Oh Christmas Tree

For a family activity with Eric returning home, we all went to a tree farm and got our Christmas Tree. It was a fun experience. It was cold, but Kiera was having the time of her life. She loved being outside and running around. She never cried or anything and we were out in the cold for awhile. Notice our cute little Christmas Tree...we decided to go short this year since we were only going to be home like 2 weeks before Christmas, and then we end up spending so much of it over at me parents home. But we wanted a Christmas tree in the house still, Christmas just isn't Christmas without the Christmas Tree.

We tried to get Kiera to help decorate the tree...she was more interested in taking the ornaments off the tree though. So defeating....The tree looks quite interesting now..all the ornaments that she could reach are off, so we only have a half decorated tree. :0)

Elder Mullis Returns Home

So...the beginning of December I had the wonderful opportunity to go and take care of my three little sisters for a week and a half. It was a memorable experience. We had fun for the most part, but just let me say I was happy to become just a big sister again. The reason for all this.....my parents went to Uruguay to pick my brother Eric up from his mission. Here was part of the scene when he got home....

So, you may ask what was one of the first things Eric enjoyed upon coming home. He quickly discovered the Blue Bell Ice Cream in the freezer. He was so excited...he had to have some. He grabbed a spoon and started to eat. I wish I would have gotten the first bite on camera, but here are the pictures I did get.

We are so happy to have Eric home. We have been able to enjoy hanging out with him so much. We have watched the Dark Night, played Ticket to Ride, and enjoyed just talking and catching up. Kiera is still warming up to him. She will play with him and every once in a while she'll go to him. Eric is not happy about this, we have to continue to inform him that she does love him, you just have to give her time to get to know you.

Birthday, Twilight, and Texas Roadhouse

Since my birthday decided to fall on Thanksgiving this year, we didn't get to celebrate on my birthday. Which is okay, not complaining. I actually had almost a week worth of celebration. So, last sunday, my parents made my fav meal and Cheese Cake. They got me a few gifts that were greatly appreciated, among them a really nice hair straightner and some pearls.

Then yesterday, Friday the 28th, I went shopping in Eville with my Mom pretty much all day. When I got home Jason and a cake for me. Kiera helped make it, he got some really cute pictures of the process.

We tried to take some pictures together, she wouldn't look at the camera though, she was to fasicinated by the lights.

While eating her cake, she decided to play peek-a-boo. Got Chocolate allllll over her face. Isn't she cute though.

Then today for my gift, I got a date with my husband. It was really nice to spend some quality time with the man I love, without worring about a kid that is hungry or tired. We went for a walk on the Jasper River Walk...there isn't a whole lot of romantic things to do in town, so he was trying. It was nice though, a totally college days date type thing to do. Then we went to Evansville to the nice theatre and I got to see the movie Twilight. After getting mixed reviews from everyone, I seriously wondered if this was how I wanted to spend my movie money, but I did and honestly I was happy for the most part. I agree that there were parts that were really slow, and suspense and climax of the movie was kind of rushed. But the movie explained the book pretty good, the acting wasn't to bad, and the chemistry between Edward and Bella were definatly there, which is very important in a love story. All in all, I enjoyed it and was happy to see it. Was all amazed by it, but it was good, I was glad I went to see it. After the movie we went to Texas Roadhouse and had a very good steak. Yum......

Thanksgiving

Well, we had a great time for Thanksgiving this year. Of course I always enjoy having my husband home a few extra days during the week and even better when he takes care of me when he is home. :0) Of course that helps when your Birthday falls on Thanksgiving. But to start at the beginning... Wed. I went over to my mom's house to help get ready for the Thursday festivities. We baked pies all day ( in between making braclets and getting a package ready for my brother Ryan that is.) Below is a picture of Kiera enjoying left-over pudding from the Orea pudding pie I made. She seemed to be enjoying it.

Thanksgiving Day started off quite nice. Jason was so very nice and got up with Kiera and made breakfast for me for my birthday. I was very appreciative for the extra half hour of sleep. I then got me and Kiera ready and left for my parents house. We went over so that Jason could get some studying done, he had assignments that are due by the end of the week, and we knew we would be busy. So I got to spend some time playing with my sisters on the XBox and then help my mom finish getting ready for Thanksgiving.

The meal was very good as usual. My mom sure does know how to bake a turkey...yum. We enjoyed some interesting Thanksgiving discussion....my sister was smart enough to bring up how she was thankful for the fact the she was turning 16 in a week and a day. So of course that got us all talking about her dating and what not. My poor father, I don't think is looking forward to having another daughter dating...and he has two more after Mandy.

