you're the only TEN I SEE//

these last couple weeks myself, my sister and dad went on a little trip down south. more specifically, to the towns and places my daddy served his mission some thirty-seven years ago--originally called to the Little Rock, Arkansas mission but spent most of his time in Tennessee.

my dad has always told us mission stories and we've seen some pictures, but actually going there, meeting people he converted and baptized, and seeing the places he served in...there are no words. it was just unbelievably cool. 

we were luckily enough to be welcomed into the home of what my dad likes to call his "southern family". they gave us a taste of what life is all about in the south and tried to teach us how to "talk right" (after a little while i started saying ya'll and began slippin' into their southern drawl) 

the Carnell's wanted to make sure we
experienced real barbecue so we drove out to
 the middle of nowhere to the famous BOZO's
and danggg they were right, it was SO good

next we stopped off at the Safari Park
where Rachael got attacked by a couple emoos...

ferocious little things...let me tell ya

next was shooting at their farm
 notice how extremely huge the gun i shot was...
i enjoyed watching (;

definitely a highlight for me, going back to the Chandler's
& reenacting the day my dad (then a missionary)
met the family and changed their lives forever

memorial day was spent at the shiloh battle field
the location of a huge battle during the civil war
here we are representing the union and confederate soldiers...

next we ventured off to St. Louis for a
couple days to do some touristy things
first up was the gateway to the west arch

up in the top of the arch
& yes we did purchase cardinals shirts as soon as we got there..

what better way to see st. louis than on a trolley tour?

i wish the pictures could convey how
awesome and gigantic the arch is in person

being the huge baseball fans that we are, of course
we had to catch a cardinals game
(then won and better yet they beat the yankees!)

day 2 in Missouri began at the St. Louis Zoo
(which is free and basically the disneyland of zoos)
the butterfly atrium was easily favorite
 b/c this cutie landed on my hand
& they say that never happens

we grabbed lunch at the Boat House in Forest Park
definitely a place to check out if you ever find yourself in St. Louis

enjoying all the views in Forest Park
(often compared to central park in NYC
but waaay bigger & cooler)

ahhh this is seriously the coolest place ever
 it's called the City Museum in downtown St. Louis
basically it's a huge playground with all kinds
of tunnels, slides, and passage ways
everything is made from old pieces from the city
we had so much fun running around and definitely
going down all the slides not to mention looking at
all the cultural aspects (;

didn't take any pictures of the inside
(b/c we were having too much fun)
but here's a look at what is outside...so awesome

the last couple of days were spent back in Tennessee just enjoying the company of our southern family: shopping, relaxing, bowling, and watching movies. it was definitely one of my favorite vacations we've ever taken. the most amazing thing though was seeing the huge impact my dad had on this family and their generations to come. missions are truly inspired and completely life changing.