Payne Family

Luke David Payne

2011-12-08T15:45:00.001-08:00

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

2011-10-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-07-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

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!

By the way...

2011-07-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm terrible because I haven't talked about the fact that we are pregnant again!!! And the terrible part is that I'm already 25 weeks! So this post is to tell all of you who may not know that we are having a.....

BOY!!!

I'm due October 30th which means that I'll most likely be having a November baby! Who knows? Maybe on my birthday. :)

Dance Class

2011-07-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

Kyler was at our house playing one day when I caught this...

Brek had taken the boys upstairs to play and it had been a little too quiet for a little too long. You know how that goes...you don't really want to check on them because they've either gotten into trouble and you don't want to see what kind of havoc they have created or they're actually playing nice and once you check on them they're done playing and need attention from you. This is all of them dressed up for dance class! Brek had put headbands on herself and the boys (Tyce took his off immediately so I missed that picture).

Sticky

2011-06-14T13:11:00.001-07:00

My daughter has some funny, little quirks and this happens to be one of them. She loves sticky stuff. She has gotten to where she cannot go to sleep at night without having something sticky. It started with the sticky tabs on her diapers. If you look way back on my posts you can find exactly when it started. I didn't realize it then. We thought she just liked to sleep with diapers. Anyway. They changed the diapers so that the tabs are not sticky anymore. Disaster! She started asking for fruit snacks. She would just get one and play with it in her fingers until it became sticky. Same with marshmallows. She loved to get the stickers off of things in the store (i.e. bananas, clothing). She can find sticky stuff anywhere! So we have rotated through many sticky things to give her at night. We quickly ran out of tape, bandaids, and stickers. We have been remodeling our house (never ending!!!), and Brek found the sticky tiles. She would play with tape in her hand and put the sticky tile at her feet. I am beginning to really hate this habit of hers because she gets the sticky junk all over her legs and feet and they get all gross. Cross your fingers though because the last couple of days she has gone to bed without anything sticky! Maybe all of the sticky stuff in our house will disappear and she will forget all about it! I love my little girl and all of her quirky habits though! She definitely keeps me entertained!

The Boys Dancing

2011-05-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

This video is Tyce and cousin Kyler dancing at April's wedding reception. I really hope the sound works because that is part of the reason it is so funny. This was during the father daughter dance (slow music).

Easter

2011-05-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

I realize that Easter was forever ago, but I am forever behind. So here are Easter pictures. We went out to Nana and Papa's for a yummy cookout and then Easter egg hunt afterwards. Lots of fun!

Brek with cousin Tesema

Fishing with Daddy

2011-05-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

Brock has taken the kids fishing here recently and they absolutely love it! Well, at least Brek does. Tyce doesn't quite understand yet. One evening Brock took Brek out and it was getting pretty dark. Brock texted me and said that Brek kept saying, "Let's keep fishing, Daddy." I thought he was totally making that up since I know how much he loves to fish. I was sure he was using her as an excuse to stay out there fishing. Nope. She really did love it!

I think this tackle box is the real reason she likes to fish. She'll sit there and play with Daddy's "sharpies" while he fishes.

Tyce wasn't quite sure about this fish.

The kids have also really enjoyed riding with Daddy in the bike trailer.

California

2011-05-17T16:16:00.001-07:00

California

2011-04-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

Brock's Great-Grandpa Ball died a few weeks ago and we were blessed to be able to go up for the funeral. It was beautiful, and I learned so many more wonderful things about the man that we named our son after. What a great example he was to so many people.

Here is Tyce at the beginning of our trip...

And here is Brek...

We could not figure out why she was being so quiet and reserved...until she threw up 3 times our first day of traveling. Poor girl. I felt so bad for her. I guess she gets pretty car sick. She was a trooper.

And finally sleeping...

I kept trying to push their heads back. It looked so uncomfortable. But they just kept plopping back down.

After driving for 10+ hours with no DVD players (I didn't have time to plan ahead and get them before we left) just Mommy singing to them and playing games with them (I'm sure they were quite entertained :), we finally make it to Flagstaff to stay the night. We called ahead to make sure the pool was open and ready for us (my bribery for the kids). Said it would be, but when we got there it was not! So wait around in our bathing suits for a couple of hours (they said it was heating up and should be hot enough soon) and finally call it quits and go to bed. Wake up in the morning in hopes of swimming before we leave, ha! Pool is broken! What a disappointing stay.

Our next day of traveling (I promise I will stop talking about the drive soon) was much better. We moved Brek to the middle seat so she could see out the front and we had no incidents! It was also better for both of the kids because they were close enough to entertain eachother (which also makes it better for Mommy and Daddy!).

We finally made it to Sonoma, CA and had a great time seeing family and being there for Grandpa Ball's funeral. Brek especially loved being spoiled by her grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles and still remembers waterbeds, bandaids, and big marshmallows. We love ya'll! Sonoma is such a gorgeous area and while we were there we were able to see a beautiful winery. I can't remember the details but I believe they said it was one of the first in the area (maybe even the first?). Too bad we don't drink! :) jk

Here are some pics of the winery...

After our trip to Sonoma we went back down to Clovis where we got to stay for quite a bit longer than expected. It was lots of fun being spoiled and hanging out with Grandma Kim, Brandon and Kristin.

One of Tyce's favorite things to do was play on the stairs.

Brek got a "makeover" while we were there. She got her hair trimmed and done and got lots of new clothes from Grandma Kim. This is her and Grandma with her new umbrella.

