and David killed Golliath

Joe and I got to say "good-bye" to Salt Lake, and "hello!" to New Orleans last weekend! We were so excited!
New Orleans shuts down the road of Bourbon street every single night. If you want to let loose on a wednesday night, you can count on Bourbon street being all lit up. There were lots of bars, but all we really wanted was to find some authentic Cajun food without having to wait an hour to be seated.
After walking around through crazy crowds and walking in circles, we finally found a place, and it was AMAZING!!!!!


The police ride through Bourbon street every night trying to keep the "rowdies" under control. It's kind of crazy seeing an 8-foot tall horse brushing up against people in the crowds! I swear I almost got stepped on!
I thought it was so nice to see Christmas lights in some warm weather! Utah has been getting slammed with snow for a month now - so I was REALLY appreciating the palm trees!

The streets were very colorful!


We had a few issues with the directions we kept getting from the locals. You'd think they didn't even know their own city!
I thought the TRUMP sign was so funny on that building!


Here's our group - Joe, his brother, Ben and his wife, Brooke. (I was behind the camera of course)

I watched for a while and I still don't know what that guy was doing in the shadows!
Joe finally got a street named after him!
We got to visit the National D-day museum. It was amazing! We spent almost 3 hours there, and we didn't even get to see everything! It was definitely worth the walk though town with the new strappy shoes I bought (since UGGs are a little warm for New Orleans) - even though I had to develop a new walk in an attempt to withstand the pain from the new blisters they were causing! Why do we do that to ourselves - just to wear cute shoes?!?!!?
My favorite part of the museum was the part that talked about the war in the Pacific because my Grandpa Wallace fought in Iro Shima.

There were a lot of buildings that were in need of repair. BUT those are the most intriging ones, right?

Most of the buildings had lights over the sidewalk that were gas-lights. I loved those.


I really loved all the color all over almost every building.

Can you see my arm in the window? I was in a little bit of a hurry to keep that in mind this time. Ooops!

Oh, yea! Keep on adding color! The more the better!

I got to help this nice man play his trombone. It was very exciting!



This is the yummiest restaurant!!! It was exactly what we were looking for!
Joe wore red all weekend. We were the minority on the streets, but I was still impressed at how many people from Utah got down there to support the team!





This is the top of their fire hydrants! How adorable!
This kid was awesome! He stuck smashed pop cans on the bottom of his shoes and turned himself into quite a show! I was impressed.
Don't even ask, because I don't even know.
All we heard all day long was, "ROLL TIDE!" There were some fans that didn't even know who they were playing because they so obviously were going to win. When Ben was walking on the street, an Alabama fan said to him, "Tonight you guys are gunna learn what football's really all 'bout!"


We were so outnumbered! They had more fans, more players, a bigger band and everything! We were just hoping for the best against some crazy odds!



This cute little girl sat in front of us and I just couldn't help but take a few pictures of her! She made me miss Chloe like crazy!


All I can say about the game, is Utah is awesome! I know we're the minority in our town (lots of BYU fans), but I am so proud to be a UTE!!!!! At one point, Ben was out by the concessions, and he saw a guy just standing there, dumfounded, and he said, "Did you guys know you were going to do this? Where did you guys come from?" Hee, Hee, Hee!

The victory was sweet. So very sweet.
By the middle of the last quarter, most of the Alabama fans had cleared out- just gave up. Is is wrong that I really enjoyed that? Those blue seats in the picture above all were red with Alabama fans. Poor Alabama. They didn't even see it coming.


We had so much fun at the game, that we had to stay as long as possible just to relish the victory.



Yea! Go Utes! It was a great game!
Good bye, New Orleans!

wrestling is so . . . .

. . . . intense. All I can say about it is that it's a lot easier to watch when it's your child pinning the other kid. It's still sad for the other kids, but I feel a sense of relief when my child is the one who is on top! That said, it was a great season. Sam is in the kindergarten age, and I was a little worried at first, but he was able to focus and pull it all together and won 8 out of 9 matches!!!

I'm thinking that his secret is his "intensity." This match (below) was a hard one. This kid outweighed him and he was almost about to quit. We all held our breath, hoping he would pull it together, and I honestly saw something click in his eyes. I instantly got worried for the other kid. I've seen that look before, and now I have a picture of that look!
The kid took on his own transformation also. He instantly went from confidant and a little smug to panicked. All I could do was giggle when Sam went after him (making him cower) and throw this sweet kid onto the mat, pinning him almost instantly. I guess we should never underestimate our little guy again.

Colten had an awesome season also! It makes it more fun for the boys to have some friends to wrestle with. We just love seeing the Hurd boys on the weekend wrestling matches!
Joe was there every step of the way to coach the boys. I even found myself taking on a new attitude, and shouting out loud, "Throw him down!!!! Grab his ankle!!!!! (and my personal favorite . . . ) Squeeze!!!!" I honestly don't know who I am anymore. What's happening to me?

Cole had to wrestle kids 10 pounds heavier than him a few times, and he pulled it off great - pinning both!

Congratulations, boys! You worked so hard, and I am so proud of you!

'tis the season

This year I got the chance to take Chloe to see Ballet West's Nutcracker! She's so in love with dancing, so she really enjoyed watching it. It was the perfect way to kick off the season.

We also made our annual gingerbread house!
Chloe had too much sugar and couldn't stop dancing . . .
. . . and Jake was mad that we wouldn't let him eat the house.

It's a great tradition that we look forward to every year.

Chloe really liked to color next to the Christmas tree while singing her own special version of "jingle bells".
Jake learned a new trick! Tantrums!!!! He is fully aware of the word "No", and he doesn't like it . . .
not one bit. Instead of screaming, Jake's tantrums involves crying with a really sad face, and then just lying down. Flat on the ground. If he's really sad, he'll act like he can't get up - which get's him what he really wants - attention from mom.
Luckily, he's still sweet enough to cuddle up with Grandpa for a little nap.
Chloe loves going to Grandma's house. This time she got to make star cupcakes!




The kids were so excited to go see Santa and ride on the wagon, but the line for Santa was way too long (I guess everyone in Morgan goes to see him here in town instead of going to the mall), so we just got on the wagon. A cute older man there got the kids an enormous bag of candy (Santa said it was okay to get them one from his bag considering the line!). When we got on, I had to sing carols as loud as I could in order to get all the kids to go in it with me. It's crazy that my 8-year-old is worried about getting embarrassed in front of other kids!

The horses were gorgeous!

Joe had his friend, Adam, and his daughter, Adalee, come over for the annual Christmas party. Notice everyone's red sweaters? So festive!