Baby Underdown!!

Wednesday December 5th: I just had to write this down so I can document everything and post it after we announce.  I don't want to forget anything about this feeling and experience! 

Dear Baby,

I can't even start to tell you how excited your daddy and I are that you are finally in my belly.  We have wanted you for a really long time, and tried for you for about 5 months, and now you are finally on your way! When you want someone so bad, the time seems to drag on, 5 months felt like 50 years! Month after month when I would get my period I would be so sad because that meant you were not here yet.  I just prayed and asked God to give us a baby, find us OUR baby, our perfect little angel.  I told him I knew it just must not have been time yet and I knew he was waiting for just the right baby to give us.  Now I am so glad he waited because I know you are the one picked out just for us and I love you so much already. 

I decided to test Tuesday December 4th.  I just had a feeling, my body felt different and I was almost two days late at this point.  I tested and left it in the bathroom ( in Piper!) for the 3 minutes it takes and waited in the living room.  I told your daddy I was going to test that night but didn't tell him when.  I went into the bathroom after 3 minutes and 2 seconds, looked at the test and immediately started screaming, I saw what I had been wanting to see, two pink lines!! I almost fell down the stairs trying to get to your daddy, as I was screaming and shoved the test in his face and said "LOOK!" He goes "whats this mean?" as I was screaming, jumping up and down and climbing into his arms.  I said "WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!" He goes "No, no are you serious, really? Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!!" There was a lot more screaming and jumping up and down and hugging and saying "WHAT? Wow, its really happening!" I asked him what he thought when he first heard me scream and he said "I thought you were running from a spider or something, I didn't know you were testing" 

Your daddy starting at TWO lines, letting it sink it :)

 Then came the fun part of telling a couple friends, your mommy is not very good at keeping exciting news to herself.  I texted my friend Amanda and she had the most incredible response a girl could ever get! 

Best Response EVER!

Baby, we are so excited for you, for this next chapter of our lives.  We can't wait to tell everyone you are on your way, we are going to announce it in 2 1/2 short weeks at Christmas! I made my first appointment to hear your heartbeat and it is for January 11th.  I don't know how I am going to wait that long but I will have to manage.  I love you! 

First "belly" picture, 3weeks and 5 days!

Broken Water Hose and Bubble Wrap

The drive up to Greeley wasn't too bad once we got on the road.  One of our rear jacks broke as Brandon was hooking up to Piper so he had to tie them up before we left.  Not what you want to happen right before you leave but it isn't the end of the world, he already has it fixed now :)

Needless to say this my first winter on the road and our first winter in Piper.  I am so thankful that we are in Piper, I would probably go insane if we still had Thor.  We made the 12 hour drive from Carlsbad to Greeley and got to the RV park about 8:30 Saturday night.  The RV park didn't have our "sites" ( I say that VERY loosely) set up so we didn't get to set up until noon on Sunday, that was a little frustrating but we made do.  We got all set up and I got unpacked with my decorations all up.  We had a couple errands to run, like buying Brandon long under ware, then we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  It was so nice to be able to get what we needed and go to dinner all within 5 miles of our RV park.  I can get used to this!

Sunday night we slept pretty well.  We have our furnace set at 40 so it keeps everything from freezing and our space heater in the bedroom at 70 and we are perfectly warm.  We woke up at 6 this morning and Brandon and I got to have breakfast, coffee and hot coco together, it was so fun! A much needed change from his 3:30 am departures.  Sounds like he is only about 10 miles away from our RV park which again is much better than him being in a whole other state and an hour and a half away!

This RV park is definitely one of the more uncomfortable ones we've stayed at.  They are full in their park so they opened up a field and put about 100 campers and 5th wheels in that.  So this is where we are staying, in a field, in Colorado.  We do have electric, water, and sewer but its just weird. There is no cable, not even local channels from our antenna, but I do have lightening fast wifi so I can watch all our shows online. Even our skirting guy asked what our space number we were and I had to give him directions to where we were in the field.

Our Spot....

Looking out our front door....

