Passing the Tradition On

Today three of the boys learned a very important skill in life that I hope they pass on to their children: How to make coffee. Enjoy the pics.

Chris

When War Hits Close to Home

As most of you know our blog typically consists of cute pictures and stories about what our kids have been up to recently. Unfortunately, life isn’t always about the cute things that happen. Recently a good friend of ours, Lance Corporal Matthew Smazal, who has been serving with his fellow Marines in Afghanistan, was wounded in the line of duty. This is the first time that war has really hit close to home. It is very difficult explaining to your children that others are getting killed and wounded to protect our freedom and security. People that we will never meet are sacrificing daily so that we can live in the greatest nation on Earth, with the greatest freedoms on Earth.

Many soldiers consider what they do 'just another day at the office'. Imagine your office being thousands of miles from home, away from your families, always on the lookout for bombs, snipers, and others that are trying to kill you. Most of us that have office jobs, mill jobs, medical jobs, factory jobs, etc. come home to our families every night. We get to eat dinner with our families, tuck our kids in to bed, and kiss our wives good night before bed. Military families do not have these luxuries during their deployment time.

When Cari’s grandpa passed away I inherited a key chain with the logo of the United States Marine Corps. (He served in the Marine Corps during World War II) That key chain is there as a constant reminder to me of all those in the Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Reserves that spend each day protecting me and my family.

I hope that this blog encourages you to pray for, write to, and thank the service men and women that you know. I know that this experience has impacted me in a profound way.

Chris

Not much happening in January

I realized that it's been more than a month since my last blog posting. That's because not much has happened in January. I have posted a few pictures from our air hockey tournament earlier this month at a friends house.

Chris

Christmas 2009

The Payne's had an enjoyable Christmas with both sides of the family. This year will be remembered as the Christmas that involved a lot of snow, and everyone being chauffeured up the hill to get to Rod & Sue's house. Below is a video of Levi reading the Christmas story and a link to some pictures from our Christmas. You may have to copy and paste the link into your web browser.

Chris

Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126281&id=513017606&l=c7edcc673b

Christmas Decorating and Concerts 2009

The last two weekends have been busy with Christmas decorating and Christmas concerts. We spent much of last Saturday decorating the house for Christmas, and on Sunday the kids had their Christmas concert at church. The video shows (with not the best quality) Josiah in the middle of the screen. The adult Christmas musical runs Thursday-Sunday and has been a lot of fun to be a part of. Enjoy the pics and video.

Chris

Snowball Fight

We had our first real snowfall of the winter this week. The kids and I decided to have a snowball fight.

Chris

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2009

The Payne's enjoyed a four day weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving in St. Paul, MN. Thanksgiving dinner consisted of the usual foods (turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, pies, etc. and of course poppyseed bread). That same night we got some exciting news about a new addition to the family in the summer of 2010. Andy and Molly announced that they are expecting their first child, and needless to say everyone was very excited.
I spent Friday afternoon with Jonah at our 2nd annual MN Wild hockey game. The Wild won and we saw a hat trick. It was a great time. On Saturday afternoon Cari and the boys went to a model train museum with Andy and Molly. On Saturday night we went to a Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. Lots of different foods to experience. Much of it I'm still not sure what it was.

Enjoy the pics.

Chris

PS: Cheese Balls may be a new West/Payne Thanksgiving tradition. :)