Mardi Gras Madness

Hey Y'all!......Am I allowed to say that yet? I feel like saying y'all is like a "right of passage" kinda thing and I don't know if I have earned it. Please excuse any mistakes in this post-it's been so long since I last blogged, I don't really remember how to do it.

We've been here for nearly ten months now, and despite our intense work and school schedules, we are managing to have some fun. I am proud to say that we have survived our first Mardi Gras in New Orleans- what an experience!! Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras..... how do I describe this? Well, basically it's just a big crazy party here for 2 straight weeks; it's not like Christmas or Thanksgiving where you only celebrate for one day. There is a lack of "soberness" in the city and plethora of king cake, weird costumes, and parades. No- these parades are NOTHING like the little fourth of July parades in Utah! We attended 4 parades and managed to get about 60 pounds worth of "throws" (beads and other little goodies that they throw from the floats). Some may call these throws junk, but when you are standing in the middle of a huge screaming crowd surrounded by shiny floats and fun music, getting the throws is exhilirating and you just want more and more; it sucks you in! Brett and I definitely got sucked in; Brett even started screaming a desperate "PLEASE" with outstretched arms as the floats passed us. Don't worry, we never resorted to flashing. I am going to stop trying to explain and just show ya a few pics.

Float

Torch man



Our Earnings- Brett organized them:)




I was so proud of my feather boa.



Crazy Costumes






We were excited to get these flower thingies, but not so excited about the kiss on the cheek by a drunk man that came with it.

Resident Friends

Lots of beads get stuck in the trees, and the pretty much stay there year round.

Mardi Gras is something everyone needs to experience at least once in their life. Well that's enough about Mardi Gras. Hmm...what else? Brett had his vacation a few weeks ago, so (even though I was still in school), we managed to make it home to Utah and then to New York for a few days. Thanks to family and my friend Megan for such a great time.

Brett is delivering lots of babies; the other day, he had a patient name their baby "BUBELICOUS" (yep, spelled just like that). Speaking of weird names, I met a lady named Tarantula the other day. I don't think we will be getting good ideas for our future kids' names down here. Brett is working nights this month, so I am sitting here wallowing in my sorrows; I am wearing Brett's sweatshirt, watching Oprah, and eating chocolate. I think it's time that I do something productive now. Thanks for tuning in:)

European Excursion

It has been a long time (as usual) since I last blogged, and a lot has happened. Brett and I are currently living out of hotels in New Orleans until our house closes (by the way, it was supposed to close a month ago). My little brother Joshy is down to visit, and we just got back from our first day of church here. It is very different down here: my hair goes poof, it feels like a sauna outside, there are drive through Daquiri shops, lots of fried chicken, and the rain comes in sheets (not droplets) and does not (I mean, DOES NOT) cool things down. The people are so warm and welcoming though, and we are excited for our new adventure.... or will be once we have somewhere to live:-)
Even though our first few days in New Orleans have been a little rough, we had a wonderful time in France. I will give a short run down of our two and a half week vacation. We spent our first day in Paris trying to get over jetlag; we had to stay standing because we discovered that sitting down or even just leaning on something was conducive to falling asleep. I have never been so tired in my entire life! To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about that day, I think I was only half conscious; I do know that we walked around a lot though.
The next day, we drove down (that is Brett drove while I continually failed at any attempt to keep my eyes open) to Geneva to stay with my Aunt Heather and her family. They took us to a beautiful Mideaval castle called Yvoire and gave a little tour of Geneva. Brett and I decided that we couldn't miss out on seeing the Swiss Alps when we were so close, so we spent the next day in the majestic mountains. Our favorite part of the day was spent in a tiny little town called Gimmelwald (it was on the shows Amazing Race and Rick Steve's Europe); this isolated town can only be accessed by cable car or hiking and probably has less than 50 residents. The town had a little stinky cheese store, a tiny gift shop, a few motels, and a few quaint farms. The views were incredible- I now better understand the phrase "heaven on earth."
That weekend, we drove up to Normandy and spent time with some of Brett's amazing friends from his mission. They made us amazing french meals, took us on a scenic tours of Normandy, and shared a lot of laughs. It was so fun to see two grown women (Marie-Sylvie and her sister Elisabeth) jam out to their favorite French singer-Christophe Mae; they even got Brett dancing, which isn't a small feat.
While in Normandy, we also got to visit the American cemetery, the Memorial museum, and Omaha beach; it was a solemn and eye-opening experience.
We spent our last week in Paris visiting the sites and touring the city. We saw Versailles, the Musee Dor'say, the Louvre, Notre Dame, climbed the Eiffel Tower, floated on the Seine, ate lots of delicious French food, and just had fun experiencing the life of a Parisian.
We are now back in reality, but are so grateful we got to experience this vacation. Brett starts residency on Tuesday and we are praying that we will be able to get settled soon. Oh dear....Brett and Josh are wrestling each other, so I better go break it up. A special thanks to our families for all of their help and to our French friends for their hospitality. Loves!

