Show Us Your Life - Wedding Dress

Today at Kelly's Korner is Show Us Your Life...Wedding Dresses! I was married May 17, 2003 in an outdoor courtyard setting in New Orleans, LA. I LOVED my wedding dress...it was simple, yet elegant! I wore a floral headpiece rather than a veil and it was perfect! The top of the dress was beaded and beautiful. It certainly was a very special day! I'm anxious to view everyone's wedding dress photos. Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy your weekend!

Earning His Keep

It's never too early to teach a three year old a little household responsibility. This would be one chore I would definitely not miss. ....taking out the trash! I'm looking forward to the day when Kyle can actually perform the chores completely on his own....for now I will enjoy all the help I can get!

As shown in these older posts, Kyle already enjoys doing laundry and mowing the grass!

Beautiful Butterflies, Horses, and Slides

What do these three things have in common??? A morning full of fun for a certain three year old named Kyle. This past Sunday morning, we headed to a very popular, must see attraction in the STL area. Faust Park has many activities to keep the little ones entertained. First we visited The Butterfly House, a very pretty, tropical, tranquil setting which is home to approximately two thousand butterflies of eighty different varieties. Kyle is alway amazed when he walks in and is greeted by so many colorful butterflies. He attempts to touch and catch them (which of course isn't allowed), but they sure are fast movers so he doesn't have much success! As Kyle gets older it will be a great educational adventure for him to learn about different stages of a butterlies life, bugs, insects, etc.

After spending time with the butterflies, we took Kyle to ride a horse on the carousel and to the playground to burn off some of his energy. The carousel is indoors so it would also be perfect for a warm summer day when you are attempting to beat the heat. We have really been lucky the past couple of weeks with the wonderful weather we have been experiencing. I realize I have mentioned this in many past posts, but I'm amazed at the spring/fall like temperatures in the middle of July! Believe, I'm not complaining...I would take this any day of the year! Below are several pictures from our Sunday morning outing!

Welcome to The Butterfly House

Kyle is all smiles with his new butterfly friends. Mommy and Kyle stop to rest and enjoy the beautiful environment

Weekly Blog Hop - Favorite Recipe

Welcome to Keeping Up With The Spences!

I am participating in the Weekly Blog Hop with the theme of sharing your favorite recipe. I have chosen to share a very simple, yet delicious crock pot recipe! My family LOVES this meal...even my VERY picky three year old son! I am very excited to "hop" on over to everyone's blog and acquire some new favorite recipes.

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken

2-4 chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 envelope ranch dressing mix

1 8 oz. cream cheese

Combine chicken, soup, and dressing mix into the crock pot and cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. Add the cream cheese 30 minutes before serving. Serve over fettucine. Enjoy!

One Great Date

Saturday night, John and I had a wonderful date night. Everything was perfect from the gorgeous cool weather, delicious dinner, peaceful scenery, entertaining musical, and of course the company. First the weather has been unseasonably cool and this was an added treat to our date. We went to dinner at The Boathouse in Forest Park. The restaurant is located on Post Dispatch Lake with outdoor seating, a band, paddle boat/canoe rental, and great food. Our wait was about an hour so we sat by the water...so peaceful and relaxing. For dinner we were lucky enough to get an outdoor table next to the water to enjoy the water and scenery a little longer. We both decided to order the tilapia sandwich and it was fabulous! The band began as we were eating dinner so we also had a little musical entertainment during dinner. It was a great choice for dinner and hope to go back soon to take Kyle on the paddle boats!

Patiently waiting for dinner to arrive. Our view from the dinner table

After dinner we had tickets to see the musical Godspell at The Muny. The Muny is located in Forest Park, as well, within walking distance to The Boathouse. The Muny is an outdoor musical theatre which seats about 11,000 people. There are seven musicals performed each summer. We actually were season ticket holders the two summers before Kyle was born and we always enjoyed the shows. We have seen Meet Me In St. Louis, Annie, The Music Man, 42nd Street, South Pacific...too name a few. Godspell was a great performance and very high energy. The best part of the show, however, was the fact that we had front row, center seats...literally. Our seats were typically where the orchestra is seated, but since the orchestra was behind the scenes for the performance there were actual seats in the orchestra pit. It was a completely new experience to be so up close to the stage. If we were any closer we would have had an acting or singing part in the musical. We may attempt to see either Camelot or Hairspray within the next week or two depending on ticket availability. It was such a great date...we had so much fun!

Front and center

Kyle also had a fun night on his date with the same babysitter he has had the past two times. We were so glad Kyle didn't scare her off from their last date. Kyle really likes her and so does Mommy and Daddy. Kyle took a wagon walk, played outside, and had fun with someone other than Mommy and Daddy! It was an all around enjoyable night...couldn't have asked for things to be more perfect! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Summer Officially Begins

Summer is finally here for Kyle! He has been attending summer school (extended school year) for six weeks and yesterday was his last day. Kyle has four weeks off before the new school year begins. It will certainly be nice not to have to get up and be somewhere by a particular time. We will certainly enjoy sleeping a little later in the morning and moving at a slower pace than normal. They don't call it the lazy days of summer for nothing..right? We will enjoy plenty of Mommy/Son quality time the next month filled with plenty of fun activities to keep my little busy body on the move.

Today we have received a nice treat to begin Kyle's summer vacation....cooler, more pleasant temperatures rather than the typical record breaking heat we tend to see this time of year in St. Louis. Kyle spent the morning playing at the park enjoying the lovely weather. It's so hard to stay indoors when it's so nice outside...we must take advantage of the nice break while it lasts! We are looking forward to the weekend...Saturday is date night, so that is always a special treat! Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend!

100 Years of Magic

The beginning of September we are taking Kyle to the Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Magic show in the St. Louis area. This will be our first experience to see a show on ice. Kyle isn't familiar with all of the Disney characters which will be featured in the show, but this will be a fun, magical introduction into the "Wonderful World of Disney". I'm certain I will have a recap once we attend the show!

Description of the show: Join the celebration as 65 of Disney's unforgettable characters from 18 beloved stories come to life in Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic! You'll be captivated by the one and only Mickey Mouse, the irresistible Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio and all the Disney Princesses. Be thrilled by exciting moments from The Lion King; Mulan; and Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Toy Story films; in a skating spectacular filled with magical Disney moments you'll remember forever as Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic!