Swamp Visit

Having people come visit us out here is the best. Mostly because I miss seeing family but also because it gives Scott and I the excuse to go do things we haven't tried before! Tamara and Shannon came and stayed with us last weekend and Tamara really wanted to hold a gator so we found a swamp tour to try out.

It was gorgeous out there. Not a normal Utah fall mountains gorgeous but a Louisiana swamp gorgeous that can only really be appreciated in person. The only downside was the fact that we were doing a tour in November which meant that there were no really big gators out and about. When it gets cold they basically hibernate.

Gator on a log! He's trying to warm up, it was a chilly day.

Gator!

The water was perfectly still and this tree had the most amazing Spanish moss.

We did see quite a number of birds on our little swamp tour. Isn't this guy so picturesque?

Behold, the gator! She was a little baby one.

This is the only picture of all four of us from the entire trip. How pathetic is that?

Our tour guide was this awesome guy who knew everything and anything about the swamp. He actually lives in a swampy area called Lafitte that is south of New Orleans and he is Cajun. It was so interesting hearing about his life and how he was brought up speaking French and living in the swamp. 

I'm definitely planning on going on another swamp tour in the spring when the weather warms back up and the big gators are out! Friends are always welcome too. :)

Oklahoma Camping

Yes we did drive seven hours through three different states to go tent camping this past weekend.

Scott got wind of a great river to fly fish in and he had to go. I think it's a safe bet to say that it's the closest place to go fly fishing around here. But it worked out perfectly.

Scott's friend from BYU who was also in the masters program with him lives in Oklahoma City now with his wife and little girl so they drove four hours and met us there for a couples camping/fishing trip. We were in an oak forest and it was so beautiful. I absolutely loved it. It was great feeling like you were up in higher elevation and stepping on solid ground with running rivers that aren't brown and stagnant and have potential gators in them.

We had quite the number of critters that visited us. First was a woodpecker. I have actually never seen a woodpecker in real life. Watching him made my face and neck hurt. He was going to town on that tree though and it made me think of the movie Fox and the Hound.

This little frog decided the handle of our cooler was a comfy little spot.

There was a stray cat that would come hang out with us in the evenings. It looked young, not even a year old and was really friendly. It was a pretty kitty and hung out on my lap in front of the fire. Scott wouldn't let me take it home. :( 

There was also a fatty raccoon that would come to our table every night as well looking for food. He got rocks thrown at him and then our food promptly got put away in the cars.

I don't know how to fly fish so I just hiked along the trail next to the river while Scott was out being a fisherman.

 Best catch from day one.

Day two I stayed back at camp with Kara and her little girl and we explored there while the husbands went to tackle the river again. It was a frustrating day for them with either no fish or little baby ones.

But then this happened... bam! Best catch of day two!

He's very proud of this beauty. It was almost 20" long.

Don't ask me what it is about mushrooms but I just think they are so interesting. (Hence the mushroom photos...).

We had a great time. It was definitely on the chilly side and I was always wearing at least a couple jackets but we managed just fine. I would never go camping this late in Utah though. Cold!

It was fun seeing our friends again too. We love doing things with them! 

A word of advice though. Don't go camping over daylight savings weekend. I don't know about you but I can never sleep in very late while camping. And Sunday we woke up around 7:15 am but in all reality it was now 6:15 am with the time change. Gross, so early!

The only downside of this trip was I started getting a cold right at the beginning. It wasn't bad but in the middle of the last night I woke up and could not breath at all through my nose. Had a little bit of a panic attack there trying to sleep and breath through my nose like normal. The stupid head cold at least waited until we were leaving to make a full blown entrance making the car ride home absolutely miserable. Paper towels are about the quickest way to make your nose raw by the way. I finally figured out that folding it up and getting it damp with cold water felt awesome on my poor raw skin.

But now we're back home and I'm making full use of cold medications and the neti pot along with heaven sent keenexes.

Every time I get a cold I feel the need to watch You've Got Mail. Anyone else in that same boat?

Mom to the rescue

My wonderful mom came flying to my rescue last week. I was dreading the week because Scott was leaving for Houston to attend classes for work. Which meant me being at our apartment, alone, no job to keep me busy, and no friends to keep me company. (Just so you know, I love the ward out here so far. They're awesome. But Scott and I are literally the only young married couple and also the only couple without at least 3 kids. We're clearly in a different stage of life then everyone else.) So needless to say, I was getting a bit of anxiety about Scott leaving. My mom could tell and bought a plane ticket and stayed with me for the week. It was fantastic.

I know. I have the best mom.

It was so fun having her out here and having our first visitor! 

We of course had to spend a day in the city of New Orleans. The live jazz music was excellent and the mardi gras masks were very entertaining!

Mom's mask with the beds hanging down under her eyes kills me every time! haha it's such an awesome mask. And so jeanie. 

We found an impressive living statue. Mom snuck up behind him for a picture!

