For Le

I got a new calling. I'm in charge of the Wolves in Cub Scouts. Paul said when he found out, "Oh good, my dad will finally like you now." Ha ha! I thought it was hilarious.
.
But don't worry. I already knew I was the favorite in-law.

Trying out the blog.

Ok, so Kristyn invited me to be on this blog. As soon as I figure out how to put pictures up I will. Dad is out of town tonight. Vic is here and Lucy. Maybe Vic will show me.

Lucy is a doll. She plays very well and doesn't need to be entertained most of the time.
Grandchildren are such a pleasure to have. I mean you worry about them but untimatley you have to let thier parents be responsible for what their life is like. Its great! Lucy like's to go through draws and closets. Lots to look at with us old people. Grandpa has an old phone in his room and she like's to play with it. We unplug the real phone down stairs when she is here. She just came out of the room and said hat hat. She has on Grandpa'a hat. Of course she doesn't have here h's down so its at at.

Did I tell you we found some more WW11 stuff in Grandpa's garage. We will try to find a mesuem to put them in. We have a used pair of German boots. They are well worn. Also we have a white bag with German writting on it and German Nasis swastica. Also a German youth uniform, its new.

Take care, Love mom




.

Happy Valentine's Day

encelia farinosa
Brittle Bush

This fabulous xeriscaping plant needs little or no water, lots of sun and blooms in the winter here in Arizona. They grow so easily and well, and look great in a desert landscape like ours aims to be. I have wanted one for a while but its low on the budget priority. Last year, with all the other seeds that blew into my yard and turned into weeds, a Brittle Bush seed found its way in. I pulled the weeds by hand around this plant and watched it grow, recognizing it for what it would be. This winter it is full grown and the little yellow flowers are fabulous. Every morning when I open my curtains to see the sun rise (and wake the boys for school) I purposely look at my beautiful plant that arrived as a gift from someone who loves me and knew what I wanted. Happy Valentine's Day to me.
Side note: we still have plenty of weeds in our yard and while we will eventually kill the little buggers, I like to give them a sporting chance because some of these plants might be something good that I didn't recognize at first. Funny how life is like that! Now- I always knew that Dad liked me best, :) but if you have great stories about our Heavenly Fathers love- I'd love to hear them! I love you all and hope you have a great day! Jenny

Wrestle time

Maybe this post is just for me. But I hope you all enjoy it and I know you can appreciate it- especially Vic, Paul and Chris who are all such good daddys to your little ones. This was Luke and Jason wrestling which at Luke's age maybe it should be called King of the Mountain since the object is to try to climb on top of dad. I just love seeing little kids play with their dad. I posted just one of these shots on our Payne family blog but I think seeing the series, well it's almost like seeing the action live (remember Free to Choose?).

Babies DO come with a manual

Today I took Haley and Thacker to Usery Pk with Bonnie. We did a little hike, ate lunch, and played on the jungle gym. Uh huh, it was fun. Haley wanted to take pictures of Thacker, while most were of her finger, this one turned out.

Here's the two kids on the way to the park ...
And this is them on the way back
Marlene, are you noticing the material stuck in Thacker's mouth? Yeah, he loves that thing!!

Do as I'm doing...Follow, Follow, ME!

This is so fun and so crazy the boys cooperated in coming 4 days apart- just as their due dates had indicated. I thought it would be fun to do some comparison shots of these two tiny ones that in a month will look nothing like each other (actually, they really don't look much alike now other than NEW). So Molly and Kristyn... what you are guys doing in the next, oh, 9 months? I was so happy to be having this baby and I tried to make it show in the above photo. Instead I look tired and in pain. Which is also how I felt.

The new mommys- Jen you are gorgeous!
The two new little guys! Welcome to the world little ones!

Our little Wes didn't really even open his eyes until day 3! (He kind of looks like a little old man).We miss Grandma Poppins but we were feeling kind of selfish for getting her for so long. Hope the Robinsons are enjoying having her around!

My two cents

Ok, so I cheated - this is more than one photo. Do any of these characters look familiar? So strange that the two girls in the lower left photo would be expecting their own little ones!

I got to go along with the Robinson clan as they joined those "mormons" traveling west. It was quite an adventure. And it was worth it - look at that cute little missy pulling the wagon. I told them that oxen would work better, but they said she is pretty tough. They were right!

This is us starting out in the morning.

Rustic looking train. Very festive looking decorations. and the snow (hee hee! I just about wrote "snot" ) outside made it more fun.

This was from about a year ago - We all decided to ride the Heber Creeper at Christmas time. This was my first time riding a train. I really enjoyed it. They never did a loop-de-loop or the big drop that you see at amusement parks ... maybe that is just another train route... ;-p

Peggy is looking quite stylish, isn't she?

"that's it mista ! you just messed with the wrong toddler! I am going to go tell my mommy you wouldn't let me have a yum, yum!" This is Lucy outside the temple in the middle of the picture frenzy. Cute as a button !

Peggy and I, get'n "jiggy wit it". Yes, I know, we are naturals aren't we? (this is in the back, garden area at the reception that night. )

Hey, I decided to take a moment and post some of my photos from the reception and from past stuff. I even have a posting for the "old picture of the week/month".

I am excited to hear about Joy's new addition in her life, Wendy's as well. Peggy - its me and you now! Be strong, don't let them get to you !

I have been enjoying playing with the new games that I got for Christmas - the "Fact or Crap" game, and the DVD Family Fued game, as well as the "Dread Pirate". Thanks for being my guinea pigs, everyone ! I played the pirate game with Jack, Grant, and Hailey tonight - Hailey just wanted to play with the jewels.

Xmas Eve

Xmas Eve I think is just as much fun, if not more so, than Xmas day. I love it!

I loved Le's tiny little chair. Someone bring him one his size the poor guy! :)
Marlene showcased her new found talent at the violin!

This is us thinking about sledding on Xmas morning. We went inside shortly afterwards.

Xmas Dinner

Fondue! What a creative idea! Such a fun dinner. And it was really fun to have Molly's parents there as well!

The Annual White Elephant Gift Exchange

Verla had everyone over, made a great dinner, and then we exchanged presents. We had a blast!

This was a really fun game (kind of like 100, if you've played that) where you try to unwrap a kiss with two toothpicks before the person next to you rolls doubles.

Gardner Village

As a family we all (or who was in town) went to Gardner Village, near Salt Lake. If you haven't been here before, it's so much fun and I highly recommend it. That is, if you're a female, like shopping and enjoy looking at your surroundings. This place always has some great photo-ops and oh so cute shops. Hope the boys had fun, I know the girls did!

This was my favorite store!
(I thought I rotated this shot!)
This was a GREAT Xmas shop