Family pictures after church...

The boys...

Grandma Kim and her grandbabies (this was by the end when the kids had enough. the best picture)...

One of the kids favorite things to do while we were there was to go on walks with Grandma Kim. They liked to ride in Grandma's stroller rather than their double. They fell asleep on one walk...

Brek and her babies...

2011-02-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

Brek went through a phase a little after she turned one when she was obsessed with baby dolls. Then she grew out of it. Here lately she has become obsessed again. It is really cute. One night she kept bringing her babies to me one at a time. She would bring one and want me to undress it, then she'd bring it back later with a pair of her own pajamas to put on the baby. Then she'd bring another and do the same thing. Over and over... And if you can't tell, her pajamas are just a little too big for the babies (size 3T). When she ran out of baby dolls she brought her Mickey Mouse. I went upstairs and found this...

She's a good mother. :)

Happy Birthday, Tyce!

2011-02-18T20:51:00.001-08:00

Tyce turned one on February 4th. We took advantage of a basketball game cancellation due to terrible weather coming our way and had a fun party out at Nana and Papa's. Thank you to all of you who braved the cold to come party with us.

This picture is funny to me because neither one of my children would blow out the candle. Every time Brek sees a candle lit at our house she will blow it out and say happy birthday! She might be a little shy (wonder where she gets that from). Thanks Papa for blowing it out!

This is the day of his actual birthday. We made him some cupcakes. I think he liked them.

At Tyce's 1 year checkup he weighed 24 lbs and was 30 in long. I think that puts him 50th percentile for length and 75th for weight. He was amazing for the doctor and just watched her quietly the whole time she checked him. So it was pretty weird to hear the doctor say that he had 2 ear infections! He is just the chillest baby....when he wants to be! :) I just love him to death and have to squeeze him every time he walks by because he is just so cuddly. He has just about caught up to Brek in all he does. He wants to do everything she is doing and have everything she has (and vice versa). He has now decided that he is a big boy because crawling up the stairs and sliding down is not fun anymore. He likes to hold on to the rail and pull himself up and down the stairs. He has also discovered his voice the past few days. He is talking all of the time and Brock has even taught him a few animal noises (pig, monkey, cow, bear).

Hanging out with the Family

2011-02-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of some recent fun times with cousins, aunts, uncles, etc...

Kyler looks way too happy to be playing with my kids. :)

We went to the park and had a picnic with Kenney and Elizabeth.

This is right before Brek dropped him on his head. Poor little guy's going to have to be tough.

Then we went to the playground where Tyce had fun playing in the dirt.

We met up with the Tipa's and Perkin's. Here are the kids having lots of fun on the swing.

One night we decided to compare Kyler and Tyce. This is the best picture. I'll spare you the booty shots. :)

Kacy invited us to come out and play in the snow. We went out to Mom and Dad's and took about 15 minutes getting ready. Finally headed out and lasted about a total of 2 minutes. After which we came inside where they cried for about 10 minutes. It was way too cold and windy to play in the snow! The next day though we went out and Brek had a blast. (I'm glad she got a good experience with the snow.)

Brek kept looking at Tyce and would say, "I don't like Santa Claus. Tyce is not Santa Claus."

Brek's Drawing Board

2011-01-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

Brek absolutely loves to color these days. I think it's because she has discovered markers, and they are so much better than crayons (obviously bcz they can do much more destruction to my house). But I think the main reason why she loves them so much as compared to crayons is because she loves to use them on her new drawing board...

...Tyce's head!!!

She also likes pens.

She actually discovered her hands and arms first, then decided that Tyce's head was better.

Here she is with her marker. Yes, she's sucking her thumb while drawing.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-30T12:05:00.001-08:00

Christmas this year was great! All of my family came in for the holidays except Kevin and Kerry. We have had lots of fun hanging out with all of our aunts and uncles (brothers and sisters) who we haven't seen in a few months! (Brek is loving all of the attention)

Sunday before church

I had been bragging and bragging to everyone how Tyce was an expert on the stairs. Guess who fell down them? Poor little guy. This was on the 23rd. I guess he wanted to dress up as Rudolph for Christmas.

Christmas Eve my family always gets together for a big party at my Nanny and Papa's. This is the Mark Keys Family picture.

This is us after we had just gotten a belly flash from Richie!

Brek and Aunt Savanna

Brek and Aunt Tamra

My family always does a big production of the Nativity on Christmas Eve. This year my Aunt Diane sent costumes she had made for all of the kids to wear. They were so cute. This is Tyce as a shepherd.

Brek the wiseman

Brek hugging Kyler (baby Jesus)

Brock had an awesome idea to start a tradition of making our own stockings. We had a lot of fun sewing them while watching Christmas movies. I think this tradition will be sticking around for a while.

Brek was so fun this Christmas. Every present was amazing to her! After every one she unwrapped she had to go play with it. We were the ones that had to make her stop to open more presents. This is her reading her new book with Daddy (which of course she had to read immediately).

Ready to head outside for the trampoline.

Tyce and Brek in front of their new trampoline.

My Little Rascals

2010-12-08T11:51:00.001-08:00

This blog post is dedicated to my 2 little handfuls. I love them! Here are some things they have been up to lately...

I don't know how but Brek managed to pull the seatbelt beside her up and around her neck. Scary, huh? Don't worry. She's fine.

