Summer Pictures

I have never been good at having the boys pictures professionally taken. I have never religiously had monthly pictures done. I was lucky to have the twins taken at six weeks, and Greyson's newborn pictures and birth announcements were taken when the twins were turning one. Was I seriously supposed to haul all three kids to the mall with wardrobe changes and all just for some pictures? I think not! I have taken tons of pictures of them at home, and I like those better- for the most part!
When we moved back to Ozark, I made an appointment with Lauren. Lauren and I grew up together, and after becoming a newly wed, she decided to start a photography business. She does a great job, the boys loved her, and she has GREAT prices. Which to this mom, those three things are worth gold to me! I need to call and schedule to get our fall family pictures taken.... sad thing is.... this will be the first time all five of us have had a family picture taken. The last time was when I was seven months pregnant with Greyson! He looks at the picture hanging in the hall, and I have to explain that he was in my belly!

Hope you enjoy looking!

Dr's Appointments

This week not only have we been having Vacation Bible School at night, but I took all three boys for there "well baby" check ups. Since moving out of St Louis, I've been a bit to overwhelmed to even think about it. Acutally, I've thought about it a lot.... but I've also forgotten about it alot. Finding a new peditrician, finding a date that will work, forking out almost one hundred big ones in copays... it just didn't sound like fun.

We LOVE LOVE LOVEd our peditirician in St Louis. Dr Huger was like family, and treated us like family as well. It just so happened that when we thought we were going to be moving last September, Greyson had a "well baby" check. I dreaded the appointment. While I was so happy at the thought of moving, I forced Brandon to come with me to break the news and say a final goodbye to Dr Huger. She came into the room, the boys paniced for a minute, realized who she was and then she announced her wonderful news.... she was expecting twins! She couldn't wait to be able to come to me for mommy advice! I started tearing up and then told her that we would be moving. She started crying too. It was a very hormonal day at the office. While in the beginning of parenthood we sometimes thought, '' this is our child, and we don't agree with her'', we soon found out that she would take the most proactive steps when needed. By the time Greyson came along, we completely trusted every thing she did. She even kept the boys Christmas picture on her desk. I mean what peditirican does that?! So she had some very hard shoes to fill.

After turning to my friend on facebook for advice and recommendations, I think we have found an awesome replacement. We went with the office of Nixa Pediatrics and are seeing Dr Temofeew. He is great! He is so laid back, so full of knowledge, and the kids get a popsicle at the end of the visit. They love him, and pretend that they are Dr T. Two of the boys will lay on the couch while the other plays dr, and checks them out. In a way I wish that he would have had them from the get go, so we could have developed a relationship like we had with Dr Huger, but I can move past it!



On Monday Greyson had his appointment. It was a little rocky to say the least. We were ten minutes late, and then Grey screamed for the first ten minutes, while they checked his weight, height, and blood pressure. Greyson weighs 34lns 14oz , he is 36inches tall, and still has a huge head. Greyson is just about at the top of the precentile for weight and height. He has an excellent vocabulary and is a great helper. Dr T said he looked great. He is right on track for his growth and development.



On Wednesday Lincoln and Daniel had their appointments. We were only a couple of minutes late this time, but Greyson still screamed bloody murder until he realized that the nurse wasn't going to touch him. Lincoln weighs 37lbs, he is 37.5 inches tall. Daniel weighed in at 35lbs, and was 37.5 inches tall. Dr T said they both look great. I asked him about their speech development and what he would recommend. He said it was up to Brandon and I if we wanted to take them in for a speech evaluation or wait it out. He did recommend preschool, which we on currently on the waiting lists of several schools. Other than that, everything looked great and they are on track. The boys were just happy to get a popsicle!

While I was worn out, the boys were just getting started. They were ready to go out and about all day! We headed home, ate some lunch, took a nap and got ready for Bible School!

A Fun Filled Grandma Weekend!

