement was just weird to me.  He really should have done something on the piano.  I kind of hope he gets through just to see what he can do next.
   
3. Jeanine Vailes--She started singing the song in the wrong key or something, it sounded terrible.  I did not like her singing style at all--it was weird and uncomfortable to me.  I liked what Kara said--it was "overdone".
4. Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle:  I could do without ever seeing him again; I personally don't even think he's that funny or good.
5. Allison Iraheta: I can't believe she's only 16!  I really like her voice and she has great stage presence.  Definitely the best girl last night.
6. Kris Allen: I didn't like his song choice--"Man in the Mirror", are you kidding me?  He has a nice voice, though, is cute and showed some personality but it just didn't do much for me.
7. Megan Corkrey: She is so pretty and I like her voice; the song was good for her but her vocals were only OK and her arm and body movements were weird and distracting to me.  There were some good parts and other parts that I was almost cringing.  Really weird.
8. Matt Breitzke: Here's another one that I really wanted to do well but made a bad song choice.  He has a nice voice but the performance was so flat and boring and he showed zero personality, much different from how I thought he would be.  He just looked like and old man up there doing karaoke.  I liked what Simon said--it was an "uncomfortable performance".
9. Jesse Langseth: Her voice is different and I like it but I just wasn't wowed; it was a good performance, just not great.
10. Kai Kalama:  Again, I wanted him to do great and he has a good voice but, wow, what a BAD song choice!  It came off a little cheezy to me.  I agreed when Randy said it was a "safe" performance.
11. Mishavonna Henson:  I like what she did with the song and she has a good voice, it was just an alright performance.
12. Adam Lambert: Definitely entertaining, knows how to work the stage and has star quality.  He has got a great vocal range--I like his high voice.  I think he's great but sometimes it seems a bit...contrived?  Acted out?  Not sure I can put my finger on it but, as I was watching it, I was trying to decide if I really liked it or not.  I think I do.  He definitely make me want to watch and see what he'll do next!

I didn't vote because I'm positive Adam will go through and I don't really care who else makes it this week.  Although, I do kind of hope Matt Giraud makes it because I think he has great potential.

I really don't like how they're picking the top 12 this year--that we only get to see people once and they either make it or don't.  If they had done it this way last year, David Cook probably wouldn't have made it to the top 12.  I remember thinking he was so cheezy the first week and thought he would be the one to go home and I thought he got lucky that he made it to week 2.  I didn't start liking him until the 2nd, or maybe even 3rd, week.  I think some people will make it through over others who deserve it more just because they got the luck of the draw in the group they got put with.  For example, I think several people from last week did so much better than just about everyone last night.  Oh well, I guess we'll see what happens on Wild Card week.  I hope next week's performances are much better!

Valentine's Day, etc.

Since I've only posted a couple of random things the past couple of weeks, I thought I'd come and post what we've been up to. Here are just a few of the things (besides our normal goings-on):

Tues., 2/10--the young women and leaders met at our house and we went and "heart attacked" an older lady in our ward. Heart attacking is when you go and cover someone's house or yard with hearts and love notes. We hung out with the sister a while and I think she really enjoyed it.

Sat., 2/14--Jared and I went out to eat for lunch at Sizzlin' Wings (I was craving wings and cheeseburger), then we went to the Denham Springs Mardi Gras parade. It was Jared's first MG parade. It is a very small parade and, as you'll see in the pics, the floats are nowhere near as big and grand as they are down in Metairie and New Orleans but it was still pretty fun. And we saw a couple of our youth in one of the marching bands. We caught a lot of necklaces but gave a lot of them to the kids around us. We went to Wal-mart after the parade ended and got a few things really quick then headed to the church for a youth activity and dance. The youth participated in speed dating, then we all had fun dancing. There was lots of great treats and food at the dance. There was even a photographer there who took pics of anyone who wanted them--she had a cute background set up and even had all the pics printed out for people to take before the dance was over. The photographer is in my parents' ward and even printed a copy and gave one to my mom at church the next day. Sweet, huh? I had a great time dancing with my girls and especially with Jared. We were pooped by the time we got home late that night, though! Here are pics from the day:Sun., 2/15--Of course, we were at church for over four hours (Jared was there from 7am to 1pm!) but we went back a few hours later and went with the youth to see the Reflections of Christ exhibit. If you have never heard about it or seen it, you must go to the website Reflections of Christ. It was so cool! We went back to our church bldg. and had a testimony meeting with the youth. It really touched a lot of them and was a very spiritual experience.

