Meet me in St. Louis

In July of 2017, our good friends the Merrill family moved to O'Fallon, Illinois which is just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. On March 1st, I was able to spend the weekend with Amy and her wonderful family. We spent time exploring the area, including a Saturday trip into the city of St. Louis which was a lot of fun.

We started the day off at Soulard, a big Farmer's Market right in the heart of the city. The produce was so cheap and we had fun trying out some yummy treats like roasted almonds and chocolate covered nutter butter cookies!

Then we headed over to Ikea to check out some home décor. I found a sink that I really want to get for the kid's bathroom. We only have one sink in there which can cause a lot of problems when everyone is trying to get ready for bed at the same time. This double sink is only a few inches longer than our single sink so we might have to check it out at the Baltimore Ikea.

We explored around the area including viewing this stature of Chuck Berry.

We ate lunch at a fantastic place called "Fitz's." They bottle their own root beers and craft sodas and offered these amazing root bear floats!

Sunday was Amy's birthday so we all helped to make her a yummy dinner and had fun playing games and watching some BYUTV. It was fun to visit with the Merrills again. We miss them a lot, but they are really doing well in Illinois so we will just have to settle for fun visits every now and again!

Heart Attack

On Wednesday, February 28th, Abby was taking a shower while some sneaky girls came to decorate our front door. She was quite surprised when she came back down to discover she had been "heart-attacked" by some of the young women in our ward. 

She loved reading all of the fun notes and signs!!

What a fun and unexpected way to help welcome Abby to young womens!

Little Ballerina

Maylie started a ballet class on Wednesday, February 28th at the YMCA. We had gotten her a new pink leotard and some ballet shoes the week before and she wore them around the house any chance she could! Finally the day of her first class arrived and she was very excited!

For being just 3, she did really well following directions and listening to her dance instructor. There are four other little girls in the class with her including Claire, a friend from church.

They all look so little and adorable trying so hard to master those ballet dance moves!

Day of Rest

This girl doesn't take a formal nap too often these days, but sometimes she will come over and fall asleep next to me after an exhausting day like she this afternoon after church.

Aside from the occasional drool, I don't mind this one bit!!

2018 WHMS Infusion Concert

Abby goes to Western Heights Middle School which is the Magnet school for the arts in this area. Every year they put on a big show to highlight these kids and all of their amazing talents. This year their Infusion concert was held on Friday, February 23rd. They had two shows that evening and both of them sold out well before the actual day of performance!!

We walked into the school and were amazed by all of the amazing graphic design and art works presents in the lobby.

We watched a lot of dancing, singing, flag performances and monologues, but of course our favorite parts were watching Abby perform. 

Here she is doing her monologue along with one of her theater classmates.

She also got to sing with the Magnet chorus group and participated in the two numbers that included all of the cast from that night, "Fame" and "True Colors."

Abby was right in her element that night and already told us that she can't wait until next year to perform again!!

Ninja Warrior

Both Landon and Nolan have been attending Ninja Warrior classes at a local gym near our home. They love going and I love to see how much exercise these classes give them. Sometimes we get lazy during these cold winter months so we were happy to find this fun outlet for them!

12th Birthday

Abby turned 12 years old on Tuesday, February 20th. She is such a sweet, kind-hearted girl and as much as I love watching her grow, there is a part of me that wants her to stay young forever!

I checked her out of school for lunch and we took all of her birthday gifts over to the Humane Society first.

They were so grateful for this kind gesture and she was excited to be able to do this on her birthday. What a great example of service!

Afterwards I treated her to lunch at her choice (Chipotle) and then we did a little shopping before taking her back to school. She told me later that this was her favorite part of her day!

She had rehearsal until 6 p.m. so we picked her up and headed straight over to her dinner of choice, "Noodles & Co." Afterwards we headed home for pajamas and opening up of family gifts and cards. 

She received some nice cards from my sisters and her grandparents and had some fun craft and baking gifts from her family

We sang Happy Birthday and watched as she blew out all 12 of her candles on her cake with another little girl just dying to join in!!

She gets to go to her first youth activity tomorrow night and is so excited about this next chapter in her life. She is a beautiful girl both inside and out and we can't wait to see all that she will accomplish in this life. I just hope she doesn't grow up too fast!!