Valentine Mardi Gras Parade

(Okay, I started this post right after my last one but obviously never finished it. If anyone needs a refresher...we had just gone to Dallas for Valentines weekend and came home just in time for a Mardi Gras Parade.)

We left Dallas early Saturday morning in order to make it back to Shreveport for our first Mardi Gras Parade!! Now why we have never gone to one before...I don't know??? I really wish we had because we were missing out! Dan and I both LOVED it! Shreveport has an area designated just for families which is really nice. That way you don't have to take part in the crazy partying part of the parade if don't wish to do so. I am used to 4th of July Parades where you park farther away and just walk to where you want to be at during the parade. For Shreveport's Mardi Gras they actually do it along a parkway along the red river. So there is plenty of space for everyone to spread out. You park your car at the same place you will be standing/hanging out for the day. We got there about 3 hours before the parade started. Everyone brought their own meat to grill and we mostly just ate and hung out. Dan and a few others played a little football as well.

This picture is of Heather (one of the Young Women in our ward) with her little sister Ava. Their mom is one of the YW leaders with me as well.

Dan busy stuffing his face.

The parade started at 4:30pm and got to us about an hour later. We took this picture right before the parade started.

Dan and I decided to compete to see who could get the most beads. I was TOTALLY winning until Dan got the smart idea to put a kid on his shoulders. Reagan (The YW President's daughter) is extremely outgoing and seems to get a lot of attention with her cute chubby cheeks. She was getting stuff thrown to her left and right! I think she got more stuff than anyone else in our group including a feather boa and at least 10 stuffed animals. To say the least...Dan's ploy helped him slaughter me in the competition.

These guys (see pic below as well) were at the very beginning of the parade. I just had to take a picture because I couldn't help but laugh. It was just funny to see these grown men dressed like they were dancing with their umbrellas down the street! Mardi Gras is definitely the day of exceptions for how men can dress! Most men wouldn't be caught dead wearing beaded necklaces except on Mardi Gras!

Ava got a lot of beads too from being on her brother's shoulders. Something about cute little girls sure attracted the bead throwers!

Kassi posing with her princess crown. I taught her as a Sunbeam (3 yr old) at church. It was cute to watch her excitement as she caught a bunch of girly things.

A few of the floats....

At the end of the parade Dan and I caught a total of 99 beads, a t-shirt, and 7 cups! Dan even caught me a frog necklace! I was so excited! My frog necklace now is proudly displayed in my office at work.

Valentines!!!!!

Dan and I celebrated Valentines a few days early this year. We had been invited to a Mardi Gras Parade on the actual day of Valentines so we figured it wouldn't hurt to just move Valentines ahead a day or two. Dan wanted me to take a picture of the cookie cake I made him but I wasn't able to get to it fast enough as you can see!

I was trying to be very creative and decorate Dan's car and leave this cookie cake for him while he was at work. I was even more creative by trying to deliver it on Feb. 11th instead of Feb. 14th. We got engaged on the 11th in 2006 instead of on actual Valentines since Dan had to work. So I thought it would be a fun twist. As I went to go deliver it I called our accountant to ask some questions about our taxes. He told us we would need to come in and only time he could meet us was right then. So as I am delivering the cake I had to call Dan to have him meet me. I covered up all my decor and figured, ok...I can handle this...I will just decorate his car right when we are through after he goes back into work. After we were done he had still about an hour before he had to be back to work so he decided to run some errands. I knew I needed to get into work and couldn't waste my day following him around in order to decorate his car. I finally just gave up and handed it to him as we were both about to head our separate ways. He still seemed to be surprised but my whole ploy definitely fell through!

On Thursday after work we headed down to Dallas to go to the Temple. Dan had been given Friday off of work from having to go out of town for the Air Force the week before. I decided to take the day off as well so we could spend Thursday night and the whole day Friday in Dallas.

After going to the temple we decided to go to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. We LOVED it when we went a couple of years ago. This time it was still fun...but I think we went too soon again because we remembered too many of the displays.

Dan being eaten by a killer shark.


Dan traveling through the earthquake tunnel.

I don't even think he noticed the sign! He went right on through..the tunnel is actually really cool. You feel like you are walking straight but because of the "earthquake" it is hard not to bump into the walls! I would have liked this sign to be located at the Twister Tunnel..that one I don't like so much. It is a little spooky if you ask me!

My favorite part was a room that had all these brain teasers. This picture didn't turn out too great but you can get the idea. You were supposed to say all the colors displayed, not read the words. It is tricky!

Me by the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" rocking chair. We have a picture of me standing by it last time too...almost like Dejavu to see the two next to each other!

