days 1 & 2: the crescent city--haunted tours and happy new year!!

*editor's note* I had this all done and ready to go last night, and for some reason I lost the last 1/3 of the writing, which I had to do all over again today--hopefully I'll get the next two done in the next few days, before I leave town again!!

So, when you go on vacation for 5 days (but really only 3 because of 2 days worth of flying) to New Orleans and you take 350 pictures, it's bound to take a while to get it all organized into a blog. (And remember, this is also my scrapbook, so there is plenty to put in!) For my own sanity, this blog will just cover days 1 and 2.

Day 1: 30 December 2008
On Tuesday, December 30, Janae came over around 9am for what I'm sure was one very looong week for her, but we were confident that she and the boys were going to have a great time. Daren and I headed out to the airport, got on our plane, and settled in for a nice long flight to New Orleans, via Atlanta, Ga. We paused for a moment of silence as we took off from Atlanta in honor of Daren's birthplace (his parents were stationed there when his dad was in the army). What a long day!! We didn't get in to New Orleans until after 7pm, so it was already dark. We met Chad (Daren's brother) at the airport, got settled in our hotel-located in the French Quarters-and headed out to see the town.


These two pictures greeted us at the Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans. I was sure hoping it was "gonna be sweet" for the University of Utah football team at the Sugar Bowl!! There were definitely plenty of red shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, etc. to be found wandering the streets!

Our hotel was only one block away from Burbon Street, one of the biggest party streets in America, I'm sure! To quote the girl I was sitting next to on the airplane to N.O., "What? You are coming to New Orleans and you DON'T DRINK?!?! Maybe it's time you started!" Well, we didn't, but dang, that was one crazy place any time of the day you went. There were plenty of cops around to keep peace and order. And that's it for day 1. I tried to be somewhat conservative with my picture taking because it drives Daren a little crazy, but after that first day I gave up on that. I had no idea that New Orleans was so old, founded in 1718, and to me it was one of the most beautiful places to photograph that I have ever been to. I could have easily tripled or quadrupled the number of pictures I took--not that I'm any good at it, but I do enjoy it.

Day 2: 31 December 2008--Happy New Year's Eve!!


After a nice long sleep-in, which NEVER happens at home, we met up with Chad and Dakon (also a brother of Daren's) to have breakfast (if you can call it that!) at Cafe Du Monde. We quickly found out that the long line goes fast, and that's because all they have are beignets (fancy word for a scone piled high with powdered sugar) and drinks. Yummy, but they can't be all that great for you!

Cafe Du Monde is on the edge of the French Quarter, right next to the Mighty Mississippi, so we wandered over to the river after our "breakfast." We came across this guy playing his saxaphone, and he started singing to me. After he was done we bought one of his CD's (hmm, where is that thing?!) and chatted with him for a bit. He told us all about Hurricane Katrina and how he had to walk blocks and blocks in the water, only to have to turn around and go back home to leave and go another direction. Then he played "Utah Man" on his saxaphone. Very nice guy!


In the afternoon we had a date with the Haunted History Tour group to go to one of the (many) cemeteries they have in New Orleans.

This is how the time was passed as we waited patiently for our tour to start. I took this picture of one of the houses along the way (it was a walking tour). It had some significance, but now I can't remember what it is!

The St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest cemetery in the city, est. in 1789. All the tombs are above the ground, and it has the nickname, "city of the dead" because they say it looks like a city from the air.

This is our tour guide, Shelby I think, standing by a very vandalized tomb. It is the tomb of Marie Laveau, a famous vodoo priestess--and obviously some vodoo is still going on there today. Photo 2 is just a neat statue on top of a tomb, and photo 3 shows how far back some of these tombs go--this person died in 1822!

And finally the row of crypts...I really could have stayed there all day taking pictures. I don't know how many times I thought, "The boys would love to see this place!"

These old street signs were all over the city.

The Basilica of St. Louis King of France, is the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the U.S. It was a beautiful building inside and out.