France Slideshow - Slideshow

In the Bayou

Well, I have been a total slacker at updating this blog; a lot has happened lately, so I finally have some juicy material to blog about.

Our last few weeks in Arizona were so much fun. We got to fly in a private plane (I would not have posted this, but it sounds like someone told my mom on us), my cousin Melissa got engaged, and we had a fun Easter with the Hatch family. Conference was amazing, and the easter pageant in Mesa gave us an extra spiritual boost. Thanks to Grandma Jacque and the Hatches for such a wonderful time.

Brett and I are getting ready to become southerners; we have added "y'all" to our vocabulary and are in the process of buying a little home in New Orleans. After leaving our six week adventure in Arizona, we flew down to New Orleans to find a place to live. After our first day of looking at houses with the real estate agent, we were pretty sure we were going to end up living in a shack in the ghetto. But things turned around the second day and we found a cute little new house in a little suburb on the west bank called Merrero. While we were down there, we celebrated my cute hubby's 30th birthday; I told him I was sad he was leaving my decade. I didn't have a kitchen, so his birthday cake was a lame little cupcake from Walmart.....speaking of- I hate Walmart (especially the one in New Orleans)! On a happier note- I have the most wonderful husband, and I hope his birthday in the bayou wasn't too lame.

We finally got back to Utah last Thursday. We are making final preparations for the big move and taking advantage of spending time with our families while we still can. This last weekend, we celebrated my dad's birthday and I made the cake; it was pretty much the ugliest thing that has ever existed (sorry dad). My lack of cooking talent is very depressing- good thing my husband can cook (I don't get how he knows how to do everything....crazy). I have made banana bread since though and it wasn't too bad, so maybe there is a little hope for me.

On Monday, we went to see the flowers at temple square with Brett's parents. The flowers were gorgeous and the weather was absolutely perfect; spring is by far the best season!

Yesterday, we celebrated our cute little neice's (Hailey) second birthday. Brett gave her a stethescope (according to Hailey it is a "stefatope") and she was walking around to everyone, putting it up to their backs and saying "breeve" (aka breathe). I wish I had a picture.

Welp, that's a wrap for now. Looks like we may have to move out of our place this week, so I will probably be a blog-slacker yet again. Peace and love!

Match Week

Brett and I have had a pretty exciting week. Last Monday we found out that Brett "matched." Although it was a huge relief to find that out, we had a really difficult time sleeping for the next few days because we were so anxious to find out where we were headed (I think both of us had the dreaded Saginaw in the back of our minds). Brett had to work Thursday, so we decided to wait and open the email together once he got done. I knew this was going to be extremely difficult for me to wait because I know Brett's email password and it would be so easy to just look and then mark the email as unread.....I know, I am devious. But I wanted to be honest, so I made Brett bribe me; I asked him what he would give me if I didn't look. He told me I would get See's chocolate and that gave me just enough motivation to make it through the day. Once Brett got done with work we sat in the car in the parking lot of the hospital and put both of our families on speaker phone. We opened Brett's email to find- drum roll.....................LSU. I have to say, Brett and I both felt quite shocked- we weren't exactly expecting New Orleans. After a few days of letting it sink in though, we are really excited. We both loved the city when we went for Brett's interview back in November, and it is a strong program. Everyone better get ready to come visit us in the south. You probably won't see much of Brett, but I will show you a good time:) I guess it's time for me to get into football- Go Saints......that's their team right?
Anyways, we have done a few fun things over the past ten days despite all of the time wasted worrying. Brett and I toured this famous Hunting/Fishing store (I can't remember the name) that people come from all over to see; I told Brett that these "people" are probably solely men. It's kind of like Cabella's, but even bigger.














