New Orleans

So a few weeks ago Brandon and I took a little trip together to New Orleans...minus the babe. :( This was my first time leaving him and I missed him so much! But I must say it would have been way too hard to take him there. I was going for a trip for work (pharmaceutical research meeting) and so we bought Brandon a ticket too so that we could see the city. We loved it and could not believe there was so much to do there! We flew there Thursday and after checking into the hotel immediately walked to Bourbon Street to a seafood restaurant that had been recommended to us. We were starving and it was delicious - shrimp and alligator sausage gumbo, jambalaya, and shrimp and crab creole. Everyone there was so nice...that night we met this guy while waiting to be seated who bought us our appetizer and told us all of the places we needed to go. That night we walked around Bourbon Street some (which if you ever go you can skip...at least at night). Vegas has NOTHING on this place.

Friday morning we walked over to Cafe Du Monde for beignets. These are super yummy French donuts with powdered sugar which they are famous for. Yum! We had to rush back to our hotel to catch a ride, but loved the French Quarter and all of the incredible shops with French Antiques on the way to and from. If only I had a million dollars! Then we went on a swamp tour which took up most of the day. It was fun but a bit of a disappointment. Apparently the alligators stay at the bottom when it is cold, which everyone failed to tell us prior. GRRRR! That was like the whole point! But it was fun anyway.

>When we got back to the city we went to Drago's at the Hilton known for their charbroiled oysters. We had not had lunch so we got some oysters and crab cakes...delish! Then I wanted to go shopping on Magazine Street. Of course there was then a torrential downpour like never before with winds you wouldn't believe. Umbrellas turned inside out. Eventually the winds died down so we were able to continue walking in the rain. We ended up taking a street car down to St. Charles St. and saw some of the most beautiful homes ever. I love old houses. They have such character. But the French architecture was incredible. We got kind of lost so never quite found the shopping district, but oh well. That night I had a dinner at the hotel so Brandon went to Mother's for a po boy.

After my dinner we headed back to Bourbon to a jazz club we were told about. The music was great and we had a good time...although I am pretty sure we are the only people in the city who don't drink! Everyone looked at us like we were aliens or something.

Saturday while I was at my meeting, Brandon went to the WWII museum which I guess was fabulous. He said he could have spent several more hours there. I ditched out of my meeting a little early so we could go on a riverboat tour on the Mississippi. It was F.R.E.E.Z.I.N.G. I do not recall being that cold in my life...the chill from the wind goes right through you. We were not expecting this cold streak and did not bring super warm clothes. We did some more walking in the French Market...had some more fabulous seafood for dinner, and I think made it back to the hotel by about 7pm. We felt this was a sin to go home so early on our last night there...but the cold was more than I could bear any longer. Even Brandon, who always thinks I am a wuss, was cold.
We definitely could have stayed for a whole week because there were so many other things we wanted to do...plantation tours, Katrina tours (9th ward), cemetery tours (must all be buried above the ground), more shopping, etc. It was a fun little get-away but I was so glad to get home to our little Ty. We are so fortunate that my mom watched him for us so that we could do this and hope to go back one day. Oh yeah, and everything was decorated for Mardi Gras and the Saints. Who dat?!

Ten Months

I cannot believe it but our little Ty is 10 months old now! People keep asking when I am going to have another baby, and I keep thinking, what?! I just had a baby! But before I know it he will be a year old. Ty is just the best little guy. He is such a happy, pleasant baby. He weighs over 22 pounds now and has the biggest, cutest belly. He loves to eat. He loves balls, books, Baby Einstein and remote controls. I wanted to take some pics of him outside yesterday for his 10 month birthday. But he has a little cold and was not feeling great, so I got about one picture before he let me know that it was not the day for a photo shoot. :(
He is definitely layed back like his dad. He is still not standing or crawling...he just takes his sweet time. He thinks his legs are just there for decoration. He does, however, scoot backward. Here he is last week after backing himself into the wall. Now he is stuck there.
We are so blessed to have Ty in our family. He is so social and friendly...smiles and talks to strangers. He waves and claps. His doctor is very impressed with his social skills. So I guess at least he will be good at making friends even if his mom has to carry him around forever. :)

Snowed Out

So my parents rented a cabin for last weekend outside of Flagstaff so that we could all go up and play in the snow! We were going to go sledding and Brandon and I were going to go skiing/boarding on Saturday. Well of course the one time we are going to do this we have storms like never before. We were quite sad that the roads to Flagstaff were closed and we had to cancel our little trip. :( Instead we stayed home and got lots more done at home and lots of errands run. It was probably for the best since I was gone the weekend before and I am now leaving for New Orleans tomorrow. I have never really been to the South so I am excited to check it out. Has anybody else been there? Anything we need to see, do or eat while there?

Until we meet again...

