I am Thankful for;

1. husband and kids
2. parents (mine and k1's)
3. family and friends
4. modern technology
5. my health
6. gospel and the peace it gives me
7. warmth from the roof over my head and clothes I wear
8. K1's job and the finance it provides
9. food I have to eat and feed my family
10.children's laughter (nothing can cheer me up quicker)

My list could go on and on. I hope you don't wait till Thanksgiving to think about what you are thankful for. I try to reflect back every week, and tell people I am grateful for them and what they do for me and my family.

I got up this morning and ran a 4 mile race with a great friend and it was so beautiful outside. The crisp air, the snow on the mountains, and little bit of sun. What a great time to reflect on all the joy I have around me. Of course there are rough times, but they don't compare to the wonderful things. I thought about all the wonderful people in my life and hope they know just how grateful I am for them.

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving where ever you may be.

Calories burned

Have you ever wondered how many calories you burn in a day. I have thought about this lately, not quite sure why. I have a heart rate monitor that will tell me calories burned, I wear this when I workout. I decided to wear it all day and see what it would tell me. So yesterday, I put it on at 7:30am and went for a run, I only did 1 1/2 miles because my lungs were burning from the cold. I did some yard work and then ran errands and other normal mom stuff. When it came time to get ready for bed I took off the monitor and read the calories burned for the day. I had had the monitor on for 11 hours 48 Min's and 23 seconds, the calorie count was 3760. I was a little surprised and very pleased. It is nice to know that doing my "mom" job I can burn allot of calories. This doesn't give me the right to eat that many calories now, but makes me feel better about the 3 reese's peanut butter cups I ate at 9pm last night. So all you mom's out there can rest assure that our job is worth it in so many way's.

As most of you know I have been trying to regain my pre-baby figure. I started back in April and have had some great help from friends. I started by changing my workouts to include weights, going to the gym more often and cutting back on my snacks. I then got in the habit of drinking more water and eating smaller portions. I can honestly say it worked for me. Seven months later I am down 16 pounds and 2 1/2inches in the waist. I would like to loose 5 to 6 pounds more and still tone up my stomach more, but now that I am 38 years young, I know it might take time and may never get to exactly what I want. I am happy with the results and even put a dress on last week and didn't have to wear a girdle with it. It made me cry. I also feel allot better and have more energy to handle my daily mom duties. So a big thanks to Shauna for showing me what to do with the weights and going to the gym with me so early in the morning, thanks to LauraLee for encouraging me and getting me running with her and Shelley.Thanks to Shelley for getting me to race and pushing my limits. Thanks to K1 for allowing me the time to do all this. I am doing another race on Thanksgiving day and hope the cold air doesn't kill me.

For my next experiment I want to put the monitor on K2 and see how many calories he burns in a day. I can only imagine.

Remembering

It is hard to believe that a year has gone by since Sharon passed away. This picture was taken about 2 months before she passed away. She was diagnosed in May 2006 with Brain Cancer and given no more than 4 years to live. A year and a half later we would be saying our goodbye's. Over that year and a half she had several surgeries and took countless amounts of drug's and even endured chemo and radiation treatment's. It was not an easy time for her or the family, but through it all she kept her sense of humor. Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of her strength, wisdom and humor. Over the last year I have watched her boys struggle in school and with their dad. I have also watched her husband grow in a role he never thought possible. I have seen her parents shed so many tears of watching their only daughter pass before them. I have seen her brothers struggle to make sense of this and share so many wonderful stories about their sister. I too have shed tears for her and still laugh at the stories she could tell. I have felt her presence at certain times and her courage has gotten me through some tough times. K1 and others have noticed bits of Sharon in S and so much of Sharon in seen in her boys. I can have peace in knowing she is not suffering and she is waiting to greet me with open arms when my time comes.

As our family celebrates the birth of a new little girl, that carries her Aunt's name, we will never forget the sorrow of this day, but look forward to living righteously and being together as a family once more.

Disney World Photos....Finally

We finally got the camera back. Here are pictures of our trip to DisneyWorld.
Enjoy!!!

Welcome to the family

Audrey Sharon Payne was born at 4:05pm on Sunday November 16th. She is 6 pounds 13 ounces and 18 inches long. She is the second grand-daughter on the Payne side and she ends S's reign as the only girl. She was born to K1's brother and sister-in-law and was 3 weeks early. We are glad that she is here and healthy and that they can join the no longer sleeping until 10am, packing your whole house for a trip to grandma's, turning the volume on the t.v. down so you don't wake the baby club.

Kids..what a joy

So, I just had to share some conversations I have had lately with the kids.

K2: "mommy, I wonder who J will marry when he gets older?"
me: "I don't know"
K2: "why not, you know everything"
me: "I don't know who he will marry or who you or S will marry"
K2: "I am going to marry S"
me: "well she is your sister, so you can not marry her"
K2: "but I love her and you love daddy"
me: "I know you love her, but she is your sister and we just don't do that"
K2: "you made me sad mommy:
me: "I am sorry that you are sad, but you will find someone when you get older that you love even more then you love S"
K2: "no I won't"

It makes me very happy that he loves his sister so much. Flash forward about 10 min.