Brek loves yogurt! I knew she was up to something and this is where I found her (of course making a mess as well).

This was Tyce's favorite spot to play.

Brek loves putting on makeup. She tends to put it on after I'm done getting her ready and working on Tyce. So we have to start all over with getting her ready. It takes me forever to get anywhere! But doesn't she look beautiful?

Having way too much fun with the cool whip.

Best for last of course. Brock poured himself a glass of milk and discovered this. Yes, it's a bouncy ball. Earlier that day Brek had been playing with the bouncy ball and I found her in the refrigerator looking for her ball. The lid was off of the milk and Brek was asking where her ball went. Oh dear. I guess we'll find out later. Brock and I drink different milk so it was his that the lid was off. I had forgotten about it until Brock was drinking his milk and said, "What the heck is this?!?" I died laughing.

Brock's Buck

2010-12-03T11:08:00.001-08:00

Brock got a great deer a few weeks ago, and here are a few pictures. (9 point with a kicker) Thick deer or as hunters call it "great mass."

Football Friday...

2010-11-11T19:15:00.000-08:00

and Monday...and Tuesday...and Wednesday...and Thursday...and Saturday...NO MORE!!! What a season! Last Friday was our last football game, and we are full of mixed emotions. Most of which right now are relief that it's over! :) We have loved being able to go the games and watch Brock coach, but I have to admit it has been nice to have him home again! Brek, on the other hand, will be sad not to go to the football games anymore. Every day she asks if we are going to the football game. She loves football! She loves watching her daddy coach, her uncle Keyan play (and Kaden), the cheerleaders cheering, and the bobcat. She is scared of the bobcat even though I have reassured her that the bobcat is nice. "Bobcat's nice, Mommy? I scared." - Brek.

These pictures start from most recent and then go to the beginning of the season.

The Payne Family

Brock coaching the offensive line during our last game. He was very proud of his boys.

Brek got at least one football at every game we went to (notice that she has 2), which means that we have quite a collection at home now.

I'm pretty sure that Tyce fell asleep at almost every one of our games. (The poor unsuspecting Bobcat fans in the background have no idea they are going to be on the internet.) :)

Papa Keys, Nana, Papa, Brek and Tyce

Tyce all bundled up

Papa and Brek

Mr. Incredible showed up for one of the pep ralleys. The kids weren't too sure about him.

Oops. How did that nerd get in here? (Nerd day at school)

Brock coaching his boys at a scrimmage

Keyan #14

Yes, we are alive...

2010-10-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

I know that many of you have been wondering, and yes, we are still around. :) Lots has happened, and it has been super busy for us here lately.

First of all, we bought a house! We couldn't resist the space and potential (and price!) so we are now the proud owners of 2 houses!

I know that y'all are loving the orange color and desert landscaping, but it's gotta go!

Brock started tiling our first house (aka small house) and everything was a mess over there. No kitchen, laundry room, etc. The bathroom was ripped out of the big house because of disgustingness, but we decided that we would rather go back and forth to the small house for showers rather than go without a kitchen and laundry room a day longer. So we moved over to the big house only to find out that our half bathroom there (our only toilet) had problems. There was a crack in the drainage pipe...or so we thought. Brock ripped out the wall to discover a 3 inch gap in the drainage pipe!!!! Yuck! So for quite a number of days I would wake up in the morning and wait until my kids were fed and dressed before I could go over to the small house to use the toilet! Thank goodness during this time my parents were out of town and we were able to use one of their cars.

Now we have a working toilet at the big house and the drainage pipe is fixed thanks to Brock and other family! Thank you!

Back to my story... We were excited to be able to do laundry at our big house. It was actually the first thing we moved over (the washer and dryer). Well, turns out that somehow in the move over something broke or wiggled loose so the washing machine does not work!!! I was doing laundry and noticed that it was leaking under the washer. I pulled the washer out to see what it was only to pop off the drain pipe which caused water to spew everywhere! Mom was in the living room shampooing the carpets and Brek was with me as I was screaming my head off for mom to come help me! Poor girl may be traumatized by that for a while.

Anyway. We have been without a washer and dryer until just this Saturday when we were able to get a relative's. Hurray for washers and dryers! And of course toilets!!!!

Our plan now is to finish remodeling the small house and rent it out. Oh yes, forgot to mention that the big house has a beauty parlor on the back corner which is rented out. So that pretty much pays for our mortgage on the big house!

Brock has been super busy with school and football (more to come on that) so he has not had much time to remodel, and my children think that taking naps at the same time is a terrible idea so I can't get much done here. So we are kind of at a stand still. Little by little though. Contrary to all of my moanings and groanings, we feel extremely blessed for all that we have!

The rest of our trip to Cali...

2010-08-25T11:22:00.001-07:00

Finally, I'm going to give you the rest of our trip to California. We had such a good time. One of Brek's favorite things to do while we were there was to go swimming in Grandma and Grandpa's pool. She was such a fish! It was so nice to just lounge around by the pool all day long. So relaxing! I'm about ready for another trip to Cali!

Brek loved the slide!
Uncle Brandon, Brek, and Brock

Brandon and Brock

Brandon entertaining Brek

While we were there Brock was able to play in a few church softball games. He loved it! Now I get to brag on my husband. He hit it over the fence TWICE in one game! That's my man! :)

Here is Brek at one of the games. Brock doesn't care too much for these "80 shorts," but I love them!

