Rehearsal Dinner

The Rehearsal Dinner was at Ralph's on the Park which was so nice! It was an open bar which was nice for everyone who drank and Joe and I along with very few others enjoyed free coke! :)The only bad part of the evening was on the way to the church for the rehearsal my head started to hurt and it only got worse. By the time we arrived to the restaurant my head was killing and I wasn't even able to enjoy the hors d'oeuvres. I really thought we were going to have to leave until finally Jill found me some pain relievers. Once they kicked in I was able to enjoy my Fillet Mignon to its fullest. Oh my gosh I have never had a steak (nor probably ever will again) that tasted so good! It was cooked to perfection and just wonderful! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. We had a good night but I was totally exhausted and excited to go to bed. Wendy was so nice to let us stay at her and Kevin's apartment. It was very cute, which I knew it would be, and Joe and I didn't have too hard of a time adjusting to a smaller bed. In all it was a pretty good night.

The Wedding PartyBlaine, Wendy and Lauren
Me and Joe
Me and Wendy
Jill and I (We've known each other for years. Our grandparents lived close to each other in the middle of nowhere in Gillsburg, Miss)

Bridal Tea

This is the start of my Wendy's Wedding Weekend posts. Wendy and I have been friends since our freshman year in high school. She's one of the most loving and giving people I know. She will and has always been a great friend so I was thrilled when she asked if I would be her Matron of Honor. Wendy and Kevin have been engaged for quite awhile now and since that engagement there have been numerous outings and parties in their honor. I think the number is close to 10! Well this is the final countdown so-to speak and I've enjoyed it but I'm kind of glad its over. Wendy is at her best laughing and that's one thing Kevin knows how to do is make people laugh! We started the weekend off with a tea in honor of the bridesmaids at a beautiful hotel in downtown New Orleans. If I've ever felt out of my element this might have been it! My family doesn't even drink iced tea much less tea in fancy little tea cups with hors d'oeuvres! Everything was really nice and the hotel was just like you see in the movies. The food was delicious and the deserts were even better! Wendy gave us these beautiful scarfs from J. Crew and Anthropology. I love them and they're so incredibly soft! It was nice getting to visit with all of the other bridesmaids and close family. It was really fun, but I'm just not cut out for all that fancy smancy stuff! :)

Me (with Wendy's family) Nana (Wendy's grandma), Aunt Beth, Erin and Mrs Karin (Wendy's mom)

high school girls Elizabeth, me and The Beautiful Bride, Wendy
Lauren and Blaine

one of my new scarfs

Wendy looking at her scrapbook from the bridesmaids

The bridesmaids-Jessica (and baby girl), Christina, Blaine, Wendy, Me, Lauren, Jill and Anna Mech

All the girls from the tea

Update on Kal

I woke up early this morning to call the Doctor's office right when they opened to make Kalli and appointment. It took me about 10 minutes to finally get through but luckily there was an appointment available at 10. Kaiden stayed with mom which made Kalli very upset and she cried the entire 25 minutes there! She wanted Kaiden and then she wanted to play at Gege's and then her shoes were too tight and she wanted goldfish and so on and so on. It was a long drive to say the least. Once we got to the doctor she was fine once she had her goldfish to eat. Luckily the wait wasn't long and Kal did very well letting the Dr check her. The nurse said she had lost a pound since our last visit, less than a month ago. I believe it since she's hardly eaten anything. I did tell her that Kal had complained only twice about her ears but it was very brief and didn't bring it up again or pull on them. Once Dr Flechas looked in her right ear (the one she said that hurt) she said her ear was wicked. I was a little thrown off and didn't know what she meant by 'wicked'. She told me her ear was really infected and then looked in her left ear and said that one was just as bad. She just couldn't believe that Kalli hadn't been complaing more about her ears b/c of how awful they looked and said she must have a high tolerance for pain. After Dr Flechas was done checking Kalli, Kalli said her ears felt all better. Silly girl, I just think she didn't want her looking in them anymore. Dr Felchas said she probably did have a virus and then the ear infection took over, and to keep giving her tylenol if her fever persists. Which it hasn't since last night-yea! After the doctor Kalli got her sucker and then we met up with my dad for lunch at Picadilly. It was quite yummy and Kalli was such a good girl. She's now on her antibiotics and hopefully those will be helping soon. She can still be pretty grumpy on and off and her nose and cough are still yucky but for the most part she's doing good.