We also went into the Mirror Maze while we were there. I think both of us would agree this is our favorite part. All the walls in the maze are made out of mirrors which can get quite confusing! There were several times I could see Dan in the maze but it was only his reflection. Dan started at the exit and I started at the entrance. We were racing to see who could get to the other end first. Dan won me by far every time! Those mirrors are so confusing!

Picture of the two of us when we actually found each other (and not just our reflections) while in the maze.

Real or Reflection??? Take a stab at it!

After we were through at Ripleys we went to the Galleria. It is a huge mall just down the street from the Temple. It has 5 floors, I think, with an Ice Rink on the Bottom floor. We have been to the mall several times before but this was our first time actually skating there. It was really fun! I think both Dan and I thought we would be pros at it since we had just gone ice skating over Christmas and had really gotten the hang of it. Well we were wrong...once again I started out holding the rails but by the end I was doing fairly well! Dan struggled a little at the first too, but not much. They gave us figure skates whereas last time we had hockey skates. I have heard figure skates are much harder, so we will just blame it on that!

This picture was from the top floor looking down to the Ice Sheet.

Balding Crandalls

Last post of the day....

While we were in Utah my sister-in-law, Kristen, had taken pictures of the Crandall boys reunion (it had been over 4 years since they had all been together). They turned out great and we are happy she was willing to take them!

This picture made me laugh. We all know that Crandalls tend to start balding at a young age...but this picture really shows it! Funny how Paul (their dad) has the least amount of hair out of all of them but since his hair is light you can see it, whereas the boys dark hair blended into the background.

The boys with Paul & Donna.

The boys with Jeff Dolores, Jordan, and Gabe.

The boys with their mom.

Rueb's Mission Call Continued

Rueben also sent me pictures from when he opened his call. I really enjoyed seeing the pictures since we weren't able to be there. Enjoy!

Right before he opened his call.

Right after he opened his call. You probably can't tell really well on the computer but when I first saw this picture up close I swear Rueben looked just like my dad. It was weird because I almost felt like I was seeing what my dad would have looked like when he was younger/what Rueben will look like when he is older.

My mom had a huge map in the living room for everyone to look at to help them make their guess of where he would go. Rueben took this picture after of him pointing to the place! Weird to think a month has already gone by since he got his call.

Paul & Ice Skating

Last month I had posted about us going ice skating while in Utah with family. I had talked about Paul and his lack of talent in this particular sport (see Christmas Events 7-10 (Ice Skating) on Jan. 19th for a refresher!). I had wanted to post a picture of him then but had to wait to get it from Rueben. Anyways, he sent me the picture recently so here it is!

If you look really closely you can see Paul (White shirt, hat, and black pants) is holding onto Dan's shirt. It looks like Dan is holding his hand but in reality he was really trying to push his dad off of him before he made them both fall!

Rueben sent me this picture too. I just thought it was funny because you can really see our almost one foot height difference well in the picture. Sometimes I wonder where I came from! I know I look like my mom and all but I definitely didn't inherit my parents tall skinny body frames but Rueben sure did!

Best day of my life!

So the second weekend that Dan was gone for work I was a busy bee making a baby cake. A lady from work asked me to make a cake for a baby shower she was throwing that weekend. The big project started on Friday night. I went to walmart to gather all the supplies and came home ready to bake. As I started pulling out all the ingredients for the batter I realized I had forgot a few things. I HATE when I do that. So back to the store I went.....

I got everything I thought I needed and started to check out at the self-service counter when I realized I had forgotten my wallet. I guess it had fallen out of my purse at home and I didn't realize it. So I had to go back home...get my wallet...drive back to the store...get my groceries again..and FINALLY check out and head back home. By this time I was running quite behind on schedule and knew it would be a late night.

I had to make 3 different batches because my design needed 6 layers of cake (and I only own 1 pan in each of the sizes I was using...eventually I want to own more but since i am just beginning I have to deal with what I have). As I finished the first batch and put it in the oven my mom called to say hi. I started working on the second batch and while I was talking to her and accidentally bumped the carton of eggs off the counter. All the eggs fell and broke and slid under the fridge...what a mess! My mom made the comment that maybe she should call me anymore because every time she does something bad happens! First my tire and then the eggs...yeah no...I just do stupid things often enough that my mom just keeps on catching me in action! Her calling me had nothing to do with it!

