St. Louis

For a long time my mom has wanted to go back to Illinois to visit some family that she has not seen in a very long time, including her cousin, aunt, and her grandpa. Finally, this fall my mother, brother, and I made the trip to visit everyone. They all live just on the other side of the Mississippi from St. Louis.


We had so much fun visiting and dining out. My mom and her cousin Laura seem like long lost friends. It is uncanny the similarities between the two of them, even though they haven't seen each other since they were ten!

Spencer and I with Laura's kids: Connor and Claire.

Another part of our visit was to visit my great-grandfather Carl Killibrew. The sweetheart is over 90 years old and still as sharp as a tack! We really enjoyed spending time with him and his darling wife Becky. They were wonderful hosts.

They took us on a beautiful drive alongside the Mississippi on a historic highway known as River Road. We still had some great fall colors on the bluffs. We ended up at a darling cottage called Pere Marquette where we ate lunch overlooking the river. Lunch was delicious. It all seemed very picturesque. I kept having the urge to read Mark Twain or imagined Huck Finn floating down the immensely wide river. They also showed us the house my great-grandpa built and the artillery factory where my great-grandmother worked.

Our last day there we spent in the city center of St. Louis. It is very interesting city. It holds a lot of history of old industrial America. Part of the city seems abandoned from past years of shipping and railroad expansion. It is possibly the least touristy large city I have been to, but still had an amount of Americana charm with its brick building and nostalgia of the American Dream.
Little did I know that the St. Louis arch was actually constructed as a monument to President Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, and westward expansion. The trip up the arch is not for the claustrophobic. Five people cram into a tiny pod and are slowly lifted up to the very top.

With few tourist sights to see, we made our main event a late lunch at Pappy's Smokehouse. Yet again, the Travel Channel pulls through with a winning restaurant. We definitely wanted good BBQ while we were there. When we arrived, the line wrapped around the restaurant. We patiently waited for at least an hour before we could order our food. Was it worth it? Yes, yes, yes! The best BBQ I have ever had. Everything was fall apart in your mouth delicious. I couldn't shovel the sweet potato fries in my mouth fast enough. Deep fried corn on the cob is exactly how corn should always taste.





Afterwards, we hit up the mall and forced ourselves to eat another delicious meal at the Cheesecake Factory for mom's birthday.

Although it was a very short trip, I was so happy to be able to do this with my mom. Our great grandpa is such a character. And my mom's cousin and her family are great fun. It meant a lot to my mom to go visit everyone. It's nice to know that no matter how long you are apart, family always turns out to be great friends. {At least in our case} :)

Deadly Ever After

I daresay this was the best Halloween we've ever had. Daniel usually has to work until midnight on the last day of the month, which spoils Halloween and New Years, but this year the weekend before turned out to be convenient enough to throw a party. :)

I'm a big fan of dressing up, perhaps its from my ballroom years, but I always find it fun to dress up fancy for a special occasion or crazy for some party. We decided we wanted to throw a "murder mystery" where everyone could get super dressed up and have a good time. I found a website where I was able to download a party set that gave us clues, character, and directions. Made it all really simple! "Deadly Ever After" was one of the favorite themes we came across and once we selected it the party just came together!

The mystery began with a trivia quiz on all the of characters present. We had Rapunzel & Robin Hood, Evil Witch & The Count, Hamlet & Juliet, Sherlock & Red Riding Hood, Prince Charming & Belle, John Silver the Pirate & his lady, and Alice & the Mad Hatter.

{AKA: Roni & Aaron, Kelsey & Eric, Zach & Gabby, Mike & Lara, Spencer & Jess, Zach & Lizzy, Ashley & Daniel.}

I was so impressed with everyone's costumes. I thought at first we had gone overboard, but everyone looked so great! Daniel's sweet mom made my dress and it was perfect! I really really need to learn how to sew. We pieced Daniel's costume together from the DI, online shopping, and...my socks.
The face paint really adds the extra touch on Daniel.


By the end of round one, everyone was really into their characters. Spencer was yelling out against the accusations that he stole shoe styles from the victim. Daniel jabbered away just like the hatter. And Kelsey, the witch, freaked everyone out every time they turned a corner! Look at that face!

At the end of the night, we discovered that John Silver had in fact killed our victim Scheherazade. I guess she found out that he liked to knit, and the pirate couldn't risk his reputation! {I was certain it was Juliet}


We voted on the Best Costume, Best Character, and Best Food. Daniel won best costume, I won best character (I think the british accent pulled that one off for me), and Gabby and Zach won best food.
Turned out to be a great party. Thanks to everyone who helped. Also, it must be noted that I won monopoly for the first time in my life that night. It's not often I bet Daniel at games like that.

