Halloween

Ellie and Grace decorating cupcakes at their friend Julia's Halloween party!


Gracie had a class assignment to decorate a pumpkin as current candidate, current or past president or something patriotic and do an oral presentation. She chose to do George Washington, it was a family project and we had so much fun putting him together.


"You're never too old to carve a sarcastic pumpkin and an emo pumpkin! Darcy and her friends decided to celebrate this year's holloween by carving different pumpkin personalities!"

Hanna Montana & Black Ninja (Gracie & Kennen Halloween 2007)

Belle Magnolia

Here is Bart's new getaway home which has been since moved to land in Magnolia Mississippi, which is how Candi got the notion to call it Bell Magnolia. Bart, Dad and the boys have been getting ready for hunting season and new pics will be coming soon. Another purpose for Belle Magnolia is to evacuate to during hurricane season but hopefully it will not be used for that purpose at all!!

What you do when you are evacuated...

make a tent in the hotel room...

fall in love with the dark haired boy dog...


still celebrate Labor Day...


sleep in the "no dogs allowed" hotel!!

Aunt Marie

I talked to Aunt Louise today and she said Aunt Marie is doing great and should be discharged in the near future from the nursing home (Maison Deville, Harvey, La). Aunt Louise told me that Autn Marie wanted very much to go back to her house on Ave B but has decided to take offer from Bobby and Donna to stay with them at their home for now, which Aunt Louise likes since she lives only 4 blocks away from them. Me and Lea' plan to go visit Aunt Marie tomorrow and will give another update soon.

Luv Ya!
Laurie

Hurricane IKE update

Monday Sept, 15, from Monica (Wendy's daughter)

We are just getting back up and running here in Houston. We were out of power from about midnight Friday until Sunday evening... what a great moment that was when the lights finally flickered!! We have minor damage: part of our fence is down, roof leaks, tree branches everywhere; but not as severe as some of our neighbors within feet of our house! There are many trees down on peoples houses and vehicles as well as severe flooding. Our area here in Cypress got lucky overall. So today we are in clean up mode, hoping the nearby stores open soon so that we can get food and gas.
Christine stayed at a friend's house and they lost power and water with the same type of minor damages. We are all fine though.

Monica (Sheeren) Sundbeck (Wendy's daughters)

One more thing... a great local website to see pics of Ike's damage is www.click2Houston.com

Aunt Marie update

Here is latest update on Aunt Marie from Aunt Gloria:

I called Louise tonight and she said Aunt Marie was going into a nursing home tomorrow. Louise said Marie was in a very delicate condition. She cannot walk, go to the bath room nor do anything that needs any energy. Louise said she died two or three times, she is very weak and doesn't have much energy. Louise has been going to Mandeville every day and is glad she is being moved to the West Bank.

Also Aunt Lil and Uncle West are back in their house after losing power from Gustav, they had been with Judy in Houston while power was out. Will be getting further updates on how family in Houston made out after Ike.

Luv,
Laurie

Gustuv updates

Updates from family e-mails:

On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 6:32 PM,

Aunt Marie has suffered a heart attack. She is in Laveview Regional Hospital in Mandeville, LA. ICU, room 8. She is not doing well. Her cousin Catherine Marrow, New Orleans, just called. They were in Mandeville together, at Catherine's son's home, when Marie became ill.

They are trying to locate Louise. I told them what you told me. Talk later, I will try to contact one of Carolyn's kids.

Love you, Gloria

Friday Sept 5, 2008
Jerry talked to Louise and Marie in the ICU this morning. They are trying to get her to West Jefferson Hospital in Marrero. I guess she is on the mend.

Friday Sept 5, 2008
Hey,

We got home yesterday evening from Natchez. Gary got home from trip about dark. He had to alter his way back through Alabama and Miss.The second night of our evacuation the city of Natchez had a blackout due to severe weather. Then there was a fire on the second floor about an hour after the blackout. No fire alarm sounded. We were all trying to round up all the kids and grandkids. We climbed in our cars and drove them to the front of the building closer to the road. Oh and the fire trucks went to the wrong Hotel next door. We sat in tropical storm weather with 45 MPH winds for 2 hours. Was led back into our hotel after smoke was blown from building. Still had no power couldn't open windows. No room service for another 24 hours. Only had generators for hallways and lobby lights. No AC.

