Pre- and Post-Wedding Festivities

In November, our friends Brett and Casey got married in St. Louis. It was wonderful to get to witness their wedding and have lots of dear friends from college come to town for the wedding!

Before the wedding on Saturday, we had some time so we all decided to take a tour at the Budweiser brewery not far from the hotel. I took a few photos while we were on the tour!

I don't exactly remember what was going on here, but Jeff was sticking something in Stauffer's pocket... Pretty typical for these former roommates.

Checking out the Clydesdales outside. They really are huge and really beautiful.

Green Valley house missing a few roommates.

After the wedding, our families came to St. Louis on Sunday morning to all have breakfast together. We ended up going to the restaurant in the lobby of the hotel where we stayed and it worked out pretty well.

Beaty and Jeff playing with Boone's toys.

Looking at pictures of the wedding.

And lots of chatting...

And Boone got to be around both sets of grandparents! He is definitely a loved and spoiled little boy!

I didn't lug my good camera along with me to the wedding, so I only have a few photos on my phone from the actual event and for some reason, I can't get them to load right now. Hopefully I can update the post with a few more from the actual, beautiful wedding! Congrats Casey and Brett! We are so happy for you and so glad we all could get together for it!

MOAB!

Our wonderful friends, Jaclyn and Matt Beaty planned to meet us in Moab in the middle of September! We were really excited about this since we had heard such great things about Arches National Park! Well... we almost didn't get to make this awesome trip because Jeff found out in August that he would be moving to Kansas City for work and then I had to have an emergency appendectomy at 14 weeks pregnant (YAY!) the week before our trip! So, needless to say, the odds were stacked against us, but thankfully, we were able to figure everything out and make the trip and we are so glad we did. The drive across Colorado was beautiful and the scenery in Moab is hard to beat. We had such a great, quick trip and it is ALWAYS fun to get together with the Beatys! They are the best travel buddies.

The first arch we went and saw the night we got there. 

Boone riding in the backpack. This may have been his last trip in the pack.

Such amazing creations. For a little perspective, you can see me sitting on the bottom left of the arch.

Our family of 3.5. You can just start to see a baby belly developing!

Love this girl! Jeff and I are so thankful for the Matt and Jaclyn's friendship!

I just love this picture of him. He has seen so many neat things in his two short years.

The delicate arch, way in the background.

Jaclyn being a haus, per usual.

On Saturday, we went to Dead Horse Canyon State Park. It was beautiful! That's sort of a theme around here.

It was a hot day there, and we didn't bring any sunscreen! We weren't expecting the super hot weather since it had been so mild in Denver around that time.

Boone makes a playground wherever he goes!

The Colorado River

Our (very) minimal cabin that we camped at in Moab.

Landscape arch on our last night there. Parts of this arch had already fallen down in the 90s.

After we got back from Moab, Jeff left the next day to fly to Kansas City and begin work there. Boone and I began a 5 month nomadic life also, but more on that later! 

Vacation Part 1: Traveling, Chattanooga, and getting to Hilton Head

For the first time since our honeymoon, we planned a vacation, flew to a location far away from where we live and spent a whole week there. Jeff and I joke that we don't take vacations, we just move, but that really has been how our lives have looked the last five years. We have been blessed to move often enough that we always have something new to check out within driving distance to our home. But, when a wedding invitation of a friend from Tennessee came in the mail back in February, we decided to spend a little extra time after the wedding and head to the beach. Ever since we moved to Canada, I have been begging Jeff to take me to the beach, so when we finally booked a trip to spend a week in Hilton Head Island, SC, I was beyond excited.

We flew into Atlanta for our trip. Our friend, Ashley, lives there and was actually flying to St. Louis the same day. It was great to see her and eat lunch with her for a bit.

The wedding we were attending was in Chattanooga, so we arranged with our friends Matt and Jaclyn, who live outside of Nashville, to meet up Friday night, before the wedding on Saturday. It was so great to see them! Before our trip, Jaclyn and I were joking about staying at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, which is a hotel in the city that has actual train cars you can sleep in. We went through Priceline to get a hidden deal and funny enough, we ended up getting rooms at the Chattanooga Choo Choo! No train car rooms for us, but we walked around and checked them out.

