Top 8 of 2008

1. Celebrating our 1st year anniversary. We had a wonderful first year and I can’t wait to celebrate many many more. I am so thankful to have such a loving husband and best friend!
2. Watching Cajun grow up. It’s actually been pretty amazing to watch him go from an 8 lbs little puppy to a 90 lbs HUGE dog that can knock me over when he tries to give me a hug. I love him to death and I don’t know what we would do without him (probably have some landscaping in the back yard) :-)
3. Celebrating weddings, birthdays, child births and holidays with family and friends. We have some the best family and friends and it has been awesome to celebrate life events with everyone this year. We’re so thankful to have such close-knit families.
4. Tennessee. Tommy and I had an amazing time together touring the state and just spending some one on one time with each other. It’s definitely a trip I will never forget.
5. LSU National Championship game (1/7/08). I know that seems like such a long time ago but it actually was in 2008 and I love it!!! Geaux Tigers! We had a great time celebrating in New Orleans with hundreds of thousands of Tiger fans.
6. Crystal Beach. Another vacation that I will probably never forget. It was a great relaxing time with lots of friends that hopefully we can make a tradition. Although, since Ike destroyed Crystal Beach we will have to find a different location.
7. Cruise. Yet another vacation (wow we traveled a lot this year). It was fun to experience Tommy’s first cruise and certainly fun to experience repelling for the first time.
8. Job stability, house, car. I am so thankful that we have not been greatly affected by the economic turndown. I’m grateful to still have my job and still be able to pay our mortgage and both have good vehicles to get us to and from work. Everyday it seems like the economy just gets worse and worse so we are so appreciative to still have everything we’ve ever wanted!

I hope your 2008 was great and that 2009 only brings even more happiness!

Christmas 2008

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. It's hard to believe it's already over. We had a very busy few days and enjoyed visiting with all of our family. Last Saturday we had Christmas with Tommy's brother since we was working Christmas day. Then we spent Christmas Eve cooking at our house then eating at my Aunt & Uncle’s house. My dad actually took a visit to the ER Christmas Eve for a staf infection in his leg. He broke his ankle about 4 years ago and has been battling an infection in that leg ever since. But luckily it wasn't anything too major and he was able to go home with a few antibiotics. Christmas day was a little better. We went to my grandparent’s house which is absolutely crazy every year. We have a 50-60 people there with tons and tons of food. We eat everything from teal to geese to meat pies. Anything that my uncle has killed and my grandma has in the freezer is laid on the table. It’s great. After lunch we find a little spot on the floor in the living room and grandpa plays Santa Clause and hands out the hundreds of gifts under the tree. I remember how excited I used to be when I was little to hurry and eat lunch so we could open gifts. Now I just like to see the kid’s faces as they open their gifts. After my grandparents Christmas we headed to Tommy's parents for a little while to open gifts with them. Then we headed to my parents to drop off some food and check to see how my dad was doing. After all of that we headed home and fell asleep. Friday we went to movies to watch Marley & Me. It was pretty good movie. I thought it was going to be a comedy but I laughed and cried throughout the whole thing. It was a good family show. Below are a few pics from my grandparent’s house:

Grandpa as Santa Claus

Tommy sooo excited for gifts

The sea of presents

Aunt Monica so excited for gifts

Grandpa and grandma amongst the sea of presents

Some of the kids finding their spot in the living room.

Uncle Matt and the baby dolls.

Merry Christmas!

I know it's a day late but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year!

So much to do and so little time

I think it just hit me this weekend that Christmas is THIS THURSDAY! I think I finished my Christmas shopping over the weekend. I even got all of Tommy’s stocking stuffers. And I even have everything wrapped. But for some reason it seems like I forgot something. I don’t who it is but I think I left someone off of the list. I’ve been going through both families and I can’t figure it out. Oh well, I’m probably stressing over nothing. But for now I need to worry about making all of the goodies for Christmas. I’m making cheesecakes bites with a praline sauce to go on top, a chocolate meringue pie, oreo truffles, cornbread dressing, and rice dressing. I actually need to have all of this made for Christmas Eve and I have to work Monday and Tuesday. Not to mention that we’re going out to dinner for a friends birthday Monday night. Wow, I need to get busy. At least I have all of the grocery shopping done. Now it’s just a matter of cooking everything.

Here’s the recipe for EASY oreo truffles in case any of you are interested:
1 pkg Oreo cookies, finely crushed
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
Semi-Sweet chocolate chips (Or Andes mint chocolate chips)

Mix 3 cups of cookie crumbs and the cream cheese until well blended. Shape into 1-inch balls
Freeze for a few minutes to harden
Dip in melted chocolate chips and place on waxed paper. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs or Christmas sprinkles.
Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

You can do a lot of different twist with this recipe. You can use white chocolate or mint chocolate in place of the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Or even try using the mint oreo cookies.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Decor

Here's a sneak peak at our Christmas decor...

Ornament detail

Mantle

Mantle

Fireplace

Tree (we went with a gold and red theme this year)

Front door

Ornaments hanging on back door transom

Sneaux Day!

It actually snowed in South Louisiana today. And I'm not talking just some flurries that melt when they hit the ground. We had about 2" of snow on the ground this morning. The sun has been out for a few hours now and we still have snow on the ground. It's crazy. I've never seen so much snow in Louisiana before. We had snow when I was about 4 or 5 years old but it just barely covered the ground. Here are a few pictures from this morning. Cajun had no clue what it was.

All of my landscaping will be dead tommorow.

Tommy's Snow Angel

What my house looks like with a white roof

He had no idea what all the white stuff was.

This looks like it could be a picture from up north but no, it's in my back yard.

Thats one huge icicle.

My itty bitty snowman. My neighbors made one that was about 4 feet tall.

It's Snowing!!!

South Louisiana...and I have 2-3" of snow in my yard :-)
I'm off to build a snowman. I'll post pictures later.

Uncle Matt

My uncle Matt (and 3 other friends) were on their way to go hunting in Nebraska Saturday night and got into a pretty bad wreck right before they were about to get off of the interstate. He hit some black ice and lost control. The 2 guys sitting on the passenger side are still in a hospital in Iowa. One has a broken vertebra in his neck and the other has 4 broken ribs, a broken jaw, and a broken arm. The guy with broken ribs was sitting in the back seat on the passenger side and was ejected from the vehicle. Luckily, my uncle and the guy sitting in the back driver side were able to escape with only a few scratches. Please pray for the 2 that are still in the hospital. One of them has to have a few reconstructive surgeries to redo his jaw. The guy that broke a vertebra in his neck should be up and walking by tomorrow. Hopefully everyone can return home soon.