Let it Snow...Two Weekends in a Row!

For the past two weekends we,
here in Utah, have been hit with
some major snow. Although it has
given us the "White Christmas" feel,
it has also created some extra work
for the men in the house. The first weekend Devin was the only one
in the house who wasn't disabled
in some way... (Dad's back is acting
up again, Mom was sick, and I am
great with child.) It took him two hours
to clean up the mess that nature made!

Luckily, this weekend, Dad was back in action and together it took less time to clear the snow. It is very beautiful though and we have quite the "Winter Wonderland!"

Happy Winter Everyone!!

2nd Birthday

To all the Paynes out there,

Today, the 12th, would be Solomon's second birthday. Most of you know that last year we invited everyone to serve others from the 12th to the 30th. Well we very much enjoyed the experience last year and we are going to make it tradition. It doesn't have to be large, because the small things, like Solomon, bring smiles and tears of joy to others too.

So think of others during this thanksgiving time, serve others, and be grateful! If you wish you may visit http://babysolomon.blogspot.com and post an anonymous comment, we enjoy seeing all the good being done!

We love you and are grateful for your love and support shown to us.
Love,
Gavin, Becky, and Eleanor

Darth Hannah MonPregnant Vader

Here are a few pics that I thought you'd like. Sara has been verbally abusing me for quite some time, so I decided to finally blog. You can see Krystal's lil' belly and if you look close enough you can see mine too. Things have been going great in our neck of the basement. We found out that we will be having a baby girl (as I predicted). We are very excited, but a little worried about the stiff competition (Natalee and Ellie). The hemorrhage has grown a little bit, but it has not harmed the baby.

I am a tad jealous about Gavin's Wii. I have made many attempts to get the folks to buy one , but all have been stymied. I am still looking for a place to utilize my talents and make moderate gains in the process to support my wife and unborn child. If you have any friends that want a man like me for around $40,000, I am willing. We went condo/house hunting today. We found a couple of places that we like, but we are still on the search. I have been in the basements of 66.67% of my siblings and I am fond of both of them. Gavin and Becky's is a little more workshopy, but it will d0. Let us know if any openings come about. Adios Hermanos!

Sorry no cupcakes

So, Mom, I was telling Gavin the other day, "I wish I had planned ahead and brought your mom a hostess gift for letting us all stay at the house." To which he replied, "What would she want with some cupcakes?!" Now we know what Gavin means when he says "hostess gift." Twinkies anyone?

So, even without the appropriate cupcakes I have to say thanks again for letting me burst in with all my friends and stay. Next time I will try not to be such a ding-dong and bring snowballs or something... :)

Which one is Natalee?

Krystal and I took Natalee and Carson to McDonalds the other day. While we let the Australian hamburger meat digest, we had a few moments to dress up like Hannah Montana (daughter of Billy Ray Sirus). As you can see by the photos, Carson and I got a little too comfortable in the wig. We had to talk about Batman for awhile to bring back our manhood.

Krystal is doing well. She still feels sick quite a bit, but eating seems to ease her pain. Ahhh, she finally knows how I feel. Her two good friends are all pregnant along with her, and they have fun talking about all of their bodily changes. I am doing my best to be a good husband. I looked at multiple stores to find her some raspberry ginger ale... but I had no luck. She settled for normal ginger ale, but we would enjoy any information on where it might be found.

We went up to the Wayment cabin last weekend. Apparently all the bunnies must have heard about my shooting skills because when we got up there we did not even see one rascally rabbit. I am turning more outdoorsy... I now dangle my participles and constantly use the phrase "I says". I better work on that because I have a few job opportunities on the horizon. Thanks to Dad, Shannon, and a Columbian woman named Irma.

I will continue to blog more often... if I can overcome my writer's blog.

Halloween Starting a Month Early!!

Okay, I am doing laps at the T.O.S.H. pool, rehabbing the back, trying to mind my own business when I go past a little alcove and I find one of the "fat ladies" hiding there SCARING people who are swimming past. I go past her and she says, "BOOOOOO"!!!! I wasn't sure how to react. I was thinking of doing the same thing when Devin and Ryan used to hide in the coat closet when I come home from work--pound her to death--but I resisted and played along. I said, "WOW, you really scared me. At least my heart has started!!" I cited some obscure Smothers Brothers quote, something about "pumas in the crevases" and kept going. I passed her two other times and she scared me each time. Am I in the twilight zone or what???? This lady is like 60 years old and must not have anything better to do than to bother the handsome aqua joggers. Anyway I am ready for anything at this place now.

