December 2007

Here was Amy's letter to the Benson clan - this pretty much sums up our week...

Hi family!

We hope you all have had a good week despite all the sadness and uncertainty about Shannon. Our prayers are still going up for her every day and we have faith that if it is the Lord's will, she will be healed. We have had a good week despite Paul being gone to San Francisco doing training at Stanford. He liked the area and had a good work week while we got to play all week with Uncle Nate, who gave up a week of bachelorhood to watch kids, do dishes, volunteer at Aaron's school, etc. Really, he did everything a stay-at-home mom would do and I'm afraid we wore him out! But he was a great sport and the kids LOVED having him here. It made the separation from Paul SO much easier. Thanks Nate!

This week Paul is on the road again in San Francisco doing training for Chevron. So we're on our own and planning fun things to make the time go faster, as well as celebrate the season. We're going over to dinner at a friend's house tomorrow, baking treats for neighbors, attending Enrichment, and renting Christmas movies. We'll be fine, but will miss Paul a lot.

Here's the quick rundown of everyone:

Anna has officially learned the word "No!" and uses it every chance she gets. She is also like a mountain goat, climbing onto tables, couches, the piano, etc. She is talking up a storm and loves to look at Santa ornaments and say "Oh Oh Oh!" She let me put a hair band in her hair for a whole 45 seconds last night, which is a recent record. She likes "pretty" things sometimes, but we may have a little rough and tumble tomboy on our hands. She keeps up pretty good with "the bubbas." (the brothers)

Jacob is doing much better in nursery and hasn't been as aggressive to his buddy Matthew for a few weeks, which we are glad to hear. Jacob and Matthew have clashed on occasion, but they both seem to have grown out of it. Jacob wants trains, lots of trains, for Christmas and talks every day about the Polar Express still. He loved going with Uncle Nate last week to the Outlet Mall for story time and a carousel ride. He even got to ride in Nate's "champagne car."

Aaron was just named Student of the Month, which meant he got to have pizza on the stage with Mr. Darrington, the principal, during lunch. His big event this week was shopping at the "Holiday Shop" at school for all of us. He used his allowance money and got us all something for Christmas. They help the kids choose gifts, budget, buy, and wrap the presents. Last year he gave Jacob some stuffed dice (welcome to Vegas!), and Paul a light-up dolphin, so we can hardly wait to see what he has chosen this year.

I am doing quite well for all we have going on. The church auxiliaries are keeping me way busy. I sang at our ward's Young Women in Excellence last week and it went good. I'm also singing and helping with the Enrichment Christmas activity on Thursday. I also was in charge of the primary cookie decorating party last Friday too. Sunday I played the organ and today I accompanied a musical number. I have felt very used and needed this season. How I long for the days in the 7th ward of hearing all my favorites in Sacrament Meeting (Mom and Dad singing "No Room," the orchestra playing in the back of the chapel, Brother Joy leading and singing with gusto, and the Griffin family singing "I heard the bells on Christmas Day.") Those are sweet memories, though it's funny how you don't realize they will become treasured memories at the time. I hope after Christmas we can just have some singing time as a family. I haven't heard Mary's Lullaby yet and I'm missing all of you and your voices! Who is up for a big singalong when we're all together? Maybe even an encore performance of the brother's "reindeer dance?"

Paul is doing dishes right now while I type. What a good boy! I'm going to help him pack for his 4 AM departure. The kids are running wild, so I'd better sign off. If any of you are bored this week (or just feel bad for me), I'd love to chat so that I can have adult interaction. Please give me a call! We'll be fine with good neighbors, Christmas projects, and McDonald's playland down the road. Even so, wish us luck! Love to you all!

Amy and crew

p.s. I LOVED the elf-ed videos of Mom, Dad, Jordan, and Sadie. We all had a good laugh! We see that Christensens sent one too. Can't wait to open it. Bye!

