Snow shoeing and New Years

This is a late catch-up blog from Christmas and New Years! Scott and I were able to go home for a good week and a half over Christmas and New Years. We had some lovely snow storms! Perfect snow for snowshoeing, which is exactly what we did.

You feel like you're in another world when you're up in the mountains, trees heavy with snow surrounding you on all sides.

Some of the trees were getting pulled down with the weight of the snow.

Oh hey there hottie.

And I couldn't resist a picture of the mountains that are right in our Utah backyard. I miss that view.

Christmas Eve was spent with the Greenhalgh clan for their traditional Christmas Eve dinner and family time. Maybe I'll post about the amazing family crest that Michelle painted for Scott and I later. We definitely had fun putting together a New Orleans package as our gift.
Christmas morning we hid from Santa with the Croslands. My niece Evelyn, who is almost 3 now, was just dying as she watched Santa deliver the gifts. She really wanted to get out from under her hiding spot and say "hi" to Santa.
I honestly love that tradition from my moms side. Whoever started it is a genius.

This new year we spent with the Crosland side of the family. We have a tradition of playing games, eating wings, chips and dip, pineapple slush, playing Just Dance on the Wii and then lighting Chinese lanterns as the New Year rings in.

Well, resolutions have been made and some have already been left on the wayside. I tend to get a little carried away with list making. But I think I've figured out which ones are the actual important ones to me verses the excessive, "these sound like a good idea" ones.

Cheers to improvement!

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. :)

Pumpkin Carving

I love pumpkin carving. It's my favorite thing about Halloween. Scott on the other hand, hates basically every aspect of Halloween, including carving pumpkins. :( Don't be fooled by him smiling in this picture, he was actually mad because I was taking a picture instead of opening the door. 

But, being the gracious husband that he is, he finally agreed to carve one pumpkin. 

I just find it funny that he had to find the largest pumpkin in the bin to carve.

Have I told you that we have an awesome ward? Well, we do.

We got together with two other families in the ward and all carved pumpkins. It was so nice to be with friends and have a big group carving. That's how it always was for me at home so I'm glad this year Scott and I could get out and be with friends from the ward.

Scott's pumpkin. If you aren't familiar with hunting items, it's the Browning symbol.

This year I felt like going for a classic Halloween image.

Here's some of the other pumpkins carved. Don't you love the puking pumpkin and the pumpkin eating someone... haha classic.

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. :)