One of our trips while we were there was to Yosemite National Park. It was so beautiful! We had so much fun looking at the "big trees" and beautiful waterfalls and everything else. As I'm typing this I just remembered the trip home from Yosemite which wasn't so great! We've discovered that Brek gets car sick. Poor Brek got sick on the way home and threw up all over me! Other than that, the trip was a success! :)

The view after you drive through a tunnel to enter Yosemite! Gorgeous!

Brandon and Brek at one of the "big trees" that had fallen over.

Grandpa Todd, Brek, Grandma Kim, and Tyce

All of us at the big trees

Here are a few pictures that we were able to get in Todd and Kim's front yard..

We had a blast in California and can't wait to go back!

The Zoo

2010-08-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

While we were in California we were able to go to the zoo. Brek loved it! Such a good idea, Kim! We had a really good time, and here are a few pictures from it...

Brek and Grandma Kim

The elephants

"Hey, Brandon. Let me take a picture of you right there. Just a second. Almost ready. Gotta zoom in. Hold still." - Brock
Fortunately for Brandon his evil plan did not work.

Petting the sting rays with Dad and Uncle Brandon

The Group (plus me)

Tyce and Grandpa Todd

The "snake" was getting Grandma

Brek got a little tired by the end of our trip.

My cutie

3 weeks in Cali

2010-07-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

We were able to take a long vacation this summer to California to visit Brock's family. Brek is still under 2 so we had to take advantage of our last time to be able to fly for only 2 tickets. Brock's family had not met Tyce yet so it was really neat for the kids to really get to know their Grandma and Grandpa. We did so many fun things and took so many cute pictures that this is going to be a long post. I apologize...

Our first trip was to the lake.

Grandma Kim fell in love with this little guy. And who wouldn't?

Tubing was so much fun! Brek even got on for a little ride.

Ouch! Brock swears he wasn't trying...

Grandma Kim with Tyce

Grandpa Todd, Bonnie, and Brek

Bonnie, Brek, and Kristin

Brock and Brandon

More posts on our trip to come soon...

Tyce's Blessing

2010-07-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

On May 23rd, the weekend of Tamra and Aaron's wedding, Tyce was blessed along with his cousin Kyler. It was a special experience especially because so many family members were able to make it.

The Four of Us

Brock and Tyce

Kenney, Kyler, Brock, and Tyce

Shayla, Tyce, Elizabeth, and Kyler

Grandpa and Grandma Hoer were able to be there for the blessing.

My cute baby Tyce

Beautiful Brek never looking at the camera...

Tamra and Aaron's Wedding

2010-06-08T11:25:00.001-07:00

My sister Tamra was married in the Lubbock temple on May 21st to Aaron Tossey. She was absolutely beautiful, and I couldn't be happier for her. Here are some pictures from the big day...

She made her own dress. Amazing!

Brek and Papa

Brek was pretty fascinated with Avery.

Nana and Brek

The Payne's

Like Father Like Son
Brock, Tyce, Kenney, and Kyler

The Mommas with Their Boys (Auntie Lizzie)

Tyce's favorite fingers

More proof that my son is Popeye
Savanna and Kaden

Look at all that hair blowing in the wind!

Brek with cousin Tesema

Where have my lizards gone???

2010-05-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

So last year around this time I was complaining about a certain lizard problem. Well, I am apologizing now and asking them to return. We are being attacked by ants!!! They are everywhere!!! And we can't seem to get rid of them. As much as those lizards freaked me out, they sure were useful to have around.

This picture is from last year. I saw a lizard and had to get proof. Notice it's teeny tiny size next to the animal cracker. I'll try to clean my house next time I get a lizard picture. :) Oh, and I was also informed that it was actually a gecko. What do you think?

Brock News

2010-05-06T11:40:00.001-07:00

Tuesday was Brock's 26th birthday! He is now as old as me for a few months...
We had family/friends over for some cake and ice cream. Brek had lots of fun dipping the candles in the icing, licking the icing off, then dipping the candles back in the icing. Yummy. We apologize for the spread of Brek's germs amongst the partiers.

Pretty big 8 year old, huh?

The start of bad family pictures for the Payne's. We took a few, and of course none of them turned out good of everyone. So here are a couple not so good ones of everyone. :)

This is a funny one of Tyce...

Love this one. I took Brek outside for a few minutes, and when I came back in they were both asleep.

So the big news is that Brock is officially Coach Payne now! Well, I guess he has already been Coach Payne. He's just officially getting paid now...starting next year. He will be coaching the offensive line in football, the boys' freshman basketball team, and will be the assistant coach for powerlifting.

My Cute Babies

2010-04-26T12:55:00.001-07:00

We got all dressed up to go to an Edward Jones dinner that Dad was having, and these are the adorable pictures I got of Brek and Tyce afterwards...

Trading Post

2010-04-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Brock took the scouts on a camp out a couple of weekends ago. I was completely bored so I decided that it would be fun to try and take both of the kids to the park for a stroll. I got my front carrier and stroller and was ready to go. This should be easy, right? Ha! I was trying to keep Tyce out of the sun and therefore he was not having much fun being carried. I decided that Brek could walk with me while we pushed Tyce in the stroller. That was slow going because Brek wanted to push the stroller and that was also the only way to keep her with me. We didn't get very far when I decided that we were going home.

The point of this story is that on the local radio station there is a show called Trading Post where you can call in and try to sell your things or buy other people's things. I said I was looking for a double stroller and immediately got a phone call. The lady said that she had one that was a couple of years old and that I could have it for free!

