Jason's 5th Birthday

The first weekend in November, Jaeleen and Zach brought their family to see us. We celebrated Jason's 5th birthday while they were here. Jaeleen decorated his cake with a BIG dinosaur since he loves dinosaurs.

We love it when our family comes to be with us.

This is the Munns' family: Zach, "Cheezer" Jason, Jaeleen, Briggs and Brianna.

Jacob, Corynn and Cameron joined us for all the fun.

Also enjoying the party was Dallin and Amber's family: Kaylee, Allie, Kason and Rylee.

Visit to the Munn's Farm

In September, we made a quick trip to visit Jaeleen and Zach's family on their little farm. Here are Brianna and Jason with Scribbles.

Aren't these the cutest country grandkids you've ever seen?

We checked up on the progress of their new animal barn.

New piglets had been born the night before our arrival.

We love our country family and wish we could be with them more often. Jason and Brianna had fun dressing up in their cowpoke duds.

A "Payneful" July

We have had a blast visiting with our Payne family this past month. You will need to look at older posts to get all of the pictures, though. I thought it would look nice to post one of Mom and Dad Payne first to introduce our extended family.

Here is Jarom "Jerry" and me.

Eric and Becky prior to leaving for their home in Illinois.

When we stopped in Orderville on our way back home, we enjoyed getting to know Eric and Becky's family. DJ is on a mission in Mexico, but here are four of their six: Seth, Emily, Caleb and Ethan.

Liz with her youngest, Jessie.

Little cousins - Chance, Ethyn, Ireland, Audrey and Chloe. (Chance belongs to Brad; Ethyn and Audrey belong to Liz; Ireland and Chloe belong to Matt.)

Payne Cousins

We enjoyed visiting with some of Ken and Kathy's children and grandchildren. This is Brad and Michelle with their two children Chance and AnnaBelle.

We managed to take a few pictures, including this one of the couples in Ken's back yard: Front - Kathy, Ken, Graciela, Mark, Karen. Back - Doreen, Jan, Jay

Our Washington Trip

We had a fabulous trip renewing our family ties up in Washington state. We enjoyed eating and snacking, listening to family reports, planning a "Big Payne" reunion for next July 2010, and just visiting with family.

Here is Jan with three of his siblings - Ken, Karen and Mark

Scenic View

You can decide which view is the Scenic View - me or the incredible background! On the way to Arizona, Jan and I actually stopped in Page, AZ at the "scenic view". This is a first since we usually just zoom on down Highway 89. There was a long trail of steps that were cut out of sandstone leading down to a ramada covered area. From there you could take pictures of the Colorado River as well as Glen Canyon Dam. But, alas, my knees could only make it part way down (we had to come back up, you know!). Then I let Jan take a picture of ME, which is very unusual, but I think it turned out ok, don't you?

Family Fun

On Father's Day, we enjoyed a delicious meal with Dallin and Amber's family and Cameron and Corynn's family. After eating, it was time for a little family fun which turned into the traditional "Fisty, Pinchy, Flatty, Cutty, Cow". If you don't know how to play this game, ask any of the Payne Clan for a free demonstration.

The Corn is as High. . .

We were pleasantly surprised when we came back from Utah to find our corn higher than Jan and it had tasseled out! It actually grew another foot while we were gone for a week. Now just about three more weeks until corn picking time. We also harvested our one and only spaghetti squash which I planted on a whim. Indeed it has been fun to watch grow.

Garden Movie

Here is a movie I took of my Mother's Day gift from JD.

95% Finished

The new garden -95% done

BEFORE

Wow!  The extention on our garden is now 95% done!  The only things left are to finish hooking up the drip irrigation and finish setting the walkway pavers in place.  This is a project of the heart from JD to me.  Ahhhh!  Thanks so much sweetheart, I love you.  What a Mothers' Day gift.

Progress in the Garden

We are getting a lot accomplished  thanks to the help of two young men from our ward, Morgan and Kyle Janda.  They are hard workers, fast learners and willing to build their muscles with this manly work.  The garden soil arrived today and Morgan somehow volunteered to run the wheelbarrow while Kyle worked on finishing the cinder block wall.  JD worked on the paver stones for the walkway.  Meanwhile I enjoyed watching them work and taking pictures.

Backyard Projects

Well, the Desert Paynes blog has now officially started. Dad and I have been doing back breaking work in the back yard. Actually, Dad does most of the work while I encourage him and come up with other projects. I am including pictures of his completed workbench (which doubles as a cover for our water storage) and the inside of the tool shed which was recently renovated and organized. Things are looking up. The next big project is to make an extension of our raised bed garden.