Down in Louisiana...

Pre-script- I couldn't help it! While writing this post, I use several movie lines from Steel Magnolias. It's my favorite movie of all time and was filmed in Louisiana =). If you don't get my asides, you haven't seen that movie enough hahah.

The day after a wonderful Thanksgiving, I flew to Louisiana to visit my friend, Kara, and her family. She was a year ahead of me in grad school, and we worked at the same place in Arizona for a year. She told me to come visit and she'd help me with some of my 30 before 30 so I took her up on her offer. So much fun! Quick trip, but we squished a lot in.
~Houston Temple
I flew to Houston (they have old rocking chairs outside for the smokers that was actually pretty Southern awesome to me) and visited the temple there (technically in Klein, Texas). I got lost (several times on this trip sadly), and I kinda felt rushed to get to Kara's so I just did some initatories and did not see the Celestial Room. My 6 names were all sisters and their mom so that was cool. I like that this temple is very unique. Interesting thing is that on the inside, it's color motif is mainly done in different pinks (my two shades of blush and bashful) but surprisingly they didn't look 70's to me.
~Welcome to Louisiana 
After getting lost a little bit more while driving from the temple to Kara's (thank you- 3 separate people, including one non-English speaker for helping me), and being fascinated by all the foreign language radio stations (French, Spanish, and English with a twang),  I finally arrived. Kara had made a shrimp stew almost gumbo kinda thing for dinner- delicious. She also started teaching me how to crochet, since she just learned herself. She bought me a "I taught myself crochet" kit (thanks!) and then started me on the basics. I keep feeling like I should be doing something with my other hand...this comes from my knitting days, and is throwing off my groove. I don't feel comfortable enough yet to say "I can crotchet" so I haven't checked it off my list, but I will soon.
The next morning we headed out for a day of awesomeness. We got "real donuts" at the Donut King shop for breakfast ( lighter and fluffier than what you get, at say, Albertson's). Their Bavarian creme made me think of heaven, which is perfect right before visiting the Baton Rouge temple. This is my 25th temple so I'm half way through my life goal of 50- woohoo! It's currently the only temple in Louisiana and is a "mini" temple so- no surprise- it's almost exactly the same as the Monticello Temple. The Celestial Room even has the same chandeliers and sconces different stained glass though. This temple was more plain though with no pictures in the endowment rooms. Its color scheme wasn't green but a dark cream/brown.

Now, Kara is not LDS, but she has been with me to temples before (Orlando and Seattle). She kinda knows the drill to sit inside the waiting room, hang out, whisper etc. Well this time she inadvertently attended a semi "Welcome to the temple first time young men and young women"/ testimony meeting (I didn't even think that mini temples may not have meeting rooms or chapels in the baptistry and so they'd use the waiting room but they do). Now I wasn't there to hear or see any of it, so I'm just going off what Kara says (and she's not up on all the LDS lingo) but apparently the youth were there with their own temple names and some of them had never been to one before (she can't be mor' than 18 she hasn't had time to have a past...if you can achieve puberty you can achieve a past). They had two people bare their testimonies of temple work and then they prayed. She said she didn't know if she should step out or not, but I told her I'm sure it was fine since it is technically a waiting room. She just felt a little awkward-sorry! She also apparently had an interesting conversation with a nearly toothless man (if ya can't say anything nice about anyone, come sit by me!) about her crocheting- at least she wasn't too bored.
~Swamp Safari

Kara and me waiting in a duck blind for the rain to pass

From the temple, we went to Breaux Bridge for lunch and then to do a "swamp safari" as we like to call it. I've gotta say- I love any sort of safari! For lunch we split an alligator burger and a crab burger. Alligator, in my opinion, tastes like beef with a gamy spicier aftertaste kick- not bad- but I'm also sure it's how you season and cook it.
We were on safari with a family of 4 from France. Our tour guide, being the Cajun that he is, also spoke French so it worked out perfectly. The weather decided to get kinda crazy, and it poured down on us a few times, but we hid in a "duck blind" (hidden in the ca'port) and waited for it to pass. The rain there was warm so I honestly didn't mind it. What's funny is that this is only the second time Kara's ever worn her poncho- the first time was when she and I toured Seattle...maybe it's me? Maybe I just bring bad weather when I want to do fun things? I don't know.


