Our Easter looked like this...

Notice the empty white dishes? I introduce you to a little piece of heaven.... the pizookie. Maybe you've had it before, and enormous chocolate chip cookie baked in a deep dish, eaten right out of the oven, slightly undercooked, with ice cream on top. I found the perfect dishes to make them in and we are hooked. So we colored Easter eggs while eating pizookies. I baked my first ham, it was sooo good thanks to Brooke's coca cola recipe. I don't really like ham but Sam loves it, and has been wanting it for about 2 years, so I figured it was a good time to try. So we went to the grocery store the night before, and the only hams left were ENORMOUS. We went for it buying this freakin' 12 pound ham. But it turned out great and we now have a freezer full of pig. The best part about Easter, however, was remembering Christ, our Savior, and all that he did for us. It just makes me want to try a little harder to be a little better.

Gumbo and Red Beans and Rice

What a city! I got sent to New Orleans with Brittany, a friend from work. We spent the week walking everywhere and I think we just about covered the whole downtown. The first night we took a stroll down Bourbon Street. It was DIRTY. We spent the rest of the time taking other routes and loved all the neat buildings, local restaurants (I need to learn how to make gumbo and red beans and rice), and especially the little jazz bands that scatter the streets. We made sure to take full advantage of our food budget and ate ourselves sick, hitting up the best donut shop twice a day. Oh yeah, and we went to some classes.

These freaky statues were all over the conference center. Weird.

I got forced into this picture. These guys freaked me out in Honolulu and they freaked me out in New Orleans. Although I did like his diamond-studded teeth. Apparently acting like a statue pays well.

We got very lucky and were there for Pirate Week. The costumes were amazing. They all talked like pirates as well. They came out at night and covered the streets. Cool to see but freaky when you think about what kind of people do stuff like that.

This was my FAVORITE part of New Orleans. Random bands spent the afternoons in the street. They were amazing.

Our last night we heard about this little room called "Preservation Hall" that has been around for almost 50 years, where Louie Armstrong and the very best old school jazz bands come and play. No alchohol (which is unusual for that city), just jazz music. Everyone just sat there in awe the whole night, the band was so good. And they were so happy, just laughing and singing their hearts out while they played.

So if you ever consider going to this city, I have a couple of tips for you: Bring pepper spray (the city is packed with crazees), vist Cafe de Mundo as often as possible (mmmm donuts), and get ready to see voo doo shop after voo doo shop (apparently New Orleans is a very susperstititous town).

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom is the nicest person I have ever met. I don't think she ever thinks about herself, everything she does is for someone else. I couldn't ask for a better mom. Even though I have lived away from home for over 7 years, I still get homesick and I blame that on my mom pampering me way too much. When I come home to visit she lets me pick the menu and spoils me the entire trip.

Growing up my mom was so involved in everything I did. She was at every race cheering me on, and more importantly she was waking up at 5am or staying up until 11pm to ride her bike next to me while I ran, making sure I was safe. I loved those runs. We would talk in between gasps and laugh at her many near crashes. I don't know how she made it down some of those trails dodging rocks on her bike. I had seminary at 6am and my mom was up before I was making the nicest breakfasts for me and Ashley. When I came home late on weekends, regardless of the time, she was up waiting to talk and with a dessert ready to talk over. During high school my mom made lunch for about 20 of my friends once a week, which always included her famous cream cheese brownies. For a while my friends and I had a major prank war going on and mom mom had the idea to load up our truck with manour and unload it on a friend's driveway. So she was up until midnight with us loading horsepoop and unloading horsepoop. We ended up getting caught and rolled in it and she just laughed.

I love you Mom! Happy Birthday!