Our Little Cardinal

We are raising a little cardinal fan -- my husband is making sure of that.

Tracey Ann has now attended two Cardinals games -- one with a bunch of family at "Cardinal Nation", and one in Busch Stadium, in Grandpa's season ticket seats, with her mama, daddy, and grandpa.

Grandma Miller wanted to make sure she and Tracey Ann had matching outfits... although Grandma didn't wear a matching hairbow.

The whole crew that had dinner together at Cardinal Nation -- it was a lot of fun.  In the picture are the three of us, Chris's parents, both siblings and their spouses, our brother-in-law's parents, several aunts, and several cousins.

Cardinal Nation is a new huge bar/restaurant facility right outside of Busch Stadium, where you can see the stadium, the fans, even some plays from the restaurant meanwhile you can watch the game on huge television screens (one is 40 feet tall).  Most of our family had not been to Cardinal Nation yet, but have wanted to... so we had a BIG group.

Tracey Ann is learning how to take "selfies" -- she LOVES the cell phone.

It was fun, and the food was good -- and it just so happened that the game we saw was full of downpours and rain delays... and we were warm and dry inside the restaurant.  Praise God!

Aunts and Cousins loving on Tracey Ann

 

Next, our little Cardinal attended a game IN Busch stadium, dressed to the nines seated in her grandpa's season seats.  The Cardinals lost that game, but we still had a great time, and she did so well during the game.

Grandpa teaching Tracey Ann all about the game

Grandma Miller has awesome seats!

Grandpa Miller, Daddy, and Tracey Ann

Tracey Ann slept for some of the game

Isn't she just the CUTEST little fan you've ever seen?!?!

GO CARDINALS!

 

Bests and Worsts

I haven't been able to post for a few days because they were the last few days of our family road trip and they were CRAZY.

Even today, I'm still recovering from the travel... and unpacking/laundry hasn't even begun, but I still want to briefly re-cap our trip with my bests and worsts.

Worsts:

1. Getting out the door at the beginning of the trip -- it took A WHILE!  We had planned to leave around 1:30pm... and I think we finally left around 6:30pm.
2. Getting off the road and into hotels LATE night after night after night.  It would have been easier on Tracey Ann if we weren't arriving so late so consistently.
3. There was one evening when Tracey Ann was inconsolable in the car -- she cried for nearly an hour and I couldn't do anything to soothe her.  We think the pain might have been due to teething (although we're not sure), and the only thing we had to decrease her pain was essential oils (which I didn't realize for almost an hour).  Thankfully, 15 minutes after using the oils on her jaw, and her feet, she was sound asleep.
4. We got stuck in a traffic jam in Nashville on our way to the Grand Ole Opry and missed the first couple of acts of the show.

BESTS:

1. Time with Chris' parents.  Chris is their only child who lives away from St. Louis, and Tracey Ann is their only grandchild who lives away from St. Louis, and so we don't get to spend the time with them that their other kids and grandkids get to.  It was really nice to have quality time with Chris' parents when no one had to work.
2. Connecting with friends and family on the trip.  We were able to connect with several friends and family throughout the trip -- friends in Nashville, family in Miami, friends and more friends between Atlanta and Nashville.  Chris and I live so far off the beaten path, that it is REALLY special to us to connect with friends and family when we are in their area.  This year it was especially special to us because we were able to introduce them to Tracey Ann.  We love to see sights, eat food, and share experiences on our travels... but most important to us is re-connecting with friends.
3. Hubby got to see a game at his 30th baseball park.  He love baseball and loves exploring ball parks, and he has looked forward to marking his 30th park for awhile.  He could have visited these two parks last summer, but I wouldn't have been able to go with him, so he waited until I could go with him.  It was exciting watching him really enjoy these last two parks with his dad, his mom, his wife, and his daughter.
4. The food on our trip was really good.  Not every meal was amazing... but we had great food all along the trip.  We found great seafood places in Florida, and great southern places in Georgia, and Nashville.  We had keylime pie near West Palm Beach on the water the memory of which is still making my mouth water.
5. Our weather was AMAZING!  We did not have nearly the heat or humidity we expected in Florida in July.  We had a little rain a couple of times, but nothing that impacted our plans -- it was perfect.
6. We saw the Grand Ole Opry with Chris' parents and Tracey Ann on Saturday night and it was SO much fun.  We had great seats, and the show was awesome, plus it was fun that it was Chris' parents and Tracey Ann's first times there.
7. Tracey Ann was SUCH a trooper during the entire trip.  A crabby baby could have made our trip miserable, but she was wonderful.  She was tired at times, but she went with the flow, stayed flexible, and handled the time on the road like a champ.

We made great memories and were so blessed to have had this time as a family and with Chris' parents.