Carson is reading well, he called us up yesterday and read us a story.

I hope things are well in all the Payne households.

Keep the faith.

Dad

I'm bringing blogging back

It's been awhile since I have addressed the faithful who are PayneNation. I would like to thank Dad for contributing greatly to the blog. I urge all others to follow his example.

Krystal is now about 10 weeks along. She has acquired super-human senses and has been known to go from zero to craving in about 8 seconds. We are getting excited about our future adventures. For those of you who don't know, the subchorionic hemorrhage that Krystal had is now gone. I know that many people were thinking about Krystal and praying for her... Thank you.

Well, I am a couple of months away from being a college grad. The baby may curb our plans to move out of state for a little while, but we know we will have to do what is best for our family. We will be heading to Krystal's cabin this weekend, where I plan to hone my shooting skills with my new .22 rifle. I know Dad will be happy to have the gun out of his house for at least a few days. What can I say... I serve and protect. Anyway, I hope that you all can get off your blog, as I have done, and start posting.

Got Gas?? Turkey Stampedes, and Fat Pool Ladies

Hello everyone,

I haven't seen many bloggers recently so here goes.

A couple of weeks ago, Mary-Ann and I were cleaning the garage (I know that sound funny but it really happened) when Mom saw gas streaming out of Devin's blue Honda. She thought there was a hole in the gas tank. I thought the blue Honda was hurling back the non-Costco gas Devin had pumped into the car the day before. Apparently Devin did not put on the cap snugly as usual, and the heat of the day began to bubble the gas out of the tank and onto the ground. In all my days I had never seen a gas volcano--but this was a first.

Mom and I celebrated our 32nd Wedding Anniversary last week. We went to the Utah State Fair to celebrate. We enjoyed the livestock (although not as big as the Iowa State Fair) and everything else. We shared a yummy funnel cake while watching Turkey Racing!!! I bet the Iowa State Fair doesn't have that!!!!! Yes, several turkeys raced around a circular course following a red remote controlled truck with turkey feed in it's bed. It was one of the oddest things I've ever seen on earth. The funnel cake made it more bearable.

We went to the rodeo that night and had a good time with the cowboys and the clowns.

I continue to rehab the back and am trying to get it back in shape. I am working hard at home with some exercises and 2-3 times a day at the T.O.S.H. pool exercising up a storm. I am not a petite guy, I understand it, but the fat ladies have overtaken the pool. I was trying to elbow my way past two of them and I think the fattest one took a swing at me!!! I am faster than them so if they wanted to they couldn't catch me. To top things off, one of the ladies came out with perfectly coiffed hair, pearls and her glasses--as she was exercising. I thought I was in the twilight zone. Wish me well.

Keep the faith and keep up the good work.

Love,

Dad

The Rehab of the Back

Hello Family,

It has been about a month since I succumbed to old man back disease. Things are going along, with some progress. I started seeing a chiropractor and now am seeing a physical therapist. The past two weeks I have been exercising/getting therapy in the T.O.S.H. pool. Yes, I am a Hydro Therapy guy!! I mostly exercise with the "fat ladies"--I have to push them out of the way to get my reps in. Some of them don't have a sense of humor. Last time I was working next to a couple of Downs Syndrome kids. Things are interesting at least.

I am at about 75% and am starting to do some stuff slowly. Mary-Ann and I cleaned the garage out today. She did all the heavy lifting.

It is great to hear from everyone. I loved Becky's pictures she took of us at the family reunion. Those in town, we are having a Labor Day breakfast at Mimi's on Monday. Sorry all can't be here. We were thinking of going back to the Sheep Dog Herding Championships in Midway, but it will be 96 degrees and no dog is worth that kind of heat!!!

We love you all. I hear that Ryan and Sara and Isaac are in Nauvoo today. What a life.

I'll post a little later now that I am out of blog purgatory.

Dad

Our little Jelly Bean

Here is the first ultra sound at six weeks. You can't see very much, but after a few seconds you can hear the heartbeat (124 BPM). The reason we had the ultra sound so early was because Krystal had been suffering some abnormal pains. We found out that she has what is called a Subchorionic hemmorhage (hematoma). You can google it. This condition can cure itself, but there is a slight chance of future complications. We are hoping and praying that everything goes okay. Krystal has to take it easy and cannot lift more than the weight of a milk carton. Now I have to lift all of her bowling balls, typewriters, and gold bricks. We are optimistic about our unborn childs situation. We know that the Lord will do what is best for his little spirit child. Thanks for all of your support.

