The Stewarts

Happy 2012!!

2012-01-07T12:41:00.001-06:00

On New Year's Eve we loaded up on the artillery, invited a few friends to come over, played some cards and blew stuff up! What a way to ring in the new year :) Hope it's loaded with new adventures!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

2012-01-03T11:52:00.002-06:00

So here is my oldest child playing with his Christmas toy ;) This is an Air Swimmer that you fly through the air by remote control. Pretty darn cool, actually!

My mom made these cute aprons for all the girls in the family this year. We just HAD to model them.

This is the four of us- yes, we missed Hunter TERRIBLY- at our Christmas Eve dinner. It was a very quiet year without him or any other family visiting, but still great with Bree in town to visit for a couple of weeks and the highlight of our Christmas day was getting to talk to Hunter on the phone for an hour. He's doing fantastic- not homesick at all!

Bree painted these cute Christmas string of lights on her and Savannah's toes! So creative :)

We worked on treats for the neighbors. Fun, fun, fun! And ate our fair share of junk!

We decided to go look at lights at Acadian Village which we haven't done in years. It was a beautiful night and I guess everyone else in Lafayette decided to go too. We waited in a line up of cars for one and a half hours!!!! All in all a wonderful Christmas!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-11T17:13:00.001-06:00

This was our 10th year in a row to spend Thanksgiving on the beach in Destin! The weather couldn't have been better!

We coooked up our usual feast, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Fruit Salad, Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Rolls and Banana Cream Pie for dessert! We all felt extremely guilty when we saw what Hunter ate for his Thanksgiving Day dinner (see his blog). It was awfully quiet without our friends the Nielsens and the Bridges there this year and of course, without Hunter :(

We went out for some Black Friday shopping, but this is at like 2:00 am instead of our usual 5:00 am. I'm not sure we enjoyed it as much staying up all night and being SO darn tired! But we still got some good deals.

I need to photo shop Hunter's face next to Rich's. It just doesn't look right in a family photo without him- but we still enjoyed our trip.

All About Savannah

2011-10-26T14:17:00.002-05:00

Well, there is something to be said for being the baby of the family. Yes, you get all the attention, especially when you're the only kid left at home. If you want to know what's going on with Hunter (Elder Stewart), you need to check out his mission blog- link to the right! He gives us great stories and pictures every week to post there. If you want to know what's going on with Bree, you need to check out her blog- link to the right! She's working hard at school and having fun, too :) I am super proud of all three of my children!! Since Sav is here, most of our activities have been revolving around her. She finished playing soccer with her club team by playing in a tournament in Baton Rouge. They played some super tough teams so they didn't come out on top, but it was great practice before high school tryouts which are happening this week. More details to come on that.

We have been busy with church activities and just had a Multi-stake Halloween Youth Dance. Savannah dressed up like a kid on Toddlers & Tiaras. She is complete with her ni-ni and pageant crack. (You have to have seen this show to know what I'm talking about- it's so horrible you just can't look away!) She is pictured here with her friend Sarah (the gangsta). They are holding glow-in-the-dark rats (I know, very random).

I Heart New York

2011-10-05T18:38:00.001-05:00

I really, really, really do LOVE New York!! My step father, Wayne, invited us to go on an awesome trip to NYC last weekend and we had an AWESOME time! (Thanks Wayne!!) Here are a few of the highlights:

We got there around noon on Friday, grabbed some lunch and took the subway to Chelsea Market. This picture is inside the market that used to be used for meat packing. Very interesting looking and some neat stores and restaurants. Rich is creeping in the background! We actually started doing this thing where we would see people taking pics of each other and Wayne would say "Do you want me to take it of all of you?" Of course, they say yes and then we would go creep in the background and make goofy faces. I know we're stupid, but we really cracked ourselves up :) Anyway, we went to this park called High Line that is built up above the city in an old railway station. Pretty cool.

Then. . . . the theatre going began!! Friday night we saw Brooke Shields in The Adams Family (she was a good actress, singing wasn't all that-the show in general was kinda dumb), Saturday night we saw Spiderman: Turn off the Dark (the set and special effects were AMAZING-acting and music just so-so), Sunday afternoon we saw Harry Potter in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (who knew he could act, sing AND dance?!- he was GREAT and this show was my overall favorite of the bunch!) and Sunday night we saw Rock of Ages (kind of like going to an 80's concert- lots of fun!) The picture above shows us with Wayne, my mom, his son Mark, his wife Abby and some friends of Wayne's that live there, The Peders.

Well we ran into this building while walking around Lincoln Center! It was actually opened and we went into the lobby. It was kinda cool because we got an email from Hunter while we were there so we sat in the lobby and read it out loud. We could go up to the third floor where there is a chapel and classrooms, etc. just like ours in Louisiana and I guess the temple is on the top three floors. Pretty cool.

Rich and I walked around Chinatown, Soho, Noho, and Greenwich Village and on our last day, Monday, the four of us took these pedicabs on a tour around Central Park. It was an excellent way to end our trip! We really saw soooo much and had a wonderful time.

It's Soccer Time!

2011-09-25T18:04:00.002-05:00

Savannah decided to play some club soccer again this fall. It's been pretty nice for Rich- he can sit back and relax without the pressures of coaching! She is playing with girls from her high school team so they can get a little more practice together before their season starts and get in shape. Sav has been playing awesome! She scored in her last game :)

They basically are only playing in two tournaments and some scrimmages. Very low key, just the way she wants it. Their first tourney didn't go so well, but her next one is in a couple weeks, so we'll see how that goes. Then her school team starts up at the end of October.

Sav also went to the homecoming dance with some friends. Doesn't she look too cute? :)

Pics that I love

2011-08-30T17:43:00.001-05:00

I know I'm their mother, but my kids are so cute! (handsome)

The first night all the family started coming in, we had a bad storm and the electricity was out for about an hour. This photo was actually taken in the pitch dark and Rich was being scary at the door.

Another photo taken in the pitch dark. Sav is scared of the lightning! (Not really)

Bree did A LOT of hair while she was home! But she's still smiling :)

Family :)

2011-08-30T17:39:00.001-05:00

We had a great couple of weeks before Hunter left. First, Bree came in town, then Rich's mom and our niece, Chelsi, then my mom and Wayne, the Nielsen's and my dad and Stephanie! It was sooooo great to have everyone here and I appreciated all the support! Wish we had more pics, though. This is Rich's mom, my mom, and Hunter's second mom Linda :)

Me and my dad

My mom and Wayne, chattin' it up with Gary Bowden

The cousins! (Two of the three triplets) Chelsi and Sav

Open House

2011-08-30T17:29:00.001-05:00

We had a little get together the Sunday before Hunter left and invited everyone from church to stop by. There really are some AWESOME people in the south!!

All about Hunter

2011-08-30T17:12:00.001-05:00

Hunter started his summer with a trip to Houston, then California, then Wisconsin, then Houston again and now he is on a two year trip to Africa! Be sure to check out his Mission Blog. We will be posting his letters and pictures there. You can find it listed on the right under Elder Hunter Stewart :) Hunter turned 19 on July 7th! Yes, I am a couple months behind and trying to make up for it all in one day.

Hunter also took a day trip with Rich to Denham Springs to use a Christmas gift- Tiki Zipline! Crazy kid!

Here's a pic of the last time Hunter was with both of his best friends, Clayton and Mikey before he left.

What a great day! Just ignore my strange posture.

Lazy Days

2011-08-30T10:27:00.001-05:00

Our trip to Wisconsin really was the ultimate in being lazy! We spent our time going to plays, going to the drive-in movie, eating out, reading in the hammock, and playing on the lake. And the weather could not have been better! Rich and Bree didn't get to come with us, but we managed to have fun without them. These pics are all on Clark Lake. Thanks Mom & Wayne :)

Oh yeah..... uh huh!

2011-08-30T10:25:00.001-05:00

You might have to be from Wisconsin to get the title of this post, or maybe just a guy named Wayne, but we sure had some fun repeating these words while doing all kinds of fun things in Door County. We are acting like kids (like we normally do) at PC Junction. It's a restaurant with a little train that brings you your food and has all these fun toys to play on out back. Note, that is NOT a beer in Hunter's hand, but his favorite cherry soda :) Even though he does look a little tipsy.

