New Year's Eve Already?!

I cannot believe that it was 1 year ago today that I gave birth to my sweet baby boy! We are going to do his birthday stuff later so I will probably post that tomorrow. Anyway, Christmas was great! We went to AZ and spent a few days in Queen Creek then headed to Safford for some more fun! We did lots of things like bake goodies, cook lots of food, sing karaoke with Mom, ride quads, play a little Rockband and of course eat all of the goodies! Payson had such a fun time with his cousins and the girls loved him! Actually everyone loved him...Tab and Jody both thought they could escape with him without us noticing!!!



Payson was singing during rockband!

It snowed in Safford so of course...a snowman!!

For Shayne's birthday I planned a romantic evening..Limo included!

Thanks again Dad!!

Emily always jumps in at the last minute!!

Maddy and Aunt Jack!!!!

Emily and I made butterscotch brownies...they were gone fast!!

We went for a visit to the Adams and payson loved it!!!!!

Lizzy decorating cookies!

Oh ya! I forgot to mention that I got a new wedding band for Christmas!!! It is soo beautiful, I could not even believe it!! Overall, we had a great week and Payson had a wonderful 1st Christmas! I video taped it so I did not get any pictures of him opening anything....go figure! But thanks again everyone for helping make our vacation a good one!

Thanksgiving, Moving and Christmas is on its Way!

Finally I got some time to update and yes I know it has been over a month! We left Aberdeen in November and headed back to Bozeman where we spent a few weeks including Thanksgiving. It was fun to be with everyone again. Then we packed up all of our stuff and headed to Colorado! We finally made it to our first duty station, which is Ft. Carson. We are so excited to be here and so far we like it. Thanks again Dad and Chris for helping us move in! We were so anxious to see what our new home would look like and were excited when we saw it! I will post pics of the inside as soon as it is all put together but for now you only get the outside! In the last month Payson has started to walk! And then in the last two days he has just decided to walk everywhere! We cannot even believe he will be 1 in two weeks! He has learned to say "mama" "Papa" and "Dada". It is so cute when he refers to Shayne has Papa! It just kills me! Shayne started work today and we have not yet found out what his official job title will be but we are anxiously waiting! Here are a few pics and Videos from the last little while and as soon as we are all settled in, I will blog regularly again and post more pictures!

Happy Halloween!

Last night was our ward Halloween party so we thought we would dress up Payson and go have a good time! We actually thought only the kids were supposed to dress up and then we got there and lots of adults had on costumes, so we were a little bummed since this is the first year we didn't dress up! But we decided to just get Payson a cute outfit rather than a costume this year. Payson attempted to walk the plank...he wouldn't let his feet touch the board, so we walked next to it instead! Then we made a spider out of a sucker, which Payson thoroughly enjoyed.....We even had a guy come up to us who was only supposed to give you candy if you told him a joke but he gave Payson a piece for being so cute! Anyway, it was fun and we figure since Payson is too young to Trick or Treat, we will just stay home and relax tomorrow night!

Pumpkins and Rain....

On Saturday we were bored so we got in the car and headed to "destination unknown" and stumbled upon an old farm with a pumpkin patch. Shayne had never been to one so we thought we would go check it out. We got there and they had a neat little country store where they sold there produce and other things that they made with there produce. They even had a hayride that took us out to the pumpkin patch. We had a good time, but on the way back from the patch it started to pour rain! So needless to say, we got soaked, but it was still a great time!!

Yes!! I would love a cold shower!

Most of you know that Payson loves water. He especially loves to take showers with us. He likes to crawl around the bath tub and plug the drain so he can splash in the water. Well today I was taking a shower and like usual, he was in there with me. I was rinsing my hair when all of a sudden my water went ice cold! I turned around to turn up the heat and lo and behold Payson apparently knows how to turn the knobs because that Turkey turned off my hot water!!! All I could do was laugh because he looked so cute standing there all big! I just cannot believe how smart they are or how fast they grow!!!!

Rocks State Park...

After spending Friday at the ESPN Zone and Saturday in Hershey, I thought we could end our four day weekend by doing some sight seeing...and we only had to drive about 30 minutes from home! We went to Rocks State Park and hiked up to Kilgore Falls. It was the perfect time to go because the trees looked beautiful. We had a great time! On the way home we stopped at Ripkin Stadium and ate our lunch....we had such a great time this weekend and are not looking forward to Shayne going back to work tomorrow...

Chocolate Town USA!!

After a long week in the field, Shayne told me it was my job to plan our 4 day weekend. After going back and fourth deciding between New York City and Hershey Pennsylvania, I finally decided on Hershey! As exciting as NYC would have been, Shayne is not one for big crowds and who wouldn't want to go to the Chocolate capital of the USA!!! So we took a tour of the factory, watched a 3-D show and took a trolley ride around the town. And when you drive down Chocolate Avenue it actually smells like chocolate!! True story!! We think Payson had a good time on our ride through the factory, but the 3-D show scared him a bit! It was fun to see all of the giant Hershey candybar characters....especially the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! Everywhere we went, they gave us free Hershey samples! Part of the trip that was so neat is we got to drive through the New England countryside and see a lot of the trees that are now red and orange...beautiful!! Although most people told me to choose NYC over Hershey, our trip was a success and stress free!! And above all it was Super Sweet!!!!