This weekend we did a first for our family... we headed to the Springfield Discovery Center. We had such a good time!
To start the weekend off, Brandon's mom came into town for a weekend visit. We went to our favorite restaurant, Nakato's on Friday and then headed back to the house to digest. We pigged out at dinner! Saturday morning we were a little slow at getting around (nothing new around our house!), and couldn't really think of anything to do. It was way to hot to be outside, so we thought we would try out the DC. It was a success!

They loved dressing up!

Daniel worked very hard at matching the shapes

Greyson was the cutest little construction worker you've ever seen!

Grandma was excited to get to see the boys play and learn. At the top level was all scientific stuff. Like being able to look into microscopes, cell division and lots of other cool stuff. I could see it in Carol's face, that she can't wait until they are big enough to go exploring up there. Since she and Jeff (my father in law) are both bio chemist, she loves watching them learn anything about science!

After the DC, we were starving and the boys were on the verge of a complete blood sugar melt down. And trust me, those aren't pretty... especially when all three boys have a melt down at the same time. So we opted for lunch at Steak 'n Shake. YUMMY! We were in heaven with chocolate shakes and chicken and fries. It hit the spot.

We headed home for an afternoon snooze and to regroup on the evenings festivities. I was kinda prepared to cook a simple dinner, but we opted for pizza at Bud and Walt's and then headed to the park. Carol hasn't seen the boys since Mother's Day weekend, so she wanted to watch them be boys! After playing at the park for about an hour ( in which time we saw 3 other sets of twins), we headed back to the house for Saturday night bath time. Brandon gave the boys a bath, while I made no bake cookies and rice krispie treats and Carol and I visited. After we got the boys down for the night, the three of us pigged out on the sweets and watched Sweet Home Alabama. I love that movie!

On Sunday, Carol made the brave adventure to church with us. It is quite the fete watching us get ready on a Sunday morning. We just stayed for Sunday school and then headed out to lunch. We were all worn out from the weekend and a little hungry! We did carry out from Lambert's Cafe.... again yummy food! Brandon took care of the boys and Carol and I sat around the table and visited for over an hour before she decided to head home.

We are so glad that she came to visit us! We wouldn't have thought to go to the DC nor would we have had all the yummy food and good laughs! We hope Papa and Grandma can come back and visit soon!

Look at more pictures from our weekend!

They're Gone

In June our family found out some very disappointing news. Actually it was heart breaking and I kinda felt like I got the wind knocked out of me when I heard it. Some of my parents best friends, great family friends, christian mentors, and very special people to us... had made the decision to move from cozy Nixa, Missouri to San Diego,California. Can you say culture shock?!

I was on my way to a Thursday night Bible Study when Pam called to let me know. They feel that God is calling them to move, and develop better relationships with their family. (Not that they have bad ones, but living half way across the country... you get the picture!) While we will pray for them daily, our hearts break for the loss that we will experience. These are two of the kindest, God fearing, humble hearted people I have ever known.


Here are a few stories of how they have been there for my family:


After helping spending the entire day helping my mom, dad, and myself, move into our new house, Pam goes home and returns a hour later with a complete supper for us to eat. I'm not just talking about pizza from your local Pizza Hut... Pam had fresh steak to grill, baked potatoes and her delicious homemade salad. She made dinner while we were attempting to put together part of our rooms. It was amazing!

When Brandon and I announced our engagement, Pam immediately volunteered to help. I kinda new what I had in mind, so I talked it over, and she came up with the grand scheme of how it would all work. Pam ordered additional flowers for decorating and paid for them out of her own pocket. The day of the wedding- I was a completely stress free bride. With Pam's perfectionist personality, I knew she had thought of every detail. And she had.



Pam and Gene are complete givers. If they ever knew of someone in need, they will help them in any way they can. They are always willing to go the extra mile, and are constant prayer warriors. They are both so wise in the Bible and are great people to talk to about any problems.

I know that they will be missed by many many people. Last night, their final night in Missouri, they spent the evening finishing packing, went to dinner with my parents, and Beth and Gordon. I got to meet up with them for ice cream and good byes. It was so hard. It will be hard not seeing them one row in front of us at church, or getting to go to more women's conferences with Pam. But I know that they are doing what is best for them and most importantly they are doing what they feel God is telling them to do.

