Poison Pond

For any of you still randomly checking my blog, I apologize. I haven't had a working camera for a while, besides B's ipod, so there hasn't been much motivation to post on here. Plus all the "good stuff" happens when he's at work--with his ipod. :) On a more honest note, it's been a little nice to have a good excuse...

So--without a picture (again)--here's this morning's experience:

Liz and Daisy were in the kitchen "eating breakfast" (it's more like eat a bite, play for 20 minutes, get a reminder from mom to eat, take a bite, play for 20 minutes, etc...). I walked in the kitchen to open the blinds, and they had their blankets, pillows, and toys draped accross chairs, bar stools, and the table (with their food half-eaten). As I'm opening the blinds:

Daisy: "Mom, if you step in the Poison Pond (ie. the floor), you'll die."

Liz: "Yeah, you can't touch da pond."

Mom: "I don't like games where you can die, girls."

Liz: "You'll go back to heaven!"

(I had no comment)

Daisy: "But you can step in the pond on Sundays--it's ok."

(Again I had no comment, so I decided just to leave)

:)

Faye

I had a pretty good quote for Daisy, so here's my Faye conversation today (w/Daisy):

Daisy: "When I scream very loud, it hurts inside my neck...uh, my throat." (she taps her throat)

Faye: "It's called your X-box, Daisy!"

Mom: "Do you mean your 'voice' box?"

Faye: "Oh, ...voice box."

Mom: "What is an X-box, Faye?" (I was curious to see if she knew)

Faye: (shrugs shoulders) "I don't know... I know what a Redbox is!"

Mom: "What?"

Faye: "It's what Grandma Payne has--you can play games on it."


Ha, ha, ha!! I guess I never realized how many "boxes" there are out there. :) I love my kids' comprehension of life! It's so refreshing and honest. I keep absolutely loving the stage of life they are in, and wishing they could just stay where they are, but then it gets better!! So ...when Lizzy can no longer lift her leg because her pants have become too tight, I can celebrate the next stage and enjoy it!! I must say that I am a little concerned about the teenage years... :)

Lubbock Temple

I know this picture isn't very good quality, but here are my little Payne's touching the most beautiful building in Lubbock! I am so grateful to be 8-10 minutes from a Temple. There have been quite a few times where I'm talking to someone or introducing myself, and when the topic of religion comes up, I tell them I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometimes, they know, but if not I say I'm a mormon. Then it clicks. But then, they say something about the Temple--either that they walked through it when it was first built, or their dad walked through it, or their friend--and whoever it was who walked through this magnifisent building is always impressed. I, too, am impressed with the Lubbock Temple. It is one of the smaller temples that has been built, but definitely a "grand" building.

Something kind of interesting about the Lubbock, Temple (I'm 90% positive it's true :), and this is it: There is more gold in the Lubbock, Texas, Temple than any other temple in the world, with the one exception of the Salt Lake Temple. The reason for this is that when President Hinkley announced the building of small temples, they began, but then they were too small. So he said to build them bigger. The Lubbock Temple was the first of what I call the "bigger of the small ones." They wanted to put everything into it, so that when President Hinkley saw it, he could decide what he did/didn't like about it, then pattern other temples from it. And there is a lot of gold in that building--very beautiful, very bright!

This building is what brought our family to Lubbock. It is a place where I can go, then come out a better person (President Hinkley's words). It has been a place of peace and learning for me.

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!!