So here is our fabulous new stroller...

We have also scored many other sweet things on Trading Post like a free swing set, a gun cabinet, clothes for Tyce, and a free dishwasher! Yes, I listen to Trading Post every day! :)

My "Perfect" Baby

2010-04-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

I had heard tales of "perfect" babies, but I wasn't quite so sure they actually existed... until I had Tyce. Not to discredit Brek or any other babies. I love my little girl to death and am so glad she's the way she is. But it has been so nice having such a good little baby! Tyce is so calm and easy going. I was hoping for a fat, happy baby, and that's what I got! It has made having two kids a lot easier than I thought it would be.

We had his two month appointment on the 7th. He weighed 13 lb 12 oz and was 23 in long.

Silly Brek

2010-04-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Upon meeting Brek many people think that, and I quote..."she is such a somber child." She hardly speaks at all and sucks her thumb most of the time. Well, this is not the case. Once she is comfortable around you she is crazy! She is constantly going, going, going. And she loves to get into things she's not supposed to.

Here lately she hates wearing her diaper. She will take it off any chance she gets. Hence this video. I always catch her "looking like a fool with her pants on the ground." And if I don't catch her....well, you can imagine. I've had to wash her sheets quite a few times here recently. Now she wears "inescapable pajamas." Luckily, she hasn't quite figured out how to unbutton and unzip things (I don't teach her a lot of things for my benefit). So she wears lots of onesies to bed. Brek was really tired one day so I decided to put her down for her nap as quickly as possible. I figured she'd probably go right to sleep and the whole pajama thing wouldn't be a problem. Ha! Ten minutes later she's crying with no pants on and a wet bed.

Sleepy Brek

Oh wait! I didn't notice that at first.

One thing Brek loves to do is get diapers out of her cabinet and sleep with them. I'm really not too sure why. Maybe it makes the bed comfier.

I love my silly, crazy Brek!!!

The Many Faces of Brek Olivia

2010-04-06T11:39:00.001-07:00

Whenever you ask Brek to smile for the picture she always ends up making a silly face. She can't just smile normal. Here are a few of her funny faces she likes to make...

Rate My Space

2010-03-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

We recently remodeled our back room and are so proud of it. The before picture does not truly show how terrible the room looked originally. There was a big crack all the way around the room in between the wall and ceiling. The floor had stains everywhere and reeked of animal.

Brock worked really hard putting up molding and baseboards, painting the ceiling and walls, and putting in the floor. And did I mention tons of caulking? I didn't get to help out too much with the room because I was pregnant at the time. My contribution was the desk. I sanded and painted it black. I'm pretty sure it took me as long to finish that desk as it took Brock to finish the room!

We are really happy with the room and are excited to start/finish other projects around the house. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us with their time and resources.

A Texas Spring Break

2010-03-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Brock got a week off from school for spring break the 15th - 19th. It was so nice to have him home all day with us! Unfortunately for him, he spent lots of that time off working on the house. We did escape with my family to Copper Breaks for a couple of days though for some camping so I think that made up for it. Brek loved being outside all day long while we were camping, and I'm pretty sure she drove my family crazy with her crying to go back outside after her 2 seconds of being inside. Tyce was awesome. He hardly made a peep the whole camping trip. A big THANK YOU to my family for keeping Brek entertained and for letting us tag along.

This is a small smile from Tyce. He has been smiling like crazy here lately. We love it!

A friend came to help Brock with painting the house, and this is his son. Brek had lots of fun having a playmate for a few hours.

Playing at the park at Copper Breaks.

After having a few beautiful days of spring break, we were hit with snow for the weekend!

On the way to Nana and Papa's to play in the snow

Where did everyone go?

Prepared for the snow now!

The kids + Brock playing in the snow. :)

Daddy brought his snowball maker for the big fight. He enlisted Kacy and Hannah's help and then later turned on them... or so I was informed from the girls.

Brek loved the snow and did not want to come back inside.

This is her "Take me back outside" face.

Whoa, baby!

2010-03-04T12:51:00.001-08:00

As anyone who has ever been around babies know, they can be quite "explosive" when taking care of business. Tyce was taking care of his business the other day and caught me off guard. I said, "Whoa!" Brek immediately followed my lead and said, "Whoa, baby!" It was hilarious, and she's been saying it all of the time since then.

Tyce is doing great. He eats and sleeps a lot and is growing like crazy. At his 2 week appointment he weighed 9lb 13oz and was 22 1/4 in long.

This morning I laid him down on the floor on his tummy and when I came back in he was on his back! So at a month old he rolled over??? I was shocked. Is that normal? I guess I need to be a little more careful where I put him now.

Home from the hospital getting ready for bed. Always lots of kisses from Brek.

When Brek wakes up in the morning or from her nap the first thing she says is "Hi, Ty." (She can't quite say Tyce yet.) Then she has to find Tyce.

About 2 weeks old

About 3 weeks old. You can kind of see his "Popeye" arms in these pictures. Brock is aspiring to look like this some day. :)

"Daddy's #1 Draft Pick"

About 1 month old.

If Tyce is ever on the floor Brek is right there. She is such a good big sister, but sometimes I have to watch out for her. She loves to grab his hands to make him do the "wheels on the bus" or try to pick him up. She's really good at putting his pacifier in his mouth when he's crying, but she likes to pull it out when he's calmly sucking on it. And even though she's a thumb sucker, I catch her sucking on his pacifier quite often.

