Birthday Boy

Brian turned the BIG 3! 0! today!! First, I want to apologize for the poor-quality of photos. The camera didn't get very clear shots. But it was a very fun day, full of silliness, messiness, but especially togetherness (our favorite)!! We even got to ride to and from Church with him. Here's B with 2 of his girlies blowing out candles & eating cake (Liz fell asleep). The cake is german chocolate with coconut-pecan frosting (except for part of the cake--Daisy & Liz don't like that frosting). The candles spell "30" cuz we didn't have 30 candles. :)...

Faye and Daisy "fixin" Daddy's hair and being silly...

...and more sillines...

Last week, Faye made this for her B's birthday--it's a big 2X8 board with other wood scraps made into a shirt, tie, and buttons. Pretty creative. Faye loves to build. She also wrote him a funny note, but I can't find it and I can't remember what she said. I'll keep looking...

Daisy gave B her pet grasshopper, named "Cricket." I was surprised Daisy was willing to part with this critter--she watches that thing so carefully. When Cricket takes a nap, we all have to be super quiet and we can't have lights on. Daisy made him a little cage and will often sleep with him. She reads to him, too. Luckily, I think Daddy will let her take care of Cricket for him, especially when he's gone to work. He is a real grasshopper (made out of rubber :)...

Faye helped Liz wrap Skittles and Licorice to give to B, which of course she helped eat. This kid is sure fun to be around. B's playing with Liz on her little swing he added on to their bunk bed. Liz is so funny with this swing. Every night for a couple of months, we would hear her swinging, then it would be silent. We would go in, and she would be asleep on her bed. She swung herself to sleep, and still does about half the time...

Cox Clan Visit

It was so much fun having the Cox's visit for a short while. They were traveling through to their Utah/Idaho vacation. My girls wanted to take them to their favorite place in Lubbock--The Ranching Heritage, and then we just hung out with them. So much fun!!

(left to right): Tyler, Jakey, Faye, Zetta, Daisy, Liz, Chloe, Aisha, me. :)

Little Aisha was in high-demand by everyone...

...especially me...

Here's Faye taking her turn (that's the back of Liz's messy head--she's supervising)...

Chloe is a true Texan--she really liked trying on my girlies boots. Here she is with Liz's boots. So cute, so fun...

Our time with Sean and Camille and kids ended too quickly, but we look forward to seeing them again soon. Thanks, Cox's, for visiting Lubbock!!

Adopting

I've always been amazed with adoption stories. I've read many stories through books and journals, but I am even more amazed with the adoption experiences of friends and family--more specifically with the birth-mother. It is an absolutely selfless action--one of complete love--for a birth-mother to have the courage to place her child with another couple. It is also an act of hope and faith for their child's future. Probably the closest experience we've had to adoption is watching my sister and her family adopt. They have adopted 2 beautiful daughters. Brian and I were able to watch the oldest, Chloe, be sealed to her family in the Houston Temple-such a powerful and spiritual experience. It is a beautiful thing to be able to know of the great sacrifice of the birth-mother, and then see the eternal benefit of her actions for her child as well as my sister's family. They can still be an eternal family. It is an amazing process!! A while ago, we felt impressed to begin the adoption process. One of the requirements of the adoption process is writing a letter to the birth-mother. This is part of our letter to her:


"Next to our marriage, being a parent has been the greatest experience in our lives. We love our children and look forward to loving our future child(ren). We feel very strongly that somewhere there is a child, who needs to be part of our family. We hope that you will listen to your heart as you decide the future for your little one, and we know the Lord will guide you to the right family, even if it is not ours. "


We are currently open to adopt and waiting enthusiastically for whatever the Lord has in store for our family.

~Myself and my adopted neice, Aisha (4 month)

If any of you would like to learn more about adoption, this is the Church's website:

https://itsaboutlove.org

Faye's Music Camp

Some good friends told me about this fun music camp, put on by St. Luke's methodist church. So I registered Faye. It was a week-long camp, then they did a concert. This is Faye with her buddies at the ice cream social after the concert (left to right): Jansen, Faye, Jonathan, Kyra...

They actually did a musical called the "Solid Rock Cafe."

This photo brought back some memories--Faye made this face a lot when she was a baby. She's grown up so FAST!...

And here's a good one of her singing. It was so fun to watch her perform...

July Water Fight

It's soooo HOT this summer--Lubbock has already broken so many records for hotest month (in June, July, almost May), hottest summer, record heat, NO rain, etc. It has been pretty crazy. So...water fights!! Have fun, cool off, and water the lawn. :) The only down-side is that all the dead grass sticks to you--the stuff is like powder...

