Bek's new hobby....

Over the Memorial Day weekend our friends, Shana and Michael Nielsen went to a rabbit show and found some adorable Jersey Wooly babies for Rebekah to show.  She is hoping to show them for 4-H in addition to the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) shows.  Perhaps add a few more as she goes along but we shall see. 

The top picture is Starlight - all white and very small.  The bottom picture is Midnight who is all black.  Both are boys and will grow to about 3 lbs or so. 

New Garden posts to end a crazy week

This week has been crazy and very eventual so we thought we would end with some calming pictures of our peaches and the piles of dog hair coming out of Tok.

Just a few of the many peaches on our peach tree. 

This is one branch of the tree which is way overloaded.  If we have a hurricane the tree will snap for sure.  But if not, we are going to have tons of peaches.

Okay the ball in the middle is the same size as the hairballs coming off Tok, the heat means no end in sight to the shedding! 

My azaleas out front under the windows.  The bush is twice the size as last fall and still growing.

We just replanted a few things in our vegetable garden so I hope to have new pictures next week.

Rebekah's cute hair day

After a day of service, Bek came home and showered.   Finally she is learning to let her hair hang to dry and the curls today were wonderful so I snapped a picture real quick before she could hide in her room again. 

Ugh.... Doctor referrals, visits and paperwork, oh my!

Nothing like a morning filled with paperwork, phone calls, trying to track down referrals, figure out all kinds of garbage with unpaid doctor bills (that should be covered 100% since we have authorizations).  If I didn't already have a headache, this morning would have given me one.  As it is, it is simply worse!  Oh joy!

Now we have to run errands, pick up the reports and discs of my neck, and Bek is seeing the family doctor about her other foot!  That child and her feet. 

Have a great week every one!

Easter party at church... the Primary children had a blast!

I have so many pictures that honestly, picking just a few will be so difficult.  But here goes. 

The gunny sac races were a great fun!

Water balloon toss was a ton of fun and since it was about 80 degrees, no one cared about getting wet.  Our friends attended with their boys and they had a blast trying to keep the balloon from breaking.  But eventually the temptation to start hitting each other with the water became too much and suddenly everyone was getting wet!

Incoming!!!!

The race is about to begin- what you can not see is all the eggs on the back lawn of the church.  The grass is cut short and hasn't grown due to lack of water so the "hunt" is kind of a joke.  More like a race. 

And the chaos is on!!  The 30 or so children began racing around the backyard picking up eggs (over 500 were donated) as quickly as possible.   Luckily all the eggs were plastic with candy or other prizes inside.  There were even a few special eggs that led to bigger prizes once back in the church.  Yummy!

Everyone had a fabulous time and the Primary Presidency did a terrific job planning everything.

First tomato from our plants...

This beauty came off our patio tomato plant on Friday.  We will be using it on our salad for Easter dinner- delicious!

Having fun doing hair!

Yesterday afternoon, I got to have fun playing with a friend's long thick hair.  She was going to a fancy dinner for the Coast Guard and wanted something fancier than a ponytail to go with her beautiful dress.  Having long thick wavy hair makes it difficult to put your how hair up so I was blessed to play!! 

Here are a few pictures of the process

Top bun

Both buns

And now for the curls- kind of a Victorian/Renaissance style

The finished product without the curls is just below

We had such a good time doing Shana's hair and I know she and her husband enjoyed their evening a great deal.   Plus I got some practice in for when Bek starts going to church dances and proms.  Ack- don't want to think of that!!

Temple Trip on April 16th

One of the most precious experiences of our lives occured last Saturday when John and I took Rebekah to the Temple in Baton Rouge to do baptisms for the dead.   We were able to help with the  youth who attended and I took a few pictures of the 3 youth who attended for the first time.  One young man, Rebekah and one other young woman were all first time attendees, then another young woman from our ward, a young lady from another ward, plus several adults.  What a blessed time we all had!

Rebekah, Carley and Chris in front of the Temple doors

Not so easy to read in front of the sign

The three of them next to the Temple sign on the beautiful sunny morning!  We are so proud of all the youth who did Temple work that morning.  

If anyone doesn't know what we do in our temples, please feel free to email me: sahawk1@gmail.com

Picture for the Young Women's conference

A few weeks ago I blogged about our young women from church and the fashion show they participated in at the ward building in Metarie.  At the time I didn't have a picture of the poster that Bek made for our ward but since then we finally found it and took a few pictures, found the cord to the camera (I swear those cords walk away by themselves) and managed to upload the pictures. 

So below is the poster that Bek made for the fashion show the last weekend in March.   She had a good time making it and being the MC for the Thibodaux ward young women.

Bath day for Tok and Quilla....they were not happy!!

We were supposed to go to Central Lafourche High School for a 4-H achievement day today but John was called out to finish up a boat inspection that has taken DAYS to finish (the shipyard has had trouble) and I was simply not up to the long drive.   So Rebekah missed the chance to deliver her demonstration on trail safety (stray dogs, coyotes, and bears).  We all met up at home and ran a few errands, then decided it must be the dreaded dog bath day!