Hunter's favorite spot on Clark Lake

This was a really cool rope maze that we all got lost in. I think Hunter was the only one to figure it out! He was definitely the first. I went in circles, Savannah tripped while jumping over a rope and my Mom and Wayne just laughed at us. (just kidding)

On our last night there, we decided to go on a Ghost Tour. We are on a trolley that took us around to different spots in Door County that were haunted, like some houses, a cemetery and a lighthouse. We were lucky to make it back alive!! It really was fun and just a little spooky :)

Busy Summer

2011-08-30T10:13:00.001-05:00

It has been a very busy summer and it definitely wasn't long enough!! Savannah was probably the busiest with first girl's camp, then 2 weeks in Utah (1 of those weeks at EFY- especially for youth), 3 days at Youth Conference in Baton Rouge and then a week in Wisconsin! She also managed to squeeze in a driver's ed course and just got her driver's permit :0 - yes, that is my oh, no! face!!! Hunter had a busy summer, too, but he gets his own post (details to come). Below is Savannah and her three friends, Taylor, Ali and Sarah that all went with her to Utah. Thanks to Aunt Jen and Bree, they got to do all kinds of fun things. Thanks girls!!

Here they are driving the roads with Bree.

Rich gets his own picture from his trip to Las Vegas. He spent about a week there for a conference in June and spent some time with his family and out at one of his favorite spots, Red Rock.

Believe it or not, this is the only picture we have from Youth Conference. I take that back, this isn't even the dance from youth conference! This was the "Fancy Pants Dance" we had for several stakes before school started. I guess I was too involved with making sure things happened the way they should that I didn't get any pictures at the conference, but it seemed to be successful and us leaders had a great time, too (of course :))

GIRLS CAMP- 10 years and still going strong!

2011-07-03T18:14:00.001-05:00

Yep, this was my 10th year in a row at Girls' Camp for our church here in Louisiana! This is the group that went from our ward in Lafayette. Savannah is in front row and Rich even agreed to come this year! He pretty much worked his butt off and took TONS of pictures! I only posted a few:)

We went to a new place this year in Biloxi, Mississippi and the BEACH was right across the street! The sand was beautiful, the water a little murky, but we loved it anyway. We also loved this rubber chicken. These chickens were bought many years back for a girls camp activity and we found them in the stake closet. We brought them to camp and had a little too much fun with them! We took our "hike" down the beach and out to this pier.

These AMAZING pirates (ladies) are my two counselors and secretary in the Young Women Stake Presidency and we did a workshop about "Seeking Treasure." I KNOW we had MORE fun at girls' camp than most of the girls!!!!

Here is a shot of the beach across the street from our "camp." Camp in Louisiana is really more like a retreat where we stay in airconditioned cabins or dorms. My kind of camping in the buggy, heat and humidity :) Looks like I'll probably make it to 11!

Why do I live in Louisiana?

2011-06-22T09:07:00.000-05:00

Day 6

2011-06-18T10:53:00.001-05:00

This was our last full day in Paradise and we definitely made the most of it. Just off the road to Hana we stopped to do a short hike to the Twin Falls. Only one of the falls was running due to lack of rain, but it was BEAUTIFUL!!

Rich fulfilled his dream to swim under a waterfall in a pool of gorgeous water! Hunter was right there with him. The water was cold, but I got in there too.

That afternoon was spent on yet another fantastic beach- Big Beach- which is one of the top beaches in the world. The waves were crazy and we took advantage with our boogie boards!

Bree got in on the action, too. It was a great way to spend our last day on the island. "Mahalo" Mom and Wayne, for all the money & time you spent to make our trip really special!!!!!

Day 5

2011-06-17T12:19:00.001-05:00

We traveled WAY up high, even above the clouds,to the top of the volcano Haleakala. It was a little hard to breathe and I felt a little dizzy considering we're used to living at almost sea level!

Of course, we had to take some crazy pictures of our family looking like we are jumping off the edge of the world. It was beautiful up there!

Our afternoon was spent at another beach where there were dozens of people surfing, windsurfing, and kite surfing. It was super windy so we were being sand blasted on the beach, but it was worth it watching them doing all their cool tricks.

Then, we had an evening to take advantage of Bree, my personal stylist, to color my hair and my mom's. Don't we look GREAT!!

Day 4

2011-06-16T10:09:00.001-05:00

On this day, we started out by driving to Wailea and dropping the kids off at the beach. All of the adults (me, Rich, my mom, Wayne and Barbara) went into the Grand Wailea Resort Spa for some royal treatment! This place was incredible!! The pic above is at the resort, but we don't have any pictures of the spa itself. We spent time in these baths with different waters for your skin, spent time in these massage showers, jacuzzis and had our skin scrubbed with some other special stuff. Then we all had massages- it was heavenly :)

We met up with the kids on the beach afterward.

This is how Hunter started the day. . . . . . .

. . . . . this is how he ended it! OUCH!!!

Day 3

2011-06-15T17:01:00.001-05:00

I know it's taking me forever to blog about this trip, but life has been a little busy lately. (Those details to come in a later blog!) Anyway, this day we got up and went to this cool mall in Kahului to see some Hawaiian dancers. They put on this cute little show and then we wandered around and shopped a little.

Then we went to the upcountry to see the beautiful views. It's crazy how much cooler it is up there! Bree and I are at the Kula Lodge throwing pennies into a pond for good luck :)

Then it was off to the Lavender Farm to see more beautiful views and scenery and sample their Lavender Lemonade. I thought it tasted pretty weird. Later that night, we went back to the mall to see the movie "Soul Surfer" which we thought was an appropriate movie to see while in Hawaii. Except that it made us a little nervous to go back out into the water! (not really)

Day 2

2011-05-31T15:20:00.003-05:00

We got to meet my step brother's new little baby, Tela! They also have the rough life of living on Maui :) She's a cutie!

On this day we took a ride over to Lahaina to see a huge banyan tree and go whale watching (that's "whale washing" for you Modern Family fans! ;) ) But first we ate a delicious meal at a restaurant named Cool Cats.

Here we are on the boat looking for "sprays" so we could rush out to catch some whale sightings. . . .

. . . . .and here is one of many shots of a real life whale!! There were 5 whales swimming in a pod and we followed them around watching them spray, flip, and jump! It was CRAZY COOL!! What was NOT crazy cool was the little girl that threw up all over Rich's mom from sea sickness! Of course, then, she in turn, threw up 6 TIMES! But at least she made it to the bathroom. Poor Barbara, this whale watching was memorable for all sorts of reasons.

Day 1 in Paradise

2011-05-26T17:57:00.001-05:00

We got up early on Saturday (there is a 5 hour time difference for us, so it wasn't hard!) and went to a little farmer's market just across the street from my mom's neighborhood in Pukalani. Rich is enjoying coconut water from the real deal, just chopped open. As you can imagine, they have tons of yummy fresh fruits and veggies.

After that, we went to another market place in Kahului that sold t-shirts and such and delicious Italian Ice. Anyone who knows our family, knows we can't pass up a food opportunity :)

Next, was our tour of the set of "Lost" well, not really, but it did look an awful lot like it! This is the Iao Needle and we took a little walk/hike to check it out. Just BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!

This is Baldwin Beach where we spent the rest of our afternoon. It was VERY windy, but nice to finally enjoy the waves and some time in the sun.

Hello Maui!

2011-05-26T17:32:00.000-05:00

So I guess I said I had a lot of catching up to do on the blog so I would do a little everyday. Obviously, I haven't, but school is out and I'm ready to relive our family vacation to Maui over Easter Break! First, I have to add that Hunter had some other great news that got a little overshadowed by the mission call- He was accepted into BYU's Film Program!! YAY Hunter!!! They will put that on hold until he gets back from Africa but then he can start taking classes for his major. So this picture is after all the good news and off to Maui! We all met up in LAX (Rich's mom, Barbara and the 5 of us) for our LONG plane ride to Hawaii.

We got in on Good Friday evening and were met with these beautiful leis from a couple of Hawaiians (My mom and Wayne :))

This is the inside of my mom's house and her funny shoes you can wear inside to keep her floors clean. Nobody wears their shoes inside in Maui. I like that since I'm a barefoot kind of gal.

Rich is sitting on the back balony and you can see the view they have (sort of).

Elder Stewart?