Halloween Fun

OK, we've been major slackers on updating our site. Here are some pictures from tonight's Trick-or-Treating. The kids got spoiled over in the Evans' neighborhood. They got SO much candy! We had to dump their buckets into the stroller halfway through so they could keep going. There were at least 5 different houses that were giving out FULL SIZE candy bars (Snickers, Reese's, etc.). Mom and Dad were so jealous! Anna even got in on the fun and snuck a KitKat and a Twix. "Mmmmm!" she said.

Well, blow me down!

We thought we were safe from hurricanes here in the desert southwest, but I swear that's almost what we got the other night. We had a wind storm with some pretty strong winds that blew our nice shady mesquite tree over this week. We're pretty bummed since it's shade covered the majority of our back yard during the day and shaded the west side of the house in the afternoon. We were lucky, though, that it didn't do any damage to the house. It just came to a soft rest against the patio cover with the branches reaching our bedroom window. We didn't hear it when it blew over. We were awake but all we heard was a squeaking noise upstairs. When I went up to the bedroom I opened the window and there it was!

Timberrrrr

I guess it's just the Lord's way of telling us that we should plant a garden in that spot instead...

Otherwise things are going well. Aaron graduated from Kindergarten and had a fun graduation ceremony. They sang a few fun songs that they learned and received their diplomas. Aaron's looking forward to the summer vacation but is excited to start 1st grade in a few months.

Jacob's enjoying having his brother home all day - he now has 3 extra hours to tease Aaron! They're both excited to start swimming lessons from one of the girls in our ward.

Anna's a bundle of joy and is just about to crawl. She's loves to babble while mixing in some of her favorite new words she's learning like "bread", "up", "that", as well as the stand-bys "buh-buh" (which stands for "Mommy", "brother", "bottle", and "binky", to name a few), and of course, my long-time favorite: "Da-da."

We hope all is going will with all of you. Love you all!

Paul, Amy and the gang

Playing catch-up

Hi everyone,

It's been awhile so we thought we'd update you on what we've been up to for the last three months. So here it is - in list format for brevity!

1. Jacob turned 3
   
2. We went to Disneyland in March with Aunt Natalie
3. Anna got RSV
   
4. Most of the Lacey clan met in Vegas as Natalie went through the temple
5. Amy sang one of her songs for a group of ladies, including Gladys Knight
   
6. Aaron turned 6
   
7. Paul went to Shannon's graduation @ BYU in April
8. We (well, Amy, mostly) wrote a song for the American Idol songwriter competition
9. Amy and the Benson Girls sang at the American Mothers National Convention
   
10. We all went to Megan's wedding in May
11. Paul's computer started to die
    
12. Paul and Jacob went to Mom Lacey's graduation the day after Megan's wedding
13. Anna got tubes in her ears
14. Uncle David stayed over while attending a dental convention
    
15. Aaron and Jacob single-handedly funded a local dentist's retirement
16. Amy planned a day of stake Girl's Camp
17. Paul's computer finished dying
18. Mom & Dad Lacey dropped by for a quick visit
    
19. Amy got called to the Primary presidency in our ward

We'll stop there for now. But take a look below for some pictures and video of what we've been up to (feel free to click through the pictures to see larger versions if you'd like).

Pictures Spring 2007

Here are a few slideshows of pictures we've taken over the past couple months. Enjoy!

May 2007

April 2007

Disneyland 2007

Jacob Rides Gadget's Go-Coaster

This is Jacob's FAVORITE ride in the world!

Monkey Business

Hi all,

This one will be quick - I'm not feeling too well and with this time change thing I need to get to bed. But we've had a good week apart from the nasty cold that's made it's way through the family. It was fun to have Nate visit for a few days. We joined him in watching BYU down Wyoming on Friday night, but had to catch last night's debacle on the radio. But congrats to the Cougs for making the tournament! Hopefully they can make it through the first round and then redeem themselves by knocking off #1 Ohio State.