Our furnace wasn't kicking on this morning, we thought we must have ran out of propane so we went outside to change it over to the other tank ( I wanted to go so I could remember how) well we walked outside and saw this:

Yeah the connecting part of the heated hose cracked and apparently had been spewing water all night long.  We wouldn't have known until I went and looked cause we still had water in Piper.  Oh well.  Easy cheap fix :)

My next winterization project was to put that bubble wrap stuff on our windows.  I am a little bummed about having to do this, I absolutely love opening my blinds and letting the sunlight in and in the summer opening all my windows :)  It took me about 2 hours but I got every single window and overhead vent covered so we really live in a cave now.

Bubble wrap  on some of the windows

Our living room with NO lights on.....ugh! 

Our skirting guy should be coming by today to take measurements so Piper can get a new winter jacket.  It should really help keep the heat in and plus we get so much storage underneath now :) I'll post a pic when we get it all installed.
That is our little update, living in a 5th wheel is not all fun and games but its not miserable and its memories for our memory bank :)

Colorado here we come!!

We're headed to Colorado, but we don't know when or where.  We could be leaving tomorrow, or Sunday, I am really hoping for tomorrow so Brandon has a day to get Piper set up before he leaves for work.  Sounds promising that we'll be going to Greeley, CO, north of Denver, but there has been mention of Thornton too.  Brandon practically live in Thornton for 8 months, it is where his shower, I mean gym, was that he went to every day.  I wouldn't mind Thornton, but honestly at this point I am so ready for anywhere!

I've tried to be strong and I think I've been a pretty good trooper but NM is the most boring and lonely state in the country.  Brandon has 3 hours of drive time each day and works 10-12 hour days so I never see him.  Mix that with no cell service, there being NOTHING down here and I am 20 miles from "town" that only has one store, I've gone a bit crazy!  I cant wait for restaurants, shopping, PEOPLE, grocery stores and gas stations just down the street, coffee shops, running trails, Target, a GYM, closer to home, and seeing FRIENDS!

So today my job is to get Piper travel ready just in case we leave tomorrow.  I will:

• Pack up all our dishes so they don't break in travel
• Move anything heavy out of the cupboards
• Move everything off of the counters
• Strap down the chairs and recliners
• Strap Cupboards shut
• Take down all my decorations
• Clean
• Vacuum
• Take anything out of the bathroom cupboard that could fall out in travel

Brandon's job is to

• Move the tvs and secure them 
• Unhook our water, sewer and electric
• Hook up to Piper

I'm a little nervous I will miss something, I've only packed up Piper one other time and we had just got it so I didn't have as much stuff.  I can guarantee by the end of the apprenticeship, I'll be the fastest girl ever at getting a 5th wheel travel ready :) 

Underdown Thanksgiving 2012

As you know I have been very excited about thanksgiving this year.  I was excited to have a full day with Brandon, start some new traditions and COOK good food.  I was pretty nervous but I felt like I could handle it.  I took my hens out of the freezer on Monday so they would have plenty of time to thaw out.  They still had ice crystals on the inside on Thursday and that kinda concerned me but they seemed to work out fine.  I've always heard of needing to take the insides out, or theres a little bag...well I don't think that applies to hens, I couldn't find any bag but I found some pretty nasty inside stuff so I took that out.  Brandon told me to "scrape it out like a pumpkin" but of course he wouldn't come to help at all!
Heres a couple things I learned this year :

• The disposable pans will crack and leak juice all over your oven if you move them in and out of the oven. This will cause a lot of smoke....
• In a 5th wheel you cannot pull the rack out "a little" to baste the hens....The rack will fall down and cause a big mess as you are frantically trying to keep your hens off the bottom on your oven and floor.....

Other than these two almost disasters the dinner turned out great! We had a little food.....