Race for the Cure and more sickness

My sister Autumn planned on running the 5k for Race for the Cure and Joe wanted to as well. He found out that our friends Nathan and Jill would also being doing it so I signed up to walk with Jill and so did my SIL Lisa. It was hard getting up early Saturday morning but it was a beautiful day and ended up being a little warm while we walked (I even got sunburned!) Us girls had a good time walking and talking the whole way which made it go by quickly. Autumn's friend Matt met us up there and they both ran and Autumn was excited she didn't' stop and beat her record. Joe actually ran into a few of the students who had interviewed him the previous day so that was nice to have that extra contact. I just couldn't believe how many people there were! it was SOOO unbelievably crowded! Me, Lisa and Jill called our selves the walking weavers b/c we were constantly just weaving our way through people and we were practically the last ones to start the race b/c we were waiting on the 2 Saxon girls to go to the bathroom! In all it was a good morning and a nice way to get some exercise for a great cause!

Us sisters before the race

The Walking WeaversNathan and Joe

Autumn and hopefully my soon to be brother-in-law, Matt :)Our whole group- Matt, Autumn, Lisa, Me, Joe, Jill, Baby Drew and Nathan

Today Kalli is sick again! She woke up very cranky and was running a fever again. Later on she started coughing and ended up choking on her mucus and threw up two times. After her medicine started to kick in she seemed to be feeling better and I gave her a little juice. Right before Kaiden and I were about to leave for church she was laying on her back and projectile vomited about a foot in the air and it all came back and landed on her. It was nothing but juice but still gross. Joe was such a good sport and let me and kid leave while he took control and cleaned everything up and gave Kal a bath (in which she ended up pooping in!) Did I get lucky going to church or what?! After Kalli's nap her fever was getting pretty high and she was so whiny. We gave her more tylenol and finally gave her another bath just to cool her off. Kaiden then woke up and had a slight fever. About that time we called my dad over to help give a Priesthood blessing to both kids. After that they really seemed to feel much better. How grateful I am for the Priesthood and a worthy husband who can administer those blessing to our family anytime we need (and my dad too!) Since Kalli has been sick for almost a week now I'll still make her an appointment for tomorrow and hopefully we can get over this bug! And hopefully me or Joe won't get it b/c I'm in a wedding this weekend and I don't have time to get sick!

"I go work"

Awww my little Kalli. She has been off and on being sick all week. Like I said on Wednesday she was sick but Thurs she seemed much better but was still pretty worn out. We watched a movie together while Kaiden was at school and once that ended she was bouncing off the walls. During the movie I had given her some benedryl b/c her nose was just running non-stop. Since I was in desperate need of some groceries we went to Wal-mart once I picked kid (that's Kaiden's nickname for those of you who don't know-not sure why ask Joe he came up with it) up from school. By that time Kal was exhausted! She could hardly keep her eyes open in the car while we were on our way to Kaiden's school. And her nose just kept running non-stop the whole time we were there. As bad as I felt for Kalli it made my shopping experience with 2 kids much easier. Kal sat in the front of the buggy while Kaiden rode in the back until he was overcrowded with food. Then he walked around following behind me like a perfectly obedient son. Well except for that one part where he was trying to poke holes in everything with his new pencil he had gotten from school. I caught him poking a hole through a package of water bottles and fussed at him for doing so and threatened to take away the pencil if he tried that again. The next isle over he was sticking the pencil through an attachment that was hanging from the shelf that had little slots in it. When I turned to look at Kaiden he proceeded to tell me that he didn't make the holes in it b/c it already had holes b/c that's just the way Heavenly Father wanted it. I just couldn't help but laugh and then he just gave me one of his big goofy smiles and continued on with our shopping. Okay so that was completely off track-sorry. So Kal being sick really helped b/c usually when Kaiden is kicked out of the buggy Kal wants to get out and walk around too. Only Kalli has NEVER just walked and followed me. She's always running in the opposite direction and never listens when I call for her. So usually she's just whining in the buggy wanting to get out. But this time she was just so pooped she just sat there and hardly moved. But towards the end she was whining for me to hold her and Kaiden was wanting to ride b/c he was tired of walking so I ended up carrying Kal while Kid rode in the front of the buggy and I pulled it behind me. Once I found a register, that wasn't too ridiculously long, I realized Kalli had completely snotted ALL over me! Poor girl she just layed on my shoulder and didn't move the whole time until I had to put her down to unload the buggy. She fell asleep on the way home and took a good 4 hour nap and woke up feeling fine.

I had to work that night and Joe was staying the night on LSUs campus for his interview the next morning so I dropped the kids off at my parents and Kal was fine all night. They went to bed late but both slept good. In the morning Kalli seemed fine, I went to play volleyball like I usually do at the church, and afterwards we went to Target and then had lunch at the park. After a bath the kids were exhausted and took a good nap. I was able to talk to Joe for a minute during a break and he said his interviews went well. He meet with the professor he's applying for then one of her students and then a group of 3 students from another professor's class. There were 7 people applying with this professor and Joe heard from someone else that she's accepting 2 students. That could be wrong and I hoping she's taking more! So far LSU is the only school we've heard from for a PhD program but we're still hopeful there could be other opportunities its just frustrating knowing that all of his papers were turned in at the beginning of January and here it is March and nothing. You'd think if they weren't interested they'd at least send us a rejection letter by now.

