Christmas 2012

 Merry Christmas! 

We have had a wonderful day, the most wonderful part of which is to be home together.  The kids invaded our bed about 5:45 this morning.  The boys went back to sleep for awhile before Allie came in and claimed the be the first one up. 

 Wyatt is trying his hardest to turn over on his tummy this morning.  He sure is a good baby.

 Rachel getting her 80's on...

 Rachel got a C-battery powered crawling baby.  She tried the real thing out in her stroller though.  Wyatt had a blast!

Christmas boxes are the best (a few nights ago).

 This year was Wesley's turn to put the star on the tree.  He took the honors last night (Christmas Eve).

 Mission accomplished!

 Sprinkling reindeer bait in the backyard before going to bed (err. Allie is a good sport).

 Just after Santa came:

 Hey whatddya get?

 Just what we asked Santa for - a Star Wars ship!

We're thankful for the peaceful example of Christ and the peace we feel in our home this time of year.  We love you all!

San Diego Thanksgiving

OK, dad here updating the Payne family blog- Joy always likes to add details after the fact; as for me, I like photos.

We drove to San Diego for Thanksgiving this year- quite a journey as it turns out.  We had a wonderful time and were hosted by Paul and Kristyn who live in Vista, CA.  They were wonderful hosts and worked like crazy to make sure we all had a nice time which we did of course.   

 As you might guess, the beach is always the biggest hit with kiddos, and who can blame them?

 Look who ate too much turkey:

 

 David Hasselhoff is a lightweight compared to this water kid:

 Allie and Dad enjoyed boogie-boarding:

Playing in the sand:

 

 

 Cousins are the best:

 Especially when they can't read!

Nice hat, huh Taylor?

 

 

So it turns out we did in fact eat Thanksgiving dinner but wrestling 5 kids puts a damper on the photography bit- we'll need to nab some photos from our family.  Dinner was wonderful, Kid Olympics was a blast, LegoLand was great (if you were the chased not the chaser that is), adult night's out, USS Midway was super cool and Old Town San Diego with a visit to the Mormon Battalion was a great highlight (very well done and fascinating). 

Wyatt's Blessing Day

Our babies' blessings days are always so special to me- to all of us.  It is the day they receive their blessing but I always feel the one blessed, so very blessed!  Grandma and Grandpa Payne came to town for the event and Carter and Jen came too.  It felt like a holiday to have family here with us to celebrate his day.

While they were here Grandpa was kind enough to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the kids.  Rachel loves Loves LOVES the Umpaloompa song.  LOVES IT!  She sings it often and will request Jason to sing it to her.  It makes her happy on long car trips too as it turns out.  One Sunday while nursing Wyatt in the Mother's lounge at church, I heard a familiar little voice call out "Umpaloompa!"  It is funny what the microphone picks up and how voices carry in a somewhat quiet chapel.  I never did hear Jason singing it to her so he must have settled her some other way that day.

Whoa Nelly!

Wow are we behind!  I am going to attempt to begin to catch up so be patient with us!

Big EVENT!

 Wiggle wiggle.

Luke lost his first tooth!  It was a big deal.  It was loose for soooo long but he was afraid it would hurt if he/we/the wind tried to pull it.  So it sat there hanging by a thread.  The two adult teeth had already grown in behind the baby teeth.  He lost his 2nd tooth only a few days later.

Here he is tucking his tooth safely into the pocket of the special pillow case so the Tooth Fairy can find it easily (thanks Aunt Lindsay).

Double checking of course to make sure it is safe and snug and that the Tooth Fairy will be able to find it.  She did.

Halloween 2012

 Wesley's snack for preschool.

 Even Vampires need a good education and a playground to play on.

 The costume parade at John Baker Elementary.

 Any Stars Wars fans pick up on the irony here?

We had a spooky dinner with our cousins with yummy food like witches and monster fingers, a mummy calzone, and blood and guts soup (tomato soup).  It was really fun.  We got several shots of various kids smiling- but never at the same time.  So we went with the goofy shot here.