payne news

Its been a while since our last post and not much has happened. Mike has been traveling alot but has slowed down for the holidays which makes us all happy, unfortunately he starts up again in January. He has taken on a home improvement project that when its done I will be a very happy wife. He is redoing our kitchen to give me more cupboards and counter tops here hoping it goes well.
Cecilia has kept us busy going to Basket ball games she didn't get to play a whole lot but it was great to she her trying something new. School has not been easy for her this year and hopefully it gets better.
Holly is busy doing Girls Scouts and taking dance and tumbling. She is doing great at school and is full of life. She likes to see what she can get away with which is giving me gray hair.
Maggie is involved in a home based preschool and loving it and has finally learned to spell her name!!!! She is also taking dance and loves it her first performance it this Saturday and she can't wait to get her costume.
As for me I am busy trying to keep up with the three girls and mike's schedule and being the PTO treasure as well as learning my new calling in the RS.
We hope everyone of friends and family are doing well this holiday season and wish you a happy new year.

School Year

We have started the school year very quietly which is the way I like it.

Cecilia is now in seventh grade and decided to try out for softball. She practiced for several weeks and gave it her best shot but didn't make the cut. She is fine with it as she has already decided to try out for the Robotics team we will wait and see how that goes.

Holly is now in third grade and she loves her teacher. She is taking jazz and tumbling lessons and likes being one of the older kids at the bus stop.

Maggie is sad that her sisters are off at school and she doesn't get to go. She did just start preschool that a group of moms in the church has put together, I took the first couple of weeks and she is loving it. She has been going around finding the letter A but she is sad at the same time because we didn't start with the letter M, which is her favorite letter.

Second part of our trip at a glance....

We spent four days in SLC visiting my parents and college friends. We had a lot of fun catching up with friends and watching our girls play with thier children and of course having to deal with Maggie and Holly wanting to move closer so they can play with thier new friends more. We took the girls to the Days of 47 parade so they can say they had been there done that . They all thought it was a little to long and they didn't need to see it again.

Our last part of our trip we headed up to Meridian ID to visit with Mikes parents. The girls got to go white water rafting for the first time and they loved it, they wanted to go again and again. Mike and I also were able to visit the Boise Temple and were able to family names which was beautiful. We had a great family vaction and thank all our family and friends who let us stay at their homes and putting up with us.

Part one

This year we decided to take a couple of weeks and visit family out west that we haven't seen in a while. We started the trip by me and the girls packing up the car and heading out to grand junction co. to pick up mike who had been out there working . The girls loved going through the mountain pass between Denver and Grand Junction, they thought it was beautiful I did to except I have never driven that pass and was clutching the steering wheel while telling them all the memories I had of my dad driving us through here almost every summer to visit my grandma and grandpa. For some reason driving there with my kids made me miss my grandparents and all the fun we had when we were, I am sure my kids were sick of me reminiscing. We meet up with mike and took off for St. George Ut to hang out with Mike's brothers family. We made a stop in Moab to show the kids the beautiful arches, they were not to impressed to due the fact the heat was overwhelming and they were tired of hiking. We did get to see some beautiful scenery and I am mike enjoyed it.

We finally made it to St. George and enjoyed several days with Chuck and his family. We tortured the children with more hiking in the heat and we also took them Gunlock Res. to swim which we learned our children are city children and have never really swam with fishes and it freaked them out at first but the over came and enjoyed their time. We also took them to Dixie State College where we took them done memory lane and showed them all the spots dad and mom used to work and what we did while we were at college. We took the girls to play laser tag Payne Family vs Payne Family sort of the girls feel in love with laser tag and now want to play as often as possible. This should take care of part one of the vacation part two will be later.

May

So happy may has slowed down for us in so many different ways. Mike hasn't had to travel as much this month and after school activities have come to a halt and school projects are almost over. But with summer just around the corner brings on the busy schedule again. which is fine with me the busy I am the better. Holly has started softball, mike has been told he will be traveling again and cecilia will be turning 12. Maggie gets to start swim lessons this year and she is so excited.
The weather here is heating up and the pools will be opening very soon bring on the sunscreen and swimsuits. The girls have new suits and can not wait to try them out. Cecilia gets to go to girls camp for the first time this year and I am so excited for her and scared because my baby is growing up. Will try to keep this updated throughout the summer and let you know of all our adventures.

April

April has been a very busy month for us here are a few highlights.

