Merry Christmas 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! I guess that means it's time for our yearly blog post. Perhaps in 2013 we'll update it more often, but for now we'll recap what happened in 2012.

Anna (6) is so excited for Christmas. She asked Santa for a Baby Alive doll, but after seeing the enormous head on one and realizing that the food and diapers cost more than those for a real baby, we convinced her that Santa brings really good “surprises.” Rumor has it that Santa is thinking about bringing her a doll house that she has been wanting for a long time now. Shhh, don't tell!

Anna is a gymnast exraordinaire, bending, arching, twirling, and cartwheeling any chance she gets. She also loves ballet and singing. Anna says school is really fun, except for “all that work.” She enjoys recess, art and socializing the most but does great at reading and math too.

Jacob (8 ½) was baptized this year as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. It was so special to have both sets of grandparents in Logan, Utah, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. He also participated in flag football on the Bone Crushers team. Although they were the youngest, smallest team in the league, they did a great job. Jacob had some great “tackles” and improved so much as the season went on.

Jacob's biggest passion right now is cupstacking. He was introduced to it in PE at school and really has a knack for this cool, quirky sport. In February he'll participate in his first cupstacking competition, here in Las Vegas. He's also excited to be in Cub Scouts and has earned his Bobcat.

Aaron (11 ½) began middle school this year at Silvestri Jr. High. He's in mostly honors classes which have proven to be challenging for the whole family. He has LOTS of homework every night, especially in math, but is working hard and gets good grades.

Aaron's biggest news is that he has fallen in love this year with Elizabeth...his cello. He has only been playing for a few months but has sounded out the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean and a bunch of Christmas songs. He will start private lessons in January (but that's top secret, too!). He enjoys having Paul as his 11 year-old Scout leader and has enjoyed the campouts and lots of dodge ball.

Amy (35, if you must know!) is busy with music and motherhood. She was hired this year to write 52 songs for an online preschool curriculum that will launch in 2013. She volunteers in the elementary school, leads the primary and ward choirs, and keeps the Lacey household running smoothly.

Paul (not quite 40) is transitioning into his dream job at IBM. After four years of managing the customer support team he has accepted a position as product manager. One of the great perks of this job is that he can work in an office or from home. Right now he's doing a bit of both, much to the delight of Amy and the Lacey beagle, Shiloh, who likes to follow Paul around wherever he goes.

We are so grateful this time of year for our Savior Jesus Christ, for family and friends, and for the many blessings we've been given. Like all of you, we've had our ups and downs and challenges in 2012. We appreciate your love and support through all our highs and lows. We look forward to a great 2013 and wish you a Happy New Year!

Love,

The Laceys

Here are a few photos from a recent photo shoot. Thanks to Jackilyn Smith Photography for the great pics!

2011 Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from sunny, warm Las Vegas! We have so many blessings and appreciate this time of year when we're reminded of all we've been given and all the people we love.

Here's an update of each member of our family:

Anna (5) started Kindergarten this year. Her favorite subjects are arts & crafts, music, and recess. She's a good little reader and works hard at her handwriting. She takes gymnastics, dance, and soccer. Her sports highlight this year was scoring three goals for her team, the Eagles.

Anna also loves singing and recently learned the Christmas song, Away in a Manger. You can hear her singing it here.

Jacob (7) is enjoying his Second Grade year. He's totally into football, especially BYU football after having gone to a game in Provo earlier this year. He's decided he wants to be the "guy who runs with the ball" and practices football every chance he gets.

Now that he's accepted that we cannot build a life-sized roller coaster in our back yard (his dream) he's hoping Santa will bring him a roller coaster model instead. He's a daredevil and can't wait to try the next big thrill. His goal is to ride every roller coaster on the Las Vegas strip as soon as he's tall enough.

Jacob has had a few piano lessons and recorded a duet with Amy, We Three Kings.

Aaron (10 1/2) is Big Man on Campus as a fifth grader. He still loves Star Wars (though primarily the Clone Wars and Lego Star Wars Wii video game) and Harry Potter. He played the lead in his school play, Robinson Crusoe, and has kept busy with Scouts, school, and baseball. He continues to be a great dog trainer to our beagle, Shiloh.

Aaron has a great ear for music and is learning the simplified hymns (with a little bribery from his parents!). He helped arrange this version of Deck the Halls.

Amy and Paul celebrated 13 years of marriage - what a lucky number! Paul is working at IBM, who acquired the company he's been with for the past 5 1/2 years. He works as the manager of the support team, which means he listens to people from big, powerful companies tell him what they need fixed when things go wrong. He teaches Gospel Doctrine at church and helps coach Aaron's baseball team.

Amy keeps the home fires burning and volunteers in PTA. She's still writes music and is currently working with a great country singer, Eric Dodge, in St. George, Utah. She serves as the Primary chorister at church. She had fun re-decorating a couple rooms in our house with her cousin Natalie. She loves being a stay-at-home mom.

Here are a few photos from a recent photo shoot. Thanks to Jackilyn Smith Photography for the great pics!

We hope you have a wonderful Holiday season! Although we're far away from most of you we'll be thinking of you at this special time of year. If the weather gets too cold where you are, come see us!

Please keep in touch.

Love,

The Laceys

Pictures from Paradise

Here are some pictures from our trip to Clearwater, Florida - a.k.a the "President's Club," courtesy of TRIRIGA, the company where Paul works. We're having such an awesome time walking on the beach, eating fancy food, and taking LOOONG uninterrupted naps.

