Where Have I Been?

Not that I am saying anyone was really wondering but if anyone happens to be the least bit interested I'll give you 3 reasons for my absence.
(in no particular order)
Reason #1 Spencer took up wresting this year and this was his first tournament. He took 3rd place and loved it. The best part of this video is the punch to his head by his opponent. Good times!



Reason #2 Mason's love affair with baseball! He loves this sport and is pretty darn good at it. He pitched this year which was nerve racking for me to watch, but he did great. He also made the All Star Team this year and we start 3 days a week practice tomorrow and traveling to tournaments all summer long.



Reason #3 Riley took up dance lessons. What little girl doesn't love to put on tights and a tutu, some tap or ballet shoes and dance around in front of a wall of mirrors? Some of us never grow out of that love.

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!

Its that time again people! My favorite midnights of the year. The ones that I get to spend with my fellow witches and wizards instead of trying to blend in with all the rest of you muggles. I am so excited to enjoy one of the only last two midnight Harry Potter engagements of our lifetime. I am sad that we are down to so few, but it has been a long and wonderful ride of midnight book releases, movie releases and all night Harry Potter parties. I hate to see it end. All the same however, I intend to enjoy this one just as much as the rest. I always love when we do these HP all nighters as sisters, but it just didn't work out this year. So the kids wanted to wait in line with us until bed time, (and you know what they say, "train up a child to love Harry Potter and they shall not depart from it"). Then Darren and I are in for the long haul to catch the first glimpse of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Woo Hoo!

And in other, but still similar news.....

My little brother came down at the beginning of the month and spent a few weeks with us while working for Darren to earn some money for his mission to Japan. One of the Saturdays he was with us we decided to take a trip to Hollywood and see the sights. We ate at Pink's Hotdogs, cruised the Kodak theater, the Hollywood walk of fame and Graumans Chinese Theater where we took this picture in front of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint's hand, feet and wand prints. We loved having Cameron here and hoped he enjoyed himself as well.

Well, that's all for this post, I have to get some things done before our raucous night tonight, and maybe squeeze a nap in this afternoon if I can swing it. Maybe one of these days I will put up some Halloween pics too. Just maybe.

Mischief Managed!

The Ultimate Diving Machine

I keep thinking I need to blog about our trip to Hawaii this summer, but it all seems so far removed that its hard to come up with a whole blog about it now. So, we went to Hawaii this summer with some friends, we spent most of the week in Kauai, which I love, with a one day stop in Oahu, which Ive never been to. All in all a very fun and successful trip. See pictures below....

Now to more recent news......

A debate has been occurring in the Payne household for quite some time now, a battle of the wills as it were. Darren has been pining over a new car now for, well basically for as long as he's had to drive the Highlander, and from the moment we moved into this house I have been aching to put a pool in this backyard of ours. Well, seeing as how his wish is more feasible at this point in time, I acquiesced and he got his car. Not to worry though, I dont go home empty handed, Darren gave me a peace offering of this......

Not quite an equal trade for this....

But for now it'll do and Ill drive his toy as much as possible to make myself feel better about the whole exchange.

Free Fallin

(Disclaimer: This post not suitable for any reader with a weak constitution)

Some of you may know that about a year or so ago I got into bike riding. It all came about when my Father-in-law, brother-in-law, and I decided we were going to ride a half century in Solvang this past March. My dad and Darren also joined us for the ride and it was beautiful if not rather windy. But after some training and apart from 2 blown tires we all had a pretty good ride. Ive still done a little riding here and there since then, I really enjoy getting out and biking around the area. A couple of weeks ago I actually talked a few friends into taking up riding with me. So Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when we all take our preschoolers to school for a few hours we get together and ride. It is so fun to have friends to ride with and I have started to break them into longer rides. On the first of our "longer" rides however, there was a small mishap, the first that I have had thus far in riding so Ill consider that lucky. And relatively speaking it was pretty minor and somewhat funny, but none the less painful. Dont ask me for all the details because Im still unsure of exactly what happened and how, all I can tell you is that in the midst of slowing down just a bit to ask the girls which direction they wanted to go, I lightly hit my brake and somehow it locked up and I went headfirst over the handlebars. Shauna then panicked and slammed on her brakes and went elbow first over her own. Not knowing which of us to help first Becka finally got us both to the grass and while we lamented our pain she called her husband to come give us a ride home. Everyone is doing ok, if not a bit embarrassed by our debacle, and we are still undeterred in our riding endeavors. We are planning for another half century next year.

While we waited to be picked up and had a good laugh Becka snapped a picture of a few of our injuries. The rest include forearms, hands and knees bruised and stinging with road rash, I caught myself with my face so I have a lovely bruise and rash on my chin with an equally awesome bruised gash on my cheek bone. Shauna got her elbow and hip pretty good as well. I am aching all over, find new bruises often and everything stings so much I dread showering. But even after all that, the only thing that will keep me from our Monday ride is if I cant get my bike fixed in time. (the brake is still stuck)

The moral to this story is that you will never catch me riding without my biking gloves or with a sleeveless shirt on again. Lesson learned.

