Payne Family Christmas 2010

Santa always makes an early stop to the Payne house. Below are pics of our family Christmas.

Chris

Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas from the Payne family!

2010 was a year of change and a year of seeing projects that we had talked about for years come completion. Levi and Samuel experienced change with the closing of their school. They enjoy their new school, which is actually closer to our house, and they are big boys now since they walk to school by themselves. We completed three major projects on the house. During the summer we had a fence put up in the backyard. This has been great, since the kids can now play outside much more often. Around the same time we tore down our garage and hand a new shed built. In the fall we completed the front porch project by painting the walls and staining the floor. Through all of these projects we are thankful for friends that were able to help with demolition and construction.

2010 was also a year of new opportunities. Chris became a Child Advocate for Compassion International. This gives him opportunities to talk to groups about the ministry of Compassion and how a child can be released from poverty in Jesus’ name.

2010 was a year of new arrivals. We experienced the birth of two nephews within a few months of each other. In the summer we welcomed Kai to the world, and in December Nicholas joined the family.

The boys continue to grow, in size (as reflected by our food budget), and personality. Cari continues her work as coordinator for our church’s MOPS group, and Chris is in his 10th year of employment at Renaissance Learning. We pray that you have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed new year.


The Payne’s

Movember

As part of Movember, the attendees of Friday's Wild game were given the opportunity to be part of a Guinness Book of World Records event. The goal was to break the record of 151 moustached men in one place. We crushed the old record. The unofficial number was 1,131. It will take few weeks for Guinness to confirm the new record.

Chris

This Birthday Is Brought To You By The Color Blue

Whenever we would ask Nathanael what he wanted for his birthday he kept saying that he wanted a 'Blue Birthday'. From the pics below you'll see that the theme of this year's birthday was the color blue. From the blueberry pancakes for breakfast, to the blue chips at dinner (and everything in between) the color of the day was blue.

Chris

10 Years Ago and Today

I recently celebrated my 10 year anniversary as an employee at Renaissance Learning. This got me thinking about how life has changed over that last 10 years. Take a stroll down memory lane with me.

-10 years ago Cari and I had been married for less than a year. This December we will celebrate our 11th anniversary.

-10 years ago we moved to a place where we didn't know a single person. Today we have many people that we are able to call our friends.

-10 years ago we didn't have any kids. Today we have four boys between the ages of 9 and 3.

-10 years ago we lived in a house that was about the size of a large garage. Today we live in a house that is bigger than a garage, but it's still a small house.

-10 years ago we had one nephew. Today we have 4 nephews (with another on the way)and 2 nieces.

-10 years ago we had a two-door Ford Tempo. Today we have a four-door minivan that seats 7.

-10 years ago I had never heard of a blog. Today I use a blog to keep our friends and family updated on what's going on in our lives.

Chris

Washington and Apples (but not Washington apples)

Last week I spent three days in Vancouver, Washington on a business trip. It was a good trip, and I learned a few things. Did you know that you can't pump your own gas in the state of Oregon? I flew into Portland, Oregon and the rental car guy informed me that all gas stations are full service in Oregon. I guess it's a state law. I also learned that first class is really nice. My brother-in-law Jonah was able to get me an upgrade to first class from Minneapolis to Portland. Here are some things I learned in first class.
-The seats are really big, and there's a lot of leg room. There's no way you can even come close to touching the person next to you.
-You can drink the bottled water, and they don't charge you. I wasn't sure if it was like in a hotel room where they charge you $5 for the bottled water in your room.
-The hot towels they give you are really very hot. I had to watch others to see what you're supposed to do with them.
-Delta makes a great chocolate cheesecake.

On Friday, Cari took three of the kids to an apple orchard (Josiah was sick so I stayed home with him). They had a really good time and they were able to get a lot of apples for a great price. Pics below.

Chris

Worker Guys

One of Josiah's favorite things to do is watch 'Worker Guys' do their work. A Worker Guy is anyone that does construction, road work, etc. Today the boys spent time drawing with chalk on the sidewalk. With Josiah wearing his new boots, he definitely looks like a Worker Guy that's been painting, or doing some kind of building.

Chris