So back to the store I went for the bagillionth time...but luckily the last. The rest of the night went fairly smooth and so did the decorating the next day. It was just quite a task, but well worth it. I REALLY enjoyed making the cake and loved that she let me create the design. It was nice to have more say in what I wanted to do on the cake than what I have had in the past. I was really proud of the cake when I finished. The only thing I was a little disappointed it was that she didn't want me to cover the cake in fondant. I usually do a thick layer of icing and then cover it in fondant plus the decorations in fondant. The decorations hold much better than way, and there is still plenty of icing underneath that if you don't like fondant you don't have to eat it.

Anyways, I had to compromise and stick the fondant decor right on the butter cream icing. It turned out better than I thought it would but the pressure of the small decorations against the icing was causing the icing to mis-shape a little. Oh well...I did it how they wanted!


The best part of the whole gig was when I delivered the cake. I remember thinking as I was driving to our meeting spot that I can't imagine how Duff on "Ace of Cakes" handles all the deliveries! They are so nerve racking and his cakes are way bigger than mine was! I was holding the cake with one hand and driving with the other and was absolutely terrified every time I hit a bump. In the end I got there safe and sound...but boy I was stressed!

When I showed the two ladies the cake (the were family members that Kim sent to meet me) they both couldn't believe I had made it! They said the cake was good enough I should be hired on at Ace of Cakes or start competing in the Food Network Cake Challenges. Oh my gosh...that totally made my day. For anyone who doesn't know I am absolutely addicted to both of those shows and I totally admit it. I LOVE watching them and part of me probably does dream about being on those shows. So when she said that I couldn't help but think "This is the best day of my life!!! (Dan didn't quite agree with me...he thought the best day of my life should have been our wedding day...but whatever...lol. Actually he is probably right but this day sure was a good day too) ". Now I don't think my cake was quite that good...but it sure felt good to be told that!

The only regrets I now have is what I charged her....50 messily bucks, which I knew really wasn't much for how much work I put into it....but dang...if I knew my cake was as good as Ace of Cakes or Food Network Challenge I should have sold it for at least a $1000! (For those of you that don't know Ace of Cakes min. price is like $3000 for a cake and if you win the Cake Challenge you get $10,000. So I thought $1000 sounded reasonable to me!!!).

Clumsy Me.....

A few weekends ago Dan left to go out of town for a week long training through the Air Force in Florida. He left really early on a Saturday. After dropping him off I spent the day with my good friend Jenni and her kids. We had lots of fun shopping (well minus the second trip to Hobby Lobby due to us forgetting something....), crafting, and just visiting. I always enjoy hanging out with her on a Saturday and I love her kids as well. Her youngest, Colt, who is about to turn two, always makes me happy. Everytime I see him he clings to me, always wants to sit in my buggy (shopping cart for those that don't get my southern talk!) at the store, and always asks lots of questions. He is probably one of the most inquisitive boys I have ever met, mostly because he just likes to always have a conversation going and doesn't know how to say much other than "What's this???". So about every 10 seconds either I will ask him "What's this??" and point to something or vice versa. He practically had me name almost EVERYTHING to him at Hobby Lobby. Jacob, her other boy, was really cute too. He knows his mom likes Flor De Lis so every time he would see one in Hobby Lobby or anything that looked close to one he would get really, really excited and start saying "Flor De Lis, Flor De Lis Mommy!!" or "Look Ms. Sierra!!! Flor De Lis!!!" It was really cute and funny. Those boys definitely boost your spirits when you are around them.



The main purpose of our shopping/crafting day this time was for a baby shower Jenni is planning for a friend. We seem to have a day like this at least twice a month but this one had an actual purpose. She is planning a firefighter themed shower for a friend from high school. She asked me to help her make the invitations, part of a gift, and the shower cake. We made the invitations on Saturday and they turned out so cute! And were way fun too! I will have to add a picture of them tomorrow when I get to work. Jenni has them on her computer. We also got a really cute red metal bucket (that is what we forgot from Hobby Lobby the first time) and put vinyl on it. I cut out a firetruck and the baby's name for her. The cake we will be making at a later date but I am really excited for it.



By the time we had finished all the invites and our shopping I was quite exhausted. Especially since Dan and I had to be at the base at like 6:30am that morning. After I left Jenni's house at like 5:30 or so I called Donna, Dan's step mom, on the way home. I had planned on just crashing on the couch for the rest of the night but when I called we both realized that we were home alone for the weekend. Paul was in Utah visiting his mom. She teasingly said "If you left to come see me right now you could get in by 9pm and then we would have a full day together tomorrow!". We kept on talking and I quickly packed my bags without saying a word and started driving. By the time we finished talking I had already been on the road for about 20 minutes. She was quite surprised when I spilled the beans and told her I was on my way! I knew both of us would enjoy it and I totally understood what she was going through.