Right next door to the cathedral was the building where the 1804 Louisana Purchase was signed.

This is Daren's brother Chad's hightest aspiration for future employment. These guys were painted up and posing (sometimes to music) for donations in their bucket.

Burbon Street at dusk

We spent our New Year's Eve on a Haunted History tour of the French Quarters in New Orleans. Ben made me promise that I would remember all the spooky stories to tell him, and I tried to get a few pictures of the places--the goal was to get "white orbs" in your pictures, which were supposedly the ghosts, but...it didn't really work in my pictures. When I get Chad's pictures I'll put one in--I guess he's better at capturing the orbs than I am!

Photo 1: many years ago a doctor lived here. His mistress froze to death outside on the roof during a very cold and rainy night, while trying to prove her love for him. Some claim to see the ghost of a woman on the roof at night on occassion....hmmm.

The Ursuline Convent was the first girl's school in Louisiana. The story here is that a young girl had been locked up in a closet all day, and when they opened the closet she ran down the hall and jumped through the window (the one on the right corner) and fell to her death. After that they would close and lock the shutters at night, but mysteriously they would fly open, so now they don't lock them anymore.

Jean Lafitte's blacksmith shop was our pitstop halfway through our tour. This is one of the most well-known and popular tourist sites there in the French Quarters. It was built sometime before 1772. Dang! It is still the original building, but it is now used as a bar/restaurant.

Photo 1 was our tour guide's favorite stop on the tour. It's Nicholas Cage's house now, but it wasn't always. (by the way, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie live right down the street, but we didn't see any of them) So this is the final story of our tour--another doctor (what is it with these guys?!) and his wife kept many slaves at their house in a room upstairs. One night they were hosting a party when a fire broke out. When the firemen got there they rushed in, and almost as quickly they rushed out, trying not to vomit. They had gone in the room upstairs and it made them sick to see so many slaves in such awful conditions (one supposedly was skinned alive!). The pair escaped and were never found, but when the floor boards were being torn up, they found 70 bodies buried below them!

Photo 2 I took just for Ben's sake. He loves key holes, so I thought I would get a picture of this one that is upside down--supposedly put that way to confuse any ghosts trying to get in!

This was our great tour guide--he could pass for either Howard Stern or Slash from Guns 'n Roses!! It was a fun tour, but we were freezing by the time it was done, so Daren and I headed back to the hotel to thaw out, and to rest our weary feet. We didn't leave again, but instead watched all kinds of crazy stunts going on over in Vegas--did anyone see that guy jump his motorcycle up onto the Arc de Triumph there? And then free fall off of it going down? That was crazy!! We stayed up late enough to watch the fireworks at midnight out our hotel window. It was a very fun first day...or second; whatever you want to call it!

december dailys--sled rides and heading out

Since I couldn't possibly bore everyone with my way fun day of doing laundry and packing today, I'll just show you what we did yesterday. In the afternoon Daren hooked up a sled to the back of his four-wheeler and away they went down our snowy, non-plowed roads in front of our house.

Daren thought of everything for the boys--its no wonder they think he's the fun dad!! Part of the rope he tied on they got to hold on to and pretend they were santa in his sleigh!

They all had such a great time! Since this might be the last post of the year, I thought I'd wish a safe and way fun New Year's Eve to everyone. We are leaving tomorrow morning for a full day's flight to New Orleans, Louisianna, via Atlanta, Georgia, followed by several days of trying to take it all in. I can't wait, but I'll have to cuz it's time for bed now, so GO UTES!!!!!!
Sugar Bowl, here we come!

(so much for) december dailys--one crazy week!

Ok, I'm not sure what I was thinking when I tried to do this every day, and even though I didn't write every day, it was always on my mind and so I was still thinking about all the things I am thankful for at this time of year. I realized there is so much more I wanted to write about but didn't, so perhaps I'll give it another go next year...we'll see.



family party
I left off last week, so I'll start with the annual Mortenson family get-together last Saturday. This year we ventured outside of the house to go bowling, which the boys were so excited about. They had a great time with all their cousins and the rest of the family.

