Showing posts with label 2017. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2017. Show all posts

Thursday, June 7, 2018

ST. LOUIS | DECEMBER 2017


I can't believe it has taken me this long to blog about our quick trip to St. Louis this past December! 

Last fall Matthew mentioned that we should try and mark off every hockey arena in the country by attending an away Predator's game or two a year. I loved the idea and we started looking at away games for the rest of the year. We had already planned to take some time around Christmas off, so we found an away game a couple of days after Christmas and purchased our tickets!

Two days after Christmas we packed up and headed towards St. Louis. It was a about a 5 hour drive and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip! We listened to Christmas music and talked about everything under the sun to pass the long, very flat, trip!


We got to St. Louis a little after lunch and we were greeted by the Arch! We headed to our hotel to get settled and refresh for the game that night. Matthew surprised me and booked our stay at the Union Station hotel in downtown St. Louis. It was in the perfect location for us as it was a short walk over to the arena. It was absolutely beautiful and it was still decorated for Christmas.

It was bitter cold when we arrived and the wind was harsh. I'm almost positive we lost feeling in our hands and face walking into the hotel.


We added on a couple of layers of our Pred's attire and then headed to the game! We got an Uber to take us over to the arena because it was just so cold, but ended up cutting our ride short and walking the rest of the way due to some unexpected road closures. 

We had originally thought it would be fun to eat at every arena and compare the arena food, but quickly changed our minds after dropping over $30 for a "snack" because they had already sold out of pizza...we're too cheap for that, ha! 

The game was so good and we won, 2-1! The fans around us were actually really friendly, we were a little worried about being fans of the away team, but they were all nice. 

Our goal is to get a picture in front of every hockey arena and make a collage one day! We saw a small group of Pred's fans and asked them to make our picture in front of the arena. Turns out, their parents go to our church, such a small world! 
If our red noses didn't give it away, it was even colder that night! It was about 8 degrees and there was a little snow on the ground.

We decided to just walk back to our hotel and ended up eating a late dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, since it was the only place that was still open. Such a fun night and the atmosphere was even better!

The next day we decided to see the Arch while we were in town and it was awesome. There was a ton of construction going on around it so that led to about 30 minutes of parking frustration, but we finally found where to go. Thankfully we didn't have to stand in line long at all and we got right in.



We took our time and looked out all the windows to take in the views. So incredible and because it was windy that day we could definitely feel the Arch sway a bit- not the most pleasant thought, but we learned that it was built to sway with the wind a bit. So cool, but still a bit scary!


I picked up this beautiful ornament in the gift shop to remember our trip by as well as a post card to add to our travel postcard collection!

After the Arch we had lunch at an adorable Italian restaurant right down the road from the Arch, Angelo's Taverna. I think it is safe to say, we had the best thin crust pizza ever there. The sauce was absolutely incredible. We also had a pretty great view of the Arch from our new lunch spot!

After lunch we hit the road and headed back home. It was a quick trip, but it was so fun and we got to do quite a bit! A huge thank you to my sister for staying at our house with Reagan while we were gone. Reagan loved some time with her Aunt Mady! 

We are eagerly waiting for the Pred's to release their schedule in a few months so we can decide on which arena we want to mark off our list next!


 photo Untitledscaa_zpsbqu6wi04.png

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

CHRISTMAS | 2017

Matthew and I were both very lucky and thankful to have a good bit of time off around the holidays this year. We took the week after Thanksgiving off and then some days before and after Christmas. My last day in the office was on December 18th, and I worked from home a couple of half days. So needless to say, today is going to be rough, getting back into the swing of things and back to our routine!

I am starting to realize that adult Christmas (and Thanksgiving!!) breaks are SO much better than when we were kids! There were a couple of days over Christmas break where I only got out of my pjs to shower and get into a new pair of pj's- the best feeling ever! We watched so many Christmas movies this year and I loved it. Here is a quick overview of our Christmas break...

I spent one day watching Christmas movies and making cinnamon rolls for our neighbors, family, and friends. I ended up making 2 batches of the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls again and was able to give them to 19 families (we saved a pan for ourselves)!

This girly loved us being home so much.

One morning we went and watched the Pred's open practice. My BIL joined us. It was very cool, but sadly, it didn't last a long time, we only got to watch them practice for about 30 minutes. It was still a good time though!



I didn't do a Christmas home tour this year, but I did remember to snap a few pictures around the house. I LOVE our home decorated for Christmas, I wanted to spend every second at home that I could by the fire and Christmas tree. So cozy and relaxing!




We hosted my mom's birthday dinner again this year right before Christmas and we hosted my FIL's graduation dinner right before NYE!

Ellie and Reagan were hammin' it up for some cheese.





Sister pictures!





We went to church Christmas Eve morning and then back to our house to load everything up and get Reagan before we headed to my parent's house for the day! 

I surprised my dad with tickets to Tim Allen's comedy show that is coming to Nashville in April. He was so surprised and we are both excited for a father/daughter date to see Tim Allen!!

We spent Christmas Day with Matthew's family, and sadly I didn't make a single picture on Christmas day. We did finger foods this year on Christmas Day and it was so good!

We got back home the day after Christmas and finally got to do our Christmas together! Matthew got me a new luggage set and some other things and I got Matthew an away Pred's jersey and some other things.


We spent the rest of the day lounging around before packing up and heading out the next day to St. Louis, MO for the Pred's game. I'll post more on that later this week!

Butterfinger Reese's Cups are my FAV and Matthew had a bag in my stocking, such a fun surprise.

 Christmas wore Reagan OUT.

Christmas 2016 on the left and Christmas 2017 on the right...she has gotten so big!!
And that's a wrap on our Christmas break/Christmas festivities! I can't believe it is all over already. Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year, and I am already on the countdown for Christmas 2018!! I stepped away from blogland over the holidays so I am excited to read and catch up on all of your blogs this week as I am getting back into the swing of everything!