Meet Me in St. Louis!

This year, we weren't planning to go anywhere for Spring Break, but Paige has been asking to go to St. Louis for a while.  She learned about the Arch at school and ever since has wanted to go up inside it.  So as Spring Break approached, Dave and I thought, "why not?" 

St. Louis is only a 4 hour drive from our home and in comparison to Chicago, it's a relatively inexpensive city, so we decided to pack up the car and head south for a couple of days. 
Honestly, St. Louis was never on my list of destinations and I'm sure it is not on yours, but really it should be.  What great little city.  We had so much fun and enjoyed everything about our stay.

First off, we loved, loved our hotel.  We stayed right across the street from the Arch in the Drury Plaza.  We had never stayed at this chain before but I would definitely recommend it now.  Our room was very nice, with comfy queen-size beds.  The girls also loved the indoor pool.  The fun part was the huge breakfast and dinner they serve every day.  Breakfast is usually a given but dinner that was a plus.  The dinner meal was more of the concession stand variety but when you have kids with you why not just grab a hot dog, nachos, soup, salad, chicken strips or macaroni and cheese for dinner?  That's all they eat anyway.  The free popcorn and soda pop in the evenings were also a big hit with the girls.

Paige and pancakes for breakfast

In the lobby of our hotel, a tribute to Lewis and Clark and
Westward exploration

Another plus about our hotel was that it was literally right across the street from Dave's office.  He had some calls he couldn't miss on one day, so he went into the office while the girls and I did some sightseeing...so convenient. 

We also caught a really lucky break with the weather.  It was beautiful and warm, near 80 degrees.  Our first night we walked through the park where the Arch is located, sat on the banks of the Mississippi and then just strolled through the downtown area.  Usually, the downtown would be more quiet in the evening but we happened to be in town during the NCAA Men's basketball tournament.  The BIG game was UNC vs. Kansas.  I'm pretty sure Dave was only half-joking and secretly hoping I would say, "yes!" when he offered to buy four $100 tickets to the game for the family.

A Good Week

You know, we have a daughter Ashley and we really like that girl!  And of course, being her parents we always want her to be happy and have good things happen to her.  She had a "good week" recently, so she was a happy girl and we were proud parents.

First off, she tried-out and made her school soccer team.  This was really not a given.  There was a great turnout for try-outs and 18 girls were cut.  Also, because Ashley does not play on a traveling soccer team (because we won't play on Sundays) we weren't sure if she would be able to compete with all the girls who do.  But no need to worry, she made the team!  And learned two important lessons: 1)you will be blessed, not penalized, for keeping the Sabbath Day holy and 2)it's always important to try, even when you are not sure of the outcome.  Way to go Ashley! 

Next, Dave and I were invited to the Character Counts award breakfast at Ashley's school.  Once a year, each teacher gets to select one student to honor as a person who shows good "character."  Ashley was selected this year.  The funny part is that you don't know who nominated you until it is announced at the breakfast.  Ashley thought it was probably one of two teachers.  Imagine her surprise when it wasn't either of those teachers.  Then she started thinking who it could have been, but again and again that teacher would come up and select someone else.  Ashley was one of the last announced and it was her Science teacher.  She was pretty surprised, he was the last of her teachers she would have suspected.  Again, you never know.

Finally, the placement test results for the Honors classes came back and she was recommended for all 4 core classes.  She only did two core classes this year, but she's going to do all 4 next year.  She is going to be one busy person.  I think she is going to add study hall to her schedule just so she has a little extra time to do all her homework.

And now to end with a couple of "Ashley funnies"

1-The other day I bought Ashley some cute pants while she was at school, I also bought some of those Ore-Ida easy fries while I was at the grocery store.  When Ashley got home from school I showed her the pants and she was like, "thanks mom, they're so cute."  Then I told her there were some fries in the freezer if she wanted a snack.  This was her response to the fries, "Yes!!!  Thanks mom!!  I love those!!"  There was a little jumping up and down, then I got a big hug.  Well, obviously the way to Ashley's heart is through her stomach.

