St. Louis Part 2

For our last night in St. Louis, we stayed in a downtown hotel that was right across from the arch. We were even upgraded to a corner suite! It was the perfect way to spend our last night.

Off our room's porch

Our room was covered in windows and had the most beautiful view of the Arch and river.

waiting to go into the arch

St. Louis is such a beautiful city with its' old buildings. We had fun driving around town. We visited Union Square and had amazing seafood. It was sooo good. We drove around Lafayette Park and I was in awe of the restored Victorian mansions. Can you imagine living in one of these? What a romantic place to live!
The hotel had a pool on the roof so we had to check that out! Charlie was a little more warmed up to idea of swimming this time. You could tell he liked it the first night, but was very serious the whole time. He loosened up a bit this time. He's very serious in water--even in the bathtub. It's the funniest thing.

playing with dad

The wind was a little strong when you weren't right in the pool. Do you like Charlie's crazy hair?

That evening we went inside the arch. It was not at all what I expected! Riding up to the top in those little domes is nerve wracking if you're somewhat claustrophobic.

In the arch.
Charlie was out cold. View from the Arch

View from the arch

That night we walked around town and enjoyed some St. Louis-style pizza. Did you know St. Louis has its' own style of pizza? It is a super-thin (almost paper like), yeast-less crust with slices that are cut into squares and rectangles. The cheese is a combination of swiss, provolone and white cheddar. The whole time we were eating, we were trying to figure out what type of cheese was on top (which is why I had to look it up when we got home) All of this knowledge comes from wilkipedia :) It was incredible pizza, but I'm a fan of super-thin crust.

The next morning Tony woke up and took Charlie out of the room so I could sleep in. Is he a great husband or what?! We packed up our things and got ready for the 5 hour drive home.
The lovely smell of the kitchen garbage greeted us when we got home. I forgot to take it out and with it being 80 degrees inside, I think everything in it was cooked. We didn't go grocery shopping before we left so we enjoyed a dinner of tatertots, pb&j and some scrambled eggs. Very romantic.

It was a great little vacation and I would love to go back again.

St, Louis Part 1

We took advantage of the long weekend and went on a little vacation to St. Louis, MO! We had such a great time. I don't know what I was expecting St. Louis to be like, but it was better than what I imagined. It is so beautiful and there are lots of things to explore.
The first day we visited the Cathedral Basilica. I love the architecture and art so I was really looking forward to this. This cathedral (supposedly) has the largest collection of mosaics in the world. Every inch of the ceilings and a lot of the walls were done in mosaics. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

I didn't take any pictures inside so I googled it and found this one

Outside the cathedral

After our wanderings at the Cathedral Basilica, we headed over for Charlie's first zoo experience. Of course he didn't know it was happening, but it was exciting for Tony and I :)
St. Louis has an incredible zoo (and it's free). We spent the rest of the day there.

All ready to go!

Charlie loved spending all day with dad. It was so nice to be together as a family.

Watching the sea lion feeding

We were wiped by the end of the day!
See that bottle wedged in his stroller? I bought some of those overly priced little bottles of juice, thinking they may be a good distraction while we were out. They were worth every penny and saved our trip! Charlie started having a meltdown in our first ten minutes and after I gave him the juice, he was entertained the rest of the day.

After the zoo, we were so sticky from the heat so we headed back to our hotel for a swim. It was Charlie's first time in the pool and I think he really liked it!

I didn't realize I bought the girl version of this floaty toy. Oh well, Charlie will just have to do with the hot pink and purple. I think he's realizing the mistake in this picture.
It was a great first day!

Family Room

I've had a lot of fun arranging, shopping, etc for this room. Except for a few little details, I would say this room is finished. Those details just might turn into a summer project later. I'm thinking an old window frame would be awesome above the chair...still thinking of what to put inside it though....I love navy blue. I love navy blue and white. I love navy blue and white stripes together. I love the sailboat look of it, and I love sailboats. Which is why I love this couch in the sailor blue twill. No one knows it is "sailor blue" (well I guess you know now) but it makes me happy knowing that the name is sailor blue.