2011-05-09T16:16:00.015-05:00

So life has been pretty eventful for The Stewart family the last several weeks! So much has been going on and I'm so far behind in blogging that I will have to do a little every day to catch up. First of all- Hunter put his papers in for his mission while he was still at BYU finishing up the semester. His mission call was suppose to arrive the day before we were all meeting in Hawaii (more on that trip to come). So he had it sent to Jennifer's (Rich's sister) house in case it didn't make it before he had to leave. Well, it came so she and her kids drove it down to his dorm so he could open it before he left. (She is so AWESOME!)

He has it in his hands. . . . .

He called us on skype and had a dorm room full of friends and family (Bree was there, too) . . . .

He is reading it . . . . .

. . . and he is called to serve in the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission!! (That's in Africa, in case you are like me and had to look it up) He is to report to the MTC (missionary training center) in Ghana on August 6th, 2011! I think he was pretty freaked out at first, but probably not any more freaked out than his Mom :)!

We are all getting used to the idea now and so, so, so PROUD of Hunter and his decision to serve a mission for our church! We will miss him, but we know that's where the Lord wants him to be and he will be an awesome missionary. His second mother (Jennifer) brought him this Oreo cake (his favorite :)) for the big day- thanks Jen, did I mention how great you are?!

Roller Girls!

2011-04-16T21:45:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago I went with my friend Tanya to see our friend Christi (aka "Holy Stitch") skate in the Roller Derby! We had quite the experience at our first bout! We sat in the "crash zone" for the second half and had a great view of all the pushing, shoving and general mayhem. The Acadiana Roller Girls won and we will definitely make a return visit to cheer them on!!

Weekend Getaway

2011-04-16T21:30:00.001-05:00

Rich gave me a weekend getaway/shopping trip to Houston for Christmas and I finally decided to cash in on my present! We went a few weeks ago and stayed at a very nice hotel with (fake) champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting in the room! DELICIOUS! Also delicious was all the food we consumed while there. We shopped all day and watched movies all night-what a fun and relaxing treat:) Thanks Rich!! XOXOXO

Outstanding Player

2011-03-18T11:01:00.000-05:00

We went to Savannah's high school Soccer Banquet last Wednesday night where she was honored with three awards! She played on both JV and Varsity teams this season so she lettered, her teammates voted her Outstanding Offensive JV Player and her JV Coach gave her the Coach's Award for Outstanding JV Player! Here she is with her friend Amberly who also won a couple awards. They have played soccer together on a club team since they were little. We're so proud of her :)

Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo!

2011-03-13T15:18:00.000-05:00

I am so blessed to be able to work with the youth in our church! There is no other place I would rather be- probably because most of the time I act about their age :) We got to take the youth from our stake on an awesome trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to learn about the early saints and plenty of church history. Because I'm a stake leader, we had the "pleasure" of making the menu and purchasing all the food for 60 people. This was no easy task for someone like me that doesn't even like to cook for 3! But my friend Claudia (who is my 2nd counselor in the stake YW presidency) and I drove ourselves up a day early and ended up with 5 heaping shopping carts full of food. I know we looked hilarious and this is the back of her car STUFFED to the top! The closest Walmart is 30 minutes away from where we stayed so we did two trips that day so we wouldn't have to go back.

This picture was taken in Carthage, IL outside of the jail where Joseph Smith (prophet and president of our church in the 1800's) was being held and was killed by a mob of nasty men. These were all the leaders and youth that went on the trip from my ward.

Me, Amy Kemp (my secretary) and Claudia in front of the Mississippi River where the early members of the church had to cross when forced out of their city, Nauvoo.

Some good times back in our condo as we had a lettuce food fight while making sack lunch sandwiches for the youth :) We picked on the Young Men leaders the whole time! (I told you I act like a teenager) Seriously, the trip was so awesome- we had tons of fun, but left with such a great appreciaton for the early saints and what they went through so that we could have the gospel of Jesus Christ today. This group of youth are the best I have ever been with and just behaved so well and have great spirits about them! With all the temptations that are in the world today, it's great to see young people with high standards who know who they are and stand for what is right! It just makes me smile :)

This one's for Wayne

2011-02-22T17:31:00.000-06:00

We know we're a little late blogging about the Super Bowl, but we had to add this picture for Wayne, my Step Father, because he is a cheesehead! And we did actually watch the game and root for Green Bay sporting our Wisconsin souvenir :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2011-02-15T12:40:00.000-06:00

This is what I woke up to yesterday on my mirror in the bathroom :)

Savannah made these delicious heart shaped sugar cookies :)

We had our annual "red" dinner to celebrate the day. This year it was cheese tortellini covered with a red marinara sauce, raspberry jello with redi whip, salad (with that purplish weed-like lettuce junk) with craisins and raspberry vinagrette dressing, chocolate dipped strawberries and red gatorade. (I know, the red gatorade is so classy and romantic- but that's the way we roll)!

And lastly, I must include a picture of my favorite valentine's gift- someone thinks I rock!!!! Hope your Valentine's day rocked :)

Ready for some HEAT!

2011-02-09T10:48:00.000-06:00

I don't know if it's just because we've spent a lot of time outside watching Savannah's soccer games or what, but we are tired of being COLD all the time and we're ready for some HEAT! It has once again been an unusually cold winter for Southern Louisiana, but Sav doesn't seem to mind playing in this weather. Her JV team did very well this year winning all but two of their games. Her Varsity team won a few and lost more, but managed to squeak their way into the playoffs. They played last weekend against the number 10 ranked team in the state (they were ranked 23) over near New Orleans and lost 3-0. They held them at 1-0 for most of the game, so they actually did better than the score sounds. Savannah had a lot of fun and scored several goals so it was a good season.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!!

2010-12-31T22:54:00.000-06:00

Well, I thought I ought to get one last blog in before 2011, so there's nothing like waiting until the last minute! We had a wonderful Christmas with Bree and Hunter at home, as well as my mom and Wayne visiting for a few days. We have so much to be thankful for! My mom made Hunter this t-shirt quilt from all his old soccer and high school shirts. I think he loves it :)

Here's the crazy Stewart kids together again! (notice Rich's head looks like an alien coming out of Hunter's stomach)

We ate WAY too much, but you can never have enough popcorn.

Wayne got us all these punch balloons and we had tons of fun with them. I think they might be a new tradition. Speaking of traditions, if you want to see this year's run through the wrapping paper, check out Hunter's blog (to the right). He also has a sweet video of us all freaking out with our punch balloons. We are always so amused by the simplest of things :)

Soccer Time!

2010-12-06T20:03:00.000-06:00

Well, it has been 7 months since anyone around here has played soccer (this doesn't include Hunter at BYU) and High School soccer is now in full swing. Savannah plays on JV and Varsity for Comeaux High. She had a tournament near New Orleans this weekend and played FIVE games in one day!! (3 JV and 2 Varsity) The really cool thing is that she scored the winning (and ONLY) goal against the first team that Varsity played. I guess she hasn't lost her touch :) Her JV team played all varsity teams from other schools and didn't win any games, but her Varsity team won two and tied one. By the time this tournament was over, she had bruises, scrapes and very sore muscles. We are proud of our tough little girl!

Height disadvantage ?!!

What are you thankful for?

2010-12-01T13:18:00.000-06:00

There really is SO much to be thankful for and the blessings were really overflowing this Thanksgiving! I didn't think we'd spend it in Destin this year and I didn't think we'd spend it with Hunter and Bree, but one morning I couldn't stand the thought of missing out on both these things and the kids flew home and we were off to Florida once again! This sunset is crazy beautiful and just reminds me to be thankful.

We took some family pics on the beach and this was one of my personal faves.

Another personal favorite :)

The weather was so incredible this year that we didn't have our Thanksgiving dinner until it was dark. I'm always thankful for the food, too!

More Destin Pics

2010-12-01T13:06:00.000-06:00

Hunter got to see his buddy Clayton while we were there.

This is what we ate for lunch on Thanksgiving because it was WAY too nice outside to be indoors cooking! (I don't recommend Whataburger, but it was the ONLY place open)

Sav got a haircut! I think Bree should open a Salon on the beach :)

My girls duped me yet again to go shopping on Black Friday- it's fun to spend time with them, though!

