Closing the books on 2009

Last night I finished scrapbook fall 'ish' 2009!  I don't feel like I'm getting any more caught up, but fortunately aside from a few bigger trips, 2010 has been pretty slow.  Once I get through January I'll feel almost caught up!!

A Great Start the New Year

So far 2010 has been great and it started off with a fun night with Erin & TJ!

Christmas Pages

I bought this Bo Bunny paper specifically for my Christmas pages this year and I love the way they turned out!  What I love most about scrapbooking is that I get to relive the wonderful memories I documented by originally taking the pictures.

Turkey's Day

A day just for my Uncle Jerry.  I hope he enjoyed his tribute at Thanksgiving!

A First for Jon

Over the last couple year's Jon has become one of my best friends.  We worked together and were "friends" for over 3 years.  But, since we both left Crowe, have become real friends; a friend you can call to chat, a friend you ask a favor of, and a friend that you can be stupid with.

In  November, Jon got tickets us free tickets in his bank's suite at the Titans game.  The game was awesome but this was a VERY important day in Jon's life... It was his 1st professional football game!  What an amazing first game to attend! Jon, this page is for you celebrating all of the fun times we've had in the last 2 years!

She's Here!

Welcome to the world Madeline Jayne!  Congrats to proud parents Laura & Eric on their 6lb 13oz beautiful baby girl born yesterday!

My Iris

Mom cut me an Iris before I left Hopkinsville on Saturday.  This was just not just any Iris but the first blooming Iris of the season.  I won't be back until most of them had died in mid-May so it was super sweet of her to give me the first one and it is turning out to be beautiful!

Unfortunately, the flower had a bit of an accident and the top bud popped off and is now living in a shot glass! :)

And now in full bloom.  Beautiful.

Spelling--- FAIL

As seen while driving.  Memhis, TN... Wow!

Texas Stadium

On the way to the airport we passed by old Texas Stadium which has been imploded that morning.  Now just a pile of rubble.

   

(Sorry it's blurry!)

JENGA

We had a very low key weekend with Elizabeth and Steve.  Steve had to work some but we had time for fun in between!  On Saturday night we went out to Bar Acadia.  They are the neatest theme having old school video games, skeeball and even an jumbo sized game of JENGA.  I did not have the best luck but we had a ton of fun playing!

See how serious a game this was? 

We were trying to keep the boys from claiming victory!

Elizabeth being the supportive teammate cheering me on!

Until it came crashing down!

Sorry Eliz!

We then tried our hand at skeeball.  Here is Darren rocking the skeeball.  He ended up a final score of 300,000, just above Eliz's 270,000!

And Steve tried to win at Frogger but we were not nearly as good at is as we used to be back on the TRS-80 Model 1!!

Sophie

Elizabeth and Steve got the most adorable puppy Sophie.  She is a mini Aussie and sweet as can be!  She loves to play and get her belly rubbed!  She loves attention and when we took her to the bar with us she sat by the fence and let everyone pet her!

Here are her and Reggie in the car.  In this picture she looks HUGE compared to him but really she is about half of his size and gaining quickly!

Sophie is adorable but Reggie is my puppy!

In Other News

I get to see this girl and this dog tomorrow!!!!!

PS I also get to see Darren and Steve and meet Sohpie which I'm equally excited about. :)

Lions and Tigers and GATORs, Oh my!

Also on Sunday afternoon we took a fan boat ride up the Bayou in search of the very unfriendly American alligator.   This was Darren's suggestion and it was a fantastic time.  We were out on the water and the weather was amazing! Check out our amazing headgear!

And we saw gators!  We were very fortunate because they have just started coming out of hibernation.  Yes they hibernate like bears, but underwater!

Our captain started feeding them.  This is one going for a marshmallow and then the second one is one going for a chicken leg.  He had the second one jump out of the water to get the chicken leg.  Gators can jump 3/4 of their body length out of water!!

At the end of the tour, the guide brought out his 7 year old daughters pet gator named marshmallow.  She told her daddy when she named it that she knew gators lived in marches and she knew they like marshmallows but that her gator was the mellowest gator she had ever seen and the name stuck. :)

Oak Alley Plantation

Sunday we took a tour of Oak Alley plantation.  This house is almost 200 years old and the 28 trees leading up to the house were planted more than 100 years before the house was built.  The trees were amazing and should live for another 300 years.  This house was actually on Days of Our lives and Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes made a cake replica of this house.

Jackson Square

On Friday we walked around Jackson Square and the St Louis Cathedral.

We also took a city tour that took us to the New Orleans City Park.  The park was HUGE and beautiful and we really enjoyed our quick walk through the sculpture park.  I think whoever designed their sculpture gardens designed the random sculptures in Philadelphia.

Love statute in New Orleans:

Love Statue in Philly:

Safety pin in New Orleans:

Clothes pin in Philly:

A Night with Pat O

Darren had never been to New Orleans so we felt the immediate need to rectify that situation!  It was a beautiful spring weekend int he Big Easy.  After my delayed flight we made (almost) a beeline for the heart of the French Quarter, Pat O'Brian's.  Darren had the customary Hurricane.  Since I think they taste like cough syrup, I had a Cyclone and a Rainbow! ;)

Signs of Spring - New Orleans Edition

Finally it is warm and the flowers are in bloom!