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!

Bear Lake Weekend

Last week was Weber's Spring Break and Sam and I were feeling kind of depressed because we had no plans, when last year at this time we were heading to Hawaii for 2 weeks! So Sam arranged for us to go up to a condo at Bear Lake for a few days with Dave and Melissa.

Thursday night Sam and I headed up and spent the night swimming in their indoor pool and stuffing ourselves with pizza and ice cream in front of the cable TV. We haven't had TV for about FOREVER (7 years for me) now so we were pretty mesmerized, even the commercials had us captivated. I know, pathetic. But it felt so nice to be lazy. Sam won't admit this but we got hooked on Wife Swap.

Friday we went longboarding and sledding while we waited for Dave and Melissa. They came up late and played games and watched movies until... way too late. Saturday we spent the morning at the pool and the afternoon out on our longboards and playing on the frozen part of the lake. Sunday we had an early breakfast and booked it back to church.

Friday night dinner with Dave and Melissa

The following pictures are a result of extreme boredom. We were waiting for Dave and Melissa, who were about 3 hours late because of a doctor's appointment. Enjoy.

Dave tried this same move out on his dirtbike last summer, only it didn't turn out quite as well.

Somebody sign this boy up for figure skating, quick. He's a natural.

A quarter of a century old

What a great day! Sam woke up early and decorated the house and made me my favorite breakfast, crepes. After work we went to Cafe Rio... I never get sick of that place. I think it's the only reason we haven't switched apartments over the past 2 years.... it's only 1/2 a mile away! It just doesn't get any better. Anyways, we came home and watched Harry Potter, another one of my favorites. Sam is so sick of the series that I knew I had to take advantage on my birthday, when he can't say no. We stayed up late eating brownies and ice cream, mmmm. I never have been a cake person.

I know it's weird, but we decorate with toilet paper for birthdays. It's a tradition my family did growing up. We always wanted to decorate but my Dad would never let us buy streamers, so we resorted to toilet paper and cheesy paper signs. It felt weird just to stop doing it once I got married, so Sam and I still TP our house for each other's birthdays.

I was so happy to open this gift! My hair needs to be highlighted BADLY but each month when I get my part of our budget money I would rather but clothes, so Sam made the appointment for me and everything. Checkout the hair styles, they are actually animals. The one on the left is a walrus, the middle one is a dog, and the one on the right is an elephant. Funny huh.

I never thought I would have one of these again, but Sam got me a longboard. When I got him his he suggested getting me one but I said no way. Then our friends (who have longboards) started going together, and after having to turn down an afternoon of longboarding and then Cafe Rio with Todd and Lacey I suddenly wanted one. I won't admit whether I wanted one to actually longboard or have an excuse to go to Cafe Rio afterwards with friends :)

Thank you to my great husband, the best sisters in the world, and great parents for making March4th special!

Saturday Sledding

Last Saturday we spent the day sledding with friends. It had snowed so much that we didn't go very fast but we had fun anyways. Lacey and Todd brought up a gas stove so we had chili and hot chocolate.... so good. This winter is a completely different experience from last, now that we have nice jackets, gloves, beanies, snow toys, etc. I honestly have no idea why we never bought them last year. We spent the whole 8 months freezing in our little apartment! Even though I hope we are living somewhere warm next year at this time, we are really having fun in Ogden.

Sam graciously was the first to test out that there were no rocks under all that snow.... he is defintiely taking advantage of the fact that he now has health insurance!

This is Dave. When we first met him and his wife, Melissa, we went mountain biking and Melissa told us all about how he breaks everything. Now that we know him well we can tesitify of it. It is seriously crazy! On this sledding trip he was flipping off a fence and completely broke the thing in half. Last time we went sledding he popped 3 tubes, cracked the saucer, and flipped his snowmobile, breaking the tail lights. The neat part about it is that he and his wife are two of the happiest alive and just laugh everything off.

Pay it Forward

So, here's how this game works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Send me an email with your address, to: melissabyuh@yahoo.com

Thanks for the great idea Meagan!

Celebrate

This year for Sam's birthday we did this:

We went to Tucanos, a Brazillian resraurant where they come around with the best meats and grilled pineapple and they cut until you tell them to stop. They must have come around with at least 10 of the most delicious cuts of meats. Then to top it off they have a buffet salad bar with all sorts of fun Brazillian foods. We loved the fried bananas and cheese puffs. What a fun night.

...and I gave him this:

All of Sam's close friends have longboards so I knew he'd want one too. Even in this icy weather he has already putten his longboard to use. He went cruising around the local cemetary (morbid, but it's got great paths) with Todd and Richard. Now he says I need one to go with him.... will we ever grow up? I feel like we should but I hope we don't.

Crazy

My job is crazy. In the mornings I teach PE and tutor, but my favorite part of the day is from 2-6. I manage an after school program with about 50 kids who make me laugh and laugh every single day. It is crazy to have a job that I look forward to. I am blessed.

Superbowl Weekend

We had a fun weekend watching the Superbowl with Todd, Lacey, Spencer, and Rachael. Since this is the only football game of the year all six of us have seen, we were pretty pathetic when it came to the game but we knew how to do the food right. Sam made wings and dip, I made cookies and cookies, and we had tons of other very nutritious food. We all got into the game (surprisingly) and had a fun time trying to figure out the rules of the game. We never could figure out how the clock works (why would it just stop sometimes and other times keep going?).

This is what we do

Every week I get soooo excited for the weekend to come because our Friday nights are very traditional. They consist of three things: Red box, Breyers ice cream, and kettle corn. I love it.