And more Destin pics

2010-12-01T12:57:00.001-06:00

This storm rolled in one afternoon- a view from our balcony.

My cute/crazy girls on the beach :)

Hunter pretending to eat a nasty jellyfish we found.

Rich and Jill out for a morning walk.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T15:57:00.000-05:00

Well, what do you do when your kids are too old for you to dress up for Halloween? Dress up yourself! :)
Rich and I had tons of fun at a Halloween party this year playing our alter-egos. Please enjoy the pictures below.

Little Brother

2010-10-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago my little brother came to visit because he had a work conference in New Orleans. This was his first time in Louisiana so we had to show him what we do for fun :)

We wrestle alligators! We actually went on a swamp tour at Lake Martin and our guide caught this alligator that we all got to hold. (Well, maybe I didn't hold it, but I touched it ) It bit some old dude's finger when he tried to hold it.

We eat hot stuff! We went to the Tabasco Factory where Rich and Rendell posed with this hot pepper eating fish statue.

We drive old man creeper cars! Not really- but this is what the rental car place gave Rendell to drive! Savannah said it looked like a creeper car so she sat in the roomy trunk to prove it. We ate some good old Cajun Food and had a great visit. We love to have visitors :)

A Halloween Project

2010-10-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

Since it's just the three of us at home these days, we decided to spend some quality time together on a Halloween project. Rich is really getting into it :)

Sav and I sampled the frosting.

Here's the finished project- good thing it's suppose to be a SCARY house!

Start spreadin' the news. . . . .

2010-10-17T22:10:00.000-05:00

So it's been awhile since we've posted anything on the old blog, but not a whole heckuva lot had been going on with the Stewarts. (Actually, Hunter and Bree have been pretty busy, but you'll have to check out Bree's blog to see what they're up to these days) Rich and I recently took a trip to. . . you guessed it. . . New York! One of my favorite places on the planet :) We met my mom and her husband, Wayne - who had never been there before- and crammed all kinds of fun into a long weekend. This picture is the view from our awesome hotel room smack dab inthe middle of Times Square.

We happened to find this restaurant where they filmed Seinfeld and decided we had to eat there. Once inside, we realized they only used the outside for the show. The inside was way smaller and looked nothing like the inside of the restaurant on the show.

Of course, this is my main reason for going to New York City- to see the EXCELLENT theatre!! We went to a show every night we were there, plus a spur of the moment matinee. Besides this show, we saw Mary Poppins, Promises, Promises, and Billy Elliot.

Here we are at the Top of the Rock observation deck. You can see Central Park in the background. This was a really cool view of the whole island. We also made it to the Statue of Liberty and a two day double decker bus tour all over the city. We were able to see quite a bit during our short stay. I'm already wanting to go back :)

Rock on

2010-09-12T20:01:00.000-05:00

This is where we spent Saturday night of Labor Day Weekend! Thanks to my brother-in-law Dave, we were treated to an awesome concert with AMAZING lighting! He has been on tour with Creed and their last stop was in the Woodlands (near Houston) so we drove over. He has been their lighting designer and let me tell you, he is excellent at his job! These pictures don't really do it justice, but I thought I'd post a few anyway. We got to sit by Dave in the light booth (along with the lead singer's family) so we had the best seats in the house. We also got to see the sound check with the band earlier in the day. Pretty cool stuff-

Savannah brought her friend Kasie and they look like a couple of groupies waiting outside the gates for Dave to let us in for the Sound Check party.

Here we are with Dave- He is married to my sister Jennifer. Thanks, Dave, for a great experience!!!!

Back to School!

2010-08-20T10:18:00.000-05:00

Savannah started her first year in high school on August 12th. I'm feeling sooooooo old! It's hard to believe we will have two in college and only one at home now. It's fun to see what life is bringing for my kids, but weird at the same time. It just doesn't seem that long ago when I was in college.

Sav had her ears pierced when she was about 5 years old and was playing soccer. She had to take her earrings out to play and I wasn't there to do it. Rich tried to take them out and made her ears bleed so she wouldn't put them back in after that. Well . . . all these years later she finally decided to have them pierced again.

Bummer Summer

2010-07-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted anything 'cause basically, there hasn't been a whole heckuva lot to blog about!!! I have really been just a BUM this summer (the first meaning of my post title) and we haven't gone anywhere or done anything very exciting (the second meaning). Yes, it's been a bummer of a summer. . . . for everyone except Hunter that is. I did manage to scrounge up a few pics from church girl's camp which was fun, but was at the beginning of the summer and definitely doesn't count as a vacation. This is me going down the water slide at camp, fearing for my life.

Here is Savannah with her group at camp that had to come up with a way to drop an egg from on high and keep it safe. It didn't make it, thus the sad faces.

Here is our group of girls at camp- I'm very sad because they just released me from being the YW President so I don't get to do as much with them. . . . But they called me to be Stake YW President, so I'll still go to girl's camp and other fun activities, just with MORE girls!!

Here is a pic of the youth working at a service project in our community. Hunter is doing some serious grass blowing. These two events are the only pictures I have from the summer so far. Savannah has been babysitting and we've been doing a lot of swimming in our pool, but that's about it. This weekend is Youth Conference so maybe I'll get something new to post. I'm going to have to borrow some pics from Hunter and his adventures this summer. He has been to Houston, The Schlitterbahn (a huge water park in New Braunfels, TX), Disney World and Universal in Orlando! In a couple of weeks, he'll be going with his two best buddies to Wisconsin for a week on the lake. I guess he's getting it all in before college life begins. Bree started back into college life for the summer term, so she is busy, busy, busy. I suppose I will continue to be a bum this summer- Sav starts high school in less than a month, so that will be the end of that.

Larger than Life

2010-06-06T21:32:00.002-05:00

If you happen to be in Broussard and driving down Albertson's Parkway towards the Youngsville Highway, look to the left of the road and Hunter Stewart will be larger than life playing soccer on a billboard! Rich submitted some pictures for a club ad and they chose a pic of Hunter! It's pretty cool- but it even gets better. The Acadiana Lifestyle magazine did an article about Lafayette Futbol Club and Rich submitted pictures for that as well and they put Hunter on the cover! You can pick one up for free at Albertsons if you want to check it out.

Inside the cover it says: About our cover: Hunter Stewart, a recent graduate of Lafayette High School, has enjoyed kickin' it for the Mighty Lions for the past four years. He's also played for "The Storm," a Division 1 soccer league in the Lafayette Futbol Club. He is the son of Rich and Jill Stewart of Lafayette. Photography by Rich Stewart, Lafayette Futbol Club. Then there is a nice article on page 26.

No more teacher's dirty looks

2010-06-01T12:51:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year and Savannah says a fond (or not) farewell to Broussard Middle School!! It all started with her last band concert, EVER! She has played the clarinet for four years and is completely done with it. She has been begged by many to continue her musical abilities in high school but she will have NONE of it! I guess it is time to put the old clarinet to rest after being played by both her and her sister Bree.

She played her last middle school soccer game, EVER. But I said "middle school"- she wants to play in high school. They didn't have enough girls to make a girls team, so here she is schoolin' the boys on the coed team.

This is just a cute picture so I thought I'd post it.

Savannah is at her last middle school awards program where she won "Outstanding Soccer Player," Runner -up for the Columbian Award (for leadership, community service and academics), and received a medal for doing awesome on the LEAP test (standardized test they take here and hound you about incessantly). Bye, bye middle school, hello high school !!!!

Family Time!

2010-06-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

The weekend of Hunter's graduation the whole gang went out to eat at Agave's downtown. Here's my dad and his wife Stephanie with Hunter. It was great to have them here!!

The weekend involved a lot of eating (as do most of our weekends :) ) so here I am with my mom and Rich's mom at Chris' for lunch! I was so happy to have them visit, too!!

My mom's husband, Wayne, was also here for the big event- he keeps us all laughing!!

Rich's mom was here to catch Savannah's last school soccer game of the season.

The Graduate

2010-05-28T23:06:00.000-05:00

It's official!! We are old. We now have two children who have graduated from High School! Here is Hunter in all his glory right after graduating last Saturday. Bree was in town, Rich's mom came, and my mom and dad and their spouses were all here. It was great to have some family around for the big event. (Those family pics to come) Hunter got to sit on the stage for graduation because he's smart. Not sure where he gets that from (definitely not me). He was in the National Honor Society and the National English Honor Society. We're darn proud of him!

