st louis final post

The final St. Louis post!

Thanksgiving Day! Thursday, 12-28.

My mom, as always, cooked an amazing and delicious meal for our family! She stayed home while the rest of us went to the Turkey Trot, and we came home to a house that smelled so good! Quick showers for everyone, and then the rest of the family arrived. My grandparents, uncle, and cousin Kasey, plus her boyfriend Brendan. It was our first time meeting him, and he was really nice! They make a cute couple!

Grandpa cut the turkey, and mom got all of the yummy food onto the buffet. And then we all chowed down and ate way way way too much! Thanks Mom for the wonderful meal you always make us. We had pumpkin pie and chocolate pie for dessert and then we moved to the couches to relax. The boys played darts and me and mom chatted with my granny and gramps. So good to spend some extra time with them. It was a great day with family.

Grandpa carving the turkey, and slipping some to Mom's dog Roxy along the way!

This is one of my faves -- it is so cute!! Bear hug!

The yearly kiss photo!

My cousin Kasey and Aspen

Kasey and Brendan -- cute couple and funny pic!

This one -- how sweet can you get?

My grandpa, kicked back and relaxed...love this one!

This one really cracks me up!

And the sweetest photo of my grandma, ever -- and she didn't even know that I took it! :)

Thanksgiving evening, although we said we wouldn't, we went out to shop. We think it is a little ridiculous that the stores were open on Thanksgiving day but Best Buy was giving away free cell phones like we were wanting and we couldn't pass that up! Randy went to Walmart to get the tv offer, and Chris, Aspen and I went to Best Buy. The line wasn't too bad -- it was along the front of the store and wrapped down one side. We waited for about 15 minutes, and then the line nicely went inside and we were 5th in line to get the phone. It took about an hour total and we are both owners of great new free phones! We came home after that.

Friday, 12-29 -- Friday, we went to Shaw's Garden to take the second batch of senior photos of Aspen. It was very very cold, and we walked that huge garden as quickly as we could! We were able to get some really good photos, and I think we had fun too! I am excited to work on Aspen's senior announcement and print her photos to give away. I'll also be doing a little senior photo book for her. Fun day! After that we went to Blueberry Hill in The Loop for lunch. We had some delicious burgers and Aspen had some pancakes...and then we shopped just a bit, and had some ice cream. Then home! We got all of our stuff packed up (and we do travel with quite a load!!) and visited with mom and Randy for our final evening there.

Saturday, 12-30 -- We were up and on the road by 8:00 am, and made it home in 12 hours flat. It was an uneventful trip and Chris was so good to get us home safely. It was good to see our pups and Mimi! And to sleep in our own bed again -- ahhhhhh!

It was another successful and wonderful visit to STL -- already looking forward to the next one!!!