While it makes us sad, at least we have a good reason to go to California now!

Summer Reading

This year we participated in the Christian County Library's summer reading program. There were several different programs that you could choose to participate in. We chose "At the Rivers Edge" and "Pirates". So in June we headed to the library (aka: MiMi's Work) and learned about plants, how they grow, and even got to plant a green bean seed. The boys loved it. Miss Annie let them color pictures, play with dirt and use a squirt bottle to water the seed they had planted. They were in heaven. By the time we got home there was dirt in my car, and as soon the the door opened 2 out of the 3 plants ended up in the front yard. Oh well! They still had a great time, and learned a lot! Hopefully they can help me get rid of my black thumb! I kill every plant I get!

I was most excited about the Pirate Party day in July. Taking a little advice from my aunt Beth, I didn't tell the boys what we were doing until the night before. The twins had saw me taking out their Pirate costumes from Halloween last year and get all the dog hair off of them, and wondered what was up! The morning of the party they were so excited. I made them put on extra clothes under the pirate get up( we were going to a picnic in the park with my good friend Melissa afterward!), and they were not to happy about it. They ran into the library, bypassed MiMi, and were ready to play the games. Miss Lucinda and Miss Cathy, had thought of lots of cute piratey games. At each 'station' they would recieve a prize for participation. They got to play pin the patch on the pirate, walk the plank, and muical cd's. They even provided snacks and drinks. The boys were so elated! My mom was able to take her break and come and watch the boys play. They couldn't stop showing her all their loot!

Daniel and his eye patch!

Daniel was admiring his ''treasure''

Aren't they they cutest little pirates?!


Lincoln was having a hard time seeing with only one eye!

Greyson did dress up, but he still had fun!

Vacation Bible School 2010

This was the first year in many years( almost 10 years) that I was able to help out with VBS, and Brandon helped out too. Since we were both working, all the kiddos got to attend and were in their own age groups. They were so excited to be able to go to Bible School... for two reasons- 1. They are excited by the word school

2. They LOVE going to church

I am so excited that we are finally able to get involved in church as a family. I was a little stressed out about VBS, but had to roll with the punches. Our church does Bible School at night. We would have a dinner at 5ish and VBS would go from 6:30-8:30. That meant that I would have to either wake the kids from nap time in order to make it to dinner or try to cook, clean the kitchen, get the kids cleaned up and out the door in about 45 minutes..... there was no way the latter was happening- so we went for dinner at church. Brandon came straight from work every night- so I was on my own with attempting to do all of this. Getting the kids out and about in town is no big deal. Anything from McAlisters, Chick-fil-A to the Mall I can handle- but the thought of doing this all at church scared me a little. But when I saw their faces light up on Monday night- it was all worth it. Until it came to Greysons face....

Greyson has never really be separated from the twins. He does have his own room now, but that is about as far as it goes. He was bumped up in Sunday School classes, Moppets classes, and just about everything else. He doesn't like being away from his bubbas. But it was time to start. He has finally been making some friends that are his age- not the twins age. So I thought that he would do better having a week in VBS with the 'younger' kids and then when Sunday school promotion came it would be an easier adjustment. Boy was I WRONG! He screamed bloody murder the first night. The really sad part of all of this.... Brandon was in his room, as a support system. I guess my wonderful plan backfired.

Anyway, back to VBS. The theme was Saddle Ridge Ranch. Since the twins are crazy about cowboys and cowboy hats they were in heaven! Their teachers were Miss Deanna and Miss Susan. They had the cutest crafts! Don't I have two of the cutest cowboys around?!

They had made cowboy vest that they got to decorate, and stick horses, and cowboys hats! I know that they will play dress up with this stuff until it will no longer function! Each morning they would wake up so ready to go back to Bible School. They were so upset when it ended on Thursday.