• Two hens ( 5 pounds each)
• 1 small ham
• Green Bean Casserole
• Yams
• Cranberry Sauce
• Corn
• Hawaiian Rolls
• Deviled Eggs
• Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
• Stuffing
• Apple Pie
• Cherry Pie
• Chocolate Cream Pie

Yes its a lot of food but I ran into a couple problems when I was making my list for Thanksgiving...I COULDN'T Leave anything out or it wouldn't have felt like thanksgiving.  I am a HUGE fan of leftovers....I really think there is nothing better than a turkey sandwich with stuffing, gravy, mayo, pepper on my favorite bread...YUM!! I actually think the leftover sandwiches are better than the dinner itself so I HAD to make sure we had enough for leftovers.   Brandon made fun of me and said "yeah you have to have your leftovers".  This is our 3rd Thanksgiving together and he has ALWAYS made fun of me for needing my left overs. Well I served him up a plate of leftover thanksgiving yesterday and he was speechless, said it was amazing and just kept saying "yum, yum, yum" HA! so I guess someone will stop making fun of me for needing my leftovers now :) 

Sure doesn't get much better than this... :) 

 I had to get a ham  because Brandon really loves ham, I am not much of a fan but I couldn't leave it off the menu.  I made the ham in the crock pot this year and it was amazing, even if I am not the biggest fan.   I put brown sugar down on the bottom, ham on top, brown sugar and then a can of pineapple chunks and juice and let it cook for 7 hours on low.  It was the most tender, sweet ham...yum!! And what about the sides, I HAD to have all the sides to make it a perfect dinner...so you see...you probably would have done the same thing as me :) 

I did pretty well and had everything ready to eat at 2:45 and it was still hot :)  I was worried about making my moms stuffing, her stuffing is my absolute favorite, I did alright I put too much poultry seasoning in but its still edible.  I made Brandon's moms mashed potatoes (this is the only  side he wanted) so I was extra nervous about getting those right but I did, he said they were perfect!! 

So all in all it was a very fun day and I feel like an accomplished wife now that I have made my very own thanksgiving dinner in our 5th wheel kitchen none the less. Wait until I have a whole house with a full kitchen and oven!! :) 

Lighting the pilot in the oven :)

The Hen all ready to go in the oven :) 

"Just Basting my birds" 

ALL DONE!! :) 

Using my kitchen aid for Mashed Potatoes :) 

Brandon carving the hen 

Dinner is served!! 

Happy Husband! 

We relaxed after dinner and then we decided we would go check out black friday...when figured since we are in such a small town it wouldn't be so bad.  Artesia only has 11,000 people in it so it was the perfect time.  We went to Kmart cause they had a 50 inch TV for $288...well we stood in line for an hour and a half, we were at the front of the line and we didn't even get a TV cause they only had 6! We were pretty bummed so we headed over to Walmart and we got an iPad and a $75 gift card to Walmart and a 50 Inch TV for $225.  Brandon is very happy now, all he wanted was a HUGE tv and recliners in his home so now he has both :) 

Sitting outside of Kmart....all for nothing!

But then he got one....Happy boy!! :)

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and if you went to black friday I hope you got some great deals!! 

Thanksgiving Prep

• Plan Menu....check
• Beg parents for recipes....check
• Create grocery List....check
• Grocery shopping....check
• Create oven schedule....check
• Enough propane?....check!

So as most of you know, this will be my first Thanksgiving cooking.  Until now the most I have tried to make was a cherry pie! Being it is my first thanksgiving cooking, it was also my first thanksgiving shopping! I went Monday at 9 am thinking most people would be working....WRONG!  It was insane. There were people everywhere and the shelves were bare.  Luckily I was still able to get everything I needed but it was a little crazy to say the least.  Workers everywhere frantically trying to restock the shelves as people were taking the items as fast as they could.  I saw a few times the boxes were just cut open, they put a price on them and people took them right out of the box, no unboxing for the workers.  haha it was something else.  The worst was the bread isle.  I have never seen so many people in one place, the best though was probably the mom with her 6 kids that she decided to take thanksgiving day shopping. Wow! The checkout lines were the worst, I think I spent an hour in line.  Even the "20 items or less" lines had people with full carts. I felt bad for the older people that only had one or two things, or the one poor lady that had ONE can of pie filling... :( All in all it took me 4.5 hours roundtrip and I am glad to be at home, not having to leave until next week!

