Not the worst house on the block!

Finally, I can pull up and not cringe at the terrible paint colors on our house...and we are on our way to a much improved landscape! Still about 10 years out from a somewhat shady front yard but we had to start somewhere :) One of my first posts includes the an old photo of the house-

More Mardi Gras photos to come...

They are coming in the next day or so... I promise, Dani :)

Mardi Gras Mambo :)

With 2009 being such a stressful year already, it was great for Curt, P and I to get away for a few days. And going back to New Orleans for Mardi Gras was a perfect getaway. If only it had lasted longer!

We had a great time visiting with Mocha, Al and Riley, spending time with Mimi, seeing old neighbors and friends, hanging out at Audubon park, taking early morning jogs through Uptown along St. Charles Avenue and soaking in the excitement of several parades! To boot, we also quite possible had the best king cake I have ever eaten-

After a few days in New Orleans, we spend a few hours in Baton Rouge with Mimi and visiting new baby, Lily Grace Leonards. Then it was off to Lafayette to see the Blakeman's and catch one more Mardi Gras parade in Lafayette.

Bringing in the New Year-

How time has flown by... just sorting through some photos from this year and it reminded me how much fun we had when the Blakeman family came to Austin to ring in the New Year with us. Here are a few photos of Pierce and Ava having fun at Town Lake Park-

Almost Christmas :)

How time has flown! It seems that we have had a super busy fall... much busier than I would like but Christmas is already here! We had a wonderful time with my entire family in St. Louis over Thanksgiving and now we are excited about our first Christmas here in Austin in our house. With the Christmas tunes playing all the time, Mimi coming to visit and Pierce now out of school for the holiday, it certainly should be a great Christmas for all of us.

I am still in the process of getting cards out which means they will probably arrive after Christmas. If they do, we want to wish all our dear friends and family a Merry Christmas and many good times together in the New Year! Much love to you all-

Part 2 - Breakfast Tacos for beignets

From Lafayette, we headed to New Orleans to visit Monica and Al. We were so happy to make it for the Steeple Illumination Ceremony at Rayne UMC. After three years in the making, we were thrilled to be present at the ceremony, to be able to contribute by designing the landscape plan and seeing everything come together for such a special place.

We made sure to get to most of our favorite spots. We had our fill of gumbo, croissants from La Boulangerie, poboys with friends at Parkway Tavern, and much more. Of course, we loved spending time with Aunt Mocha, Al and Mimi and getting beignets at Cafe du Monde (which we traded for breakfast tacos when we moved to Austin :)

Whirlwind new baby and friends tour, part 1

We have been home almost a week now so I have begun to go through my photos from our Labor Day trip. It makes me so happy that we were able to fit so much into a week. We were able to visit with our closest friends, see the two new babies that have come into our lives and visit our old church in New Orleans. I will post these photos in groups of postings.

On the first leg of our trip, we stopped in Lafayette to visit the Blakeman's. We had a great time visiting with Haley and Shannon, holding baby Hayes and letting Pierce and Ava run wild. How I wish I could see these guys everyday :( I was also super excited to get some great photos of little Ava...