Tyce Troy Payne

2010-02-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

Tyce Troy Payne was born February 4, 2010 at 8:40 am. He was 8lb 7oz and 21.5in.

Early Thursday morning at about 2:00 am I started having pretty consistent contractions. I tried not to get too excited because this same thing had happened at least 2 other times. By 2:45 they were getting strong and close together. We called Mom and headed to the hospital at 3:15. By 5:00 I had my epidural and it was smooth sailing from there (p.s. those were the longest 2 hours of my life). At 8:40 Tyce was born.

As with Brek, it took us a while to figure out this little guy's name. We felt it was important for our son to have a family name, and we finally decided on Tyce Troy after his Great Great Grandfather John Troy Ball. Grandpa Troy came over from Arkansas to California years back in search of a better future for his family. It was there that they found the Gospel of Christ and were baptized. They have 3 daughters one of which is Brock's grandma Phyllis, Brock's mom's mother. With so many great men in both our families this wasn't an easy decision. Grandpa Troy has been a great example to Brock, and we think he can be someone our son can look up to and follow.

We were kind of worried how Brek would react to having a younger brother. She absolutely loves him! The first few times she saw him she just kept saying over and over, "Baby. Baby. Baby." She would give him kiss after kiss. Now that he's home she still loves him and smothers him. We have to kind of watch out for her because she is constantly kissing and hugging Tyce.

Family of Four

We love his cute, little dimple

Daddy and Tyce

Brek checking out her new brother

Tyce, Aunt Kacy, and Nana

Papa and Tyce

Animal Noises

2010-01-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

This video is with Aunt Tamra at Thanksgiving. Brek loves making animal noises and has since learned many more.

Christmas

2010-01-27T21:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas was really fun this year. Brek had lots of fun taking the balls off of the Christmas tree and the stickers off of the presents. I found her many times crouched between the couch and the Christmas tree sneakily getting into something. Nana and Papa watched her one night while Brock and I went to the movies. When we came to pick her up I found a pile of broken ornaments and ripped Christmas presents all around their tree. They said it took her all of 5 minutes to do it. That's my Brek. :)

These pictures are Christmas Eve at Nanny and Papa's. Sadly, they are our only Christmas pictures because that night our camera turned up missing. We found it the next day in the street by their house. Yes, it was broken. I think the saddest part about this story is that the almost same thing happened last year at Christmas!!! But last year our camera broke all by itself. Hopefully next year we will not have the same luck.

It snowed in Childress and stuck around for Christmas!

Aunt Savanna with Brek and Avery.

Best Friends

2010-01-27T21:12:00.000-08:00

Jim, Bekah and Ellie stopped by to see us on their way to Amarillo. We were so excited to see them since it had been so long! Brek and Ellie had tons of fun playing, and it didn't take Brek long to become best friends with Bekah and her bag. We hope it will be much sooner for the next visit especially since our daughters are destined to be best friends.

New Found Passion

2010-01-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

Since moving to Texas, Brock has found a new passion...hunting. He loves it, and I'm pretty sure I didn't see him when the sun was up from November through the beginning of January. Just kidding.
This is his first buck. A nice, young 10 point.

Buck #2 Really wide and knarley looking 8 point

Thanksgiving

2010-01-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year we stayed here in Childress. My whole family except for Savanna was able to come. It was really fun to hang out with everyone. Here are a couple of pictures.

Daddy spent lots of time hunting (more pictures to come of that).

Elizabeth is trying to look like she has a belly. :)

My Cute Baby

2009-12-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

I was trying as usual to entertain Brek one day when I got this picture. We were playing with Brock's cowboy hat because it is pretty much the only hat I can actually get Brek to wear. She was being really cute with it and then she took off. I decided to take advantage of this time by finishing getting ready for the day (Brek hates it when I'm getting ready and usually throws a fit which takes me about 10 times as long to actually get ready). So anyway, she comes back looking like this! What happened to my little cowgirl??? I don't even know where she found this hat of Brock's, but I thought that it was hilarious that she left a cowgirl and came back a thug!

Halloween

2009-11-30T20:50:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year we decided to have a party at our house, but before that we dressed Brek up really quick as a bee and went trick-or-treating downtown at Dad's office. Brek was too cute, and I'm surprised at how well she wore her costume without fussing. We rushed home after that to get the house all ready for the party. Brock did a really good job decorating, and everything looked awesome. I dressed up as the Grinch with my lovely tummy, Brek became Cindy Lou Who, and Brock was a hunter. It was lots of fun! Thanks everyone who came. I'm realizing now how terrible I am at taking pictures because I forgot to get a picture of everyone at the party!

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

Oops!

Trick-or-treating at Edward Jones with Papa and Nana

My gothic family

Cindy Lou Who

The Payne Family

Coach Payne

2009-11-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

Brock was able to help out the Bobcats in football this year. He helped coach the defensive line. He is also the off season strength coach for the girls' athletics program. He loves being involved in the athletic program, and I know that they love having him there.

Brock kissing up to the ref

Brek watching the football game with Papa

California

2009-11-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

We were able to go to California the middle of October for Brock's sister Bonnie's wedding reception. It was so good to see that side of the family! We had so much fun, but of course wished we could have stayed longer. Bonnie and Brandon looked so happy together! I have to apologize though because we didn't even get any pictures with our camera with them!