I've emailed my mom for her stuffing recipe and Brandon's mom for her mashed potato recipe.  They were nice enough to give me step by step directions so it should go pretty well.  I am excited but a little nervous given the additional hurdles I have to deal with being in a 5th wheel.  The first hurdle is cooking with propane and not electric.  Its just open flame and its hard to control the temperature.  The second hurdle is the size of the oven, or lack there of.  Its is very small and only one rack so I have to schedule the oven usage throughout the day.  I think I've got a pretty good schedule down so hopefully Thursday will go smoothly.

This is WHY I need a schedule! 

  

We will miss being at home so much but being 27 hours away just makes it too hard to go home.  We will be thinking about you all as you gather together to share laughs and stories throughout the day.  

I am going to miss spending the day with my mom and Ron's family, and I am going to miss my moms stuffing! I am going to miss the house being so full, kids running around, drinks being served and constant chatter.  I am going to miss being at Brandon's parents house, catching up with Jae and what she has going on, Tom's turkey and eating on their special plates.

I am excited for our own day though.  Time to start our own Thanksgiving day traditions.  I am excited to wake up and make breakfast, watch the thanksgiving day parade and go for a walk outside with no snow.  Looks like it will be 71 on Thursday so we can have our windows and doors open and enjoy the fresh air.  I am excited for our first and (hopefully last) thanksgiving alone this year.  I'm excited to spend the day with Brandon in our little house on wheels in Carlsbad, NM...who would have thought huh! This is one thanksgiving we will never forget! 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! :) 

Cancun, Mexico: HONEYMOON!!!

Most of the time when you have a vacation coming up its all you can think about right? You are so excited and you plan every last detail and count down the days.  Well I counted down the days but in the back of my mind I knew there might the a chance we couldn't go on our HONEYMOON.  There is always that chance when you are in an apprenticeship, or linework in general.  Superstorm Sandy hitting days before we were supposed to leave didn't help.  I didn't know if Brandon would get sent to storm or not.  Thankfully he didn't.  The job he is on though, had a deadline and sure enough Friday night his foreman says he probably can't go on our trip unless they can get someone else down here.  My stomach dropped but I also wasn't surprised.  About 8pm Friday night we found out he could go and we were relieved and started to get excited.  Being in the apprenticeship you never know where you are going to be.  We had bought our tickets out of Denver, CO thinking it was pretty central to the Mtn States territory ( Montana, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Southern Idaho).  We were not predicting we would be in New Mexico though. We tried to get our tickets changed to a airport in NM or TX but it was going to be about $1500-2000 to change our tickets and we were NOT going to do that. So we got in the king ranch and drove 10+ hours to Denver.  Really wishing we had my car here, we left it in Salt Lake...it goes without saying the diesel isn't the best fuel saving rig...oh well we had no choice and it was fun.

To say that the resort and Cancun was beautiful, breathtaking, incredible, amazing, ect, is a complete understatement.  It was unimaginable.  It was just warm enough, about 87-90 the whole time.  Warm enough you could lay out and not get too hot every 5 minutes.  The resort was pretty empty, felt like we had the whole place to ourselves and we loved it! We went snorkeling on the worlds second largest reef and saw some of the most amazing fish! My favorite was the little black ones with bright turquoise spots that glowed! We went to Isla Mujeres and got massages on the white sand beach, drank out of fresh coconuts and swam in the Caribbean.  We relaxed and laid by the pool or on the beach for the most part of our vacation and it was perfect.  We went to the spa one afternoon for "Mr and Mrs Underdown" couples massage and it was one of the best massages I have ever had! We did yoga on the beach one morning and it was incredible! Brandon was a trooper :)  It was truly a trip of a lifetime and I cannot imagine it being any better!

