WORLD SERIES!

On Thursday, Greg and I got to continue our anniversary celebrations with another trip to St. Louis--this time for the World Series! We lucked out to get a good deal on tickets from Greg's cousin. We got down the stadium a little while before the gates opened, and it was already packed with people. We got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales lining up to head into the stadium, which was really cool. They are so pretty!

We couldn't believe that we were actually at the World Series! It was so exciting! The Cardinals had won their game the night before, and we were hopeful that they could get a 2-0 lead over the Texas Rangers. We had to bundle up because it was a bit chilly out (at least it wasn't raining like the night before).

Even though the temp. was cold, it was a beautiful evening at the ballpark.






Here I am ready for the game to start. They handed out World Series towels to the fans coming into the game--but Greg and I brought our own "rally squirrel" towel that we picked up at the mall the other day. The "rally squirrel" is that funny little squirrel that ran out onto the field during the game we were at against the Phillies earlier in the playoffs. Since the squirrel showed up the very next night, and the Cardinals then started to win their games, they adopted the idea of the rally squirrel. There was squirrel stuff for sale all around the stadium! And, a squirrel (we don't know if it was THE rally squirrel or not) ran right under our seats before the game started. I am bundled up in this picture, but I have not yet added my big, red, marshmallow-style down coat--I saved that for a little later in the night as the temperature dropped.

The sunset was beautiful! This is a nice picture of the field just before game time. Before the game started they presented the Roberto Clemente Award to Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz, which was pretty cool to see.



And here are the Budweiser Clydesdales making their pre-game lap around the stadium!






Since we were sitting right above the Cardinals bullpen, we got to see Yadier Molina, the catcher, up close and personal! He and the pitcher, Jaime Garcia, were warming up right in front of us.








It was a great game. The Cardinals scored first, and the stadium went absolutely crazy! They were ahead 1-0 clear up until the 9th inning when their pitching went downhill, and sadly the Rangers ended up scoring two runs--and the Cards didn't score again. This was Albert Pujols' last at-bat appearance of the night. Conceivably this could be his last at-bat as a Cardinal at Busch Stadium (if one of the teams wins all three games in Texas and then Albert Pujols leaves the Cardinals next season), but we hope he'll be a Cardinal forever!

After the game we hung around the stadium for a little while waiting for the crowds to clear out a bit. Here are ESPN's Baseball Tonight guys doing their post-game show.



And here is a nice view from the other side of the stadium with the Arch in the background. Even though the Cardinals lost it was SO NEAT to be there at a World Series game. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Now we'll hope that the Cardinals can win tonight in Texas!

The Big #3

The week has been CRAZY! It can be summed up in two words: Saint Louis. :-) Last Saturday I had my nice trip to St. Louis with our fun ward Young Women president, Laura, then on Sunday evening the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers to send themselves to the World Series! On Tuesday Greg and I went to St. Louis so we could go to the temple for our big #3 anniversary! I had actually never been to the St. Louis Temple before, which is weird since we are in the St. Louis Temple district, but we usually go to Nauvoo when we go to the temple. So we had a very nice day at the temple. Then, we ended up going BACK to St. Louis on Thursday for a World Series game (a World Series post is soon to come), and Greg will once again be going to St. Louis on Sunday to pick up someone who passed away out-of-state. We've been burning up the road between here and St. Louie!

But out of all the things that happened this week, the most important was our anniversary. The St. Louis Temple is so beautiful! It was nice to go there and be reminded of the importance of our temple marriage and to feel the spirit of such a special place. It's hard to believe that it has already been three years since we got married! Tuesday was kind of a gray, cold, dreary day in St. Louis, but it made us appreciate the beautiful, Utah fall weather we had on our wedding day. What a week it has been!

Sister Dalton in St. Louis

Yesterday I had a really neat opportunity! At church I am currently the first counselor in the Young Women presidency, which means I get to work with the 12-18 year old girls in our ward. It has been a lot of fun so far, but I still have a lot to learn. Yesterday Sister Elaine S. Dalton, the General Young Women President for the entire LDS Church, was in St. Louis to offer some training for Young Women presidencies in the area. I got to go to St. Louis with our ward Young Women president, and we had a great time. I even got to shake Sister Dalton's hand! She shared some neat experiences and advice with us. Later in the evening she had a special meeting where she spoke to all of the young women from the area. (Only six of our girls were able to make it, but they sure had a great time.) She talked about making good choices in our lives and reminded us that Heavenly Father knows each of us personally. It was a wonderful talk and a wonderful day! Sister Dalton recently spoke in General Conference. You can read or listen to her talk by clicking here. She is a really neat lady, and I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to listen to her words yesterday. Also at the meeting yesterday, I ran into my fun friends the Stowells from Charleston! They were my family away from home while I was at graduate school, and it was wonderful to see them again.

In other news, the Cardinals lost the other night, but then they won a game, so now they just have to win one more game to go to the World Series! We'll be cheering for them tonight!