Thanks to Boise relatives for watching our kids, and thank you TRIRIGA for the wonderful trip!!

Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends & Family,

Merry Christmas! As 2009 comes to a close we wanted to give you an update on our family.

Paul has had a busy year at work. In February he accepted a new/expanded position. In addition to managing the training department at TRIRIGA he also manages the Customer Support and Documentation departments. He's hopeful 2010 will be less of a whirlwind!

Amy has had a busy year at home. She volunteers at the boys' school and started a pre-school co-op for Anna. She continues to write music and is excited that 3 or 4 new songs will be on country singer, Eric Dodge's upcoming album. She's currently serving in the Stake Young Women's presidency and loves her new role as Stake Dance chaperone!

Aaron is in 3rd grade at Hummel Elementary. He loves to read, play Lego Star Wars, ride his bike, and play baseball. He's a big dreamer and has his life planned out. He wants to invent the first real lightsaber and become a rich scientist. He also dreams about owning a beagle named Shiloh. Aaron was baptized this year and began Cub Scouts.







Jacob has gone through several all-encompasing phases this year: electric guitars, hammerhead sharks, German Zeppelins/warplanes, rollercoasters, and natural disasters. His current favorite movie shows footage of tornadoes, hurricanes, avalanches, etc. We think we have a meteorologist on our hands (at least until next week when the next phase hits)! He's in Kindergarten and knows who he wants his first girlfriend to be (ohh, 16 is going to come too fast for this kid).





Anna, age 3, started preschool in the Fall, and would go every day if she could. She's been in one phase this year, PRINCESSES. She surprised us by learning to ride her princess bike with training wheels the first time she tried. She loves to sing, dance, dress up, and have tea parties and play dates. But she's also not afraid to mix it up in a sword fight with her "bubbas."







We hope you have a great holiday season. Our goal in 2010 is to update our blog monthly (pretty big stretch given last year's miserable track record). Leave a comment if you want to be included on the updates mailers. Have a very Merry Christmas and we hope 2010 is a fantastic year for you all!

Love,
The Laceys

Anna Singing Snow White

Anna was singing the Snow White song tonight. Listen to it here.

Reminds me of my sisters singing it! "Ah-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa..."

Merry Christmas 2008

Hi Family & Friends!

Welcome to our blog. We want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! We've had fun tracking some of you down from coast-to-coast, but now that we've found you we hope you'll drop us a line (email us at paul -dot- lacey -at- gmail -dot- com) and fill us in on what's happening in your neck of the woods.

In the meantime, here's a brief update of our family:

We've been living in Las Vegas for almost three years. We just celebrated our 10-year anniversary in Hawaii (It was a wonderful trip - check out our pics below!).

Paul works at TRIRIGA (sorry about the ALL-CAPS - it's a marketing thing), as the Training Manager where he keeps busy teaching classes about TRIRIGA's software. He also keeps busy helping coach Aaron and Jacob's baseball and soccer teams.

Amy is a busy mother of three who is now an official soccer/baseball/PTA mom. In her spare time (i.e., when the kids are busy getting their daily dose of Fetch/Thomas the Tank/Strawberry Shortcake) she likes to compose music. Check out news about her latest project here and other stuff at amybensonlacey.com.







Aaron (7) is in second grade and just finished his first season of baseball. He loves Star Wars, losing teeth, and winning at everything else! He looks forward to getting baptized in March.











Jacob (4) loves preschool, electric guitars, and trains. He's very imaginative and will turn anything into either a fast-moving vehicle or a musical instrument.











Anna (2) is our little whirlwind. She loves princesses, talking, chasing her Bubbas (brothers), and anything PINK. She changes her clothes at least four times per day, requesting everything from a pirate costume, her favorite PJs, one of her dresses, or nothing at all!









At this Christmas season, we're grateful for the birth of our Savior. Christmas also makes us think of our great families and the wonderful friends we've made over the years. We haven't talked to some of you in a while, but we still consider you some of our greatest blessings! Hope to hear from you soon. :-)

The Laceys

Aloha! Pictures from Hawaii

Amy and I decided to celebrate our 10-year anniversary by going to Hawaii. I had never been so I was excited to go see Paradise. We had such a great time! We took the kids, but we couldn't have done it without my darling sister, Natalie. Thanks Nat! We were also hooked up with awesome travel arrangements and accommodations by Aunt Joanne at Cruise and Travel Masters. Thank you!! Check out the slideshow of pictures below.


Some of the highlights:

• Natalie guiding us around the island after she got the tour before we got there
• Lei greeting at the airport
  
• Turtle Bay and watching the surfers ride the HUGE waves on the North Shore
• Shave ice - yum!
• Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay
• Pearl Harbor
• Waikiki on Halloween (VERY interesting people about!)
• Trick-or-Treating with Natalie's friends
• Parasailing!
• Polynesian Cultural Center
• ABC Stores
• Dole Plantation and the Pineapple Express
• The Macadamia nut place
  
• The Rain-that-was-really-just-a-mist
• Playing in the sand
• The Halona Blow Hole
• Sunset on the beach
• Our romantic dinner at sunset at the Hilton Rainbow Lanai
• Hanging out on the deck of our condo listening to Jacob play his Ukelele
• Cheeseburger in Paradise
• Dropping my BlackBerry (yes, AGAIN! But the salt water really did it in this time) in the ocean on the first day so I couldn't be bothered by work the entire week!