Ben was hoping for a strike, but still he didn't do too bad for not having any bumpers up. Will loved watching the ball come back every time, and Jake needed a little extra help from Daddy and the bowling guider thingy (which was NOT a great help).

Mortenson family bowling fun!!

We did eat lunch before we went bowling (Robintino's pizza--yum!), so when we got back to Grandpa and Grandma Train's house, the kids got together for the annual nativity reinactment...Ben played the part of baby Jesus this year. I guess it's time for someone (not us!) to have another baby, just to play the baby Jesus part!!

Jake and Sydney checking out all the little goodies on Grandma's tree! There were plenty of presents to open, and Ben and Jake loved getting new cars from their cousins.

These are all the grandkids so far...It was a very fun day, and thanks to Gpa and Gma for being brave enough to have everyone over!

sledding

We had the wierdest storm hit us Monday morning. We got pounded with snow out here in Riverton, but when I talked to Daren later that day, they hadn't had any snow in Salt Lake at his fire station. We weren't complaining, though, because Riverton usually gets the short end of the stick when it comes to snow accumulation. There was plenty of snow to go sledding that afternoon.

Will "borrowed" sleds wherever he found them on the hill, while Jake just loved to sit and eat the snow.

Ben and Eli, who just moved in around the corner (it's a miracle--a boy in the neighborhood!) have become fast friends. They loved sledding together. In picture #2 Ben is getting a kick out of watching Jake going off a little jump on the hill. We lasted an hour at the hill (which is right by our house--it's the driving range at the golf course!), and probably would have stayed longer, but there was an awful wind that started and was bone chilling cold!

christmas eve

My day started at 5:00am on Christmas Eve. My half-marathon is coming up in 3 weeks, and I have needed to get my longer runs in, so this was the day. We didn't go Tuesday because we thought there was going to be a storm, so we waited until Wednesday...so we traded in the snowy day for a more clear, and terribly windy/cold day. My computer said that morning that it was 11 degrees, but felt like -3, and I'm here to tell you it felt every bit that cold that morning!! JoLee and Teri were stars to come running on such an awful morning when they didn't really need to, so I am grateful to them. The group of friends that I run with are amazing, and over the years we have all been there for each other through good times and the bad too, and they are all great supporters of each other. I'm very lucky to have them as my friends. Anyway, we finished the 10 miles, and then it took me at least 1/2 hour to thaw out in the tub when I got home...in fact, I think I'm still trying to thaw out cuz I seem to get colder easier lately, which isn't hard to do considering the fact that we have hardly gotten above 25 degrees lately!!

The rest of the day was crazy and good. It's been nice to have the boys home from school, and they were really good just before Christmas. Our little elf, Zach, was gone Christmas Eve morning, so the boys were hoping he was heading back to santa with good reports!;) I asked Ben how he thought he had been this past year, to which he replied, "Ummm, about as good as last year. *pause...pause* I think I'll get what I did last year--a lump of coal and a few presents." Last year Santa left him some coal with a note that he had been a good boy, but that he needed to try more new foods. That Santa...he knows!

This year Daren worked at the fire station on Christmas Eve. It's something we are used to, and it's even pretty fun to go up and see him whether it's Christmas Eve or Day. So after dinner we went up to see Daren and hang out for a bit.

Christmas Eve also means Christmas pajamas, and I found the cutest ones for the boys this year--fleecy skeletons with santa hats on them. So this is the annual pajama picture by the fire engine. It got me thinking of another picture from a couple years ago with Christmas pajamas...

