Payne Nation: October 2021

October came quick and then left just as quickly. Like most Halloween seasons, we were kept busy with a lot of different activities. Here's what we did:

Uncle Ryan decided to run the St. George Marathon. It was fun having Ryan and Sara stay with us and then supporting Ryan during his run!

We had the bi-annual General Conference Breakfast with the neighborhood, which is always such a fun get together!

You can barely see it but it was weird to see the crescent moon turned like this!

Quincy found her love of volleyball and joined a league. It was so fun watching her play and progress!

We get the most amazing skies here in St. George!

Halloween craft...

Coco and I got to drive up to Salt Lake to do a checkup on her heart. Although the problems that she had as a baby had resolved, her current pediatrician wanted to make sure that there wasn't something that we were missing that was contributing to her breathing problems. She didn't love having the "stickers" all over her but she did fantastic and we found out that her heart is perfectly healthy! We were then able to spend some time together shopping and visiting family!

Grandpa Wayment was diagnosed with Dementia back in August and it has been so hard watching him decline. He began struggling to remember things and people and it has quickly been progressing for the worse. While we were up north for Coco's appointment we wanted to stop and visit with Grandma and Grandpa but as per usual, we get caught up in all the things we need to do and people we need to see. I debated back and forth whether we had time to stop or not the entire time that we were driving toward Roy. At the very last minute, I felt myself turning the wheel to take the exit towards their home. As I pulled up, I noticed that their car wasn't in their carport and because they never go anywhere I just assumed that they weren't home and was ready to continue driving past. Once again, I felt myself pulling over. I left Coco in the car and left it running because I really expected that no one would answer (and really didn't know why I was even taking the time to knock). All of a sudden Grandpa opens the door. He was crying and so distraught that he almost fell over. I quickly held onto him and began asking what was wrong as I led him to his chair. He started saying, "She's left me. I don't know what's happening but my wife has left me." I asked him where Grandma was and he said that she wasn't there and he was certain that she was leaving him. I found several notes that she had written to him explaining that she was at work and that she would be home soon. After seeing the state that he was in, I quickly brought Coco inside and decided we needed to stay until we figured out where Grandma was. (At this point, I had not been informed about her working) As a way to distract him, we decided to go get some ice cream. This is a moment I will treasure forever...

Once Grandma came back home, we had a very long discussion about how to avoid this in the future. We decided that they needed to sell their beloved truck to avoid the payments so that Grandma wouldn't have to work anymore. I left that day so shaken by what had happened. And so grateful that the Lord had guided me to their house that day.

Next, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Wayment's where Coco loved playing around with them...

Once we were back home it was time to start shopping for Halloween costumes.

These 2 are so funny!

And suddenly it was Fall Break. We decided to head to Arizona for a family vacation. On the way we made a stop at Hoover Dam. It was fun to walk around it, across it, above it, and see all the cool sights of it.

Tess and Quincy were too scared to cross the bridge above the dam...

While in Arizona we stayed at The Great Wolf Lodge. The kids absolutely loved it. It was definitely a fun vacation and we are so glad we were able to go with the kids.

Right outside of the Lodge was an awesome memorial of the USS Arizona that was sunk in Pearl Harbor.

The Lodge is best know for their awesome indoor waterpark. So fun!

We also found a fun place with an Aquarium, Ridley's Believe It or Not, and food. We had a great time playing around here!

Tess completely lost her mind when she found out that the aquarium had a sloth. It was so fun to see her so excited.

Back to the sloth because it woke up...

After The Great Wolf Lodge we headed to the Grand Canyon. On the way we made some stops. The first stop was Montezuma Castle National Monument. This was such a cool place to see. The remains of the castle that was built by the Sinagua people around 1100 AD.

The next stop was at a church that was built right into the side of the mountain. It was pretty neat to climb up to this unique church.

Our last stop before the Grand Canyon was Williams, AZ. This is where the historic Route 66 is so we decided to stay in this area. The girls had a blast here and it was so fun walk up and down Route 66.

And then on to the spectacular Grand Canyon. They girls weren't particularly excited about this part of the trip... but the parents were. We walked, hiked, read historical facts, climbed, took way too many pictures, awed at the majesty, and loved happening upon the wildlife. We spent an entire day here and still felt like we barely scraped the surface. Quite literally the most amazing sight.

My adventure girl, Addy, and I climbed out to this ledge that goes right out into the canyon. It was amazing and scary, thrilling and stomach turning.