Together Forever

There really is no place on earth like the Temple.  The gratitude and peace that I feel when I'm there makes everything hard in life just melt away. This time Tyler and I had the opportunity to participate in doing sealings. Can I just say that marriage is tough?  It's amazing, powerful, fun, rewarding, the best thing ever... but, it's also tough.  You've gotta stick together, make things work, find common ground, compromise, humble yourself, serve, do all the small things, be consistent, learn to communicate, always look for the good, agree on which movie to watch, make big decisions together, see past the dirty socks on the floor, learn how to manage finances, not get too upset when they beat you at sports or board games, and most of all learn how to repent and forgive.  


I asked my father-in-law the other day what he remembered about me the first time Tyler took me to Weatherford to meet the family. He told me that he remembered going to do some service at the cannery with the family.  A few of us were loading boxes into this big bin, and he shouted at Tyler to, "Go get your woman!".  The next thing he remembered was me yelling back at him with fire in my eyes saying, "I'm NOBODY'S woman!" He said he couldn't believe the reaction he got out of me, and that he knew that this was a girl that wasn't going to get pushed around... even from their strong-willed son, Tyler.  I must say that I definitely remember that, and it still gets me a little fired up today. Well, I wasn't his woman, not yet anyway. ;)  Several times since then my father-in-law has asked me if I'm Tyler's woman to which I proudly respond, "Heck ya, I'm his woman!" 


Going to the Temple made me want to shout it from the rooftops, "I am Tyler Payne's woman!!!"  Although marriage is tough, especially for two hard-heads like Tyler and I, it is the biggest blessing I could ever ask for.  We CAN be together forever. I love that. 

"Choose your love and love your choice."

President Thomas S. Monson 

Tyler- You are the BEST choice I've ever made. I love you.      

At the Dallas temple with my sweetheart...

Thank you Brian and Tawnya for volunteering to watch our babies so we could go to the Temple.  It meant so much to us.  It had been too long. 

  During the hussle and bussle of trying to get out the door to make it to the Temple, I insisted on taking some family pictures, and I'm so glad I did! These were the three best ones... I tried the whole "switching heads trick" which actually didn't turn out so bad, but it still annoyed me enough to leave it off the blog... Remind me to think about poses before walking out the door with a 2 year old. 

I still think they turned out pretty good.

I love my family.

Families CAN be together forever. 

A trip to the Zoo

Rachel was fussing about something Wednesday morning and I can't seem to remember what about... oh yes, I think it was about getting pink yogurt on her dress.  All I could hear was, "burp rag, burp rag, burg rag" coming from the kitchen.  Yes, every time she makes a mess Rachel yells, "burp rag". Thats probably because one of us is always looking for one... Maggie spits up a lot (I sure hope she grows out of that soon). And if you're wondering about the "pink" yogurt, it's strawberry.  I know she likes other flavors, but she insists it must be pink.  What a girl! haha.  Speaking of girl, you've probably noticed the same couple of dresses over and over again on this blog.  It's the first thing Rachel says when I come into her room in the morning, "Dress please Mommy, Dress!".  Yes, I do have clothes for my child!  haha.

Anyway, back to Wednesday morning... I walked in the kitchen amiss all the fussing and said, "Rachel we're going to go see the monkeys today!"  Immediately all the fussing about the pink yogurt on the same dress that she wore three days ago was forgotten and replaced with "ooooooo-aa-aa-aa-aa!".  After that I knew it was going to be a fun day.

 oohhh, it's so hard for me to pick a favorite animal but Elephants are right there on top of the list... not quite the same as seeing them in the wild, but still awesome... 

All the kids...

This was the coolest white tiger ever!  He just paced and paced right in front of the glass wall...


   What is this a picture of you ask?  Well, its Rachel saying "grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

hahaha... Maggie had a lot to say about them animals...



   The parakeet pin was the coolest... you could feed them, hold them, whatever.... Rachel LOVED this!

Daddy got one!

Come here bird, where'd you go?

I just can't pass up these two pictures! I have a hard time getting Maggie to give me her big smile with the darn camera in front of my face.  It just kills me because it's so easy to get her going, so I held the camera down and started playing with her and snapped a few.  I know it's all off center and the stroller cushion is more in focus than her face, but I still love these...



It was so fun getting to go as a family! I love it when Tyler can come with us to things like this... 

Rain is a Good Thing

It has been raining a lot lately!  Which is awesome, especially for the garden and my corn (which you can see on the left side of the picture). We never let the rain stop us from having a good time, in fact it's our reason for going outside. It seems there are certain staple posts on this blog, and they seem to be water, swings, and babies... so buckle up people there will be more. I've already got the girls bathing suits ready!  Bring on the kiddy pools! :) 
   The rain let up so we put the sprinkler under the trampoline... 

Finding all the heavy spots where the rain runs off the roof, I love this picture... 

Cub Scouts and Ducks

I love busy weekends. I love lazy weekends.  I love ALL weekends!
This last one was a busy one.  First it was working on the Cub Scout fundraiser, then it was going to the park to feed the ducks.  May not seem like such a busy weekend, but between preparing for and setting up the fundraiser, running errands, Tyler leaving, chasing after one baby and keeping another one entertained, working on a sharing time lesson, cleaning, feeding the ducks and playing at the park, a goodwill trip, and a McDonald's outing with some friends, it was quite a day.  
The fundraiser turned out pretty good (I think). It was my first one after all. Can you believe it cost 80 bucks to send your cub scout to day camp and they don't even provide lunch... lame huh? 

yum, doesn't that fruit look so pretty? (I chopped it... I know, go Jess! haha) 

There was a face painting booth... I bet you can guess where Rachel stayed the WHOLE time.  Rachel adores the Young Women in the ward and they love her too.  If you look close enough you'll see white marks on these girls (they're sisters, you can so tell right?) arms hands, and legs.  They were kind enough to let Rachel paint all over them.  She had just gotten started here, I wish I would have gotten an after picture... they were covered. Surprising enough Rachel didn't want her face painted, I guess she just wanted to do the painting.  I got a turquoise heart on my cheek. :) 

These ducks meant business!  I was kinda worried they'd attack Rachel at first, and you know Rachel, she'll walk right up to those suckers.  So I told her they'd bite her if she got too close.  Needless to say, she got the message and enjoyed the thrill of getting "too close". I love her expression here... watch out girlfriend, they'll gettcha! 