The other pictures that I had promised...

Here are some photos of our summer adventures. The first two are from St. George (Krystal's birthday). Notice that I could not make it through the narrows as she did. The last four are at Schmidts (cream puffs as big as your head), the Ohio State Football stadium (We had to sneak in by pretending we worked for Coca-Cola), the Sacred Grove, and finally, the Hill Cumorah.

I graduate in December and then we have no idea what will happen to us. We may be in Utah, Colorado, Iowa, West Jordan, Mom and Dad's basement, or somewhere else. We are still accepting bribes to either come to a certain city or leave a certain basement.

I think I did it!

Finally I have figured out how to do this blogging thing. I still need to learn to post pictures etc. but hey this is a good start.
M

OHIOOOOOO!!!!!

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Palmyra, Sandusky, and Niagara Falls. I have a few more pictures that I will put up soon, but I am running out of time.





We paid our $2.00 "preservation fee" to the Community of Christ to be able to enter the Kirtland Temple. It was amazing to be in the same room where the Father and Son, as well as many others, had presented themselves to Joseph Smith. We were told about the "strong ones" who "stuck it out" in Kirtland. It was interesting to hear about another perspective of what went down in in the 1830's.






There 37 angry Indians fans that were screaming at Krystal to get out of the way, but I think it was worth it for this beautiful picture. The stinking Yankees won the game, but we did enjoy ballpark hot dogs and only suffered one or two nosebleeds from the altitude of our seats.

Me in a Nutshell

I love reading these!

Jobs I've held...
Telemarketer for Royal Photography
Medical Receptionist
Biological Warfare Database Administrator
Community Information Coordinator
Mom
Photographer - I've made $500 now, am I professional?

Movies I could watch over and over...
Runaway Bride
Emma
American President
any Doris Day movies

My guilty pleasures...
Photoshopping
Buying clothes - at least I'm in good company
Scrapbooking

Places I've Lived...
Idaho
Seattle
Utah
Colorado

Shows I enjoy...
American Idol - girl's night with Eleanor
West Wing - so sad it's over
Any design show with Mary-Ann

What were the first things you thought of when you saw your significant other for the first time?...
He's got a nice smile
He even plays the piano - impressive
soon after we met... What's that crazy guy doing wearing shorts and sandals in the snow!

Places I've been on vacation...
Martha's Vineyard
London
Seattle
Sugar City, Idaho

Favorite Foods...
Ice Cream
Cafe Rio Pork Quesadilla
Gavin's Chicken Garlic Pizza

Websites I visit daily...
Google
all the family blogs
my www.BPhotogenic.com
www.Melaniemauer.com - a photog I adore!

Body parts I have injured...
Broke a leg when I was 2
Stitches in a finger - also 2

Awards I have won...
Student of the Year in 6th Grade - I think my only trophy ever
Girl's State
Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest
Do Scholarships count? - a few of those

Nicknames I've been called...
Backback
Betty Boop
one of the Virgin Girls - glad that's in the past

People I'd love to hear about next:
Mary-Ann
Natalee

Tagged By Sarita

Sara tagged me the other day, and she wrote, "If you love me, you'll do it." Because I do, in fact, love her, here it is:

Jobs I've held...
Salesperson at Old Navy
Waitress at Pinnacle Gate
Supervisor at Avatar
Counselor at Valley Mental Health

Movies I could watch over and over...
Pride and Prejudice
Phantom of the Opera
Sense and Sensibility
The Notebook
Any Audrey Hepburn Movie

My guilty pleasures...
Chocolate
Coca-Cola
Buying too many clothes (or anything else!)
Watching The Office and So You Think You Can Dance

Places I've Lived...
Roy
Price
West Valley

Shows I enjoy...
Friends
The Office (see "guilty pleasures")
So You Think You can Dance

What were the first things you thought of when you saw your significant other for the first time?...
Ooh... Who Is This Hottie?
I wonder if he has a girlfriend?
Crap... He does!

Places I've been on vacation...
Mexico
Colorado
Ohio
Church Sites (Kirtland, Palmyra)
Niagara Falls

Favorite Foods...
Sushi
Thai Food
Cafe Rio pork salad
Chick-Fil-A

Websites I visit daily...
Gmail.com

Body parts I have injured...
Broke Both Arms... the right one twice
Broke My Foot
Several Concussions
Knee Injuries (knee cap pops out)

Awards I have won...
Presidential Award (also an elementary award but hey it's cool)

Nicknames I've been called...
Stelby (don't ask!)
Little Wayment
Wifels

Tag, you're it!!!
Shannon
Becky
(Just copy and paste this to a new post)

If you love me, you'll do it!!!!!!