Dan's dad is taking a volunteer assignment to Iraq for 14 months. He leaves the first of March. Donna seemed a little down and I totally understand how that is. Whenever Dan would be gone for a day or more before he left on his deployment I would start comparing it to what it would be like when he deployed. For example, when he went to scout camp about 2 months before it was one of the hardest weeks of my life because I was comparing it to when I wouldn't see him for awhile. The brain does annoying things sometimes it seems. Had he been gone for a week at any other time I would have handled it just fine. So anyways, my point was, I understood why Donna was a little down with Paul being gone even though he isn't "officially gone" yet.



Donna and I had a great time. We stayed up talking to 2 am (I know, we are nuts...especially after I thought I was ready to crash at 5:30pm). The next day we had fun chatting, shopping, eating, etc...just enjoying our girl time. All day long I had been trying to decide whether I was going to go home Sunday night in time for work Monday morning or if I would take Monday off of work. I finally decided to go home that night so I could save my vacation day for when we came back to visit in a few weeks.



By the time I got on the road it was probably a little later than I should have left, but I wasn't too worried, especially since Dan was okay with it and I had been fine driving the 3 1/2 hour drive in the dark the night before. About an hour into the drive, while talking to my mom, I hit a piece of metal in the road that INSTANTLY blew up my tire. I had absolutely no time to react. It was the driver's side front tire as well, which I learned is the worst one to blow out. I felt really bad for my family, who knew I was in trouble but couldn't do much about it being close to 2000 miles away. I was hoping to be able to make it to the next exit which was quite close but since my tire was so bad I couldn't make it that far. My car was shaking so bad that I had to stop short about 50 yards from the exit. So close but yet so far....

I called Donna needing help and luckily she knew of a cousin who lived in the town nearby where I was stranded. I was so lucky he was there to come and help me! Especially with both Paul and Dan out of town. He was there within 10 minutes and put my spare on and I was on my way back to Donna's house. My spare was a little donut so I couldn't drive the remaining two hours home on it. By the time I got back to Donna's it was late enough I should have been back in Shreveport...oh well! Not my best moment in life, but I survived it. I felt bad for scaring myself, Donna, and my family but I am glad it turned out so well.

I am still glad I went and visited Donna for the weekend but I definitely failed on the execution. If I EVER, which won't be anytime soon or possibly never again Mom and Dad...don't worry....drive that far by myself again I definitely won't do it at night. There is a chance that could have happened to me in town during the day here in Shreveport and I still would have needed help but it was much scarier at night on the side of the highway.


So in the end, I got to see Donna for a extra day, still missed work, and cost myself close to $200 between replacing my tire and getting an alignment! Oh well...the price it sometimes costs to be me I guess!

Snow in Louisiana?????

As many of you may know snow in Louisiana is a VERY RARE thing. The other day it actually snowed! Nothing compared to Utah...but enough for all the locals to have a panic attack over it! I didn't even realize it had snowed until after I started driving to work. Our apartment complex had a bit of frost on the ground but nothing else. As I got onto the interstate to drive to work there was a MAJOR traffic jam. It took me over 45 minutes to go the distance that usually takes me about 5 minutes. At first I thought it was from an accident or something but quickly learned from listening to the radio that everyone was just being extremely precautions due to a little bit of snowfall the night before. The roads were as dry as can be...I didn't see a lick of snow or ice on the roads but I guess it still made everyone extremely nervous. It made me laugh. The fasted speed I got to on the interstate was less than 10 miles per hour. When I FINALLY got into work and looked out the window to the top of the parking garage I was able to see that at some point it had snowed a little here! (See below) A few co-workers were even so excited to see snow they all wanted to go out and build a snow man. My first question was "With what???? There isn't even enough to do that!" They then asked me if I wanted to join them....I politely declined given the fact that I got more than my taste of snow while in Utah just a week or two before! It was funny to me to see every one's panic/excitement over the situation!

In a rut....and working on it!

I decided that I am officially just a month behind on the whole new year's resolution thing. I got myself into some sort of a rut this past month it seems so I know I have been slacking a little on things that are important to me. It seems sometimes when you have a lot on your mind it is easy to just get in a rut! So here is to my New February Resolution...between keeping my diabetic issues in check, working out, balancing my checkbook regularly, keeping the house picked up, reading my scriptures, blogging, amongst other things...I should stay plenty busy! Or at least get back to my normal busy routine. Wish me luck!

Blog entries SHOULD follow....if I tell everyone maybe I will stick to it!