Working late is for the birds...

So, I sit here in front of the computer tonight...lamenting the fact that my husband is working late again! :( Last night, he had to work most of the evening...granted, he was at least home...but I didn't really get to see him much, or spend any quality time with him. Then tonight, he came home for about 30 minutes, then had to go back to work for a meeting and a conference call...boo...
I'm not really complaining...he doesn't have to do this very often. Usually, he's home and free from work by 5:30 or so (so we really are very lucky, in that regard)...but, I think for the next few weeks or possibly even months, there will be some work-filled nights, while they're doing testing for another Sigma release.
So, all you other people out there that have to work late...or have a spouse who works late occasionally...I feel your pain. There might be a few more posts than usual on my blog here in the near future...as I seem to gravitate toward the computer when he's not here. Oh, but wait...I did record the Jon & Kate plus 8 marathon that came on tonight...that should pass the time nicely! Ta-ta...

Meet me in St. Louis...

This weekend, we will have our first official visitors since we moved here. (Read: first visitors that we won't actually put to work once they get here! :))
Mandy and Trent (my BIL & SIL) are coming to visit...and we are so excited!!! They lived only about 3 or 4 blocks from us in Lubbock, and we did things together all the time. We have missed them terribly since moving, and it will be so good to get to visit, catch up, explore and just have fun with familiar faces!! This is the 4 of us at Disney World last year:


We always have so much fun with them, and are looking forward to more fun and memories this weekend!!
The weather is supposed to be really nice, so we're thinking maybe the zoo, the arch, a little shopping, and of course...good food! :) I'll post pictures of our adventures after the weekend.

St. Louis Summer

It has been a very mild summer here, from what we hear. People have been commenting on the rarity of this kind of weather in August. We've had a few days that have felt more like Fall or early Spring! Coming from Lubbock where there is absolutely NO humidity, we are grateful for nice mid-80's days with very little humidity! And that is exactly what it has been for the last week or so. It has been absolutely beautiful here...and the evenings cool off perfectly, reminding us a lot of West Texas evenings.

However, about three weeks ago, it was a different story, with temps into the very high 90's, and the heat index towering into 105-110! And this is not dry heat...lots of humidity, so it feels like you can't breath. Those are the days you stay inside in the nice air conditioning!!

So, I was just thinking this morning about how gorgeous it has been lately, and how lucky we've been to have such a mild last few weeks. But, wouldn't you know it...watching the weather this morning, today is suposed to be 90% humidity!!!! Ugghhh...the St. Louis summer isn't over yet...

But, I've heard that St. Louis in the Fall is amazing! So, I'm looking forward to that. Fall has always been my favorite season, for some reason. That's why we were married in the Fall.

I think it's the crisp, cool air; school supplies everywhere (I love school supplies); leaves turning (should be fulfilling here...we've been tree-starved in West Texas our whole lives! :); football gearing up (Go Cowboys!); fall foods and carnivals; pumpkins; lattes (for some reason, I really like coffee in the fall and winter, not so much in the summer); the colors; coats and scarves; etc.
Thinking about fall and the city always makes me think of the movie, You've Got Mail' where Meg Ryan tells Tom Hanks (or is it the other way around?), that she would send him a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils...love that line.

Erin's American Idol Auditions

So, like I mentioned before, and most of you know...my baby sister Erin flew up and we drove over to Kansas City for her to audition for American Idol. It was QUITE an experience! We were there for 14 hours, and were worn out by the time it was over! We got there at 5:00am, waited in the parking lot for about 3+ hours, finally got into the arena and they did some shooting for promos, etc. Then it was lots of sitting and waiting. Oh, and did I mention we only got 3 hours of sleep the night before??
Honestly though, we had so much fun, and made lots of good memories! She did awesome, but didn't advance...but out of 10,000 people, the odds are definitely stacked against you!
Here are some pictures from our adventure!