All the car rooms outside. They didn't look too big, but we never got to see one inside.

Boone is big on the word "choo choo!" so he was saying it all the time!

Burning some energy after a 3 hour plane ride and 2 hour car ride! 

Boone was such a trooper the whole trip. He slept in 4 different places in a 

week and it didn't even phase him.

It was so fun to take Boone to Tennessee! So many good memories from that state.

This kid is obsessed with trucks, trains and cars. Obsessed.

A little Choo Choo history.

My guys.

There were nice gardens in the courtyard. I wouldn't say it is the nicest hotel, 

but with the deal we got, it was worth the experience.

The crew, which I now affectionately call The RoBeatys.

Downtown near the waterfront in Chattanooga.

Riding the free trolley through Chattanooga on Saturday morning. Matt and Jeff went to a local power plant to tour the area and we checked out a local market.

Before we headed to the wedding, we ate a delicious lunch at Mellow Mushroom! 

It's one of the many restaurants we miss from the south. It is so delicious.

Our wonderful small group from Tennessee. Miss these people so much. What a wonderful group! Congrats Bryan!

Boone fit right in with the boys from the group. Jonathan (on the far right) and 

Boone have both been born since we left Tennessee. 

Sunday morning we headed out towards Hilton Head. Boone enjoyed a little snack from the wedding. They gave out Moonpies as favors and he was a big fan.

Once we reached Hilton Head Island, it was about dinner time, so we all hopped on our bikes and rode to a local restaurant called Hot Mama's Bar-B-Que. It was delicious! And I absolutely loved our first bike ride. We were staying in the Sea Pines area of Hilton Head and it was gorgeous. Huge trees with Spanish moss hanging off of them and gorgeous golf courses line the area. 

We bought Boone a bike helmet a few weeks ago, but he has screamed every time we put it on him. I knew he was going to need to wear it while he rode on the bike with Jeff, so I was really worried he would just scream the entire time. Fortunately, he was so excited to ride with Jeff he was actually excited to put it on everyday.

After dinner, headed back home.

So, there's a bit about the beginning of our vacation. We have so many pictures, but it has been so fun to look through and remember how much fun we had. 

Baby Animals

Back when we first moved to our hotel in Denver, we met another family that was living at the same hotel. They had a little boy and Boone and their son Sawyer always seemed to be interested in each other every morning over breakfast. I started talking with the mom, Haylie, and we found that they would be moving to a home near where we would be living. We've been able to keep in contact and hang out quite a bit. It really is neat to see the people God brings into your life in sometimes very random ways.

A few weeks ago, Haylie asked if we would be interested in going to a farm with them. Someone in their church had some baby chicks, a lamb and some kittens that they would let us come check out with the boys. We finally found a day that worked out and the weather was perfect. We had a really fun time and Boone loved seeing the animals. He's able to make the noises for most animals, so he ran around yelling "Bawk, Bawk!" for the chickens and "Baaaaaa!" for the lamb. Thanks Haylie for inviting us. It was fun to get away from the 'burbs for a bit and get some fresh air out on a farm.

Boone and Sawyer checking out a basket full of kittens. They were

still too small to be adopted out! And I can only imagine Jeff's face 

if we had brought home another cat!

Boone loved sitting under the table and checking them out.

Outside near the chicken coop.

Boone and the lamb.

Boone and a big, old dog that the owners have had for a really long time.

Baby chickens. They weren't tiny chicks, but still too small to be out in the coop.

Boone found a squirrel tail. I know most moms wouldn't let their kid carry 

around a dirty, old squirrel tail, but he thought it was the coolest thing.

Boone and Sawyer admiring the chickens. Sawyer can't quite walk yet, 

but he loves trying to keep up with Boone.

Boone with the lamb again. He seemed so sweet.

Playing in the front yard.

The little dog wanted nothing more than to play fetch with Boone, but Boone didn't understand why the dog kept wanting to take the ball.

There was an epic power struggle. The funny part is that the dog 

was so sweet and playful, but Boone just didn't quite get it yet. Too funny!

So we found another ball and everyone was happy.