My Sweet Penpal

In May my best friends fiance got a job in Portland. He moved in early June and I had the summer to spend with Heather and her sweet, adorable kids. It was a blast. By the time they moved in late July they were calling me Aunt Katie. Katrina, her second grader, and I have kept in touch as pen pals from across the country. She is just an absolute doll.

Heather, Katrina, and I on their last night in St. Louis

This past weekend Tom and I got the opportunity to go visit them in their new home. The trip was an absolute blast. The kids were awesome, Portland was beautiful, and it was such a treat to see Heather and Dave. I can't wait to go back.

Katrina with her new dog, Boggs

Katrina and I the morning of the half marathon

Katrina supporting us despite the rain :)

She has become buddies with Tom and he is just so sweet to her. This is her watching the half marathon from his shoulders.

Hanging out on the couch- she always insisted on being between me and Tom :)

The sweet Baker kids

Me, Katrina, and Tom Sunday night for dinner

What a great trip with my sweet pen pal and best friend's family!

Biking and Brewery

After seeing online that a girl I knew from high school would be playing at Augusta Brewing Company this Sunday I decided we had to go. I urged my dad to get my hitch put on my car and we gathered a few friends to go along. We drove to Weldon Springs then biked 10 miles on the Katy Trail to Augusta. Paul met us on his motorcycle. We enjoyed some brews, pretzels, chips and artichoke dip, and incredible music by the River Rats. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. Can't wait to go back again!

Proud of my new bike rack even though it wasn't the most secure.

Tom's owning the trail

Tom and Lara biking

I should have thought of this...

Tom must have thought he looked good...seeing as he is taking a pic of himself

Me and Tom

Me and Lara

Obviously Tom adores Paul

Thanks, Tom.

We had an absolutely incredible afternoon and realized what an easy trip it is... now we are excited to go back!

Lunch and Cupcakes

Last week mom, Amy, Kara, Trey, Claire and I went to a little back to school lunch at one of our favorite lunch spots. Pastries of Denmark is a delicious little place on Olive. We had a great lunch and then decided we deserved a few cupcakes. The group shared three cupcakes. Claire, personally, could not get enough. Good thing her mommy was there to cut her off.

Family Photos

We just recently had family pictures taken for the first time in about ten years. Below are some of the pictures we had taken of our always growing family. This picture will be outdated in just a few months :) They were an anniversary gift for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary and will accurately show the family at the time they celebrated this milestone.

I should be ashamed of myself

And my lack of blogging. I don't really have any good excuses except for these:

1. This has been the busiest summer of my life.

2. Part of my busy summer included weeks without internet.

3. My small camera wont upload to my computer

There. That's all I got. I would say I'll try to be better, but who knows. For now, here's a picture of the beautiful Michigan I spent a week of my summer with girlfriends and family friends.

Last Day of Camping- The Rim of the Grand Canyon

Although it's a little late I wanted to share these pictures of our last night camping in Arizona. 90% of people who visit the Grand Canyon go to the South Rim. However, because I was with some locals we went to the North Rim in order to avoid the crowd. We were able to drive way back into the National Forest and find a campsite right on the rim with no one around. It was absolutely incredible.

This is the view from our campsite

We slept under more stars than I have ever seen in my life, no tent, with bats swooping toward our face while we were trying to fall asleep...bliss :)

The campsite with the canyon

sunset in the canyon

nice pits megs

A good ole friend

sunset in the canyon

sunrise in the canyon

hike down to the Colorado River and the beginning of the canyon

Beauty

The Magic House

To celebrate Delaney and Trey's birthday I decided I wanted to take them out for the day. I let them pick the activity. On a beautiful St. Louis summer day we went INDOORS for the Magic House. Regardless, it was a great day and I had a blast with the kiddos. The Magic House is HUGE compared to when I was little and there was tons of stuff to explore..

First we had lunch at O'Charleys

Musical benches

Poor girl's hair doesn't stand up too well

Jack's giant beanstalk went up for three floors- it was all fun and games until Delaney got lost in it

Trey loved the construction area

This video is adorable/hysterical... at least for me.

I had a great day with them and really enjoyed doing this rather than wrapping a gift. It was a blast!

Florida!

Heather gave Tom and I a good reason to take a little vacation this summer. We booked a little place in Vilano Beach for her wedding weekend in St. Augustine. There are tons of pictures on this entry, but it was just too beautiful not to include all of them!

Our first view of the beach--- amazingly we are both still smiling after 15 hours in the car together!

Day 1 on the beach- Tom isn't sunburnt...yet!

Day 2 on the beach- A little color but it's just the beginning of the day

His and hers beach towels, lax sticks, and a cooler radio make for a good beach day

Our little crab friend that hung out on the beach next to us

Lesley, Heather, and I

high school friends at the welcoming dinner

Me and Tom at the rehearsal dinner

Me and the bride at the welcoming dinner

The girls

Tom and his new bff

Tom was sweet to walk Katrina to the car at the end of the night

The beautiful bride

At the wedding

Miles looking at his daddy tearing up over the beauty of the bride

Heather was beaming ALL night- I've never seen that girl so happy

Heather's turn to tear up

Katrina looked beautiful

Heather and Dave enjoying a laugh as Miles pretends to have lost the rings

Enjoying another laugh as Dave stops at the word "richer" and mumbles "for poorer" during the vows

the beautiful sand ceremony with the whole family

The Adorable new Baker family

The Baker Family with the Verweyst parents

the beautiful cake

I wish I had more pictures from the end of the night. It was such a special reception with so many sweet memories. I've never seen Heather happier... it was absolutely beautiful. A perfect, fairy tale wedding!