She also had to taste all the food I gave her to feed the ducks... yummm stale hot dog buns and cereal... 

An overexposed picture, but too cute to pass up...

I guess monkey bars are for hanging, not crossing. How long can you hang? 

And... I love weekends.  But I think I already said that.

   

Rockin and Rollin

My sweet baby is on the move!  Maggie has been rolling around for quite a while now, but she still hasn't gotten this whole crawling thing down yet. Oh, but it's about to happen.  Wait and see, any day now she'll be crawling everywhere.  
I'm not sure how I feel about this.  She's TOO BIG!  She's right where Rachel was... 95th percentile.  Goodness gracious these girls! It all happens way too fast.  With Rachel, all I could think about was what's next?  Always excited for the next thing.  Now, I just wish everything would slow down. If only life went in the direction and speed that I wanted it to go... sigh. It's kinda like bumper cars, I never could make those things go where I wanted them to go... That's it, life is like riding in a bumper car. haha... where I am going with this? 
oh right... Maggie...   
  

hard at work...

Go ahead girl, talk out that frustration... 

Crawl, crawl, crawl...

but rolling is so much easier, Momma... 


   looky there... 2 TOOFERS! and a third one on the way...



I love her big smile...   

okay, this look gets me every time...

All I can say is Maggie sure doesn't mind the pace of things right now... she's just rockin and rollin with the beat... thats my girl. 

Success!

For the past couple weeks Tyler has been doing some training at Fort Hood, so the girls and I decided to go up and stay with him for the last couple days.  I thought it would be like a little mini family vacation, but anyone who has traveled with Rachel know's better.  I don't know what started this, but Rachel has been AWFUL to travel with lately.  I mean she won't sleep, she's cranky, and she's abnormally disobedient... I'm talking about waking up multiple times during the night scared and screaming.  What is that all about?  

Knowing all this, I decided to go anyway. We've got to get over this sometime, might as well practice for 2 days, right?  So I took the proper provisions, I bought a Dora the Explorer movie and a princess coloring book and all was well in the world. Thank you Dora.  I still got kicked in the head a few times during the night though. It was funny, she kicked me dang hard in the ear once and I yelled RACHEL! and rolled over.  Shortly after that I heard, "Sorry, Mommy." haha. That girl sure does squirm in her sleep. 

I forgot my camera, but luckily brought my Ipod.  I've never taken pictures with my Ipod before, but it sure was handy for those couple of days...

Right before I brought out the special surprise... ICE CREAM! 

Watching Megamind

And a big thank you to the princess coloring book...

What to do on post while waiting for Daddy?  Of course, find the coolest playground and the thrift store! haha







Oh look! She's up! Bright-eyed and bushy tailed too!

One. More. Time.

I can't tell you how many times a day I hear the words, one more time.  It happens during tickle fights, during "airplane" rides, on the trampoline, during hide-n-go seek, and of course on the swing.  I love how she says it with her little voice pronunciating the words completely with more emphasis on ONE... "ONE more time, Mommy!"... it makes me laugh every time.
But, I'll be honest and say that sometimes these words bring on frustration (especially when it's the 50th one more time), but I just can't turn down this face...



 




Okay, but just ONE more time.

Happy Late Mother's Day!

I know it's a day late, but I don't care. I love being a Mommy.  

These are my very favorite Mommy pictures.  They are the ones I keep in my scriptures. They have always been special to me.    

   

I love you Mom.  Your example of faith in Jesus Christ continues to astound me, it has helped and blessed my life more than you know.  That is just one of the many things I love about you.  

Should have been a Farmer

I've always wanted to be a cowgirl.  Really it's true.  I may have been raised in the city (suburbs), but I've got country in my heart. I want a long, gravel road leading up to a nice plot of land with the home that Tyler and I built together sitting on it.  It may not happen in this lifetime, but it'll happen. I'm sure of it.  


Anyway, every time Tyler and I get fed up with life and all things Army, I just smile at him and say, "Well, we can still be farmers, it's not too late."  haha.
I got my wish, we planted a cornfield!  Gosh, I've ALWAYS wanted a cornfield!  Always always always!  It's one of those things that's on my Life "To-Do" list. I was pretty darn excited about it.

My amazing husband did all the hard work... I can't tell you how many times that tractor sunk... (thanks sweetie)

Turning a yard into a garden is a lot of work!  Good thing everyone helped!  (I promise guys, the corn will be worth it) haha

Rachel's idea of helping out... (just in case you are wondering, this picture wasn't posed, she was standing just like that)...an Aggie on the management track I suppose...

Sister love...

Faith really is like a seed...

The cornfield... alright, alright, it's more like a corn-plot or corn-patch... still, ain't it somethin'?

I love the little sprouts!

Now all I need is a pair of overalls and some boots, cuz I've already got the straw hat. Here's hoping it keeps growing and we get some yummy corn!