Thanksgiving and Then Some!

So it finally happened! Shayne was promoted to 1st LT this week! I am so proud of him and for all of the hard work he has been doing. I was sad to miss his first promotion ceremony but there will be another in 18 months! He is still doing great and staying positive! We are on the count down to R&R...56 days, give or take a few!! We can't wait!! Payson and I flew up to Bozeman for Thanksgiving to spend time with the Family and run our annual 5K....alright, well I walked most of it but finishing is all that counts! I think my time was 45 something!

Thank goodness we had Jonathan out there to capture proof of Macy and I running at least a little bit! ;) Then of course we had to stop for a quick chat with him before running to the finish line!

Almost there!!

Somehow I forgot to post the picture at the finish line! Oh Well!! So earlier today Payson wanted some chips! I thought he might like some ranch cooler ones. They are Shayne's favorite! I opened the bag and handed it to him and he said "Dip it, salsa." Payson LOVES to dip things and he especially loves Mommy's salsa! I tried to tell him that those chips were not to dip but he didn't care. So I gave him some salsa and he ate the whole bag! I love this kid so much!

Payson and I were supposed to go home yesterday but we decided at the last minute to stay and extra two weeks!! I absolutely love being in Bozeman and I have loved this time with Grandma Heap! She is so stinking funny and I could listen to her stories all day!! Em made the basketball team so we are super excited to be able to watch a few of her games while we are here!!

I totally forgot to say that Friday morning Jonathan and I woke up bright and early to hit up the black Friday sales!!! We always have a blast together!! We were at the mall and saw the huge display to take your picture with Santa. Of course it was closed so we decided to hop the gate, put the self timer on the camera and take a picture! I thought it made the perfect headline picture for this time of year! We were cracking up at ourselves!! When we were at Target, a news camera man was stalking us and then ended up interviewing me....Jonathan very slyly stepped away! Anyway, my interview didn't make it on the news but a shot of the two of us shopping and my quote did! Good times!

Baking Bread for Papa!

Anyone who knows Payson knows that he will do just about ANYTHING for chocolate! This is something he must have gotten from Grandma Mary. He loves any and ALL chocolate! The other morning we decided to make some chocolate applesauce bread to send to Shayne. After I was done pouring the batter into the jars, there was still some left in the bowl. I ran up stairs real fast and when I came down this is what I saw! Payson had snatched the bowl and spatula off the counter and was headed for the living room to have his "snack!" AS soon as he saw me, he hit the floor and decided to dig in right there!

When I said his name he looked at me and said "pease" so at least he was kind if asking! There is no way I could have gotten mad at him. This sweet little boy keeps me on my toes all the time and I look forward to what kind of suprises each day will bring with him!!

Payson has two blankets that he likes to sleep with. This one was actually mine when I was little. He calls it "Red Bobo." He likes to bring it downstairs with him after he wakes up from his nap and snuggle with it until he is completely awake. Yesterday however, he decided to drag it around all afternoon! I really don't want him to be one of those kids with the "blanky" or in his case, Bobo, But this is just another one of those things that I think is so cute! I think I might start calling him Linus..like on Charlie Brown! Thankfully he does NOT suck his thumb though!

Halloween Has Come and Gone Already?!

So I feel like I had been looking forward to this trip for so long and now it has come and gone. What and AMAZING weekend it was though! First of all I had the wonderful opportunity to escort an amazing girl through the Temple. I was honored to be able to be with her on that special day. I am so proud of her and of the woman she has become. I can't believe it has been 11 years since we met and we are closer now more than ever! Thanks again for including me on your special day!! Love you girl! This is Panks, Jessie and I at the Temple! That night the rest of the Family came up to my Mom's so we could start our weekend of fun!! We had all been counting the days til we could all be together again, but then we all had to get sick that same week!! Go figure! I think most of us had started to get better by the time we got there except the Warn's! We still had a good time inspite of it! Payson was able to go Trick or Treating for the first time with his cousins! We all dressed up as the T-Birds and Pink Ladies!

Me and my little T-Bird!

All the boys! Travis, Terry, Payson and Brandon!


All the girls! Mom, Me, Tab, Stevie, Jessie, Emily, Maddy and Lizzy!
Maddy decided she wanted to be the "Sandy at the end of the movie" so she is all dressed in black!

Payson was having a hard time carrying his bag because it was almost as big as him!

He was trying so hard to stay up with the Girls!

Trick or Treat!!

Once we came home, sang a little karaoke and put the kids to bed, we got out Quelf!! This game is so fantastic for anyone who has never heard of it! Just take my word for it! We still are not real sure what Mom was doing but she had to hold her arm like this for the entire round. The bad thing was that it was the LONGEST round ever!!

Seriously, My Family is so incredibly awesome!!