And yes, Mommy finally put the camera down and joined in the fun!!

4th of July

I know the 4th was SOOooo long ago, but I figure better late than never. :) On July 3rd, we were outside talking with our neighbors--Joe & Sarah, when they invited us to go boating with them for the 4th. Oh, yeah--much better than sitting around in the heat. We couldn't even have sparklers--it was a $250 fine for anyone caught with them and higher fines for bigger firecrackers.

So, I lamely only took one photo: my girlies with their friend, Makayla. You can kind of see the boat in the back-ground. It was so much fun! B and I got to water-ski, and I wiped out a few times. I never thought "wiping out" would ever feel refreshing, but it sure did...

It hatched...

Our chrysalis "hatched." Daisy was once again the one to discover the empty chrysalis. She also found the butterfly on a different wall. Sure enough, it was our black swallowtail. It was very beautiful, and ready to fly. I was prepared to let it crawl on each of my girls, so I could get a picture, but it just flew out the door and over the fence.
I think the whole process is absolutely amazing, and it was exciting to have our guest for a little while...

1 Year "Employed"

It has been 1 year, today, since Brian has been employed as a Pediatrician (and we stopped digging that deep hole, called "debt"). July 1, 2010 was also the day I officially started homeschooling. My, how time flies!! Looking back, it has been a great year, but at times very challenging--some months I will never forget...for reasons I wish to forget. :) I am amazed at how consistent Brian is and how he is always able to keep his priorities straight, even when he is severely deprived of sleep and time. I seemed to wind up tighter and tighter as times got more stressful, but not him. He's steady--I love that and rely on it, too.

Thank you Doctor Payne for all the daddy-daughter dates, for magnifying your callings, for providing for your family, for spoiling me whenever you got the chance, and for your quirky sense of humor through all of it!!

Chrysalis

Our beautiful pet caterpillars started not doing so well in the house, so I took them outside (yes, back to my parsley), but when I was letting them go, two were missing. I went back in the house, and Daisy and I found one underneath the stool their cage was sitting on. We looked and looked for the other one, but couldn't find it. Two days later, Daisy said she found the caterpillar's chrysalis on our wall. Sure enough, we pulled out our stand, and there it was...

Faye lost her second tooth--on the top this time. She has quite the lisp. Whenever someone comes to our house she asks, "Do you want to thee our chryth-a-lith?" Ha, ha. B is always trying to get her to say words with lots of "sssss" sounds in them. He had been calling her "Toothless Wonder" but because of the change of recent events, she is now "Checkerboard" (her spaces are top, right and bottom left). Poor girl-she's had 6 years of her Daddy's "sense of humor," but has many more years to go (and many more teeth, too)...

June Undertakings

"Ya'll wanna know what we've been up to??? Well, let us tell you..."

Hair trims!! I have never trimmed my girls hair, except once for Daisy, after Faye cut the ends of both her braids off 2 years ago. I did the trims voluntarily this time (they needed it)...

Fayelette (I always LOVE looking into those eyes!!)...

Daisy Dog (fun and funny girl)...

Lizzy-Lu girl (I love that baby!!)...

Church starts at 8:30am for us. That is mighty early, so Faye decided to prepare everything on Saturday night. I'm not sure why she wanted the bird book--maybe for the drive to church?? That is one organized girl. If you look close you can see her neclace and CTR ring at the very top of her dress)...

Liz wanted to help me make bread so bad, she even stopped getting dressed so she could snitch...I mean, "knead" the dough for me...

We discovered 3 caterpillars (after they ate all my parsley). They are black swallowtails, or will be if they survive the Payne girls. We recently learned about butterflies, and of course..

At the first of the month, when it was the end of our Weatherford vacation, we made a trip to the Church cannery, where we picked up the food orders for the Lubbock Stake. Brian and I got up, drove to the Uhaul closest to the cannery, picked up a truck, went to the cannery, and loaded all 6,000+ lbs of food (with the help of a fork lift, thank goodness). Brian did the manual labor while I supervised. :) After it was loaded, Brian started the drive back to Lubbock. I went back to pick up the kids and get our luggage. It took me about an hour and a half. Brian beat me back to Lubbock by about 15 minutes is all. It was a heavy load, and quite the experience. Here's Brian and the girls right before we went to return the truck...

We finally decided (and were able) to visit the Lubbock Windmill Museum...

Liz and Dais standing on the inside of a turbine...

Faye at one end of the turbine (Brian is at the other end with Daisy & Liz)...

And all my girls on the turbine. I didn't get a picture of the whole windmill (in the background), but there are 3 of these turbines per windmill. They are pretty amazing, especially after driving through the windmill farms a few times and seeing hundreds of them together...