NOLA

Thanks to my resourceful husband I've now got the internet. Its great to feel connected again. How funny our lives are now, we are so dependent on the internet. Lucky for me I've had my iphone and not been completely disconnected. Although I must say it was really nice to not have that distraction now I'll just have to exercise self control and monitor my usage. Hopefully I'll be able to get pictures loaded soon of what has been happening around here but for now I'll just fill you in.

We left Utah on the 21st of February. We woke up to both kids extremely sick and running high fevers. I asked David to give them a blessing and we had the family doctor check them out although the fever was gone by the time he had arrived, (priesthood blessings are amazing). He wrote us out a prescription that we picked up on our way out of town. We said our tearful good-byes and drove like crazy. we had 1,720 miles to get to our new home. We had to drive both cars. The first night we were able to make it all the way to Albuquerque. It was a long start to a really long trip. The kids were troopers and did so well. I think they did better than I did.

Our second day was our longest leg and through the most boring country EVER. Never drive from Albuquerque to Dallas. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing but flat land and more flat land. Every once and awhile a little hill in the distance but mostly FLAT LAND. Plus the road is crazy because your driving at a good 75 mph and then hit a city and have to drop down to 35mph. The only way I made it was through prayer. I even caved and drank A LOT of caffeine, I haven't had that stuff in over 15 years and I honestly don't think it did that much for me. It was defiantly the prayers. We finally made it to our destination rather late and I really don't know how I got there because I was so dead tired. We spent the night at our friend the McGregors house which was so nice of them. They kindly waited up for us and then fed us a yummy breakfast the next morning. It was so nice to not have to pay for another hotel.

The last day was the best drive. We totally took our time and the scenery was so beautiful. The woods are so cool. We stopped at McDonalds and the ladies behind the counter were talking in their southern accents about their hair dresser. I couldn't help but smile. I love the way they talk down here. We arrived at our house late Wednesday night. The Realtor had told us originally that there was power and water on but it needed to be turned over to our name. Well that wasn't true and we didn't have anything on when we got here. We ended up staying in a hotel and getting everything taken care of the next day.

We anxiously waited for our stuff to arrive and every time we talked to the movers they pushed the time back. Our stuff didn't get here till Sunday at 4pm. We were so excited to actually get to sleep in our beds. I would recommend not going with movers, they really have no care for your stuff. They broke several high price items that can't be replaced for the measly 60 cents a lbs they give you for broken items. Not so happy about that but I'm still going to get what ever I can from them. It is nice not to have to load and unload a truck and then drive it across the country. But next time we'll just get a Uhaul.

Our house has a lot more space than our apartment. Also lucky for us, its really nice. We only saw two pictures and our friends had peeked through the windows, so we didn't really know what to expect but feel really blessed to have this place. Its super clean and we are so happy with it. Its also in a really nice area close to a lot of fun things.

Mardi Gras was out of control. We went to 2 parades and I LOVED it. Now parades are serious business here. Parents have these 6/7 ft ladders and they make boxes to screw on the top and put there kids in them so the kids have a better chance at catching stuff. I took a picture I'll have to post it. People don't just sit back and relax either they walk/run right up to the floats. They throw beads out like crazy and no you don't have to do naughty things to get them. We got tons of beads a frisbee, plastic knife, footballs, stuff animals. Lots of crap. At our second parade the kids both were tired and done and I was the one pushing them to stay. I don't know what it is but I love parades. They have this cake called King Cake and its only at this time of the year. Its pretty good kind of tastes like a cinnamon roll, the one we tired had a little to much frosting but it was a fun treat. I want to post a picture because they look so trashy, but everyone loves them.

The weather so far has been great. The first week we were in shorts this weekend we had a crazy storm that flooded our street up to Daniels knees and the lighting and thunder storms are so crazy. The lighting doesn't stop it just keeps going like a strobe light. It woke both David and I up. We found out the next morning that 3 tornadoes hit down in NOLA. We've decided we'd better get educated on the storms here or we might be in trouble.

We have really enjoyed our time here so far and hopefully it stays that way. We feel really blessed to have this opportunity for our family to grow.