King Cake, Jackson, Mississippi

Ever since we got to New Orleans Ally had talked about wanting to try a King Cake. Apparently the King Cake is a traditional cake that is eaten during Marti Gras. We went to this store that is famous for the King Cake and yes it was well worth it......Mama was happy!

After walking around all day on his bad hip, my Dad finally sat down to rest for a minute, just then someone came by and put $4.00 in his cup and wished him the best.

The time had finally come to drop Mom and Dad off at the airport. It was hard to see them go, it was so good to see family again and to feel something comfortable and familiar from back home. We sure enjoyed them but I think they were ready to go.. life in the trailer can get a little stressful and they probably needed a vacation to recover. We said goodbye and headed towards Jackson, Mississippi. It was considerably out of the way but in the end proved to be well worth every minute and mile.

We have discovered State Parks. They are extremely reasonable price wise, they have everything we need, hot showers, electricity, sewer, laundry and are very well cared for. We also are able to catch up on the states history and historical sites which has allowed us to see things or visit things we would have never even thought of. Its also the off season so there are very few visitors and usually we have the parks to ourselves.

I have had to become a bit of a shade tree mechanic out of necessity, not bad for someone who has a hard time finding the gas tank.

Jackson, Mississippi Branch

This was one of the best experiences of the trip. The Branch meets in a little commercial building and has about 40 members attending. They are working so hard to grow their Branch to 75 because at that point they will be able to build a chapel. We were taken in as soon as we walked through the doors. After Church the boys asked if we could go back, they said they even got hot dogs, chips and sodas during primary,,, wow that is different. These members were so loving, meek and humble. We could tell it was going to be different from our home ward when the Bishop stood and said "good morning" and the congregation said good morning back. We also were surprised to hear random  AMEN'S shouted out during the talks and THANK YOU JESUS  during the songs.  Although different the spirit was so strong. Once  again there was an amazing  husband and wife couple missionary that had been there for a year and a half. It was their last Sunday and so they had a going away testimony meeting and BBQ after church. The couple was from Meridian, Idaho. My testimony continues to grow about the need and tremendous impact that couple missionary's can have on a branch, we seen it over and over again how they inspire and grow these branches.

sacrament meeting

The family went to a park in Jackson and the boys and I went out and started throwing the football. Next thing we knew 5 or 6 kids came over to see if we would play them in a football game. Obviously they hadn't seen us throwing the ball around and hadn't heard of my Centennial High School days. We decided to show them how we played back home . Unfortunately they showed us how they play here in Jackson, Mississippi. Needless to say, my back, hamstrings and any number of other parts still hurt. I was proud of the boys stepping up and playing hard, we had a lot of fun.

Didn't have to do shirts and skins, as you can see it was pretty apparent who was on who's team. Bunch of really nice guys!

Our cheerleader downing a beverage in her tiger tank top

Talking about next time....we'll really take it to them. None of us could move for a long time, I'm still waiting for feeling to come back in different parts of my body.