The couch has clean lines and is incredibly comfortable.


I found this black table at my favorite antique store. I don't know if you can really see the shape of the legs, but I love the curves they have. It's different and unique.

This little end table used to be brown with a gold knob. We painted it white and I found this cute little green knob to go with it. I absolutely love it.

That's it!

The Weekend.

Is there anything cuter than baby legs with cute baby socks?

It feels like summer to me. Everything is green, I get uncomfortably hot in jeans and the nights feel like they should be spent outside on a blanket.
This weekend was a good one. The kind where nothing is going on. Our weekend consisted of picnics, playing in the backyard, naps, Arrested Development Season 1, shopping, church....I think that's about it.

Classic

Saturday was extremely exciting because we purchased something I have been wanting for forever! A panini maker!!! No more toasting my bread for sandwiches, I will be grilling them on my panini maker. It is heaven. The inside of my mouth is a little torn up from the crunchy ciabatta bread, but I don't care. In fact, I decided that if I had to live on one food item for the rest of my life, loaves of ciabatta would be my pick. That and maybe cran apple juice or fresh lemonade?
We had to make our first homemade panini experience a good one, so we took a trip to buy the essentials: ciabatta, tomato, salami, mozarella.....are you drooling yet?I'm currently working on a summer to-do list. I love lists and crossing things off of them, so why not make a list for summer? It's consists of things I want to do to just to keep it interesting around here. Does anyone read Megan over at The Polished Pickle? (If not you should) I got the idea from her. She made a list similar and called it her "live list."
My Summer 2010 Live List it will be...I'm almost done. You should make one too!

Hair.

stringy, hair coming forward look

This kid gets serious bedhead.

mohawk in the front, middle and back look

He desperately needs a haircut. He just had one less than 3 months ago. I don't think my 7 month old should have to have his hair cut just as often as I do! However, I love the combed look on him-- his hair parted at the side and combed over. He's may hate me when he's a teenager but I think it's so cute!

Lesson Learned

Last night I had an experience that touched my heart. One where I felt like I had tapped into the real me. Do you ever have those experiences? Where you're doing something good and you think, "This is the real me. This is the me I want to be all the time"?

For months, our relief society president has asked for volunteers to visit an elderly man, who is deaf, who recently lost his wife. I never once volunteered to go. I guess I assumed that the people who knew sign language would be better, or that enough people were volunteering I wasn't needed. It wasn't until I was personally asked that I agreed. How selfish is that?

Last night we made our visit. Turns out this man lives just a block away from us. He enjoys children and loved holding and watching Charlie. We wrote messages back and forth on a notepad. He even read our lips well enough that we didn't always have to write to communicate.
We talked about his wife, how families are forever, Charlie and things we enjoyed doing.

As I looked around his home, I got teary eyed thinking that one day this may be Tony or I. Eventually one of us will be gone. We'll probably have pictures of each other scattered all over. I hope someone will come visit he or I.

We had a relief society activity that night so I went to that afterward. A thought was shared about service and this quote was passed out:

"I am confident it is the intention of each member of the Church to serve and to help those in need. At baptism we covenanted to "bear one another's burdens, that they may be light." How many times has your heart been touched as you have witnessed the need of another? How often have you intended to be the one to help? And yet how often has day-to-day living interfered and you've left it for other to help, feeling that "oh, surely someone will take care of that need."

We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we're doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the "thick of thin things." In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes." -President Monson

I think it's easy to find our cluster of friends and serve within that small group, while unintentionally closing our eyes to the needs that are around us.

Last night was a testimony growing experience where I re-learned that everyone is needed. I hope I don't have to keep learning this lesson over and over. It was a wonderful night where I felt like as a family, we grew together and for myself, I saw the person I want to be all the time.

Littlest Things

Sometimes the littlest things brighten your day.

Big blue eyes


with long eyelashes

Cute onesies

Beautiful things.

For some, sipping water from a straw is heaven on earth.


Picnics in the backyardCan you tell someone is teething?

Watching my two favorite people play together

What are some of the little things that make your day?