We saw some beautiful birds (Egrets are white and Herons are blue or grey apparently) and some birds that make sounds like oinking pigs. I tried several times to get them on video, but to no avail. We never saw turtles, but.. eh...I've seen more than one turtle in the wild so no biggie.

real decoys 

poor man decoy-
(aka painted 2 liter soda bottles)

Funny thing- People duck hunt a lot around here. They use decoy ducks, which are fake ducks, used to attract other ducks, so they can shoot them. Here are  some real decoys and poor man decoys...



~Alligators
I recommend you take a moment to watch the following video clip with the lights on and someone else home with you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnPfO13XONM Pay special attention to parts around minute markers- 2:35, 5:29, 6:18-6:30. This is an old, LDS, seminary video about "spiritual crocodiles". Now imagine watching this movie at 5am when you're 14 and tell me that you're not gonna carry around a life long fear for #1 crocodiles (and their creepy cousins the alligators) and #2 of sin. It honestly has always stayed with me... great lesson!

Now that I have prepared you, I will say-  I saw alligators up close with NO BARRIERS between me and them! They (along with crocodiles) are my most feared animal! They are just evil, and I think made by satan. I was not even half as scared being right next to lions and hippos in Kenya as I was to these guys- seriously! Posting this photos and video almost made me freak out! They hiss at you (see below movie).
I missed seeing the first alligator spotted on the tour- it saw us coming and went under. Our tour guide attempted to "stir it up" (anger it?! you've gotta be kidding me?!) but it never resurfaced. No worries- we saw two more. Oh my holy pee my pants! Alligators are apparently as many feet long as they have inches from their nose to eyes (so six inches between their flaring, scary nostrils to eyes would mean they are six feet long approximately). They also do run faster than most humans~ myth busted~ hello!

~Good food and good music
After the safari we went back to Jennings and discovered that the alligator petting zoo was closed (another failure at trying to touch one), but was stopped at Boudain King (pronounced- BOO-dan but leave the /n/ off but say /da/ like you would the name Dan) and picked up some boudain and some red beans and rice (I wanna take somethin' that freezes beautifully) for me to try. Boudain is made of meat, rice and seasoning, packed into a casing similar to a sausage, but you don't eat the casing. Red beans and rice is that but with sausage, onions and peppers mixed in- not just your red beans and plain rice like I'd expected. We also picked up some Blue Bell ice cream- delicious Louisiana treat as well.

We did some more crocheting and movie watching with the kiddos (raining outside) and then went to DI's. It's an awesomely cute restaurant that has live music a few days a week. They also have incredible food. I got a mixed platter- stuffed crab, stuffed shrimp, catfish, regular shrimp, and a side of hush puppies. They also served us salad and crackers with butter (not rolls and butter- crackers and butter- Kara said that's normal with seafood? I don't eat it much to know). I have to say that I do like seafood occasionally and when it's prepared fresh by someone with skills. I enjoyed the music (though it was really loud and we were close. The kids were plugging their ears, and I asked Kara if she wanted to move but she said, "They'll be fine and get over it." I laughed and said, "Yeah, but we're audiologists! We can't promote this" hahha. I did wear earplugs most of the time- at least in my ear toward the band.) and dancing. I loved seeing this elderly couple dancing almost every dance. I hope when I'm old I will have a husband who will dance with me- gotta find a man who can and will dance. If he played the spoons (above movie) I wouldn't mind that either haah.


It was super fast, but I got to see a lot of Louisiana and gained more of what P90X has taken off of me with all the food I ate, but it was delicious. I was so great to see Kara again and her family- she's super cute and a good mom and good audiologist. Her husband is super cute with her and the kids as well (he said "Good morning beautiful" to her when she came out for breakfast- love it!) and was great to let us have a girl's day. Thanks Headington's! You know I love you more than my luggage =p

Carter's Birthday

pointing with his LEFT hand (mirror
shot) which is miraculous 

So my nephew, Carter, is one year old (as of yesterday- this post is late). You may have read about him early on in my blogging days (previous blog that was corrupted but you can view it at http://natalies30before30.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-04-18T06%3A32%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7). He's my little nephew who had a stroke at four MONTHS old. Well, people still ask me about him, and I always say, "He's do amazingly, MIRACULOUSLY, well!" and he honestly is. He just started walking (unassisted by couch or other object), which it totally right on target for his age, and my sister and his PT and OT goals after his stroke were to see him crawling ya know?  I remember the day this little guy was born. I was waiting for him to be born before I headed out of town for a temple groundbreaking and my friend's concert performance in Arizona. I'm so glad I got to see him right after he was born and that I've gotten to see him many days since- especially since we didn't know with his stroke how things would turn out. It's nice to live next to at least some of my nephews since I don't get to see the others, or my niece, very often. What a miracle baby and a way cute one at that! Love his kisses and sweet face. Happy Birthday Carter!

