These Boots Are Made For Walking

I finally purchased my first pair of cowboy boots last week! Kae and I have wanted them for years...really, years. And somehow purchasing them in Tennessee makes them seem even more legit. I love them!

I didn't know there was a whole science to buying cowboy boots. Let me tell you, there is! If I hadn't of asked for help I would have walked out with the wrong size and had been one unhappy lady once they were broken in.

But, all is well, I got the right size for me! They are so comfy, no wonder cowboys (girls) wear them all the time...

Cotton

Have you ever seen a cotton field up close and personal? Me neither, and it was something I wanted to see/capture before we left the South (assuming that we will next fall). There is something about a cotton field that is so surreal and mesmerizing to me. Harvest was quickly approaching so Meg filled me in on some good fields she has passed. Scott and I grabbed Jay and drug him and his family out to capture the cotton fields of Tennessee.

Here's some of the shots we got. I love them!

The cotton boils are so soft, just like a cotton ball. That may seem obvious, but I expected it to be much more coarse and then become softer as it was processed. I tore down some cotton branches (or whatever the technical term is for them) and took them home. I vowed to pay full price on my next "made from cotton" purchase :)

Lyla June

Megan and Justin welcomed Lyla June to this world on Monday, August 29 at about 6:00 pm. Poor Meg, it was a long labor! She filled me in on all the details though (at my request). I'll spare you those....

Lyla June was 8lbs 14oz and soo long! She looks just like her daddy and is just adorable. Scott and I went up to see the family at the hospital on Tuesday night. Lyla as barely 24 hours old!

She is just the sweetest, and so well mannered (ha, for now!). No, really she is. I went and saw Meg a couple weeks ago and little Lyla just slept in my arms for over 2 hours.

Congrats guys!!

Anniversary #4...The Arch

The last couple posts were getting a little long....here's our pictures from our Arch Tour on Monday. 

While we waited for our tour to start we bought candy sticks and raced to suck to a point. Scott won. I'm sure he cheated somehow ;)

The door to the elevator that took us to the top

Inside the elevator...Grandma would have died! It was so small and tight.

Our hotel is the black building. You can see the rooftop pool.

The little windows at the top of the arch

Scott didn't like the ride up so much. It was long  (a few minutes) and jerky and made lots of clicking sounds....

At the top!

In the elevator on the way down. I think they need to put the elevator on the outside of the building and the build it like they do in hotels with all windows...and plexi floor. 

Anniversary #4 (Missouri)

So at this point we are on our way to St. Louis. We have now driven through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, ending in Missouri.

We pulled into St. Louis and parked on a side street downtown to Priceline a hotel. The one that came up was the Crowne Plaza right downtown across the street from the Arch and Busch Stadium (The Cardinals). So here we are walking into the lobby to check in with our backpacks, dirty hair and dirty horse clothes. I'm sure people were staring! We checked into our room and then headed back down to the parking garage to get our cooler and food. We couldn't leave it in the car, and we had to keep refilling the cooler with ice...so up it came. We hauled it from the basement parking garage up to the 21st floor. We had to walk through the lobby with it and then ride the elevator up. We were laughing so hard at what this scene must look like to others that we could barely carry the cooler/food bin.

On the balcony off our room

View from our balcony- the State House and Busch Stadium. A game had just started.

The Arch and Mississippi River from our balcony.

Our new campsite. It was a suite so we had a fridge and microwave.

It was such a relief to walk into A/C. The weather was also much cooler in St. Louis.

We showered and then headed out to find a Target to get some supplies for the weekend. Please note below that Scott packed hair putty. He was planning on doing his hair in the woods, as we THOUGHT we would be camping this whole weekend :)

After Target we spent the evening in the room watching the Oregon football game. It was the first for the season, and didn't end well. They have since made up for it. Since we had our camp food and a microwave we ate the Sloppy Joe's we would have had in the woods. The irony of the entire weekend was just too much  :)

After dinner and the game I beat Scott in Phase 10. He was all talk before and during the game...but it didn't really work out that well for him in the end. 

Lowest score wins!

Sunday we spent the day walking around the base of the Arch, attending a Cardinals game and picking up souvenir Cardinals shirts and poking around downtown. There is a park called Citygarden right downtown that is full of sculptures and wading pools for kids to play on/in. We also walked to the Wainwright Building which is credited as on of the first skyscrapers in the world. It was 10 stories tall and made of brick. Can you imagine when a skyscraper was 10 stories tall?!

The Wainwright building. The original building is the brick  building that is 4 windows wide. The rest was added on much later. 

Detail of the building

One of the sculptures in the Citygarden. The arms all moved (slowly).

For some reason I thought I could stand on the curved portion of the sculpture. Scott caught my attempt on camera.

It was such a cool place right downtown where families mingled. Downtown St. Louis seemed so safe even at night, it was  amazing. 

Pinocchio was there!

That night we went to The Hill (the Italian District) for dinner. When we arrived there was a bike race going on so we stopped to watch that for a bit before going to the restaurant. Lorenzo's was where we ate and it was amazing. We had beef tenderloin with Arugula and truffle oil, Chicken Pesto Pizza and a Meat Pizza. St. Louis has their own type of pizza (like Chicago or New York). They consist of a thin crust, a really sweet, light tomato sauce and a cheese blend that has no Mozzarella. It's called Provel and it's a mix of Provolone, Swiss, and Cheddar. It was DELISH!!

Italian house in The Hill

Later that night we went up to to the rooftop pool. It was way too cold and windy and there was no hot tub (what?!) but we did get a good view of the Arch from up there. 

Monday we went and did the Arch tour and headed back to Collierville. Next time we're in St. Louis we'll be going to Six Flags, a Blues game, the zoo and City Museum. It was a great weekend and such a fun city!