Blueberry Farm

The first month we were in Louisiana we had some friends that invited us to go blueberry picking with them.  We had never been to a real farm to pick anything before so we were up for it, even if it was 100+ degrees outside.  We went to Blueberry Hill Farm and grabbed buckets and picked until our buckets were sufficiently full, which wasn't much for B.  He was done after about 5 minutes and said, "Mommy, can I go wait in the car with the air conditioner on and you can finish picking berries for me?" We picked about 2 lbs of berries and paid only $6 for it.  We took the berries home, froze half and ate the other half the rest of the summer.  They lasted for two months in the fridge!  And they were just as good, if not better, when the missionaries helped us finish them off only two weeks ago!

This was really fun and something memorable for the kids.  I think we will make this part of our summer tradition here...finding our berry thrill on Blueberry Hill!

TEXOMA!!

 So a VERY awesome thing about living in the Shreveport area is that we are about 2.5 hours away from Dallas, Texas.  We have some friends from Puerto Rico, the Jackmans, that live a little north of Dallas.  So last month Ben got his first week off (yeah, he worked for two weeks and then they scheduled his vacation.  LSU gets to decide when he takes his vacations.) So we decided to go see our friends. They have this boat that is....let's just say "well used" and when Kalli saw it she said, "This is the worst boat I have ever seen!" But we didn't mind.  We were just thrilled to be getting away from the record heat they have had down here.  So we piled into to the boat and put the kids on the tube and off we went.  Then off went the kids!  Splash! Bronsen came up panicked.  I think he thought there was a lake monster that was going to eat him.  But Katie, their oldest girl, was fine and Kalli was ready to try again too.  So the girls got back on and B. got in the boat.  We spent that evening and the next morning on the lake (called TEXOMA because it is half in Texas and half in....you guessed it... Oklahoma) and had a blast.  And Kalli changed her mind about the boat.  After a good ride on the tube she said, "Okay, this is NOT the worst boat I have ever seen." 

Bronsen did manage to get back on the tube, with Ben, but still prefered the "tall chair".  Finn was so good and Taylor, the Jackman's little girl didn't mind letter her mommy hold him.  The kids fed the ducks at the dock and then we went for ice cream at Braums.  It was so good!!! But a huge thanks to the Jackmans for being such great hosts and such wonderful friends. 

Headed Down South

So this is us headed to Louisiana.  On Thursday morning we went to Cortanie's and Ryan's sealing, packed the car in the afternoon, attended the reception that evening and then we left from Salt Lake, and the reception, a little bit before 10 pm and drove for about 3 hours to Green River, Utah.  We crashed there for the night and woke up and drove all day through New Mexico and into Texas.  We spent the night in Amarillo, TX and drove all the next day through TX and pulled into Shreveport, Louisiana about 4 pm on Saturday evening.  It was a long two days but we had to beat the moving truck.  They were coming on Sunday morning and we also wanted to go to church to meet some people to hang out with our first week.  But the kids were awesome on the drive and the bay was golden.  I was the one that had to take the most potty breaks and I was definitely the one who complained  the most.:)  The kids only complained about being in TX for like 9 hours.  They just couldn't believe that it was so big!  I told them EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas.  Our sweet mini-van ran great and there were no real catastrophes, which is surprising for us.  It was fun to start our new life driving there together. But we are glad to be here and SO SO excited to be starting this new life.