Shields/Kent/Haslam Sleigh Ride

I'm so lucky to be related to Jamie twice! It was so fun to get both of our families together with our husbands' family. Diana planned a sleigh ride at Thanksgiving point to see the lights down there and we sure had fun!

Matt Turns Twelve

My youngest brother turned twelve this past year which was so exciting for my family because it meant that we all got to go to the temple together! It was such a special experience to be able to do baptisms for the dead with everyone. I am so grateful for such wonderful parents who raised their children in love and righteousness and that we were all worthy to go. I am so blessed to have the gospel in my life and am so grateful to have the family I do!

What would we do without Snuggies?

Our furnaced died on Friday leaving us to resort to space heaters to heat the house. We got some from Tyler's parents and about 20 minutes after we distributed them the place went black. The old circuits couldn't handle the energy that the heaters required and it blew our fuses which meant we were in for a cold, dark weekend. Thankfully Jamie and Colin gave us Snuggies for Christmas last year and they got put to good use!

Christmas Lights

Gotta love going to see the lights every Christmas season. This year we got to go with our new-found friends. Jordan is one of Tyler's old mission companions and he and his wife Courtney are in Salt Lake for an internship and we sure love having them here!

Happy Halloween

Blair's Birthday Celebration

The Kent family headed up to Snowbird to celebrate Blair's 60th and we had a blast despite freezing our buns off. The highlight was when Tyler was carrying me on his back and totally tripped and we both ended up in the snow haha. Thanks Blair and Diana for a great afternoon!

New Orleans

My dad had a conference down in New Orleans this past weekend and he and my mom were nice enough to invite Tyler and I to tag along. We had a blast seeing all the sights, attending the conference events, spending time with my parents and eating delicious food.

We should have taken more pictures of us eating because that's pretty much what our trip revolved around. We had to try all of the dishes: po-boys, shrimp et tu fe, beignets, bananas foster, gumbo, jumbalaya, and the list goes on and on.

We got to see this stunning plantation with hundred plus year old oak trees.

We got dressed up for a delicious dinner and a Michael McDonald concert. Tyler and I felt a little out of place but we had a blast being entertained by all of the drunk judges and lawyers breaking it down.

Cafe du Monde has been in the French Quarter for 150 years and they make some killer beignets.

We had a few too many of these while we were there but it was definitely worth it

These boys serenaded us with some jazz while we dined at Arnaud's

Carriage tour of the French Quarter

St. Charles Cathedral at Jackson Square

The bayou tour was definitely the highlight of our trip. It was so beautiful and we saw all sorts of fun creatures, alligators, turtles, snakes and all sorts of birds. We had Princess and the Frog stuck in our heads the whole time. "Going down the bayou."

Believe it or not people, namely Cajuns, still live right in the bayou and live off the land. Our tour guide was Cajun and grew up in the bayou eating alligator and swamp gumbo. He said he didn't know what a pizza was until he was 16 years old!

Thanks Mom and Dad we had a blast!