No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

Last night Megan wanted to show me what Hallee did earlier to make Madeline laugh.  We went upstairs into Hallee's room to recreate it and lucky for us the cameras were on.  Hallee gets a little distracted by the camcorder and always wants the viewfinder flipped her way so that she can see herself, but she still got Maddie to laugh.  I don't care who you are, that right der is funny.

It's Business Time

Next week I graduate from BYU and I'm honestly glad to say that I accomplished what I set out to accomplish . . . I won an intramural championship in the Upper Division (see my wife's posting below).  I feel like my undergraduate career was a success because of that.  One scary thing about graduating is that I am losing part of my income.  I have been working for BYU in the OIT Network Security department over the past years and it has been a great second job that has allowed me to be flexible around my serving job at Red Robin.  Instead of picking up more shifts at the dirty bird I've decided to hit the photography business hard this summer and get some business.  First step: advertise.  I just ordered a few business cards which will be ready on Monday (by a few I mean 5000 . . . the deal was amazing).  The front of the card is displayed above and the back is here below.

So get the word out to all you know that may need a photographer this summer.  Also take some cards to pass out to your friends--trust me I'll have enough.

On another note, yesterday was the deadline to put down a deposit at either Temple or George Mason.  So the decision was officially made and Temple has some of our money being mailed out to them.  Along with the money and other supplementary forms, they asked for a passport-sized picture of me to keep on file.  So this smiling beauty below is for you Austin.

Ask and ye shall receive.

SO many great things!

My sister-in-law did this, so it inspired me to write a few great things going on here....So....here we go:
1. Last night Kyle had the championship basketball game for intramurals. He has been playing intramural basketball his entire time at BYU and has made it to the final 4 teams in the past, and every year is a little bit disappointed when they lose, but this year made it to the final game! And......THEY WON!!!! He was sooooo excited! It was so fun to see them win, and he did a great job out there, scoring the team's first two 3-pointers, which put them in a good lead that they were able to keep the rest of the game. I am so proud of him! Their champion shirt says "the most coveted shirt on campus." Apparently it's a big deal.... :)
2. We just found out some EXCELLENT news in the family that I wont disclose just yet, in case there are people that don't know yet. But I am sooooooooooo happy about the news!
3. Kyle graduates next week from BYU!! YAY for being done with BYU!!!
4. SInce Kyle is graduating, our parents are both coming out to visit and see him walk! Yay for family!
5. Since my parents will be here, and were planning a trip to see Brad and Celeste and their new baby Hunter, who happen to live in Maryland, we are going to go with my parents to visit them, along with the school that will consume my husband for the next 3 years! We leave for Maryland/Virginia/Philadelphia the 29th. Yay for vacations!
6. I can honestly say I love being a mom! I have so much fun watching the girls learn, develop, and grow.
Well, there you have it. So many exciting things in our midst. I know the next 3 years are going to be extremely hard, with Kyle gone all the time, but I am so grateful for our blessings and that God knows us and will be with us, guiding us through our trials and triumphs!

Bunnies and Eggs

Easter is such wonderful day.  It's the day we celebrate Christ's victory over death and sin.  He bled from every pore, was betrayed by a friend, unjustly tried, beaten, spat upon, mocked, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross, given vinegar to quench his thirst, and left to die without the previously unwavering companionship of his Father.  What seemed like total defeat was overcome with the resurrection.  What a victory!  All of that could not stop him.  He knew he would win and that through him we can win too.  No matter the chaos around us or the trials we face we can have hope because of the resurrection.  "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

To teach Hallee all about why we celebrate easter we started out with a bunny--the Easter Bunny.  She wasn't quite making the connection with the bunny and Jesus so we explained that the bunny brings a basket of candy.  This got her attention but the connection still wasn't made until we explained that you can paint eggs and hide them.

When Hallee found her basket she was so excited and yelled, "Special candy!"  Special candy is the candy she gets when she is a big girl and goes the bathroom on the potty.  It is special because it is bigger than your everyday candy and has more elegant wrapping.  How did the Easter Bunny know she had gone the bathroom on the potty?

After the finding the basket and before church the girls put on their Easter dresses and white shoes and we went to take some Easter pictures.  This was not the easiest task since the special candy made Hallee especially wired and getting her to be still was next to impossible.  Frustrated and tired of chasing her around trying to get a good picture I turned my attention to Maddie and Megan.  It wasn't until after I had given up on Hallee that she sat down with her basket and I was able to get a few of her just sitting there.

We ended the day with a dinner up at Grandma Junes and Grandpa Del's.  Had we known there would be about 25 people there the salad we brought would have been a little bigger.  Oops.  At least there was enough of everything else and it was delicious!

Birthday Surprise

My sister, Camy, came up to visit us for her spring break a couple weeks ago. While she was away my mom did an Extreme Home Makeover on Camy's bedroom for her birthday present. I haven't seen what it looks like but from what I heard it sounds amazing. Part of the decoration was a wall of hanging pictures, so my mom told me about the surprise and asked me to take some pictures of Camy with our girls and have them developed in Albuquerque so that she could put them in the room. Then the week Camy was with us was horrible for pictures. It was cold, overcast, and raining or snowing most of the days. Finally on Saturday it was beautiful so we went out in the afternoon and did a little photo shoot. By then it was too late to get the pictures to my mom before Camy got in on Sunday so she just had frames for her surprise . . . but she still screamed when she saw her room! Here is one of the photos above of Madeline and Camy, to see more go to my photography blog at

http://web.me.com/kyle_payne/Kyle_Payne_Photography/Blog/Blog.html

Good news

So....we have 90% decided to go to Temple University in Philadelphia. For some reason this school has stuck out to me ever since we heard from them, and I didn't even know Kyle applied there until the acceptance came. Also, a strange experience was back during Christmas we saw the movie Marley and Me (VERY good, btw) and when they were driving in Philadelphia I got a VERY strong impression that we would be there soon. And at that time I didn't even know that Philadelphia was even an option. So, as we have been getting acceptances and rejections, this one stood out the most, and after hearing that Phoenix is the number one city for Kidnapping in the nation (sorry Leah...), our decision was final. I say 90% because there are 1 or 2 schools that we haven't heard from that could possibly change the decision, but most likely not. Anyway, Philly, here we come!

Also, some more wonderful news, yesterday I had a little talk with Hallee about not having a binky at night time anymore, and that maybe we should throw away Hallee's binky, and I said, so what do you think about that? And she answered, "no binky." So we went and got her binky and she threw it in the trash!!! Last night she cried for it, but today for her nap, there was no mention of the binky. Yay!!! One of my big goals for the year was to get her off the binky by age 2, and we are 2 months early! woohoo!

My husband the photographer

So Kyle has a new website you should check out. The link on the right can take you to it. Also, if you know anyone in the area that needs some awesome pictures done please refer them to my amazing husband!!