Brek going up and down the stairs

Grandpa Todd and Brek

This is her "Daddy pose"

Brek loved playing with her baby and stroller!

Private concert from Uncle Brandon and Grandpa Todd. They were so good!!!

Grandma time! Brek loved it!

Brek reading the safety instructions on the plane

Girls' Night Out

2009-11-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

The boys took off on a camping trip one Friday night, so I decided to have a girls' night. I wish I would have planned it earlier so that more girls could have made it, but as you can tell I am not as on top of things as I should be. It was still lots of fun. Mom, Kacy, and Kristen were able to make it. We played games, ate tons of junk, and watched girly movies.

The girls had more fun with Brek's toys than she did! :)

I made lime pie. It took FOREVER to make. I liked it.

This is pretty much what everyone else thought of it. Bleh!!!

Fun in the Sun

2009-11-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

This was our last trip to Lake Altus for the summer. Brek loves the water and the sand. We saw a turtle poking his head up very close to where we were swimming. Everyone got out of the water for some reason after that.

Here are the turtle hunters...

Brek's First Birthday

2009-11-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

Brek turned one August 12th! And of course I am just now putting up pictures. :) We had a fun party, and Brek loved her cake. Brock did an awesome job on it. Thank you to everyone who made it so fun!

Creepy Crawlers

2009-08-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

So one day while I was playing on the floor with Brek I see a black "thing" crawl beside me. I scream of course, because I think it is a spider and I hate spiders! Oh no. Not a spider. A lizard! What the heck! Where did that come from??? Weird. A week or so later I'm cleaning out the kitchen. There's a box of Kix open that has hardly anything left. I'm about to dump it into a smaller container to make more room in my teeny tiny kitchen when I notice....yes, a lizard!!! Needless to say, I threw the entire box of Kix out in the backyard. Another week or so later as I'm doing the dishes...another one!!! Where are these lizards coming from?!?! Does anyone else have problems with lizards in their house? It has been a while since the last spotting, but every time I think it's the last another one shows up. At least they eat bugs, right?

Speaking of bugs...
The other night at, oh about, 4:30 AM I wake up to this buzzing noise and then a thunk against the fan. I try to tell myself that I was just hearing things and to go back to bed. So I lay there listening. There's no way I can go back to sleep now. I wake up and turn on the bathroom light. I look and look and see nothing. So I lay back down with the covers pulled tightly up around my face. I hate bugs. Then I hear it again! I get up and turn the light on, look and look....nothing. Then I see it. A big, black beetle crawling on the drapes right above Brock's head. What am I supposed to do? He's still completely asleep, so I grab a shoe and a fly swatter. It crawled to my side of the drapes so I try to get it and it falls down where it crawls under the bed where I cannot reach it. Yuck!!! By this time Brock is awake and wondering what the heck I am doing. I tell him I am NOT going to sleep with this beetle on the loose. He tells me that at 4:30 in the morning he really does not care. So he just lays back down to go to sleep as I'm still standing in the doorway to the bathroom paranoid that this beetle is going to get me. And then I see it again! Right over Brock's head...again! So I get him up and he smacks it and it falls and...we can't find it! He informs me yet again that it is 4:30 in the morning and he doesn't care about the stupid beetle. So in the end I sleep in the living room while Brock sleeps peacefully in our bed.

The moral of the story is...
I hate lizards and beetles and spiders and pretty much any creepy crawly thing!!! And you get to hear about it in an extremely long blog post. :)

Walking

2009-08-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

Here are the videos that were supposed to have been posted yesterday!

2009-08-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Turtle Ride

2009-08-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

Summer

2009-08-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry that we haven't posted in FOREVER! In the move we lost our cable for the camera and have finally found it! And we were just being lazy. :)

One of Brek's favorite things to do is play in the kitchen (mainly the trash and other things she's not supposed to get into...like cocoa).

Oh yeah. Did I mention that our baby is walking?!?! These videos are from a while back. She's actually walking very well now.

This is the Fourth of July at my parent's house with two of Brek's favorite people, Papa and Aunt Kacy.

We went to my mom's family reunion (Hoer Family Reunion) at Bear Lake the end of July. It was lots of fun and so good to see everyone! The last picture is four generations.

Brek does the goofiest things sometimes. She decided to give her turtle a ride in the laundry basket. She was doing this for about 10 minutes!

Brek loves going to the park. Unfortunately, we just discovered this now that summer is almost over.

Brock officially signed his contract for Childress Independent School District and will be teaching Spanish starting the 24th. He is really excited, and I know he'll be a great teacher!

Brek turned one on the 12th, but we have not celebrated her birthday yet. We will definitely be putting up pictures of that! She is really growing up fast, and I'm loving be able to see her cute personality develop. She can say mama, dada, and papa so far.

2009-05-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

2009-05-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

When we were packing in preparation for our move we had a lot of help. Thanks to Kenney, Elizabeth, Tamra, Brian and Deanna, all of which were in our furniture-less house when we caught Brek doing this funny little thing. Kenney caught it on his camera and sent it over to us last night. Thanks again guys!

7 month old Brek Olivia Payne

2009-03-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Brek has really made a lot of growth this past month. We went to Texas to get things settled for our move in lat April and she really loved playing with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. When we got back to Ogden, she started doing some funny things: wiggling and singing... kinda. She's been such a fun little girl to have in our home.

7 Months

2009-03-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

2009-03-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

2009-03-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a while...

