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?
Lacey Lines, the Holiday Edition
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
...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!)
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!)
Monday, January 15, 2007
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.
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!
Here are some pictures. Click on the picture to open up the album.
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!
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Happy New Year!!
Hi dear ones,
Well, it appears I am the last one standing tonight! The boys went to bed about 8:30 (they were so tired), then Anna awoke briefly to eat but soon fell back asleep. Even Paul is conked out on the couch curled up in a blanket, probably because he was such an angel this morning and let me go back to sleep till 9:00 AM after a crazy, sleep-deprived night. I'll wake him at 11:59 with a goblet of our sparkling apple juice and to watch all the fireworks from the strip that we'll see from our front lawn. We've already heard lots of fireworks and expect more as the night goes on.
Actually, we had a great "New Year's Eve Party" with our own little family starting at 5:30 tonight. Yesterday I asked everyone what their VERY favorite food/snack was. Then for dinner, I made all of our favorites and we ate on fancy china plates by candlelight! Aaron chose pizza, so I bought a couple frozen ones and he got all he wanted. Jacob chose bananas, but I kicked it up a notch and made a caramel fondue sauce to dunk the banana chunks in (YUM!) Paul wanted brownie sundaes, which I was more than happy to make. And I chose fresh shrimp...lots of shrimp, just dunked in cocktail sauce and lemon. We also assembled little appetizers with cream cheese on a wheat thin with the shrimp and sauce. We washed it down with egg nog/sprite mixture, a piece of fudge and called it good! Wow, what a treat!
We also went around our table and remembered highlights from our year. What a year it has been. Some of our highlights have been...
The birth of baby Anna
New job for Paul
New house
Moving to sunny Las Vegas
Completing the FLY! album
Lagoon in the summer
Alpine reunion
Family visits and seeing both sets of grandparents these last couple weeks!
Making new friends (Remembering and loving our old friends too!)
Aaron starting school and soccer
Better bedtime routines for all of us
Learning about and loving our new home and surroundings (including gaining the courage and skills to drive in this crazy city!)
[Paul's late addition]: Attending BYU's blow-out win over Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl!
As these holidays come to a close, we think of each of you more than you probably know! Thanks to all of you for being such a great support system. We love having parents and siblings and friends who were excited for us to take this job in Las Vegas and are so supportive, even though we are far away now. We really are doing great here and our everyday life has greatly improved with this job change. Our little family is so happy and doing great. We just wish you were all closer to enjoy life's little moments with. But that's what airplanes are for, right?
We look forward to a great new year. We'll enjoy raising our three energetic, fun kids and keeping up with work, church, and everyday life. I'm excited for new music opportunities and already have some fun things in the works. We also plan on going to Disneyland in March for the boys' birthdays, Montana in the summer, and to Utah for a visit when we're dying of heat here (or when we find some great airfares).
We love all of you and count you as some of our greatest blessings. Through the ups and downs of this year we have felt the Lord's hand steadying us and guiding us and leading us forward. We are so grateful for His love and guidance. And we're grateful for all your love, support, and friendship. Thanks to all those who have visited us...we've loved all the company! And to the rest of you, please think of us when you're freezing your tooshies off this winter! Our doors are always open! Love you all!
Amy (and I'm sure Paul would say hello if he were awake!)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Well, it appears I am the last one standing tonight! The boys went to bed about 8:30 (they were so tired), then Anna awoke briefly to eat but soon fell back asleep. Even Paul is conked out on the couch curled up in a blanket, probably because he was such an angel this morning and let me go back to sleep till 9:00 AM after a crazy, sleep-deprived night. I'll wake him at 11:59 with a goblet of our sparkling apple juice and to watch all the fireworks from the strip that we'll see from our front lawn. We've already heard lots of fireworks and expect more as the night goes on.
Actually, we had a great "New Year's Eve Party" with our own little family starting at 5:30 tonight. Yesterday I asked everyone what their VERY favorite food/snack was. Then for dinner, I made all of our favorites and we ate on fancy china plates by candlelight! Aaron chose pizza, so I bought a couple frozen ones and he got all he wanted. Jacob chose bananas, but I kicked it up a notch and made a caramel fondue sauce to dunk the banana chunks in (YUM!) Paul wanted brownie sundaes, which I was more than happy to make. And I chose fresh shrimp...lots of shrimp, just dunked in cocktail sauce and lemon. We also assembled little appetizers with cream cheese on a wheat thin with the shrimp and sauce. We washed it down with egg nog/sprite mixture, a piece of fudge and called it good! Wow, what a treat!
We also went around our table and remembered highlights from our year. What a year it has been. Some of our highlights have been...
The birth of baby Anna
New job for Paul
New house
Moving to sunny Las Vegas
Completing the FLY! album
Lagoon in the summer
Alpine reunion
Family visits and seeing both sets of grandparents these last couple weeks!
Making new friends (Remembering and loving our old friends too!)
Aaron starting school and soccer
Better bedtime routines for all of us
Learning about and loving our new home and surroundings (including gaining the courage and skills to drive in this crazy city!)
[Paul's late addition]: Attending BYU's blow-out win over Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl!
As these holidays come to a close, we think of each of you more than you probably know! Thanks to all of you for being such a great support system. We love having parents and siblings and friends who were excited for us to take this job in Las Vegas and are so supportive, even though we are far away now. We really are doing great here and our everyday life has greatly improved with this job change. Our little family is so happy and doing great. We just wish you were all closer to enjoy life's little moments with. But that's what airplanes are for, right?
We look forward to a great new year. We'll enjoy raising our three energetic, fun kids and keeping up with work, church, and everyday life. I'm excited for new music opportunities and already have some fun things in the works. We also plan on going to Disneyland in March for the boys' birthdays, Montana in the summer, and to Utah for a visit when we're dying of heat here (or when we find some great airfares).
We love all of you and count you as some of our greatest blessings. Through the ups and downs of this year we have felt the Lord's hand steadying us and guiding us and leading us forward. We are so grateful for His love and guidance. And we're grateful for all your love, support, and friendship. Thanks to all those who have visited us...we've loved all the company! And to the rest of you, please think of us when you're freezing your tooshies off this winter! Our doors are always open! Love you all!
Amy (and I'm sure Paul would say hello if he were awake!)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas from the Missionaries!
We had Elder Clarke and Elder Newton over this morning for Christmas breakfast. They were good sports to play with the kids and help Aaron build his new K'nex model. Fun stuff! If you are members of their respective families see below for video greetings from them!
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