The BIG Race is Saturday!

Zak and I are racing tomorrow.....

Swimming 1 mile in a city pool.

I have done it several time.
Zak has never swam a mile before.

Kylie will be our offical time and lap keeper.

WHO do you think will win??

Cruise Photos

Here's the link for Gil's photos of the cruise. Enjoy.

http://www.revdesign.com/Pics/MexicoCruise_May2010/index.html

Cruise....Confessions

We had a fabulous time on our Mexican Cruise!!

I personally enjoyed ALL aspects and every moment. I enjoyed them so much that I hardly took any pictures, but I will share what I have.
I will also share 2 shocking confessions!
#1 - Today is Wednesday....the last shower I took was on the cruise! I just can't find the time!
#2 - I proudly and excitedly got on the scale to see IF I had gained any weight on the cruise, which I doubted, or at least maybe only one pound. As it turned out....I gained 7 pounds!! Our room was on floor #2. We ate on floor #11 and ran the track on floor #12. I hardly ever used the elevator; I was always climbing the stairs. That, plus running about 28 miles on the ship, I thought I would have equaled the value of how much food I ate. Well, I guess that showed just HOW much food I ate. I wouldn't change a thing!! How often can you go to a restaurant and order 3 main dishes and 4 desserts and eat a plate full of bread?? This morning I weighed myself and I have now lost ALL my 7 pounds of cruise weight. I do hope to shower later today.

Ok this might be Monday nights dinner. On the way, we ran into these Scottish men! Nana asked them to show us what they wore under their skirts. I turned my head away. That same night at our dinner table.

This is where we ate every night. (Ate, and ate and ate.)

Candice and Gil

Kerry and Julie

Nana and Bumpa

Really, the first non-asked for smile on the cruise. He was so happy to have accomplished this "hard" thing! We were waiting here for the wheelchair guy to come and escort us off the boat.

Dawney & Mark

Sunday afternoon at my house. Resting.

The lovely Tatia.

I tried to move this picture up with the others, but it would not move. It wants to finish off this post!

Bracket Time!

We did this last year, I think with smashing results. I probably should have posted this a few days ago, but it's better late than never.

If you want to play online just follow the directions below, it's the same thing as last year (ESPN). Let me know if you have any questions.

The group is called "Payne Family Brackets"

The game is called Tournament Challenge at espn.com. Here is a link.

Just go there and click on "create entry" and then after you do that you'll want to join our group. Click on "My Groups" at the top and then "Create or Join a Group". Type in "Payne Family Brackets" and join!

It will ask you for a password which is Nana's first and "middle" name, lower case, all one word.

Hopefully that's clear, if not just email me and I'll give you the password in an email, or just send you an invitation to the group.

Jenna won last year, who will win this year?

I think I 've found my support system...

OK. After Julie wrote the NoSugar blog, Dad came over and asked me to do it with him. I laughed in his face, but I did agree to do a "no Coke" for one month. I was very ornery for three days and when I complained to Don he said maybe you're not ready for that, try replacing it with something different. {By the way, Mom (Nana) weighs only 2 lbs more than I do, which is FANTASTIC for her and NOT OK for me.} Well, a couple of weeks ago I got all ambitious and made Jenna and a friend of hers go running with me. I ran a mile that day and realized it really is better to have a buddy. Today, Sophia asked me to go to the park with her and some friends so I figured, well I might as well try exercising again. So I took my music and I swear as soon as I turn on my music I'm ready to go.

By the time I get to the park, there are a dozen of Jenna and Sophie's friends, plus Princess and Bear. I start running, but I can't run (jog) more than half a mile before I have switch to skipping which turns into dancing and then I can jog again. After about 1 1/3 miles I did some crunches and pushups, then I started jogging again. This time I got 2 of Jenna's friends to do a lap with me. My lungs still hurt 30 minutes later. Anyway, I decided to text a few people because that was a BIG deal for me. Some of the texts included some of Allysa's friends whom I love and it was SO great to get texts back again, that I think I will exercise again! I thought of including ALL of my family but I didn't want to overstep my bounds...so if you want to be part of my support group just send me a text! I like young people the best...and that includes all young at heart people. Nana and Bumpa had better get texting now. I would be happy to be anyone's texting support group! P.S. Within this code is my number... I was born in 1966. I use 409 to clean my house. When I am resurrected I want to be 33 years old.

No Sugar Brings Results!!

Yes, it did.

One day down and I have lost ONE and 1/2 pounds!!

I'll take that.

I watched Quinn eat Oreo after Oreo.

That's ok.

Thanks, Quinn. You helped. Now they are gone.

P.S. You just must remember to NOT fill all those sugar calories with wasted simple carb calories...

No Desserts For YOU!!

For the month of MARCH
I will not have ANY dessert!

No chocolate covered strawberries
no Oreos
no chocolate chip cookies
no cake!
No sugar filled soda, or other sugar filled drink. Milk is ok.

I ran 10 miles yesterday!
Not a pound gone!
Maybe it is because of the sweeties I indulged in!

