We did it!!!!

Well, it was almost a month ago now and I am finally getting around to post a picture. But we FINALLY did it! We graduated!! I can't believe the day finally came. I have been going to ISU for 7 stinking years!! In that amount of time I should have a masters but oh well, I will take my bachelors and be happy... for now.

Casey graduated with a BBA in Marketing and I graduated with a BA in Elementary Education. He is still working at Cole Chevrolet right now but they are looking at changing his position a bit there, hopefully we like what they are going to do. After my 7 years of schooling I am going to do what I have always wanted... stay home and be a mommy. Plus with a son due the beginning of September it would be silly to try to find a job and ask for the first 2 months off for maternity leave! I am so excited to stay home though. It is great that I get to see Olivia everyday all day now. I am so glad that I am blessed and able to stay home with my sweet daughter and soon to come son.

So goodbye Idaho State University!! I am sorry to say that we won't really miss you. We won't miss the tuition it took to attend you or the books we had to purchase (and sometimes read) to be in your classes. We won't miss the study sessions, the papers, the presentations, the lesson plans, or the exams that were part of our journey with you. We won't miss staying up late studying and sometimes cramming so we could get good grades for you. So goodbye ISU and HOORAY!!!

The verdict is in....

Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails....

Happy Easter! (A little late but oh well)

I hope everyone had a happy Easter! We sure did. It was also Conference weekend which made it even better. Unfortunately, we did not watch too much of it. Trying to watch something for 2 hours with a crazy, energetic toddler is nearly impossible. Good thing we get the Ensign.

Olivia didn't really know what I was talking about when I told her the Easter bunny came but she was so excited when she saw what this mysterious bunny brought her!! That bunny must know her pretty good because she got a few of her favorite things.... a balloon and a Backyardigans coloring book. She loves balloons and points them out whenever she sees one (Mama, ba-oon!!). Lou Lou also got a kite (which the Easter bunny decided was going to be a Payne family tradition for Easter), bubbles, and a little candy.

I love this this picture and think it sums up my daughter and her fun, goofy self.
Other things about Lou Lou right now:

* Refers to herself as Lou Lou and will tell me "There's baby Lou Lou" when she sees baby pictures or "That's Mama's cup, that's Lou Lou's cup" at dinner.

*LOVES apple juice. Multiple times a day I hear "I need apple juice." Not just want, but need. She gets mad when I don't give it her every time.

*Is using a spoon very well

*Knows her colors and loves to tell me what colors things are. She also thinks it's funny to joke around and when I ask her what color something is, she will say the wrong color and start laughing.

*As mentioned, she is quite the joker. She has such a funny sense of humor and loves to laugh and giggle and make us laugh. Today she was hiding puzzle pieces under her legs and asking me where they went. "Mama, where's cow? (giggle, giggle) Here's Mister Cow."

*Talks SO GOOD. Sometimes it creeps me out by the sentences she can put together. She is a smart cookie.

*Counts to 10 by going 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. We are working on 4 and 5.

*Still doesn't know what I am talking about when I say there is a baby in my tummy.

*IS beginning to be quite the cuddle bug and I LOVE this!!!

*Knows her body parts and likes to point them out on everybody, even strangers... it's great when your daughter points to a random man and starts saying "Nose" and wanting to honk it.

*Loves to sing. Her favorites right now are Popcorn Popping and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She does a great melting snowman too.

*Still loves her books which makes her mommy happy. I love listening to her read to herself. It surprises me how much she remembers from each story.

American Heritage Tour

(This is a long and possibly boring post.... sorry!!)

During Spring Break I was able to go on the American Heritage Tour with Irving Middle School as a chaperon. If you don't know what that is, it is where students in 8th grade go and tour many historical sites from New York City down to Washington, D.C. We were gone for 9 days and the hardest part for me was not being with my daughter and husband for those long 9 days. I won't lie, their were a few tear-filled nights because I was so homesick. But I could not pass up the opportunity to go on such an amazing trip for free!! So it was fun but I don't think I will ever go on such a long trip without my family again.

We did so much on this trip!!! We started in Washington, D.C. and first went and toured Fort McHenry, where the battle took place that Francis Scott Key was at when he wrote the national anthem. After that we were able to go tour the White House!!! Isn't that awesome! We were so excited. I almost wasn't able to get in because stupid me forgot my ID and the guards had my wrong SSN. I guess it is really hard to get into the White House. You have to apply and get approved before you go and then have photo ID. I left mine on the bus. Luckily, I was able to call the driver and have him meet us back at the white house. After running a few city blocks and sweet talking guards to let me cut a few lines, I was able to catch up with my group! We were able to have a tour guide and see many of the beautiful monuments around Washington. They were amazing!!! I wish I had pictures but my camera died that day. Sad. We were in D.C. for 2 days and were able to to tour the capital building (during a HUGE protest on the health bill, we were actually in Washington when the health bill passed and were able to see that Congress was out late deciding on it. Very neat.), go to the air and space museum, the American history museum, the Holocaust museum (if you want your heart to break I recommend this place, it is so sad what happened and to see so much of the actually items), and Arlington. Arlington was amazing. I didn't realize it was SO BIG! We had a tour guide for here and she was great. We also were able to watch the changing of the guard which was great too.

After D.C. we went to Pennsylvania and toured Gettysburg. After we went to an Amish village in a town called Intercourse, PA. Yes, you read the name correctly. We took a bus of hormone raging teenagers to a town called Intercourse!!! They that it was awesome and many left with shirts saying " I love Intercourse" with a tiny PA in the corner. The village was awesome though and had some amazing things. And I won't lie, I bought a little magnet with I love Intercourse on it because, come on!!! It's funny!!!

