Payne Family Fun: A lot of pictures

I was too lazy to make any collages this time so this post has a lot of pictures.

The first is a sad and happy story. For the first time I missed one of the kids spring track meets. I put Isaac down for his morning nap and then Neil and I laid down in Abbie’s bed and we both fell asleep. I guess we’d either gotten up early that morning or stayed up late the night before – or both. Anyway we slept until just after 11. Then by the time we got up and got ready for the day and ate some lunch it was so late that I was sure we had missed Abbie’s run. So we didn’t go over. DUMB. We should have gone anyway, because it turns out that she ran her race after lunch. That’s the sad part. The happy part it that she came home with a certificate for 2nd place!!! and milliseconds away from first!! WOW! Everyone was so happy for her. She said she thought her legs were going to fall off she ran so hard. 1 min 30 seconds for the girls 400 meter.

Mark loves making homemade syrup for our pancakes. Here he is trying out a new recipe he found online.

Neil LOVES to walk around the driveway pushing Abbie or Spencer’s scooters. Isaac saw him and wanted to play too, but he’s not big enough to do anything with a scooter, other than trip over it. So Jessie and I took turns pushing him around the driveway. I love this first picture of him because while we went he would make “car noises” by vibrating his lips. It was so stinkin’ cute!

Neil loves to help make cookies. And he asks every time we stop mixing if it’s time to snitch. I get the first pan in the oven and them let him scoop out the next pan all by himself, or until he’s tired of scooping. Aren’t his cookies cute? I love his tongue sticking out while he concentrates..

When Neil pulled out the oven mitts, Isaac didn’t want to left out of any fun where you get to put something on your hand. That’s his favorite to poke his fingers in holes and put gloves on his hands.

Here’s Isaac’s “smile for the camera” smile and then a real smile.

For Abbie and Spencer’s choir concert they both got little solo parts. They were a little nervous, but did a GREAT job. The choir was singing some of the Book of Mormon songs from Scripture Scouts. My dad had flown back to Utah for another week because he hadn’t gotten the brace out of his arm, so he and Grandma and Carol came to watch the kids. It was so nice of them to come all the way down.

For Mother’s Day we went to have dinner with Grandma Jennie. We brought potatoes and crescent rolls.

All the kids were so helpful when it was time to clean up. Neil did most of the vacuuming and Abbie and Spencer helped him by standing over the crumb so he could push the vacuum in between their legs. Kids are so fun.

Since Jessie finished her High Honors project she got to go on a special field trip up to see a mummy display in SLC. She said it was amazing and a little creepy at the same time. She came home and told us all the amazing things she had learned. Upstairs from the mummies was a hands on science level. She really loved that. They couldn’t take pictures in the mummy part so this funny machine was the only thing she got when she remembered that I sent the camera with her.

Rachel invited us to come feed the ducks with her. My kids had a blast. Isaac chasing the goose is my favorite picture.

After the bread was gone the boys played a little catch while Neil, Isaac and I explored the rest of the grounds. Isaac is teaching himself to “step down” and we found a lovely cement pad that was about 1 1/2 inches out of the ground that he steps up onto and then back down into the grass about 100 times. And I got this cute picture of Abbie and her new glasses.

David and Lisa came by to show us their new chickens after some of their other ones had gotten eaten. We were out weeding the front flower bed and playing catch with a football. Our home teachers also came over and we had a little lesson out on the lawn and they joined in for a bit of football throwing too.

Neil loves to “spike” his hair in the tub. He also loves to dump water on Isaac’s head we finally settled on squeezing just a bit on the back of his head so it doesn’t run into his eyes.

Ken and his priests hiked the Y – that’s on our bucket list for this summer.

Spencer loves to mess up his hair when it’s all sweaty and come and show it off. (Must be a boy thing.)

Oreo’s never last long at our house, especially if Neil (or Jessie) knows about them.

Jessie had to do a history survey project for school. She was so brave. We went to the grocery store and stopped random people to what they know about American history. See if you know the answers.

1. Who is on the $1 dollar bill?

2. What are the 1st 10 amendments called?

3. How many original colonies did the US start out with?

4. What is the capital of Kentucky?

5. What year did Columbus land in American for the first time?