Last week in LA

I know that I haven't posted a blog in quite a while, but I've been trying to savor every moment of being home. We had a great Christmas and new year. We are down to our last week here (we fly out on the 13th), and I'm already starting to get homesick. I am looking forward to returning to Grenada to our new apartment where we can be a little family again. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy visiting with everyone, but it will be nice to have our own place again with no going back and forth to each of our parents' houses (no offense to our parents). I have already taken Macy to get her paperwork for the flight back, so she is all set to go. This last week here will be spent trying to fit everything in that we want to do before we are gone for 4 more months. I do miss my Grenada girls and am looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

Back in the USA

(Picture: Compliments of Google)

Cody, Macy, and I started our journey at 5:00am Saturday morning in Grenada. After standing in line for approximately 3 hours, we finally made it on the plane. Our flights went well until we landed in the Dallas airport. All of the flights going to Shreveport had been canceled due to rain and fog. So the airport provided us with a bus that would take us to Shreveport. It was bad enough that they took a 45 minute flight and turned it into a 3 1/2 hour drive, but then our bus driver got lost on the way which made it even longer. We finally arrived in Shreveport at around 11:00pm and were exhausted. We are having a great time so far. We got up and went to church with my family on Sunday for the first time in almost 6 months. We had lunch with my Mom on Monday, then I let the doctor take a look at a spot on my leg..Luckily it wasn't anything but a sunspot. Yesterday was a busy day..I took Macy to the groomer, which she desperately needed. Then I went shopping. I felt like a kid in a candy store. I loved being able to just drive around and go in any store that I wanted. Then last night, Ms. Tanya and I went and did the annual Christmas Run downtown. I had never done it before, but it was pretty neat because all of downtown was decorated for Christmas, so everything was all lit up. I almost froze my buns off since it was in the 30s, and I just came from a 90 degree climate, but I had a good time. Today we are going to pick up our niece and nephew from school to spend time with them and then head back to my parents' house for a couple of days. Cody has been hunting everyday since he has been home. He has tried to get me to go with him, but I just can't bring myself to sit in a deerstand for hours when it is 30 degrees outside. We are so glad to be home!

All Moved Out

We are finally all moved out of our beach cottage. The past few days have been the busiest that we have had in a long time. This is Cody's finals week, so he is busy with that. It all started on Monday after Cody's pathology final..We started packing up things in the house to prepare for the move. Then on Tuesday we started moving everything over into the new place. You wouldn't think that we would have a ton of stuff since we had to bring our stuff over in suitcases, but if you include all of the stuff that we had shipped from the UK and all of the stuff that we have bought here, it's a ton! Then after everything was moved and packed, I cleaned. I was up until midnight cleaning that house. Our landlord has been so hard to deal with lately, so I knew that he was going to be hard to please. I cleaned every nook and cranny in that house. Today we got up and came over to Matt and Maria's place where we will be staying for the next 2 nights. Then off to Chase and Lauren's for Friday night. Cody met with the landlord to do our checkout, and as expected, he was extra hard to please. So we might end up paying extra money for little things like a dark spot on the concrete where the car may have leaked, and a reconnection fee to reconnect the cable even though he told us to disconnect it! I know..it's ridiculous! I wouldn't pay it if it was up to me, but the problem is he will just take it out of our deposit, so there's not much we can do about it. Oh well..I'm so glad to be gone from that place to where we no longer have to deal with that man. We are landlords ourselves since we rent out our house back in Louisiana, and I would never think of acting this way to our tenant. I am now stress free..no more cleaning or packing. Now we'll just be hanging out with our awesome roomies who are so graciously letting us stay with them! Cody still has two more finals, but nothing too hard. We fly home on Saturday morning and are so excited!

One Week!

This is a picture of Cody and Macy at the Shreveport Airport on our way to Grenada..hard to believe that was 5 1/2 months ago! Today is exactly one week until we fly home. There is so much to do before then. Cody has finals next week, so he has been busy studying to prepare for them. As for me, well we are moving our stuff into our new place before we leave, so I will be preparing for that. This week will consist of packing, cleaning, moving, taking Macy to the SGU Small Animal Hospital to get her health certificate for the flight, and hanging out with the girls before we all leave each other. I am going to the SO End of Term Social this afternoon on the beach. It will be good to get some more rays before our grand entrance back into the States. Today Cody and I have been talking about all of the places that we would like to eat at when we come home. Trejo's is at the top of my list..as always! Cody is craving some good ole Outback! Then maybe we'll have some Marble Slab or some Great American Cookie Cake for dessert! We are so excited to be back home after almost 6 months of being away. It has been nice to be in a tropical climate and to live at the beach and pool, but it will be nice to have to pull out our sweaters and coats for a change. Macy is looking forward to wearing all our her winter gear as well! We are really looking forward to stepping foot on US soil for 4 1/2 weeks..I'm sure the time home will fly by, but we'll enjoy every minute of it!

Our Last Girls' Night

Last night the girls and me, minus Lauren :(, had our last girls' night of the term. We went to True Blue Bay and Resort and had dessert. Although mine and Emily's frozen cake dessert tasted like coffee, Ashley's cheesecake tasted like sour cream, Maria's chocolate mousse tasted like it had banana in it, and Lyndzee's flaming banana...well, it was on fire, we still had a blast! After our not so satisfying dessert, we decide to head to Bananas for nachos and potato wedges...I will pay for that calorie splurge later! It was a sad moment though, because although we are together now, it won't be like that much longer. Ashley leaves to fly back to Utah tomorrow morning. The good news is that she will be back next term and will sort of be my neighbor. Maria will be flying back to the States as well, and her final destination will be New York for rotations...lucky her! Lyndzee and Emily are the crazy ones and are making the big move across the pond to my favorite place (notice the sarcasm) Newcastle, UK...where they will be doing the Global Scholars Program just like we did. As for the ones left, which is Vanessa, myself, and Lauren (which couldn't make it because she had to tend to her sweet little Maddox) we will be flying home to the States in a week and a half! I have had the best time with these girls the past 5 months, and I will be so sad to be away from them! I am so blessed to have been able to get to know them and have found true friends for life! I love you all!

Sunset Yoga at Laluna

Yesterday evening, I went with Maria and Emily to do sunset yoga. I have never actually done yoga before or been to Laluna, so the whole thing was a new experience to me. We got there a little early and walked around taking pictures. Laluna is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen. You totally feel like you are on a deserted island. The place that you do the yoga is under this huge hut-like building, and you are facing the ocean. It is the most peaceful thing ever to be doing yoga as you hear the ocean waves and feel the breeze on your face. After the yoga lesson was done we got into Maria's car, and it wouldn't start..the lights wouldn't even come on, which meant the battery was probably dead. Luckily the SO that teaches the yoga was there and had room in her car for one person. So I caught a ride with her and met up with Cody. Then we both came back and jumped off the car, and sure enough..it started! Even though we had a slight car incident, we had a great time!

The path to get to the yoga hut

The yoga hut with the ocean in the background...I can't believe we do yoga here!

The beautiful beach

Looking at the yoga hut from the beach

Maria, Emily, and me after yoga...the pic was taken at night and a little blurry

Thanksgiving in Grenada

Tonight we celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends. Although a bit late, we still enjoyed it like it was on the real day. Ashley and Blair had it at their place so they were in charge of the turkey. Ashley decided to cook the turkey in my oven, so I helped her prepare it. Five long hours later, the turkey was done, and it actually turned out really good! We are so blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives. We love you all!