Weekends= Busy, busy

We had such a busy, fun weekend! My great friend Audrey Taylor came in town this weekend from Nashville to visit us before the baby gets here.



It meant so much to me to have her here! It was nice to not have 10 projects to do and to just have fun and relax with Audrey. Saturday we played all day and went to Manny's for dinner, Orange Cup for dessert and came home to play the Wii and a little Guitar Hero! This morning we cooked breakfast and she and I went on a walk around White Rock, then headed to Northpark. I took her to the aiport around 4pm and it was sad! Thank you Audrey for coming to visit!

I am still feeling good, but this weekend I have a little cold. It is draining my energy a little. I am still frustrated a little because my body is forcing me to slow down. I feel the baby kick all the time. He is so active. Audrey got to feel him kick and was amazed at how strong his kicks are already. So am I , believe me! I made a HUGE mistake this weekend and changed the batteries in my scale and weighed myself. I am back to my college weight, which is a scary thing. I remember always telling myself I would never get there again. I know, I know! I am supposed to gain weight and it is healthy! I get it, but it is really hard. I read I am going to start gaining a pound a week. This should be interesting:)
I also went today to get some new "walking" shoes (as Christopher calls them my magic shoes). I went to Lukes and said I needed more cushioned shoes for added weight so I can continue to walk. The lady was SO helpful and I now have shoes that are a 1/2 size bigger (for swelling) and cushioned for added weight. I am all set now!
I have an appointment on Wednesday with the OB and another Ultrasound with the prenatal Dr, so I will post the updates!
Have a great week!

Baby Bump Watch

Well, with the help of my great friend Mary Marshall, I finally figured out how to post the baby bump watch on the blog. I hope you enjoy it! I am not really sure how I feel about it. I know I am getting bigger, but it's kind of funny to see myself in a slideshow.
Week 24!!

(My hair is wet in this picture)
I am enjoying my pregnancy more now than I did in the early days. I have a little more energy than I did. However, the past week has been pretty rough. I felt pretty rough on Monday, like I was hit by a truck. I think it's because we are spending every minute of every weekend getting ready for Hunter's arrival. We have errands and a million projects we are doing that I don't have time to breath, much less, rest. It hit me by Wednesday when I woke up and had a terrible migraine. I actually had to take a sick day for the first time in months. I am so proud of myself that I have stuck it out on the days that I feel the worst so I won't have to take sick days. Yesterday, I think I hit a wall and baby Hunter was telling me to slow down.
I feel him kick all day, every day. I told Christopher, he is either going to be a very active baby or he is going to be really somber when he gets here because he is so active right now. I hope he gets all of his energy out in the womb and is a sleepy baby:) I can only wish, right?!? The fun thing now is that Christopher can feel him kick. We went to see Iron Man 2 this weekend and Hunter was kicking me like crazy. Christopher got to feel him pretty much the whole movie. He asked me, "Does he kick you like that all the time?". My answer is: Yes!!!
We have another ultrasound and appointment on Wednesday of next week. I am really looking forward to seeing him again. I can't wait to see how big he is and see that precious face again. I will be better about blogging now that we are getting closer. It was hard when I wasn't feeling well.

Amelia Catherine Kimbell

On February 21^st, my brother Garrett and his wife Mandy welcomed their daughter Amelia Catherine into the world. Tina and I got the call early Sunday morning, and we were able to drive in from Dallas to be there for her grand appearance. Here are some pictures of our beautiful niece.

The proud parents.

The proud Aunt and Uncle.

Snow Storm

Dallas is definitely not a city known for its snowfall, but in February we were hit by a massive snowstorm. Reports were that we got over 14 inches of snow, which was a record for Dallas. As beautiful as the snow was, we quickly fell victim to the crushing weight of snow on power lines as we lost power…..for 3 days!! Yep, the power went out on Thursday night and didn’t come back on until Sunday night!! Needless to say it was pretty miserable. We bundled up Thursday night and stayed at the house, hoping that the power would be back on by morning. No such luck. By morning not only was there no power, but the temperature in the house was hovering in the mid-50’s. It was well past the point of bundling up, and the temperature in the house was still dropping. Luckily our friends, the Andersons, took us in and let us stay with them for the weekend. We felt like total refugees, but fortunately we’ve got some great friends who wouldn’t let us freeze out in the cold.

Early in the day before the heavy stuff fell.

Of course we had to make a snowman! And yes, that is an LSU hat and Mardis Gras beads. Naturally wine corks took the place of buttons and coal for eyes and nose.


