Keeping secrets are SO much fun

This last weekend was the weekend we (Alex, Derek and I) got to surprise my friend Lauren. Her husband Alex got all of us Blues tickets for Christmas (they played the Red Wings and lost! YES!) and we told her that's all we were going to tell her about for the day. She knew we were going to go somewhere else before the game but had NO idea where we were going. She was under the impression we were going to go to Bass Pro. For those of you who don't know Lauren's husband Alex...he's a huge bass fisher and would go out of his way to go to a Bass Pro. So wasn't happy about the fact that we might be going there so we just egged her on. It was so much fun. Alex planned this whole day for her (isn't that sweet!) We drove up to Perryville then turned off onto some random country road (where we got lost) and wound up driving to Charleville Winery! Awesome surprise! I wasn't even sure what winery we were going to go to. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was sunny and warm with a nice cool breeze. Perfect for a day outside at a winery. I even found a wine that I like! 

In front of the winery. A nice lady took our picture as well as her fingers picture.

I'll crop it later.

The view from the back porch was BEAUTIFUL!

Genevieve Rivard my new favorite wine.

Let me explain these last two pictures. When we got to the winery it was only the four of us. No one else. By the time we left the place was PACKED. We were ready to go but Alex wasn't SO we decided to open the bottle of wine up for one last cup. Well, the cork got pushed back in pretty well SO Lauren used her teeth to get the stopper out because she didn't want to bother the people at the bar to open it. Yes, we are that red neck. 

After the winery ( and all of us getting a lot of sun ) we headed to St Louis for the game. 

Before we left I checked my geocaching app to see if there were any geocache close by....and there was! It was only .3 miles away so we made the pit stop and found the cache.

We found it!

3/12/11 If You Don't Get On, You Can't Fall Off! GC148F6

Alex was our lovely photographer so here are more random pictures of us finding the geocache.

Derek acting like he couldn't find it....but we did.

Posing while putting the cache back.

Oh Tee Yay (OTA) and my awesome geocaching sticker!

After that little pit stop it was time for the HOCKEY GAME!

We got up there with just enough time to do NOTHING. We were going to go to the Hard Rock Cafe and eat but it was too packed so Lauren and I went and watched The Fudgery show and we both got a pound and a half of fudge. YUMM! About that time it was time for us to go to the arena. We had awesome seats and I had such a good time. Derek and I cheered for the Red Wings because that's Derek's favorite team and they won! 

This is why there aren't any pictures of just me and Derek in our house.

I had such a great time getting to hang out with Lauren and the boys. 

We are going to have another weekend trip like this again very soon!

Camera+

I got a new app the other day and I'm LOVING it. It's called Camera+. It was a dollar and it is worth all 100 pennies I paid for it. It's really easy to use and I love that you can edit pictures you have already taken with your regular phone camera. Here are a few that I've taken and liked the best. 

Fingernail clippers at work

Pin Up calendar at work

Stratton in the back seat of the truck

Stratton waiting to go into the dentist office

Same picture different filter

Stratton throwing rocks in the fountain at the River Campus

Groucho curled up on my lap

Groucho sitting on my lap looking outside

More Groucho

Sidewalk Chalk in March

Stratton has been itching to get outside and it's just way too cold for me so, my mom came over last week and took him outside for a little chalk art. I love when he plays with chalk. He is so creative and he loves to mimic what you draw for him. He's getting his shapes down SO well and he's starting to learn letters and numbers now. I love how fast he is learning. I only took a few pictures of my mom and Stratton out playing in the chalk because...as I said before...it's WAY too cold out there for me.

Enjoy!

This is why I can never get anything done

My heart aches this morning

This morning I was looking at my usual news page when I came across the Japan Person Finder:2011. This is a database with all the people who are either being looked for, have been found and safe, or ones that are "unspecified." I was just searching (for no one really) just clicking around and praying for the people who haven't been found or have been reported missing. I stopped dead in my tracks this morning when this picture came up.

I have never had my heart strings tugged so hard by a snapshot. This little girl is the same age as Stratton. Her name is Minami and she is 2 1/2 years old. She is still missing in all the madness over there. If there is only one thing you do today. Please pray for this little girl and her family. Please pray for everyone over there that is still missing and those who are still waiting to be rescued. Please pray for those who have lost everything. I couldn't imagine having to go what these people are facing. If that's all you do to help with the tragedy in Japan then it is the best help you can send their way.