Alive and Well in St. Louis

So we've been here in St. Louis for about 6 weeks, and this is the first time I've been on here. Oops...but, things are finally getting settled into a routine, and this really is the best way to keep everyone in the loop on what's going on here. I'll give you the abridged version of our last 6 weeks for now:

We drove up here on July 2-3 with my parents, and honestly, it wasn't really that bad of a drive. I was surprised! It's right around 11 hours. We had both of our cars, and the dogs...but they did great, and the trip really went by fast. Once we got here, our first order of business was finding a place to live...we found a 3/2.5 townhouse at the right price and in a great location. It takes Colby less than 10 minutes to get to/from work most days! So, once we had that figured out, we did a little exploring with mom and dad. We went into downtown for fireworks on the 4th, and then did the Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour...which actually happened to be about a week before they were bought by Inbev. So, I'm really glad we got to do that before the buy out happened! It is such a neat and impressive piece of St. Louis history...and I don't know if they'll keep the tours going for too much longer. And of course, we had lots of good meals...anyone that knows my dad, knows that food is always an important part of any trip. :) We had a great time with mom and dad, and can't WAIT for them to come back! This is only a small part of the brewery campus...it's huge!

About a week later, Colby's parents came up to help us get everything into the house and unpacked. They were such a HUGE help, and literally by the time they left, we had the house in livable condition...even had things hung on the walls! They were able to stay for almost a week, and that was such a blessing. We really got a lot accomplished in that time. We also got to go downtown with them to see the arch, which I had not seen up close an personal at all yet. We still haven't gone up in it yet, but hopefully we will soon. It is such a neat site driving into downtown and seeing it through the buildings!


Since then, we've just been going through day to day stuff. It's definitely been an adjustment working from home...but, I feel so fortunate to be able to...it's been great. Colby's job is going well and he really likes all the people he works with. In fact, last night, we drove into downtown to go to dinner with Dave and Katie, who he works with. It was a lot of fun...they are doing "Downtown Restaurant Week" through this weekend, and all of the 25 restaurants downtown have special menus...you get a 3 course meal for $25. They have a list of appetizers, entrees and desserts, and you get to pick one of each. It was a lot of fun, and great food!

We've also found a great church and have met some wonderful people there. They have all been so welcoming and friendly, and have really reached out to us. That has been the best thing for us here...being so far away from family and friends...it's nice to find a group of people to connect with. They've kept us busy with dinners, lunches, games, etc. It's been a lot of fun. In fact, we're going to dinner tonight with a couple from church. Funny sidenote: this couple is from Texas too...he (Phil) actually grew up in Odessa, of all places, went to school at LCU, and is a HUGE Texas Tech fan...small world!

Other things we've done in STL so far:

• Saw Miss Saigon at the Muny (huge outdoor amphitheater in Forrest Park, built in 1913 as the Municipal Opera) Really fun!!
• Went to a GREAT old Farmer's Market in Soulard (a south city neighborhood about two blocks from Busch Stadium) We will definitely be doing our produce shopping at a farmer's market while we're here! So much cheaper than the grocery store, so fresh, and so much variety! I think we'll try a different one next time...there are many to choose from here. The Soulard FM has a claim to fame though: it is the oldest FM west of the Mississippi! It has been around since 1779...I can't even comprehend that.

On another note (no pun intended), Erin came to town last weekend, and we drove to Kansas City for her to audition for American Idol...but that is a post all in itself...coming soon. We took this picture in the car at 4:30AM on the way to the arena...I've never looked so awake at 4am...but we were excited...the enthusiasm wore off around hour 13!

So...to sum it all up, we really like St. Louis so far. There is so much to do and see, we haven't even scratched the surface. We really want to take advantage of our time here, and see everything STL has to offer. There are definitely days when we are homesick, and think..."what are we doing here?" This week was hard, Lauren got a teaching job in Midland and had to go into work on Tuesday and tell them that was her last day there, and then pack that night and drive to Midland on Wednesday to look for an apartment. I wanted nothing more than to be there to help her. There are good days, and there are hard days...but, it will get easier. I think the first few months are always the toughest...at least that's what I've heard.

I've also heard that St. Louis is a great place for a vacation... so COME VISIT!! :)