Well Joe was gone all day Friday and didn't come home until 9ish that night due to a social they had after all the interviews. The kids were still up watching a movie since they'd had a late nap. They were both so excited to see their dad but sadly went to bed shortly after he got home. Kal seemed to be feeling pretty good that night and enjoyed playing with her new bucket and sunglasses from Target. She put her glasses on upside down and had her blanket draped over her shoulder while she carried her juice around in her bucket. She came to me and said, "Bye Bye Mommy". When I asked where she was going she replied, "I go work." I thought it was so funny and decided to take a picture of her first day of work. Sorry for the snot nose, I promise I'm constantly trying to keep up and wipe it. She even whines for a kleenex when it starts to run and has cried out for kleenex in the middle of the night b/c her nose is running. Poor girl, I'm surprised her nose isn't completely rubbed raw by now.

Kal on her way to work

Wall E twins

My kids LOVE "Wall E". It's all they ever want to watch anymore! I'm sure many of you can relate to this. One day while at JCPenny Kaiden saw "Wall E" pajamas and begged to have them since they were right at $30 I passed. But a few days later we saw the same ones at Wal-mart for $10. He really did need some new pjs but of course they didn't have his size. He was constantly bringing up the fact that he wanted those pajamas over and over. Of course they were on sale and didn't seem to be getting any new sizes in. But one day while we were there (it seems I got to wal-mart at least twice a week-please tell me I'm not the only one!) the kids saw a "Wall E" tshirt. It was only a few dollars so I gave in and told Kaiden I would buy it but that meant he wouldn't be getting "Wall E" pajamas. He was fine with that but now I had Kalli whining for a "Wall E" tshirt too. She is such a little copy cat! So they both got Wall E shirts and absolutely love them. They had just come out of the wash the yesterday and the kids were nice and clean so they put them on for their naps. They looked so cute I just had to take a picture. I think its definitely time for Kalli to have a little sister so I can dress them up alike, it's pretty fun!On another note poor Kalli was sick today. She woke up last night coughing with a low-grade fever and threw up a few times this morning. By this evening she seemed fine after her Tylenol kicked in and was finally able to eat. But right before bed time she seemed to be achy again and not feeling well. She fell asleep in my arms (which I LOVED) and will hopefully sleep through the night without any problems. I hate knowing my kids don't feel good but I do love the extra cuddles I get!

Joe's Roadside Pickup & Photo Shoot

Shortly after the hurricane a group from our ward went down to Houma to help clean up. On the way back Joe, Nathan and Aaron saw a go-cart on the side of the road. If you know Joe you know he has a tendancy to live by "One man's junk is another man's treasure" (hence the 6 ft Santa Clause in his office) so of course Joe wanted to pick it up. As luck would have it (if you ask Joe) there was just enough room in Aaron's trailer for it to fit. So our back yard was so lucky to have this broken down go cart to help beautify it. Joe's goal was to fix it up and have it running but again those who know Joe probably knew that would probably never happen (he can be a lot of talk at times :)). It sat there for over a month not doing anything but giving bugs a new home. As I was teasing him about it one day he told me that he planned to have it fixed by Christmas otherwise he'd get rid of it. Well lucky for us a snow storm hit somewhat hiding the eye sore. As I was out in the field behind out house, with the kids, making a snowman we heard some cracking from the trees in our back yard. I was video taping Kalli and the cracking went on for a few seconds so I finally turned around quickly to see the big tree limb fall out of the tree and slam onto the back of Joe's prized possession! I couldn't believe I got it on tape and the go cart took quite a beating. Joe found it pretty humerous once he got home especially after seeing the video. (I would upload it but I don't know how to do that from our video camera only videos from our still shot) So now that the roll bar on the go cart is completely smashed there's no point in fixing it, so back to the side of the road, right? WRONG! A few days after the incident Joe came up with a brilliant *note sarcasm* plan to stage a wreck with the kids. He planned on having the go cart on its side with a bunch of DP cans laying around while one or both of the kids pretended to be out cold from the 'wreck'. But then the plan got better as he decided to use energy drink cans instead. Unfortunately Joe doesn't drink Monsters as often as he does DPs so this took a while. I guess he finally felt pleased with the amount of cans he had collected and just took his long-awaited pictures on Friday. Kal was napping and me and kid were outside when Joe got home so he quickly set the stage for the accident. Kaiden played along nicely as long as we promised him he could take pictures once we were done. So without further ado here are the pictures from Kaiden's highly dangerous energy drink crash and burn accident.