Flying home we flew back at night.  This was the first time I had flown at night since meeting Brandon and it had a whole new affect on me.  Flying at night you see the hundreds of thousands of lights on in  cities, towns, and neighborhoods.  I couldn't help but think how proud I am of Brandon.  I am so proud of him for finding a career he is madly in love with.  I am so proud of him for going after it for years and never giving up.  I am so proud of him for being 100% dedicated to the trade and his work.  He spends so much time learning, doing homework, reading in his books, working out the math problems, going over what he did and learned at work that day.  He truly loves it and is passionate to the core about it.  It was incredible to me as I looked down at all those lights on that my husband knows how to turn those on.  My husband knows how to get power to a house so they can have heat, lights, a home.  My husband is learning how to build new line to housing developments or repair old ones that have been broken.  My husband is a hero that many don't remember or think about.  Power is such a thing we take for granted because its always there, I know I never thought twice about where my power came from before I met Brandon.  I am so proud of him for being such an amazing man and having a career that is essential to peoples lives! <3

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

On Saturday we got to go to the Carlsbad Caverns.  This place was incredible and I don't even have enough words to describe it.  I tried to take a lot of pictures but it is just impossible to capture the beauty of this enormous cave! There are several guided tours you can do but they are booked up for 6 weeks in advanced, so we didn't get to go on one of those.  I am hoping if we are still here in December we can go on a guided tour.  They have ones where you are climbing down rope ladders, crawling on your belly and stuff, how cool! So since those tours were all sold out we did the self guided tour.  For $6 each we got to go into this cave.  It was so cool, you go down a paved path that is 750 feet down and then end up in the great room and walk through a bunch of areas of the cave.  We hiked about 4 miles through this cave, saw so many cool structures and learned a lot! I was concerned about going on a saturday that it would be packed but the cave is so huge that we barely ever saw anyone, the only time it was cramped was in the elevator ride back out of the cave at the end. It was cool how quiet it was in there, we were told during the orientation that you have to whisper because if you talk in there it will be so loud.  Everyone was whispering and so you couldn't really hear anyone, it was very peaceful! If you are ever ever in the area you have to check these out!!! Like I said it was impossible to capture the true beauty of this place but I tried...

Thats the hole we went down into!!

Inside the Big Room!

The Big  Room

My Grumpy Ranger, haha! :) 

Anxiety

I've learned in the short time Brandon has been in this trade, having your husband work as a power lineman can bring a lot of worry and anxiety.  It can completely consume your life if you let it.  I knew this was a dangerous job and I knew accidents can happen in a split second but I was never prepared for how I would handle it.  As you may remember some crew members got injured the week of our wedding in July.  Their lives were forever changed and I still pray for them and their families nightly.  What I didn't expect is how it would affect me.  I found myself so scared when Brandon would go to work.  I would lay in bed at night, praying for the safety of him and his crew and I would just cry because I couldn't imagine what I would do if he got hurt or worse.  He is my world and I was clinging on to him so tightly and it was emotionally crippling me each and every night.  I would hug him so tight and not want to let go.  Then I would worry myself sick with the what ifs, what if he gets cancer, what if I get cancer, what if he gets into a car accident.  I don't want to live without him.  I realized I was headed to a dark place and this is not how I wanted to live my life everyday.  I wanted to be so proud of my husband and enjoy the life we had together instead of being scared it would be taken away from me.  I went to Hastings and went directly to the self help/ psychology section to find a book to help me.  I found "Calm My Anxious Heart" by Linda Dillow.  I cannot say enough good things about this book.  It gave me EVERYTHING I needed to live for TODAY and enjoy this life we have! 

I think I have every page dog eared and writing in the margins all over the book.  Sometimes it just helps reading something in a book or online that makes it click and it completely changes your thinking.   The first thing I read was this : 

• Never allow yourself to complain about anything - not even the weather. 
• Never picture yourself in any other circumstance or someplace else
• Never compare your lot with another's
• Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise
• Never Dwell on tomorrow - remember that tomorrow is God's, not ours. 

I love these, if you really think about them, break each one down and practice this in your daily life you would have a much less anxious heart.  My favorite one and the one that changed my thinking was the last one.  Never Dwell on tomorrow - remember that tomorrow is God's not ours.  That is all I was doing, worrying about tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or the next 20 years.  I was consumed with NOT having Brandon in my life instead of focusing on having him in my life today.  Now when I start to get worked up or think about what COULD happen, I just say "God, I am sorry I am trying to control things again, tomorrow is not mine, it is yours.  Whatever is in your plan will be, I am giving you my worry because I cannot control tomorrow, it is yours" I am not saying this book will change you over night, it didn't change me over night.  As I read this book though, I felt such a sense of relaxation.  Like everything would be ok and I would find peace.  Trusting in God and giving him your tomorrows and worries is something that takes time, a lot of time, a lifetime even.  I know there will be days when its harder and I don't trust Him as much as I should but all I can do is try each day and learn how to put my faith in Him.  

