cotton candy sky

Two weeks ago on Saturday, December 13th, we had our ward Christmas party at our Bishop's house out on the Amite River. Erica and I, as the Activities Committee, planned it and we had a literal fireside as we roasted wienies and marshmallows at the bonfire and listened to our guest speakers. We had a pretty good turnout and it was fun. I didn't take any pictures there because it was dark but on our way out there the sun was setting and the sky was gorgeous!

simply having a wonderful christmas time

Loren found a 6' tree for 20 bucks at Big Lots so she bought it for our apartment. It's cute and little and I love coming home from work at midnight to a dark living room lit by the tree's small red and white lights.

The top of our entertainment center has become a makeshift mantle for our Christmas cards.

scrutiny on the bounty

Two weeks ago (Thursday, December 4th) Loren, Erica and I went downtown to see the HMS Bounty, which docked in Baton Rouge for two weeks. Loren and Erica had never heard of it, but I had vaguely heard about the mutiny and the movies made about it. When I heard it was in town I decided to read up about the boat and I discovered it was not the original (which was blown up after the mutiny in 1790) but a replica built in the 1960s for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando. It has been used in a few other movies, most recently the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and when I read that and told Loren and Erica, we just had to go see it. It had been cold all week and I had dressed appropriately but of course that day it was warm in the morning so I was only wearing a t-shirt and light jacket. By the time we got down there in the afternoon, however, it was fuh-REEZING and sooooo windy, too. I grabbed a scarf from Loren's car but that didn't help too much. Anywho the Bounty was docked down by the USS Kidd, which we plan to visit at a later date. Fortunatley we were the only ones on the boat so we got the VIP tour from a crew member. I got to turn the wheel that Marlon Brando, Clark Gable, John Wayne, and ORLANDO BLOOM and JOHNNY DEPP touched!!! I still haven't washed my hands (just kidding - Mary remember when you met Peabo Bryson?). I asked about the big round thing in the middle that looked like what they summoned the Kraken with in the Pirates movies. It's called a wench and he put some spokes in and let us turn it. Then we got out of the wind and went below deck to look around. Sadly we didn't really have time to read all of the facts about the boat because Loren had to be to work, but it was fun peeking around and meeting some of the crew. They sail around the country and dock in different cities for a few weeks at a time. One of the ladies was from England and was on the movie crew for Pirates but decided to stay on the boat when filming was finished. So it was a fun, but freezing, afternoon and now I want to quit school and join the crew! PS - we didn't really scrutinize the ship, that was just the only word I could think of that rhymes with mutiny.

The USS KIDDThe HMS Bounty

Loren and me freezing our nubs off!

Touching THE WHEEL (with the Mississippi Bridge in the background)

All the famous people who have been aboard the Bounty

The wench (the one in the middle) hehe :)

Funny faces

The captain's cabin

A cool little chest

The bow

A little cannon

The river sure is low these days

Goodbye Bounty!

winter wonderland

Here's an email I sent to the fam a week ago (Thursday, December 11th):