We had to try out Cafe Du Monde while we were there. They only serve beignets and drinks and it's a cash only business but their beignets are delicious! mmmm 

I realized that I never feel claustrophobic while inside the French Quarter but as soon as I step out, I take a huge inhale as if I can finally breathe. Everything is so tight inside there. 

But I do love the Spanish architecture.

Now for some history provided by the mug I bought: "New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean Baptiste La Moyne Sieur de Bienville of France. New Orleans changed from French to Spanish then back to French control before being sold to the United States in 1803. During Spanish rule (1762-1800) two fires destroyed most of the French Quarter. Rebuilding was done in the Spanish style with wrought iron balconies, this is why the dominant architectural style is Spanish not French."

Next stop was a ride on the streetcars. The St. Charles line ventures through the uptown neighborhoods and must also be one of the parade routes for Mardi Gras considering the ridiculous amount of beads hanging from every tree and many telephone lines. (Can you see all the beads in that tree?) The houses we passed though were gorgeous.

Audubon Park is this amazing area full of huge oak trees, ponds, fountains, open green space, and a trail that has a 2 mile loop.

You may also come across a man sitting on a bench playing his saxophone, serenading the park.

Such a great find! I need to go back and walk through the park some more. So glad I was able to have my mom there with me! She kept me sane and we had a great time. It was all in all, a relaxing, fun week. 

Gainesville, Florida

I thought I would do a quick picture update for you. Over Labor Day weekend Scott and I took a spontaneous trip to Gainesville, Florida to visit Scott's best friend. We went to a football game Saturday evening and had quite the evening. 

Firstly, I've never seen so much orange and blue. And this wasn't even a huge game mind you. 

Secondly, and I had no idea but the thing to wear to a football game is a Vegas style strip club dress. No, I'm not kidding. Check out my stalker photos. :)

Lovely right? Wrong. It's ridiculous. Really? You want to sit on a bleacher in that? While it rains? Good call.


Anyways, it was lovely and sunny.                             And then it down poured like no ones business.

And then the game got delayed before it even began. So we waited, and then got some sandwiches to go and ran in the pouring rain to this little tunnel to wait out the rain. Tunnel included smokers on both ends and drunk nasty adults on the other. It was quite the experience. It makes me realize how great Utah is with it's little bubble. I know people hate on the Utah bubble but I'd rather not be surrounded by disgusting adults who are drunk and talking about all sorts of foul things thank you.

The lightning finally cleared up enough for the game to start. (After 3 hours of delays). University of Florida almost scored on the first play. And then the game got delayed again. And after a half hour of more waiting, the game was finally cancelled.

Sunday after church we drove over to St. Augustine to walk around and see the oldest town in the US. 

It's really hot and humid there.

But so pretty and so neat.

We had a great little trip. Even though we got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half coming home. That was a kill joy for sure. But that's life for you! You just have to take it as it comes. :)

Why Write?

With not having a job right now I was running out of things to do to keep me busy during the day. A good friend told me to try out calligraphy, and can I just say that I'm so grateful I did! Calligraphy is amazing and addicting. It has a way of calming you and sucking you in. It's the same feeling I get when I do embroidery. I'm focused in on this simple task, be it a stitch or a stroke, that everything else fades away and I become relaxed. I just write, or I just sew and nothing else matters.

I came across this video though and thought I would share.

Why Write?

Now if you don't have 16 minutes to just sit down and watch this TED clip, then scroll a little further. But really, you should watch it.



The medical loving side of me caught on to this research he mentioned... Here are the notes:

-He took a cognitive psychology class and studied how handwriting helps develop the brain. During the different tactile movements of doing handwriting, the brain is engaged in more areas and the information is ingrained into the brain. The same was not found to be true with typing however, which does not involve the same type of differential tactile movements.
-Handwriting was also found to be incredibly helpful in small children who were learning to read. By forming the individual letters they had a deeper understanding of the anatomy of each one, and were therefore able to recognize it when it came time to read it on the page.
-Cursive was found to be even more beneficial to the brain. Researchers and scientists have done brain scans on children learning cursive and found that the different parts of the brain engaged are similar to those that adults typically use for writing and higher reasoning. The screen went blank when the kids were doing typing because it didn't involve the same type of tactile movement.

Interesting right?! I love learning about how amazing the body is and how things effect each other.

Here's another article for you:

Why Writing by Hand Could Make You Smarter

I think it was in high school that I decided I wanted to start writing in cursive more. (I'll have to check my journal for sure though.) I had to do a google search for the cursive alphabet for some of the letters I had forgotten from elementary school. Cursive became my primary handwriting for my journal and remains still. I love cursive. It's so fun and fast and beautiful.

If all of this hasn't inspired you to take a second look at your handwriting then I don't know what will. It's never to late to try something new. Start with cursive and just a normal pen or pencil. I think knowing cursive beforehand has been helpful with picking up calligraphy. And then try some calligraphy. I'm excited to really study it out and practice. I find myself looking at billboards now and imagining the direction that the strokes would need to go to produce the thick/thin look of the letters. Pathetic I know but whatever. It happens!