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.

Celebrating Rain

The boys weren't the only ones having fun in the rain. Us girlies were out there, too. We just stuck to the mud-puddles and water holes, though--there was a huge one back by the shop. :)

With all the water, I was pretty limited on where I could take the camera. Mostly just under the carport. I caught Daisy on her way back out to the water hole (she had taken a potty break).

Glory, the horse, was so fun to watch. She was prancing and galloping all over the field. Should would chase the calf and peacocks. Then she would winnie and snort at us when we laughed at her. I have never seen her so playful. She reminded me of my girls. I can imagine it was such a nice break to have a cool rain, instead of the seemingly endless HOT summer days. She was celebrating the wonderful, beautiful rain...

On Saturday morning, it was still raining (I love sleeping in a rainstorm). I had planned to go running, and I decided to keep my plans and follow Glory's example--to enjoy the rain. I ran around the block. And, by the way, the Payne's block is 4.8 miles!!! Yeah, it has been my favorite run ever (except maybe the Dam Marathon last year :)!! You can't tell very well from the photo, but I'm soaked and there's a nice puddle around my feet...

So, the next time it rains, I hope you all find yourself CELEBRATING RAIN!!

Football in the Rain

A little over a week ago Brian went to a conference in Fort Worth (at Cooks Children's Hospital). The rest of us tagged along for a 3-day vacation to Weatherford. Let me just say that my girls must be Weatherford's little charms, because EVERY time we've been to Weatherford this year it has rained (and we're still in extreme droubt conditions). We were there twice in April; it rained (and hailed) both times. Once in May (big rain storm). And this trip. My girls are good luck!! (Although in Galveston, it wasn't really "lucky" to have more water--ha, ha). We do love the rain, though. And when you go without for so long, you love it even more ("you love what you can't have" kind of thing).

And we took advantage of that rain. Here's the boys havin' fun, gettin' dirty, makin' bruises...

(sorry Joseph--all my shots of you were extremely blurry)

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