H O M E S W E E T H O M E !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LUV
DEB

Saturday Sept 6, 2008

Bart, Candi, Laurie, Chris, kids,3 dogs and pet turtle come home Wednesday to no power! Exhausted and worn out a friend of Bart's that was still in Al. told him to try to get in his back door of his house in Marrero. And with the expertise use of a credit card he got in. We were happy to have a place to stay for the night!! Penny and Kenny came home to power on Thurs, but had a full house for those who still did not. Laurie, Bart and Lea' just got power back on Friday night. Brett came home Friday from Little Rock and did have power. No damage to our homes just lot of debris.

Luv,
Laurie

4th of July Parade

Here are some photos of Jerry DesRoche's Fire Engine in the Danville 4th of July Parade.
Jeanne

Cathy's daughter Darcy

Darcy Vallery (daughter of Cathy Hargis Vallery, granddaughter of Carolyn DesRoches Hargis) is a Senior at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She will graduate in December of this year with a Bachelors of Arts in English and a minor in Spanish with a concentration in Linguistics. She has two jobs, one is a work study job at the University's gym and the other is a cashier at a local grocery store. These jobs are, of course, only until she graduates, because when that happens, she is looking at several job opportunities. One of which is translating (Spanish to English) for the Lafayette Police Department. She is also toying around with the idea of teaching high school level English, Creative Writing, or Spanish classes. She is even starting to consider putting her argumentative skills to use by attending Law school after graduation, but, as mentioned earlier, she has several options with her degree, but hasn't really decided yet on which activity to pursue.

Darcy also plays the bass guitar (and a little bit of acoustic guitar) and is tentatively in a few bands. Nothing has been officially recorded yet, but updates will be made and the family will definitely be informed when this big step happens!

Although she lives in Lafayette, she visits New Orleans every so often to visit her friends and family. It's about a two and a half hour drive from Lafayette, but it's very routine and familiar for Darcy. However, she expects to stay in Lafayette after her graduation. She thoroughly enjoys her schoolwork, but predicts to be very busy with class and two jobs during her last semester, but after that, she hopes to have more free time to devote to music and other leisure activities.

Cathy's update

I am happy to let you know that Rachel fiance' surgery was a week ago today. They removed a piece of cancer the size of a walnut. Then took tissue from his arm to fill the void from where the cancer was removed. As the days passed, they removed
tubes, wires, etc. He was discharged yesterday;)It's a miracle. He is returning to River Ridge/home this weekend. He has to go back for future testing to make sure everything is okay but so far so good. Thanks for praying and caring. God must have big plans for him.

love,

cathy

Westbank Allstar Championship Tournament

Back in June we had an exciting summer evening as Brennan Des Roches (Brett's son) helped lead his team to winning the Westbank AllStar Championship! He pitched the first two innings, gave his arm a rest and then pitched the last two innings striking out about 5-6 batters!! They won the the final game 8-4.



Brennan pitching



Accepting his trophy!

Family Prayers

I got an e-mail from Cathy(Hargis-Vallery) yesterday to relay message that she will soon be sending pictures and family updates. Her daughter Rachel is working and taking an online class for vet school, however, yesterday her fiance' was having an 11 hour surgery for oral cancer, starting at 7AM, she will be sending updates on his recovery. Please keep them in your prayers.

Love,
Laurie & Cathy

Hello, Hi, Hey Yall!!!

HELLO DES ROCHES FAMILY! Let's try this again, I tinkered with the settings and now everyone should be able to post, comment and upload pictures. I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone! If you are just a bit unsure e-mail your info to me and I will do the rest.

Luv Ya!
Laurie

Graduation 2008

Bart and Candi's oldest son Blake graduated this past May from Shaw Highschool...Yeaahh!! He will be attending Nicholls State University in Thibodeaux, LA this fall. Not to be left out are Blake's little cousins who are mini-graduates Dallas & Dalton (Brett's twins),Ellie (Lea's daughter) and Grace (Laurie's) have all graduated from Kindergarten!!

Let us know if any other DesRoches kids graduated this year.




Blake and Proud Mom, Candi



Kindergarten graduate Dalton and his Dad Brett(picture of sis Dallas coming soon)


Kindergarten graduate Ellie, also has perfected eating crawfish!!




Kindergarten graduate Gracie loves the crawfish too!!