Mon., 2/16--I worked in Jared's office, taught piano lessons, and went to CVS. :)

Tues., 2/17--I had another epidural steroid shot in my neck and had to stay in bed all day long. I was so bored, and sad because I had to miss the youth activity that night. Jared went and took pics and video for me, though, so I could see what they did. They had a caveman dinner--they had spaghetti and meat sauce and had to eat it on all kind of weird "plates" (Jared's was a tiny little tea cup saucer) with all kind of different utensils (everything from tongs to potato mashers to whisks). It looked pretty funny.

Wed. 2/18--I went and did a session at the temple, then I went to Reflections of Christ again with some of the sisters in my ward then we went out for lunch. My neck was really bothering me the whole day and the entire next day so I rested quite a bit.

Fri. 2/20--I went to lunch with a bunch of the ladies I used to play volleyball with every Friday before the wreck, then I went shopping. I started feeling a little ill while out and about and by that night I was full-blown sick--sore throat, coughing, runny nose, ear aches plus back and neck pain.

Sat. 2/21--I slept in then made myself get up, take some cold meds and go to Jared's company party; if he weren't a supervisor, I would have totally skipped it. I felt so crummy the entire time and couldn't wait to get home. The food was pretty good but I didn't even feel good enough to really enjoy and didn't eat much of it. We were supposed to go to our ward Spring Fling (chili cook-off/dance) that night but I just felt worse and worse hour by hour. Add stomach cramps to all the symptoms I had Friday and to say I was miserable is a gross understatement. I was in bed all that night and all the next day, missing church and choir practice (after already preparing my Young Women lesson early in the week--go figure, ha ha).

I finally felt much better today (Monday) but I'm still coughing just a little bit. If I feel even better in the morning, I'll go to Mardi Gras with my family. Too bad Jared has to work. :( I hope to get some cute pics of Belle and Brenna tomorrow, though! :) HAPPY MARDI GRAS, Y'ALL!

Last night's AI

OK, it's that time again.  You get hear my run-down of the American Idol contestants each week.  Here's my views of last night's performances (in order of appearance--BTW, I wrote all my notes before hearing what the judges had to say):

1. Jackie Tohn--CHEEZY outfit and performance.  Yuck!
2. Ricky Braddy--nice voice but not much personality
3. Alexis Grace--Good personality and voice
4. Brent Keith--I liked his stage presence and think he could be a good country artist
5. Stevie Write--Cute girl but yikes--really rough start with those low notes, pitch was everywhere!
6. Anoop Desai--Great voice, still weird to see him singing with that voice
7. Casey Carlson--Beautiful girl but that was a really bad song choice, she was off key a lot and the winky and "sex kitten" stuff was cheezy
8. Michael Sarver--I really like this guy; I love his voice and he has a great personality and smile but I would like to hear him sing something more soulful
9. Ann Marie Boskovich--A lot of off notes, just OK performance
10. Stephen Fowler--I like his voice but man was that pitchy
11. Tatiana Del Toro--Good vocals, way better than I thought they would be but I don't want her to make it through.  Either she was a total fake last night or she was a total fake at all the auditions before last night and that bugs me.  I like what the judges said about her song last night--there were good moments and bad moments and it was like being on a roller coaster.
12. Danny Gokey--OK, he blew everyone else straight out of the water.  Wow, I loved it!  BTW, he reminds me so much of Robert Downey, Jr.!