Arkansas: Part Two

Thursday:

Daniel had his first of two networking lunch dates. He had lunch with his brother-in-law Jason and some accounting guys from Wal-mart and Sam's Club. They ate lunch at the fancy new Sam's Club new home office, which apparently isn't much different than the lunch counter at your every day Sam's. However, he did get to partake in some taste tests for samples they intended to use at their store. He says their blueberry muffins were the best thing he sampled.

I got to go out to lunch with all the girls. It was really fun. I love a good girls date. Thursday we went to this cute little place call the Green Bean. I ate the healthiest salad I've ever had. It had the most wild variety of fruits and vegetables on it that it did not even need dressing. If only I could eat like that every day!

Thursday night I got to go with Erin to her book club. I hadn't read the book, but it was still fun to visit and hear what everyone had to say. I tried to talk them into a few of my favorite reads, so we'll see if they try them out!

Friday:

Daniel had another lunch rendevous with Jason and a friend. (He now has quite the extensive business card collection). We girls went to a little sandwich shop near Jason's office. Another tasty treat. Afterwards we hit up the mall. Hannah and Bella were just thrilled to sit and throw coins in the fountain, but I think Erin and I were far more entertained by all the cute children's clothes we found.

Once Daniel met up with us, we check out the Razorback store. Hannah and Bella were so blasted cute--I told them to say "woo pig sooey" when they put these on and they said it so loud that the whole store stopped, stared, and giggled at their darling display of team spirit.

Friday night was Hannah's kick-off soccer party. All the kids met Jason, their coach, and got their Pepto-Bismol pink team jerseys. They also had huge inflatable slides that entertained the girls over and over again. I just had fun snapping pictures of their expressions as they slide down.

Bella was extremely brave. She wanted to go on this enormous slide. She cried once she made it down, but later request that Jason go down again with her. And she cried again. Apparently it was worth it.

Saturday:

Saturday morning Hannah had her first soccer practice. They were all pretty dang cute running around in jersey five times too large and bright pink. They will certainly be noticed. :)

After soccer we went to the Bentonville Farmer's Market. It had a lot more produce than we have in Idaho, but fewer food vendors. We waited in line far too long for crepes. We went got up to order Daniel bet me a dollar that I wouldn't order in French {the man taking orders had an obvious french accent}. I did it in fact. However, he did not seem horribly surprised that someone just started talking to him like that. I was slightly disappointed. Shockingly, that was the first time Daniel has ever heard me speak french to an actual french person--I suppose I don't get that opportunity often enough. After Daniel bought me a flower for 75 cents, we headed home for a little break.

Then it was time for food! Erin and Jason took us to a delicious pizza place. Then we spent the afternoon at Chuckie Cheese's. I cannot remember if I have ever been to an actual Chuckie Cheese---we had a place called Jungle Jim's in Sandy--but we sure had more fun than we thought we would. Hannah and Bella were perfectly content riding in a toy bus. Jason was extremely proud of his high score on Whack-a-Mole, that is, until Daniel broke his record.

We had so much fun, in fact, that it inspired us to go on a date this past weekend to a local arcade. That night the girls stayed home and watched girlie shows (Cinderella, some movie about Jesus, and Say Yes to the Dress---Chosen by Hannah, Bella, and Erin, respectively) while the boys went out to a baseball game. Also, we made bracelets. I vaguely remember Bella having some mega meltdown...but who knows. :)

We had a most excellent time with everyone and can't wait to visit again. Maybe next time we go we will be picking out a place to live for ourselves....we shall see.

Cutest Kids on the Block

My sister-in-law Erin does these super cute collages on her blog. So I asked her how! For my first little project I wanted to do some pictures of the darling neices and nephews we've had the pleasure of playing with this summer. I love being an aunt!

Arkansas: Part One

Well, let's just say I took a LOT of pictures (somewhere close to four hundred) and if that is any indication of how our children will be documented there will never be a shortage of pictures. We just had too much fun with everyone and I love learning more about my new camera. Being the coolest aunt and uncle I know, Daniel and I came prepared with gifts for the girls to help them warm up to us. Before I could even get ready the first morning we were all playing with Bella's new princess puzzle book and Hannah's Tangled Look-and-Find book. Here is what we did the first half of the week:

We put together the puzzle book at least a dozen times.
We found Rapunzel and her friends. Hannah was surprisingly good at finding things I thought were hard.