We spent valentines day with Kenney and Elisabeth. Brek was on her best behavior and even showed off her teeth for them. Kenney and I sent the girls out to go shopping and prepared a nice dinner and got some chocolate roses for our sweethearts. We really enjoy hanging out with them and enjoyed their HUGE house! Thanks again guys for having us!

6 Months Old!

2009-02-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

Brek turned 6 months old on February 12th and started a whole new phase; eating rice cereal, crawling (more) and having a ton more fun with Mom and Dad.

2009-02-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

2009-02-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

2009-02-20T12:36:00.000-08:00

2009-02-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

Our Curious Little Crawler

2009-01-29T20:48:00.000-08:00

Shayla has been babysitting for our friends up the street from us for a couple of weeks now. Their little boy, Bodey, is almost 3 months old. Brek has really been having fun playing with the little guy. She does however, get jealous on occasion...
We also put up a video of her crawling (towards the bottom). She has a very distinct technique of grabbing the carpet with her hands, raising her right leg in the air and pushing with her left, while pulling with her strong little arms. She can really get around now, pretty much wherever she wants to go, she can, as long as it's on the carpet in the living room.

lots of catching up to do...

2009-01-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

If you haven't noticed, we don't have any pictures from Christmas.. This is because our memory card pooped out on us and erased everything we had stored after about the 28th of December. And then our camera stopped flashing and acting weird. Thanks to Kenney and Elizabeth, who lent us an extra camera of theirs, we were able to take a few pictures before our new one arrived. So sorry to all the grandparents and great grandparents that haven't been able to see any cute Christmas pictures. Luckily, Marilyn took a few with her camera so, we might be able to get a couple if we can get a hold of them.
We did, however, have a wonderful time in Childress. I got to go hunting a LOT with Mark, (Thanks again Mark!!!). It was a lot of fun and very new to me. We were able to come home with about 50 lbs of deer meat! That's saving us a ton on grocery expenses. Now that School is back in the swing of things, I should be able to post more often. Oh, I almost forgot, Eric called, we're goin to Childress!
Here are some pictures we took with our new camera so you don't think I'm bluffing about posting more often:

2009-01-18T20:20:00.000-08:00

2009-01-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

2009-01-18T18:27:00.000-08:00

5 Generations

2008-12-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

Brek, Brock, Grandma Kim, Grandma Phyllis (Great Grandma), Grandma Ball (Great Great Grandma, Dorothy)

Thanksgiving in California

2008-12-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

We went to Brock's family in California for Thanksgiving this year. We had a great time...especially at the dinner table on Thanksgiving day with all of the family! The first picture is with Brock's mom Kim and Grandma Phyllis. The third picture is Brock's dad Todd and grandma Honey. The fourth is with Grandma Phyllis and Uncle Scott.

Thumb Sucker

2008-12-03T12:54:00.000-08:00

Brek LOVES her thumb! When she first discovered it we didn't know what to do. We tried the pacifier again, but she didn't like it still. So we bought a different kind of pacifier...still hated it. That's about the time that we decided it was kind of nice that she could calm herself down. Now she sucks her thumb all of the time! I guess her and Aunt Savanna will be good friends.

HALLOWEEN

2008-11-03T08:20:00.001-08:00

On Friday, which was Halloween, I had a playoff game with my Ogden high boys down in Cedar City so I had to leave early, around 9:30, and miss all of Halloween. Luckily, Tamra came down and kept Shayla company. They dressed Brek up in her Kitten costume and had fun handing out candy and seeing the kids from the neighborhood stop by in their costumes. I sure wish i could've been there...

2008-11-03T08:13:00.000-08:00

Brek was really tired one morning and decided to do some major posing and smiling in her sleep. We didn't get any pics of her smiling in her sleep but these were priceless little poses. She's always doing something cute to keep us entertained.

Daddy'Little Girl

2008-10-16T21:56:00.001-07:00

2008-10-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

2008-10-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T08:35:00.002-07:00

2008-10-10T08:35:00.001-07:00

2008-10-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

Brandon was so proud to hold his new niece, upside down... Ha, you're a stud Brandon!

2008-10-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

Proud new grandmas and a new uncle!

First picture of Brek Olivia Payne

2008-10-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to go to the hospital

About to burst!

2008-10-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

Shayla is about 8 months, maybe almost 9 in this picture.

2008-10-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

This is one of our favorite pregnant pics. Shayla looks so cute as an expectant mother. She keeps saying that she can't wait to have her next and be pregnant again! Well, not really but, she does look cute!

Camping near Causey

2008-06-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

We've been camping a couple of times up above Pineview just below Causey Reservoir. The first time we picked out a great little spot to put our tent and got out of the car excited to pitch camp and discovered a moose had died just 20 yards from our campsite! The smell was really strong at first but had died down as the wind picked up. The first time we had foil dinners containing thin cut steaks, potatoes, onions and carrots. They turned out really juicy and flavorful. This past time we used our dutch oven and made a double stacked pizza. It rose up a lot higher than I thought it would. I'm starting to get the feel of it; i think we'll try something a bit more complicated next time...

Hey!!

2008-04-16T12:26:00.001-07:00

Welcome friends and family to the new Payne Family Blog. We will keep you all posted on our baby’s progress, how Shayla is doing in her classroom with her kindergarteners and how school and football are going for me. We hope to keep you entertained and informed. Also, as another means of convenient communication, we can also be reached via email at brockmp@gmail.com. We love you all and hope you enjoy.