I hope no one thinks I sound ugly talking about Joe in this story b/c its all in good fun. I don't really care for the go car sitting in the back yard but he makes me laugh with all of his funny 'brilliant' ideas, but in all honesty I won't be sad to see it on the side of the road either (that's right it's still in the back yard! :)) Love ya babe!
Kaiden pre-accident

Doesn't the drink in the hand add a nice touch?

Kaiden's self portrait after his photo session

Spanish Town Parade

We weren't able to go to the little Denham Springs Mardi Gras Parade this year but we did make it to the Spanish Town Parade. We decided last minute to go and practically jumped in the car and left. Since neither of had ever been I printed off a map so we'd have an idea of where to park and where the 'family friendly' section was. Well traffic was horrible and it took quite awhile to find a place to park on the street but we made it and the kids did great on our hike. We walked around for a bit and then decided it would be best to let Kaiden go on and potty before the parade started. Well we ended up standing in line for the port-a-pottys for a good 30 mins (at least!) and then the parade started seriously right as we were walking out! By then both kids were kind of grouchy from having to stand in one place for so long (and I just couldn't hold them very long b/c of my back) and it was pretty close to nap time. Also with the Denham Parade they are use to having so many things thrown to them but this parade was so CROWDED! It was so packed and they didn't get too many things but plenty since we only have, let's say a million beads at home already! So Kaiden was a little whiny about not getting things thrown right into his hand but he got over it and we still had a good time. I only took 2 pictures b/c it was just so crazy and crowded I didn't want to take my eyes off the kids and I had forgot to upload all the pictures onto the computer so my memory card was full. I'm glad we at least made it to a Mardi Gras Parade this year and I'm still undecided if we'll go through all the craziness again to go to the St Patrick's Day parade or not. But in all it was fun and we were able to mail some of our goodies to the kids cousins in Colorado along with a King Cake, in which they enjoyed.

Cake & Presents

The day after Kalli's birthday we had cake and home-made ice cream at my parent's to celebrate. We also saved a few presents for Kaiden to open as well and I made him a small cake too with candles, since he never blew any out on his birthday. All of you out there who are cute and creative stop reading now and do not look at my pictures...I repeat DO NOT look at my pictures! I am so not creative and I have no talent whatsoever in the baking department so yes Kalli and Kaiden's cakes are pretty pathetic and a little humorous. But really who cares and they didn't seem to mind! We had fun hanging out with family and I was glad Autumn was there to join in as well as our cute friends, Elizabeth and Paul with their little girls. The kids loved their presents and Kalli was very excited about her Princess jewelry and pots and pans. If you tell that girl something is princess she's in heaven!

Blowing out their candles

Kalli was so funny and kept blowing up instead of at her cake, she eventually got it with some help.

Apparently Kaiden was more interested in Kalli's cake

Our cute little family

The 3 little cousins

Kal was excited about Tinker Bell

Kaiden was so excited about his "Towmater and The Ghost Light" book and just sat there and looked at the all pictures for a long time.

Kal was so happy about her new books from Uncle Mark, Aunt Sharon and all her cousins. She loves Ariel and we read "How many Kisses Do You Want Tonight" almost every night!

Princess Kalli with her Auntie Autumn (don't the earrings just crack you up?!)

Yup this poor princess has to cook too!Kal showing off her Princess Dress Mrs Elizabeth got her (and little Natalie is napping)

Valentine's Day Video Overload

After our Valentine's Day Primary activity we went to mom's house to play for a bit. Mom gave the kids some new cute jammies for V-day then we went out to play. Auntie Autumn tried to see if she had any of her BYU cheerleader left in her after 18months of no flips. She did a few back tucks and got the kids all excited wanting to do flips and rolls too. She helped them both do back flips which was quite funny (I really should of gotten the camera out sooner) and then they started doing front rolls on their own. Kalli was hilarious b/c after Autumn would spot her for a back flip she'd try and do it by herself. Of course being 2 and her first time she CAN'T do a back flip so she'd practically just fall backwards. It was so amusing to watch and she didn't seem to hurt herself b/c she kept doing it. I finally got off my lazy bum and went to grab the camera. And of course right as I'm turning it own she does her backwards fall but lands hard on her head and starts to cry. I felt really bad for her but a part of me wanted to encourage her to try again just so I could get it on video, how awful is that?! But I didn't so I just got some cute videos of their much safer front rolls. Sorry for all the videos but they were just being so cute and silly.

Opening up their jammies

Kaiden had to get a running start


Auntie Autumn helping Kal do her back flip (once it was time to flip she turns into dead weight)

She needs a little more practice...

And she's got it!



I love Kaiden's idea of a backwards rolls, notice how he's clenching on anything for leverage.

For My Kalli Girl

Here's the first 2 years of my little Kalli's life. I can't believe my baby is so big! I love her and couldn't imagine life without her. She's so energetic and has lots to say ALL of the time. She is quite the entertainer and keeps us laughing. I'm so glad to have her as part of our family.