Paige actually married Bill!

Well they did it!  Bill and Paige got married last weekend and it was beautiful.  Bill and Kyle met freshman year at OU through Kappa Sig and have been great friends ever since.  They've made a couple trips to Bill's hometown...Chicago...and always have so much fun when they are together.  Kyle was a groomsmen in their wedding and we were so honored to get to celebrate their big day with them.  We flew into OKC on Thursday night and had a blast getting to catch up with them.  On Friday the boys went and played golf and I treated myself to a mani / pedi and a hair cut.  The rehearsal was at a beautiful place called Cole Gardens and then we went out on the town after that.  Guess who came into town to visit us...

Jeff and Leah!!!  It was so wonderful to see them.  Even though our time was short, we had a blast like we usually do.  They drove in from Tulsa for a couple of hours and it certainly meant the world to us to get to see them.  It would have been so hard being that close and not getting to.  Thank you guys again for making that drive, you really are the best of friends!  I might have cried a little (okay a lot) when they left but that felt harder than when we left Tulsa for good.  

On Saturday we went to Norman and ate at Bison Witches.  We just love that place.  It made us feel really old being on campus with all the young students there getting ready for school to start!  But it was fun to see campus and do some OU attire shopping.  Can't get anything OU around these parts.

The wedding was at Christ the King and the reception was at the Petroleum Club in downtown OKC.  It was a beautiful reception and of course extremely fun!  

you may now kiss the bride!

Mr. and Mrs. William Ross in the limo!

Kyle and Paige

Me and Bill

We also got to spend the weekend with these crazy kids...

love and miss you guys!  thanks for driving us around all weekend! Can't wait to see you in Miami! 

Kappa Sig sweetheart song

and of course it's always good to see this guy

This was our first trip back to OK since we left and it was quite emotional for me!  But as good as it was to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends it was great to get back home to Orlando and see A.W.  

Congratulations to Bill and Paige!  You two truly are a match made in heaven!  Can't wait to see you on the last leg of your honeymoon at the Miami game!  only bill!  

Love,

Angela and Kyle

p.s. for everyone that made a comment about kyle's hair being "so long" you really got to him.  So he went and got it trimmed up a bit yesterday.  It's still longer than his normal do - but with a little bit of shag to it...just neater.  i'll try and post a pic soon.  Otherwise we will see most of you in Dallas next weekend for the first OU game of the season!!!!!

The Paynes in the Big Apple!

Two weeks ago we went to NYC for a mini vacation!  It was a lot of fun to go up there and spend time time with friends and just hang out!  And the flight from Orlando wasn't too bad.

Shannon, me, and Chris on the subway.

I also met up with a dear friend that I hadn't seen in 15 years.  Katie moved away from Plano in 5th grade and we kept in touch via letters for years.  She also went to OU (Ohio University) and was a Chi-O.  It was wonderful to see her after so many years!

Friday morning we got up super early and went to the Today show to see Kings of Leon!!  It was raining and we were exhausted but it was so worth it.  PJ got us tickets to stand right next to the stage and it was an awesome experience.  We got to see them warm up and practice for a while before the show started.  The rain finally stopped, although we were already soaked, for them to perform.  I asked Nacho their roadie/ guitar tech to take a picture of the OU helmet that they have on their drum set for me!  and he kindly obliged.  

After the concert we walked around for a little bit, grabbed lunch with Chris and PJ, tried to do a little shopping, then met up with Kyle's friend from high school Adam and Shannon.

Friday night we got soaked again at the Mets game.  Our friends Adam and Shannon went to the game with us.  The new stadium is really nice but I was so ready to get home and in some dry clothes finally.  

Saturday we went and ate breakfast and a wonderful little diner called the Kitchenette!  They have the best coffee. Then we took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry.  It runs like every 30 minutes, is free, and gives you a great view of lady lib and the NYC skyline.  We just rode it across and came right back.  We walked around some more and went to Washington Square and then to Central Park.  It was so nice to walk around Central Park and just relax.  It was a beautiful Saturday in the park...if only it was the 4th of July.  We also saw two weddings and a proposal on a gondola ride.  Kyle played a little football, shannon built a twig city, and I enjoyed sitting with my toes in the grass!!

Saturday night we went to PJ's place and rocked out on Rock Band.  We played for quite a while and enjoyed some Sweet tea vodka and lemonade.  Which if you haven't tried yet you must!   Then we headed to Shannon's fav karaoke bar which surprisingly was really fun!

