April Re Cap!

So I obviously never got around to logging in April. I was doing so good for the first three months! I will try not to miss a month again! My friend challenged me to once a week...NOT gonna happen! April was full of so many exciting things so that is my real excuse! Aunt Stevie came to visit and we took her for a little hair trim...15 INCHES of trim to be exact! She hadn't cut her hair other then little trims here and there for 5 years!! It was time! Not to mention She looked Absolutely beautiful!! I had a ton of fun doing her pictures and trying to beat the storm!! Seems like I have done a couple photo shoots like that! :) Gotta love the Rockies! While she was here it seemed like we went nonstop all weekend! We didnt even have time for GLEE Karaoke!

:( But we did squeeze in time for a little 5K Heroes Run, a trip to Manitou and a night a Cajun crawfish and shrimp boil!!

Also, of course in April we had Easter!! We had ourselves a Family Easter Party with our Ft. Carson Family! It was a blast! The kids had a ton of fun hunting for Easter eggs! Payson had to open EVERY egg to see what was inside as soon as he picked it up! We played games, ate lots of good food and sat around and chatted, what we do best! Evan, the oldest kid of the bunch, was such a sport to play with all of the little kids! Of course they all love him! Also of course when he wasn't outside hunting eggs Payson was inside playing with Dillon's trains! Cuz we all know that NO other toys exist in his world! Thanks Rachel for hosting such a fun day! The last picture in the collage is our Scuba diver eggs I promised last month! Once we started making them we realized they were a little advanced for P but they turned out so cute!! Thank you Grandma Mary for sending us Family Fun so we can come up with cute activities every month!!

Nothing SUPER exciting has happened so far this month but fingers crossed we may have some exciting news coming soon!!

March Madness!!

That really has nothing to do with us being College Basketball fans! Just that we have had a fun and busy month! These three are a couple random pics from throughout the month! Payson with two of his besties Liam and Haley on our way to shopping and lunch in Denver! Costa Vida here we come! And it was delish! Picture number two is Payson covered in Chocolate after a full week of being deprived of the stuff!! Picture number three is my sweet boy passed OUT in the car. If you look close you can see the bubbles by his mouth! Too funny!!

Living at the base of the Cheyenne Mountain we get to experience ridiculous winds! We decided to take advantage of them! Payson had his first kite flying experience and LOVED it!! He decided it would be better for Pappa to hold his kite so he could crack up laughing while it danced in the wind! Shayne was a pro flying two kites at once while I could barely keep mine up long enough to snap a picture of the three of them together!! I won't mention how many times it crashed on the other side of the wrought iron fence!!

Grandma Mary in Montana, as Payson refers to her has been sending us the Family Fun Magazine. Payson loves it and wants to do EVERY craft that he sees in them! This month it was the Dino Feet. I think he had more fun painting himself then the actual feet but he was happy! He insisted that the toes needed toenails because "everybody has toenails!" Silly Mommy! What was I thinking! April's activity is Scuba Diver easter eggs! We cant wait! Last week we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with our favorite Maughan's! Ok, so they are the only Maughan's we know but they are still some of our favorite friends!! Payson is good friends with their daughter "Brookly" and the two of them fight like an old married couple! It's hilarious!! Payson wanted to feed the giraffes but once he got close he decided it would be better for Pappa to do it instead! He totally shocked us by telling us he wanted to ride the pony and then HE DID!! And HE LOVED IT!! He was even wearing his little Wranglers! At the end of the ride the guy asked him if he liked it, to which he responded with a solid "Thumbs up!"

With April coming in a couple days that mean General Conference, spring flowers, walking in the mornings with my friends, (friend sounds too impersonal. They are really my Army sisters) picnics at the park and so so soon back at the pool!!

My Sweet "P" Payson!

I know I talk a lot about Payson on here and sometime become very redundant but I cannot get anough of this kid! Even when he is having a rough day he still has is moments of sweetness but most importantly SILLINESS! This kid is so stinking hilarious and keeps me laughing everyday! The things that come out of his mouth kill me! He has such a great sense of humor and it's so fun to watch it get bigger and bigger everyday! He has recently started singing a lot more but now he knows actual words to songs. I have him listen to Kid Songs and we sing them all the time but his recent song of choice is Black Eyed Peas Time of My Life! He thinks saying "dirty bit" is the funniest thing and he laughs at himself after he says it! The other day he was in the bath singing Defying Gravity! At least he has good taste in music! The way he analyzes things and remembers thing amaze me! We heard a Plain White T's song the other day and he told me that Pappa liked the song and liked to sing it! It was true but so cute to hear it come from him! These are a couple pics from the last month or so of him! I can't believe he is in Primary and growing up so fast! Oh and best news of all HE POTTY TRAINED LAST MONTH!!!! Such a big boy!

I still can't get enough of these eyelashes! Thanks Pappa!!

One of those moments where you want to be mad but it's so stinking cute so I ran for my camera instead!!

In January we went to Bozeman and Grandpa took the boys sledding! This was my favorite picture because all three of them look like they are having way too much fun!!