Hurricane Sandy is going to hit the East coast today.  I have all my extended family there and many friends have sent their linemen there already to restore power.  This can be a very anxious time,  I encourage you to pray, a lot, and give your tomorrows and worries to God.  He is listening.  I highly recommend this book, it has changed my life and I know it can help you too! 

"Let your hope make you glad.  Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying" Romans 12:12

"Faith: it does not make things easier it makes them possible" Luke 1:37

Making a house a home

Every house needs to be made a home, whether its an apartment, dorm room, new house, old house, hotel room or a house on wheels....they all need to be decorated to feel like it is YOURS.  We got our wedding pictures back so I printed them off and put some in frames all over and of course put them on my favorite....CANVAS!

Thanks to pinterest I have started to become a little crafty, I still have a long ways to go though :) Putting pictures on canvas though is one of the easiest things to do.  I printed 8x10 pictures and bought 8x10 canvas, I got them at walmart in a pack of 3.  I also bought some gloss finish mod podge.

Step One: paint a thick layer of mod podge on each canvas and on the back of each picture and let dry.

Step Two: paint another thin layer of mod podge on each canvas and attach the pictures, it will be kinda tacky but you should be able to move the pictures a bit if you dont get it perfectly on the first try.

Step Three: Paint a thick layer of mod podge over each picture, this will appear white, as it dries it will dry clear.  Make sure you paint the brush strokes all in the same direction

Step Four: Repeat step three on each picture, let it dry and you are done!!

These cost way less than ordering a canvas print and I think they look just as good!!

I hung them  using velcro command hooks.  There are so many options put out by command, they are perfect for decorating in a 5th wheel.  They are super sticky so you can rely on them not falling down during travel but when you are ready to take them down or move the pictures, decorations, ect you just peel it off and there is no mark on the wall at all!!

I bought this little kitchen sign at walmart on sale, I love it and think its perfect for my little kitchen.  My next project is going to be how to put my own words on canvas, I'll keep you updated :) 

We bought this key holder at Target cause I thought it was just so cute!! We were a little concerned with how it would do during travel cause its a little heavy but 17 hours of travel later and it did just find, another great testimony for the command products!!

This week was pretty eventful when I went to town to go running.  If I am lucky I get to run in town once a week, I like it cause its more scenic and I can run a full loop instead of just out and back and up and down the rows like I do here at the RV park.  Well this week I was lucky enough to go to town TWICE! The first time I went, I was running along the Pecos River and there was a remote control jet boat race going on.  It was so awesome, those little things are fast and can really produce a good rooster tail! It was funny to see all the guys on the bank with their remotes....so serious! The second time I went to town I was running a long the same Pecos river and I ran under that bridge I had mentioned on Facebook where the homeless camp was. Well earlier that week I had ran under it and it was cleared out so I was very happy about that.  This time when I ran under it There was someone under there with their dog and they tried to hide when they saw me coming, I ran just as fast as I did when I saw that big snake!! I miss home, I miss being able to run and not be scared, although from some of the stories I have heard lately maybe back home isnt so safe either.  I wish I could find someone to run with me or even better a running group.  I googled "carlsbad running group" and got very excited when I found out there was a running group....in Carlsbad, CA....dang it! 

I'm trying to find some social things to do, some ways I can meet some new people.  I am getting pretty lonely down here, I see Brandon 30 minutes a night, an hour if I am lucky.  He is working 6 days a week and gone for 14-16 hours a day.  Then on Sunday he has homework for 8-10 hours a day and then the week starts all over on Monday.  I know it wont be forever but some days are harder than others.  I have been reading a lot and doing a lot of cooking, Brandon says my cooking is getting better so that is a good thing! I am actually getting excited to cook Thanksgiving dinner in piper.  I've never cooked Thanksgiving dinner before, what a better way then to cook it in a 5th wheel oven huh! :) 

No matter how lonely I am, how much I miss my friends, family, work, or Coeur d Alene, I am thankful I get to share these experiences and be with Brandon every night.  I can only pray for 4 10s, in a nice city and with friends...I know that will happen someday and we will look back on these time and laugh! 

