Mardi Gras 2012

This might be silly to most of you but I did not know what Mardi Gras really was until I was talking on the phone to my friend Heidi and she asked. I decided to look it up using the trusted source of Wikipedia :) and it all made a lot more sense. 

Mardi gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans, founded in 1718.^[13] The tradition has expanded to the point that it became strongly associated with the city in popular perception, and embraced by residents of New Orleans beyond those of French or Catholic heritage. Mardi Gras celebrations are part of the basis of the slogan, Laissez les bons temps rouler, (Let the good times roll) and the nickname "Big Easy".^[12] Mobile, Alabama, the former capital of New France, also has a long tradition of celebrating Mardi Gras. Other cities along the Gulf Coast formerly occupied and owned by the French from Pensacola, Florida, and its suburbs to Lafayette, Louisiana, have active Mardi Gras celebrations. In the rural Acadiana area, many Cajuns celebrate with the Courir de Mardi Gras, a tradition that dates to medieval celebrations in France.^[16] 

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras

There are ALOT of parades during this time, we planned on going to a few on Saturday but we were RAINED out.. flash floods and all. Our friends the Pena's were even able to Canoe in there backyard!  We ended up taking a drive to New Orleans on Sunday after church to go to the Krewe of Bacchus parade. We ended up seeing one right before that as well. It was crazy how many people were there. When we read about this particular parade  we were kind of nervous because it said that several HUNDRED THOUSAND come out for this one every year.  We debated back and forth on whether or not to take the kids.. we are so happy that we did. 

Mainly because of this guy right here: 

We love Will Ferrell. The kids are constantly citing his movies. This picture above is of him handing beads to Dustin, Skyler, and Tyken. 

Here he is looking right at me.. probably because of the constant flash that was going on. 

We were worried that the kids would see things that were inappropriate to say the least but the dirtiest thing we saw was this: 

This was bunch of beads in horse manure.. it was kind of fun watching the marching bands and cheerleaders try not to step in it. 

And this is what all the streets looked like, full of garbage and beads that were not caught. 

The ladders were made to sit on top so you can see the floats that came by. 

And this guy here was the most disturbing thing that we ran into. 

Kennedy and some random girl she asked to take her picture with. 

Every time Skyler would get something he would yell "I WON I WON" 

So happy that we got to experience our first Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We love living in different places and getting to experience the awesomeness that each area has to offer. 

2012: A Standard of Grace, Not Perfection

I have been in a bit of a slump lately. 

I have been searching to find myself,  trying to find something that DEFINES me. I was reading some old journals.. you know the kind you never want anyone to read.. because they are full of whining and complaining. These will definitely not be ones that will be passed down to my children. I noticed that there is the same pattern, I make promises to myself that I am going to be better. 

Be a better wife

Be a better mother

Keep the house cleaner

Accomplish something (who knows what) 

Be more patient and kind

Read and Study the scriptures

Serve others more often 

Eat Healthier

Exercise

Tone my upper arms

Put money in savings

Pay my bills on time

Update my blog before something happens and you lose ALL of my pictures

Backup my Mac before I lose ALL of my pictures

(it so happens that I lost about 8000 pictures)

Man alive! The list can go on and on and on. It is actually quite embarrassing to take note that over the last 15 years my journals say the same thing yet I still feel like I am in the same place I was 15 years ago.. with the exception of a couple grey hairs. 

I blame it on perfection. I wear myself out, I can't imagine how my family feels. Running around in circles and not accomplishing anything is getting pretty old. A few months ago I ran across this from emilyley.com:

As I look around my house tonight and look at the complete and utter mess it is in I feel so blessed. I have this AMAZING husband who works so hard for me and the kids. He works 60+ hours per week, goes to school full time, fulfills his church calling, and makes time for each of us.. with a smile on his face.  I have 4 WONDERFUL kids who get compliments all of the time on how well behaved they are. They are so much fun to be around and they are so great with each other. Dustin works for an amazing company who takes such good care of us. We just got to spend two weeks with family, going to places that we never thought we would be able to go to. I have some really REALLY good friends that understand me and love me despite my faults. I have a Heavenly Father who truly loves me and is my biggest supporter, if I would just let him in I can accomplish anything. 

And I worry about how clean my house is.. seriously mental.  

I NEED A BIG CUP OF GRACE! 