Sunday was another rainy day and we just went to brunch at a wonderful place called hundred acres and Kyle, Chris, and I went and saw Hair...a broadway show.  It was okay.  nothing spectacular but we wanted to see a show this time around.  And we headed home on Monday.  We did some shopping but weren't able to find much this time around.  Oh well...maybe next time New York.

We are off to OKC on Thursday for the marriage of Bill and Paige.  This will be our first time back to OK since we moved almost 6 months ago.  Can not wait to see all our friends but most importantly we're looking forward to Bison Witches ;-)

Hope everyone is doing well!  We love and miss you all!  

p.s. hotel payne is now taking reservations for 2010...any visitors welcome!  

Justin and Laura visit

Last weekend two of our friends from Tulsa visited us for a fun extended weekend.  Justin is now the first person who has come to see us twice.  He should totally get an award for that!  

Justin and Laura spent Thursday at Sea World.  They said the new Manta ride was really fun.  We haven't ventured to Sea World yet so you'll just have to trust them.  Laura LOVES sharks so she especially had a great time with Shamu.  Thursday evening we hung out at our house and then went to our favorite little sushi restaurant that is never crowded like In the Raw.  On Friday they spent the day at the outlets and then they and Kyle met me downtown after work for some Happy Hours!  We ate at Season's 52 that night and had a wonderful dinner.  Then we headed to Vines Wine bar for some excellent martini's!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Universal!  This was our 5th trip to Universal and I must admit it is just as fun every single time.  You forget how crazy some of the rides are.  Since we had some passes to get Justin and Laura in pretty cheap we all splurged on an Express Pass.  Now what I didn't know about the Express Pass is you can either buy one for $40 but you can only use it to ride each ride once or you can spend $70 and use it unlimited number of times.  We decided to just do the one use pass and figured we could get in the single rider line (THE way to go by the way) or just wait in a "normal" line if we wanted to go again that badly.  It ended up working out really well.  We got to ride every ride we wanted to and even tried some we hadn't before.  Dr. Doom's fear fall was a pretty good ride.  It is really short so I wouldn't ride it if there is any sort of a line, but it was fun.  We got to ride the Hulk twice because the first time we got in line I asked the guy if he would pretend to scan our cards so we could ride it again...and he did!  Universal is just a really fun way to spend a Saturday and even more fun with great friends.

This is the barge ride that gets you absolutely soaked.  It's like you jumped in the water with all your clothes on, but it's fun!  I wore kyle's hat to try and keep some part of me dry.  

Oh and we also used the $5 dollar machine that blows hot air on you to dry you.  I don't know if it's worth it really.  The sun wasn't really out at this point so we needed something to help dry us off.  And yes I made fun of people who wore swim suits to Universal the first couple of times we went, but we wore them this time and it's a great idea especially if you plan on riding this ride.  

Sunday we got up and headed to New Smyrna Beach!  It was a great day to be at the beach.  There was a little storm that rolled it and we went to eat lunch and waited out the storm.  By time it was done the sun was out again without a cloud in the sky.  We had such a fun time just laying out, drinking some beer, and hanging out.  New Smyrna was a lot like Cocoa but you can drive and park right on the beach so it's convenient.   We didnt take too many pics on the beach but here's a good one of Justin contemplating life in front of the ocean.

Justin and Laura left on Monday and we miss them already.  Thank you guys so much for coming out to visit us!  We are excited to see yall in November for Bedlam/ Thanksgiving! 

Meeting Miss Laney!

2 weekends ago I got to go back to Dallas to meet and hang out with Laney.  It was such a fun trip home.  Alyson, Ryan and Laney picked me up from the airport and I got to see L-bug with my own eyes for the very first time.  I just stared at her perfect little face the entire way home.  And of course got some taco bueno on the way!  This baby has got to be one of the best babies.  I was amazed at how much you really have to do everything for a newborn.  She would literally sleep, wake up, play for a minute or two, be hungry, eat, burp, and fall back asleep again.  Incredible.  It was so amazing to see my big sister be a wonderful mom to her baby.  And that girl is so lucky to have Ryan as her dad.  