Greyson's teachers were Miss Shirley, Mr Brandon( aka Daddy), and Miss Evie. Miss Shirley said Greyson would do a little better every night, but still clung to daddy a lot. Brandon says Greyson was glued to his side all week. While it was hard for me to see him get so upset, I know that it is for his own good. He has to learn at some point that he isn't one of the twins. I am so thankful that the teachers and staff at church are being so supportive. I wouldn't be able to do this part without them.

I was able to help in teaching the four year olds. We had 3 different classes and would rotate between the three groups for different activities. My room did craft time, and after craft time they would go to music, and then to missions. We had a great group of kids, and it was an awesome experience to help get to plant a seed in their life. While it did stress me out(just a little), I can't wait to be able to help next year!

My Kids Have Gone Crazy!

Ever since the move to Ozark, my kids have gone CRAZY!!

I was talking to my friend Carrie and asking her what she thought the problem could be. She is my go to person on kid questions- especially questions about twins.

She was telling me that her little girl has gone a little crazy too. Lincoln and Daniel have apparently hit the "terrible three's". I have heard from numerous people that two's are nothing compared to three's. Great I thought to myself.... I'll have 3 three year olds in a few months. And since Greyson is already 2 going on 30- I will be in a world of trouble!
They aren't doing anything horribly bad... just enough to be driving me crazy. More fighting, hitting, a few bad biting incidents. They did break their book shelf... but I'll tell that story in a little bit.

Greyson is a BIG helper. He keeps trying to do stuff that he thinks he helping- but it's not really working. Let's see... one morning Greyson had gotten 3 eggs, a plate, fork and butter out of the fridge. I am guessing he was either going to make scrambled eggs or he was acting out what the Nakato's chefs do when they cook on the hibachi grill. I am still trying to figure that one out. We've also gotten into the habit of eating smoothies, so while I was still in bed one morning Greyson woke up and got out the yogurt, banana's, and strawberries, and mixing cups. I guess he figured out that he wasn't going to be able to reach then mixer(THANK GOD) and gave up. Luckily we have two VERY lazy dogs, and they didn't even touch the food.

Back to the book shelf story..

When we lived in STL, we purchased a cheapy bookshelf from the store hoping that it would make our massive kiddy book collection look better in our living room. Well apparently this book shelf wasn't meant to be moved from the first location. When we moved we put it in the twins room, at the end of Lincoln's bed. We had to yet again move this bookshelf to a different wall in the same room- literally two feet. After moving it the boys decided it was necessary to empty all the books off of the four shelf bookshelf. Imagine my excitement when I got out of the shower and found that I couldn't find my kids or open the door to the room that they are obviously in. You couldn't see carpet.. only books. After going on a tirade about,"we do not treat our books like this, mommy has taught you to treat your toys nice., yada, yada yada". I promptly packed up their books into laundry baskets and threw them in my room. Maybe it was a little bit dramatic- but this wasn't the first time that they had done this, and it takes this OCD mom a LONG time to organize the books. After a brief stint in time out and a time out for myself, I walked into the room to find the twins on the bottom and second to bottom shelf of the rickity bookshelf. Daniel was yelling to Greyson (who was standing on the other side of the room with his arms crossed) to climb up on top. Just as I walked in about to go somewhere close to psychotic on my lovely preschoolers- the entire shelf collapsed. Leaving Lincoln under the rubble. Daniel was screaming like he was about to die, Lincoln was crying, and Grey and I were in shock of what we had just witnessed.

There is a country song entitled "You're Gonna Miss This"... while my dad often quotes different parts to me, I often ask myself- will I really miss the crazy days? And the answer is always yes. At the end of everyday when Brandon and I sit down and finally have a few minutes of us time- I always have funny stories... and I have a feeling that there will be many more posted on here! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of all the craziness.. just the one posted above. I'll have to remember to take more!

