An Epic Trip to St. Louis!

My brother, Ephraim, and his wife, Amy, had a beautiful baby boy born in January. He is so sweet and his name is Cypress. The baby was getting blessed on Easter Sunday in St. Louis so of course we had to get there and see the blessed event!  The added benefits of going to the blessing were to see the rest of Cypress's family, my parents, my brother, Alex, and his wife, Katie, as well as to meet the new daughter of one of my oldest friends, Agota. So many of my favorite people in one weekend, AND a holiday?? That was not something we even could consider missing!

Newest nephew - Baby Cypress

The question became - how to best get to St. Louis?  And the answer eventually emerged - the two of us would take a LONG 15 hour road trip with my sister and her two girls in their new Honda minivan!!  Yes, it was quite a wonderful adventure. Here are some pictures from the trip out to St. Louis - somewhere in Ohio or Indiana we found a Culver's which is a yummy place if you are ever in the Midwest. You can see by Madeline's face that so far those girls were doing very well on this trip!  Even Tony was hanging in there at this point...

Madeline enjoying her Culver's shake!

The Payne girls indulging in some Midwestern yumminess.

Gigi - still exuberant after about 8 hours in a minivan.

We got to Eph and Amy's house very late on the Thursday before Easter. It was great to be greeted by them and to see the baby sleeping peacefully, but mostly it was GREAT to see our bed in their guest room. They are amazing! They hosted ALL of us, my parents, and Alex and Katie for that whole weekend. They are great hosts and we were very comfortable. All of this while managing a baby blessing, a holiday meal, and the needs and activities of three other fun-loving children!

On Friday, we largely just hung out and relaxed after our long trip. That evening Tony and I headed over to visit with Agota and to meet her adorable little girl, Alexandra, who had just turned 2. Agota adopted Alexandra from Russia last year and this was our first time meeting her. She is definitely Agota's daughter!  What a great pairing and such a sweet relationship between the two of them. We had a great dinner together and enjoyed being part of Alexandra's nighttime routine as she was heading to bed. After a little more chatting, we headed back over to Ephraim and Amy's, but not without a quick stop at Ted Drewe's frozen custard stand for a traditional St Louis treat!

That night we were able to hang out with Ephraim and Amy a little more, though both of my parents had medical emergencies that night - luckily we had a nurse and a doctor on hand, and a medical student and a vet joined us the next day! I think illness did not dare rear its head again the rest of the weekend with such an opposing team in the house!  I really enjoyed beating Amy, Ephraim and Bethany in Just Dance 2. Ha! What a fun game. We couldn't get Tony to play, darn it. Of course, the reprise contest the following night was against Katie and Alex, and let's just say, Katie is GOOD at everything she does! Yes, she was a formidable opponent. I was also worn out from playing it over an hour the night before. Very fun times, and it was great watching the kids play the next day as well.

Saturday morning found us dragging ourselves out of bed in time to head to Hazel's awesome soccer game!  What a great morning together, and Hazel is the COOLEST six year old soccer player in the world!

Asher watching from the sidelines

Hazel (in the front on the left) going after the ball!

Hazel and her awesome soccer hair

Coolest soccer parents ever!

Hazel's cheering section.

Uncle Tony and Ms. Daphne enjoying the Spring weather

Bethany and Madeline (photo by Daphne)

Hazel showing her good loot after the game.
I think all I ever got after my soccer games was water and an orange!

After the game, we all headed back to the house. The ladies all RUSHED (and I mean RUSHED) to the temple to catch the next session - me, Amy, my mom, and Bethany. We barely made it and they held the session for us because it so happened that Alex and Katie were already in the session waiting for us. Thanks Alex and Katie! I love the temple and the St Louis Temple is so beautiful and peaceful. After the whirlwind of the trip so far, it was wonderful to be in the temple with such special, important people as my family members. I am always reminded of the most important things in life... God's love for us, His son, Jesus Christ, my sweet spouse, our family and friends, and faith. The temple grounds were so beautiful and the whole experience was just a time out of time.

St Louis LDS Temple

On the way home, we picked up a yummy lunch for everyone from Jimmy Johns and after we ate, everyone ran around getting fancy! And I mean fancy! We were having a family photo shoot at the Laumeier sculpture park! How exciting. I'll try to post some favorites from all of the many photos in a subsequent post so this one is not just hundreds of photos, but here is a taste.

Everyone!

Grandkids - apparently the two boys weren't thrilled to be high up on a ledge.

Daphne and Aunt Katie - adorable!

the Parents!

Me and Big T - still smiling after almost six years!

We had a great dinner back at Amy and Ephraim's home, followed by a nice evening of enjoying each other. The evening ended up with me losing my crown at Just Dance 2 - oh well!  It was nice to win while it lasted. Those Parents know how to compete!

Sunday morning was Easter and the Easter bunny definitely found all of the grandkids!  Church was early, however, so we mostly just got ready and headed to church for the baby blessing. Ephraim pronounced a sweet blessing upon darling Cypress and we enjoyed hearing testimonies from Amy and Ephraim as well.   Now, one thing we learned about Cypress is that he is not too fond of being held. This is just one way that I am sure we will see him exert his independence. It's hard to not hold a darling baby when you just want to cuddle him!  Here are some post-church pics with Aunt Katie and his daddy.

Isn't he the cutest! He really did enjoy being held by his parents, if not as much by everyone else.

After church was a great Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Amy's sister, Millie, and her family had also joined us for the blessing and for Easter festivities.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying each others' company, eating a delicious ham dinner and fabulous chocolate cake, and hearing kids perform on musical instruments. A perfect day.  After which, we got to bed and packed up EARLY to head back on a LOOOOOOOOONG drive back to Philadelphia.WHEW. How we made it I'll never know, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world! Family is EVERYTHING!