Toledo Bend

This past weekend we traveled to Toledo Bend to honor Justin's grandfather, Pawpaw Fred, as the LSU Alumni of the Year for DeSoto Parish. 

Sorry  it's a little blurry...I couldn't hold the camera still. He was completely shocked! It was a fun secret to keep!

Justin and I stayed in a Villa on the lake with his aunts, uncles, and cousins....here are a few pics of this fabulous place.

Here are a few family pics of us before the Alumni Banquet

Life has been so busy lately....I'm so glad to be finished with Summer School! Praise the Lord it's over, and I made all A's! :) It seems we have to travel out of town every weekend for over a month! We are heading to Chicago this next weekend, so I will update when I return.

Beach Time!

For the long Memorial Day weekend, we took off to Gulf Shores, AL to get our "beach fix" for the year. There is just something so special about laying out in the sun while you hear the waves crashing against the beach....makes me wish I back was there now! :)
Here are few pics...

Alycia & Me

sister time! :)

hubby & me

I can not forget about my special purchase on this trip...

I have never purchased a 'real' luxury bag. I have had a few really nice knock-offs from NYC but this one was completely legitimate!!! :)

Flowers & Veggies!

I've been wanting to share a few pics of our yard and garden (major thanks to my hubby for all his hard work!)
Prepare for Photo Overload!


Let's start with the front yard....

Now on to the backyard...

My hubby built this new privacy fence himself. :)

This is the first year for us to have flowerbeds in the backyard

Our GARDEN!!!

The first vegetable we picked! I made some yummy fajitas with this bell  pepper!

Graduates

So...my sister, Alycia, and sister-in-law, Haley, graduated Saturday from LA Tech! I am so proud of both of them for their hard work!

This is Ms. Paige (MIL), Haley, Justin, & Forrest (Uncle in Law??)

We had Haley's Nursing Pinning earlier in the week, and she received the Campus Clinical Award for her  great job while doing clinical rotations. She will soon be moving to Shreveport to start her nursing career there.

On Friday before my family came in....I came down with a stomach virus so needless to say my house was not in shape for my entire family to see it! My sweet mom stayed up Friday night to help get it ready, and I was feeling better Saturday to finish up the rest.

Mom, Alycia, & Dad


I have to say that my sweet hubby worked extra hard getting our yard ready for my family . I will have to post pics soon!

not the best pic of me...maybe I was still sick???

Whew!

It has been a CRAZY few weeks! I have had events almost every night of the week and have traveled home to my mom's for different events also.....so here a recap

One of my best friends from college, Kris, is having a baby girl named Liddy! My sister, Alycia, and I helped host Kris a baby shower in Glenmora. We did the cake (well ordered it) and made the punch. She had such cute decorations and got lots of cute girly things for precious little Liddy. 


That weekend was also mother's day and I got to spend time with my mom and Meme, which was lots of fun. We all went shopping and ate together that Saturday night before Mother's Day...sadly I did not take any pics.

The next weekend was my baby sister, Alexis', prom. She looked beautiful and so grown up! I did her make up and we had lots of fun "primping."

Man...she grew up fast! This week/end has been field with graduation activities for my sister, Alycia, and sister-in-law, Haley. My whole family is up in Ruston! I will update after all the activities are over!

Historic Weekend

On Friday, April 29, 2011, I oohed and awed over the ROYAL WEDDING! My hubby thought it was ridiculous, but I thought that is was so great to see a country celebrate something good in a world where we see mostly bad...

I thought Kate Catherine looked beautiful in her wedding gown! And the way that Prince William looked at her made me feel as if they were truly in love! I must say the "double kiss" was so sweet! Can you tell I'm a hopeless romantic???

I also loved Catherine's second dress...really classy and sheek.

And I must not forget about the hats a.k.a. facilitators....some were great...others were a bit too much for me. Overall, I would love this trend! It's so formal and fun!

And now for the news, we, as Americans received last night....

Osama bin Laden was killed on 4/1/11 in a Navy Seal operation while living in a giant compound (mansion) in Pakistan. I have to document where we were when we heard the news. I was ironing clothes (so memorable! haha!) and Justin was watching ESPN (typical)...then ESPN had a breaking news interruption where they switched to CBS to share the news. Justin called me in the living room and we began watching (of course we then turned to a major network b/c ESPN only covered so much of it! :))

I didn't know what to feel at first because...Yes, he is a man that has caused so much pain and suffering on innocent lives, but he is still a child of God. I know he may be "evil," but I am still uncomfortable celebrating death in such a Loud, Extravagent way???? Anyway, he is dead and now the world waits in fear for a retaliation . I hope this did bring peace to the victims' families of 9/11, and I am so proud of our military men and women. Even though this took almost 10 years....our fighting men and women never gave up. I am proud to be an American. God Bless the USA!

 

**Unfortunately, I did not get an invite to the Royal Wedding so obviously all of these photos were taken from google images.**

Hoppy Easter :)

For Easter this year...we were in South LA with my family. We had tons of great food and I just LOVED visiting with my sweet cajun family.

Below is a pic of the 4 girls, me, Alexis, Alyssa "Brooke", and Alycia.  I love my sisters! We are all so different but still love some of the same things...makeup, clothes, and shopping....just to name a few. And yes, I realize I am the only brunette and the only one without a name that begins with "A." :)

My sweet mom went on and on about how wonderful it was to have all of her girls under one roof. She always says she sleeps the best when all of her girls are home.

I wanted to share a pic of one of our family traditions at Easter each year. Yes, we have easter egg hunts for the little ones, attend church, and eat good food, but we also pock  dyed Easter eggs. My family is very Cajun and I guess the French heritage is where this tradition originated. Everyone in my family gathers together and we take turns knocking or "pocking" our dyed eggs to see which egg cracks first. The winner is the egg that did not crack. The loser must give their cracked egg to the winner. There isn't much to it, but I think it is a sweet tradition. My husband, being from North Louisiana, had never heard of this before meeting me. He now loves it because he loves anything with competition. I think it's really fun for the entire family both the old and young have something to look foward to. Here is a pic of my Aunt Danette and Uncle Matt pocking eggs.

so much fun! :)