San Francisco Day #1

Neil and 3 other husbands planned a totally awesome trip for us girls.  We received the cutest photo-shopped picture for Christmas of all of us in San Francisco.  How bout that for the most thoughtful Christmas gift ever?  A girls trip to San Francisco!  The husbands planned so much and worked so hard on this for us.  We had a great time and are so appreciative!  The only thing I would have wanted in addition to the trip was if Neil could have been there with me.  We stayed with Aunt E. and the accommodations were so fancy.

We left bright and early on Wednesday morning.  We left our houses at 4 am to get to SF.

Shreveport Airport 4 am.

We arrived in SF at 10, met up with Casey, and headed to Aunt E's house.  We got settled, got ready, and called Lyft.  Lyft is the fantastic car service that uses Smartphone app and no cash.  The cars and drivers are cleaner and nicer than taxis and it's cheaper!  It was an easy way to get around SF and only $22 per person the entire time!  The app determines where you are and within a couple minutes a car with a big pink mustache showed up!  A few of the drivers even gave us snacks, gum, and bottled water.  Here is one of them:

 So the first one picked us up and took us to the Mission District.  Before we got there we had him pull over at the Painted Ladies.  All of us grew up watching Full House so we had to see them.  GGB has been loving it as well so Erinn made sure to get a pic for her!

Painted Ladies

Painted ladies with the Southern Ladies!

We got to the mission district a few hours before our culinary tour so we stopped for appetizers and wine.

 I am total believer in culinary tours now.  You get so much history and food for your time and money.  It's been a great deal in Dallas, Charleston, and now San Fran.  We will do one in NYC next month!

Casey, Erinn, and me

 The mission district was a bit dodgy.  We were a little nervous about the area and went in so many places we normally wouldn't have.  I am so glad we did it though!

this guy holding the raw meat supposedly invented the "carne asada."

This mural supposedly represents the cycle of corn.

One of the things we sampled...cactus and beans stuffed tortilla

Leigh, Chris Milano (our tour guide), and the comal pan.  At least one person from every group on the tour won a door prize except ours!  ha!  Our tour guide has a wide array of accents from Latino to San Franciscan to Italian to Southern.  He was from SF and appeared in Recipe Showdown on Food Network.

King's Bakery home of the FANTASTIC coconut bun.  It was rated 1 of the top 100 things to eat before you die in San Francisco.

I was loving this poster that said "Henry Lewis!"

A Father's Day Post

How can I describe the best dad ever?  It is hard, but I will try.  This dad has 2 little boys that look up to him  and basically want to be just like him.  He is my husband and the awesome father of my two boys.

So, what are some of the OBVIOUSLY fabulous things about Neil?  These are in no particular order...

• He LOVES me and our boys.
• He is so patient with the boys even when I am about to pull out my hair.
• He can calm them down if they are crying.
• He loves to teach them new things.

• He is a great family man all around.
• He takes us to church.
• He LOVES to cook and entertain.

• He can tell funny stories and make the boys and me laugh.
• He gags at the sight/smell of poopie diapers.
• He is outdoorsy and loves to take the boys to the camp.

• He has a fabulous sense of humor.
• He can fix and build almost anything.  If he can't, he will figure out how
• He sent me away on a girls weekend to San Francisco so he could spend extra time with the boys on Father's Day

So, what are some of the NON-OBVIOUS fabulous things about this man?  These are in no particular order...

• Neil does this thing around Christmas time that makes me so proud.  Whenever we go to Wal-Mart or another grocery store...he will get cash back and hand it to the clerk and say "Merry Christmas!"  It is the sweetest thing to see those faces light up!
• Other children look up to Neil.  He will even offer to pick other kids up to play with Bennett at the .park, for dinner, or just to play.
• He has been asked to be on the First Priority board in Shreveport.
• He used to wake up extra early and serve breakfast at the rescue mission once a week.  
• He saw the ladies that help clean our house at Wal-Mart the other day and gave them a Wal-mart gift card for their groceries.  He is soooooooooo thoughtful and compassionate.

What are some of the fabulous things about Neil that Bennett thinks??? (straight from Bennett's mouth)

• "That he cleans me up and takes me a bath, me and him go on a race and we pick out toys, and I get him Father's Day cups and I love him and that's all"

If this post seems like I am bragging...it's because I am.  I am so proud that Neil is the father of my kids!  Happy Father's Day to the best dad 2 little boys could ever ask for!

