Colorado

Steve mentioned in his sermon last night that God spent a little more time working in Colorado than Kansas, the mountains are evident of that!

Here are some pictures of our highlights

Our only family shot, at Balance Rock in the Garden of the Gods

Someone told us we could walk to the Garden of the Gods, after only half-way there, one of the employees laughed at us and asked who told us we could walk this far. We had already gone about 45 minutes of hills with Steve recovering from the stomach flu and me toting this extra weight and baby around, all still adjusting to the altitude change, we hiked back and decided to take the car through the Garden.

Car ride the next day through the Garden and we laughed at ourselves thinking about actually walking "through" the gardens. It would have taken ALL day!

Mommy and Payton

Enjoying the grounds at Glen Eyrie where we stayed

 

 

Payton's favorite toys right now, stick and rocks. We are in a good place for her to find those!

Enjoying lunch

BBQ and watermelon, not the cleanest meal :)

Absolutely perfect weather - warm in sun, cool in shade

Trying to wear her out

As soon as I returned from my afternoon tea with the ladies, I found Steve and Payton on the road ready for a hike. I love hikes, but wasn't quite prepared. Still in a dress and flip flops, I believed Steve when he said it was only 1/3 of a mile hike.

Ironically, the pack doesn't fit Steve's large frame well.  So the 5 month old prego woman got to carry the 24 pound child up the mountain!

I was laughing so hard at us. Here I am, prego, in dress and flip flops with Payton on my back hiking the mountain. Steve, my muscular, in shape hubby carrying the water bottle and camera. We passed some guys going up the mountain and I laughed just imagining what they were thinking about us!

Payton has been pretty clingy to me recently, at times she wasn't even wanted Steve. Here is a glimpse of her stubbornness, not even looking at the camera having a tantrum.

Drive to CO

many people complain about the drive across kansas to colorado, stating it is flat and boring. i did not find it boring at all. maybe it was because we stopped A LOT for a sick hubby who had the stomach flu, maybe because i drove the whole way i was more alert to my surroundings, maybe because i a florida girl some of the views were new to me.  the sunflower fields were amazing, the wind farms blew my mind, and crossing into colorado was a first for me

needless to say we made it to colorda, steve barely in one piece,  i haven't seen him that sick in a long time. he ended up not preaching last night (he was actually willing but the tech guys said it was too late to switch back) so we got a good night rest last night and he is feeling better this morning. payton did wonderful in the car. we spent one night in salina to break up the trip. payton found the game room in the hotel and somehow without anyone showing her what to do, she knew how to get right on the game and play.

one more story that cracked me up this morning. payton was eating cheerios in the hotel room and wanted some gold fish too. i had decided she had enough food as we were going to breakfast soon. i told her no more food and she went directly behind my back to daddy and asked him for fishy's. that little stinker is already trying to work the system! doesn't take long for them to catch on.

Baby Southards #2

Dr appointment went well yesterday.  Good heartbeat, baby and mommy growing. We are almost half way there!!!!

Our ultrasound has been scheduled for Monday, August 23rd. Take a minute to cast your vote on the gender of this baby. The poll is on the right side of the page.

We will announce once we have the ultrasound.

Girls Weekend!

sandra, me, callie

 My first weekend in Florida was girls weekend with my 2 best friends Sandra and Callie. We were roommates in college and all married pastors! Sandra now lives in WV with her husband and their 1-year-old cutie Atticus, and Callie and her husband Ben live in West Palm Beach, FL. 

What do you do for girls weekend?

Eat

Spa

Cook

Eat

Shop

A little sleep

Eat

Haircut

Photo shoot

Shop

Eat!

We 3 love to eat! Sandra is an amazing cook and brought recipes from her Dad who used to own a restaurant in Lake Wales where we went to college. Needless to say we were spoiled with amazing food while in school.

One of the few purchased meals

Oh how I miss cheap, quality Publix sushi! I just miss Publix!!!!

Sandra and Callie did most of the cooking, I just chopped a few things here and there and got in for the pic

the best eggrolls, homemade from scratch!!!

Thanks to Ben for watching Atti so we could go out (playing with new camera, that is why this is fuzzy)

Our hair master Fernando!!!!

Bubble Tea - yummy - 

we did a spa day but Sandra has those pictures on her camera

you already saw a glimpse of our photo shoot

it is so wonderful to have girlfriends who know you and love you for who you are

our time together was precious and priceless to me!

Updated Design

This post more pertains to those who have blogs...

I have been receiving a few questions about my recent updates to the design of my blog. I have to tell you that I learn by trial and error with this blog thing. I do steal whatever information someone else will share.  Thanks for my friend EMILY who is much more talented than me and recently shared her insights. Check her post out HERE. It probably takes me much longer to get things done then people who know what they are doing. But here are a few of the things I recently learned...

where is your background from?

blogger has recently updated their design template section

there are many new backgrounds and options that I don't recall being available until now

spend some time on there and you will realize I just played around a lot!

how did you add the new sidebars?

again, i went to blogger and spent some time on the page design adding gadgets

look for a new gadget tomorrow when i am going to try to do a poll

where did you find your new fonts?

emily listed in her post Kevin and Amanda's blog for fonts

i spent a lot of time on there getting new fonts

check out the tutorial section for great blog design ideas (i am still working through these ideas, hoping to add more soon)

how did you get your pictures so large?

i updated my post editor

here's how:

dashboard ->

settings (should already be on basic tab) ->
scroll to bottom 

choose "updated editor" in post editor

when you post pictures you will see new options for XL pics!

i am sure there are many other new options, i am still learning

my camera?

up until last week, all pics were taken with my handy Cannon powershot SD 750 elph (yes a point and shoot) and i would touch up a bit in iphoto (poor man's photoshop on my mac)

while in florida i bought my brother and sister-in-laws Cannon Rebel XT EOS 350D

now i am so ignorant on cameras i might not even have given the correct name

i am really trying to learn how to use this bad boy

if you are interested in some great tutorials on aperture and shutter speed check out Pioneer Women's tutorials, i have learned a lot

if anyone has any insights on headers, let me know, that is my next project

now that you know that I steal other's ideas and make many mistakes in my learning process, feel free to steal anything from me and learn from my mistakes!

