Maddie

I found this picture of Maddie sport'n one of mom's wonderful beenies and just wanted to share it...it made me smile.

Have a beautiful day, I love ya'll!!

Love from Louisiana

I went out and co-taught for the first time for the
Red Cross yesterday, it was a lot of fun. The class
was "CPR/First Aid for the workplace" The chapter here
is hurting soo badly for volunteers and $$$. After
Katrina and Rida, the majority of volunteers and even
staffed (paid) workers left; emotionally it was just too
much. Plus, so many people donated a lot of $$$ and
material right after the storms, that they aren't
donating any more. There is still a huge relief
program in place for so many of the victims. I'd
really like to get down to some of the areas to
witness with my own heart what is going on.

I've also started my training to be certified as part
of the disaster relief program. This includes
anything from meeting the needs of those involved in
single home house fires to natural disaster
victims. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm
actually going to get one-on-one training because
there is nobody else showing interest at this time,
and they really need help. Our Chapter oversees 9 parishes (a
parish is what we call a county in the west) and there are only 2
of them on the disaster team. I've started
working/training side-by-side with the director of the
disaster dept. Again, I'm VERY excited!

I know I talked about the weather a post or two ago, but man...we just don't see this stuff out in Utah, I suppose just like they don't see the snow...but the rain storms are amazing. Joni-it's a bit like the rain we would see in Haiti, but it will last for hours, with thunder and lightning. ;-) There was one night I thought there was an ambulance just outside our window in the parking lot with the lights flashing; NOPE...LIGHTNING! I have video of it, (I've got to take the time to learn how to get it on my blog) but the lightning was continually flashing. It was awesome!!

Scott and I will be getting or first real taste for Cajun Dancing tonight. There is a ward activity, Pot Luck and Cajun Dancing! We're excited! From what we've seen, it's a lot like the swing, so we should have a good start.

We're also going to start taking tennis lessons, yup, us, taking actual tennis lessons. W-E-I-R-D! Here at River Ranch they have quite the tennis program. We've talked about playing before, but now we've decided to learn the right way of playing instead of just guessing... :-) This is a good place to learn, I think our trainer/coach is from Brazil-if so, it will be fun to talk to him with the very little Portuguese that I know. Maybe learn a few new words. Tennis @ River Ranch

Bollywood

I've had a "thing" for India and those regions for years.  For the past couple of years  I've been listening and watching Bollywood entertainment.  I find it just awesome!  I love how evne though they join the Hollywood world, they keep so much of their own traditional ways of singing and dancing!

Here are just a few of my favorite clips. I get a good laugh as I watch them, I think you will too...  There are A LOT more.  If you have a minute, you shuld just cruz around on youtube and check some out.  :-)

Even if you don't enjoy this stuff the way I do, I hope you find some entertainment itn it.  

PS 

I actually LOVE world entertainment.  I'm always finding/looking for new ways to be culturally enlightened.  If anyone has anything they'd like to share with me, please do so!  

Links to videos:

Bollywood welcomes the 80's

Bollywood goes Western Cowboy

Bollywood Today

TUNKA TUNKA

Heavy Thunder Storm

Well, since we've been here I don't think there have been two days in a row that we haven't got rain. When we first got here we weren't seeing any lighting or hearing thunder. About a week and a half ago we started to get the thunder and lightning. It's awesome!!! But, it doesn't SMELL like I'm used to. (I remember England not smelling either when it rained...)

This morning was sunny and beautiful! The temperature was 75+.  I was anxious to get out and get somethings done, out of the house. I cleaned up the apartment a bit, did a little work on the computer and was getting ready to head out into the bright, shinny, WARM, weather and I kid you not, it was in a blink of the eye and it was dark! It was 1 in the afternoon and it looked closer to 6-7pm! The wind picked up and small drops of rain dropped onto the balcony. Within seconds those small drops of rain where FAT and HEAVY! The thunder rolled in and the lightning was flashing.

I recorded a bit on my little camera, but it could never do it justice. It was beautiful! Scott called not long after the storm had stared and told me he had heard rumor of a tornado watch along with the sever thunderstorm that had come in. He asked me not to leave the house for a couple of hours until things were calmer. Even if there weren't a tornado watch, the last time a heavy storm came in, there were parts of Lafayette that the flood waters were up to the windows of the cars. Now, from what I gather, this is nothing new to the folks who have lived here for quite some time and it's no big deal. So I'm not worried, but I did want to see if there really was a tornado watch. Yup, there is click here-Lafayettef weather We are on a tornado watch until 4pm. There is also flood watches for some areas as well.

Again, I'm HONESTLY not worried. But, I've been "feeling" VERY strongly about making sure we have our 72 hour kits ready and be as prepared as we can for any circumstances that may arise. When we went to Utah this past week, I made sure that we brought our larger, more comfortable backpack with us, along with many of our backpacking items that we carry with us when we've gone packing out in the great, and amazing mountains of Utah. I brought a few things with us when we moved out here, but now we've got better packs and more "provisions". SOOO instead of getting "out and about" (thanks mom) I'm going to work on putting our packs together and come up with a list of items that we're still going to need. :-)

Well, no fun pictures this time, but just wanted to update ya'all on our fun weather. Now, Utah...talk about about "fun" weather in Northern Utah...there is SOOO much snow! Scott and I actually saw some snow plow crews pushing snow back and trying to clear the snow off the sides of the road or level it out or something, because it was so high, and they were expecting another storm and the snow plows wouldn't be able to clear the snow because there was no were for the snow to go, except back on the road. ALSO there is a shortage of rock salt, there aren't many stores that have it. UDOT is having problems getting it as well. A statement came out saying that they had already had to buy more than the budget had allowed and they still need more. Crazy hu? Click here-Northern Utah Weather

Anywhooo...enough about weather, I don't know why I find weather to be so fascinating!