Birthdays, Shopping, Football & Loads of FUN!

Well as previously mentioned, this weekend did not disappoint in being jam packed with fun activities. A great time was had by all, but we were certainly ready to relax for a couple of hours once we finally got home last night.

Friday night we headed to our nephew's 3rd Birthday party, it was certainly chaotic as all childrens' parties are. Hunter was very excited for his party as it was themed after the movie "Cars" which he loves. We made the mistake of allowing him to pick out the first present he could open and unfortunately it was a group of 3 Hot Wheels cars based on the movie. Well, all the rest of the presents might as well have been canned vegetables because he wanted nothing to do with them and he was not going to open another present. We tried everything, we had cake & ice cream and tried to convince him that Uncle Nicky & Aunt L would be very sad if he didnt' open his presents. In the end we all ended up opening the presents for him (just so we could all see what he had gotten). He couldn't care less that other people were opening up his presents. Note to self & rest of the family: at Christmas he gets to open the "fun" toys last. ;o)

Hunter modeling his gift from Uncle Nicky & Aunt L--a St. Louis Cardinals jacket just like Pujols!He also found it more entertaining to play in the bag and hop around then he did opening presents. Man, we could have saved a lot of money!

Uncle Nicky with Baby Jackson and Hunter (that's his version of saying "Cheese!"). Nick also tried to teach him how to show people how old he was. I'm not sure if he completely caught in but he sure worked hard at it.

Saturday we left around 10:00 and headed to St. Louis with my parents & my brother and his wife. We hit 2 malls and I managed to find some great deals. A pair of jeans at Nordstrom's for $25.00 that I absolutely love and some adorable polka dot tees at Anthropologie that were in the clearance room! Yeah for Anthropologie sales! I love that store but it seems so expensive at times. We also had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory--can I just say heaven? We had calamari and nachos as an appetizer, my mom and I shared an amazing pasta dish with bowtie pasta and a roasted garlic cream sauce, and Hubby & I shared a piece of their 30th Anniversary cheesecake: Creamy cheesecake layered with rich, moist chocolate cake & topped with chocolate icing and whipped cream. Very health, I know. ;o) We finished off the night by heading to the new casino in downtonw STL. Hubby & I had $40 to spend--we lost $20 on the slot machines but then he made about $50 on the Roulette Wheel. So, we ended up $10 ahead. Not bad for an hour's worth of entertainment.

Sunday we headed to the Edward Jones Dome for the St. Louis Rams vs. Dallas Cowboys. It had been a long time since I had been to a NFL game and they are so much fun. We were there as Dallas fans and we were certainly not in the minority. It was crazy how many Cowboys fans there were at a St. Louis Rams game. The Cowboys lost and it was a crappy, sloppy game, but we had a good time anyway. It's always a bonus when grown men get into a fight and end up getting escorted out. ;o) As you can see below, everyone but Millie & I participated in the throwing competition. My mom was the first to give it a try. There really wasn't a big prize, just a free Arby's t-shirt, but I got some good pics anyways.

Mom & Dad giving it a try! Good technique Mom!



Hubby on the left and my little brother on the right!

We headed home immediately after the game and I've never been more happy to make it to our house. We encountered a major detour due to a fatality crash and then due to the sun and some not very smart people, we were almost in a very serious accident. Kudos to my mom for seeing the problem and to my dad for having some amazing driving skills. I'm so glad God had his angels travelling with us.


Nick & I inside the dome. We had really good seats and certainly enjoyed ourselves!

I'll probably be fairly absent from the blogging world this week---we have our first GIC (Global Impact Conference) at our church and that is going to take up Tuesday-Sunday. I've very excited, but I'm on the committee heading it up so it will certainly be a very busy week! Hopefully I'll be able to post here and there, but until then--have a great week!