Family Photo Magic

I know you're all waiting with baited breath to see the family pictures. I'm in the process of working some Photoshop magic on them and then I'll send cds. Gavin really wanted to show a before and after, so here is one example. Let me know if there are any freckles, etc. you think you could do without!

Before


After

Cupcake Making

Carson and Natalee making strawberry cupcakes for the family reunion.

What a Sucker!

As I have stated several times before, I am one of those mothers who thinks that there is no such thing as too many cute photos of her precious baby boy, so here are a few from last night.

Lately Isaac has been fascinated with his fists, or anything else he can get into his mouth. Ryan and Isaac and I went to a family barbeque at my uncle's house. We discovered that Isaac not only enjoys sucking his own hands, but Fischer's as well. Fischer is Isaac's cousin who was born two days after he was. Hope you enjoy the pictures of Isaac doing his best to suck on Fisch's hands. See you all soon!

New family picture

Hi family,

Just wanted to show you the new family picture we took last week. It's at one of my favorite picture taking spots - a tiny, well-hidden park in Longmont.

We're looking forward to seeing you all soon and taking a whole Payne family picture! By-the-way, Gavin and I thought it would be great to take a "Honda family" picture too. So, we'll have to shine up the rest like Mom is doing for the gold car. Maybe they'll make us a commercial. :)

SAHM for real!

Hello all!
I thought I would send a blog in celebration of me becoming a real stay-at-home mom! I had my last official day of school on Friday. I turned in my classroom keys and said good-bye to being a professional teacher for awhile (though I still consider myself a teacher, I just have one student instead of 21). I will definitely miss my students (one of them gave me his phone number right before he left "so I could call this summer") but feel that at home is where I belong now.
Ryan and Isaac and I are taking a trip to Des Moines next week in hopes of finding a place to live in the fall. Wish us luck! Ryan has been very diligent in searching for both homes and apartments online, so hopefully we will find something that suits our family (and our budget) while we are out there next week. We are all very excited for the family reunion and other activities that we have going on this summer. We look forward to spending time with all of you.
Here are a couple of pictures from a hike we took a couple of weeks ago to Donut Falls. Isaac loves to be outside! He is growing up really fast and really starting to react to everyone around him. He is going to miss all of the nonstop attention he gets living at Grandma's house.

The Payne Reunion B&B

Hello everyone!!!! This is Papa Payne putting my first offering on the blog. Stake Conference is officially over except for the report to the Q12 so I am more relaxed and ready to take on other things.

Yesterday, Mom and I went with the Hancocks and located our B&B for our family reunion June 29-July1, (2 nights) in Woodland Utah. It is a 100 year old farm house, redone just a few minutes out of Kamas. We didn't get in to take a look, but the grounds are nice and it is in the country!!

Directions: Gavin and Becky coming from I-80: Take exit 155 Wanship exit and proceed towards Kamas. Go through Peoa, Oakley, Kamas, Francis. This road becomes Highway 32. Stay on this road until you come to a junction and take Highway 35 a left hand turn towards Woodland. At the junction, you will go 3.9 miles and you will find the Farmhouse on the right side of the road. Anyway, the directions are easy, take the Wanship exit, go straight till the Woodland turn off, turn left, go 3.9 miles and you are there.

For the rest of us, take I-80 to Highway 40 on the way to Heber. Take the Kamas exit and take that road to Kamas. Take a right at the first light in Kamas, proceed to the Woodland turn off, go left on Highway 35 for 3.9 miles and there it is on the right.

I will get more info on what we will be doing. We plan to go up after Stephanie Atkinson's wedding and lunch. We guess we will get there around 4pm or so.

I'll blog more when I get more time. Love to all the grandkids. I will post a picture of the shark I swam with in Grand Cayman.