Interesting Sunday

Today started out as any other Sunday does around our house. We got up out of our comfy beds, got ready, had a warm yummy breakfast, and went to church. Brandon woke up with a bad headache so he didn't make it to church. What started out as a little frustrating to me, ended up being a blessing. After church let out, Brandon called to tell me that he still wasn't feeling all that great, and to go ahead and take the boys to lunch. So my parents and I loaded up and headed over to Nixa to grab a bite to eat. After lunch I was debating going to a store in Springfield, since I had a coupon and could get a free shirt or waiting until later in the afternoon, since it looked like it was about to downpour.
I decided to take the boys home, get them down for a nap, and head to town. I wandered around the store longer than I normally would, tried on more clothes that I normally would, made my purchases and left. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, back on the road to head home, I noticed a very pregnant girl standing in the intersection holding a homeless sign. My heart stopped. It was nearly 100 degrees out and this girl had to be nine months pregnant. As I pulled closer to her you could see the blisters forming on her shoulders and nose from the sun beating down on her. I was talking to Brandon on the phone when I just felt God telling me to turn around and talk to her. I asked Brandon what I should do, and he told me to follow what God was telling me, but to make sure and call him every 10 minutes.
I have NEVER picked up a homeless person before. I am the person that sees homeless people on the corner and locks my doors. I give money to the Salvation Army, and that is about as far as it goes for me and my "good deed giving''. But that day on the corner of that road, God had something totally different in mind for me. I turned around and pulled into a parking lot that was close to the intersection. I got out of my car, mumbled a quick prayer, and started walking over to her. Hundred of thoughts rushed through my head as I made that short walk to her. "What if this is a set up? What if I get hurt? What would happen to my boys if something bad happened to me?" But I kept walking. I introduced myself to her, and asked her if she was hungry. She had a purse and a Tar.get bag with a few snacks in it. I invited her to my car. after searching her purse, and told her I would take her to get something to eat or at least give her a cool place to sit out of the heat. She wasn't hungry, so we went and walked around Wal. Mart. I bought her a few items that she needed; some vitamins, water, sunscreen, etc. I was right in my guess about how far along in her pregnancy she was. She was 8 1/2 months along, with a baby girl. Her boyfriend had kicked her out of his house and she had been living on the streets for a week. She had stayed with her mom for a few nights, but she is an alcoholic and kicked her out too. I offered to take her to a shelter where she would have a place to sleep, but she declined. She said she could make enough money to stay in a cheap hotel and to eat for the night.
My heart was broken. I couldn't even imagine being in this situation. My biggest problem when I was pregnant, was not having the boys nursery look like I wanted it. Her baby wasn't even going to have a bed. How could I be so selfish?
After about an hour, I took her to a bus stop so she could drift to another part of town. I prayed with her, and gave her my phone number. I didn't really know what to say or do. We parted ways, but I pray that God gives me another chance to help her.
God broke my heart today. I am not saying that I will pick up every person I see. I know that in no way is that safe. But when He is laying something on my heart, I pray that I will seize the moment like I did today, and hopefully be able to help someone.

Fourth of July

Today was a great day to celebrate the 4th of July. Originally we were wanting to spend the day in Washington DC, for Brandon's cousin's wedding, but that didn't work out. I am so glad that we were able to stay home and enjoy the day with my side of the family. It's not very often that we are able to get together with my parents and brother and sister in law, but today we did! After church we (the five of us) went to McDonald's for lunch at the boys request. When we were loading the boys up in the car Brandon and I noticed a fireworks stand across the street, and both had the idea of getting little fireworks. Sparklers, roman candles, nothing too fancy, and hopefully nothing that would scare the boys. We hit the jack pot! Since it was the day of the 4th, everything was buy one get three free, and all the bigger stuff was marked down super cheap. We ended up spending $20 for three bags of fireworks, plus they gave us an extra bag full of stuff that they thought the boys would enjoy. Brandon and I are not big fireworks people. We like to watch them, but don't like to waste the money on buying them. In the almost five years we've been married, we have NEVER bought fireworks. So today was a big deal!