On Saturday we just slept in (well I did I am not sure if Laney and Alyson did) and hung out in the morning.  My other sister Amy and her boyfriend's kids (Christian and Cameron) came over to Alyson's.  Eventually we had a lot of family and of course Lisney over to hang out.  Shout out to Lis for bringing me some Boulevard Wheat even though she was exhausted from being at the Extreme Home Makeover site all day!  It was a great night!  And the day was still filled with ooing and awwing over Laney and how perfect she is.  I finally got to give her the clothes I had been stocking up for her since she was born.  She wore one of my outfits every day.  Not sure if it was because her mom thought they were just too cute or she figured she could wear them while I was there and never again ;-) 

On Sunday I went to my dad and marilyn's house and got to hang out with them for a bit.  Then met up with Kristin to go see her new house she is building!  It is coming along and hopefully she will be all moved in when we come back for Labor Day.

After a yummy lunch at El Norte with all the girls and Christian and Cameron it was time for me to head back home.   I'll admit I teared up a bit when I was leaving but tried my best to keep it under control.  Although it is sad I don't get to see my family and now especially Laney more often, she will have no doubt that I love her very much.  I can't wait to go see her in September and am really looking forward to them coming out to FL next summer!

pictures

I was really tired when I posted this and forgot to add some pictures from the weekend...

More Visitors continued

I had to separate the posts for separate weekends and visitors, so consider this a 2 for 1.  Another great friend of ours, Jonathan, came out this past weekend to hang out with us as well!  Unlike other visitors Jonathan didn't really want a plan and didn't care too much to hit up all the touristy spots.  And it was the 4th of July so there was a lot of things going on here.  So it was a much different trip but we still had so much fun.  He got in on Wednesday night and we just stayed up drinking some wine and catching up.  

On Thursday Jonathan and Kyle came downtown to meet me for lunch at Urban Flats then the boys hit the pool while I worked the rest of the day.  Thursday night we went to Latin Night at Blue Martini and grabbed dinner at Seasons 52.  While at dinner Jonathan surprised us with a bottle of Silver Oak Cabernet and it was amazing.  What a wonderful anniversary gift!!  Thank you so much Jonathan, we can't tell you how much we appreciated that.  Then we headed back to Blue Martini for some more drinks, fun, and amazing flatbread!

On Friday Kyle, Jonathan, and Brannon played golf (again while I worked) then went to the pool.  I went out to Altamonte Springs for the Red Hot and Boom celebration with my friend Jen from work.  It was an amazing fireworks show and we had such a fun time just hanging out!  They had a lot of bands play on the water before the show and I got to see Matt Nathenson and We the Kings which were both really good.  Then we met up with the boys and Brooke at Vines Wine Bar and had a really great night.

Saturday I spent at the pool while the boys went shopping (I know how bad that sounds but the outlets here are really good and it was the only time he had to go check them out)  then they  met me at the pool for a little bit.  We went downtown for the Lake Eola fireworks show which was also an amazing fireworks display.  We ate dinner at a Tapas restaurant that I am so glad Jonathan made us try because it was really good and the Sangria was the best I have ever had.  

It was such a fun weekend and we even got to do things we haven't done here yet!  Spending the 4th with great friends and in Orlando was a wonderful experience.  We hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July! 

We've got a big week this week!  Tuesday is our 2 year anniversary and Friday I am going back to Dallas to meet and hang out with Laney.  I have never been more excited to go back home before.  It will be an incredible weekend.  Doesn't get much better than getting to meet your niece for the first time and spend all weekend with my family! 

More visitors!

Our friend Bill came and stayed with us a couple weeks ago and we had a really fun time getting to hang out with him.  Friday night we hung out downtown and Saturday we went to Universal and had a great time!  We finally rode Spiderman for the first time and it was really good!  I can not believe we have skipped it the first 3 times we went.  We also got to see some of LL Cool J in concert.  However, I didn't know the first 4 songs he played and all he would say is, "Let me hear you sccreeam" and "put you L's in the air" and it got really annoying.  I would have liked to hear some old school Ladies Love Cool James but after not knowing for songs (and it being incredibly hot with all those people) we left.  We grabbed dinner at the Hard Rock which was actually really good and headed home.  Universal wears you out!  But we had a great weekend with Bill and am so glad he came to stay with us.  Bill and Paige are getting married August 22nd and we could not be more excited!  We love Bill and Paige and are really looking forward to their big day.  (oh and bison witches, goodcents, and good mexican food while we're in OK too!)  

Bill LOVES HP so I have no doubt he will come back in 2010 when this is finished!