Broken Bow, Oklahoma January 2009

In January, Annie, Wendy and I had a girls (Mommy's) weekend with kids up in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. It was a blast! We went hiking, make smores, went to a nature center, did crafts and explored all weekend. The cabin was amazing and comfortably fit us all. This picture on the left is of the kids around the sign to the cabin and that's our cabin in the background. What a great time!!!!

2008 in REVIEW

2008 was a fantastic year for the Payne family. We took 2 trips to the mountains, got to experience 2 snowdays in 1 week in Texas, went camping ,went to the beach, spent time at the lake, Colton played soccer & joined Indian Guides, Cassie did cheerleading & dance and we all just had a great year. Here is a look back at 2008....what a blessed year we had!

Wall Family Tree Farm, Terrell, Texas

We decided to start a new tradition this year. With the advice of Cory, we went to this precious Christmas Tree Farm in Terrell and cut down our own tree. We really had no expectations and the trip ended up being a blast. It was so much fun for us and the kids. The farm was so cute, a huge red barn where they sold cider, hotdogs, home picked pecans, and hot cocoa. They had Christmas music pumping everywhere, a huge playground, and hundereds of acres of Trees to choose from. A wagon picked us up at the main barn and we hopped on and headed down to a tree pasture. There we grabbed a saw and started looking for the perfect tree. We already have a big ol fake on in the family room so we decided to let the kids pick out their own tree for their gameroom. We said it had to be taller than Colton and shorter than Mommy. So they found the cutest 5 ft tree and whacked it down. Then we all carried it to the wagon/hayride and headed back to the barn. There were these sweet puppies roaming around the barn too. I talked to the owner who said that their mommy will be having another litter in Feb. We fell in love w/ the puppies. Since Chloe passed away last week, we've been talking lots about getting a new puppy. I got their phone number...we may be getting one of their puppies next year:) All in all it was just a great day; ended with dinner at Chilies and chocolate shakes for the kids. Good times :)

THANKSGIVING 2008

For Thanksgiving 2008 we headed to Colorado to spend the holiday with my brother Sean and his family. He has 5 kids so it's always a blast for the kiddos. We went to the Cheyenne Mtn Zoo which was on the side of a mountain and just amazing. We spent Thanksgiving Day cooking and relaxing with the fam. The next day we took family pics and John and I took the kids to visit Kevin Bauer and his sweet family for a bit. Then we headed back to Sean's, let the kids open their Christmas gifts from one another, and we headed back to Dallas. It was a very smooth, fun trip. We can't wait to get back to Co...hopefully this summer.

Cassidy's Thankgiving Program

This was Cassidy's cute little Thanksgiving Show. She loves being all dresses up in costumes

Colton's Thankgiving Feast at MCA

Colton's 1st Grade Class had a Thankgiving meal with their 5th Grade Reading Buddies. He's holding the turkey treat he made his buddy. They got to share a big Thankgiving type meal together and play games. The really dig hanging w/ the older kiddos.

Colton's 1st Slumber Party

Colton had his 1st slumber party with 2 of his buddies from school, Jack Marcusse and Caleb Buchannan. These boys have been planning this party for over a month and were all so excited. These 3 have gone to school together since they were 4 years old. At their sleepover they had pizza, made their own sundaes, watched movies in the gameroom, played with dinosaurs, and just had a blast. It was so cute...they were so excited to be sleeping over that they all put their jammies on by 7:30. They even let Cassidy hang with them the whole night. I rarely saw any of the boys all night without a smile on their face. Just a fantastic time:)