Tons of Pictures!

The kids gave Luke all of their stuffed animals


Hunting with Daddy


Stalking the prey


Thanksgiving in Childress (Tesema and Brek)


Luke with Papa


The nativity


Fast asleep on Kacy


I took Tyce's shirt off and the snot from his nose went into his hair to style it. Really cute I know. :)


The men who helped bless Luke
We had Luke's blessing in Utah at Brock's parents' house while we were there for Christmas and Cary Shane's wedding.


Nana and Papa with Luke




Grandpa, Grandma and Brandon with Luke


Brock and Luke


Brek and cousin Avery


All of the Keys grandkids


Nana and Papa with grandkids




Before (beginning of trip home from temple)
Poor Brandon was smooshed!


After (so tired)


Making cookies with Grandpa for Santa


Kristin, Brandon and Brek on Christmas Eve


We had so much fun playing carols on the bells on Christmas Eve!!!


Frosting the cookies


Leaving them for Santa


Christmas morning!

Luke David Payne

Luke David Payne was born 11/1/11, 8 lb 6 oz, 21 in long.

No dramatic birth stories here, thank goodness! I was induced the morning of the 1st (I actually started having inconsistent contractions that morning, but they went ahead and induced me to get the contractions really going). The pain started picking up so I got my epidural, and everything went great! I actually think he could have came a few minutes earlier (I kept feeling lots of pressure). I told the nurse, but she didn't want to check me just to have to check me again and again. So she waited, and by the time she checked me she told me not to push!

We think he looks a lot like Brek. What do you think?













We actually took Luke home without a name! Go figure, huh? We've come close with the other two, but we actually did it with Luke! He was born on Tuesday and he finally got his name on Friday. I had to go back to the hospital to fill out the paperwork. We finally decided he looked like a Luke. We chose the name David because of all of the good Davids Brock has known and been close to.

Luke is turning into a good, little baby. He sleeps really well at night now (Brek actually wakes up more than he does!), and he is a good eater. I just wish he would not spit up so much. That's okay though, because he is starting to fill out and turn into a chunky baby!

The kids love Luke! They are constantly right in his face talking to him, kissing him, and touching him. We feel really blessed to have this beautiful new boy in our family!

Update

For some reason I can’t get pictures off of my camera anymore. I don’t know if it’s because of my old junky computer or because our camera card has a million pictures on it. Either way, today all you are getting is an update on our life.

Football is going awesome! Brock is really enjoying coaching this year, and the team is having lots of success so far. We’ve played 6 games so far and lost one (can’t remember if it was by 1 or 2 touchdowns). Anyways, close game. We started district last week and won our first game 48 to 0. Go Panthers!!!

Other than football, life is pretty boring. Our highlight of the week is being able to get out of the house and go to the football games. Brek loves to play cheerleader and knows lots of cheers. She makes Tyce be our mascot, Petey the Panther.

It has been getting cooler here lately (thank goodness), so we have been playing outside more. I really enjoy this except my children think that every time we go outside we have to play in the mud. It gets pretty old cleaning up mud off of my children, the floor, the bath tub…

We’re still waiting on the baby, of course. Grandma’s coming the 25th, ward trunk or treat on the 26th, and football game on the 29th. So I guess it would just be best if he came when he was due on the 30th. We’re super excited for the baby and can’t wait to see Grandma soon!

To end this boring blog post, I’ll leave you with some funny quotes from my darling daughter (she is quite hilarious here lately)…

Me: “Goodnight, my dear.”
Brek: “I’m not a dear. I’m not an animal.”

Me: “Brek, I’m thinking of an animal. It’s pink and likes to play in the mud.”
Brek: “Me!”

While at Walmart the other day, Brek asks me if I want to see the pirate. We’re heading out of the pharmaceutical isle towards the Halloween stuff. “Yeah, where’s the pirate?” (I say this quite loud.) She points behind us. There’s a guy with a patch over his eye near the medicine!

Me: “Brek, do you need to go potty?”
Brek: “No, because…my tongue is hurting. That’s why I don’t need to go potty anymore.”

Storm

About a month ago, we were in the playroom playing when I noticed a storm coming in. The wind was starting to pick up, and I thought, "Oh no, my chairs that are still sitting outside by the trampoline are going to blow away." Next thing I know, my trampoline lifts off the ground and starts flying away!!! The net hooked onto the roof of the house, and the trampoline was perpendicular with the ground just blowing against the house! After the storm was over, the trampoline came back to the ground, but this is what it looked like...


Boohoo. At least the trampoline part is still good. No hope for the net, though.


The kids had fun in the mud! For some reason Tyce is always so much dirtier than Brek after they have been playing outside. :)

Brek’s Birthday

My baby is 3!!! Can you believe it? I still can’t. We made a pink cake with sprinkles. I’m pretty sure the theme was pink. We had all of the coaches and their families over, and they spoiled her! She got barbies, Tangled, a fishing pole, a fun book from Nana… Yeah. Pretty much everything she could have ever wanted!





Every time I have a candle lit, Brek wants to blow it out! She’ll even say “Happy Birthday!” as she blows it out. Well, for her birthday she wouldn’t blow out her candles! She was a little too shy (great. she’s inherited some of her mother).
It was a fun day, and I’m so glad to have this little girl in our family! She is so fun and keeps life entertaining!

Summer

Here are a few things that we did while Brock was home with us towards the end of summer break…



We went to Sea World and had lots of fun. The kids weren’t too sure about it to start with, but then they ended up loving it. Brek especially liked the alligators?


We’ve been having a drought here along with everywhere else in Texas and this is one of the few days it actually did rain. Here is Brek all dressed up for the rain…

Welcome to the Country...

If you are wondering why I never update the blog anymore, it is because we have moved! We are now officially living in "Hill Country." I thought that living in Childress was pretty much living in the middle of nowhere, but I was wrong! We now live in a town with no stoplights, no fast food restaurants, one tiny grocery store (where milk is about $5), and one gas station. Population: 704. We have to drive 45 min to get to Walmart, church, hospital, you name it. And I am too cheap to fork over the money for internet (it'll be more than double what I paid in Childress). So here I sit at the library with my kids pulling books off the shelf while I enjoy what little time I have connected to the real world. :)

I know. It sounds like I am complaining. It's really not that bad. We have actually really enjoyed our time here so far. And we have done lots of fun things. I've made some friends and they treated us out to a multimillion dollar ranch where the kids got to go swimming and play on a playground made by the people who made the sets for Pirates of the Caribbean. So yeah. Pretty cool. Couldn't have done that in Childress. We are renting which sounds like a down side to living here, but I am LOVING it! Because that means no living in a construction zone!!!! The shower head pops off...call the landlord! The hot water not working...call the landlord! I say that until rent collection time when I cannot believe how much more it costs for us to rent than to pay TWO mortgages!

There are deer everywhere, and Brock is really looking forward to shooting one. He has set up a feeder in our "backyard" (we live on 18 acres). It's been great until last night when Tyce broke Daddy's binoculars. Sad day for Daddy.

But yes, we are loving it. We do miss all of our family and friends in Childress though! Sorry about the rambling. Like I said, no internet at home. Makes people go crazy. :) haha!