~I ran in my first 5K at the end of march and I made it to the end without fainting. I wasn't last and I didn't run the whole thing but it felt great to try.

~Mike has been traveling for more than half the month he goes to Dallas, Nashville and St. Louis quiet a bit her is rarely home which means he wasn't home for his birthday or mine. He did make it home for Maggie's which is what was most important. He has also entered into a 5K in may we will see how he does.

~ Cecilia has been very busy with school projects and working on the school play"The Wiz:." She is a munchkin and is in alot of the dancing scenes which means lots of costume changes. Every time I thought we had everything bought she would come home saying " mom I need another costume." The play is finally here and we are hoping that may will calm down for her.

~Holly hasn't been to busy this month until this week her tumbling recital starts Thursday and doesn't end until Saturday night. Three nights of recital should be fun. Holly also has softball clinic on Saturday which will start off softball season at our house.

~Maggie has been shuffled around from one thing to the next and is great at going with the flow. She turned three this month and according to her that means a whole week of celebrating her. She started off the week with a card from GandG Payne with monies in it which made her day she then had a lovely time picking out just the right out fit with her monies. She walked around singing happy birthday to herself and she couldn't wait until her friends came over to play with her and eat her cake. She asked me everyday for a week and had her own little count down. She is going through a dress and bow stage, she will only wear a dress and wants to wear a bow to match every day she says is a girl not a boy and only boys wear pants. Not sure where she got that but we are letting her have her fun.

Well may should be a little less busy but I wouldn't count on it.

Spring

Spring is finally here! We have opened up the house and let all the winter germs out but with doing so let all the spring time pollen in and maggie was sick with allergies for a day. She woke up throwing up and then laid around the house and wouldn't eat much, poor little girl. We closed up the house and and have been giving her alegra since.
Cecilia just finished up ISAT's at school and is busy with her play. She was able to help make pizzas for the girls camp fundraiser since she will be able to go this year. She is a little nervous but at the same time excited.
Holly is just busy. She never likes to stay in one place to long and since the weather is getting better is out side riding her bike and running around the neighborhood with all her friends. She just started doing art classes and loves it.
Mike is busy traveling for work and we are just happy to have him when he is home.
March has been a very busy month and April doesn't look like we are going to slow down.

Holly

Almost eight years ago we brought home our second child and second girl to our family. It still amazes me that it has been eight years since we had Holly. She is a very strong child, she lets you know her opinion on things and loves to push your buttons. She loves to play outdoors with her friends and loves to do art. She does like to talk a lot and has an attitude but if she didn't I would wonder if she was really mine. Everyone says she looked like her daddy when she was born and even called her little mike which didn't sit well with mike since he thought his daughter looked like a girl and not a boy. Now as she grows older I think she is looking more and more like me and my sisters, people I grew up with take one look at her and say I know who your mom is and you look just like her. I say she looks like me but much prettier. Holly is having her first slumber party tomorrow night and is so excited to get to kick Cecilia out of the basement , which is what happens when Cecilia has her friends over. Mike is such a good dad her just rolls with the punches and is learning a lot about little girls. Holly will also be baptized the Saturday following her birthday and she is not nervous at all , she does wish they didn't have to give all the talks before and after, she would rather be baptized,confirmed and have refreshments. That's my kid keep it short and sweet and get right to the point.

January has found us live and well but with a touch of cabin fever. The snow finally came on Christmas day and hasn't left us yet, not to mention the bitter cold temps we have had on top of the wind that could make you think twice about living here. I am not sure how our ancestors survived these types of conditions. O,K of the subject of weather, the girls are back to school and doing much better this semester Cecilia is trying out for the school play today and I hope she gets the part she wants and I really hope she enjoys doing this. Holly is on a count down to her eight birthday she is so excited to be getting her first slumber party and getting baptized. She tried on my baptism dress yesterday and found it to be a tad sung on her which upsets me a little since I was really hoping all my girls could wear my dress to be baptized in. I am taking it to a friend of mine next week to see if it can be let out a little to help fit her. I'm crossing my fingers in hope it works. Maggie decided to use her vocab alot more lately and has been coming up with phrases that crack us up. On our trip to St.Louis mike got to use his new GPS system and every time the GPS told us to turn Maggie would say"People that lady told my dad to turn left" if we didn't say anything to her she would just getting on saying this phrase over and over until we responded. It cracked us up to think Maggie has people we later found out that her people are her sisters. She is talking so much some days too much, luckily she has not started into the why phase yet.