Enter to Win!

.... an exclusive 2013 edition of the Payne Family Christmas Card!!! ***

Enter by sending your mailing address to payne.family11@gmail.com  Submissions accepted for the next week... or so... If the deadline is missed, you may be added to the list for next year.

Everyone's a winner (that is, if you consider a Christmas card from us to be something worth winning). Not EVERYONE need apply. Must be 2 or older to enter.

*** We are creating our first ever actual Christmas card mailing list. We'll update as needed in future years, but you gotta start somewhere.

(Please note: this blog is public, so any addresses posted as a comment [instead of emailed] are also public. Thanks!)

BUSY!

If I were to pick one word to describe the past almost-six weeks, it would be the title of this post.  The past almost-six weeks have also been awesome, and tiring, and happy.  But "busy" probably sums it up the best.  Here's what's happened:

Eliza came home from the hospital.

Afton had got a baby too

Afton sized up her new competition.

Eliza slept.

And slept.

Afton got to open up a lot of surprises.

Afton showed Eliza the ropes of reading.

We enjoyed LOTS of time with Grandma Page.

Uncle Abe and Aunt Grace visited on their way moving from Georgia to Washington.

Grandpa Page came and participated in one of his all-time favorite activities.

And he got stranded with a naked little bum because a home with two kids in diapers can be tricky.  Don't worry--he called for help.  And we responded by taking pictures.

Afton tried to re-live the good ol' days... then figured out it wouldn't work.

Eliza was cute.

Grandma and Grandpa Payne came too!  We celebrated a passing grade in Statistics!  (Read why this is especially awesome here).

Afton bonded with Grandpa Payne.

So did Eliza.

Eliza had her baby blessing at church. 

Afton needed some serious consoling when Grandma Page left (seriously--one of the saddest things I've ever seen).  Ice cream seemed to do the trick.

Eliza slept some more.

Ty started pilot training.

We enjoyed lots of time with Grandma Payne.

We bid a sad goodbye to Grandma Payne.  And hello to lots of Facetime.

Eliza turned a month old.

Did you notice the picture of Afton I slipped in there?

Life sure is good.  Busy, but good.

Family of Four

Eliza Jane was born on September 19th, 2013 at 5:17pm.  She weighed 8lbs even, measured 21 inches long, and is absolutely beautiful.  It's been such an unbelievably incredible almost 24 hours, we couldn't resist sharing.

Time with the Pages, Take Two

After our fun weekend in Utah, we came back to Mississippi for a few weeks, just to leave again.  This time we went to Colorado, this time we stayed for a month, and this time Ty flew airplanes.  All awesome things.

This time Ty also had to fly separate from us on official Air Force travel, so Afton and I did the airport thing by ourselves--something at which we are quite proficient now.  It used to stress me out so bad, but I was really calm this time.  We didn't get that much-hoped-for empty seat next to us, but we did get a nice man who was willing to interact with a cute little girl.  He was really kind of an odd and fairly obnoxious fellow, but I'll take that over someone who is intolerant of little kids.  (Really, I could tell you some strange stories about this guy, but anyways...)  So Afton squished onto my ever-shrinking lap and away we went.

Afton's Airport Buddy

It was fun while it lasted

After a really smooth flight (literally and figuratively), we made it to Denver and were met by my parents who, let's be honest, ran right past me to get to the cute one.

We had a great time in Colorado and got to do a lot of things, such as...

Play with the Greens and meet their chickens...

Afton and Eliza

I wish I could have captured her first close encounter on film.
 I have never heard her shriek like that before or since.

Afton with Cole and one of the chickens

She warmed up eventually, and had to have chicken poop scraped off her shoes many more times throughout the trip

Go to a little water park...

Afton with Uncle Dallin, doing what he does best

Afton with Grandma Page

All in all, Afton had a blast that day

She somehow got spun around halfway down the slide.  She didn't take
too kindly to that experience.  Obviously I was a little surprised too.

Play at a lot of parks...

.... and this bar.

Afton's favorite part of this park was honestly a toss-up between these....

Make a baby quilt....
(Apparently I can't even post about MY things without pictures of Afton.  But to be fair, the pictures would be quite boring by themselves.  Afton is just helping spice them up a bit.)

Go to the zoo...

 

 Take Uncle Dallin's senior pictures....

And we got to see Ty every weekend!

Besides this picture and the zoo, I'm thinking my mom took most of the pictures that have Ty in them.  I'll have to get those from her.  Ty had a great time in Colorado too even though we didn't get to see him during the week.  He did what was essentially his intro to being a pilot training course in Pueblo, CO.  He loved it.  It was so fun to see him enjoying doing something that he loves, and it makes me excited for him to be able to start flying again in his official pilot training.  He's a natural.

We had a great time in Colorado and were sad to leave.  Luckily the Air Force let Ty take Afton with him when they sent him back a few days before me.  That was such a blessing for me and my 8-months-pregnant self.  I got to spend a couple extra days with my family, and sleep in, and relax.  It was wonderful.

Thanks again Mom and Dad for being such great hosts.  See you again soon!