Hunter's favorite food in the whole wide world is Oreos so this is the cake we thought he should have.

Just another grad pic.

Hunter's brother Lester from the Carribean also graduated that day :)

Happy Birthday Bree!!

2010-05-27T17:13:00.000-05:00

So I'm a little (a lot) behind on my blogging. . . Bree's birthday was May 17th, but we've had quite a bit going on around here. I will start with Bree coming home for a week. She flew in on her birthday and we celebrated that evening. It's always good to have her home :)

The old gang just all happened to be in town, as well. Megan and Emily were here for Heidi's graduation from UL and their brother's baptism. They suprised Bree with her favorite cookie cake.

The girls had to make a visit to Hunter while he was at work at O-Sneaux!

Hunter doesn't look excited to be in his hot pink/lime green snow cone shack!! Actually, he was aggravated at us for trying to take all these pictures when there was a line up of cars behind us :)

Prom!!

2010-05-09T22:03:00.000-05:00

Hunter went to his Senior Prom last weekend and here's a pic of my handsome boy :)

Birthday Girl!!

2010-05-04T17:13:00.000-05:00

Well, here is the birthday girl. . . .14 years old!! Crazy, right?! It is hard to believe she was a month old when we moved from Las Vegas to Louisiana. She really is our little cajun girl :)

Savannah had to spend her birthday traveling to Shreveport for her soccer team's State Final Tournament. The bad thing is that she got hurt playing in a school soccer game just days before and her ankle (cankle) looked like this . . . . .

She was on crutches for a couple days, but she can walk on it now. It's still swollen and black and blue, though. She went and cheered on her team and her coach (Dad) but they lost in the semi-finals after double overtime and a shootout.

Here's a pic of Sav playing in better days :)

Rich has cotton mouth

2010-05-02T16:30:00.001-05:00

Wait, I'm sorry, what I meant to say is that Rich has "A" cotton mouth- snake that is!! (Also known in these parts as a water moccasin- very poisonous!) I went out to clean the skimmer of the pool and this bad boy was lurking inside. Thank goodness Rich was home for this latest snake adventure 'cause I wasn't about to touch it! We didn't want any baby cotton mouths so excuse this gruesome pic but Rich killed it with a rock.

Mr. Movie Maker

2010-04-23T10:59:00.000-05:00

It's been good times for Hunter lately. His club soccer team took 1st in state for the second year in a row last weekend!! It was a very exciting game with a fight breaking out amongst a few of the players (not my son, of course :) ) and even some parents trying to mix it up. It all turned out for the best, however with a 4-1 victory for The Storm!

Hunter was voted "Mr. Movie Maker" amongst his Gifted and Talented Senior peers for good reason- below is Hunter's 1st place prize money for a contest he entered making a 30 second Public Service Announcement about the dangers of underage drinking. He also won 3rd place with another entry that won $500. His 1st place PSA will be shown in local movie theatres before feature presentations. We are so proud of our Steven Spielberg Jr. !!

Easter in St. Thomas

2010-04-20T17:25:00.000-05:00

So I'm pretty far behind in my blogging, but life has been CRAZY!! I'm going to try to catch up and I'll start with Easter in St. Thomas. This is one of our favorite spots on the island. I guess it's because our name is here on this bench (sort of). Hunter is down below it where the waves crash against the rocks. We spent 5 days relaxing at my mom's house and on several beaches and kayaking, hiking and snorkeling. I feel like we never went now that we've been back for a couple weeks! But it was AWESOME!!

More St. Thomas Pics

2010-04-20T16:46:00.000-05:00

Savannah jumps off the deck at Honeymoon beach on Water Island (a quiet island right across from St. Thomas)

Here is the view from my mom's deck- just awesome!

A view from a Buddist Temple on St. Thomas

Home Sweet Home

2010-03-25T07:42:00.003-05:00

We have been gone so much lately to soccer tournaments that home is sounding pretty good right now! We've been to Orange Beach, Alabama, (It was rainy and cold- well one of the days wasn't bad) Baton Rouge, New Iberia, and this weekend will be Alexandria! We still have New Orleans, Shreveport and Monroe left. It's crazy, but this will probably be the last year with Hunter going off to BYU and Savannah deciding to just play in school so is guess we should enjoy it 'cause I know we'll miss it when they're gone :( I'll post some pics from soccer when I get around to it. Some great news. . . .Bree just got accepted to BYU so we will now have TWO Stewarts running around that campus! We are soooo proud of her and all her efforts to get there. She is currently working in a salon and will start taking care of a couple teenagers (Yea!- a steady income!) and will start classes in the summer. She'll be a busy girl!

What a weekend!

2010-03-03T14:38:00.001-06:00

Hunter's high school soccer team made it all the way to the state final championship game and it was held in Shreveport, LA last Saturday night. Hunter and the team left on Friday morning after a big send off from the school with everyone cheering and the band playing. They had practice once they got there and saw the Division 3 final game that night in the HUGE stadium that they would play in the next night. They hung out together as a team the next day and watched motivational movies. They played the #1 ranked team in the state which is also #3 ranked in the nation- Hunter's team was ranked #6 and not expected to make it this far. They played a GREAT, hard-fought game and were tied 1-1 up until the last 2 minutes of the game. A controversial call made by the ref gave the other team a free kick and they scored and won- BOO! It was a memory that I'm sure Hunter will never forget and made for an exciting Senior year in soccer!

Warming up before the game

Hunter stepping out when his name is called before the start of the game

The sad, sad boys at the end holding their still VERY impressive Runner-up trophy!

Stewart News . . . .

2010-02-19T20:51:00.000-06:00

You are looking at the face of BYU's newest freshman cougar!! We just found out that Hunter got accepted into BYU for the Fall and we are all pretty excited about it! We are super proud of him and can't wait for him to have that experience like his mom and dad did :)

Savannah is actually smiling about her new braces! She got them on last Thursday and she's taking it all pretty well. I think she looks cute in them :)

Celebrate good times. . . .

2010-02-16T19:33:00.001-06:00

Come on! Today was Mardi Gras and we went to the parades and worked at the annual Boy Scout Fundraiser concession stand, but we really had cause to celebrate Hunter's school soccer team win last night in the quarterfinals for state!! It was an exciting, nerve-racking, 1-0 win! We don't have pictures cause unfortunately Hunter was still hurting and couldn't play :( But he'll have another chance to play in the semi-finals this Saturday against a team in Shreveport. It should be an exciting match up and hopefully a win. Here is Savannah with her friend Sarah waiting to catch some good beads!

Freaky people on a freaky float.

That's me in the red coat getting ready to catch that gold bead necklace coming from the float. (Yes, I really did catch it!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-16T19:09:00.000-06:00

Ever since my kids were little, we always had a family Valentine's Day Party with red food. We're still doing it, but not EVERY food we eat is red. We had Spaghetti, red jello, strawberries, green beans (not too many red veggies) and rolls.

Snow again?!!!

2010-02-12T22:37:00.000-06:00

This winter is getting ridiculous! It snowed (again) this morning! According to the news, this is a first for this area- two snow days in one winter in Southern Louisiana. Typically, we don't get any snow at all, so I don't know what's going on, but I'm ready for the summer. The snow was really coming down but not sticking to the ground.

Now for a soccer update . . . . . Hunter's team won their game last Wednesday night (4-2) and they will go on to the quarterfinals playing against a team from the New Orleans area on Monday night! This is a picture of his fan club at the last game. They made this sign with his nickname that started in 2nd grade. (Hunter played a shrub in a Christmas play :) ) Hunter got tackled by some dude from the other team that night and bruised the muscle in his calf pretty bad. Hopefully he'll be better in time to play in the next game.

A Winning Weekend

2010-02-10T16:14:00.000-06:00

The Saints winning the Super Bowl was great, but the more important win was the Lafayette High Mighty Lions!! Hunter's school soccer team won their first playoff game 7-0 (yes, they killed them) and will be going on to the Regional round tonight against their town rivals, Acadiana High. They have beat them twice before this year in district play to become the undefeated district champions so we are hoping for a third win against them tonight! This would move them into the state quarterfinals. Above is the starting line up- go #8! They are wearing jerseys from the 1980's for good luck. It worked in this game, we'll see about tonight!!

