Weekend Visitors

The past two weekends at our house have been full of visitors, and what a good thing!

Two weekends ago, BL, Rene, and Myles came to visit. Myles' request was to go to the Gator Park so we set out Saturday morning for it. It is only a few miles out of town on a bayou. When we got there about 10 it already felt like it was about 100 degrees! We went to the back to watch the gator feeding. I must say I felt a little silly paying money to see gators since we never had to look very far in Florida to see them for free. But, it's amazing what you'll do for your 4 year old nephew! :)

When we left the Gator Park we were hot and hungry so we went to Mama's on Front Street in Natchitoches for some tea and cajun food. After lunch Myles enjoyed feeding the ducks on the river. We then came back home to enjoy the AC. Saturday afternoon the heat index was 113, so we were glad to be inside. We enjoyed catching up with Rene and BL and played Croquet that evening. The crew left Sunday after lunch to get back so Rene could go back to work Monday. BTW, she is pregnant with our second nephew who should be here on August 7!

We just took our most recent visitors back to the airport yesterday. Lesley and Robert, friends from Orlando, via Gainesville, flew over Saturday morning for a visit. This time we did not go to the Gator Park, but did go back to Mama's for lunch. After our delicious lunch, we visited the shops downtown and took a horse-drawn carriage tour of downtown Natchitoches. The rest of Saturday was taken up with card and bocce playing. After church Sunday, we went to The Mariner on the Lake for lunch and then followed that up with more card playing. We also got in a few games of croquet Sunday night. We are so blessed to have friends that will fly all the way from Florida to come and see us. And, although it's been almost a year since we last saw each other, it is great that we can pick back up like it's only been a few weeks.

We are truly blessed with great friends and family and are always waiting for that phone call or email to let us know we will have more visitors. The B&B Arnold is always open for our friends and family! Hope to see you soon.

Going West

Wade and I decided to fly to Las Vegas for our vacation this year. We chose this mainly because we wanted to fly Allegiant Air and that's one of the few destinations you can get to out of Shreveport. We thought it would be a one time thing, but we are already planning next year's trip! :)

We got to Las Vegas Sunday afternoon, got checked into the Luxor (via the casino and smoke) and set out to find a dive from the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network. Guy (the host) had recommended the stromboli and he was right! The place WAS a dive and the stromboli was "off the hook!" When we got back to the strip we decided to check it out. We saw really quickly why it is called "Sin City!" We safely got back to our room (through the smoke) and decided to get out of Vegas. Monday morning we headed out to Valley of Fire State Park, an hour outside of Vegas. It was beautiful and the weather was great. We got lots of pictures and had fun hiking through the rocks.

Tuesday we set off for Utah and Zion National Park. We decided we would get a hotel there and spend the night, so we took a change of clothes and left Vegas. As we got closer to the park the scence in front of us was beautiful. When we got there it was raining and cold. We weren't prepared for either! It finally stopped raining and we were able to get a hike up the mountain in. Wednesday, we had a perfect hiking day. We did a long hike in the morning and then hiked to the beginning of the Narrows after lunch. The Narrows is actually a trail that goes through the canyon, up the river. Unfortunately we didn't even have water shoes to go the first part, so we will definitey go back to do this trail next time. We got back to Vegas just in time to get cleaned up and go to the O Cirque du Solei show. It is all done in, above or around water. It was amazing. The best Cirque show I've seen!

On the plane ride back Thursday, we got out our National Parks of the West book and began planning our trip for next year. We will probably still fly into Vegas because of the great flight prices, but definitely won't hang out there. There are a few trails back at Zion we'd like to still do but there's also Bryce and the Grand Canyon right there too.

Spring Planting

Wade found out a couple of weeks ago that no one in his department would be let go because of the budget cuts, so we decided to work some on the yard. Our first task was to plant some shrubs along the fence line that Charis and Zoe like to run and bark at. We planted 10 red tipped photina in the rain Friday afternoon. As you can see, the dogs aren't too sure about this added cover quite yet.

When I woke up Saturday morning, Wade met me with the day planned. First, we went to the tree nursery in town and bought a Savannah Tree Holly. Then we set out for Forest Hill, a town south of Alexandria known for it's nurseries. This was our first trip there and the people who told us about it were right! There were nurseries on both sides of the road. We probably saw 30 and we didn't go very far. We ended up purchasing at the first place we stopped, although we looked around probably 1/2 a dozen first. We came home with 9 Witch Hazel and 7 Indian Hawthorne plants.

Our first task was to dig out the grass where we were going to create the flower bed. We had said all along that we would definitely rent a tiller for that. Instead Wade got out the shovel and his pick ax and went to work. It took us the rest of Saturday just working on the grass. Wade was very happy after waking up sore Sunday that he has an office job! :) After church Sunday we got back out there and got the rest of the shrubs and the tree planted and mulched.

And now we wait. We are anxiously watching our plants everyday for signs of growth. When tornados were in our neighborhood yesterday, my first thought was what's going to happen to all of our plants! Luckily, both our home and plants were fine. Wade is even looking forward to having to purchase a trimmer to trim them!

January-February

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post, but let's face it, not too many exciting things are happening here.

We did go to Dallas over the MLK weekend. It was GREAT being in a big city again! We had some great Tex Mex food, went to the JFK museum and the symphony, and of course found a REAL mall! But, mostly it was great to just get away. This was the first for just the 2 of us since we arrived in LA.

A few weeks after that, we learned that we were not safe from the economic woes of the country. Wade learned that NSU was having to drastically cut their budget and no one knows what that means as far as job security. We think he will be safe through this summer, but who knows what will happen after that OR when he will find out. Can you say STRESS? I know this is a problem all over the country, but we never thought education would see such drastic cuts.

A perk of living in this part of LA is that you get Mardi Gras off. So, we had a 4 day weekend last week and spent a few days at my parents' house. It was nice to be away and do nothing. My parents are remodeling the kitchen so Wade helped do some trim work, but mostly we just vegged and spent time with my family.

Saturday we went to Shreveport to one of the casinos to see the Capitol Steps. If you listen to NPR, you might have heard of them. It's a political comedy/musical group. It was pretty funny. We didn't actually go to the casino, but we should have since it took us an hour to go down one level in the parking garage!

Now, I have no more short weeks (I've gotten accustomed to those!) until Spring Break which starts Good Friday. Before that we have the state testing, which I'll be glad to get behind me.

Please keep in touch, and I'll try to do better about posting!

Jessica