2-Dave, Ashley and I went to see the movie John Carter.  It was a pretty fun and action-packed.  During the movie, there is a wedding scene that ends in a big battle.  At this point, Ashley leans over to me and whispers, "that would be so cool to have a big battle at my wedding."  She might be the boy we never had!

 

Must-Haves

Have you tried the Pretzel Roll Slider Buns that they are now selling at Costco?  (Well at least at our Costco.)  They are SO GOOD!  My family loves them.  Seriously, they are almost better than candy.  It's sort of like having a bag of soft pretzels sitting on your counter ready for you to eat any time you feel like it.  We have actually eaten them as sliders and used them for sandwiches but often they just get eaten as rolls.  They are a favorite after school snack of the girls.  The only downside is that you will eat too many and that they come in a huge Costco-sized portion, but some how we manage.

My second must-have is a little trickier for me.  See I'm not a Wal-Mart shopper.  I don't have a hard and fast ban, but if I can shop somewhere else I will and with the gazillion stores we have around here it's pretty easy to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart.  My local Wal-Mart is a dirty old dump of a store, but that's not the reason for the boycott.  There are other nice and new Wal-Marts close by, I avoid based on principle.  Why would would I shop at a store that is anti-union, doesn't pay workers a living wage, rips them off when it comes to overtime AND discriminates against women by not giving them equal pay for equal work and systematically denies them promotions.  These practice are well-known and well-ligated and Wal-Mart has been found at fault.  Who knows what else they do that I don't know about.  Seriously, with this kind of record, why would I patronize their store when I can go next door to Target?

Okay now here is the bad part, my EXCEPT to this story.  Because Wal-Mart is the only store I know in my area that sells my favorite candy:

Ohh my gosh!  I love Bottle Caps, especially the Cola and Root Beer flavored ones.  The only time I usually get these is around Halloween when they are thrown in the big bags of Kiddie-Mix.  So imagine my delight when I found out that you can buy movie theater-sized boxes of Bottle Caps.  Just Bottle Caps!  None of that other gross candy.  Of course, it would figure that the only store that sells Bottle Caps like this is Wal-Mart.  So thank goodness I don't have an all out ban on Wal-Mart.  I admit that every once in a while I run in "real fast" and buy a bunch of boxes.  I hope women and oppressed workers all over the world will forgive me.  Its only $1 a box!

LOVELY Weather

We are in shock in Chicago.  In fact, we aren't even sure we are in Chicago, this has been unlike any March I've every experienced.  The weather here has been amazing.  We have literally had over a week of record temperatures.  It's warmer here than in LA.  Ya that's right, we have been enjoying lots of 80 degree days. 
We know it won't last forever, but still you gotta love it.  It's also puts an exclamation point on our super mild winter.  So in the honor of the sunshine, we've been doing lots of stuff to soak it up.

The girls and I broke out the soccer balls and cleats and headed over to the park to practice.  Some of our neighbors have been playing in the sprinklers (we haven't gone that far!)  I've had to dig around in the basement to get some of our shorts and other summer clothes out much earlier than I expected, but not quite ready to go for the swimsuits.  I see a big organizing--spring cleaning project in our future!

Dave even got into the fun and opened up our new power washer to clean and sand the patio.  He and the girls also brought our patio furniture out of storage.  We also played some lawn games that have been boxed up since Christmas.

The best part of this long stretch of good weather is that Dave and I have been able to go out for long, brisk walks.  Boy, it does a body and mind good to be outside in the sunshine!

All our trees and plants are responding to the warm weather call.  My daffodils have bloomed and the tulips and hyacinths are starting to poke up.  I'm afraid a return to normal temperatures won't be so good for my daffodils and the blooms might be short-lived, oh well.

Saint Patty's Day

Whew-wee!  St. Patrick's Day was a busy one around here, but we still managed to squeeze in all our fun traditions.  I started a little early and put these rainbow treats in the girls' lunches on Friday:

On Saturday, Ashley and I started early at her District Fine Art's Festival.  Her choir had a performance and training session.  They performed a new song and a couple they had performed before.  I could really hear the improvement.  7:30 am is early for a Saturday but by going early, we didn't have to fight traffic and the crowds, or troll the parking lot and surrounding neighborhood for a rare parking space.  We were in and out, so maybe I should hope she always gets assigned the first peformance of the day.