After nap time, we headed over to my parents house for dinner and to hang out with the family. My mom made a feast. My dad was in a mood to grill so we had BBQ chicken, BBQ sausage, BBQ pork chops and he wanted to make ribs, but my mom talked him out of it. We had corn on the cob, beans, chips, dips, fruit and veggie trays, and lots more. We were stuffed, but Brandon was ready to start setting some of the fun stuff off. We took the boys out back and let them play with the poppers. You know, the ones that you throw on the ground. We started out with letting them do one at a time, but they were taking hand fulls and throwing them down. Brandon lit some smoke bombs, and a few firecrackers, but had to put an end to them due to screaming Greyson.


We came in and impatiently hung out until it was "dark enough'' to go out and shoot the Roman candles and fountains. The boys ate on popsicles and colored with sidewalk chalk and more poppers. They were having a blast. Where my parents live is kinda bizarre. It's a subdivision in the country. They live in the front, where everyone has about a half acre and in the back is larger plots of land. In the back of the subdivision is where the people go all out on fire works. Some of these people had to spend close to a thousand bucks on fireworks. It was insane! The boys were a little skiddish at first, but once they knew that they weren't going to get hit by them, they took turns snuggling up with each of us. As we were getting everything cleaned up outside, Lincoln and Daniel were chasing each other, when Daniel tripped on the concrete leaving a nasty looking imprint on his forehead. After an icepack and a few hugs and kisses he was all better, but ready to go home.

As soon as we got home, we were able to enjoy our neighbors light show. The guy that lives behind us was shooting the big fireworks off in the back yard so it lit up the entire sky above our house. It kinda ( REALLY) terrified the boys so we put them down to bed, and went out on the deck and enjoyed a few minutes alone!


I am so grateful to be an American. I think that many days we take it for granted how lucky we are to live in such a great place. I am so thankful for our soldiers who fight daily to help keep us free and for their families who sacrafice so much. I couldn't imagine living any other place.

More pics here!

My Crazy Birthday Weekend Part 2

We got back to Ozark around 4:30 we immediately unloaded the car at my house, and I went inside to start packing for round 2 of my weekend. Brandon's firm was treating all the families to a day at the ballpark.... in Kansas City. They had bought tickets to the Royals vs. Cards game for Sunday afternoon, at the end of June. Brandon and I thought that we would just go up on Saturday night hang out with some friends, and do a little bit of shopping at the Plaza before heading to the game on Sunday.

Well since Brandon and I have never really been to Kansas City as grown adults, we had no idea how long it would take to get there- or where anything was located. We knew we wanted to visit the very popular Power and Light District, eat a nice birthday dinner, and we were meeting up with our good friends Megan and Derrick. We were on the road by 6.... I had packed myself a bag for two nights, but didn't think about packing for the boys. I forget how long it takes to pack them up, load them into my dads truck and lock up the house!

We finally arrived in KC around 8:45. I was starving. I was wanting to have a nice and quiet dinner, but Brandon thought that we should try a place at Power and Light- so we could see what all the hype was about. By the time that we finally found a parking spot and figured out where anything was- everything had turned into bars. I was so upset. Being a little emotional- and A LOT tired, I stormed off crying and threw a big fit. By this time is was well after 9:15 and Brandon was trying to make it better. He kept throwing out the names of restaurants... but I was too upset. So we ended up driving through a Wendy's. Fancy huh?! We ate on the way to Megan and Derricks.

After Megan got home from work, we headed back out to Power and Light to do some people watching. It was packed. You could barely move! They said that it was probably that busy because of the baseball game. We stayed around until 2 am. I was exhausted. The three of them kept running into people from college, and we just had a good time sitting back talking and watching all the crazy people! Afterwards we headed back to their house, where Megan went to bed-( she had to be at work in 4 hours) and Derrick, Brandon and I stayed up talking until 4. Brandon and Derrick were in a fraternity together and Derrick was a groomsmen in our wedding, so there was lots to catch up on.

Brandon and I woke up around 9, got ready and headed to the Plaza. Like every other place in KC, we had heard about how cool it was, but wanted to see it for ourselves. I could have spent all day there. But we were on a schedule to be at the ball game by 12:30. We went into a couple of stores, got me a couple of small birthday gifts from Brigh.ton (thanks to an awesome discount). We were going to hit up California. Pizza. Kitchen for lunch- but didn't have time, so opted for Panera Bread. Co instead. It was nice just to sit and relax. I went into a couple of stores while Brandon hit up FedEX, and then we headed to the ballpark.

