Twin Trouble

It took Jarom several years before he could tell Lacey and Jessica apart. And it looks as if Joel is going to have the same trouble. Case in point: we were all sitting the family room tonight and I was pointing to everyone and asking him, "Who is that?" He responded, "mom, dad, Jarom..." I point to Lacey and he says, "Lacey." I then point to Jessica and he says, "Another Lacey!"

Yay - it's Fall....

I should know better than to write my blog and then add the pictures! So you get the pictures first and then the text. Sorry.




Paul's new truck



Right before the funeral - this is a shot of my dad's five favorite women! Ha.ha.
Left to right, Erika, Allison, Mom, Emily & Andrea





After the funeral. All my Grandpa's grandchildren (minus 4) were able to make it to the funeral. The other 4 had graduate school commitments or a baby on the way soon that prevented them from coming

Me and my brother Stephen who is on a mission in Logan, Utah. My grandpa's funeral was like 30 minutes away from his current area so his Mission President let him come! It was awesome.

The 5 of us who were able to attend the funeral (we missed Jon and Nate so much!!!!)

Emily, Allison, Stephen, Erika, Andrea

I love this time of year! I love that I can open my windows and doors and let in the nice cool air. I also dug out my meager Halloween decorations and the kids were thrilled. I am not good at decorating at all so I stress out when it's time to decorate because I don't know if it looks right. I know it really doesn't matter, but some of my family and friends have the cutest homes during the holidays and I look at mine and think - blah!

So it has been a month since my last post. I am so busy in school right now and I only have two classes! My professor's are laying it on thick I guess. Although Paul is downright shocked at how many open book/open note tests I get to take. I told him that is the advantage of going to school at night! I would imagine when I get to ASU it will completely different.

We also spent the past month scouring the valley for a new Truck and was very blessed to find exactly what we were looking for. The only problem was when we brought it home from the dealer it wouldn't fit in the garage! I figured our only solution was for me to park the van in the driveway, but with crime the way it is in Phoenix, we both really wanted to get the cars in the garage. So after some fancy finagling we managed to scrunch both cars in. Granted I can no longer use the drivers side door of my car to get in and out and the door to the house is partially blocked by the table saw, but it's worth it.

Anyway school hasn't been the only thing taking up my time, I have also been out of town. To Salt Lake City actually, for the funeral of my mom's dad, Grandpa Carr. My mom said Grandpa has been wanting to get his 8 children and 39 grandchildren together for some time now. And we did all get together for his funeral. Kind of a sad gathering - but such a wonderful experience to connect with family I haven't seen in 15 years. It was marvelous - I had a great time. And Paul took one for the team and stayed home with the kids. One funny thing is that my sister, Allison, knew every detail about all our cousins lives and I was completely embarrassed because I didn't know a thing. When I asked her about it she said, "FACEBOOK." Good grief... I may have to give in to peer pressure.

Viva Las Vegas

After that last post, I was definitely in need of a vacation. So Wednesday morning we headed out to Bullhead City (about 90 minutes southeast of Vegas) where my sister, Andrea, lives. She had graciously agreed to watch all of our children while we went and played. The kids were so excited about spending a few days with their cousins, they made the ride a little frustrating with all the "when are we going to be there" comments. We arrived about 12:30, stayed about an hour and then were on our way.

One thing I have always wanted to do is stay in a five star hotel. We got a great deal on a suite at the Venetian Resort on the strip. Included in the deal was a $50 debit card we could use in any of the slots machines. Being on the casino floor kind of creeped us out, so we hastily decided to get rid of the money and be done. We ended up at the $5 slop machines trying to get rid of the money faster when I happened to get lucky and win $75 dollars. We immediately cashed out and later that week I went to Ann Taylor and bought a new dress. (See below)



















I absolutely loved the Venetian, my only complaint was the nasty cigarrette smoke they were trying to cover up with some disgusting febreze product. Thankfully our suite was smoke free and we were a good 30 floors above all the action. Here is Paul standing at the window of our suite - we had a pretty good view of Las Vegas and the new casino being built across the street.



















This is the entry to the suite



















This is looking back at the front door (there is actually a second bathroom off to the left hand side of the picture)



















This is the bedroom



















This is looking out from the bedroom into the living room



















This is the living room. (The suite actually had 3 flat screen TV's in it - crazy)



















The whole concept of the Venetian Resort is to resemble the streets of Italy. The inside of the casino has this amazing ceiling that makes you feel outside. The whole bottom part is a river that you can take gondola rides down - with a guy that steers the gondola and sings at you. (Note: I had to have a gondola ride - so Paul reluctantly agreed although he would rather have sat it out, since the ride takes you all through the casino and everyone usually stops and stares!)




















An artistic piece on the ceiling with umbrellas. What you can't see if the tiny tubes of light that run down mimicking rainfall.



















We had a jetted spa tub in the bathroom and it was awesome. As you can see I learned the hard way not to put bubble bath in a jetted tub!



















A couple of views from our gondola ride





































On Thursday morning we decided to go to the temple. I toured the Las Vegas temple as a teenager and was blown away by its beauty. So I was very excited to be able to return and go through it. After the temple, we went and had lunch, did some shopping and checked into our room at the Wynn Resort. This is where Paul's conference was being held. It was a very fancy room with a great view and several private amenities, like it's own pool deck, it's own elevators and check in area - it was very high end.



















