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

A Merry Christmas

We enjoyed having both sets of parents here for Christmas. My parents came on Tuesday and then Wade's parents arrived on Christmas Eve. We played lots of games...Train, UNO Attack (Wade's Christmas present), Phase 10, and Singapore Rummy. It was nice spending Christmas with both sets of parents for the first time in our 8 years of marriage. We hope we will be able to do this more now that everyone's closer. Wade's parents will actually be moving to Springfield, MO in March for a new job for Wade's dad, so they will even be closer!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas with friends and family and wish you a joyous 2009!

Visitors

Natchitoches is known as the City of Lights and over the month of December, the city expects to have thousands of visitors. Most of them came the first weekend of December, along with my parents and our nephew, Myles, for the Christmas Festival. The festivities began Friday night with a lighted boat parade. This was a little of a disappointment because there were only 6 boats in the parade, and sitting beside the water in frigid temperatures was almost unbearable! But, the lights across the river were nice. Saturday we staked out spots for the Christmas parade. We all decided it was the biggest Christmas parade we had ever attended. The parade lasted almost 2 hours! We got there about an hour before it started and were lucky to get a second row spot. We all took turns holding Myles so he could see, but he spent lots of time on the ground picking up candy! Myles got a sack full of candy and beads (it's always Mardi Gras here!) After a late lunch, we staked out a place to watch the fireworks. We decided it was like Disney, with all of the people, but unlike Disney, because we encountered a lot of rude people. The fireworks show was quite impressive...about 20 minutes of beautiful lights! The city does this fireworks display every Saturday in December. So, if you're looking for something to do in December, come visit us in Natchitoches! We'd love to show you our town and enjoy your company!

Visits

With the Thanksgiving week off, Wade and I headed off to Texas to spend time with family and friends. Monday we met Brad in College Station for lunch. Brad and Wade met in seminary, and Brad actually married us. It was good seeing him again. We also drove through the Texas A&M campus while there so Wade could add to his collection of mugs. For those of you who don't know, Wade collects mugs from colleges, but his rule is he has to be on campus in order to have that school's mug.


On Tuesday, we went to Temple and met up with Susan. She was a church member when Wade was on staff at the church in Temple and actually introduced us. Susan and I taught 6th grade together in Academy, my first job. She's no longer in the classroom and was able to sneak away for a late lunch. We were very happy and surprised that Garland was able to meet us for lunch, too. And, we also were reminded that Andrew, their youngest, who was our ring bearer, is now a sophomore in high school. Where does the time go?

After driving around Temple and noticing all of the changes, we met Jill, my friend from college, and Carly for dinner in Salado. We were sad Kyle couldn't make it down, but work called. The plan was to meet at The Salado Mansion, a great restaurant in an old house that served a lot of different food, I think, but we always went there for the fajitas and fire roasted tomato salsa. To our great dissappointment, the Mansion was not only closed but had a huge for sale sign on it. So, we met at the Stagecoach Inn, which I'm sure is good, at least that's what everyone always says, but the disappointment of no Mansion didn't make the Inn very impressive! We were, however, happy to see Jill again after all of these years and meet Carly for the first time. She and Wade share a birthday, and she will be 3 in just a few short weeks.

Wednesday morning we got up and drove to Waco. We drove through the Baylor campus, noticing all of the new building and then met Jeff and Laura and their kids Mallory, Will and baby Charlie for lunch at Magic China. Jeff and Wade were also in seminary together, and Jeff was best man in our wedding. When Wade was in seminary, the guy that owned and operated Magic China was also his landlord, so Wade found his restaurant and went there all of the time. When I came along, we made lots of trips there too. Well, to our disappointment, not only was the owner not there, we were told he had retired. And, after having in our mind how great the food was going to be for so long, we were a little disappointed. Jeff gave us the heads up prior, but it was still disappointing. However, the company once again was not. How nice it was to drive all around Central Texas visiting with friends we haven't seen in about 4 years and picking right up where we left off. We certainly hope our next visit with our Texas friends won't be that long, though.

And, after driving all over Central Texas, it was nice to not get in the car on Thanksgiving! My brother, BL, Rene and Myles came over to my parents for lunch. And then we saw Myles and BL again that night to watch the Longhorns play the "boos" (that's Myles for Aggies! All of my family are BIG Longhorn fans so I'm sure yesterday's BCS rankings made no one there happy.) We never got a picture of everyone together, but here's a picture of Myles showing his basketball skills. My parents will be bringing him Friday to Natchitoches for the Christmas festival. I'll have a new post of that next week.

Potpourri

Has it really been over a month since my last post? Here's a rundown of what's been going on...

At the end of August we went to Shreveport, because that's where you go if you want something besides what Wal-Mart has to offer, and I went into a shoe store looking for Teva sandals. I was introduced to them in Florida and they are the only shoe I can stand in all day without aching feet. So, I wanted to add to my collection and asked the sales person where they might be. Her answer....Florida. That's right. She said they had had to ship them all to Florida to make room for their 3 aisles of winter boots. HUH? Wade actually thought she was kidding b/c we both had on Gator shirts, but she was serious! So, I decided I'd just order some online. First, I went to the Teva website, but I also saw a site when I googled Tevas that advertised free shipping. After perusing the Teva website, I thought I'd try this other site and see what they had to offer. They are my new favorite site! Endless.com. They have loads and loads of shoes...all the name brands...and the best part, besides the free shipping, is that they arrive the next day...even in rural Natchez, LA! Check it out!

Wade had Fall Break Oct 6 & 7, so I took the 6th off too. We went to Monroe to visit his grandparents and extended family on Sunday. First, though we had to stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch! We only thought not having chains and instead all of these local food joints would be great. Since they all serve seafood, it's expensive, but mostly, it's nice having food you are used to. Oh, that Cracker Barrel comfort food was so yummy. On the way to his grandparents we also had to stop at the mall to drop his camera off to get it cleaned...the closest store is in Monroe. Wade mistakenly parked at JCPenney and told me to look around while he found the store and dropped his camera off. When he called to let me know where the store was, I was in the dressing room! :)

On Monday, we went to Shreveport so we could both do some shopping. It was a nice day and we came home up with a fire pit for my birthday. It's put together and hope to put it to use this weekend.

Wade's folks were in town last weekend. We went to the Natchitoches Meat Pie Festival Saturday. 30 minutes later we were on to the next thing. Apparently, Festivals are what all of these little towns do around here in the fall. However, what we've seen hasn't been very impressive! A couple weekends ago we went to the Robeline Heritage Festival in Robeline, LA, about 20 minutes away. It took us longer to get there then it did to see what all of the hoopla was about. These definitely aren't the Gainesville Arts Festival! :) So back to the visit, it was nice and a pretty lazy weekend. We played several games of Bocce Sunday in our backyard which was fun. We bought that when we lived in Gainesville, but it wasn't much fun playing on sand...much better on our yard of grass! :) We decided we need to get a croquet set now too.

It has gotten cold. The high today was 64 and it's supposed to be in the 40s for the next couple of nights. We've searched the grocery store and Walmart for firewood for the fire pit to no avail. We picked up a handful of branches off the side of our road on our walk back home last night. We will have to do that again tomorrow so we can sit out at the fire with our margaritas this weekend! We wish you all were close so you could enjoy our margaritas and fire with us!

We miss you!
jessica