The Whole Fam Damily

This year for the Payne-Camp family reunion Becky (Darrens mom) decided, on our recommendation, to have everyone meet at the Welk Resort in Escondido, CA. It is a fantastic resort with lots to do, great amenities, and a very close proximity to quite a few fun sights. Our week consisted of tennis tournaments, golf tournaments, crafts, cannon ball tournaments, LOTS of swimming, and an even greater quantity of food.

The first day we left, since we couldn't check in until 4 we decided to hit Carlsbad for some rather chilly beach time with the kids.

This is me wondering what I got myself into starting the long weekend by taking the kids all by myself. (Darren couldn't come down until late the next day. Not the smartest move on my part)

But regardless of the weather the kids had a great time with their cousins playing in the surf.....

and the sand.

Aunt Eva, as always, made us all very cute shirts for this years reunion and the kids got to decorate theirs with puff paint, which was a big hit with the kids, if not the moms who found the clothes they were wearing at the time painted as well. All in the name of fun, right?

Aunt Sarah did cookie decorating by the pool. The cookies looked absolutely disgusting, but what do kids care of that when it comes to eating sugar?

We also had Karaoke and skit night. This is Uncle Mike's uncanny impersonation of Justin Bieber. I think its the red cape that really nails it.

Each night we were lucky enough to have a pavilion right off the golf course where we ate dinner and the kids could run amuck without bothering anyone, least of all their parents.

Saturday morning the girls had a 9 hole golf tourney. Becky and I didn't do too bad, but Marci and Sarah pulled it out in the end. Well done ladies, golf never looked so good.

One of the main events of the week was family pictures. As you can imagine it is no small feat to get all 9 kids and 30 some odd grandkids from all over the country around for it. But once every 10 years it can be pulled off, here are how some of the pictures turned out. (These aren't the professional ones, I don't have those yet. These are either from Becky or Eva's cameras, but still not too bad) (and don't worry I spared you the one of Ryan mooning the camera. Oh yes, he did, and yes, there is photographic evidence)

(Mason was tired of smiling)

And that was our weekend in San Diego. Everyone had a blast and worked hard to put together a fantastic reunion, but none as hard as my MIL. Thanks Becky for a great weekend!

First Things First

Well, I have my San Diego post all ready but decided that more important at this moment is a big shout out to the newest 7 year old in the Payne family. Mason had his birthday yesterday and as far as he is willing to tell me (its never much from that kid) he had a pretty great day. They don't do much at school these days for birthdays so Riley and I decided to go and surprise him with a lunch from McDonalds, which he of course loved.

That evening we had a baseball game, which for Mason is the perfect way to spend his birthday evening. So we brought pizza and what I have to say was the coolest baseball cake EVER to share with everyone at the game. A fun birthday night was had by all, especially this kid.....

Happy Birthday to my Mason Man, lover of all things baseball, sports, outdoors, playing with friends and your little sister.

Take a look at that slide into home!

And that Swing!!

And my handsome little man!!

Sure love you dude!!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Not that you'd know it with the temperature as of late (90's+) but the summer that we celebrate around here, the one where there's no school, no schedule, no homework, no packing lunches, no constant barrage of soccer practices and games, and a time for being able to take vacations, is officially over. Now its back to that routine that we call daily life, we are not however moving on empty handed. We leave behind this thing called summer with some very fond memories.......

(From most recent back, because those things are more fresh in my mind)

Happy Birthday to ME! Well actually my birthday is in June, but for my birthday this year, after playing the "its my birthday" and "this is all I want" card, Darren consented to take me to a Dierks Bentley concert (hence the new playlist) which happened to be just last night. It was so much fun, and our friend Ryan even chipped in by offering us his brand new Audi S4 as our date night car for the long (ish) drive out to where the concert was held. I love Dierks, and he was AMAZING, which I expected he would be. All in all one of the best birthday presents ever and easily one of the best nights ever!

Two weekends ago we had our ward campout, which is always a great time. We usually spend it at the beach which is an added bonus. This year we even brought our bikes and did a nice, fun ride together.
We also spent quite a few days at any number of the many parks around town this summer. We always have a hair-raising good time on the slide!
The beginning of August ushered in our girls camp for this year, which quite possibly could have been my all time favorite girls camp ever (my youth included). I love these amazing ladies I get to work with in YW, we have the best time together. We laugh harder and make bigger fools of ourselves than I can sometimes believe myself. But we ALWAYS have so much fun. We put this camp on all by ourselves this year and it really was a huge success. Better yet, much to Shaunas disbelief, we still like each other after the whole thing is over, and I think the girls had as much fun as we did.

Next Ill be posting about the family reunion down in San Diego, but first I need to steal pictures from someone as I didnt take any. Then its off to Hawaii. Stay tuned and come see us again soon!!