The end result is always worth it but oh my goodness isn't it a pain in the behind.   John had to go help a co-worker with something so Bek and I ended up doing it all.  The end results are below.  The dogs aren't happy but they look better, smell better and all the winter hair is coming out in clumps. 

This is Quilla looking quite ruffled and put out.

Tok didn't get enough water all over him, he needed to come in and drink a gallon or so from his water jug!  His hair actually looks quite curly but it is hard to tell.  The picture below might show it better.

That has been our Saturday!  Tomorrow is church and then ??? it will depend on what happens after church I guess. 

Whew...what a wonderful weekend!

This past weekend was the semi-annual General conference for our church.  For us it means watching church on BYU-tv at home for about 8 hours.  Each session is 2 hours long with numerous speakers and several songs.  The talks are always wonderful and full of spiritual messages tailored to each person listening. 

This weekend was especially nice for us because we did not have anything conflicting other than a few errands which we squeezed in between the sessions on Saturday.  Our favorite conference activity is "conference bingo" using mini candies (the wrapped mini snickers, twix, etc.) as bingo pieces and we had a fun time trying to win the bingo this time.   Although, come to think of it, no one did actually accomplish a bingo during a session this year.   But there is always October. 

We also managed to get a few boxes from the back room emptied. It was mostly winter gear that needed to be hung up, donated or washed and put in the trunk (now that we can get to it). 

All in all a great weekend in both a spiritual and physical sense!

Flowers out front....

It isn't even April and we have some beautiful flowers out in the front garden.  As much as we miss Alaska, I do have to admit there are some blessings to living in the South.  The beauty of spring is one of those. 

And this one..

Finished these tiny little hats tonight...

I wish I could say they are barbie or doll hats but they will actually fit on real live babies.  Micropremies are born at about 1 lb (give or take) and the survival rate improves yearly.   Since most parents haven't planned anything yet at the 23 week pregnancy stage, having a little handmade gift for the baby (the babies generally can't wear anything but a hat anyway) helps a tiny bit with the shock.

Here are a few a made for a friend.  With prayers and medical improvements hopefully we won't need premie hats this small much longer.

Young Women's General Broadcast on March 26

Now that Bek has moved up in church to the Young Womens program, we get to attend the fun activities geared toward 12 to 18 year old girls.  Last evening, the Stake Young Women Presidency planned a fashion show of modest clothing based on the value colors in the program with a dessert and then gathering in the chapel to watch the broadcast from Salt Lake City. 

For the Thibodaux Ward Young Women, the virtue was Integrity and color purple.  Bek made a cute poster (pics to come tomorrow) and then did the presentation while a few of the other girls modeled modest attire in various shades of purple. 

We had no idea she had become so comfortable in front of a crowd.  Infact, when she found out that she didn't have to speak from on stage, she was rather upset. 

Once the local activities were over, the broadcast was wonderful and touching.  Those of you who enjoyed it can relate.  All the speakers reminded the girls of who they are- daughters of their Heavenly Father, who deserve respect as such.  And need to respect themselves because of their divine heritage.  Overall, it was a wonderful night. 

Bek and I were equally blessed because we rode to Metarie with friends of ours and spent most of the time talking. 

Pictures of the poster will be added tomorrow when I find the cord to download (yes- it is lost again, is it really a surprise?)

Civil War reenactment at E.D. White Plantation in Thibodaux, LA

A few weeks ago, we went to a small civil war reenactment at the local plantation house out in Thibodaux.  there were only about 10 soldiers, maybe 4 women and a handful of children but the explanations were easier to hear and we had a great time.  

The kitchen "house" was recently rebuilt and must have been such a wonderful help during hot summers.  At least no extra heat in the house from cooking, although for the slaves or servants, the heat would have been miserable regardless.    One aspect we did notice was that the front and back doors created a draftway while not affecting the fireplace or brick oven in any noticeable way. 

It was an enjoyable afternoon with learning, sunshine and fun all rolled into one.

The kitchen house with a visitor center in the back ground.  Fore ground includes a camp seat, chair and the traditional style of stacking guns during camp.

Beautiful old cannon (well- replica) that makes a ton of noise!

Just a few of the variety of weapons used in the Civil war.  The Confederate Army did not always have weapons to provide so most volunteers brought their own. 

This gentleman gave a wonderful lecture on rations, haversacks, bedding and weaponry.  He then lead "troops" through a few paces and drills.  After that, he answered questions.

Our new blog for family and friends...

In order to share with family and friends in a uniform way, we have created a family blog.  It will have pictures, updates on activities, life in general and such. And I will be posting lots of pictures!!!   Yes- pictures although don't anyone get excited because there still won't be pics of John.

To start off, our garden is growing since spring is here in Louisiana so here are a few pictures of the flowers and our food. 

One of 4 cabbages that survived the winter.  They are now growing like crazy and we plan to eat them in the next month or so. 

One branch of our peach tree.  The tree is full of immature peaches and if only half of them mature, we will be thrilled!  Definitely worth the $20 investment our first fall here. 

One more picture:

tomatoes!!  This is second attempt at tomatoes and these are actually growing- it is wonderful so far. Plus we have lots of flowers.

With the cost of food, all the items we can grow for ourselves makes life that much better.