Once again we relied on Gar Gar Binks to get us to Kaufman Stadium safely. While we did get there in one piece, it took us on every back road on the way. I don't think we went through some of the best neighborhoods, and we literally drove through a subdivision. By the time we arrived, the game was already going, and the heat was really starting to kick in. We were on the top deck and the sun was beating down on us. We didn't last long. We visited with some of Brandon's associates and partners in the firm. The Cardinals were losing... badly, so we decided to head on back to Springfield. We stopped in Belton and got some yummy ice cream, and started back home. We called and checked in on the boys, and got a report that they were doing good, and my dad had taken them home and was hanging out at the house.

I think I put over a thousand miles on my car in two days but it was all in all a fun birthday weekend. Brandon and I did decide to go back to KC when we can go for a full weekend and really enjoy it! Hopefully 26 is a fun year for me!

My Crazy Birthday Weekend Part 1

The older I get the less excited I get about my birthday. I guess that is the one thing women really have in common! It's not so much that I dread getting older- it's just that things always seem to go differently than planned.

This year was a great birthday though! I was able to spend part of my birthday in St Louis with some great ladies listening to Beth Moore. It was awesome. We had been planning the trip for weeks. We headed up to St Louis on Friday morning and ate lunch on 'The Hill'. The Hill is a older part of the City of St Louis, that you've probably driven by and never even noticed. It's on both sides of I-44 about 5 miles from the Arch. The Hill has hundreds of classic Italian restaurants. And I'm not talking about Olive Garden... which I LOVE. In the four years of living in STL, I've only eaten there twice, but was dying to go and try so more places.

There were two parts of this trip that I was most looking forward to. Hearing Beth Moore speak and seeing my best friend Carrie. I hadn't seen Carrie since the day we moved. I needed Carrie time. As much as we talk on the phone, it just isn't the same. It was pretty awesome how it worked out, because Carrie wasn't even supposed to come on the trip. A good friend of ours was supposed to, but had to back out at the last minute- so I called Carried and she was able to go.

Anyway, we met Carrie on the Hill, ate yummy food at Favazza's, and then headed to our hotel downtown. We intrusted Gar- Gar Binks ( Garmin) to get us there in one piece. He took us a little out of the way and put us about 20 minutes behind, but he got us there safely. We arrived at the hotel and parked on the top of the parking garage. When we walked into the lobby it was packed with women. We finally got checked in and headed up to our room on the 14 floor.

This is part of the group outside Favazza's

Robin, my Aunt Beth, me, my mom, and Cathey

The hotel was really nice. We settled in for a few minutes and then headed back down to the car. We wanted to get to Chafietz Arena early since seats are first come first served. It was an eventful drive to SLU's campus. I was driving, and should have known the exact way to get there, but took us on a slight detour. We ended up a couple of miles away, but after I was able to stop and get my bearings, we were good to go! We arrived safely at Chafietz and started waiting in the crazy heat. But it paid off! We got seats on the floor three rows from the stage. The coolest part about our seats- we were three rows behind where Beth Moore stood during worship. I was distracted in the beginning... I mean how many ladies have been able to stand behind Beth Moore and watch her worship the Almighty God? It was amazing.

Worship was led by Travis Cottrell and his amazing team. There is just something about singing songs of praise with a few thousand other women... and being led by a man that is truly after God's own heart.

We dismissed late Friday night, headed back to the hotel and had some Birthday cookie cake and kettle corn that Carrie had brought. We had a mini birthday party and time of fellowship in our room, and went to bed since it was going to be an early morning. Saturday (my birthday) we headed back to Chafietz, and shockingly got the same seats! We were once again blessed by Beth Moore. We cut out about ten minutes early, since we were really needing to eat some lunch and get back on the road to Ozark. We stopped and ate lunch in Fenton, and headed back home. It was a great getaway and just the beginning of the weekend for me!