...so I started going through my pictures, and surprisingly found plenty of other pictures from other years.

photo 1: Christmas Eve 2004: Ben-3 yrs, twins 9 months. photo 2: Christmas Eve 2005: Ben-4 yrs, twins 1 year. photo 3: Christmas Eve 2006: Ben-5 yrs, twins 2 years. Daren didn't work either one last year, and he won't work either next year, so it will be lots of fun. (If you are having a hard time seeing the pictures, just double click on them and they will get extra huge!)

We made chocolate chip cookies for Santa, so Ben helped me get them out when we got home from the station. By the next morning they were all gone, except a few crumbs--santa must like our cookies!! We put them on a Polar Express plate that Ben got from Grandma a few years ago. And then the real fun of the evening began--finishing up the final blanket I made and putting out presents, etc. all kept me up until 4am. I think I'm still tired from that...

christmas day

The boys already knew that we all had to wait until Daddy got home from work to open presents, and also that they couldn't come upstairs until 7am, and they complied well on both accounts. We woke up to a complete blizzard that morning, so it really was a "white christmas" for us. Apparently it was the same kind of storm we had on Monday where those of us at the south/west end of the Salt Lake valley got nailed, while everyone else didn't get a thing. Daren said that on his way home from the station, it didn't even start snowing until he reached our exit at 12300 South. It was a blizzard most of the day too.

The boys were so patient waiting for Daddy to get home. They would go over, check the presents out, find their names and get all excited, and then go off to play. We had some breakfast, and then finally around 9:15 Daren got home. It didn't take long to get through all their presents because they were all so excited. Santa brought the kids what they wanted: for Ben a Nintendo DS, for Jake some play food (I know, really that's what he wanted, and he got play pot n' pans too!), for Will he got the "Little Tikes Land" DVD cuz that's all he wanted for the longest time, and for Daren and I he brought Guitar Hero World Tour for our PS3, and it's a blast, I must say! At the end I sent all the boys on a scavenger hunt to find hidden treasure chests which contained their new blankets I made. Daren got me a sewing machine as an early present so I could make these blankets, and they all turned out so great, if I do say so myself. And that's without any sewing lessons, which is saying something for me! I made Daren one too, a "go-Utes" blanket, along with Ben's camo, Will's fire fighter, and Jake's pirate blankets.

The Indiana Jones potatoE head was another favorite (Will's), and Ben loved the pretend-to-teach school set he got. That's what he plans on using the playhouse out in the yard for next summer!!

For the past few years Daren and I have been buying some bigger gifts at Christmas which cover that and our birthdays, anniversary, flag day, etc. This year we got a new HDTV with a tv stand and a book case to go on the other side of the fire place. This picture is mainly so my mom can see it...so, since that is supposed to cover our gifts, we aren't really supposed to buy each other anything else, but Daren surprised me, or more like SHOCKED me this year. I opened his wrapped box to find a long sleeve t-shirt and sweatshirt, with a card underneath it, which held this inside...!!!!!

WE'RE GOING TO THE SUGAR BOWL BABY, YEA!! It's not very often I get completely surprised; in fact almost never. So for Daren to pull this one off when I didn't even have the slightest clue was pretty amazing. We have our flights, hotel, and he even had the babysitter arranged. Janae is going to come stay with the kids for five days. FIVE DAYS!!!! It was brilliant, and it was so fun to be shocked out of my socks. Isn't he the best?!

After presents Daren went out to shovel the snow--Will said he wanted to help, but he just climbed and climbed all over the big piles of snow around. I took the picture of the playhouse to show the icicles hanging from it!

We had part of Daren's family over for dinner later that afternoon. Daren made the stuffed turkey breasts, and Susan brought over lots of yummy food too. What a day!

I just had to mention that JoLee and I ran the next morning, and it was one of the most amazing runs I have ever been on. There was new fallen snow everywhere and we saw hardly any cars that morning, so it was so peaceful and quiet and beautiful. I wish I could have captured it in a picture, but I'll never forget what a great run that was.

Ok, sorry for the loooooooooong entry. That's what happens when I let myself get a bit behind and I can't help but to write a ton of details!