Monday:



We checked out downtown Bentonville. Erin and Jason took us to the Station for lunch for some delicious burgers. We saw Waltons Five and Dime, the beginning of the Wal-Mart empire.

Our plans were to play outside, but it rained on our parade. So we went bowling instead!

We had dinner at a BBQ joint called the Whole Hog. That was some dang good southern bbq! Even the leftovers the next day made my stomach smile.

Tuesday:

With an extra pair of hands around, Erin decide we should try to snap some family photos. I had no idea that getting three wiggly girls to smile at the camera at the same time. Erin and Jason are quite the comedic pair when trying to make the girls smile big for the camera. At the,very least, they had Daniel and I laughing.

Here are a couple I thought turned out alright:

Wednesday: My Birthday!

For my first birthday away from my side of the family, we sure had an excellent day. Erin made some delicious waffles for breakfast and later we packed up a picnic and headed out to a little place called Blowing Springs. Its a cool little spring that makes the Arkansas heat quite pleasant. Then made our way back home to make some birthday cupcakes! Well, Erin made the cupcakes and the girls and I scooped batter and iced the finished product. I was very surprised when a package arrived at Erin's door for me! I only knew one person who would go out of their way to make sure I had something from them on my birthday: my spectacular mom. :) She sent me a box of decadent chocolate covered strawberries and creamy cheesecakes. Possibly the best package I have ever received.

Then we packed up for dinner and a little nature walk. The Walton Family has donated millions of dollars to create a premier American Art museum right in Bentonville. It is surround by beautiful gardens and exciting hiking and biking trails. We walked out to the observation deck to check out the progress of the museum (due to be finished in November). The hike ended up being a little sweatier than any of us anticipated, but it was gorgeous! After we all cooled down, we went to Bella Napoli for dinner. Holy delicious homemade Italian food! Sooo good. We ended the night with a chick flick. That's my kinda birthday

Can you see the bike made out of branches?

Did I forget to mention that per my nieces request, I had a Barbie birthday? Complete with matching cups and plates, pink balloons and streamers, and pink iced cupcakes.

That's right. It was one rad birthday.

Our Evaluation: Northwest Arkansas

When we told people we were spending our summer vacation fund on a trip to the exotic land of Arkansas, most people drew up the mental picture of someone like this guy:

Or some other character from the people of Wal-mart website. However, we found Northwest Arkansas to be quite the contrary. Our intent was to visit Daniel's sister, Erin, and her family while also checking out possible internships/future jobs for Daniel the potential accountant. For me, I came to the shocking realization that I actually wanted to live somewhere other than Idaho. Of course other places always sound nice in comparison to Idaho, especially during the winter, but no where has ever captured my attention enough for me to honestly want to pack up and move.

Here is our collection of thoughts on why we found Arkansas (of all places) so agreeable:

1. Perfect blend of southern charm and the normality of the Midwest. People are so dang nice there!

2. Job Opportunities: go ahead--name a company--chances are they have an office there.

3. Woo Pig Sooey! Lovin' the undying love for the U of Arkansas Razorbacks. It would be great to attend a university with real sports.

4. Food: we are self-proclaimed foodies and the Bentonville area (and well, 80% of the country) offer every type of food not found in Rexburg-particularly BBQ- that are just divine!

5. Close to some of the cutest nieces you've ever seen. And their equally cool parents.

6. Weather! I love me some heat! Idaho's deep, dark, endless winters really hold no special place in my heart. Long summers and beautiful autumns and springs sound much more enticing.

7. Outdoor fun: Idaho does have endless supply of outdoor extracurriculars, but NWA provides a heavier dosage of things Daniel and I actually enjoy: hiking, biking, and many more tennis facilities than Idaho.

8. Job Opportunities: {for me} Crystal Bridges Museum, I have my eye on you. Check it out here.

9. This kind of goes with weather, but humidity. Sigh, I am a constant companion to my lotion, and the humidity allows my skin some much needed moisture.

10. Finally, diversity. Let's just say we want out of the "jello belt" or "mormon bubble" just for sanity's sake.

There ya go, if you aren't convinced by now I don't know what to tell you. Of course Arkansas is lacking a few things: namely my parents, but give me some time, I could convince them to move out there too. :)

Now please enjoy our trip via pictures.