New Orleans Trip (Part 2)

To continue....

On Thursday I awoke to the sounds of one Elijah Garcia. Oh my goodness - a built in alarm clock with personality! Who could ask for more? :) The feasting began for us with a trip to Danny & Clyde's (a gas station) for Shrimp Po-boys. Mmmm! Delicious! Then, we feasted with the fam. I think that Thanksgiving should be called the Feast of Butter - because everything has butter. We enjoyed vegetable casserole, mirliton dressing (my favorite), cornbread dressing, fried turkey, carrot souffle, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, coconut pie, cheesecake, and I'm sure more but that's what I can remember. I was stuffed! We had planned to hit up some of the other places on our New Orleans eating list, but there was no way! I talked with Brandon (the best man) for a good while about watches and cars - his 2 loves. We were then sent on a run for more butter! (The salad needs more butter Mother!) I fell asleep on the couch watching "Clue." Good times.

On Friday, I was woken up by my alarm clock and to the lingering smell of deliciousness. I had some for breakfast - more mirliton dressing please! We then headed over to Covington to visit Pops and Nana for another Thanksgiving feast. Nana made turkey, dressing (my 2nd favorite), green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, smoked beef tenderloin, and cheesy cauliflower. Oh the joy of food! We ate and then walked over to see the status of construction on the new house. The house is awesome! It has a wonderful wrap-around porch, a huge family room, open kitchen, dining room and a master suite on the main floor that will eventually be surrounded by large windows and french doors. The upstairs has 2 large bedrooms and attached bathrooms for guests (um - me?). The property is all woodsy. Pops had the trees removed by crane to leave the smaller trees and brush. We took a walk through the woods to the Bayou. That was neat. We saw a snake. And I remember why I should never try to fix my hair in New Orleans because the humidity is my ever-triumphant foe! We went to Meg's Bridal Shower and I won the match game (matching French words to English - it wasn't really fair). Then, Em and I joined Meg and Helen, Cristina, Kate, and Ashley for a bachelorette party. Um, can we say uncomfortable? Yeah - Mormons don't really do these for a reason...Em and I then went on a quest for a new camera since her's was broken and met a nice man at Wal-Mart who let us have the doorbusters at 10pm!!! Holler! Mom stayed up late and made pralines and fell asleep while Aunt Rite working on Megan's dress. She awoke to the smell of Jambalaya and Aunt Rite still going. She didn't sleep! Crazy!

Well Saturday was a hurry hurry morning with everyone trying to get showered and ready for the wedding. We hurried, but somehow we were still the last ones out of the house. Part of the reason might have been the repeated calls for things forgotten. Anywho, we got on the road and then Mom remembered that she had promised Brandon a 1/4 of a pumpkin pie. He had asked for it because then it would mean that he had eaten a whole pie. He hugged her for it the night before and said - "Because your son would hug you for pumpkin pie." He knew how to get in her good graces! Well, because we had forgotten the pie, we hurried and turned around. We grabbed the pie and off we went, praying the whole time that we would make it. Well, they were running a little late and prayers were answered. We made it to Baton Rouge with time to spare and I didn't even go 100mph once!

Megan and Justin's wedding was awesome! It was so neat to see the entire Garcia family in the sealing room with them as they celebrated this happy occasion. Meg and Justin were so sweet and I'm so glad that we were able to be there for their special day. We then had a lunch catered by Aunt Becky and Uncle Kevin on last minute notice. It was good - there were cajun style hors d'oeuvres - mini meat and crawfish pies - and also the standards - quiche, roast beef sandwiches, veggie & fruit tray, and some chips. We took some pictures and then it was back to NOLA.

We stopped by Taco Tico on the way back. Why Taco Tico? Well because Mom had consumed numerous Chili Cheese Burritos whilst pregnant with me, so to this day I crave them! That and Taco Burgers. Are these really anything to gush about? Well, no, it's cheap Mexican food, but man I love me some Taco Tico.

After Taco Tico, Mom and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen. Uncle Faren and Aunt Cindy were also there. We kidded with Uncle Faren that we have to come to New Orleans to see him, even though they live less than 10 miles away from us! We talked and showed pics of Logan. Then it was off to the reception.

First though, we got a few emergency calls for music and food. We hurried and picked up some stuff that would be delicious covered in chocolate and I made a playlist for dancing. It was fun! There was wonderful food and it was great to see family and friends. Mom told Brandon that he owed me a dance for the pumpkin pie, but since he was off removing and replacing tires, the dance didn't happen....until after we had everything up and Brian played on his guitar while we danced. Wow! I'm that cool! We headed home and then Brandon, Kate and I went to see the new James Bond movie. I was very tired, but I managed to stay awake through the whole thing - barely. I went home and crashed and didn't wake up until the time we were supposed to leave on Sunday - hence, the leaving at 9:30am (see New Orleans Trip Part 1)

As you can tell, this trip was filled with food and fun, but mainly food! I would like to say that I was able to avoid gaining any weight, but with Butter Day and Grape Jelly's New Orleans-style buffet, I put on at least 5 lbs. No worries though - it's coming off this week in preparation for speaking in Stake Conference. I'm so nervous that food is the last thing I'm thinking of...well and nothing tastes quite as good as everything did last week.....