I let my nieces play with my camera one day and got it back with over 100 new pictures on it! This was one of them and I just had to post it because it was so cute! I am thinking these must be Payson, Maddy and Lizzy footprints!

The next day I got to give everyone haircuts!! Payson and Travis especially needed them and Lizzy and Maddy wanted new do's! All 3 of the girls looked super adorable!! We drove into town to see Cody and of course he wanted In n Out! Payson's Papa was not very happy that we went without him so he decided that when he comes home we are taking a road trip to AZ just so we can go to In n Out!! He cracks me up!!

We stumbled across this car that Payson probably would have stayed in all day if I let him! Especially since right now, red is his favorite color!

Alright! Well that's all for now! I have a SUPER FANTASTIC picture of Jessie in this AWFUL bejeweled jacket at Savers but she would probably never speak to me again if I posted it!! We continue to hear from Shayne daily and he is still doing great! We are coming up on our halfway mark and can barely believe it!! Thanks again everyone for your continued prayers in behalf of our Family!!

October has been such an AMAMZING month..and it's not even over!!

So far this month has been a great one! We had the opportunity to have Panks and Payten come for a visit! It was so much fun watching the kids play...well Payson pick on Payten and have a good time together! We decided to take the kids out for some pictures just for fun! Here are a few of Payson!

While they were here we ventured up to The North Pole and got to ride all sorts of rides and feel like we were in Christmas land in October!!!

I barely fit in this ride!!

Payson loved the chair lift!

The Candy Cane super slide!

Panks was a good sport to ride the spinny rides with the kids while I closed my eyes and took pictures!!

Getting ready for the roller coaster!! Payson squealed with excitement the whole time! He is soo is Dad's kid!

Bathtime for the babies!!

After the girl went home, the next day Melissa came back to play!! We got to go to an apple orchard and pick apples and of course take adorable pictures of this sweet little boy who always seems to be following me around!

He looks sad in this but I still love it!

Picking apples with Mommy!

Way to capture the moment! Thanks "Issa"

Payson was the same size as the box!

Some of the yummy apples that we picked and then brought home and baked!

After the apple orchard we drove up to The Royal Gorge and took a sweet train ride around the rim!

Payson waiting to board the train!

Our conductor and some of our view!

Holding my hair down from the wind. That is the Royal Gorge bridge behind us! Shayne and I are going to ride the Sky Coaster over it when he comes home!!

We had such a great time and stopped and ate at a 50's diner on the way home and had some fried pickles! We were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch the next day but Payson got very sick. :( He is doing lots better now and we are preparing for our end of the month fun in AZ!!!

Oh Happy Day!!

About a month ago I sent a small tape recorder to Shayne so he could record some songs for Payson so he could "help me" sing him to sleep at night. He recorded all of the songs and had a Soldier who was coming home for R&R and sent the package with him to mail to us when he got back to the states. Well this morning the Soldier showed up at our house to hand deliver the package. He wanted to make sure it got to us safely! I knew immediately what is was and was very excited to open it!! I opened it up and turned it on and Payson's whole face lit up like it was Christmas!! He was very excitedly chanting "Papa Papa!" I handed him the recorder and he refused to give it back!! He was so excited!! I am so excited to have Shayne's beautiful voice back in our home! What a great day!!

Apparently Colorado Has A Fall Frosty Freeze!!

I know this picture has nothing to do with a frosty freeze but I just had to post it! He was looking so handsome for church today!! I cannot wait for his Papa to come home and see what a big boy he is in his suit!!! I love this kid so much!!

These on the other hand, are very frosty pictures!!! We woke up to what looked like snow but upon closer evaluation we realized it was ice! SOLID ICE! No snow about it! Some of the pictures look like there is snow in the background, but I promise it is all ice. WARNING!!: You may want to put on a coat before looking at these pictures because I guarantee they will make you cold just seeing them!!!

These are the rocks in my front yard...they were so slick that I had to sit in them rather than squat on them to take a picture because I kept falling!!


This is what WAS my beautiful green grass...now it is beautiful white grass!

Shayne's car had about 1/2 an inch thick of ice on the whole thing!! Thank goodness my car was in the garage so we did not have to do any scraping before church!

Here are some of my Fall decorations...

This was a spiderweb!!! I thought that looked so cool!

Yesterday before we realized how cold it was, Panks had a swell idea to go for a walk!!! The kids were less than thrilled to put on giant coats...as you can tell!!! They definitely were not complaining once we were outside though!!!

I am hoping for some warmer weather this week so I can take Payson out to take some nice pictures!! This morning everything was so icy and slick that after I was done being a crazy woman walking outside, I tried to walk back up my driveway but it was too slippery!! I couldn't even crawl! I had to walk all the way around to the back to get into my house! It was pretty funny but I was so frozen that I could hardly move my mouth to talk!!! We got a good laugh out of that!!