Love,

Papa Payne

Ike's big day

Hello Payne Nation,

For family home evening we decided to post about Isaac's blessing. This is especially for those who were not able to make it. The blessing went as planned, except there was no microphone. I think that my shouting the blessing startled Isaac and he was close to being dropped. Not really, but there was some repositioning that had to go on during the prayer. Sara put together one heck of a family gathering after the meeting, complete with breakfast casserole (what a housewife she has become or is becoming in about 2 weeks), cinnamon rolls, and even strawberry filled chocolates or maybe it was the other way around. I hope that you enjoy the pictures. Usually it is the baby who receives gifts or surprises at these events, but Isaac left one for Grandpa Payne as he held him on mom's chair. The surprise resembled the pumpkin spice cake, so I wonder if Grandma was sneaking him some real food? Anyways it was a great day for all of us. And Grandpa Payne is going to send us the dry cleaning bill.

With love,

Ryan, Sara and Isaac

P.S. Sorry for the belated congratulations Gavin, but better late than never. Sara is glad to have someone in the family at her level of education. Sorry we missed the big day. We tried to give you a ring, but you were off assisting in the business of saving souls as a bishop. Well done on both accounts.

concrete

Devo

Thanks again for your help today. {may 10}. You helped more than you know.
I'm not much of a typer, this has taken me 10 minutes. So I will move on.
Catch ya later. I will get better at this.
Matt

Well if someone would invite us to the blog earlier than maybe we could post to it. We have had a crazy week with a very large ear infection. This is Carson's stitches from 4 years ago and now one is infected. Needless to say we have been camping out at the doctor's office lately. Other than that things are well and the kids only have 3 weeks of school left. SOMEONE HELP ME!!!! Matt says go Jazz

Should be cleaning for the inlaws....

Can I have the smallest calves? I'd like to. :)

We're celebrating Gavin's first Monday night without class in a year! We're looking forward to seeing the folks and grandparents this week for his graduation. But, instead of cleaning, I'll join the blog. Ellie had her first ballet recital on Saturday, so here's a cute pic of her. You can tell it's a well choreographed dance when they're all in a different position!

We'd be prepared to offer plenteous babysitting opportunities to whatever family might want to move to Colorado! Is that bribery enought? Who wouldn't want to watch this adorable niece, huh? Maybe Gavin could work out a tithing discount if you move into our ward. :)

Hope you're all doing well.

Get your blog on...

There have been only 3 contributors so far. I didn't expect this weak showing amongst the Payne Nation. Yesterday, Krystal and I went with Ryan and Sara to the Red Iguana. The waiter hit on Krystal right in front of my face... I got so upset that I ate almost all of Ryan's fried ice cream. It was fun and Isaac felt right at home with the Latin love music. The picture above shows a few friends that came up to visit from El Salvador. We don't have a cute baby so we have to think of other cool pictures to post. Krystal and I are undecided about where to go after I graduate. We would take any bribes to be persuaded to go to Colorado or Iowa... or even to stay in the basement for the rest of our lives. We are doing great and we want to let everyone know that we love them. Last person to post has the smallest calves.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Hello everyone! I thought I would contribute to the blog so that Ryan and Devin's apology wasn't the first thing everyone sees as soon as they log on (no offense boys, but this blog is serious). Instead they'll see Isaac! I am totally aware that I am one of those annoying mothers who thinks that her child is the most adorable baby on earth and frankly I don't care! Today we are headed to the Red Iguana with Devin and Krystal so we can celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a little authentic Mexican food. Hopefully it won't be too crowded. Here is one of the latest pictures of Isaac--going on 8 big weeks today!

Apology to Devin and Krystal

Sorry Sara, Isaac, and myself stayed so long as to make you miss you movie. Please forgive and forget. Good-bye.

Blogging over Jogging

I have decided to contribute to this blog and by so doing I have given up my exercise time (see post title). Sara and I are doing well, Isaac is doing even better. We are all happily squatting off of the parents as we prepare to move to Des Moines Iowa. Sara is back at work part-time and I am working the other half of the day. I have been labeled Mr. Mom at work. I think that all the other guys are jealous that I have a sugar mama and all they have are bitter mamas. Isaac is the cause of much contention, usually between Devo and Grandma. They have both been labeled baby hogs and have been known to hover over anyone else who attempts to hold him in their presence. We have never been happier and wish everyone well. Good-bye.

Calling all Paynes.... and Lingwalls

Hey Everyone!

This Blog is for Paynes, Lingwalls, and any other friends. Who knows where everyone will be in a couple of months, so try to post a comment once in a while so that everybody stays in contact.

Krystal and I are doing well. I am in the middle of finals and she is getting a root canal today. I should be graduating in December and then we will be headed wherever a school or job takes us. Krystal is preparing to become SSW certfifed.