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?