Sunday, September 6, 2009

Maternity Pictures! (24 Weeks)

(I uploaded these pictures weeks ago but never posted them. Shh...don't tell anyone Baby Payne was already born before the maternity pictures made it on my blog!)













Saturday, September 5, 2009

Our Last Baby-Free Visit to Kansas

Our close friends from college, Amber and Travis Dawkins, live in Olathe, Kansas and thanks to Southwest deals (Luv Southwest!), we usually get to fly up (over?) to see them once or twice a year. This time we went over the 4th of July. It was a short trip, but totally worth it to catch up and hang out with Amber and Travis - love you guys!

Michael playing the Rock Band guitar...
Me and Amber! Funny story how we met. We went on a mission trip to Scotland together with Lipscomb when we were freshman. We didn't know each other beforehand and really didn't get to know each other well until afterwards. At some point while we were there though, we got locked out of our apartment with no cell phone and no way to contact anyone. So we decided to try and WALK back to the boys apartment. Genius idea...but we didn't know what else to do except for sleep out on the landing of our apartment! So we started walking...this was back in 2003, the day after President Bush declared war on Iraq and many of the Scottish were not happy with that decision. Earlier that day, we had walked through an anti-war (kind of anti-USA) protest where we all just kept our mouths shut so people wouldn't know we were not from Scotland! Anyway, so now it's 2am and 4 American girls are walking the streets of Scotland trying to find an apartment complex we don't have an address for. Here's where Amber comes in. I made her take her stylish hat off because I said it made her look too cute! At that point, I wasn't really worried about being Amber's friend, I just wanted to make sure we didn't make the morning headlines for some horrible reason. I specifically remember telling everyone, "Don't look cute - we want to blend in, not stick out!" Somehow we ended up in a hospital ER where we called a taxi and miraculously (thank you God!), one of us remembered the name of the road the boys' apartment was on. We made it safe and sound, but boy were the guys surprised when we showed up at their apartment at 3am!
Our first experience with Rock Band.
Just a preview of some of the cute pictures Amber took for us that weekend! I'm almost 24 weeks here.
Amber and Travis!
Waiting for it to get dark so the fireworks could start!

Earlier in the day, we went to the driving range and played their mini golf course. This was no putt-putt course. This was literally mini golf. Each hole was designed after a famous golf hole in courses across America...complete with sand traps and water holes. Here Amber and I were trying to click out heels across the bridge, but Travis cut out heads off when we jumped!
The guys with their clubs on the driving range. This was mine and Michael's first time ever hitting a golf ball that wasn't on a putt-putt course. Michael was a natural. My talent kind of came and went. :) But I got a few good ones in there!
Amber has a set of pink golf clubs. She showed me the proper way to stand, swing, hit, etc. Can't guarantee that I did it that way every time, but I sure tried!
Playing fetch with their dog, Pancake. Or is that Pita? I think it's Pita jumping and Pancake watching. Anyway, it's a great mid-air shot!
We went to dinner at Cinzetti's with Amber's family. It's a great Italian restaurant where they do made to order crepes right in front of you - yum! For once, I played the "eating for two" card and ate two! See I wait and use the pregnancy card only when I really "need" it so it's more effective! Ha ha ha... :)
Boys being boys in the lobby of Cinzetti's. This is what I can look forward to with Baby Boy Payne one day! Especially if he gets any of my tendencies...I was a little monkey too when I was young!
Thanks Amber and Travis for a wonderful visit! Can't wait for you guys to come down and meet Baby Boy Payne. It's your turn to come to Nashville! That overnight stop on your way to Disney World doesn't count. :)

Pregnancy Update - 23 Weeks


The coolest development so far happened on June 28th, the day before Baby Boy turned 23 weeks, Michael felt him kick for the first time! Poor Mom, I'd been in North Carolina for over a week (with her asking me if I'd felt him kick from the outside yet) and the night we returned to Nashville is the night baby decides to give a kick powerful enough to be felt by Michael. Mom was sweet though and said it was fitting that Michael be the first to feel him kick - I agree! So Baby Boy started kicking at 23 weeks and hasn't stopped since! He sure is one active little boy.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Chefs Chuck and Steve at CBC

Like I mentioned in my last post, the staff gave cooked dinner on Thursday night of camp. Who knew we had two Japanese steakhouse chef's in our midst!

Pregnancy Update - 22 Weeks (Carolina Bible Camp)

Week 22 was spent at Carolina Bible Camp - one of my favorite places ever. If you don't know my history with CBC, I started attending I think in 1991 - I was 8. I haven't missed a summer since. Michael and I met at CBC in 2003, the summer after my freshman year of college. Exactly one year later, Michael proposed at CBC at the amphitheater where we would get married almost another year later on June 4, 2005. So needless to say, a lot of emotions and memories are tied to CBC.

Second week of camp has become a family tradition over the past few years. Michael and I now serve as Head Counselors for 2nd week. My mom is the Canteen Director and my sister, LeeAnn, is her assistant. LeeAnn's husband, Chuck, is the Education Director. And finally, both my parents serve as caretakers of CBC year round.

This year, our family involvement grew a little more as my niece, Salem, joined us at camp for the first time - she was only two weeks old! So tiny...

Ms. Bonnie with Salem. Bonnie and her husband, Bobby, used to house Michael when he'd come visit me at my parents' house (before my parents' house was completely built, that is...at the time we were living in mom and dad's fifth wheel camper and then in our little one room apartment). Michael stayed with Bonnie and Bobby so many times, they named the guest bedroom "The Payne Wing." This summer, I got to spend the night in The Payne Wing for the first time. :)

Thursday night, the staff made and served pizza to give the kitchen staff the night off. Don't mess with a pregnant woman wielding a large knife. :)

LeeAnn and tiny little Salem. So sweet...

This year, I got to be a counselor with my cousin, Ashton (left), and my friend from Lipscomb, Liz (right). Liz and her husband lived with me and Michael for 10 weeks this summer after moving back to the states from Guatemala. When I was in desperate need of more female counselors because 2nd week experienced so much growth this year (yay!), Liz volunteered and we had an awesome week! They were a little excited about Baby Boy. :)

One of my favorite people, Sarah Crump, came to visit for the weekend since she couldn't be at camp the whole. Love these girls...

A few years ago, we started a post 2nd week tradition of going to the $2 theater on Saturday night after camp. Our group has grown over the past few years but we missed you Brittany and Jenifer! Brittany also seems to have an excuse (something about open heart surgery the first time).

Another post-2nd week tradition is croquet (Criss Cross Croquet of Chaos to be exact) in my parents' yard on Saturday. We all fell asleep that afternoon, so we had to set up cars in the front yard after the movie so we could play in the dark.
I'm curious to see how camp will go next year. It'll be my first time at camp with a pre-camper in tow. Crazy to think about! But Lord willing, we'll still be there as CBC and our sweet campers hold a special place in our hearts.

It's About Time...

My last post was July 20th....it is now September 4th. I skipped more than a month! Don't worry, I'm going to back up a little and do some posts about our crazy busy summer and the whirlwind it's been. Starting in May, we've been out of town 10 weekends this summer (including this one). As far east as North Carolina (4 times), west as California, south as Florida, and to Kansas and Colorado in between. Hopefully, the next few days will be my attempt to get caught up on all these adventures! Here we go...