After that we headed to New York City!!! The kids were so excited. Personally I was scared because I thought I would lose a student. Good news though, all students were accounted for during this trip. We took a few great tours, went to the Empire state building, China town (little creepy), Liberty Island(I always thought the Statue of Liberty was bigger), Ellis Island, ground 0 of 9/11, Times Square, Trump Tower, and my favorite..... saw WICKED!!! It was so good. Anyone going to NY should definitely see a Broadway show and Wicked is fantastic!

We headed off the Boston after that and to be honest with you I was so exhausted by that time that I don't remember much about it. We did a walking tour in 32 degrees on the Freedom Trail which was neat but cold, went to Harvard, and few things that I was half asleep for. Oh, we also toured Concord and Lexington which was pretty neat. But I really liked Boston and would love to go there again. And for my defense, we were walking 8-10 miles a day and slept about 5 hours a night because we were so busy. Lots of walking + little sleep= one tired pregnant woman. It really was fun though. I would never do it again but it was fun!!!

The Capital with all the health bill rally. There were so many people!


At the American History Smithsonian. This is the dress Michelle Obama wore at the Inaugural Ball.

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.... the White House!!



Arlington Cemetery

Changing of the guard. Very neat.
There were Amish buggies all over when we were in Intercourse. This little boy was so cute peeking out at us!!


Liberty Island

Ford's Theatre, where President Lincoln was shot. Even though they still have plays there, they have kept where he was shot the same.

Wicked!!

Freedom Trail in Boston. It is a brick trail that you can walk and takes you to many historic places in the city.

Our year so far....

We have had an eventful year so far:


1.) January 1st: Found out we are going to be blessed with another sweet spirit in our home!!! YEAH!!! We are VERY excited and are now counting down the days until September 5 when our little one is due. My brother was not able to be with us during Christmas so we had a small Christmas get together after the New Year so I had this shirt made for Olivia to open at her Grandma and Grandpa's. It says "WARNING: Big sister in training." My dad helped her open it and understood immediately and showed it to her mom. And of course, my mom, being the slight blonde that she is, says "oh, that's cute, is it for Dexter (our dog)?" We had to make her actually read it and then the lightbuld went off. Needless to say, she was pretty excited. We videotaped the whole thing and it is hilarious!!! If I was smarter on here, I would post it but sorry, I'm not!

~

2.) Middle of January: Both Casey and my last semester of school starts. I am student teaching in 2nd grade and have some ADORABLE kiddos. Casey's semester is I guess not too much fun but he will make it...well, really he has to or his hormonal wife will crazy.

~

3.) Middle of Janurary still: Morning sickness kicks in, in overdrive. I was sick with Olivia but this has been horrible. And it is really not fun being sick all the time and trying to teach 26 7 year olds.

~

4.) Still the middle of January: Olivia has her 1st ear infection with a horrible high fever. NOT FUN!!

~

5.) End of January: The worst stomach flu I have ever had makes its way into the Payne household. Olivia got it first. She was crying in her crib one night and when I went to check on her, her and everything in her crib was covered with throw up. I felt so bad!! We were up the rest of the night with her puking very 20 minutes or so. The next day, I got it and that night Casey did. Thank goodness I have wonderful parents. They came and took Olivia for the day and night for us so Casey and I could puke freely without worring about a little girl to take care of. Sadly, because of this, my dad also got the nasty flu.

~

6.) February 1st: In the middle of my dad having the stomach flu, my Grandpa Duane passed away. He had been sick for quite awhile and we all knew it was coming but it still doesn't make it easier. My parent's house is about a quarter mile away from my grandparents and they have lived there since I was 3 so I was lucky and able to see my grandparents often. My Grandpa was a funny, caring, smart, respected, loving man and we will miss him very much. Its comforting to know that we will see him again. I'm sure the reunion between him and his mom, dad, brother, sisters, and son were great. This picture was taken last March. The very next day after this picture, he was admited to the hospital for pneumonia and was bedridden since.

~

7.) February: Olivia gets a yucky head cold and sounds like a dog barking when she talks, has a nose that does not stop running, and has to sleep with a humidifier every night so she can sleep. REALLY???? Does my child have to get every sickness within weeks of each other?!?!?!? Maybe she doesn't know that her mommy is growing another child inside her and doesn't like being up with a sick child every other night!! I guess she can't help it, it must be what we get for putting her in daycare.


Besides being sick all the time, Olivia is getting way to big. She talks so much and some of the things she says crack me up. Yesterday at church, we were sitting in the middle of one of the pews. Livie went to the lady next to me and said "Get out!" I told her to ask her nicely, so she looks back at this lady and says, "Get out PLEASE!" We were all trying not to laugh and we did end up getting out of the chapel. She loves to sing and dance. Boy, does she like to dance!!! And she has got some moves!!! I really wish I was smart enough to put video on here, it would be fun to watch. She still loves to eat and would eat a "piece ee bread an but (piece of bread and butter)" and carrots for every meal if I would let her. She still loves the Backyardigans and now sings along with a couple of the episodes. It is pretty cute!

~

8.) February 8: I went to the doctor's and found out I am actually losing weight so I am now taking some medication to help me not be sick and throw up. Since taking them, I have not puked once, have been able to eat, and feel great!!! Casey told me he is glad I have the pills because I am a lot nicer now!!! So, this is the first weekend in a long time where I have felt good and can get stuff done. But am I doing homework like I should? No, I am blogging and blog stalking. I think I am done now. I guess I will actually do some homework.