Monticello Temple (ode to Kristina)

Me and Kristina- I'm blinking & freezing

 So my friend, Kristina, and I made a whirlwind
 (crazy) trip over to Monticello, Utah and back this
 weekend. It's a 6 hour drive one way, so basically
 12 out of our less than 24 hours trip was spent
 driving haha.  I'm very grateful that for almost my
 entire life, I've never had to drive more than 30
 minutes to get to a temple. I currently live about 10
 minutes from one. How incredibly blessed I am!
 Kristina moved to Monticello when she was 9
 years old and her family still lives there. When I
 told her of my goal getting 10 temples this year she
 offered to let me stay at her house. I asked if she
 "was for real" and she said she was and committed
 to go with me this Friday. We arrived at her family's house (just about 4 blocks from, but on the same street as, the temple) around 11pm. We chatted with her super cute family for a bit and then went to bed. Her mom came with us, and we attended the 8am temple session. I was proxy from Agata Maria /Bovino/. All her work had previously been done in the St. George temple, so I hope she enjoyed the change of venue.
After the session, we attempted to take photos, but I have forgotten to replace the memory card in my camera so her mom suggested we just use my cell phone. We only took one quick shot, because, let's be honest, it was freezing and windy like crazy. We went back to Kristina's where her dad had made ridiculously, awesome apple pancakes (thinner crispy ones just like I like even though he didn't know that) and home made syrup. Then, we drove back hahah- crazy, I know, but it was great! I'm grateful for my friends who are honestly willing to do crazy things (camp in the snow, drive for 12 hours for a 2 hour event etc etc) to help me achieve my goals! Not that Kristina doesn't love seeing her family, but she gave up a Friday night and what could've been a more productive Saturday, just to see them for a few hours and to help me. GREAT person that Kristina! Thanks Kristina and family!

My phone photo of the temple

Some unique things about this temple:
~Monticello was the first "mini" temple built, but it has since been expanded. The Colonia Juarez Chihuahua Mexico Temple (which I have been too- woot!) is the smallest.
~It was the first and only temple to have a white Angel Moroni. President Gordon B. Hinckley had thought of making the angels on smaller temples different from their larger counterparts- make them white and holding a trumpet in one hand a scroll in another instead of gold with just a trumpet- but the white Moroni tended to get "disappear" in the clouds on poor weather days, and in less than 6 months a gold Moroni replaced the white one (side note- that white angel, was platted with gold and now sits atop the Columbus, Ohio temple- way to recycle!)
~It is a temple where you move from room to room as you progress through the session. I like the temples that do this!
~The Celestial Room is beautiful and breath taking (per usual). It has some green stained glass windows, that start with a lighter green shade and progress to dark green. Kristina says, throughout the temple, the "green" is representative of the local sage that grows everywhere around Monticello. Very cool.
~I have to say that this very well may have been the quietest Celestial Room I've ever been in. I never heard anyone speak at all! Not that other ones are "noisy" (honestly everyone whispers if they talk but several dozens whispers can become one normal tone almost ya know), but we were all in there for a good little while, and you could've heard a pin drop the entire time. Great for thoughts and prayers.

Camping in Zion National Park

*Pre-script- this is definitely a post that could be quick and easy, but keep in mind I'm kinda writing this more "journal-esque" than just a simple blog so...yep...it's more wordy! Read on if you want =)

The Trudster

So I achieved two of my 30 before 30 goals this weekend. I went camping in Zion National Park, and I learned how to use my camp stoves. I decided this weekend would work the best (because let's be real if it gets any later it's only gonna get colder) and then sent out a few invites. My friend Trudi said, "Come hell or high water we will do it!" She's great! That made me feel better right off the bat because I knew even if she and I just had to suck it up and go alone, that she would do it with me. I really really appreciate that from her- she rocks! I know some of my goals seem silly, but I did make them all for different and, I think, important reasons. She doesn't even laugh at me for them- she just plays along. Love her!

What's funny is that every time Trudi and I have attempted hiking in Zion National Park, it rains! We knew if we went this weekend the same thing would happen and no surprise it did! It rained all night, and in the morning it even snowed, but honestly it wasn't that bad. I was nicely surprised and grateful it wasn't raining while we set up tents or built a fire. I don't mind sleeping while it's raining outside, and I'm in my tent, in fact I like it sometimes, but it would've been worse to set up our gear that way. No one reportedly froze at all at night (Heidi even said she had to strip off some layers so yay for warm sleeping gear). 