I love you, Neil!

SUYL Singles! Andrew, 27, Louisiana

I love that 8 couples have met and gotten married using Kelly's Korner's Show Us Your Singles!  I've never participated, but I am now.  Ladies, meet my brother-in-law, Andrew.  He is my husband's youngest sibling. Andrew is planning an unofficial Chive meet up at Bear's on Fairfield with bands and food all to benefit the victims in Moore, OK.



He is 27 and lives in Shreveport, LA.  He is a little nervous about me putting his credentials on the blog, but he is willing so that is a good thing!  I even took my blog off private to parade him around!

• He is 6 feet 3 inches tall.
• He was raised to be a gentleman...he has nice manners!
• He is a great uncle to his only 2 nephews... Here he is playing baseball with Bennett.

• He is a home-owner and is becoming really handy.
• He loves Saints Football and loves to attend games.
• He is family oriented...

Here we are on Mother's Day.  Andrew is the tall guy in the middle next to me and his sister, Rebecca.

• He loves to entertain.  He even had a Christmas party at his house the past 2 years. 2012 2011
• He likes to travel all around...he has spent time in New Zealand, Australia, and is going to Japan in December.
• He loves taking the boat out on the lake with friends.

Andrew and nephew Bennett

• He is funny and likes to tell stories.  
• He loves hunting and fishing and going to the camp.
• Our running joke about Andrew is he is a terrible gift giver.  He TRIES so hard, but never seems to get it right.  Our boys LOVE the trampoline he gave them...we didn't.

I like this sneaky pic I took.

If you are interested in this Southern Gentleman...please leave a comment with your name and e-mail address.  Match-Making is so much fun!!

Monsters Inc. Scarers

 The boys had a ton of fun building the Monsters Inc. Scarers at Lowe's on Saturday.  They have another one in 2 weeks that they will go to in Ruston.  I already printed the permission slip!  Henry really, really WANTS to be big.  He wants to be able to do everything Bennett can do.  He really tries. After Henry ripped the directions and grabbed the tiny wood pieces I took him to get light bulbs.

First, we have to open up the directions...

Dad gets it started and then Bennett finishes it.

Great job!

Henry loves this one, but he loves Bennett's even more.  And of course, Bennett does not want to share!

yeaaaaaaa!!!

Swim Lessons 2013

Bennett did a great job during week 1 of swim lessons. He is so happy and always has a smile on his face...even under water!

Bennett's Last t-ball game of the season

Bennett had his last t-ball game on Saturday.  It is not the team's last game, but it is Bennett's because we will be out of town the next two weekends.  He had fun and did a great job.  He really seemed to enjoy t-ball a lot more than soccer.  One thing I learned about 4 year old t-ball: the more dads the better!  We had 5-7 on the field and in the dugout during each game/practice.  It was fun to watch.  The coach said we won every game because we had the most kids!

Coach Jason and Bennett

Brother was TRYING really hard to enjoy t-ball.

goooooooo Bennett!

Goooooooooo Mudcats!

Team shot minus Morgan, Caroline, and John Rives

Anna Claire, Thomas, John, Sam, Bennett, Conrad, Jay, Keegan, Julia, Sarah Catherine, Roy, and Michael

Aunt Cloie

We went to visit and take dinner to Aunt Cloie on Thursday.  We love Aunt Cloie.  She is my grandmother's only living sister.  It is like going back in time at her house.  She has everything the exact same as it was 30 years ago.  I love her!  She even had a fire going for us in June! 

We took Monjuni's and chocolate chip cookies.  Bennett and Henry played the piano and played with a few little toys she had.  They really liked her guitar but that was off limits and they weren't too happy about that. We would have liked to go out on the pier, but it was pouring down rain. 

One of my favorite things at her house is a little crystal ashtray of confetti.  I used to send confetti for every season/holiday in ANY note or letter.  She saved most all of it and I'm sure some of it was from other occasions.  Looking through it reminded me of a few things...like the sombrero confetti that was mailed with my college graduation party invite...memories.

I think that fire might need another log.

This is what Henry did when I said no to the guitar. We are almost 2...can you tell?

Dad, Henry, and Aunt C

Bennett (eating an Andes mint) and Aunt Cloie

Dad, Bennett, Henry/me, and Aunt Cloie

We didn't even call each other about matching!