After dinner my little sisters to Kiera outside to play, somehow the ended up in the car...and behind the wheel. They are getting ideas into her head at wayyyyy to young an age. :0)

We got to play a family game to end the night. We played Five Crowns, and it came down to the last hand.....I could almost see a win on my birthday, but it was not to be. My dad went down the first time around and set me to third place. Sad, sad, sad. It was fun though, even Mandy played. Always fun to have the family together. We all look forward to Christmas and being able to have Jason AND ERIC home!!!!! So EXCITING!!

A few pics...

Well, not much has been going on in the Payne household. Just the usual, keeping up with business. I've been going through the wounderful first trimester sickness...yeah. That could be why I don't have a lot to tell or a lot of pictures. Here are a few though of my wounderful girl. And as far as the pregnancy thing goes...I went to the doctor and got to see my baby. Squirt, as we have decided to call it for now, was active and tiny. Thats about all you could tell at this point. The determined that by Squirt's size we are looking at a due date of June 11, 2009. So here are some pics of Kiera and I hope all is going well with everyone!!!

Halloween Party

Our church had our Halloween Party last night. Kiera went as a Lady Bug. I got to sew some of it. I have been learning a lot latly. I thought she looked like the cutest lady bug ever...but of course I'm a little bias.

We tried to get her to participate in as many of the activities as we could. She is still kind of young, so she couldn't do them all. She got to visit her aunts and her grandma at some of the booths.

As the night got closer to the end she was getting a little grumpy to, all in all though, I think it was a fun night.

Guess What..!!!

So...the cat is finally out of the bag..I'm pregnant...again! On Kiera's birthday we got a little surprise, and found out that Kiera's going to be a big sister! Who would have guessed that after more than a year of trying...the next time around we would get pregnant without trying...funny world. We are very excited though. Of course we wanted another child, it was just a few 6 - 12 months earlier than we expecting. So my little family of three will be a family of four. I haven't been to the doctor yet, but by my rough calculations I'm due sometime around June 10.

Loves Chocolate

We went to a wedding reception and Kiera found Mommy's plate that had chocolate on it. Below are the pictures that resulted. It was so cute I couldn't help but to just enjoy how cute she was.

First Kiss!

So what do you do when at the age of 1 your daughter is already getting kisses???!!?? No, don't worry, I am totally aware of how innocent it all is, but that doesn't take away my shock the other day. Our library has the reading times for young kids, so yesterday I took Kiera to our first one. It is for 6 months to 23 months. There was a boy in there that was probably a little closer to that 23 months than most...and after they read a story to them, they bring some toys in for the kids to play together with. So the kids are all running around, pulling toys out of the box, and playing as nicely as can be expected. One boy was walking by Kiera and kind of went to push her out of the way, before he could cause much harm though his mother saw him and told him to play nice. So this boy, no idea who he is, goes in and kisses my daughter. He only got her cheek the first time, so then he had to give her another kiss on the lips. It was one of those moments where I thought, HOW CUTE!!! then the thought of HE'S KISSING MY DAUGHTER!! came to mind. As I said, all innocent, but come on, a random boy was kissing her!

Someone's A YEAR OLD!!!!!!!!!

Well, I am a little late with this post, but yes, my Baby Girl has turned 1. It was an enjoyable day. We actually celebrated it on Sunday after Conference, since Grandma Mullis was leaving to go help Shaun and Melanie with the new baby. Saturday night we went over to Grandma's house and I got to decorate my first cake.
I thought I did pretty good if I do say so myself. I did enjoy it believe it or not, maybe someday I will be able to do a little bit more with it. Anyway, so Grandma got her plenty of gifts, the main gifts I gave were clothes. Exciting birthday huh? I did get her a CD that goes through her ABC's....hopefully she likes it. Now Grandma on the other hand....got her quite a bit. She got clothes, shoes, and her favorite toy, a new princess ride toy. It makes all sort of noises, everything you press makes some kind sound. I don't know why Grandparents find it so much fun to get loud noisy toys for the Grandchildren. Of course I can't be to mad, sense anything that will occupy her time means I have at least some time to get things done. Later we had the cake. Kiera slowly took a couple of bites, and then stopped eating it as she saw Daddy getting into some Ice Cream!!! At which point she refused to have anymore cake without some of Daddy's Ice Cream. I love this picture of her eating the cake...the look on her face is priceless. She seems so uninterested in it. Then the last pictures are just pictures you have to get on the first birthday. Jason and I with our beautiful daugher and then one with the Grandparents.

Daddy has a birthday

This is just quick post. Jason's birthday was Oct. 1...he is one year away from the big 30....But don't tell him I told you. His big birthday present was a BYU polo shirt that he could wear to work. Then he got his cake from a box...which is completly for him because I prefer my home-made cake my Mom makes...but since I love him...he gets his cake from a box. Here are a few pictures of him and Kiera enjoying the birthday sweets.