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. Included are some pictures of Aaron in his first grade school musical. The Missoula Children's Theater was in town at Aaron's grade school to do the production of the Jungle Book. It was a lot of fun and Aaron got to be one of the "Leader Monkeys," which included a couple of speaking parts. He had a great time and really had fun singing and dancing around on the stage.

March 2007

Jacob's excited for his birthday tomorrow. We can't believe our little boy is going to be 3! He's excited to have some friends come to his party at the park tomorrow. We'll be sure to send pictures of the festivities next week.

Anna's doing great and is loving the freedom of being able to roll over. She's a little squealer and loves to laugh at her brothers. We also can't believe she'll be 6 months next week. How time flies!

We hope you all have a great week. Take care!

Love,
The Las Vegas Laceys

Fishy February

Hi All,

What an eventful month! We've had a great time here enjoying (until today) the nice 70 degree weather. Of course it rained today - the day I took the boys to go fishing at Sunset Park. We had a great time and the boys each got to reel in a fish. Aaron wanted to bring his home as a "pet" but I had to convince him that it wouldn't survive long in the refridgerator, even though his plans called for a "basket without a lid." Here's a video of Aron reeling in the monster.



We had a fun Valentine's Day week. The boys had some friends over to make and decorate cookies and Amy and I got to have a great date at our Stake's Valentine's Day Dance (see pictures below!). We got spoiled with a great dinner, which included a sushi bar and a chocolate fountain. The members of our ward really were the life of the party and we had a lot of fun.

Valentine's Dance 2007 - Haven Ward

The kids continue to be the life of our own little party. Aaron's big news is that he's got two loose teeth! He's been so jealous of his friends who have started to get wiggly teeth. He was bummed last summer when he almost knocked one of his teeth out that it didn't come out then so he's looking forward it now.

Jacob was sick for a few days last week so he's grateful to be feeling better. He was just tickled this morning to be able to go for a ride in "Daddy's white car."

Anna got to try rice cereal today for the first time. She's really started to show her little personality and is ready to start exploring her little world. She rolled over for the first time last week and isn't so content to just sit or lay in one place for longer than a few minutes.

Most of the rest of our last few weeks are documented in the pictures in the album below. Feel free to take a look to see what we've been up to.

February 2007

We hope you are all doing well. Drop us a line and let us know what you've been up to. Our prayers are with Grandma Lacey as she's in the hospital this week. Get better soon!

Love,
Paul, Amy and the kids.

Simple Pleasures

Hi family,

It's been a great weekend for us. Just lots of simple pleasures and time together. I guess it takes a week of being sick to put things in perspective the next week. We're doing great!

Yesterday we had a fun afternoon at the park with our friends the Parkers. Their kids are so cute, the same age as ours, and get along well with our kids. We went to a new park and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, went exploring on the trail, and played on the equipment. It was a heavenly 65 degrees and it was just right for being outside. One of our "simple pleasures" was watching our boys pop bubbles that some nice lady was blowing for the kids at the park. The sun was just dancing off the bubbles, the kids were giggling and running after them, and Paul and I just sat back and watched. Anna loved being outside and seeing so many new faces and sights (white clouds in a beautiful blue sky, a colorful playground, etc.) We like it when life just slows down enough to just BREATHE and BE. :)

Yesterday morning we recorded a country song demo called "The Last Real Cowboy" for Eric Dodge, who is recording his album in Nashville later this year. He gave us some lyrics and this song has taken a few weeks to come together, but just yesterday morning, the last few words came and we recorded it to submit to him. He liked it a lot, and now will record it! He's a great guy and so talented; check him out at www.ericdodge.com We love his voice.

To round out our day we had the Elders over for dinner. They are over at our house a couple times a week, but this time we got to feed them and hear a message from them. They are such great young men and are working so hard in this area. Elder Clarke just threw out his back in a bike accident, so they have been walking EVERYWHERE! Paul gives them rides when he can, but wow, what dedication. Our neighbor Sara dropped in at dinner time too, so we fed her and just had fun with a houseful of people.

