Nothing too exciting

So~ life is pretty good here. Nothing exciting has really happened. Hence why I haven't updated. Jared is still busy, busy at work. He's just finished the fishing merit badge with his boy scouts. He's got a camp out or two coming up too.

I have to admit, I am loving unemployment life! I thought it'd be so hard, but to be honest I have not missed work one bit. I have been busy with school, cub scouts, and getting things done around the house that I haven't been able to do. I feel like I'm finally getting caught up on life.

Buddy is growing so fast. He's four months old... weighing about 21 pounds. It's awesome. He's so much fun. We watched our friends doxin for a couple of weeks. Buddy was in heaven! He loved having a friend 24/7. I don't know that he'll get a permanent friend any time soon though.

Anyway~ that's about it for us. Hope all's going well for all of you!

Past 6 months

Here's a family letter that I wrote for my side, summing up our last six months. If you want to read it, great! Don't feel obligated to in any way though! Just thought it'd be fun to post...

Wow, has the time flown. I can't believe we are already half-way through 2010. So far, this year has been great to us. Few changes in our little family, but they're great changes.

Jared is still busy working at Symantec. He's loving it and is good at it, so hey... why change? He is now serving as scout master (over the 12 and 13 year old boys) in our ward. He is loving every minute of it! This has been one of the perfect callings for him I think. It has definitely kept him busy with weekly activities, camp outs, and merit badges. It's been a wonderful experience for him though. Other than that, Jared is staying busy keeping me sane and he's loving life!

I have now completed first year of nursing school. I'm still on track to graduate May 2011. YAY! I can't wait. I am currently in the process of taking the last class so I can get my L.P.N. I should be able to sit for the state board at the end of Aug.-ish. I am serving as cub scout committee chair (so I am in charge of all the boys 8-10 and their leaders). This calling has been a challenging one, but I love it. I think/hope I'm getting the hang out it, but we'll see. I am also primary pianist. I think this has been one of my favorite callings by far. Get the best of two worlds, kids and the piano! As far as work goes for me, we have recently decided that it is time for me to leave the working world and focus more on my studies, the house, and scouts. I had my last day on July 3. It still hasn't hit me though, since we had a busy 4^th of July, I have clinicals for school for the next couple of weeks, and still busy maintaining life. Oh! Towards the beginning of March, I broke my pinkie finger. I had to have a day-surgery for the doctor to put pins in to help it heal properly. I had the pins in for about 4 weeks. I had about 4 or 5 weeks of PT, out of work for about 5 weeks, and off the piano for about 4 weeks. We made it though! I have total use of the pinkie, total strength, and life is good again!

As a couple... hmm... we bought a house and closed mid-Feb. I might have mentioned it in the last letter because we were in the process then. We moved at the end of Feb. We have also gotten a puppy! He's a joy, and a lot of work. His name is Buddy. He is a cockapoo (poodle, cocker spanial mix). He was born mid-March, so he's 3 ½ months right now. He's definitely your average puppy... playful, loves to chew (mainly on Jared's shoes and socks- I'm hoping this will help Jared remember to keep them picked up ;0) ), and he loves to run. He's already house broken but we're still working on the no jumping and no running after little kids. As far as our adoption process, we're still in a waiting game. We have updated our online profile, so hopefully that'll help us hear something. We'll see though. One of the things I hope to do, now that I'm not working, is maybe be a bit better at the publicity side and get our name out there more.

Anyway~ that about sums us up in a nut shell. Hope this finds everyone well, happy, and loving life!

Time for an update...

So... life has been fun, but crazy around here. Fourth of July weekend was busy. It all started Sat. Let's start with the shorter of the stories. Sat. I had my last shift at the hospital. Yes, I am no longer a workin' woman. I don't think it's quite hit me because of how busy things have been. We decided that it was time for me to focus more on school, scouts, and getting things done around the house. Main one being school. SO Sat. was a bitter/sweet day. I'm excited to no longer be working, but I'm sad too. I love working, but I know it's not right for me to be working outside the home right now. I think I've been in a bit of denial and that's why I haven't publicly announced quitting until now.

Next story!

Sat. when I got home we had a house full! Jared's mom came in from TX, his sis. and her family came down from northern UT, Jason & Michelle were here with good hunk of her immediate family. We hung out here for a bit then went to Jared's uncle's to swim. We had a little birthday celebration for Jared and one of Michelle's sisters.

Sun. was the main event everyone was here for. We went to Jason and Michelle's church and their little boy was blessed. For those who don't understand what that means, Carter will now be known on the records of the church and at the same time, Jason (who performed the blessing) gave Carter advice and things to help Carter throughout his life. This advice and blessing come from our Heavenly Father specifically for Carter. Hope that makes sense. After church, we all went to a park and had a little picnic and then later that night had dinner at our place.

Mon. was a great day! It was my Jared's birthday!!!! I am so blessed and grateful to have him in my life. He's an incredible husband. Much more than I could ever hope or ask for. Anyway (moving on from the mushiness), we just hung out and had homemade cherry ice cream. Michelle's family left in the morning, Jared's sis. left that night, and Jared's mom went to go stay with Jason and Michelle for the week.

Other than that, life is same ol', same ol'. Sorry there's no pics. of all these exciting events. There were issues and so the camera could not be used. I promise pictures next time!

Adoption profile

YAY! We finally got our profile updated. Feel free to take a look and make suggestions!!

https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/22886980/ourMessage.jsf

Random pictures

Here are a few random pics. that I just haven't posted because... they don't have to much of a story.

Jared's pants were ripping because he kept stepping on the pants. He got tired of stepping on them so here is his solution...



Yeah, this pair of pants gone thrown away.

Jared was playing with Buddy outside one day and thought it'd be fun to help Buddy slide



Buddy didn't enjoy the slide very much, but Buddy still LOVES playing with Jared.

Here is us at a fair we went to this last week.

Rodeo!!

So~ one of my best memories growing up was going to the rodeo. Every year, we'd go... watch my dad work in the area opening the gates and whatnot. It was a blast. This combined with my love of horses has never left me! I still get so excited every year when we get to go. This last week we had a chance to. It was a blast! Here are some pictures of the exciting event.

Jared getting ready for the big event!!! Can't you tell he's so ready?



One of my memories about the rodeo, is getting there a little early and seeing my dad tilling the grounds, like this guy.



I also remember walking around the rodeo grounds and seeing the pin full of cows, just like this!



Here they do what's called "Cash Cow". It's kind of mean, but kind of fun. They tape money on baby cows and kids come into the area to get the money off the cows.



This is another event I had never heard of until I came to UT. It's call mutton bustin'. Little kids ride sheep as long as they can. It's awesome!! So cute to watch.



We had a blast!! Jared said I was like a kid in a candy store. I was so excited to be there. Hope you guys are havin' as much fun as we are!!

Been way to long!

So~ life is good! It has been extremely busy here in the Payne home. Buddy has definitely been keeping us on our toes. Jared still isn't very fond of him, but I think Buddy's growing on Jared. Other than that we have been busy with work, scouts, and school, our usual. We did just spent a week in TX. We went to help celebrate this...



Jacob, one of Jared's younger brothers, got married! Itzel is a wonderful addition to the family! These two are the cutest couple. It was so fun to be able to go and help celebrate their big day. (Side note: the picture was taken by our talented sis-in-law, Jess. She did an amazing job with Jacob and Itzel's wedding photos!) While we were there, something else exciting happened.



This little cutie decided it was time to join our family too! Our sis-in-law, Michelle had Carter Verile Payne the same day Jacob and Itzel got married... May 28. So as you can see... big, exciting things happening in our family!