So, in this moment, while I feel the POWER -
No Desserts for me!

Anyone want to join me??
Come on, it will be fun!

At the end of the month, we can say how much weight we have lost!! Think of the joy!

Oscar Ballot!

Sunday is the Academy Awards!

Time to place your "bets".....

I am sure Candice will be defending her win from last year. So, choose wisely!

Jessica will also want to put in a good, hard play, since she was the last winner of a Payne Family game (Super Bowl).

The best way to do this is to click on the following link:

http://www.aolcdn.com/aolmovies/oscars-2010-printable-ballot-new.pdf

Hopefully, this will take you to a fabulous page; print off the Oscar ballot; fill in what you would like. Keep track of all the categories that you win.

On the comment section, after the show is over, tell us all how many categories you won. It's an "on your honor" game.

There is a possible prize to the person who gets the most correct.

BIG MILESTONE!

Nana is overjoyed!!


TEO is walking!! Check out his blog. Adorable!!

Pasadena Marathon

Yesterday, Tanner and I woke up very early to volunteer at the Pasadena Marathon. My MIM group (Moms In Motion) manned a water station at the 10 mile mark. So we got to pass out water as runners ran past us. It was very exciting and fun and cold - but good weather for the runners.

We got to see the first lead male runner being escorted by a motor cop. He did NOT want any water. He was running about a 5 minute mile!!! Very fast. He was very buff. We cheered for him.

Then a little bit later we saw the first lead woman runner with her motor cop. We cheered very loud for her. Then someone told me that the runner's names were on the bottom of their bib . . . so then we started cheering for them BY NAME. That was way fun! Go MARIA! Way to go JOE!

It was great to see so many people doing a very hard thing. Tanner handed out lots of water as he placed himself at the front of the water table, of course. The race started at 7am and by 10am we saw the last people pass us. Some people looked happy and energetic; some people looked a little ornery. I was worried for them because, after us, they had 16 MORE miles to go. UGH!

All in all, it was a fun thing to do. I'm glad Tanner came with me.

Daughter of the Forest!

While looking for a book for Kylie at the library, I FOUND this book!!

It is the 4th book from the Daughter of the Forest series!!

I was worried about understanding or remembering enough about this series to like this book, but I remember enough that that is NOT a problem.

I am REALLY enjoying this book. So good. I hate to stop reading it. I feel like the boy in the movie The Princess Bride when the grandfather says, do you want me to stop reading?? No, I don't!

If you are looking for something to read, this is a good one, and it was just an accidental find.

If you don't know what I am talking about; start with the first book: Daughter of the Forest. It is SO good!

Just thought I would share!

Look What I Found In My Camera!!

Candice and I were in my computer room with Teo

checking out whatever was on the floor. He saw the shelf of the table, crawled over and climbed on it. His curious little self is very busy.

Deep in thought here.



Now he is back and soon wants to get off the shelf. I can't wait to see him again. I don't know what I did that put the first two pictures together but, I guess I'll just publish it the way it is. I love you, Teo.

Straight A's!

I just had to brag for a second because TANNER, at this moment, has straight A's!!!! I am so proud of him. He started middle school this year and it has been a hard transition. But he has become a very good student and is responsible with all his work. He is doing great on his Math tests (which is the hardest for him) and aces his History tests (which are his favorite) and his hard work is paying off.

Hooray, Tanner, for being a straight A student!

(Just pretend the boy in the picture is blonde. I couldn't find another one on google.)

THE WALLOPING , WARM-YOUR-HEART, WELL-APPOINTED, WHIMSICAL, WHIPPER-SNAPPING WEDDING!!

I'm just trying to keep the blog from going stale. And today I looked in Heather's wedding photos. I saw some pictures that I adored. So, am just posting a couple of my favorites. (I would have posted some pics of my wonderful birthday dinner but when we arrived at the party I started taking pictures and the camera wouldn't take - said it was exhausted) But, isn't this picture so beautiful of the Bride and Groom under the veil.



The weather outside is frightful but their hearts are feeling delightful!!


I love this one. Oh, happy day!!



Isn't this a great picture of Mother and Child.




The Brothers are handsome as well. It was a lovely wedding. Seeing my children and GC looking so happy it makes my heart say 'thank you' and I'm so happy to be a part of this mess!

Stephens Family Update

Hello Family!

I'm sorry that so many of you haven't heard from me for a while now. (Nana, thank you for the message!) Life in the Stephens family has been absolutely crazy! Let's start with Mike...

Mike has been deployed since December 11th, 2009. He is currently in the Logar Province of Afghanistan. Here is a picture of Mike with all of his Soldiers.

As you can see, he has a LOT of Soldiers that he takes good care of. This is not a picture of the whole company (that would be 200+ Soldiers), this is just his platoon. Most of his Soldiers are between 18 and 21 years old. Mike and I are considered "old people" in this company - it's funny. In case you can't pick him out - he's wearing sunglasses with his arms draped over a couple of Soldiers on the left.