When The Boys Are Away, The Girls WILL Play!!

Once again it's the last day of the month and I am barely Blogging! The good news I have two different Posts!! So Shayne recently left for a short (two weeks) training in Wy so a few of my friends and I decided to get together for a late night of celebrating Rachel's Bday!! In my post in January I talked about these amazing girls and these are some of them!! All 5 of our Hubbys were gone (or otherwise impaired) so we decided to play! And play we did!!!

These are the girls! Nicole, Jennie, Rachel and Amanda! They are all so beautiful and I love them to pieces! I could not imagine being without them!!

We had yummy food and yummy cake and probably ate way more then we should have but it was soo worth it!!

Even our kids are all best friends and know how to have a good time!



After all the eating we spent the rest of the night singing (and dancing for Jennie and I) the night away! It was such a blast and we laughed all night long! I had no idea the night would be such a blast.....correction, we always have a great time when we get together and in Shayne's words "We all act like we are 17 again" Which was completely true this night!!

Jennie and I sang all the rap songs and played it up GREAT!! We all spent the rest of the weekend paying for our night of fantastic fun but I think it was ALL worth it! I love these girls so much and I am so Grateful they are in my life!!

It's A New Day, It's A New Dawn, It's A New....Ok, You Get The Point!

Since I have not blogged for nearly 6 months I decided this year my resolution was to blog AT LEAST once a month. So here it is January 31st and I have yet to blog! I've decided this year that on top of sharing things about our Family that I would also share some of my own thoughts! Exciting right?! We have had an EXTREMELY busy month to say the least! It began with a trip to AZ for sweet Lizzy's Baptism and then 2 days after getting home heading to Montana for Jonathan and Athlene's Sealing. It has been a great month! I always love going to the Billings Temple. It is so beautiful and I have been to it more then any other Temple so it has a special place in my heart. While we were in MT I had the opportunity to sit and visit with Grandma Heap nearly everyday. There is just something about that woman that I can't get enough of. I could sit and listen to her stories all day. She is one of the most amazing women I have ever met. She has had such a huge influence on me for the past neary 9 years and I don't think she has any idea! I only hope I can be as strong as her someday! After coming back home it was time to go back to work for Shayne and back to reality for me...laundry, house cleaning, but best of all some of the best GIRLS in the world!! Sometimes I love to just relax and think of all the blessings in my life and the blessings of this past year! Most importantly getting my Sweetheart safely home!! He is truly my best friend and I couldn't imagine anyone else I would rather have a sleepover with EVERY night! I can't help but think about how we almost didn't come to Colorado because we could have stayed in Maryland so Shayne could teach at BOLC III. Knowing there was a pending deployment we chose to come to CO anyway. We know it was the place to be and we couldn't have been more right. While Shayne was deployed I met some of the most amazing girls in my ward who helped the 2nd half of the deployment go by so fast! Some of their Husbands left at the end of Shayne's deployment, some right after he came home, and some leaving in a couple months! So we just get to continue the cycle of taking care of each other and being that "Army Wife" for each other! We are all different ages but the friendship that we have has built a bond that I know will be for a lifetime! I feel like with my Sweet Shayne and Payson, our crazy Families and the wonderful friends in our lives, we are sitting in a perfect spot right now and couldn't ask for more!

Pappa's Bronze Star!

Summer's Almost Gone already?

I can't believe it has been nearly 3 months since my last post. I do have a great excuse though.... SHAYNE IS HOME!!!!!! It was an extremely long year and we literally crammed everything we missed out on together into the month of vacation that Shayne was given! He came on on Sunday May 30th at nearly Midnight! Payson stayed awake very excited with 4 american flags in each hand waiting to welcome home his Pappa! It was an exciting night that I was afraid would never come! Thank you again to everyone for all of your prayers in our Families behalf! We are so grateful! In the month that Shayne had off we were able to go to Bozeman, come back home and have my siblings come for the 4th of July, then Shayneand I headed for a getaway to South Carolina! We got back just in time for a visit from the Quilters and Jonathan! All of it was a ton of fun and of course we got some great pictures! Shayne had to go back to work on Monday July 19th but ended up having quite a few short days so we were able to do lots with just the 3 of us! This last weekend Shayne had a 4 day so we packed up and headed to St. George to spend some time with the Cook's and Willis's AND Grandma Great! We spent the first day on the lake and went from a beautiful sunshining day to a deadliest catch storm! GOOD TIMES! We always have so much fun with them and are so glad the Cook's let us come crash at their new beautiful home! So that is the skinny on what we have been doing this Summer! We don't have anymore big adventures planned for at leasta couple of months but we are very much looking forward to getting back to normal life and being together again! Oh ya! And this week Shayne will be changing positions at work. He will be the new Company XO and no longer the Maintenance PLatoon Leader. We are so so grateful to be back together as a whole Family again and while Shayne may be home safe we still have many friends who continue to fight for our country in both Iraq and Afghanistan. PLease remember all of our Soldiers and the sacrifices the continue to make for us daily!