Payton Pictures

Since family members really check the blog for pictures of Payton, here you go

What summer looks like for Payton ....

Eating Snacks

Playing outside as much as we can, often getting dirty

Playing in the pool

Mommy learning I water the concrete if I am standing outside the pool, change of plans to inside the pool :)

The ultimate Sno Cone with Daddy

Cleaning all the dirt off my body

Refreshed before bed time, and ready for another hot summer day tomorrow!

July Florida Trip

Back from Florida! Yes we have spent 4 of the last 6 weeks there. Coming home Steve asked me if I was going to miss Florida, and I said no, I was glad to be going home to Kansas, I love home! We had a wonderful time. Spent the first part of my time hanging out with my best friends for an amazing girls weekend. Another post will follow with more details there. Just a teaser though, check out the photo shoot we did while we were there, Jessica is an amazing photographer, and we had such a blast. I would highly recommend her to anyone in Florida looking for a photographer! She took some pictures of Payton too, but those aren't up yet.

http://www.jessicalorren.com/blog/ (follow the link for more pics)



Then Steve and I attended IYC (International Youth Convention) that is help every 2 years. It is such an amazing time, we are honored to be able to work beside a stellar team of people for the convention. Every time we go, I am blown away at God's spirit moving among teenagers. I love being reminded how teenagers who are passionate for the Lord worship him uninhibited. It is sweetness to my soul to be able to work the convention. We also get to catch up with so many friends from around the country that we often don't see.

Mom kept Payton most of the 2 weeks I was in Florida. I think I was only with her 4 days of that time. Payton had such a fun time with Mimi and Grandpa, I don't think she even missed us. She has all the family members names down from the Wiens side now. My favorite is Colin sounds like cong (like a chinese word). She knows which family members go together as well. Everytime Colin (or tio as she sometimes refers to him) is mentioned, she says Caya (Cayla). She knows that Jodie, A (Anderson), Jodan (Jordan), and Jam (Jaime) all go together. She is such a verbal sponge right now.

Mom taught her a few other tricks while we were gone, I had to get my Payton update from her so I knew what she was saying. I also had to put my Payton ears back on to understand her words. She is such a precious little girl. I think being away from her rejuvenated my patience with her. She is in a trying stage, but such an adorable stage. It is amazing how love flows so freely for your children. I loved my time away from her, and I love now being back with her.

Trying to get caught up from being gone so long, will try to post more pictures soon.

Payton 18 months

Payton Elizabeth is 18 months old!!!!

Here she is less than an hour old....
Jan 14th 2009 8lbs 12 oz 19 inches - 16 days overdue!


Here she is at 1 years old, check out my post HERE for a reminder what she was doing then



And now, growing more and more, 18 month old little girl!!!!



No more baby, she is a toddler...



One and a half-year-old Payton
- right under 24 pounds
- 32 inches tall
- Has more words in her vocabulary than I can count, she really amazes me with all her words, even ones we never worked on together
- Has all of her teeth except her 2 year molars
- She is so much fun right now, playing games and exploring
- She has started to show her strong personality and independence with tantrums and fits
- Would eat all day long if I fed her every time she asked
- Says Please and Thank You
- She loves brushing her teeth and would around all day with her toothbrush if I let her
- She loves reading books together and turning the pages herself
- She is starting to cuddle a little more, only for a brief moment, but at least there are moments
- She is in her big girl bed room, but still in the crib, getting used to the room for the transition in a few months with the new baby
- Loves dirt, cars, and balls (not sure about babies too much yet)
- Loves dipping any food into any "dip"
- Mimics all the time
- Loves her daddy and playing rough

Baby Bump

I am showing much more than my last pregnancy. People say you show earlier with your second, I am hold to that.

Here I am 15 weeks along with Payton, 2 years ago exactly (making it look like I have bump)



Here I am 16 weeks with this pregnancy. I have no torso, and my muscles know how to relax and go straight out again!



Whatever happens to the belly, I am just glad to have a healthy baby and healthy momma!

4th of July Weekend

What a great weekend. Friday afternoon Steve and I drove to Wichita for my college friend Aaron Varner's wedding. He is a missionary to Germany and ironically he married a girl who grew up in Wichita so we were some of the few college friends that made the wedding. Zack and Hilary kept Payton over night for us and we had a great night at the wedding catching up with friends and enjoyed sleeping in, having a great breakfast and making our way back to KC Saturday afternoon. We are so thankful for our time away.



Sunday right after our church wide picnic, we loaded up the Explorer with Zack and Hilary joining us for a quick overnight trip to the lake. For almost a year we have been trying to get them down there with us, schedules just never worked out before. Steve's parents and brother and his girlfriend Jordan were down there and we had a great quick 24 hour trip. Amazing firework shows all over the lake that we could see right from our own deck.



Payton does love doing things all by herself. Once the boat was parked, she got to drive the boat.



She takes her job seriously, making sure everything is in order.



The neighbor Norm took the whole gang on a ride in his boat. Great afternoon for a ride before we had to head home. I think we chose the right place to be for the night, as KC had a lot of rain and we had a lot of sun!



Zack and Hilary



Norm driving, my in-laws and Ben and his girlfriend Jordan. This was our first time meeting Jordan, she is a really sweet girl.



Hope you all had a great 4th!