YW Under Construction

2010-02-10T16:00:00.000-06:00

These are some pictures from our latest YW group activity at church. This was our New Beginnings program and the theme was "Young Women Under Construction." It was a lot of fun! The girls sang a song about work, related tools to our values in our personal progress program, played a game and had a guest speaker from the construction business. We also ate some yummy sack lunches and watched a slide show from the past year.

Who Dat!

2010-01-28T15:35:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I NEVER watch football but if you live in Louisiana right now, it is all you hear about and I have to admit that I broke down and watched the New Orleans Saints last Sunday night. It was an exciting game and the thick, humid air is filled with anticipation as we near the Super Bowl. I've even caught the Who Dat spirit! (If you know me well, that is really saying something) Of course, all this Who Dat talk is really weird and makes me feel like it confirms the horrible grammer of Louisianians, but whatever, I've begun to embrace that as well. Who Dat! Who Dat! Life for us is still all about soccer and that is all we've been doing since before Christmas. Hunter's team has made the playoffs and they will begin next week- we'll keep you posted- in case anyone cares :) Mardi Gras is coming up and I'm sure we'll have some fun pictures to post from the parades. The kids have the whole week off of school so that will be nice.

Brrrrrrr!!!!

2010-01-08T23:35:00.000-06:00

Well, we have spent a lot of time outdoors over the holidays watching Hunter's soccer team play in two different tournaments one in Lake Charles and one in Covington (near New Orleans) and it's been kind of cold, but nothing even comes close to the game we went to tonight at his high school! We sat outside for two hours in 29 degree weather!! That might not seem cold to some of you, but this is Louisiana, y'all- we aren't used to this! I'm not sure how Hunter played in this, but they won their first district game 4-0. They ended up in the semi-finals in the other two tournaments only to lose, but they included the toughest teams in the state. Between the cold and and rain, this hasn't been a great season to watch or play in so far, but hopefully our weather will improve. We felt like we were packing to go on a camping trip when we were getting ready to go to the game. We had a thermos of hot chocolate, a portable outdoor heater, a sleeping bag, two blankets, stadium seats and layers and layers of clothes! It's all worth it :)
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Merry Christmas Y'all!!!

2009-12-27T19:44:00.001-06:00

Sav's favorite gift- SNUGGIE!!

2009-12-27T19:39:00.002-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas week with Bree, my mom and her husband Wayne in town! Here we are just before our Christmas Eve feast!

Wayne is CRAZY and provided us with this Santa message to help kick off Christmas morning :)

Hunter was excited to receive this gift! (and using his over the top dramatic skills)

My Mom made this beautiful quilt- notice Savannah in her snuggie in the background :)

We give thanks for the BEACH!!!

2009-12-12T19:56:00.001-06:00

Rich took this BEAUTIFUL photo of our favorite beach in Destin, Florida! We spent Thanksgiving for the 8th year in a row there and our friends the Nielsens and the Bridges met us there. We had beautiful weather and spent plenty of time on the beach. We also went to the movies, shopping on Black Friday and played cards in the condo. It was great and we can't wait for next year!!

More pics from Destin!

2009-12-12T19:34:00.000-06:00

Even more pics from Destin!

2009-12-12T19:27:00.001-06:00

Houston, we have a problem!

2009-12-07T14:52:00.000-06:00

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Hunter had a High School soccer tournament in Houston. Here are what the stands looked like for all three games they played! If you notice the umbrella on the right, not only does it have a gaping whole, but it is also blown inside out! Rich's mom met us there for a weekend of wet, windy, COLD soccer! She is the one with the umbrella by the way! I'm talking to her to keep my mind off the miserable weather :)

The soccer wasn't miserable, however, and Hunter (#8) and the Mighty Lions won two games and tied another. They came in second overall just because the other team scored one more point than them against another team. Oh well . . . .

Hunter's team is ranked #4 in the state right now, but I'm sure as time goes by they will move up.

Follow the yellow brick road . . .

2009-12-07T14:38:00.000-06:00

. . . to excellence!! This was the theme for an end of the year event for our young women group at church. It was such a cute event that two of the girls planned and came up with on their own. They did a great job so I wanted to post some pics from it.

Here is Savannah (Toto- actually in a cat costume :)) with her friend Sarah (the Scarecrow).

Here are all the girls (characters) after coming in singing down the yellow brick road.

Sarah and Sav again in front of the Emerald City!

Dazed and Confused?!!

2009-12-07T14:23:00.000-06:00

Well. . . .I guess we've been a little busy and I know it's Christmas, but here is one of our only pictures from Halloween this year! Savannah and her friends went around the neighborhood (she's a bubble bather in case you couldn't tell - most of her bubbles already popped and she lost her rubber ducky) just for the candy- I guess that's why every kid goes :) and after I took this picture, I dropped my camera and broke the screen! NOT cool! I just got it for my birthday last April. I'm still trying to get a picture of Hunter in his costume to add, but I have to find it. We had our annual neighborhood chili/potluck in someone's driveway and had fun chatting with the neighbors.

The Stewart Curse

2009-10-28T18:47:00.001-05:00

A long time ago, a curse was put on our family. I don't know who put it there and I don't know when it started, but it is there. We first discovered it many years ago when our hot water heater (which is located in our attic!?!) burst and it was raining in Breeann's bedroom. This flooded one side of the house. Later, we had a couple of toilet overflowage incidents which also flooded a part of the house. Another year, we had leakage from an air conditioner problem which also led to a flood. The greatest, latest flood in our home was the washing machine that broke and flooded the laundry room, pantry, kitchen and a part of the hard wood floors in the dining room. After replacing the carpet and being flood free for about a year and a half, the curse followed us to a hotel last weekend. Below is a picture of the hallway right outside our room. Yes, that's water!

Let me start by saying that on Friday morning I received a phone call saying that Hunter's tournament in Jackson, Mississippi was canceled. This was very sad for two reasons: 1- I really like to watch Hunter play and the experience of playing harder teams and with college scouts there would have been awesome. 2- Hunter was signed up to take the ACT in Mississippi on Saturday morning since we would be there. Well, since we are a gambling family, Hunter took his chances at getting in to take the test here in Lafayette and he hit the jackpot and got in. Whew! So off I went with Rich and Sav to Mandeville for her tournament instead. Below is Coach Rich getting ready to start a game.

This is Savannah ready to score one of the three goals she scored during the weekend.

Sav is in the middle - you can tell I took these pictures instead of Rich. I guess I don't "handle" Nikki (Rich's camera) as well as he does! Sav's team made it into the finals against a rival Lafayette team and they were tied at the end of the game. They went into overtime and the other team scored (boo!) so they ended up in 2nd place. They played EXCELLENT!

Now you're probably still waiting on the edge of your seat to find out about the flood in the hotel. (Yeah, right) The fire alarm went off at 6:00 am and as we were stumbling, bleary eyed out the door, some lady from across the hall comes running by telling us it isn't a fire, the sprinkler system just started going off in her room and was flooding everything. We found out later that the lady in the room directly below her had called the front desk 20 minutes before the alarm went off because there was a bunch of noise and jumping around going on in the room above. They had two little kids and they most likely hit the sprinkler and set it off. Good thing it wasn't a fire because the fire dept. showed up 30 minutes later to turn off the alarm and water. I think we've lost at least 30 percent of our hearing and the curse lives on!!

Soccer Update

2009-10-22T14:56:00.000-05:00

These pictures are from a tournament in Baton Rouge several weeks ago. Part of Hunter's team is above with their 2nd place medals. This was a premiere tournament, so both teams were playing teams (supposedly) above their level. They did well, considering. The highlight of the trip is below- sharing this yummy dessert from Chilis! :) Savannah had a tournament in Alexandria the week after that and her team tied with another to go to the finals, but they had lost to that team so they got knocked out. This weekend Rich will be with Sav's team in a Mandeville, LA tournament and I will be with Hunter in a Jackson, MS tournament. We are hoping for some great competition!
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Hunter plays in the snow

2009-10-07T17:42:00.002-05:00

Well, he did for about a month. Hunter got his first job at a snow cone place called "O Sneaux" (you really have to be from here to understand that spelling of snow) and it shut down after he worked for a month. I don't think he was the cause of the shut down, snow cone places around here are pretty seasonal. It will open again in the spring and Hunter will probably get his job back. We are just laughing about it, 'cause he finally went out and got a job and it only lasted a month. I guess he wouldn't have been able to work that much once his high school soccer team starts up which will be at the end of October. Anyway, that's the kind of snow I like.

