Just Get Me to the Church on Time

We usually do a great job of arriving on time to church. Church starts at 11am so we start getting ready after breakfast (around 8:30am) with the goal to leave at 10:30am. With that kind of a time frame, we usually don't have trouble making it. If every event, every dr. appt., etc had a 2 hour window of time to get ready then I would ALWAYS be on time. Anyway, I have been slowing down a little these last couple of weeks if you had not guessed. This morning, we were on track until we sat down to read some books before we got dressed in our Sunday clothes. I got really drowsy so I HAD to snooze- just for a few minutes. A few minutes too many and we were late to church. Allie and Luke always like to say hi to Jason (the kiss and a hug) before church starts but today the opening hymn was already playing when we walked in the back end of the building. Allie took off running toward the chapel with Luke following behind and I, waddling at the very back, trying to keep up. She is very fast and I am very slow these days. It took me a second to find her and sit down but we made it before the end of the opening song. What I did not know until much later and many people commenting was what happened before we found each other and took our seats. Apparently Allie RAN into the chapel and yelled "DAD!", ran up the isle, ran on to the stand, ducked around the chorister leading the hymn, and gave her Dad a kiss and a hug before coming back down. That was when Luke and I finally made it in the door to the chapel, got the program and took our seats. People thought it was touching- I thought it was embarrassing although I totally missed it so I guess it doesn't matter anyway!

Merry Christmas

We had our ward Christmas party on Dec. 15th. It was a really nice dinner and Christmas program and then after the closing prayer Santa showed up (a nice way to do that for those who don't feel the need to stick around for the big red guy. It also helps keep a theme of reverence for the true celebration). There were A LOT of people there! That is really one of our best activities of the year. We had a great time and so did the kids! Luke didn't say to much to Santa Claus- of course he doesn't talk yet- but he didn't run away screaming either. Allie told Santa all about her new baby brother who is coming and then of course the things she was wanting (some kind of Barbie was it? I don't remember what she said. She doesn't either which is a good thing since she didn't get it).
Our very first Christmas alone- just our little family! We had a great time although it did feel strangely quiet. The neighbors brought over all kinds of gifts. We have yet to take ours to them. I wanted to make potato rolls to go with the cactus jelly that we made from the prickly pear cactus growing just around our neighborhood. Two DOUBLE batches totally flopped! I am at the end of our yeast. I guess it's dead and inactive (as opposed to "Live Active" yeast) since the rolls never rose. At first I thought it was because the kitchen wasn't warm enough. How annoying and frustrating! Well, our gift will obviously be a "Happy New Year" one!

The Reception

Can you guess to what song Allie, Hailey and grandpa were dancing to? I will give you hint: they were the ones singing it- not the music being played in the background!

More shots at the temple...

Can you tell they are father and daughter? Vic, there are several of these and I had the hardest time trying to decide which one was the cutest! "Up-i-da". Ok Payne family, you will have to help me out on the correct spelling of "airplane" in the language of Payne-ism.


From the series of photos we took of Allie and Luke, I am not sure who was having more fun- the kids or grandpa! Thanks grandpa for wrenching your back out for a few moments of glee!!!

More temple shots...

This is Allie being carried like a "princess"...
Do you remember whenever there was a long, linear, raised portion- like cement surrounding the fountain here- that you HAD to walk on it like a balance beem?


Luke and "Luke-alike", I mean Thacker. See Peggy, didn't this shot turn out so cute???

At the temple...

Here are a few more shots. For those who weren't there, it rained almost the entire weekend- EXCEPT the morning of the wedding. After the photos were taken and we were all safely indoors, it started to rain again. How considerate, don't you think?!
Just a random shot of the wedding goers...


"What?! I didn't touch anything!" -Luke

The MEN

We took A LOT of photos of the boys trying to get everyone smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. This is as close as we got and then... Vic wasn't even there! Peter, the new brother-in-law, is in this photo. If you look way in the back next to the girl in the puffy white dress- that's HIM!