Home again, home again, jigitty jig...

We had such a WONDERFUL week of Thanksgiving! As Jason and I have talked about it, we have really felt it all month and continue to feel so much gratitude as we go into December and the Christmas holiday. We just have so much to be grateful for. I really like reading the lists that my sisters have done for the month of November as way of recognizing and giving thanks. But I think I better just blog about our Thanksgiving week.Alright the photos uploaded in a different order than I had intended. So oh well. We had such a great time taking Allie to go see "Peter Pan" (starring my sister-in-law Molly which is also from where I borrowed these photos). We stayed at Kent and Maria's house where Lindsay and James also stayed so they all watched Luke for us. That was kind of weird for Allie. I think it must have been one of the first times that we have gone somewhere without him because as we started to drive away she said "Where's Luke?" I told her this was just a special date for the 3 of us in which she replied incredulously "We aren't REALLY going to LEAVE HIM?" Luke would not have done that great watching the show but for Allie and Jason and I- it was AMAZING and so much fun! And of course Molly did a FABULOUS job! We have been playing Peter Pan ever since we got home. Allie is Tinker Bell, I am Wendy and Luke is Peter Pan. And just like in the play, every time I try to kiss Peter Pan- Tinker Bell pulls my hair.

On the way into SLC and on the way back home we got to stay the night with Grandma and Grandpa J. Grandma has decided to learn how to play the violin. I am really impressed and really proud of her! Here she is teaching Allie a few things. Luke was interested in learning as well although his technique was a little... rough.


Allie and Luke had a GREAT time playing with the cousins (well, so did Jason and I in fact- Thanks Uli, Camille, McCray, Reed, Henry, Morgan and Ellis for all the fun! We had some great games of Hot and Cold, Tickle Monster and Dodge the Nerf ball). Allie as always was thrilled with the dress ups. These above photos were her own composition! I just shot the picture. Silly girl.
We got to ride the train to Temple Square to go see the Christmas lights opening night. It was cold and there were a lot of people but we had so much fun! The above photo is us waiting for the train. Brrrrrrr. Luke got a new hat and scarf (which match his little jacket PERFECTLY) and mittens from his aunt Molly (THANK YOU Molly). He was nice and shared his mittens with Allie for the evening.

Thanksgiving dinner was soooooo good! Thanks to Carter's request and Lindsay's help (or was it really me helping Lindsay), I learned how to make Potato Rolls. Yummy! Lindsay and I just couldn't follow the recipe exactly though. In case some of you didn't notice, we did add some wheat flour so it wasn't all white. Not much though. But the rest of the dinner with Kelly and Erin as the head chefs and Carter and Dee helping was truly gourmet! It was so delicious!!! (I could add more exclamation marks but you get the idea). And so was Ma Stanberg's cranberry sauce (thanks Jay and Ilene- loooooove the stuff).

One of the highlights of the trip was the trivia game Lindsay came up with for Thursday night after the yummy pies Maria made. I think if we counted how many pieces of pie everyone ate the entire weekend that I would win. Hey- right place at the right time folks!

But the game... I had heard most of the stories before but there were a few new ones and the old ones were so fun to hear from the perspective of the other siblings! One of my favorite moments was when all the Payne siblings said, in unison, "Hello? Yes? Hi!"

It was so great that everyone made it- all 25 of us! Grandma and Grandpa Payne get the award for traveling the furthest. It was so fun to see them (our kids were so excited) and of course it wouldn't be the same without having them there. We LOVE you! We got some shots taken of everyone Thursday morning (thanks again Dee) and we are now waiting for uncle Jay Jay to send them out. Ok Jay, the pressure is on- we need them for our Christmas letters.

And about photos... after a great Payne-full week we realized we really didn't take that many pictures! Argh. We don't have any of all the cousins, or the aunts and uncles, no grandma and grandpa photos and I took my camera to photo-document our "Girl's Lunch" (so fun) and never took a single shot. Double argh!!! So I guess that is why we are especially anxious to see and get the photos off of Jay's camera (you guys don't have anything exciting going on in Logan any time soon- do ya...). Grandpa, I think you got some really cute shots on your camera too! Like the one of the Great Belly Comparison!?

So this was just a few of the highlights. The last photo of our trip was of Grandma and Grandpa J. on their way to church with little Lucy. They got to babysit while Vic and Molly barfed for a couple of days. That is so sweet that they do things as a couple!

NOW... I get it...

Let me just begin again by saying what a GREAT birthday I have had this year! Thank you-THANK YOU- Thank YOU everyone!!!

Ok, now for a trip down memory lane. I have two memories I wish to share that I can now say I have greater appreciation for. I have a strong image in my head of my mother on her hands and knees scrubbing the dining room floor and in a very exhausted, angry voice saying "My name is NOT MOM anymore! Now go to bed." It must have been a very long day for her. I don't know/remember what had happened that day or why I got up to ask her what I urgently needed to ask her.

Another memory, visiting Jenny and Chris when Hailey was born and Chris saying "YES Jack, SPEAK! I am right here! You don't have to say my name every time, you can just start talking." Something to that effect more or less.

So now, I really get it. Why must every sentence begin with "Mama, mama, mama..." when the last 5,000 sentences began that way and while I am still three feet away from my daughter which is where I have been for the last three hours. Don't call me mom ANYMORE just tell me or ask me what you need to! Dad is at work so he is not around, Luke doesn't say real words yet, so there is no one here but you and I so I promise I KNOW you are talking to me! There won't be any confusion! That usually leads to the question "Mom? Are you mad?" at which point I think to myself "Hmmm , define 'mad'."