We left the school and headed straight home so that Dave could rush Ashley to her engineering workshop at NIU.  She is still doing that twice a month and seems to be enjoying it.  So far she has made a flashlight and made a battery from fruit.  Next she is going to be programming her own computer game.  The Saturday workshops can be a bit of a challenge on a busy Saturday schedule but it's worth it, where else is she going to have these kinds of opportunities?

While Dave and Ash were at NIU, I took Paige to piano lessons then drove down to our church Stake Center for a Women's Conference.  There were some great mini-classes, a nice lunch, and a good chance to visit with friends.

After the conference, the family met up again, ran some errands, and worked in the yard.  I should add, that while on said errands Ashley went to Burger King so she could get the free fries with green ketchup (it was very green!)  We ended the day with our annual Irish-Amerian St. Patrick's Day dinner - corned beef and cabbage, along with a rainbow fruit platter and a brownie and mint ice cream layered dessert.  Yum!

And just because I thought it was really cute, but we didn't have enough meals in the day to actually eat it on St. Patrick's Day--we enjoyed a Papa Murphy's green shamrock pizza the next day.  I had to have it, so I bought it on Saturday and kept it in the fridge until we could eat it on Sunday.  It was pretty good!

Young Women's Fundraiser

I'm a tiny bit behind on my blog, but I like to think it's because of big events like this:

For girls' camp this year our Young Women decided to do a different fundraiser.  In the past, the girls have made and sold fudge around Valentine's Day.  It was always successful, but seemed like every year it was becoming more and more work for the leaders.  Also, afterwhile, it's nice to switch things up a bit and do something new.  So this year we did a Spaghetti Dinner with a Dessert Auction.  Having not done this before we weren't sure what the response would be.

Well, I'm happy to report that it was VERY Successful!!  SUCCESSFUL in capital letters!  The dessert auction was really unbelievable.  Our ward was so supportive that I know it took the girls by suprise and it definitely took me by suprise.  Each of the girls had to sell dinner tickets, then help prepare and serve the dinner as well as provide two desserts for the auction.  Everyone did their part and the girls really made some nice desserts.  They had to help and work from start to finish.  The girls felt so loved and supported and what a great experience for them to see their work and efforts valued as people bid on their desserts.  They also learned pretty clearly that when someone is buying your cake for $75, $100 or $395 it's not about what you made or what 's it's actually worth, it's about supporting you and the things that the Young Women do.  Man, I love our ward, I'm getting kind of teary just thinking about what they did for the Young Women.



Aprons on and ready to serve!





The girls made the centerpieces and set the tables. 
(A big thanks to the YM who helped set up tables and chairs!)





Some of the amazing desserts. 
Ashley made the hamburger cupcakes.



Some of the girls grabbing a quick  bite to eat
after serving their tables.



What a great evening, my heart was pretty full to see the girls so happy, to know that we earned more than enough for everyone to go to camp, and to know that the next day I was going to be called as Young Women's President and this would be the last hurrah for the current presidency that I loved so much.

Spirit Week

Spirit week at school also means "Mom has to get creative" week.

First off--CRAZY HAIR DAY

This was by far my best effort with crazy hair.  I guess all the practice I had with Ashley helped me finally figure it out. 

You would think that an effort like the above should count for the whole week, but no it's "Spirit Week" something new every day.  Too bad that I didn't remember to get any more pictures :(

The next day was "dress like your favorite book character."  That's not an easy one.  Fortunately, I talked her into Nancy Drew--plaid skirt, button-up shirt, blue blazer, knee highs, and penny loafers.  She was pretty cute.

It was a long week, but got easier as it went on with jersey day, pj day and hat day.  Hat Day happened to be on Dr. Seuss' birthday so Paige wore our tall Cat in the Hat hat--so cute.