We thought these green couches were kind of funny


















Check out the architeture of this place - it was incredible. No expense was spared in decorating.



















A picture snapped from our car as we drove down of the strip of the New York New York casino.


















Another roadside picture of the mock Eiffel Tower


















Paul and I in the lush gardens of the Wynn Resort on our last night in Vegas.


















As I packed up our stuff to leave, I snapped this picture of the skyline from our room. The only bad thing about this particular hotel is that it is right across the strip from the treasure island casino. And everynight Treasure Island puts on this show in front of it's casino and they let off canon balls and fireworks and it's a big hoopla. It was great until it was almost midnight and we were ready to sleep, not watch pirates dueling and bombs going off. Plus we also heard an amazing amount of sirens going into the late night and we can only assume the strip is not the best place to be in the middle of the night.


















A special thanks to my sister who watched out kids - we are hoping to return the favor soon! We had a great time and look forward to our next vacation.

Not a great day

Tomorrow we are leaving for Las Vegas. So today I had big plans to get alot accomplished. That did not happen. I went out to my car at 9:25 this morning with the intent of dropping Joel off at Stacie's so I could go to my public speaking class and, of all days to do it, deliver a speech. I strap Joel in, turn the key - and nothing. Turn the key again - nothing. I run in and call Stacie in a panic because I will be toast if I don't give my speech.
She graciously offers to let me borrow her van so I can race to school. I get to the school in record time, slide into my seat just as the teacher is starting class and notice it's really stuffy in the classroom. My teacher says, oh FYI the air-conditioner is NOT working. So I give my speech, finish class and race back to Stacie's house. She drops back off at home where I call my other neighbor, Emily, and ask her if she would please pick my kids up from school at 3. She is more than willing to do that and give my van a jump start. Between the two of us rather incompetent car jumping women, we manage to properly jump start my van. YES!
I race over to checker auto where I bought the battery only to have them tell me the battery is fine, but I should go to a repair shop and have it charged! Ummm I thought they charged batteries there..... so I run to a automotive shop, and they are baffled as to why checker sent me to them and they send me to another Checker. Thankfully I am close to my house and they agree to charge the battery but it will take an hour!
Did I mention I had Joel with me? It was almost 2pm by this time and so I think....what's a little walk home going to do? Okay it sucked! I had to carry Joel the whole 5 blocks because if I didn't, he would jump stop and "smell the flowers". I did not have on walking shoes of any kind and I could feel the blisters forming with each step. By the time I got home, I was COVERED in sweat - oh by the way it was 107 degrees outside and about 70% humid. I kicked off my shoes and discovered two blisters, I had sweat dripping into my eyes and I could barely see so I had to head immediately for the nearest bathroom and wash up. Joel was all sweaty, but after a couple rounds of water he went down for a very late nap. I laid in my garments on top of my bed with the air conditioner on 77 and the fan going full blast. After 20 minutes I cooled off enough to feel comfortable but by that time the kids were coming home and then we had to go get the van which needed, no surprise, a new battery.
But once it was installed the van started right up! YES! Now I am on my way to get fast food for my family because I haven't been home long enough to do a single thing today. Now I have to pack for a 5 days trip by tonight. Oh the joy! I have decided cars are really a great blessing and so are great friends!! Thanks so much Emily and Stacie!!!

This and that

Lately I have been feeling like this! I always said I would never become a "frumpy" mom. But I have! I love hanging out in Paul's basketball shorts and a t-shirt, it's the most comfortable combination of clothing. If I don't have to go anywhere I will lounge in them all day. I will even pick up my kids from school in them, as long as I don't have to get out of the car. I am trying to wear my regular clothes more, but I honestly feel like they get stained up from cleaning and doing things with the kids. Paul is always asking me how my clothes get ruined so quickly. My response is usually the same - I have 4 kids!

Okay so remember the little man that broke into our house in February? Well he was sentenced to 5 years on prison and he has to pay us back for the damage he caused. I am not holding my breath on that one though. The interesting is, the month he broke into our house he also burglarized 3 other homes! And he owes all of us upwards of $20,000. He wrote a letter to the judge hoping for leniency and how badly his life has been etc., but never once mentioned any regret over what he had done. The sad thing is he was only 19 years old when all these burglaries occurred. Hopefully 5 years in jail will make him think about changing the direction in his life.

They are 6

It was 6 years ago today that I walked into Bergan Mercy Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska and told the nurse I was not feeling well and wanted to be checked by a doctor. She looked at me skeptically because I didn't appear to be in any pain and led me to an exam room where a doctor checked me out and found I was dilated to a 7 and Lacey's head was about ready to pop out.
It was a whirlwind from there trying to get me all prepped for a c-section. About an hour later two beautiful little girls were born. The first year was very challenging, but we certainly wouldn't have traded it for anything.

Happy Birthday Lacey & Jessica

(You'll have to excuse the odd way the pictures look - I
haven't really nailed down how to use our scanner the right way yet.)

Lacey and Jess during their first week home
My mom insisted I snap a picture of them next
to some object, so when they got older we could remember just
how they small they really were. Hence the reason they are next to a box
of baby wipes.

Once upon a time Jessica used to be mellow and Lacey
used to be loud - that has since changed.

Growing up and looking cute - if I say so myself...ha.ha..

Life is tough

Can any of you relate to this?