After I got a "Trudi committal", I set about inviting other people. Rachel was committed right from the get go (she's great like that too- always such a trooper and up for a good time) and supposedly so was my friend, Kimball, but he backed out like a half hour before "go" time, but I get how crazy life can be. Lindsay and Erin committed shortly there after as well and I appreciated Erin's willingness to bring her truck and helping me gather last minute random items.

I also invited Pete and Heidi, who I met in Africa. They both live in Salt Lake City and since it's fairly close, I thought they might want to come (I did invite all the SLC people from SHe but Pete and Heidi were the only takers).  Pete loves outdoorsy stuff,  and he's never been to Zion so I'm so glad we got to camp and be there with him for his first time. Heidi and I actually hiked part of the Narrows together just a few weeks after we got back from Africa, so I already knew she would love it.

Using the stoves!

While chatting around the fire, we were discussing our goals (since we were obviously doing one of mine). Lindsay made a goal one year to simply make weekly goals. I like that idea. If something is working, you can keep doing it and if not you can change it. I think I'm gonna try it! Thanks for bein' all wise Lindsay =)

A rep. from each tent- Why is the
ground different colors? They are
sitting in the dry square
of where their tent used to be

 People started going to be after
 Heidi and Pete arrived (around  
 10ish), but I stayed up for a little
 while catching up with Pete. He's
 such a great guy (and ladies how he is still on the market I do not know! 
 Someone needs to snatch him up) and has big goals/plans for life. I know
 he'll achieve them too and help "the world" like he wants to. He's a
 solid guy (even if he does rely on an iPhone flashlight app while camping hahah) and a super sweet snuggler even in the rain (Pete's just fabulous all around, and I always heart cuddling up to a fabulous guy). Once he started shivering though, I realized it was really cold, and we also needed to go to bed. I felt badly he ended up being the only guy, but he didn't complain and with a ratio of 1:6 I think he may have been pleased.

The blues

The reds

 It rained all night and seemed to just  get Trudi, Heidi and my tent wet (I've decided the windows on my tent don't shut properly so I'm working on fixing that), but we survived it just fine and finally decided to wake up once nature's call was too great. Heidi and I couldn't get much of the door open, so we shimmied out the bottom and both got our butts really wet, but that gave us an excuse to stay in the bathroom and talk while we dried off. She's so great! I love talking to her because we seem to just get each other about how we feel about relationships and our current "like" interests (see we don't say 'love' here lol). I appreciate her.

The red, white and blue

 Once people started kinda waking up, I busted out the camping stoves that  I needed to learn to use for my 30 before 30 (my sister, Katie, gave them to me for Christmas one year and why I haven't used them yet, I'm not sure). The very small stove, I have learned, takes forever to cook, but hey it's quick setup and works ya know? The bigger one is very fast and awesome. Pete figured out how to actually get the gas flowing through it and then showed me so now I'm set. We made some eggs etc. and hung out watching some deer that decided to come and eat next to us. It then started to snow so we bagged the hiking idea (we'd hoped to do Angel's Landing for Pete's sake but there's no way that wouldn't have been icy) and head home. Pete and Heidi did stay to meet up with some of Pete's friends and do some repelling. If I hadn't been very concerned I might freeze to death and wasn't very tired from a long week  (some late night phone chatting and P90X) I would've stayed too, but I'm glad Pete got to see some more of the park and both of them had a great time!

Heidi makes Pete giddy

They stayed with me Saturday night and we went to church together on Sunday before they headed back. Heidi, is "old" and so she went to bed way early, but Pete and I stayed up late again talking, this time seriously planning and discussing how we're gonna get back to Africa. Pete studied sign language and has had a lot of experience with "big D" culture and "little d" hearing loss. We both definitely want to get back to the Kingango Hard of Hearing School at some point. Can I just say it was not coincidence that I met some of the people on that trip?! Because it certainly was not! I'm so glad I'm still in contact with several of them!

It was definitely a quick trip, but #1 I love camping with good people #2 I realize I love waking up in Zion National Park (Pete kept saying, "Look at that peak! Look at that view! That mountain is awesome" hahah but I have to agree it is pretty amazing) and #3 that even if the weather is bad or things are rough, I know I have friends who are willing to tough it out with me. Good times and good adventures! Thanks guys!