Brett and I have enjoyed taking walks in the beautiful weather down here. The other day, Brett decided to spice up our walk by putting me on his shoulders. I am sure the passing cars thought we were crazy. After our Sunday walk we came home to discover that I had received a bird present in my hair. It was pretty humorous, especially because Brett had been telling me about getting pooped on by birds on his mission. I guess nature thought I ought to experience it too.

Our giant Shadow.


Last Saturday, we went to the Aloha Festival- mostly because it was free. We saw people shaking their booties and a whole pig being roasted.










We also got to go to another Suns game, I think Jacque is trying to convert us:) Brett seemed to have a good time imitating some of the annoying fans in front of us. We got really excited when we noticed a "You are a winner" sign posted in our seating area, but it ended up being on the seat right next to ours...so close!

Our final adventure of the week was a trip to the Grand Canyon. We wanted to spend as little money as possible, so we went online and booked a motel for $39. Let's just say we got what we paid for, the motel was pretty much a dump. Our towels were mildewy, we could feel the bed springs through the mattress, and the heater was a piece of crap; we would be sweating like crazy when it was on and freezing when it was off. Brett would not even walk barefoot on the carpet. It's something to laugh about though, and we ended up having a lot of fun. We woke up early the next morning, anxious to vacate our motel, and spent most of the day at the canyon. It was so beautiful! The views made the nasty hotel and overpriced food all worth it.

At the bottom of the hike-Gorgeous!
The beginning of our hike was a little scary, I fell three times.

The evil heater and nasty towels!

Arizonan Adventure

Ok, so here goes nothing; I am definitely not a writer and I have never blogged before, so this could be interesting. Brett and I are in Arizona right now for Brett's final rotation (psychiatry) for medical school. As I am writing this, I am "listening" to school lectures in the lobby of a institute down the street from where Brett is working. We are staying with my cousin's sweet Grandma Jacque in Chandler. On Thursday, Brett and I got to go to the Suns-Jazz game (Grandma J gave us her tickets). We were overwhelmed by the sea of orange in the stadium, so decided that we would avoid making enemies by cheering silently for the Jazz. The first three quarters were disappointing; the Jazz were consistently ten points behind. It wasn't until the last 5-6 minutes of the game that things heated up. When I saw that there was hope of a win, I let loose- I couldn't resist cheering loudly. I think I embarrassed by poor husband and made the eight year old kid sitting behind us shout even more profane words than he had previously. After the Jazz pulled out the win, Brett and I left the stadium smiling, but also slightly afraid that our car (that was parked on the street with its Utah license plates) might be vandalized by the time we got to it.

We have only been here a week, but have already fallen in love with the beautiful weather. Brett and I took advantage by going to the park and playing some ball this weekend. After we tossed the ball around for a few minutes, I decided that our game needed a little spicing up. I told Brett that we needed to throw in a dance move before each toss. He didn't take me up on it, and once I started this new technique, my aim went out the window.

Brett and I also got to hang out with my Aunt Tracy and my cousins Karsen and Kelsey this weekend. They live near Vegas, but came down to Chandler for one of Karsen's gymnastic competitions. Watching cute Karsen compete took me back to my childhood; I used to be obsessed with gymnastics and the thrill of the competitions.

Welp, that's our week in a nutshell. Speaking of nuts, Brett has come home with some pretty nutsy stories from working in the psychiatric unit. The other night, when he was on call, they had a patient who was brought into the unit by the police. Apparently this guys runs an "incredibly successful" business, has an IQ of 177, and is currently running away from the people who live in the ceiling who are trying to kill him. He told Brett he wasn't smart enough to understand the "complexity of the situation." Needless to say, I think Brett is pretty excited to finish this rotation. We find out in a little over a week where we will be headed for residency, so I am sure our anticipation will make the next ten days go incredibly slowly.