It's My Birthday- Shout HOORAY!!!

(Our babysitter made this poster for Joy while she was at the temple)

Jason: Well, in an attempt to give Joy a water warmer, I think I gave her a coffee maker instead. It's a percolater anyway -- I'll have to call up a coffee drinker to figure out how it all works. Thankfully the ice cream did hit the spot...

Joy: Thoughts on 31... I love it so far! Today has been a very nice day. Not a whole lot has happened necessarily. I kind of look at the whole month of November as my birthday month. We started celebrating by going to Savoy. We will end the month by celebrating Thanksgiving with Payne family! Today Allie, Luke and I walked to the park with Allie's little neighbor friend. It has been so nice around here. The leaves are just now starting to fall off the trees (which is wierd because they are usually mostly gone by around Balloon Fiesta time in October). But it was pleasantly warm and we had a fun time playing on the playground. And then all THREE of us got to take a NAP. Ooooh so heavenly when that happens. My friend watched Allie and Luke while I ran a few errands by MYSELF and she and another friend gave me chocolate making supplies for my birthday. Chocolate turtles here we come! That will be really fun for Christmas. I went to the temple tonight too (while Jason had to work late) which was nice. But best of all has been all the birthday wishes, cards, letters, and phone calls! Thank you all so much! It really means a lot to be remembered.

You know, all of my children have been born on my odd birthday years so far. Hmmm, something to think about.

Great with Child

Who needs a high chair or even a regular one when you can sit on dad's lap?! I kind of have this thing where when I eat I just want to eat and I don't want anyone sitting on me. I guess there really isn't much room these days. But oh how the kids LOVE to sit with dad during dinner. They really love their dad and are so excited when he comes home. Luke was already sitting in Jason's lap when Allie, eating her burrito and still a little cranky from a late nap, asked "Please I sit in your other lap?" Good thing Jason was done eating by this point (or was he?).

The kids have had a little stomache bug lately. Allie woke up after throwing up all over her bed (hey... I recognize that burrito!). She threw up another 4 or 5 more times after that. But by the next day, although a little tired, she was feeling pretty good. It has been going around and friends have told me it has about a 2 day gestation period. So sure enough, right on schedule and right when I knew Jason would be gone camping with the scouts, Luke started throwing up. He is already acting like himself again. Atleast it is a quick little bug.

Can I just say it one more time? Jason is a GREAT dad!!!

¡Sí Señor!

Today, Wednesday, was the last day of my 6 week Spanish workshop. I really enjoyed it although I didn't really get to know the kids as well as I usually do (like memorizing all of their names). In the past I have taught for 3 months in the fall and then start again in January. This is my fourth year teaching to different homeschooling groups. I have never taught in a public school to really compare, but I really like the freedom of being able to teach my own cirriculum. I have enjoyed doing it although at times it seems like "just one more thing" added to the plate. It has been much more enjoyable once I had all of my classes prepared. I usually have a song or atleast a game that goes with the words for the day so there is a lot of movement for the kids (and myself). I do a lot of my own art work for both visual aids and the worksheets for kids to work on. I have even made up a couple of the songs. At the end of class we have a story that I read to them in Spanish that goes with the day's theme. Today for example we did body parts. We sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (in Spanish) and then we traced our bodies on large sheets of paper (they did, NOT me) where they had to draw in all those parts along with eyes, ears, mouth and nose, etc. The book today was Caperucita Roja (Little Red Riding Hood). Like I say, I have really enjoyed it for many reasons and the money is not one of them (it's nice to get paid- though it's not much). But it feels great to see the kids having a good time and learning a language that I love and I say this as humbly as possible but I have had several parents tell me how much their kids enjoy the class, how much they are learning, compliments on my teaching, and even requests for private tutoring and teaching other classes to other groups. It just feels good to know people are pleased with the effort and energy you are expending, ya know? For obvious reasons I won't be teaching in the spring. But call me if you want to learn your colors in Spanish and we'll sing you the song (that is Allie's favorite as of late).

The Finer Things Club

(Any Office fans will get the title)
OK, Jason here- a bit of a different tone. Work has been great for many months then took a nasty turn this week. We decided to take the high ground again and go on a nice date Friday night. A new restaurant recently opened up in an amazingly remodeled building on Montgomery. It always seemed to be full so we decided to give it a try. Wow. It wound up being a cheese-wine-leathered Santa Fe lady type place. We dressed up, went in and were seated after the leathered Santa Fe lady in a red sequined cowgirl hat was seated. Most of the dishes seemed to be dripping rather than cooked in wine, but we did manage to find a few great choices:Appetizer: Baked Goat Cheese wrapped in prosciutto, brioche toast, black pepper-cranberry chutney

Joy: Flatiron steak with gorgonzola mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, shallot-herb pan sauce

Jason: Pacific Escalar (fish), 4 muscles, cubed Spanish Chorizo on bed of heirloom tomatoes

Dessert: Caramel Pecan Chocolate Torte (turned out to be dense chocolate cake & dark chocolate mousse).

Drinks: Water (surprisingly did not turn to wine)

We felt quite snobby by the time we left but were quickly pulled back to earth by Luke's Hot Wheels garage and Allie's doll house mess in the family room. We had a wonderful time.