...Louisiana Memories...

I know I've been horrible with my blog the past couple of months, but I finally figured out what I had to do...I had to buy more space in order to do it!! Crazy! I thought blogging was for free....but appartently if you post TOO many pictures, like I do, then the free space you get for having a blog goes away....

But anywho, its time to get back into the blogging world and get up to date! 

So don't mind if these next posts of mine are a few months LATE...

With my blog being more like my life journal I figure I need to post them anyway! So don't mind me posting about things from September and on.... ha sorry!

After being in Georgia for a month and it was time to finally go home....we decided it would be fun to stop in New Orleans, Louisiana since we were already so close and have always wanted to see what it was really like there....and the fact that my brother Chase was serving his mission there!! So of course we had to make a stop! :) 

He was coming home the following week but we were the lucky ones who got to see him on his actual mission! We kept it a secret from the rest of the family (since he was coming home the following week) they wouldn't have liked it that we got to see him before they did, they even threatened me to not see him ha ha.....but little did they know that we did! We kept it a secret until he came home then we broke the news....they were mad for a little bit then got over it since he was home with all of us now! 

So enjoy the many pictures (of course), I absolutely loved it there...and was snapping pictures left and right ha! 

We had gotten there around 4 p.m. and wasn't able to see my brother till the next day...so we had part of the day to kill....so we made our way to Bourbon Street!!!

 

Here we are on Bourbon Street....a.k.a. Mardi Gras Street

This was quite the place I tell ya what....

It had really cool buildings but my goodness did it stink! For those who have been to New York and have been at China Town there....this would be very similar to it....the dirtiness and the awful smell!!! Yuck!

We weren't there very long....just walked up and down it as fast as we could but had to say that we've been on Bourbon Street...and I'm good to go there that only time....no need to return ha! 

The buildings there were so amazing and so old....I loved them!!

The atmosphere in New Orleans was so neat and different....let's just say that the Jazz music is by far their kind of music!

The Louisiana Super Dome!!!

One of Jeff's favorite places we went on the trip....

The 'Who Dat?' Bus Trax

The Heisman pose ha....such a man!

A very neat statue outside of the Dome...

Those who have seen the cute movie "Princess and the Frog" this Bus Trax reminds me so much of it! 

We were starving after driving seven hours straight and then walking up and down Bourbon Street...so we were recommended to this lovely place known as the Slice! And it was delicious! It was thin crust pizza that was absolutely amazing....my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

This is the hotel that we stayed at....it was actually pretty nice for being a last minute choice!

The bed was seriously so comfy....or it may have just felt that way since we were stuck in a car for seven hours ha ha! Either way it was very comfortable!

After chilling out for a bit in the hotel we figured we better go out on the town to check out the night life! Our hotel was right on Canal St. so we decided to check it out!

We found a store that we had a little too much fun in I think.....

Trying on Mardi Gras Masks...

Funky looking hats....

No comment.....ha ha ha

Jeff getting attacked by an alligator ha ha....

After having a little too much fun at the store we figured the night life was definitely not for us ha so we headed back to our hotel and called it a night!

~The Day Had Finally Come~

The first time we saw Elder Cook!!!

Elder Cook sending his bike home...that he said he maybe used in a total of 36 hours of his whole mission!

Chase, his companion and me outside the FedEx store we met them at! (Looking back after being home for three whole months...wow was I DARK! I spent too much time laying out by the pool that's for sure....)

Oh, how I missed that boy!!!

Jeff and the Elders :)

I seriously had butterflies knowing that I was going to see Chase that day...it was well worth living out of a hotel room for a month so I could see him on the ride home!

After he sent off his bike...it was time to go hit the town! 

He took us to the French Market!! It was really cool to see! It has a flea market that had really neat things they were selling. 

This area is also a very big spot for celebrities to go to. When we were there Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock were there! Chase said when they were walking they had seen security guards standing in front of some of the really nice homes there and they had said that they were there! I was crossing my fingers that I would see either of them...but of course with my luck no sight of them!

This was where we went to lunch with the Elders....

Such a good lookin' missionary 

First time eating the famous Jambalaya...it was yummy! 

The famous Red Beans & Rice....my brother made sure we got the best of Louisiana cooking while we were there!

The famous Gumbo Soup....it was quite delicious too!

This however is ALLIGATOR.....crazy I know! And I have to say it was actually really good!

Jeffers chewing on the ALLIGATOR too!

Seriously love this kid....it was so much fun seeing him on his mission! So happy we did!

This is the area where the movie 'Deja Vu' with Denzel Washington was filmed at! It was right in the French Market area!

The 'Who Dat?' Statue

Thought this was the cutest thing ha ha

After eating our yummy lunch we had to get dessert of course! So the Elders took us to go get their Famous Beignets and they were sooooo good!!

Not sure what he's doing....ha! It's nice to know that my brother sure didn't change much!

Here's us eating the beignets......seriously so delicious!

Chase and one of his companions 

Now this guy was funny....he was sleeping and SNORING so loud it was hilarious! And when he was snoring his head would fall forward and he would wake up then fall back a sleep and his head would fall back! It was pretty funny!

Such good lookin' missionaries! 

Me with the Elders

What's so fun in Louisiana is the fun spirit it has down there....with the live jazz bands playing on the side of the roads! It made it so much fun!

The buildings were so gorgeous! They had such a cute look to them!

Downtown French Market

Loved these blue doors....such a cute color!

We're all such nerds!

Jeffers and Elder Cook.....wow was Jeff dark!

Such a cute area.....love this picture!

The Elders in front of their apartment

Us together one last time before we said goodbye! :(

It was nice knowing that we were going to see him the following week so it made it less hard to say goodbye!

I'm so glad we got to go to Louisiana and see what it is like and to see my brother on his mission! Its a memory I will never forget! :)