New Orleans!!

Well we found out on a Friday Brandon was going to have the following week off, nothing like spur of the moment plans! I love the unexpected day off...a whole week was unreal! We were about 17 hours away from New Orleans and so we said, hey lets go there and visit family, this is the closets we will ever be to drive.  Its about 37 hours driving from home in Cda...

I picked up the rental car and we headed that way Sunday morning.  We stopped in Dallas to get something to eat, we didn't know all the restaurants are BEFORE dallas...we seriously drove around downtown and couldn't find anywhere to eat so we ended up eating at some BBQ place that honestly wasn't very good.  As soon as we got on the road again we passed a Texas Roadhouse...dang it seriously?! Sometimes Siri can really let us down.... We also drove through the biggest wind farm we will ever seen in our entire lives, it went on for like 30 miles!!!

 We got into New Orleans about 3:30 am, we were so hungry so we went to the french quarter and got some breakfast at ihop! What a crazy experience to be in the french quarter  at 3:30 in the morning.  We were the only white people in the place and probably the only sober ones :) We headed to Aunt Susan and Uncle Gerrys and at about 4:30 and we stayed up talking until 7:30 when Aunt Susan had to go to work.  It was so fun!!
We went to Cafe Du Monde every morning and got beignets....4 orders to be exact! They are so good, puffed up donuts with powder sugar on them, yum!! It was a blast seeing all the street performers, jazz music and good food! We spent a whole day on Bourbon street and that was a crazy experience, getting to go from bar to bar with your drink and not getting in trouble.  They even have "to go only" bars there, haha it was too funny! One of the bartenders told us where to go and where not to go, there was a very large gay section, every day one way or another we ended up in the gay section and Brandon would get hit on....he said to me "do not let go of my hand" while he was squeezing it so hard, haha made me laugh! On Thursday a lot of family members got off work and we all spent the day in the french quarter, starting out at Cafe Du Monde of course then heading to bourbon street, it was the best day!!

The family at Cafe Du Monde

Melissa, myself and Melissa on the Ferry

Ashley Paul and Brandon on the very

Brandon, Uncle Gerry, Aunt Susan, Uncle Rolland and Ashley Paul on Bourbon Street

The guys Brown Bagging it :)

Brandon and Uncle Rolland 

Aunt Susan, Melissa and I 

Uncle Gerry and I

Us girls having some fun with a street performer :) 

Brandon on Bourbon Street

Everything in New Orleans is so huge....Brandon had to get the biggest sandwich!!!

Check out this little guy we found in a bayou....I was scared its momma was going to come eat us!! 

What an amazing experience getting to meet all my new family.  Brandon hadn't been there in years so it was very special for him too.  I have so many great memories and now I truly know my new family.  I love everyones personalities and how they will all get together at the drop of a hat.  Plans change from second to second and it is just a riot.  In the end everyone comes together though and the laughter starts.  One special thing we got to do was go see Brandon's Grandmas resting place.  I never got to meet this lovely lady but I feel like I know her from the way everyone talks about her.  Everyone just lights up and gets such a warm look in their eye at the mention of her name or when telling a story.  What a special lady, I hope to leave an effect on people like that when I go.

 It is so special to have such large loving families all over the country.  Brandon and I are very focused on family and that is our number one priority. When we went to New Jersey and saw all my family everyone welcomed him like he had been in the family for years.  We we went to New Orleans, I got the same exact welcoming and it just warmed my heart.  We are so lucky that Brandon has such a great job, it will allow us to be able to visit our family at least once a year.  We will definitely be making a trip to New Jersey and New Orleans once a year to stay connected with our families.  It may have been a little late when we finally got to New Orleans but we wont be missing anything now!! Love y'all!! xoxox