Sad Day

Uncle Marvin passed away this morning around 1AM. Although we've been prepared for his passing for a while now, it is still sad to bid him farewell. He touched so many people during his 78 years on earth and he led us all by example in his unwaivering faith and love of the Lord. Because of that faith we know that Marvin is walking tall in heaven today, probably looking for something to tinker with already.

Great Weekend

This past weekend many of my friends and family were in town for a shower for the baby. It was such great weekend! My Aunt Lynn and Uncle Dan stayed with us, which is always fun. The shower was at my Mom's house and my sister who is unbelievable in her crafting abilities, made it look awesome! I got great gifts from everyone and it was just an amazing day all around. While the party was going on at Mom's the family men and kids were at 615 summit having fun in the backyard. On Saturday night, 615 was at capacity, with more people than I could count having fun and eating yummy lasagna. Thanks to everyone who came to town, we love you all so much. Baby Liam has no idea how many people already love him before he even arrives - what a lucky boy is he!

On Sunday, we said goodbye to our family and friends and headed to church to begin Vaction Bible School week. I'm teaching the 5K class and Joey is working on the recreation team. It is so much fun, but we're tired when we get home each night! It is all worth it if the kids learn more about Jesus and have fun in the process.

Money Magazine Top 100

This morning, as is typical at 615 summit, I woke up and flipped on the today show. One of the promos this morning was for a story about Money Magazine's top 100 small towns in America. I wasn't able to watch the story, but it peaked my interest enough to google it to find out if our town made the list. I was shocked that not 1 town in SC made the list. Not only this year but since 2005 when they started this list, only one town (Mt Pleasant) made the list. In fact, a very low number of southern cities made the list at all. So I looked up the criteria for this list and in addition to unemployment and education it includes things like "How many movie theatres are in the area". So, because we only have two 20+ theatre complexes plus an awesome smaller theatre complete with the George Lucas sound system, the city gets counted as 3 compared to 27 in the average winning city. Instead we have a beautiful park system, a thriving downtown, and during the summer there are free or very cheap events going on at least 4 nights a week. I would rather take a picnic and enjoy Shakespeare in the Park any day over having access to 27 theaters offering the same $10.00 ticket and $20.00 concessions.

I am biased to our city, but it is a pretty great place to live. (I'm not saying the name because of the title of our blog - thanks internet stalkers). I moved here from another state, to go to Clemson University. Before I arrived the only thing I knew about SC was a water tower shaped like a Peach and South of the Border because of previous trips through the palmetto state on 85 or 95. I never left after finishing school, I met my husband and we plan on raising our family here. It is a great place to live and I am proud to call it home. To the Money Magazine editors who determine the list, try taking a real trip to the sunny south, you might be surprised at what you find.

Touring the Hospital

Joey and I went for the tour of the hospital last night. The group we were in was rather large, so it looked like a herd of preggo ladies walking around...lots of babies on the way in the coming months! The Labor and Delivery floor at the hospital had renovations within the last year, so even though I've been up there before, it was fun to see what it looks like now. We saw the room (well not the actual room but close enough :)) where the hatching will occur and the room where we'll be to recover for 2-3 days afterwards. My only personal experience with any hospital is a couple of trips to the er for minor stuff and outpatient procedures when I was a kid. So, especially in the first room I had a lot of things going through my head - "this is where I'll be in pain", "this is where we'll meet our baby", "what are those machines for", "where does all of the icky stuff go". Hehe..I think too much!! The hospital has a religious connection, so there are reminders of Jesus in every room which is very comforting. God won't let me deal with more than I can handle and He is granting us with this awesome, amazing blessing. Overall, it will be a great place to welcome Baby Liam to the world. Next month we go for childbirth class then breastfeeding class in early September. Yeah for hospital education getting us ready for our little one.

The 4th of July

We spent the 4th of July at the Beach with our family. I've never seen so many fireworks in all my days. From the beach at night you can see fireworks for as far as the eye can see along the coastline. It was very cool! Baby Liam and I took our first dip in the condo swimming pool. It felt so good to float and the preggo swimsuit looked better than expected! We also visited the Ripley's Aquarium, after which Joey purchased a fly fishing rod (something's just not right about that :)). We decided to relish our time there as this will be our last trip to the coast sans baby. I can't wait for Liam to put his baby toes in the ocean!!

And, our great friends, the Shavers, had twin girls on July 6th. Happy Birthday Anna and Samantha! We love you already!!

While I was off having fun...

Joey worked a lot on Liam's nursery while I was on my trip. He cleaned out the room, painted, and put together the crib. He also got a new rocking chair for Liam's room. And our friends Lisa and Gary gave Liam an awesome little Cubs rocking chair, blanket and baseball books. It looks so great!! Here is a picture of the room as it looked when I got home. Joey is the best husband and he's going to be the greatest daddy ever! We still have quite a bit of work to do especially in making some closet space for Liam. 615 Summit is not known for it's vast closet space, and we tend to use every bit of it.

You will notice Cool in these pictures. He is very excited about Baby Liam's arrival. He likes everything in Liam's room so far, except the drawer that comes out from under the crib. He gets scared and runs toward the door when we roll it out. Joey says he doesn't know why, but my theory is during the late night crib assembly session, Joey put Cool in the drawer and rolled him around the house. Just a theory!

Trip to Virginia and Maryland

A few weeks ago we got an invitation to my Aunt Jean's 70th birthday party. After much debate and travel searching we figured out a way for me to go. My Uncle Dan and Aunt Lynn picked me up and we drove to Alexandria through the mountains of Virginia, a much nicer route than the 85 through Richmond route. We visited with my cousin, Melanie and her family for 2 days. We visited Old Town, saw the movie UP! and had some awesome meals prepared by Melanie's husband, Rick. On Saturday we traveled to Cambridge, MD. On the way we drove through Annapolis - which is fabulous and a place I would like to return to for more exploring. Aunt Jean's party was at the Suicide Bridge Restaurant on the Choptank River in Hurlock, Maryland. There was a great jazz band and singer at the party and the food was delicious. It was a great time and a wonderful tribute to my aunt. On Sunday I flew home (Liam's first flight). The weekend was so much fun. My family is so spread out (we all live in different states) that we don't get to see each other very often, but it is so much fun when we do.

This is my Aunt Jean and Cousin Melanie at the party.