Trip to St. Louis

Shonda and I took a trip to St. Louis the first weekend in February.  Our primary reason was to attend the ICCA (International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella) competition - Brianna's final year competing with Minor Detail.  In addition, we were stoked to have a girls weekend and head to IKEA and Costco among other fun activities.  :)  We stayed with dear Peggie and Earl and were excited to meet Shonda's new 'little brother', Cooper.  :D  (He is as adorable in person as he is in all the photos below!)

Shonda and Cooper

Shonda with her new 'little brother'.   ;)

Alaina was able to drive down from her college in Iowa for the weekend.  It was great to see her (and her friend Cam who accompanied her.)

Alaina with Cooper

Alaina and Cam

Friday evening we arrived at Peggie and Earls, then immediately headed out to look at sofas at a furniture store.  Why?  Why not?  :D  We then stopped by a Fresh Thyme store.  That was fun!  We did a lot of window shopping and exploring.  It could be dangerous to live near a Fresh Thyme!  Then it was back home for Imo's Pizza.  Yum!!

Saturday morning Shonda, Peggie and I headed to IKEA with great excitement.  We enjoy this store way too much!!  One highlight was when Shonda and I met 'ourselves' in the kitchenwares section.  We overheard a couple of ladies wondering aloud if the food containers could really be any good.  Of course, we had to stop and share with them about the food containers (and a few other things nearby..)!  (BPA free!  Microwave, dishwasher, and freezer safe!  Nesting with lids!!)  :D  We knew our job there was complete when we heard them exclaim with joy, "They're only $2.99??!!!"   We felt a little misty remembering back to our first time together in IKEA.  (Cause we are experts at this, you know... that first time was a whole year ago!)  ;)

**Updating to add this photo from Shonda just this evening... THIS is what we mean by loving IKEA food containers!!  (and impressive show of food prepping/freezer meals, Shonda!!)

from Shonda - a tidy fridge with IKEA!

We shopped for awhile, then had lunch there in the restaurant.  Last year we had breakfast, but this year we were there for lunch - my first lunch at IKEA.  I ate the swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and veggies.  So good!!!

we are serious about our IKEA experience!

Then it was on through the rest of the store.  Shonda was getting cozy in the bedding section with a comfy pillow and a rather unique 'lounging vest'.  As Karen later commented... 'so slimming'.  ;)  hahahaha!!!

until next time!

Then it was on to Costco.  Again, we three really enjoy this!  The only problem we have is that we might need more than one car for these outings.  Since Shonda has a shoulder fracture she couldn't help load the big heavy stuff.  She could, however, encourage us and chronicle the attempt (hey, isn't that supposed to be my job??)  ;)  hahahaha!  Peggie and I did great, I do believe!

success!!

from Shonda's vantage point

We decided to stop by Fresh Thyme once more and boy, was it busy on a Saturday afternoon!  There was a man there serving samples of recipes made with his fresh salsa and Shonda and I had to give them a try.  The salsa was so tasty and the chicken tortilla soup he made with one of his salsas was excellent.  We fully expected the salsa to be expensive so when we discovered it was reasonably priced we had to pick up a few bottles.  Of course, in our enthusiasm, we were noticed by a few other shoppers who came over to take a closer look at his salsa.  We directed each shopper to the display and pointed out the variety of flavors of salsa and the coordinating recipe cards.  :)  I believe Shonda and I probably sold about 15 jars of salsa for this fellow!  ha!!  You can check him out yourself at http://www.gringogeorge.com.

There was still one more loading job to accomplish... putting all our stuff in Shonda's car leaving room for us and our luggage to return home the next day.  We did it!

Cooper is quite flexible.  :)

Love Alaina's college jacket.

Jackson was able to drive down Saturday afternoon in time for the ICCA competition Saturday evening.  He enjoyed meeting Cooper, too.  :)

Alaina, Cam, and Jackson 

Dear Brianna finally getting to meet Cooper - about midnight - after the ICCA competition (which she and Minor Detail ROCKED!!!!!!)

Sunday morning we attended church with Peggie and Earl, then went out to eat before getting on the road home.  The trip was uneventful for us, but we did go by one wreck with lots of emergency response.  :(  When we got home we discovered that there had been a horrible pileup on an interstate southwest of where we had traveled.  That weather was definitely turning nasty rather quickly.

the weather was starting to turn..