Snakes

For Cub Scouts, our Bear leaders had connections with some students at Texas Tech, who came and did a Reptile Show. Needless to say, it was a big hit...
...and it wasn't just cubs who thouroughly LOVED the snakes. Daisy was in heaven.

This is how Faye looked for the first 15 minutes. She was not sure about those snakes.

But eventually she warmed up. Here's my girls with boa...

Daisy

I was washing the counter this morning after breakfast, when Daisy came bounding in the kitchen and said:

"Hey Mom, let me tell you something: Dad's a human; I'm a very healthy dog; you are a good swimmer; Faye is a very good gallop-er; and Lizzy's a good sniffer."

...and there you have it, folks. :)

The 2011 Primary Program

Here are the girls right before leaving to go to church for their Primary Program, which they did a very great job! When Faye was lined up, waiting to say her line, you could just see her going over the words in her head. Then, when it was her turn, she stepped up, said it perfectly, then sat down. While Daisy was in line with her class, she was flipping her hair around giggling and playing with something on the ground (probably her shadow). When she was pulled up to the microphone, she smiled at everyone, wondering what was next. The teacher prodded her and told her the first words of her line. Then it finally hit Daisy that it was her turn. She said her line, then bounced back to her seat, which she missed, and had to be re-directed towards. That would pretty much be the description of two of my girls. And they sang beautifully, except the one song that Daisy decided to try to sing while keeping her teeth together the whole time... :)
Faye's Line: "Heavenly Father blesses us whenever we follow the prophets."

Daisy's Line: "Family Home Evening. We get treats!" (the teachers had previously asked the CTR 4 class what they liked about their families. This is what Daisy had responded with, so it became her line for the program).

And I wanted to throw this picture in here, because Liz has the hardest time "looking" at the camera when I take pictures. I took about 4 shots like this, then gave her a little lesson on how to look at something, showed her the failed pictures, practiced looking at different objects in the room, then resumed our photo shoot. She is trying really hard (I have to give her credit), and it eventually worked (see the 1st photo)...

Heritage Halloween

Our favorite place to go in Lubbock is the Ranching Heritage. Every Halloween, they do their "Heritage Halloween" and volunteers will dress up in costumes, according to their time era and stand in front of the ranch houses, passing out candy. It's a lot of fun and, of course, has become another tradition...
2 Balerinas (+2 tutus) + 1 Cowgirl (+ 1 horse + 1 saddlebag) = A Whole Lot of Cuteness!!

And here, you can see Daisy's "roped" Sheepie, hanging from her horse...

In one field, they had volunteers helping kids "rope" some calves. Once Dais saw it, she was no longer intersted in the candy. Look at that--tongue out and everything! When Daisy is focused (which is really not that often), she sticks her tongue out...

Liz wanted to try it, too..

And of course my Faye-girl's not afraid to rope in her tutu...

I'm not a big fan of Halloween, but a couple weeks ago, I got slammed in the lip while playing basketball. I decided an old army gal would be a good costume to go along with an open-facial wound...

We do love the Ranching Heritage!

The Annual Pumpkin Trail

The Lubbock Pumpkin Trail is a three-day event, where they light up pumpkins each night for 3 hours--it's a lot of fun to walk around and see the pumpkins. The first night we went, stood in line for 10 minutes, and decided we didn't want to wait that long, so we left...
The second night, we went early (before the lighting), so we didn't have to wait in line. It's so nice not to have to wait in a line...

Angry Birds...
Faye does like horses...
Daisy Dog found a dog-print...

And I like turtles...

Cotton-fields of West Texas

On the way home from Idalou, we saw some cotton-fields. They look like fields of white flowers, or fields of snow--it depends on if I'm feeling hot or cold when I'm looking at the fields. Either way, they are very beautiful...

Idalou Apple Orchard

We went to Idalou again this year to visit their apple orchard--all the apples you can eat for free (then you pay for the ones you bring home :). The apples were pretty small this year--they suffered from the hot, dry summer, just like everything else. However, the "baby apples" were a huge hit with my baby-lover, Liz...

The farm dog sure loved hanging out with us. I think my girls look good with a dog. If only...

This kid was sure in heaven--surrounded by cute, little baby-apples and a dog. What more could she want!!

Payne Hotel

It is 294 miles from our driveway to Mom & Dad Payne's driveway. It is 282 (ish) miles from their driveway to the Cox home. It didn't get much better than that for a perfect pit stop on our Houston trip. And on top of that, they feed us (for free :), they read/wrestle/play with my children, and provide spacious accomidations!!

Here Grandma Payne is taking the girls out to feed and talk to Mr.Brown, the peacock. Grandma even let my girls name their peacocks (they have 4). They are fun, fun birds...

And one morning for breakfast, Jophas (Joseph) was wearing his letterman's jacket, and I was impressed with it...

Galveston Visit

One weekend we spent down in G-town, visiting friends and getting updated. It was fun to see everyone and to visit the ocean...

Now, why are they still trying to hold their pants up? :)

Houston Zoo

One of the days in Houston, we spent at the zoo. Out of all the years living in Galveston, we never did take the trip up to visit the zoo, but when we vacationed there for 3 weeks, we did. Go figure. :) My girls loved seeing the animals, and it was a great day, weather-wise...
We spent over an hour just watching the elephants get their daily baths. The babies were sooooo cute!

Here's a zoo-keeper feeding a nice, clean 18-month elephant calf, with Daisy dreaming that it's herself feeding the calf. :)

The little Paynes visitning the African Forest animals...
Daisy, talking to a monkey, and I think the monkey was actually listening...
My girls are growing so fast. That giraffe isn't that much taller than them...
I probably took over 10 photos of my girls sitting here (I was trying to catch the otter swimming by in the back-ground). I never did get good otter-shot, but this was my favorite one of the girls...

One of the exibits had tunnels into the Prairy-dog cage. Don't my little prairy-dogs look so cute peeking out of their little tunnel???

Faye, showing off her photography skills by the pink flamingos... :)

Houston Trip (Cox's)

Brian had to do some training down in Houston in October, so us girls tagged along and went and hung out with the Cox clan for 3 weeks. It was a TON of fun and 3 weeks of bliss, but I have to sadly admit that we spent the time playing instead of taking pictures!!

This is a good shot of how the girls spent their 3 weeks: together, eating kefir smoothhies (still on Lizzy's face), and happy:

Liz, my baby-lover, just like myself (notice that I am close-by--taking the picture). :)

The girls wore themselves out by playing so hard, just about every day...

Thanks Sean & Camille--it was some good memory-building time! And thanks, Tyler & Jakey for being patient with SO many little girls. You two are some mighty awesome bubbas/cousins!

Las Cruces, NM

So, over a month ago.. (uh, hmm)...
Papa Payne came to Lubbock, picked all the girls up, and drove us to New Mexico to visit Great Grandma and Papa Payne for their 60th Wedding Anniversary! It was for just a few days, but such a great trip. We stopped at Carlsbad Caverns (way cool) and just hung out with Grandma & Papa Great. They are amazing grandparents--they love their children/grandchildren, love to work hard, and most of all love the Lord. Together, they have served 4 LDS missions as a senior couple. I am grateful for their examples! I also enjoyed talking with Dad Payne, and hearing some of his life's experiences on the trip to/from Las Cruces.