K2: "S, stop talking to me"
S: "please leave me alone"
K2: "I don't love you anymore and you are not my friend"

As you can tell they have a love hate relationship, like most sibilings I know.
Here is another one for you.

me: "J, please stop hitting S"
J: "no way"
me: " J, we do not talk that way"
J: "pooh pooh"
me: "okay J you need time out, let's go"
J: "no way, pooh pooh"
K2: "J, if you tell her your sorry, she will let you out and you won't get the spice"
J: "ok, I sorry mommy"
K2: "That is good, you don't want the spice"
J: "no way pooh pooh"
K2: "oh well, you need spice to make you not say bad words"
K2: "mom go ahead and spice him"

Just so you know, we have tried everything to get K2 to not call people names. After time outs and taking things away I resorted to cayenne pepper. K2 can not stand it and he has done really well. J has started with the name calling and so he has gotten it a couple of times. Please don't think I am mean, I just have to stick with what works.

Freedom of speech

So much has been on the news lately about Prop 8 in California. I never really speak about politics, because I feel I don't always sound smart. I feel I need to say something and since this is my blog I am going to speak or write my thoughts.

I grew up in California and my parents still live there. They have been very involved with Prop 8 and getting information out about it. This is not church doctrine material, it is the same information you would get in the mail and most likely throw away without reading it. Many people have spent alot of hours to get the word out about Prop 8 and it makes me so sad that the LDS Religion is being blamed for it passing. It has been said that church and state should be kept separate, and that "The Mormons should stay out of it". Well if a Mormon lives in California then they have the right to vote and are allowed to be involved.

I found this post on a friends blog and thought I would share it. It made me so sad, thanks Nicole for posting it.


Dear family and friends, Monday Oct. 27, 2008 I had a very disturbing experience yesterday that I would like to share with those of you that live outside of California (or outside of the San Francisco Bay area). This weekend we have stake conference. Our stake conference always begins with a stake temple session on Friday or Thursday night. Early Friday morning I received a call from the second counselor in our bishopric to let me know that there would be numerous protesters outside the temple, and to remind everyone to stay calm and to drive carefully. The beautiful Oakland Temple is located right across the bay from San Francisco, very close to the city of Berkeley. Apparently the opposition to proposition 8, the amendment that seeks to make marriage in Ca, between a man and a woman again, has realized the deep involvement of the church and begun to protest right outside of the temple and harass temple patrons. The fastest way to get to the temple from our house is to take the 680 freeway, but the exit is a bit tricky. The off ramp is extremely short and straight uphill. You then make an almost blind left turn, an immediate right and another left into the parking lot. As we approached the off ramp I realized there would be trouble, there was a backup onto the freeway from cars stalled on the off ramp. As we moved forward inches at a time, we realized this was due to a large group of loud protesters who were standing on both sides of the street, yelling, screaming and waving signs. When we got to the top of the off ramp, ready to make our turn, one protester jumped out right in front of our car. It took my husband all his self control to carefully maneuver around him to the left and proceed to the temple. I tried not to listen to all they were shouting at us, but I was shaking as I got to the temple front door. Several of the sisters, especially the ones driving on their own, were crying (which made me snap out of it and go into the RS President mode to comfort them). Later, as I was sitting in the perfect quiet of the chapel, I couldn't help but think of Lehi's dream, and the people who mocked the Saints from the big spacious building but 'we heeded them not'. It was a truly surreal experience, I'd never thought that I would have to go through an angry crowd to go to the temple. As we left late at night, the protesters had dispersed, temple security (who all looked very large and Tongan) stood by the gates. I never saw a single police man. Please pray for those of us in California fighting for prop 8--it's getting kind of scary out here!

This truly is just like Lehi's dream. I feel that I have to fight for what I believe in. I don't dislike or even hate those who have a different view on what a marriage should be, but they should also have the same respect for me and what I believe a marriage should be. I hope no one is offended by this post but I couldn't keep quite anymore.

Thank you to all those that worked so hard in California and other states to get the word out. May God bless us all.

A great book for kids

Looking for a great gift for your favorite preschool teacher? Does your child need a new book to entertain them? Do you know someone that loves the alphabet and music? Well, I have the solution, it is called "Critter Crew with Melody Lou". This is a great kids book and CD of alphabet sounds and songs. My sister-in-law edited this book and her sister wrote the music and lyrics for the book. It is on it's way to stores, but I have it early. In stores it is $24.95, but I can offer it to you for $20, but if you buy more then 1, I will give it to you for $15 a book. Please stop by to see it or go to www.crittercrewbooks.com and let me know what you think.

Don't forget Christmas is coming and teachers love new books in the classroom. The songs are fun and easy. S loves to sing them, K dances around and J just follows along.

Please pass this along to anyone you think might want one.