The Adventures of Kiki and Miss Belle

During church last Sunday (1/25/09), I got a text from Dad that said "Can you pick up Adee for Mom?" My first thought was - Oh no! I hope something's not wrong! But then, I called Emilee and said I was on my way home from church and I could come pick up Adee and she told me that Adee had just wanted to come over and play with Tia (my mom) and Kiki (me). So, even though I was looking and feeling like I was on death's doorstep, I hopped over the Em's house and picked up my little look-a-like.

As soon as I got there, she was ready to go. Her outfit was perfect - a skirt and t-shirt that didn't match with a pink hoodie with rainbows all over it and jeans. The jeans were apparently an addition required by Mom since it was cold. I wish I had a camera! Too cute! Em told me she wanted to come play at my house. Who doesn't feel special when someone wants to come play with you? It doesn't matter if you're 5 or 25, it's nice to feel wanted and cool enough to hang out with!

So, we drove the mile and a half to my house. The whole way she would ask what song was playing on the radio and what the name of the street was. We didn't really go that far or make too many turns, so the answers were often - "Still the same as the last time you asked."

We got to my house and she asked - "Where's Tia?" Ah man - she didn't want to just play with me! Oh well! But, since Mom was busy trying to get stuff together for her calling, Adee got to be my little shadow. We picked out nail polish and painted her fingernails and toenails. She insisted on "rainbow" but I was able to convince her that we could have rainbow toes, but not fingers. She always likes to play with Kiki because that means she gets her fingernails painted AND she gets to watch a movie on my iPod (it's the only way I can keep her still enough to paint and then let it dry!).

After painting, we decided to have dinner. I went all out and scrambled up some eggs. She was loving that! She also got to enjoy some Chex Mix and cheese and apples with caramel dip! Balanced meal, right? I think I'm her favorite because I let her eat salty snacks as part of dinner. Heck - I like salty snacks as part of my dinner, so why deny her the joy too?

After dinner, we got ready for bed. She didn't want to sleep in one of the boys' t-shirts, so I went on a search for pajamas. I found a pair of size 8 SpongeBob pj pants in the bottom of Gavin's dresser (um....Gavin wears an 18.....pack rat!). She was tickled that she could wear them. They were a little long, but she was happy not to sleep in her jeans. We CLIMBED into my bed - it's almost taller than Adee - and snuggled up under the covers - about 3 blankets! We read 3 stories and then turned out the lights. She was worried that she might have a bad dream, so I told her to make sure that she woke me up if she got scared. Not 5 minutes later, she was telling me she had a bad dream (lie - she didn't even fall asleep!). I gave her a big hug and we closed our eyes and tried to sleep. It took her a while to fall asleep, but once she did, she was out for the night. I had to get up early to take Dad to work and go to work myself, so at 6 am, I sent her to climb in bed with Tia and our sleepover fun ended. Tia got to get her dressed for school and have breakfast with her.

I had a blast! I love that little girl. She was the one who gave me the title of "Mama Kiki" almost 4 years ago when I went to stay with her and her big brother while her little brother was born. Since she called all girls "Mama" and added their name, I would be "Mama Kaycee," but Kaycee is a difficult name for a 2 year old to say. When she said my name, Logan said it sounded like Kiki, so he started referring to me as Mama Kiki and the name stuck. It has since been shortened to just Kiki (although Brigham added a Tiki to it randomly today - Kiki Tiki).

Adee has quite the personality and spunk - and she has deep, dark chocolate brown eyes like me!

I love Miss Belle!

I needed something to spice up my life...

So I got bangs!

On Tuesday, I was driving home from work and caught a glance at myself in the rearview and thought - I haven't done anything crazy with my hair in a long time. Maybe I'll get some bangs. Lo and behold, one of the girls from my branch posted in her facebook status that we should call if we wanted our hair did. So, I did and this is the result....



I have gotten tons of compliments on the bangs, but Mom is still adjusting. I definitely like the bangs! Dad says I look completely different and it's such a small thing. I'm excited because now I figure people will stop with the "you and your mom look like twins." We really don't, so this should help! Not that I'm offended to look like Mom, just that I like to be me!

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.....

New Orleans trip (Part 1)

Oh girl....let me tell you what....

That trip was crazy! Lots of driving and lots of food!

We drove down Wednesday a little later than planned since we had to drop Mom's van at the dealership. While there, I visited with a girl from the Branch I hadn't seen at church in a while. It was fun. I miss her. The trip commenced at 1:30pm and we were off. The first stop - Natchitoches French Market Express for a potty and some meat pies and crawfish pies. Yum!

Then we hit a gas station in Breaux Bridge and I got a Hubig's Chocolate pie and a Barq's Red Creme Soda. Rejoice! These are such easy things, so I can't understand why Dallas is missing out! We got to Aunt Rite's around 9pm and started working. We got stuff together for Thanksgiving and started planning some reception items.




Yesterday was insane! We got in the car around 9:30 to head out. We stopped for food and realized that we left purses and wallets at Aunt Rite's so back I went. Then, we had to fill the Grape Jelly New Orleans-style Buffet. What is that you ask? Well, it's my car filled with all sorts of deliciousness from our favorite New Orleans places - we had shrimp po-boys, Bud's Broiler, Hubig's pies, Cafe du Monde, crawfish balls, and of course some Barq's Red Creme Soda! Holler! I love me some food. It was a good thing the buffet was well stocked because we didn't get home until 11pm. Yes, you're scratching your head going 9:30 - 11 that's over 13 hours...what happened?

TxDoT! That's what happened! They have a personal vendetta against me since the whole TxTag business (which still is NOT fixed by the way). Outside of Tyler, the traffic slowed to a halt and then down to one lane for construction. Really folks - one lane on perhaps one of the busiest travel days of the year? HELLO??!?! They weren't even constructing or anything. The lane was completely drivable - they just were storing some orange barrels (a theory once proposed by one Natalie Summers entitled "Orange Barrel Storage" has really come to be fact in my life). So we spent over an hour going less than 10mph and went a total of 7.8 miles in 1 hour. Fun! I was extremely bummed because it was Gavin's birthday and we had a party all planned with a "Sons of Provo" viewing that was cancelled. TxDoT - you shall know my wrath!

More to come....a Thanksgiving Feast, Shrimp Po-boys, Taco Tico and of course the whole reason we went - Megan and Justin's wedding!!

I love fried almost as much as I love free....

And that's why I had to go to the Texas State Fair!!!! What an adventure in fried foods and fun! There's fried everything - including Pralines, Corny Dogs, Funnel Cakes, Grilled Cheese, S'mores, Oreos, Snickers, Banana Split, Chololate-Covered Strawberry Waffle Balls, Pineapple Ice Cream, Espresso, Chocolate Truffle, Bacon (Chicken Fried to be exact!) and Jelly Belly Beans! And that's not even a complete list, just what I could remember!!! MaryAnn had to have a fried s'more. Michael had funnel cake. I enjoyed the greatness of Fried Pralines with Bluebell Ice Cream and Chocolate syrup on top. Oh the joy of fried! We also went for the traditional turkey leg (which Michael and Emilee shared) and I had some sausage - y'all know how much I love smoked sausage!

Of course there was more to the fair than the food - a car show, a light show, a blonde ditz show (Jessica Simpson performed - "I gotta pee y'all!"), and pig racing. We rode the Texas Star - the giant Ferris Wheel - and just had a grand time with a C4 Krewe - MaryAnn, Emilee, Alicia, Ben, Robert, Angelar, Chris, Suzanne, Michael, and myself.

Enjoy the pics....