Focusing on one thing at a time and not worrying about what is going on around me. Making things happen, following through, and cutting myself some slack. 

Remembering what is important: giving my husband my UNDIVIDED attention, playing with the kids (they are growing up way too fast). 

Living in the moment and realizing that time is no longer going to wait for me. 

Florida 2011 - Part 1

For Christmas this year we met up with Dustin's family in Orlando for a fun-filled week of theme parks. The parents wanted to come back to visit us for a week after the trip so we rented this thing to ride to Florida in so we could all fit on the way back. It was awesome!

The drive to Florida was 11 hours from our little home in Gonzales, LA. Easy peasy.. We are seriously blessed to have children that can be cooped up in a car for hours at a time. We were worried that they would get cranky without a DVD player but between ipods and iphones everyone was happy. 

We got to the condo late Friday night, I think Grandma Lisa was going to go crazy waiting for us to get there. Well, maybe we all were.. we were so excited to see everyone. Cassi and Cameron were on a Caribbean cruise and would be meeting up with us on Sunday. We were sad that there kids Camorah and Creeson did not come, but also just a tad jealous that they got to go away sans kids. 

Our first stop was to the Happiest Place on Earth.. Disney World!

We got to start of the day with none other then Mickey and Minnie Mouse. 

Tyken LOVED Minnie Mouse! I cannot wait until he is dating to show off this picture of him and Minnie. 

SPLASH MOUNTAIN  

Skyler barely made the 40" mark to make it on this ride. He was so short that once the ride started we would put him on our lap so he could see all of the awesome things around him. When we got off the ride to look at our picture, the attendant covered it up so no one could see what we had done. Oops. 

I have barely made a dent into everything that we did at Disney World. But the next part deserve a post all by itself. 

GREASE: Starring Kennedy Stibal as SANDY

Mr. Hahn's 7th grade class at Elizabeth Bagshaw put together a play for the movie Grease. Kennedy got picked to play the part of Sandy. For awhile our home only played the Grease soundtrack and the movie was constantly on. These guys worked so hard and the end result was amazing. It was so fun to see the look of accomplishment on there faces after the show was over. Mr. Hahn was so excited as well, Kennedy would come home from school everyday and say that is all he talked about and all they did during class.

Mother's Day 2011

I love days when you have nothing really planned and it turns out to be one of the best days ever! Thats what happened for Mother's Day this year. We went to church and snuck out right after sacrament. I really didn't know what I wanted to do, just that I wanted to soak in the sun and my lovely family. We drove along the escarpment (which the Canadians call The Mountain) and jumped out of the car and started walking, we ended up going on an impromptu hike.

I am seriously so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and kids.  Some days it seems that I might go crazy with all of the chaos around me and then one little moment will happen at any given point during the day and make it all the craziness worth it. I am so grateful for having a husband who works so hard to provide for us, letting me stay home to raise our kids. I am so grateful for each one of my kids and there unique personalities, there has never been a moment when I am not learning something new from them. They have taught me patience, kindness, joy so many things that I would never get to experience if it wasn't for them. I am grateful for a wonderful mother, grandma, mother-in-law, and so many other amazing mothers who have taught me so much about the joys of motherhood. I always know that I have a mother, no matter what country I an living in, who is just a phone call away and will help me work out whatever I need to work on. And most importantly I am grateful for my Heavenly Father who trusted Dustin and I enough to send us Kennedy, Tyken, Raigan, and Skyler. And we are so blessed to be able to be together for eternity. Seriously, what more could a mom ask for? 

Elizabeth Bagshaw Talent Show

Raigan, Lucy, and Tatyana
Dancing to Miley Cyrus' Fly On The Wall

This was a great talent show.. lots of fun dance routines and musically talented kids. The students had to try-out in order to participate. The girls worked so hard on there dance and were one of the few who were able to perform for the whole school and the parents.  I love that Raigan was able to become such good friends with these Canadian girls and make such wonderful memories.

Dome Inflation - P&H Hamilton Canada

Bright and early this morning was the inflation of Dome 2 for P&H. They will be using these domes for soy bean storage. Because of safety concerns us wives do not normally get to visit the jobsite, this time we have been lucky enough to be able to visit and see how this dome building process works. This morning was the inflation of the second dome. I dragged myself out of bed bright and early to go watch.