This past weekend Ty and I went on an unexpected trip to Utah. My cousin, James Robert Price, died at the age of 23 from pneumonia and ARDS. His funeral was on Saturday and it was truly heartbreaking to watch his family bury their son and baby brother. They are so strong and know they will be together again someday. But everyone will truly miss him. Last time I saw JR was at our Thanksgiving dinner at the Village Inn. JR is the one on the right with my cousin Chip on the left.

Here he is with his family (sorry for the horrible picture)

I pray that I will never have to go through what this family has. I cannot even imagine losing a child.

Christmas

We had a good and busy Christmas this year. We moved the Saturday before Christmas. Since we both had to work the beginning of the week, our house was still in boxes for Christmas and we didn't have ANY decorations. I am such a bad mom...hopefully Ty will forgive me. Ty was also sick for a couple weeks but still managed to be a happy boy despite us constantly attacking his nose which he did not appreciate.

One of our traditions is that each Christmas Eve Grandad reads the story of Jesus' birth from the New Testament while we act out the scene. Well we finally have some kids again and it was so fun to watch them act it out. We were all cracking up. Ty got to be the baby Jesus and was so good. He did not mind at all sitting in his "manger". Here we have Jack and Milly as shepherds, Corinne as Mary, Ty as Jesus and Gabe as Joseph.

This was so funny. Ty was laying on the ground drinking his bottle. But Milly, being the little mom to him that she is, came up and started feeding him. So Ty decided to take full advantage of this and just relax...why use your arms if you don't have to?! (He still has his "swaddling clothes" on).

Our family on Christmas Eve.

Christmas day

New Year's Eve

Em with her arms full.

Some of us went to my Aunt and Uncle's house to play games with all of the cousins who were in town. Always fun to be with the cousins.

As a side note. Shortly after moving into our house we realized that our heater was not working. We were without heat for almost 2wks! It was quite cold in the house despite a few space heaters (it was in the 50s inside). WAY too cold for a baby, and for me. Unfortunately, we had to replace the whole unit! A very expensive, unexpected cost. But now we should have very good heat and a/c for years to come. Here are my boys snuggling on a cold morning.

Catch-up...Finally

THANKSGIVING

OK, so I already told you a bit about our Thanksgiving. But here are some pics. These first ones are from our fabulous Village Inn dinner. Of course we had to take pictures outside after to capture the moment.

Our fam with Grandad.

Dayne and Em.

My parents, aunts and uncles with Grandad.

Here is Ty at the family reunion talent show. His talent was just looking cute.

Cute cousins Gabe, Chase, Carson and Corinne after our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house.

Milly with one of her favorite people...Ty.

Messy Carson and Ty. Wonder who liked their food better?

Crazy

This refers to my state of mind as well as the events of the past few weeks. And there is much more still to come. Last week along with Thanksgiving came a huge Price reunion (my mom's fam). All of my siblings were here along with almost all of my cousins. It was a blast but left me exhausted. On Thanksgiving we had our first white trash Thanksgiving dinner at Village Inn. There were 74 of us so we really couldn't do it at someone's house. It really wasn't bad though. There were maybe a couple hundred relatives at the reunion as well. The earliest I think I went to bed was 1:30am because we were up late playing games each night and either stayed with Em at Orange Tree Resort or had to drive back to Mesa. Hopefully I will find some time to blog more about that because there are lots of cute pics.

Yesterday (Thursday) I had my 4th and final wisdom tooth removed which was such a treat (can you sense the sarcasm?) That puppy had the longest root with a little hook on the end and did not want to come out and did not want to get numb. Then last night we went to the temple lights where my mom's bells group was performing with the ASU Institute choir. It was very good and Ty was super cute all bundled up.

Tonight (Friday) our friends Sam and Ashley and their son Parker are coming to visit and stay with us for the weekend. We are excited to see them and hopefully we can find some fun things to do. I spent today cleaning because with being gone all last week for the reunion it has not been done in a couple weeks.

I just realized earlier this week that we are supposed to close on our house next Friday! Holy cow! This has crept up on me so fast and we are not ready! We have to clean the inside and then hopefully do a lot of painting and I wanted new carpet installed all before we move in. Well we have been so busy that we have not even looked into getting carpet and have not picked out paint colors! Somebody asked if we are all packed and of course I laughed since we have not even thought about packing and don't have a single box. So this weekend is out for getting anything done and next weekend I have to work! PLUS, somebody had the horrible idea to have us speak in church next week. Some mean joke. So since I have no time to write a talk I was hoping to just read a story straight from the Ensign. What!? Some teenagers do it, why can't I? I guess I will be up late Saturday night writing that after working all day. Joy. So I am starting to really freak out with everything that I need to get done not to mention Christmas is coming and at some point I have to go Christmas shopping and mail several people gifts ahead of time.

I am sure I have missed half of the things I need to do...I seriously need to make a list. I guess moving during Christmas is not the brightest idea.