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!

The Blessings of a Blue Eyed Boy!

I feel like I have been so horrible with blogging lately! We have just been trying to stay busy to help the last couple weeks of this deployment go by super fast!! We are so ready to have our HERO come home to us! We took a trip last week to go see our favorite Willis's in Utah and had a blast!!! I'm pretty sure Payson loved all of the attention too! We ate lots of GREAT food and laughed a lot! We will be going back soon for sure!! When we got home we had a couple days to recover until I had to have my wretched wisdom teeth pulled! I thought I was gonna come out on the easy end and it ended up like with most things I had "The luck of the Hunt" as my Dad would say! Lot's of pain, prolonged numbness and dry socket! I woke up wanting to die on Mother's Day so my Aunt came and took Payson so I could sleep! So, not only did I spend the day without my Sweetheart, but without my baby as well! I was soo grateful for Ann for taking him so I was able to sleep all day, but I missed the little man! I have been so blessed to have some GREAT friends here who were so willing to help take care of both Payson and I! This week has been a rough one to say the least and all I can say is I am SO greatful for this sweet little boy that I get to call mine! As much as a handful as he can be sometimes, he sure knows how to make a Mom smile! The other morning he was in my bed and I fell back asleep. He started rubbing my cheek and was singing me a little song. I pretended like I was still sleeping so he wouldn't stop! I felt like the luckiest Mom in the world!! This last week the weather has been COLD and rainy and feeling more like Fall then Spring! Payson however, is loving it! He loves the puddles and getting wet and dirty! He wanted to go out so bad today so finally I just let him!! I figured I would just let him have fun and get as messy as he wanted!!

He was soaked up to his knees!!

I would say by the look on his face I just might have won the Mom of the Day award!!

And if not, this smile definitely made me feel like Mom of the Year!

Cardboard Boxes and Little boys!

After being at the Poulsen's last month and getting to play with Ollie in his box, Payson has been wanting a box of his own. So we set out on a mission to find a box! I got so spoiled from working at Sears and having access to unlimited boxes, but apparently these places in the bigger cities don't save them! Finally I broke down and bought a box at some place I found!! Once I got it home and made it look more like a clubhouse, I decided it could use some paint! Since it was a little boy clubhouse I didn't want it to look too nice! :) I found some paint that we had and Payson and I went to town! Unfortunately the only colors we had were pastels, but it turned out just fine!! I asked Payson what he wanted it to say, thinking either Payson's Club or Payson's Fort, but he simply wanted Payson's House! When he woke up this morning and saw it again he was so excited and would barely come out for breakfast!! I think every little kid needs a good bix that they can play in and then destroy!

Conference and Easter

Here are a few pictures from Payson and I's Easter! We spent most of the day watching conference but we took a little time to color eggs and make some home made tortillas! Payson was killing me in that apron! He protested at first but then he decided it was ok! He thought the eggs were pretty cool but when he tried to eat one he flat out said "GROSS!" Conference was amazing as always. I love it that they are not given topics, but somehow most end up speaking on the same subject. That just adds to my testimony that Heavenly father is real and He knows of all of our needs! How blessed we are to be members of His true church. I'm grateful for the teachings I recieved this weekend about teaching my children and keeping the Gospel in our home. We are counting down the days until we will have a permanent Priesthood holder back in our home! Less then 2 months!

R&R And a Little Bit of Fun!

So I know I have let alot of time pass since I have actually blogged so I thought I would take a quick opportunity to do a quick update!! First of all Shayne came home!! We had the opportunity to go and listen to President Uchtdorf speak and thanks to Shayne's plane catching fire in Ireland, he missed it by just a few hours! It was the most amazing meeting I have ever sat through and would have traded anything in the world to have had my Sweetheart with me. What an amazing spirit that comes with an Apostle of the Lord. It was a great night and I was grateful I was able to share it with great friends! So the next morning I was FINALLY able to go to the airport, very nervously I might add, and see my Love for the first time in nearly 8 months! Feeling the fire and elctricity I felt as I wrapped my arms around him was undescribeable! Knowing that I would only get him for two weeks made me never want to let go! While he was home we packed in all sorts of fun stuff including a train ride up to Pike's Peak, Gymnastics, trips to the park and LOTS of Wii Mario! But most important, we got to have a sleepover date night!! Sam and Ann were great enough to take Payson for the night! He just loves them so much!!
We got a hotel with a pool so we could take Payson swimming before our date!

Payson and Pappa in the foam pit at Gymnastics!

We waited to open Payson's bday presents until Shayne got home and still 2 months later Payson plays with this train set EVERYDAY!! We've added a few more pieces and it now takes up our entire office!

Having Shayne home again just made life feel so normal again! Having him leave again was harder then the first time he left, even though we just have a short wait! The day after Shayne left we skipped town and headed to AZ to spend more time with the Fam!! We had a blast like always! There is nothing quite like getting together with your siblings and laughing the days away! Stevie, Jessie and I stayed up waay too late one night playing Mario and it was suddenly like we were 10, 8 and 5 again! I think the three of us laughed and cried like we hadn't in a long time! It was great! Like always it was hard to leave but great to come home! Ashley came home with us and spent a week! We spent most of our time following Payson around with a camera and laughing hysterically at nearly everything! Two weeks after Ash left we headed back to Bozeman to suprise Em for her birthday!! And what a suprise it was!! I am still kicking myself for not recording it when I saw her walk in!! It has been a crazy couple of months and we have about a month until we go on our next and LAST adventure until Shayne comes home for good! Oh ya, and somewhere in between all of that madness I was called as the 2nd Couns in the Relief Society Presidency! As of today we are down to roughly 60 days until our Family is complete again!