For Kelly and Erin

Recently I had found myself thinking a lot about Kelly and Erin's cat Scooter. I didn't know why. I thought maybe it was because there was a picture or two of him on their blog. Finally one morning it dawned on me...
Funny how I never remember even reading the name when I bought it or any time after that, well, until I read it.

Valentines Day

I was waiting for this photo to be able to share our Valentine's Day with all of you! We had a nice day. Jason found a surprise homemade Valentine in his truck on his way to work (ya, pretty much just made one this year). We had Moroccan Chicken for dinner- still one of my favorites Lindsay! Jason didn't have any meetings that night so it was a nice evening at home. But there was a surprise. Just as we were finishing dinner there was a knock at the door. These four women are a barber shop quartet (Jason called them the "hair salon" quartet). They brought be a card, a rose and a box of chocolates and then of course they sang! I loved it. It was really beautiful. And it made me cry. What a fun surprise and what a great Valentines Day.

*Side note: One of the songs had a line that went "...we ain't got a barrel of money..." ya da ya da more lyrics "... Side by side..." It was really a sweet song about how we are in this together and that there is no one I would rather go through life with etc. But I must be a mother because for the rest of the week I kept thinking of that song but in my head it kept coming out "... we ain't got a barrel of monkeys..." And that of course is debatable.

Cleaning Tip #23

For a really good clean, try adding all the lids you can find to your load of laundry already in progress.

-Luke

Who's ya daddy?!

You can tell the difference between Jason's blog posts and my (Joy) blog posts because mine are so wordy. That's what Jason says. So I am sure you can tell right away who is writing. We always write about what our kids are up to so I thought I would write about what Jason is up to. Work has been pretty busy (I know- nothing new there). He has a trip to Minnesota planned and this last week he had some customers in town so he was working late and meeting with them. More and more he is unable to play the "random kid in the room". It used to be that people didn't pay much attention to him because he looked so young and they had no idea he was the engineer until he spoke. I think he kind of liked that role. It sort of shocked people. Now, he is starting to look his age and of course people know who he is. I suppose maybe some new customers still write him off at first. And then they find out he's a genius. With work being so time consuming the "honey-do" lists grow and often don't get checked off for awhile. Example below- plastic on the doors. I was thinking about the Thanksgiving where Jay and James put the plastic up for us (so Ilene wouldn't have to freeze sleeping in the family room on the couch). Fun memories. Anyway we should have gotten the plastic up much sooner. Our $335 heating bill last month made it a priority. I know- YIKES! You'd think we live in a 5000 sq ft house or something. I thought this shot was kind of fun because you can see their reflection.
Although work takes most of the time I would say Jason's main "job" is dad (yes, he's my husband first but that's all fun and "joy", not work :). He is a GREAT dad! We put the kids to bed the other night and Jason was holding Wesley. The kids were having a hard time settling down to sleep so Jason went in to check on them. This is how I found them, all snuggled on Allie's bed and Allie was telling them all a bed time story- Peter Pan. They eventually all had to go back to their own beds.
His other priority is his calling which he does very well (so says our ward family . They always tell me what a great job he does as councelor). It has been fun to watch him grow and although it does take time, we receive many blessings for it. That is something hard to describe, just something you experience. Below is a card all the YW signed for his service. They held a special Thank You dinner for the bishopric (and wives but Wesley had just been born 3 days before so I missed out).So I guess this was kind of a brag blog, but I feel so lucky to be married to this man. And I recognize that his parents and family have a HUGE part in who he is today. I am a firm believer that siblings help raise one another and have an enormous impact on who we are as adults. I can think of stories about each one of you to prove my point. So really this is a Thank You Paynes- to each of you.

Ah HA!

Now why didn't I think of this before?! When Allie was a baby she would only sleep if you were laying next to her or holding her in your arms. Any time I tried to set her down those first couple of months she would cry. Wesley is no where near as bad but there are the similarities. So today while Allie was watching Arthur and I really needed to take the laundry out of the machine I decided to set the fussy crying baby next to her for just a second. But then it got quiet. No crying. And this is what I found. That's right- new found FREEDOM!
So after doing a couple more things, the news must of come on because this is how I found them next. Allie is not my only little helper. Happy Valentine's Day!

Dance Party - Family Room

This is your brain (while you clean the bathroom).

This is your brain after you clean the bathroom. Any questions? Other than this makes no sense.We love you all...

... so what happens after you clean the family room???

The Sands of Time

If you know why this is funny- you are officially OLD!

Once There Was a Snow Man

It snowed last night and when Jason got home, there was about 2 inches of snow on his truck. The kids were so excited they decided to make a snow man. It was about 6 inches tall. Here is Luke in his pajamas, scarf and hat (thank you Molly and Vic) with what was left of the snow man next to him. So of course there was still snow when we got up this morning. As soon as Luke saw his three-wheeler (he LOVES that thing) all covered in snow he was crazy to get outside and play. Allie loved running through the backyard and making tracks in snow. And who doesn't like eating it.This last photo below of the poor crying child is a little boy who did NOT want to come inside. Did I mention he LOVES his 3-wheeler (Thank YOU Uncle Carter and Uli)! Finally he decided if he couldn't play with it outside anymore, he would bring it inside. And mom said no. What a mean mom.

Here a little, there a little

Hi Mom! Do you want cereal for breakfast too? This is Mary and baby Jesus. Mary got tired so she crawled in the manager with baby Jesus.
We have cousin Lucy to thank for the shot below. After seeing so many fun shots and videos of her with her Johnny Jump-up, I remembered that we have one too! So I got it out for Luke. He quite literally wore himself out. Absolutey loves the thing!
You will not be able to appreciate the following shot. We went to the Rio Grande Nature Center and had a great time seeing the beautiful ducks and Canadian Geese and walking around the garden paths. Allie found this HUGE dead tree limb and put it on her head and said "Look- I am a moose!" and tried to make moose sounds. This maybe just one of those photos that as parents we look at and laugh while everyone else thinks "um...ok".
Below photo- Allie did not want to go to bed.

Cuddling with Wesley.
I love the following photo. These are "the boys" wrestling. They were having a GREAT time. If you look closely you will notice something interesting about Luke's diaper. Do you see what it is? Yep, it is on backwards. Another option in case you run out of duct tape (Ha kid! Your parents are more clever than you gave them credit for)!So one day I went into the laundry room and Luke had colored all over the washing machine with a marker. I quickly pulled him down and took him into another room thus spoiling his fun. Later I wondered how it was he had even got there in the first place. Some how I had missed that. Well I followed him one day and saw how he pulled the buckets (wheat and flour) over and stategically placed them like step stairs. Ok, so he is rather clever too.