I had a final at 7:30 this morning and I didn't go to bed until 2:30 am. I was past the denial, anger, and sorrow stages and had finally made it into the acceptance stage, knowing that there was probably no way I could do well enough on this test to get an A in my history class. I planned to get up at 5:30 and do some 'hail Mary' studying but I knew it wouldn't do much good. I was paranoid about sleeping late so I set my alarm clock, my tv, and my phone to go off. Fortunately I was able to get up and slowly and begrudgingly get ready for the day. I sat down at the table with my bowl of Froot Loops and was just about to start looking over my notes when I heard sirens. Why so many sirens at 6 in the morning? I had an idea, and ran to the sliding doors to see if I could possibly be right. I threw back the blinds and to my shock and sheer joy, my wildest thought was confirmed - it was SNOWING!!!! I mean really snowing, like all the cars were covered and there were a few inches on the ground and it was coming down steadily, just like in the movies. I really could not believe it. Now I know all you westerners are just shaking your heads, smiling a little inside at my naivities and dramatics, but seriously, it has not snowed in Louisiana and actually stuck to the ground since I was 12. And before that, not since before I was born. So this is kind of a big deal. Anyways I was so energized and excited but then I realized, "Crap, I have to drive to school in this weather. I've never driven in snow." So I quickly called Mom and Dad and awoke them from their slumber. They gave me a few pointers and I was ready to take on the day. I wrote a note for Loren and Erica, telling them to look outside, but I just couldn't leave it at that. I heard Loren's alarm go off so I started banging on her door and telling her to come out as quickly as possible so she ran out in her mumu and robe with a 'where's the fire?' look. "It's SNOWING!!!" and we ran to the door. I ran back to Erica's room and said, "Erica, get up! It's snowing!" She was up in a flash and we ran to the door to join Loren. I was running around and hollering like a little kid and Erica and Loren both called their moms. We saw a lady getting her two kids in their van and the kids just started pelting their mom with snowballs. It was so funny and cute. Erica and I went outside to take pictures and I got her right in the face with a huge snowball. I can't stop laughing, thinking about it now. I made another snowball and raced up the stairs and into the apartment and put it in the freezer. Loren was just laughing, we were all so happy. I wanted to stay and play, but I left by 6:15 to give myself plenty of time to get to campus safely and maybe study just a little bit more. I made it through my test and maybe, just maybe, I did well enough to squeak by with an A. Much to my surprise the snow was still there when I walked out of Lockett at 9:30. I thought the sun would come up and melt it all away, but it was cloudy and raining, a mixed blessing I suppose. Everything is so white and beautiful, it's like a completely different world outside. So now I'm home, I've taken a hot shower, and I'm about to make some oatmeal, study for my last two tests, and then take a nap.....or maybe I should nap first....

Here are some pictures I took throughout the day:

Erica and Loren peeking out the window

My snow apparel - a water-resistant jacket and a cap. Good thing it doesn't snow too often here!

Erica singing in the snow

A snow-covered Mike

See the palm trees?

So white and bright on the drive home

Pretty crape myrtle trees outside our apartment

The little snowman Erica and Loren built after I left for my test

Poor little snowman a few hours later - check out those curves!

Foggy moon

freedom

Sorry it's been so long - I'm finally finished with finals and now I can breathe again. I got my grades today and I must say I'm quite pleased with them. I got an A in Marksmanship, Cajun French, History of Jazz, and Western Civ since 1500, and my B's are on both ends of the spectrum - I barely missed an A in Animal Science and I barely missed a C in World War II. I will admit that I didn't try too hard in the former but I worked my butt off for the latter so I'm happy. I was able to continue my streak of straight A's in all of my core history and foreign language classes but I'll gladly take a B for my first 4000-level class (WWII). I really enjoyed all of my classes this past semester, but History of Jazz was by far my favorite, and possibly my most favorite ever. I learned so much and my teacher was great. I can think of times when class would start and I would have this mindset that I wasn't going to enjoy the lecture (like on Latin Jazz, for example), but Dr. Grimes is very good at what he does and I always left the class with a ditty stuck in my head and wanting for more. The last week of class he brought in some other jazz musicians to play for us and it was awesome. Loren and Jon and I are planning on going to one of his concerts this weekend downtown at a local jazz club so that should be fun.

I know I've promised to post a few things but tonight is not the night since I'm at work and can't upload my pictures onto this computer. I planned on doing it earlier when I was at home but Adam called me up to hang out and we watched 'Iron Man' - and you KNOW I wouldn't pass that up. So maybe tomorrow......but I'm not making any promises.

Sorry......I couldn't resist. :)

hooray for saxby chambliss

Congratulations to Saxby Chambliss for winning over in Jawja. Thanks to this clip from SNL, I actually know who you are!