This is really Scary!!(and it has nothing to do with Halloween)

2009-10-05T17:02:00.000-05:00

A while back we kept smelling this funky electrical type smell every time we would run the dishwasher. We just couldn't figure out what it was. I like to run my dishwasher in the middle of the night and we would wake up to this weird smell again. Now, I have been known to ignore things like this and just hope that they'll go away and sometimes they do. But most of the time, I find out what's going on because some major catastrophe occurs due to my ignorance. Well, we ran the dishwasher before we went to bed to try to discover what was causing this nasty smell and Rich opened the cupboard underneath the sink where the dishwasher and garbage disposal were plugged in and he saw a bright red glow. Yes, this is a picture of what was causing the mystery stink. VERY scary!! I really can't believe our house didn't burn down! The plug from the dishwasher was melted onto the outlet so the electrician had to cut the cord! VERY, VERY scary!!

Slip & Slide Dodgeball

2009-09-29T17:25:00.001-05:00

These are three not-so-great pictures of a church youth group activity- Slip & Slide Dodgeball. Hunter is in the background of the first one, that would be our bishop in the light blue t-shirt in the second picture, and Savannah in the third. We play this once a year and it's definitely a fan favorite! I've been known to run and slide across this thing- you really can't help yourself. It calls out to the inner child in you :)

Soccer Update: Hunter played his first tournament in New Orleans last weekend and his club team took first place! (Rich was out of town in Nashville so no Nikki pics) Both he and Sav will play in Baton Rouge this weekend. We'll see how it goes.

Hunter feels GOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!

2009-09-14T16:56:00.000-05:00

So here's Hunter after he had his wisdom teeth out. The funny thing is that he's totally faking that look on his face. He had like no reaction to the drugs, no loopiness, no crazy talk, no throwing up (that was good). But I have to say I was a little disappointed. Hunter is a pretty funny guy normally, so I thought I'd have some great stories about weird junk he said right after his surgery! We did make fun of his chubby chipmunk cheeks, though.

Savannah had some girls from church sleep over and the next day they decided to have a picnic making food from whatever we had around the house. I was pretty impressed! I was thinking we didn't have anything to eat, but they made a feast! It rained all weekend, so their picnic moved from the grass to the driveway.

Hunter had a soccer party a few weeks ago at the zoo. One of his teammate's family owns the Acadiana Zoo and let us use their banquet room. Yes, this is a real snake that came to the party. (Notice that nobody from the Stewart family is holding it or coming anywhere near it! - See prior posts about snakes and rats)

This and That

2009-08-23T14:55:00.002-05:00

That is basically what I've been up to since our last blog. Nothing earth shattering, but just the mundane things of life. The kids started school August 11th (way too early I might add) and that means back to nagging about homework and soccer practices and school volunteering. I've also volunteered to be Lafayette Futbol Club's registrar and treasurer so I've been frantically trying to figure out what I'm suppose to do so all the teams can start their season. We also had three tragic deaths in our church so there were funerals, luncheons, talks and musical numbers to be involved in. Just busy dealing with life. We caught another snake in our house with our mosquito zapper (thanks, mom) and I had to throw a dead rat over our fence with a shovel. Gotta love Louisiana! :)

One Fantastic Trip!!

2009-08-03T22:03:00.001-05:00

You have to start several blogs down (to A lot happens in 5 years. . .) to get the full account of our excellent trip this summer! But these last pictures are more junk we did in Salt Lake/Provo. Rich and Hunter hiked to the Y at BYU while the girls and I went to get glitter toes at the Cosmotology School. (We have our priorities!)

We had a little birthday party for Addison- She's turning 7!

We went with Rich's dad to the OQuirrh Mountain Temple Open House. That was pretty special!

We went to a water park with this cool little dude, Carter, who is definitely catching some rays :)

We were gone for two weeks and it's good to be home, but we already miss all of our family!

More stuff we did in Salt Lake

2009-08-03T21:54:00.000-05:00

Lots of hanging out with the family- Grandma and the triplets!

Walking around Silver Lake . . .

Roasting hot dogs and marshmellows in the canyon . . .

Jumping on the trampoline with Grandpa Stewart . . .

Park City

2009-08-03T21:33:00.001-05:00

We went to Park City one day to ride the Alpine Slide. The three in matching shirts are Savannah and her two cousins that were born in the same year within 6 months of each other. (all 13-years-old) They are referred to as "The Triplets!" You can see that Uncle Greg is keeping his distance.

Rich's mom is the wild woman in orange and his sister, Jen, is in green.

Here is everyone in the crazy Stewart Family! For another view of our family as the fictional McCrackens, click here to watch the video Bree made while we were on this trip for her film class at LDSBC!

Soccer in the Summer?

2009-08-03T21:08:00.000-05:00

Yep, we went to two soccer games, but our kids weren't playing, it was REAL Salt Lake pro soccer and the MLS All Star Game that just HAPPENED to be going on while we were in Salt Lake City. Hunter was VERY excited to be in attendance. That's Rich's little bro Jeff on the right.

One of the games was on the 24th of July (Pioneer Day in Utah) so they let us sit on the field and watch a firework show. It was almost as good as Hunter's 4th of July show :)

. . . on to St. George, Utah!

2009-08-03T20:54:00.000-05:00

After spending a few days in Las Vegas, we rented a car and drove to St. George where Rich's other brother, Jeff lives. We only stayed one night, just long enough to see a play at Tuachan- a totally cool outdoor theatre with a backdrop of the beautiful red rocks! This is Rich with his brother Greg and his wife Donna at dinner before the show.

We saw Footloose (the musical) and the kids took this picture 'cause the dude starring in it was from So You Think You Can Dance (last summer season- Thayne Jasperson) They didn't want to wait in line to get a picture with the real guy. I guess he's not THAT famous :)

My neice and nephew, Addison and Carter got to dance on stage during intermission.

This was before the show and you can see the beautiful rock.

A lot can happen in 5 years . . .

2009-08-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

That is how long it's been since we've seen some of Rich's siblings and their kids! And boy how everyone has grown up! We spent the last couple weeks catching up with everyone from his side of the family and we began in Las Vegas, our old stomping grounds. This was taken on top of the Stratosphere. Hunter informed us that when we lived here before and he was 3 years old, he asked if he could ride the rides on top of this hotel/casino and we told him, "maybe when you're older." I guess he's older now so we went to the top with his cousins and I happily WATCHED them ride :)

Hunter looks a little freaked out riding with his cousin Jordan out over the top of the city. In case you were wondering, yes, Rich rode the ride as well. Accidents or not, some people never change!

Savannah, Grandma Stewart, and cousin Chelsi enjoy the fountains at Belagio and the volcano at The Mirage. We had to go back and do the touristy things.

We all went to see The Phantom of the Opera at The Venetian. The Vegas style special effects were AWESOME!

My favorite place on earth . . .

2009-07-19T23:25:00.000-05:00

. . . the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A few days after we had company, Savannah and I took off for Pensacola Beach, Florida to meet Jackie, Clay, my mom, my sister, Jennifer and her husband, Dave, and her daughter, Zia. We had a great time hanging out on the beach, laughing and eating out. It is always sooooo relaxing! That's why it's my favorite place on earth.

Zia- my super cute little niece!

White sand and emerald green water- beautiful-

Sav enjoys shopping for shoes with her Uncle Dave :)

We love our relatives!!

2009-07-19T23:11:00.000-05:00

We don't have many visitors here in Louisiana since our relatives mostly live in the Western part of the United States, but my sister-in-law, Jackie and her son, Clay, stopped by on their way to Florida. We got to spend a couple of days with them and made our first stop at one of Lafayette's yummy restaurants, Riverside Inn. We fed the fish in the swampy pond while we waited for a table. If you've never tried a Sweet Potato Beignet, this is the place to have one! Excellent!!

We took a trip out to the ole Tabasco Factory in New Iberia and Sav and cousin Clay are being dramatic.

These next two pictures are at Lake Martin. It was hot and humid, but they had to see some gators while they were here.