Trip to Phoenix -- Great Time and Amazing Dinner!

Last weekend, Chris and I went to Arizona for a whirlwind weekend of fun.  It was everything we expected and more.

Lexie was excited to be going... here she is making sure we don't forget her.

 

Here is Lexie in the car...

We saw my grandmother and we all went out to lunch.  She told us lots of stories about her 35 years of marriage to my grandfather including their bribing a game warden with fish when they didn't have a fishing license.  She just glows when she talks about my grandfather who died at the age of 100, ten years ago.  We took her to the mausoleum to visit my grandfather's crypt, and she told us that she considered having "Col. Milton V. Sanden" engraved, but instead she went with "Milton V. Sanden".  She said that when we get to heaven and we're with Jesus, none of the titles matter anymore.  I thought that was a really sweet and profound statement, especially given how proud she and my grandfather were of his military service.

Decades and generations apart, it amazes me how similar engagement and wedding rings have remained over the years.

My grandmother always called my grandfather her "Goldfish".  She was from a very small village in Germany and my grandfather was a US Army Colonel who was stationed in Germany after World War II.  He was 20 years her senior, and when she and my grandfather got married, all of her family said she has landed, "The big fish!"  Below is a wall hanging that her brother made that shows grandmother catching a goldfish.

We listened to stories, told her about our wedding and introduced her to Lexie, who she LOVED.  Grandmother has already been a cat person -- every cat she and my grandfather have had was named "Kitty-Gal".  She insists that my grandfather spoiled every Kitty-Gal, but something tells me they both had a fair hand in the spoiling.

 

We got to see old friends of mine from Vanderbilt and their beautiful little red-headed baby, Naomi.

 

I am so inexperienced at holding babies... but Naomi and I did okay, what with the red-head bonding at all.

Then, we saw the Arizona Diamondbacks play the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field.  The Diamondbacks had just won the National League West Championship, so fans were VERY excited and incredibly friendly.  I think these were the most friendly fans of any ballpark Chris and I have yet visited.

 

In the bottom of the 7th, all the field lights went out.  It was a fun experience to have the big screen tv working, music playing, neon signs all around the park shining bright... and a very dim field -- an unplayable, dim baseball diamond.

 These girls were fun to sit near.  They are the ones who recommended Oregano's for dinner.

This corn dog was a "good deal" according to ads... I think it was worth about 2/3rds less than we paid for it, but Chris was excited.

The All-Star game had been at Chase Field this year, so there was All-Star paraphernalia around.

After the game (that the Diamondbacks won 15-2), Chris and I took the recommendation of a friendly fan to go to Oregano's for dinner.  This dinner was THE MOST AMAZING MEAL Chris and I have had since our honeymoon.  I think it was a combination of SERIOUSLY being the best meal we have had in months, and the fact that there are no good restaurants in Rifle.  We have explored them -- they are not good.

The story of the restaurant was printed on the back of the menu, and it is adorable.  The founder's father gained his cooking skills during the Great Depression by selling pizza dough door-to-door.  Eventually he gained the name "Lawrence of Oregano"

I am still thinking about the meal we shared at Oregano's.  I had a thin crust bbq chicken pizza -- SO AMAZING and Chris had the shrimp scampi called "The Lady is a Scampi".  For dessert we had a chocolate-chip cookie cooked in a small deep dish pizza pan with small scoops of vanilla ice cream on top.  This dessert was UN-BELIEVABLE!

The menu's were made to look like record labels.

I am looking forward to my next trip to Phoenix JUST to eat at this restaurant again (and there are like 11).  I'm wondering if my craving will get so big that eventually I'll convince Chris that we should drive the 11 hours back to Phoenix JUST to eat at Oregano's again. YUM!

We didn't eat outside because it was really hot, but they had a neat outdoor eating area -- maybe it will be cool enough outside the next time we eat there.

One thing that made this dinner so amazing (in addition to the food being A-MAZING), was that Chris and I started laughing SO hard.  When we were at lunch with my grandmother, Chris was trying to stab his green beans with his fork... and suddenly his fork slipped out from under his hand, and his hand went SLAM into the mashed potatoes.  My grandmother didn't notice, so Chris and I just tried to awkwardly not giggle about his mashed potato-covered hand.

Well, when we started talking about the incident at dinner, we were laughing HYSTERICALLY.  Laughing about the mashed potato-hand led to our laughing hysterically about something from the ballgame... our sides were hurting and I was starting to tear up -- then a waiter tripped up a step right in front of us.  Usually, this is not something I would find hysterically funny -- but that that moment, SIDE SPLITTING LAUGHTER!!!  Thankfully the waiter wasn't hurt, and he was laughing himself about it.

Oh, I want to go back to Oregano's.  YUMMY!  and FUNNY!

After all the fun, we headed home.