Our street. Still before the heavy stuff.

Our back deck. The snow was definitely beautiful, but the power outage was awful.

Christmas in Hawaii

CK's Note: Don't you love it that it's now mid-May and I'm just now posting pictures from Christmas? Better late than never, I guess.

Anyway, before the holidays, we found out that hell froze over and my mighty SMU Mustangs finally made a bowl game after 25 years. It was the Hawaii Bowl where, ironically, they played (and won) their last bowl game against Notre Dame in 1984.

So, in early December we decided that if SMU made it to the Hawaii Bowl, we would pack our bags and head to Honolulu. What better than to spend Christmas in Hawaii, right?? Our rationale, of course, was that if we're ever going to be spontaneous and take a fun trip like this, it would have to be before we have kids (more on that in a second).

Since the game itself was on Christmas Eve, it was difficult for a number of fans to make the trip. But our good friends and fellow SMU diehard fans Gerry Hedgcock, David Merkle, Tim Hampton, and Grayson Jenkins all Ponied up and made the trip with us. And what a trip it was!!While we were there we hit Waikiki beach, climbed Diamond Head crater, toured Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial (very powerful, especially at daybreak when I watched them raise the flag over the memorial in the stillness of the morning), and I learned to surf (not very well, mind you, but I could paddle out and catch my own waves). Throw in the fact that we got to witness SMU drill Nevada 45-10, and we didn't think it could get any better. Or so we thought...

Christmas morning we received the greatest Christmas present we could ever receive when we found out that Tina was pregnant. What a blessing, and what an incredible place to find out the news. It's definitely something we will never forget!!

2009 was a year full of adventure. We traveled to Sydney, Seattle and Hawaii. We figured that we traveled over 28,000 miles roundtrip to these 3 destinations, and can now safely say we've pretty much seen our fair share of the Pacific Ocean.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Our first day on Waikiki Beach:
View from our hotel room:Diamond Head Crater:
We made a new friend on our trip, Teddy, who got us connected with some fellow SMU fans. We were trying to figure out how we were going to get to the game at Aloha Stadium. Teddy's family friends happened to rent a stretch limo to take them to the game....and we just happened to need a ride. So we got a HUGE hookup and were able to cruise to and from the game in style. So cool!



The crew before the game at the ESPN tailgate at the stadium. This is the trophy and MVP trophy awarded to SMU. Of course we all knew we were going to win the game, so we reasoned that we HAD to get a picture with the trophies.
Naturally, we found Santa Claus at the game. Turns out he's an SMU fan, and was getting some R&R on Oahu watching his Mustangs before the night's journey around the world delivering presents. Obviously we were all good this year because our present was the biggest SMU win in 25 years.
The sweet taste of victory!
We decided to climb Diamond Head crater, which is an old volcano crater. The hike was good exercise and produced some breathtaking views of the island.
The boys learned to surf while we were there. We can't say we are any good at it, but we can honestly say we can actually do it. I had no idea how exhausting it is. The surfing part is almost the easy part. Paddling out and then paddling to catch the wave is the tough part. I was only out there for an hour or two, but by the time I got back to shore, I thought I was going to throw up!! My back and shoulders were shaking from fatigue. I definitely have gained huge respect for surfers because it's more physically exhausting than any sport I've ever played.


Daybreak at Pearl Harbor was very moving experience. The USS Arizona tour is free for visitors, however you have to get to the memorial park early to get tickets because it's first-come-first-serve. It was still dark when I got there, and there was already a line around corner. I had to wait for 2 hours to take the tour even though I got there so early. It was well worth it though. Once you are on the memorial over the Arizona, you can actually look down and still see oil slicks rising up from the ship. Such an incredible site.

If you look closely, you can see the USS Arizona behind the flag.
Me on the USS Arizona Memorial.

Our last sunset on Waikiki Beach.

Catch-up!

CK Note: Ok, it's been way too long since our last post. A bunch has happened over the past several months, so I thought I'd post an update before this blog turns into the baby's blog. By the way, for those that don't know, we decided that we are naming our little boy after me. So he will be Christopher Hunter Kimbell Jr. But to avoid confusion with dad, we will call him Hunter.

So, I will go ahead and publish a few posts to quickly update everyone on what's new with the Kimbells. Tina plans to start posting more regular updates as she gets closer to her last trimester (She will be 24 weeks as of Friday. That's 6 months for all the guys).