Mike is a part of a Route Clearance Engineer Company. Their job is to patrol travel routes, look for IEDs and destroy them before they can hurt any of our Armed Forces Service Members. When they identify an IED, Mike has a special robot that he uses to help him approach and disable it. He carries C4 explosives with him to destroy the IED when a simple disable isn't possible. Mike is the only person in his platoon that is authorized to use the robot and explosives. His other Soldiers have different jobs, such as securing the area so that Mike can focus on disabling the IED.

It's a dangerous job. So far, despite their best efforts, Mike and his Soldiers have already driven over two IEDs. Sometimes it finds you before you find it. Fortunately, no one has been hurt so far. They have special vehicles with a V-shaped hull that deflects the blast away from the crew compartment. In the first two incidents, the crew compartments have remained intact - although the vehicles are completely destroyed. He sees a lot more action that what I just mentioned - but I'll spare our little ones the details.

Now for Hayden... Hayden has turned into a little boy from a little baby - overnight! Here are some pictures that I snapped yesterday.

Here he is after a bath. Since he doesn't have any socks on to get in his way, he is sucking on his toes!

Here he is playing in his room. He's starting to get tired, but he'll keep playing as long as I let him.

Here he is playing with his links - he loves them.

Here he is playing in his door jumper. It keeps him entertained when I need to work in our office. He doesn't do a lot of jumping yet, but he likes to walk in circles and play with the music toy on the front. At this point - he is crazy tired. You can see it all over his face.

Nap time! Hayden still has three different naps every day - anywhere from 30 min. to an hour or more. It just depends on how tired he is from rolling around the house.

That's Hayden's new thing - rolling, rolling, rolling. Hayden figured out how to roll-over back in November. He has completely mastered it now and uses rolling around as his mode of transportation. I suppose he is too impatient to wait until he learns how to crawl. He doesn't like to stay in the same place very long. I had to attend an emergency briefing at our battalion a couple of days ago (45 minute notice so Hayden had to come with me). One minute he's playing quietly next to me on the floor of the conference room, I look away for 30 seconds and he took off - rolling all the way across the room to say hello to our Brigade commander and his boots. If there was a speed-rolling competition for five month old babies, Hayden would win.

As for me, I'M EXHAUSTED. I provided my official FRG Leader resignation last week, but so far it hasn't made a difference. Our battalion staff and volunteers panicked. My former Co-Leader, Tiah, agreed to remain our company's sole FRG Leader if I would stay onboard as a senior advisor. Basically, I am trying to shift the entire work-load onto Tiah, but I'm still available for answering questions and providing guidance on how to handle and approach things. Unfortunately, I still receive daily phone calls and emails. I now approach everything from a teaching perspective instead of handling things for them. Hopefully it will work. I think it will probably take a couple of months to complete the transition though. I want so badly to give myself and Hayden more of my time. Creating this boundary is completely necessary at this point.

I have been losing my pregnancy weight consistently, slowly, but consistently. I haven't stepped on a scale since the day I gave birth to Hayden. I'm thinking about picking one up at the store today, now that I think I can handle what it will say. Even though I've been happy with my weight loss so far, I'm not too excited about all the wiggles and jiggles left behind. Okay Moms - I need to know the truth. Can exercise reverse the effects of pregnancy and gravity? Or, only partially? Be honest!

I think this post is getting too long now. I'll update everyone again in about a month!

Want To Make A Guess?

Over at the Cole Family Blog, there is a list of 17 questions about the Super Bowl. You can join in if you'd like! At least check it out.

This is the apron that Julie designed and made for Sherma Bee.
Isn't it beautiful!

HOW FUN TO GET A BIRTHDAY PACKAGE!!!

It is so fun to get packages in the mail! In the package was this darling yellow apron - made by Julie. Both Dad and I felt tickled!Dad took a picture of me with my apron over my pjs. It is now 1;30pm and I am still in my PJs! I've been fiddling on the Blog all morning. But, after a call to CA and rousing Dad out of bed from his nap - after so much trouble - I was finally able to put it all together . . Thanks to Dad. I don't think any of you can appreciate what trouble I am going through to get into the 21st Century. But, I'll not give up! And Thank you, thank you, Julie, for making my birthday a little more fun. The yellow fabric is covered with little black bees!! so fun. And thanks to Tatia for extending my birthday for a whole week!! I love you all.

Where is Bethany? We need some news!!

I would like to hear from this child. I know we all love her and miss her so. I hope you are doing well with your darling baby, Hayden. And that you are keeping busy, but not too busy to talk with your family or write on the blog. How is Mike doing? Send us a few lines. In this picture you were 2 1/2. You were the most adorable little thing. I didn't think I could ever love another like I did you. But, look what the years have brought me. . many little beloved hearts for me to love. Let us hear from you.

Happy Birthday To YOU!

It was Nana's birthday on Sunday! She had a great celebratory birthday weekend - Good For Her!

Thanks for all your happy smiles and happy memories....now go and make some more!

P.S. nana is also joining the FB age! hmmm, this looks like a good FB picture...hmm