Being Lazy....

So, let me just say how much I hate stairs! Today I went grocery shopping and on top of carrying 9 bags of groceries plus Payson, I had to walk up 32 steps to get to my apartment!! If I did not have the most adorable baby and the most adorable Husband in the world then living here so would not be worth it! And I know as soon as Shayne reads this he is going to say "You are such a whiner...it's good for you to walk up all those stairs!"

Anyway, I styled Payson's hair with the leftover mousse in my hand from my hair this morning and let's just say he got more than the normal attention at the grocery store...and of course since he knows how cute he is, he loved every minute of it!

Lieutenant Heap!

So as you all know, Shayne is doing his Ordnance Officer's training right now and so far he is doing great! He has passed all of his tests with flying colors! He also had the opportunity to go to Gettysburg with his class. He got some really neat pictures and said it was awesome to see the sights after learning about it in school and seeing the movie. Anyway, I am so proud of him and the choice that we made for him to serve our country and protect our family!

A Day at the Park!

Shayne got off work at 10 this morning! Yay! And it was too beautiful of a day to stay inside so we went to the park! After the park we went to a really neat old house that had been turned into a toy store! Then we stopped by a chocolate shop ( the chocolates did not look nearly as good as Grandma's or Tricia's!) and then of course an ice cream parlor. And a warning to Grandpa, unless he wants to share, he better not eat any ice cream when we get back to Bozeman! I swear Payson can smell the stuff! And he loves it!! So needless to say, we had a great day!

Labor Day Weekend!

So this weekend Shayne had 4 days off so we did a few different fun things. On friday everyone on Post had a game day and competed against each other so we came to watch the games and play in the park.....And as fun as that was, we finally got to go to the beach!! We had so much fun! Payson preferred to sit on the beach and eat the sand over actually playing in the water so Shayne and I took turns swimming. Although I didn't get to do much swimming because every time I went in the water, the under current got the better of me and would wash me back up to shore! And of course Shayne thought it was hilarious! Which by the way, I have this theory about cheap sunglasses. If you buy cheap ones you will never lose them. No matter how many times they dissapear, they always pop back up somewhere. And if for some reason you do lose them, it's not a big deal because they were cheap. Well I had this $5 pair of sunglasses for 4 years that Shayne hated so he finally talked me into buying nice ones and chucking the old ones....and of course I was wearing them at the beach, got sloshed around in the water and they fell off my head and sucked into the ocean forever! So needless to say I learned my lesson about spending money on sunglasses when the cheap ones work fine! And Dad, I know you will appreciate this story! But after an amazingly fun weekend together, Shayne had to go back to work today, but at least it is only a 3 day week!

Baltimore Aquarium!

On Saturday we took a family trip to Baltimore to go to the National Aquarium. We knew Payson would love all of the fish! Although he did like them, we think his favorite part were the glass tubes full of bubbles! We had such a great time walking through the Austrailian Desert, a rain forest and then heading into the ocean. We got to see a lot of cool animals and some fish that we have never heard of. We even got to see a dolphin show under water! Strollers were not allowed so Shayne got to carry Payson in a backpack. Payson thought he was pretty big up on Daddy"s back! We had such a fun time but by the end of the day, Payson had fallen asleep in the backpack....he was exhausted! And so were we, but it was well worth it!

8 Months Later.....

Ok, after lots and lots of harassment I decided we should do some major updating...and I promise we will stay up to date this time! Shayne finally graduated and comissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the Army from MSU in may and we then began our new jouney! Shayne is currently training at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, MD until November, so we are taking advantage to explore the east coast. We have already had the oportunity to go to Washington DC to Capital Hill and see all the sights there. That was definitly amazing and we had a great time! This weekend we are headed to Baltimore to go the National Aquarium. We think that Payson will really enjoy all of the fish.....Speaking of Payson, he is getting soo big! He started crawling a few weeks ago and now is pulling himself up onto things! His Daddy thinks its time for him to start walking but mommy is not ready for that yet :( But since he is growing so fast, I am so grateful that I get to stay home with him and watch him every step of the way. So for now we are just enjoying life ( and being very home sick) and taking advantage of all this time we get to spend together! I also promise that new pictures will be coming very soon!

Our New Arrival

Well after months of waiting, Payson Alex Heap has finally made his arrival. He made his grand entrance on New Year's Eve at 9:07am (graciously saving his parents a bundle of money in tax returns). By no means maxing the scale, he weighed in at 6 lbs and 6 oz with his father's height of 19 inches. Payson continues to receive comments on his beauty and his mom and dad never disagree. Mom is doing great and takes every opportunity to sit and stare at her beautiful baby boy. Dad is already his favorite and can calm just about any fuss that presents itself. All in all we are extatic to have him here and thank all those who petitioned our Heavenly Father to get him here.