Thanksgiving and some other fun things

First I would like to say how cold it was in our apartment yesterday, I was not happy and that heater was turned on ASAP:

Second, Thanksgiving.  We spent Thanksgiving day with both my side of the family and Erik's side.  I had brought my camera and had intended on taking lots of pictures, but of course that never happens.  His side of the family came in from California and it was so great to see his aunts, uncles and cousins.  On Thanksgiving night we went to see the temple lights, and this was the only picture we managed to steal:

(There's more to the fam, but these were the only ones there that night)

All in all we had a really fun Thanksgiving, full of lots of food, family, and lots of Christmas music.

On Wednesday I hit 33 weeks and I cannot believe how fast time is going.  It feels like just yesterday we found out that we were pregnant, and now it is almost time for him to come.  I feel so ready for him to finally be here, and at the same time I don't feel ready at all.  I don't think those fears will go away until he is here and in my arms, and all I can do for right now is pray that everything will go alright!  It feels that in the past few weeks, and even more in the past few days my turkey popper has really popped.  I can tell we are going to have a big boy!

Yesterday was a very exciting day in the Payne home.  You see, Erik has not cut his hair since December 4th of last year.  LAST YEAR.  He was growing it out a year ago, and he finally cut it for my birthday because I had been bugging him about getting his hair cut for 8 months.  Well then he decided to grow it out again.  When we found out we were pregnant, he said he wasn't going to cut it until right before Jude was born.  At first I just let him believe that, and I figured I could sucker him into getting it cut again.  Boy was I wrong.  I finally decided that the arguments weren't worth it, and if he wanted to grow it out then I wasn't going to say anything more about it.  So it has been growing and growing and I have kept my mouth shut.  At times I will admit, I did sort of like it (don't tell Erik), but I like it way better short than I do long.  In case you didn't remember, this is what it looked like before he cut it (I chose this picture as an excuse to put in on the blog.  It was taken about a week ago, and I loved it so much because no one put her there, she was just handed a bottle and then crawled right up to his leg and laid down.  I melted.  But you still get the idea with his hair):

Well yesterday we had our maternity photo shoot which is one of my birthday presents.  I told Erik my only condition was that he wore a hat, because he looks better with a hat on with his long hair.  Of course he didn't mind because he agrees, and I think he could tell I was secretly stressing about how they were going to turn out with his long hair, even though I didn't say anything.  Before we went to bed Friday night, he told me he was going to cut his hair for my birthday, and that he would do it a week early for the photo shoot.  I obviously was sooo excited, and decided that because I have not said anything about his hair for the last year, I should be able to have some fun with it before he chopped off the 8 inches.  So I straightened:

And curled:

And french braided:

Did pigtails:

And made it look girly:

We then decided we couldn't just cut it without having any fun with it, so we pulled out the scissors and started chopping. Erik and I both agree that this picture makes him look extra creepy/Asian in a weird sort of way:

Mullet:

Rat tail (I'm not sure why it rotated this one and I couldn't figure out how to rotate it back.  Sorry):

Afterwards I was a very happy wife, and I was even more happy that he said he was tired of his long hair and that is why he decided to cut it.  Even though all of our primary girls laughed at him and told him he looked funny, I think he looks great! Now Jude will know he has a mom and a dad, instead of 2 moms.

I am so grateful for many things in my life.  I am grateful for such loving parents and a wonderful family that support us so much.  I am so glad I have the gospel in my life I love the strength that it gives me everyday.  Most importantly I am so grateful for having Erik by my side.  He is such a good husband to me and I could not have asked for anyone more perfect for what I need.  He keeps me laughing every day, and life is always fun with him.  I can't wait to start our little family together!

We hope you all had a fun Thanksgiving weekend!