Happy Birthday Hunter!!

2009-07-10T14:07:00.000-05:00

Gone are the days of the Pirate or sports themed parties! When you're a 17 year old boy, all you want is a giant cookie cake, your best friends from Houston to spend the week staying up 'til 4 AM every night with, and MONEY!! Happy birthday Hunter- we love you!!

Happy 4th!!

2009-07-06T19:43:00.000-05:00

This is what we saw above our heads in front of our house for the 4th of July! We had an awesome show (as usual) since you can buy any size and any amount of fireworks here in Lafayette :)

Our friends, The Nelsons, came over with their HUGE amount of stuff to blow up so it was double the fun! Not to mention that our next door neighbors who also fired off their fair share.

This is the demented tradition (for 6 or 7 years running) of Hunter and his friends Mike and Clayton. Every New Year's Eve and 4th of July they blow up baby dolls. I know, it's scary.

They are tying together 24 big ones to blow up all at once. I think there is a video of this somewhere on the internet. Good times.

Bree's visit & Emily's Wedding

2009-07-04T17:04:00.000-05:00

This was about as decent of a picture I could get of Emily and her new husband Kevin in front of the Temple. This was in Baton Rouge and Bree came home for it. She only stayed a few days, so we don't have too many pics.

We are at Emily's reception in Lafayette.

Here is "Big Sister" Emily with all her "siblings!" Those are the Nielsen boys with the Stewart gang :)

Something besides soccer in South Carolina

2009-06-30T14:08:00.000-05:00

Our favorite musical was playing in downtown Greenville at their huge arts center.

These falls ran in the middle of the downtown area - Just BEAUTIFUL!

Free performances of Shakespeare plays run at this park next to the falls. I'd love to be in one of these:)

This is the main street that runs through downtown.

US Youth Soccer Regional Finalists!!

2009-06-27T21:16:00.000-05:00

We finally have some good soccer photos! Rich got a new camera (We call it his new girlfriend since he's been spending so much time with her- Her name is Nicki) for Father's Day/his Birthday and we took it to South Carolina for the regionals. Hunter's team won for the state of Louisiana, so they went to compete in one of four regional tournaments in the United States. They were really just hoping to win ONE of their games and they beat Oklahoma, tied Florida, and beat South Carolina which put them in first for their bracket. Then they beat South Carolina (wild card) in the Semi Finals and advanced to play North Carolina in the finals. Unfortunately, they lost 2-1, but it was very close. This puts them in the top eight teams in the United States. We really had a great time with all the soccer families and seeing a part of the country we've never been to before. South Carolina is beautiful!! We are proud of Hunter and his committment to his team.

This was the opening ceremonies at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville. All the teams brought gifts to exchange and the Mardi Gras beads were flying! :)

More soccer pics!

2009-06-27T20:55:00.000-05:00

Emily needs a shower!!

2009-06-10T10:59:00.000-05:00

A bridal shower, that is! Emily Broussard is just like part of our family and she is getting married in a couple of weeks so a bunch of her family and friends threw her a shower at our house. Rich bought her the flowers all on his own. I thought that was sweet!

Here's Em with Savannah.

Emily opened a gift from her little sister, Alaina. We had lots of food and fun!

Girl's Camp!

2009-06-05T15:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know Girl's Camp is supposed to be about the YW, but we have as much or more fun than the girls! This is a picture of the Latrini Sisters. The people may change from year to year, but the Latrini Sisters have been making an appearance at the Baton Rouge Stake Girl's Camp for the last 8 years. We sing about things at camp to popular songs that the young women all know. Believe it or not, the girls LOVE this and we feel like rock stars! We are very serious about it and we choreograph each number and practice for weeks before. This year it was me, Claudia Thomas, Emily Broussard, and Jenny Bates. Rock on sistas!!

Savannah and her friend Sarah were Hannah Montana and Lola Luftnangle in our ward skit. I think Sav looks good with red hair!

We went to a camp called Woodman of the World in Forest Hills, LA and it was much better than the place we went the year before. These are girls in our ward after water games with their bishop.

Here's the whole group in their camp t-shirts (they are awesome!) with the bishop and branch president after a devotional. They brought us yummy watermelon to eat. Camp is always a blast!

Boy do I feel old! Part 2

2009-05-30T23:01:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Bree. . . .I am now the mother of a 20 year-old! I went out to Utah to visit Bree for her birthday and we had such a great time!

We went shopping, and shopping, and more shopping (Bree's favorite pastime :))

We went out to dinner with some of her friends and to the movies.

And hung out with Jen, Marty, Addison and Carter! Marty made ribs and Jen made her a funfetti cake. They are the BEST! They have done so much for Bree and we appreciate them sooooooo much :)

My baby is a teenager!!!! (Boy, do I feel old)

2009-05-10T19:29:00.001-05:00

I can hardly believe it, but Savannah is 13 years old. That means several things. 1) I currently (at least until May 17th) have THREE teenagers! 2) We have lived in Lafayette, Louisiana for almost 13 years! Rich, what ever happened to 3-5 years? 3) In 3 more years, we'll be paying for 5 people on our insurance! (Hopefully not, Bree, full-time job perhaps by then? 4) Well, I had Savvy when I was 30, so that makes me . . . .you do the math. . .older than I wanna be :)

Savannah had a swim party and sleepover with a bunch of her friends and graciously posed for this picture with her squirt gun.

Louisiana State D1 U-17 Champions!!!

2009-05-10T19:22:00.001-05:00

This is THE STORM- Hunter's club soccer team that he has been playing on for many years. They played in the finals for the state championship in New Orleans and they won!! They will now move on to the Regional competition and play in South Carolina on June 11-14th.

Here he is accepting is medal with his coach. Savannah's team made it to the semi-finals but fell short in the last 3 minutes of the game and lost. It was a tough loss, but she played great! Hopefully I'll have some pictures of that, soon. She is playing on her school team and scores goals at every game :)

I HATE SNAKES!!

2009-04-29T18:44:00.000-05:00

I was out in the yard over spring break when I went to turn on the hose and it MOVED! Yes, this bad boy was hanging out of the box where we roll up the hose and scared the heck out of me! I ran inside to try to get someone to come out and kill it - only Hunter and Savannah were home. I also had to grab my camera and snap this picture so everyone would feel sorry for us living here among the snakes. Nobody was very excited to kill it so we watched it as it slithered its way over to our neighbor's house and disappeared into a hole in the side of it. (Nice, huh?) I went over to warn them and they were gone. I went to the neighbor across the street to see if he would come over and kill it, or at least identify whether it was poisonous or not, and he wasn't home. Savannah went over to the girl next door who may like snakes and she wasn't home either. Anyway, Hunter finally decided he could take the shovel to it and we couldn't find it after that. I hope I don't have any holes in the side of my house.

A Perfect Weekend!

2009-04-22T12:21:00.000-05:00

Easter weekend was the first full weekend since the middle of February that we were able to all be at home together and it was GREAT! Rich and I went to the temple Friday night, the family worked in the yard all day Saturday, and that night we dyed Easter eggs.

On Easter Sunday, Rich deep fried a turkey after church, just before a windy rainstorm hit.

Our kids never seem to get too old to go on an Easter basket hunt. One of their clues was hidden in this box of Twinkies.

Their final clue led them to the shower and their baskets. Yes, Hunter is kind of dramatic. It really was a perfect weekend :)

I guana go back to our favorite island!!!!

2009-04-15T18:14:00.001-05:00

These pictures are from our latest trip to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. We went on March 25th and stayed for a week, just the two of us. My mom and her husband, Wayne live there 5 months out of the year. Don't you feel sorry for them? This picture was taken on our favorite beach, Morning Star. It is just down the hill from their house and you can see the cruise ships pass by in the morning and evening every day. It's awesome!! We also got to see the Rolex Regatta while we were there. About 80 sailboats race for two days and we had a great view from here.

My mom, Wayne and I enjoy the crystal clear water of the Carribean :) Aaaaaahhh!!!!!

Here is the "Iguana" I was refering to! These guys are all over the place on the beach and this one decided to take advantage of the lounge chair to tan in the sun. Brings new meaning to the term "lounge lizard!" (hee hee)

We love to eat out at new restaurants and Rich talked us into this new sushi place. Not a favorite, but you couldn't beat the ocean view!