Missouri Botanical Gardens

Since we moved to St. Louis, I've been wanting to go to the Botanical Gardens.  I've heard great things and who doesn't love walking through beautiful gardens?!  Clearly, I wanted to take my mom as well.  Unfortunately, 9 times out of 10 it's too hot to go and be able to really enjoy it during the summer (hence why it's taken us 2 years to get there).  Luckily, we got that 1 day that was unseasonably cool.  Combine that with the fact that it happened to be a Thursday when I'm off work and we had the perfect day for our first visit together.  We strolled through the beautiful grounds, through the lily gardens, herb garden, rose garden, oh my!  We ended in the children's area where Lilly got to enjoy the splash pad.  Well, until a little boy ran her over and knocked her straight on her face :-/  All in all it was a wonderful visit and I'm pretty sure mom was happy I kept insisting that we go even after her many, "we don't have to go anywhere or do stuff to entertain me...we're fine just staying home and hanging with Lill".

Chihuly glass right as we walk in?  Mom's going to love this place!

"Make it look like my hair"

Amazed by the humongous hastas

Lilly walking in the lily garden

Hydrangeas the size of your head

The corpse plant - some fancy plant that blooms once a year for just a few days and smells like, you guessed it, a corpse.  Luckily we missed the day that it gives off that wonderful smell :-)

G & G come to visit!

My mom and dad (and Cody!) just hit the road back to Michigan after a wonderful 10 day visit.  While it's always difficult to see them go, having them here for an extended stay and getting to watch Lilly interact with and make memories with them is totally worth it.  The visit included two fun-filled weekends of BBQ's, breaking in our new pool, 4th of July celebrations and the big 1st birthday party and they also got in a full week of fun while Corey and I were at the office.  They went to the mall, to the park, took walks in the wagon, went to eat and just hung around the house enjoying each others company. I know how much Grandma and Grandpa cherish these moments with Lilly and I'm thankful for cameras so that we can capture some of these moments to remind Lilly of when she gets a bit older. Come back soon, G&G!!!

Lilly's Big Day

As of Friday, June 20th, it'd been one year since we first held our baby girl in our arms. One year since we felt more love and joy in our hearts than we ever knew imaginable. One year since our lives changed forever, for the absolute best. In order to celebrate the best.day.ever, we chose to spend it all together, just like we did one year ago. I already had the day off of work and Corey decided to take off as well.  We started the morning with our ever usual family walk and then breakfast a la mom. This breakfast was special.  Birthday pancakes with SPRINKLES and a candle accompanied by the birthday song.  It was an idea I saw on Pinterest that actually looked like something I could execute without screwing up royally :-)  Later that day we walked up to Fizzy's Soda Fountain shop for a birthday lunch (grilled cheese for the birthday girl!) The rest of the day was spent opening gifts, playing, enjoying every minute with our little lady and reminiscing about the past year.

Dad's Day

I think it's safe to say that Corey had a nice first Father's Day.  We started our day like every other weekend morning with a family walk.  I then whipped up some eggs, toast and turkey bacon and we all scarfed that down and then gave CB his gift.  Since the pool is a big gift to ourselves, we have agreed to not buying gifts for Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays, Sweetest Day...you get the point, until further notice. We agreed to 'not BUYING'.  No one said anything about making gifts.  And so Lill and I did just that.  One Thursday while Dad was at work, I stripped Lill down, covered the porch with some garbage bags, plopped some finger paint on a canvas and let Lill go to town.  She was a bit skeptical, but got into it just enough to make a piece of art.  Maybe we're the only one's that consider it a piece of art, but it was a fun first Father's Day gift nonetheless.

After the morning nap we headed over to Corey's cousins for lunch and swimming with the Taylor side of the fam. We managed to get all the Dad's to pose for a picture but couldn't quite round up all the kiddos to join them.  It was a special day celebrating the main man in our life but also the other wonderful male influences in our lives.

Summer Lovin', Lovin' Summer

While summer hasn't 'officially' started, it's felt like summer in STL for awhile. And more like Michigan summer than an STL summer. Not horribly hot!  We've been thoroughly enjoying the weather with visits to all of the area parks, trips to the pool and lots and lots of walks (especially now that our little one is in full walking mode).  Here is a little peak into what we've been up to.

That large dirt pile/hole at the end?  That's just our backyard as our pool is FINALLY going in! Just in time for summer to really start heating up.

#rumanddoggethitched

A long overdue post that I just noticed was hanging out as a 'draft'...

#rumanddoggethitched. That was the hastag used early and often for me and my gals this past weekend. I enjoyed a weekend away for one of my best friends, Rum's (aka. Katie), bachelorette party weekend in adorable Saugatuk, Michigan. I snuck out of work early on Friday to hit the road for the 6 hour drive to southwest Michigan. While the drive alone wasn't ideal, flight options were scarce and expensive and I had plenty of podcasts and music to keep my company on the drive.  Oh, and sitting for hours straight, that's something a new mom never complains about.

The weekend could not have been more perfect.  Adorable (more like, perfect) house in a quaint town. Wine. Make-your-own pizza. Coffee. Hikes. Lake Michigan. Lunch. Shopping. Greek dinner. Dancing. My best friends. Perfection. I can't wait to all be reunited in a few short weeks for the nuptials of our dear friends.