I wish they wouldn't do the boy-girl thing.  I think the guys this year are by far better than the girls.  I don't think I like the new way they are moving people through.  A lot of my favorite guys from the previous shows were in this one group and only one or two of them will go through?  Sucky.  Here's who I hope goes through to the top 12 from this group:

#1 boy--Danny for sure!
#1 girl (only 'cause I have to pick one)--Alexis Grace
3rd choice--Michael Sarver (this is a tough choice because I also really liked Anoop and Brent)

Journal Jar #1

So we got a journal jar a few Christmases ago from one of Jared's sisters. It's a jar filled with strips of paper with various questions written on them. The idea is to use the jar to help in journal writing. I thought it would be kind of fun to start doing this on my blog. Feel free to do it along with me on your blog. Here goes:

What was your first paying job?
Besides the basic babysitting jobs that all teenage girls do, I first got a "real" job attending to the Super Bar at Wendy's the second half of my senior year in high school. Anyone remember the Super Bars? It was a salad bar with all kinds of stuff and also contained toppings for baked potatoes. I basically kept the bar clean and made sure each item was full at all times--had to continually rehydrate the cheese sauce, chop tomatoes and other veggies, etc. I also had to clean tables some times and stay late after closing to clean the darn thing. I remember being there 'til 1 to 2 am a lot. Oh, and I remember chopping meat to make the chili--they take burger patties that were on the grill too long--they were still good, they were just to the point that they didn't look as good as they wanted them to--and chop them up to put in their chili. I don't know if all Wendy's are like this, but my managers were very concerned about food quality. They were constantly going through the tomatoes, lettuce, etc. and if something didn't look completely fresh, they would toss it.

The job wasn't too bad because I didn't have to cook or deal with people at the register or drive thru. Every once in a while, if the drive thru got ridiculously busy, I would be asked to go help dress burgers. I remember one time somebody overcooked some baked potatoes and the manager yelled at me and made me cry. He felt really bad, especially after realizing it wasn't my fault at all. I also remember calling in "sick" at least once to go watch a movie with friends, ha ha. I don't think I was on that job for a full six months. I had to quit in order to travel with a drum corps that summer, then I went to LSU. It was definitely an experience and I always try to be nice to employees at fast food places because it can be a very sucky job--just from what I saw go on in the kitchen and at the drive thru. I feel lucky to have never had to actually work those positions.

Family dinner & a trip to visit a friend

On the first of this month, we went to my parents' house for family dinner. Mom made a fabulous roast dinner with stuffed potatoes, deviled eggs and rolls and some other things I'm forgetting. We brought a spinach salad. We also had two different kinds of king cakes from a really good bakery--pecan praline and strawberry cheesecake. Yum! I love family dinners! :) Here are some pics from that day:

{Brenna chowing down on some bread}:

{Belle & Tim--Belle ate a ton of cucumber slices!}:

{Mardi Gras baby--check out that adorable muffin top, hee hee!}:

Last week, I drove to Humble, TX on Wed. to visit my friend, Shelly. I've known Shelly since jr. high and we hung out a lot at LSU. She had a baby 3 months ago and it was great to meet him and her husband. They took me to Saltgrass Steak house where I had (what else) an awesome steak and shrimp and loaded baked potato. We got a cheesecake and bread pudding to share between the three of us. SO good! I've been to this place in Dallas after Nikki's first wedding. It was just as good as I remembered it. That night, we watched "The Secret Life of Bees" and cried; it's a great movie!

Thursday, I went with Shelly and Angelo to small claims court; Angelo owns a business and is being sued by a really dumb guy--long story. Shelly and I went and ate at a pizza and pasta place for lunch; we ate outside to enjoy the view of a lake and nice, breezy weather. That night, we went to the grand opening of a Life Fitness gym in their town. It was the biggest gym I have ever seen and I could never have imagined a gym that big. If you've ever seen an Ikea store, it was that big.

I left Friday mid-morning so I could get back before dark and not hit the horrible Baton Rouge traffic. I had such a great time with Shelly and can't wait to visit again. Some pics:

It was an uneventful weekend for me but Jared had to supervise drivers all night at one of the plants both Sat. night and last night because one of the dumb drivers pulled away after unloading his sulphur without unhooking the hose! Poor Jared has to deal with that kind of stuff all the time. I haven't seen him much the past couple of days so I'll be glad when he gets home from work tonight. Love ya', babe!