Our boys are doing great. Aaron just got "student of the month" we found out, so we're happy for him, though he has no clue what he did or what it means! Oh well, the certicate will look great in his scrapbook! He loves school and is reading up a storm.

Jacob is looking forward to preschool in the Fall and talks about it like it's tomorrow...in the meantime he loves his "Rock and Roll Kids" class and making up knock knock jokes.

Anna is our little princess and is so fun and SO VOCaL! Oh boy, does she have a set of lungs! She doesn't cry or scream much, just squeals whenever she wants some attention or if it gets too quiet. She has found a new fun past-time of grabbing handfuls of my hair and trying to eat it. I'm remembering why I cut my hair when I have a baby this age! She's almost sitting up, rolling over, and cutting a tooth. She is a cuddly little thing which we all love. Her laugh cracks us up and we can hardly go to church enough times for her to wear all her dresses. What a life!

We love all of you so much and hope you are doing well. Take care and drop us a line. If you haven't sent your contact info, please do that by tomorrow so I can send out the b-day lists and phone/address pages. I think we have all the Lacey info...Bensons, please send if you haven't. Have a great day!

Amy, Paul, and kids


p.s. I think it is our turn to send out a question for the Benson weekly letter. Lacey's join in too please if you want; it's just a quick, fun way to get to know all the family members...

QUESTION:
What is the best deal or "freebie" you've ever scored?

We'll start to give you some ideas...
The best "small item" deal I ever got was at Old Navy 3 years ago. Since it was Spring, they had a bunch of holiday stuff for super-cheap. They had sheets of Halloween stickers to decorate your fingernails, notebooks, etc. originally for $2.95 per package. The manager saw me looking at them and said if I would take them all (like 300 packages), I could buy them for 1 cent each. I did and we gave them out for trick or treaters the next year...and the next year...etc!

One summer we were swimming at 7 Peaks in Provo when they announced a trivia contest sponsored by a radio station there. For answering some little music question, they tossed us a little package. Inside was a t-shirt, mug, and a blockbuster card for FREE MOVIE RENTALS FOR A YEAR! I think it took us 3 years to use all the rentals, but it was awesome.

So, how about you?

...and antibiotics for all!

Hi all who love us :-D

This week was quite the challenge for our little family as 3 of the 5 of us got strep throat. Jacob started it off late last week and passed it on to Aaron and Amy. Thankfully Anna just got a cold. To make matters worse, Paul wasn't available due to one of the longest work weeks he's had and wasn't around much to give Amy a break. Let's just say that there were a lot of Blue's Clues episodes watched and many popsicles distributed. It lasted the entire week, but as of today, everyone is feeling much better.

Enjoy the pictures of the kids. When we slow down enough to just hang out with them they crack us up and keep us SO entertained. They love making each other and us laugh. We snapped most of these after church today.

Have a great week!
(make sure you click on the pictures below to open up the albums!)

January 21 2007

And the feeling is...

Birthday Surprises

We had a fun week this week. It was Amy's birthday on Friday so we surprised her with a visit by Cecelia. She had said the week before that all she wanted was her mom to come. So we made arrangements but told Amy that she wouldn't be able to come. Surprise, surprise! We had a great time just hanging out and also took the chance to check out the Chinese new year display at the Bellagio. It wasn't exactly warm here this weekend (I stepped out from work on Friday into a mini blizzard!) so we mostly just let the boys hang out with Grandma here at home. Amy worked on a couple of new songs she's writing and Aaron & I headed to the UNLV campus to cheer on the Cougars basketball team. Aaron was crushed when they didn't win and spent most of the second half with his coat pulled over his head since he was so mad. That's my boy!

Here are some pictures. Click on the picture to open up the album.

January 2007

Anna's growing right before our eyes and is starting to laugh. She gets the biggest kick out of her brothers.

Drop us a line and let us know how you are all doing. We love getting your pictures...keep them coming!