Meet me in St Louis

I spent the weekend in St Louis for my dear friend Debbie's wedding. It was a quick trip - in to St Louis Friday night for some prenuptial QT with Debbie, wedding festivities on Saturday and home this am. I traveled with another good friend and toted Alex along. Alex is usually such an easy baby, but wasn't feeling well this weekend and let it be known through his whimpering cries and sleepless nights. Poor baby.  He had a couple of rough spots - on the plane there b/c he refused to nurse and felt the pressure change, and protesting the car seat on our trip into the city on Saturday night.



Me, Debbie and Liz the night before the big day

I had one of those great moments on the plane ride in, where I hit it off with a lady on the plane, and the time flew by as we discussed our views on everything from parenting to religion. If we weren't separated by 1500 miles I'm pretty confident that we would become bffs:) I love those moments in life when you really connect with someone on a deeper level. Of course, on the way back, I sat between two 30 something men who were not impressed with getting kicked by Alex. You win some and you lose some.

My weekend excursion felt a little like the old days.  Liz and I stayed up late both nights gabbing, and were pretty free from responsibility and kid time tables. Another friend of Debbie's, that I had met a couple of times before, shared our hotel room with us and introduced us to to a whole new world of chocolate. Prior to our trip, I thought I knew good chocolate. I save my indulgences for high quality chocolate, especially dark, and shy away from waxy American chocolate. Little did I know that Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory doesn't do chocolate justice.  Lexie took us to several chocolatiers in St. Louis and taught us all about how chocolate is made and what constitutes good chocolate.  I sampled some along the way ($33/pound) and couldn't believe the fulness of the flavor and how it felt in my mouth. I'm a changed woman! Unfortunately, now I'm not going to be satisfied with just any chocolate, and Salt Lake doesn't have any Chocolatiers that I'm aware of.  Despite the GPS, we got lost in downtown St. Louis and discovered some parts of the city that aren't meant for tourists. It was a grand adventure!




 At the wedding - success (a sleeping baby!)



With the beautiful bride after the ceremony

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins!

Of course the wedding was beautiful and the bride lovely. The groom even won me over with his loose tear ducts. Debbie and Eric looked very in love and I'm glad we were able to be there. Unlike last time, Dave and Ben survived my trip with no major catastrophes. Tonight, I'm glad to be back at home with my 3 boys!

Ben's quote of the day:  "When I laugh, my heart goes beep, beep, beep"