As I sit here and wait for the 4 hour LOST finale to start, I thought Id throw up some blog posts since its been much too long. But before I get to some pictures I had one more very funny story from my little rugrats.

While trying to waste time before LOST Darren decided to get nostalgic and turn on The Lawrence Welk show (apparently it was a saturday evening tradition in their house). We forced the kids to sit and watch and after about 2 songs Spencers says, "this is SO 90's!". I couldnt stop laughing so Darren tells him that he is off a couple decades and that this is actually 70's. That his mom was born at the end of this decade if that tells him how old this show is. Spencer then says something that warms my heart..... "that is old, but my mom really looks like she is 17 or something". THAT'S MY BOY!! I was so proud.

Alright now on to pictures that Ive been storing up for way too long. And since Spencer is vying for favorite kid status, I'll start with his birthday, scouts, and baptism.

When I went to the scout store to buy Spencer his threads the guy working there must have smelled the rookie mom smell all over me and suckered me into buying EVERYTHING. The first thing Darren says to me...."you bought scout socks?!?" Hey, the guy said I might need them, and like Ive ever done this before. Ok, fine, I admit I got played at the scout store, but look how well dressed this kid is.

Spencer also got baptized WAY back in March (dont judge the importance of the event on my blogging about it) It was very nice and of course my parents came down for the occasion which is always so much fun, I love having them here.
(I dont much care for this picture because I look like a giant, please keep in mind I am really not that tall nor is Darren that short, but 2" heals on me and no shoes on him and this is what you get)
Spencer's birthday is also worth mentioning, he finally got his much needed real big kid bike, bmx track here we come.
For his birthday party we took this crazy brood to the MB2 racetrack to try their hand at go-cart racing. Everyone had a fantastic time and felt the need for speed.

Alright, now I think we have wasted enough time that we can skip through all the commercials of the 4 hour LOST finale. Im outta here, I promise Ill be back soon, but no sooner than 4 hours from now, Ill be "Lost".

Cute things come in small packages

So I have a million things to blog about right now and we will get to those someday (hopefully soon, but I make no promises). But I had to tell this adorable story before it gets lost in the confines of this mush that once was my brain....

I went to the store today and because I like to buy my kids love with food, I got the kids all a treat. I came home put Riley down for a nap and told her that when she woke up she could have her treat. While she was sleeping and I was upstairs doing some work, Mason decided to help himself to not only his treat but also his sisters. So when she woke up from her nap, after we got the gum out of her hair (which she had slept in) by way of her very first haircut. And no, she didn't have enough hair to actually cut, but it was necessary. The first thing she asked for was, of course, her treat. I told Mason he was going to have to explain to Riley what happened to her treat. So he walks up next to her and says "Riley, I accidentally ate your treat" She says to him "Its ok Mason, just tell me your sorry, and its ok" So he tells her he's sorry, she gives him a hug and says its alright Mason. Then for being so cute I gave Riley a piece of chocolate and she insisted that she needed two to share one with Mason. I told her Mason had had enough candy and didnt need anymore which of course made her cry but it did warm my heart that she loves her brother and all she needs is a heartfelt solicited apology and life is just as it should be.

Ah... kids, they sure are cute and I think Ill keep 'em.

Now someday soon, Ill blog about our half century bike ride, Spencer's Baptism, Birthday, and many other fun adventures. Stay tuned....

Cure for the common funk

I bring you random acts of fun, frivolity, and general craziness at its finest, from me to you, enjoy!

Fun with whipped cream

Frivolity with Whitney at Korean BBQ.

Crazy that my baby girl turned 3......

And started her first day of preschool.

Crazier still that Utah can be so beautiful and sunny, yet still so stinkin COLD!

And now, if that little bit of randomization helped to remedy your hyper-scheduled, over-planned doldrums, then I have accomplished what I came here to do.

Who dunnit?! -50's Style-

I was in charge of the New Years party this year and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to torment my friends by making them dress up, go out in public, and show us their best acting skills. So like I mentioned in the previous post, I hosted a 1950's murder mystery party. Everyone had to dress up in their best 50's outfits, all of them turned out incredibly awesome, I then surprised them with an outing to In N Out for dinner and you should have seen the looks and heard the comments we got while we were there. Hilarious, and they were all troopers. Then we came back to my house and acted out our parts as best we could to find out which of us killed our good friend "David". There were even murders happening throughout the evening. It was a fun evening filled with all sorts of 50's candy and treats and delicious malts from the "malt shoppe". Thanks again everyone for going along with it and I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Now let me introduce you to our "players".....

Mark & Maria (The "Nice" Couple)

Michael and Mary (Highly Suspect)

Johnny and Jenny (Our Prom King and Queen)

Charles and Carol (The Detectives)

Nate and Nancy (The Gate Crashers)

Steven and Susan (The Wealthy Socialites)

Lenny and Linda (The Rockstars)

Thomas and Tisha (The Good Kids)

The Guys

The Dolls