Easter 2009

I realize Easter was a few weeks ago, but better late than never, right? We had fun on Easter ... the Easter Bunny stopped by my parents house and all of us kids went on an Easter egg hunt! (Yes, our ages range between 21 and 28, but you're never too old for candy!) We had sandwich bags to put the candy in, but there was more candy than we thought so I shoved candy down my shirt, which my mom thought was hilarious. After that fun activity we colored Easter eggs. The boys had a Star Trek kit and the girls had a spring/flowers kit. That was fun too. Mitch probably had the best egg; he made his into a Star Trek space ship thing. It was sweet.

I always tease Mitch when he hangs out with my brothers for too long. You see, my brothers are ALWAYS joking around and being dorks. So when we hang out, Mitch starts joking around with my brothers and being as goofy as they are. I commented about it after we left and Mitch said that my bros make him feel like he's at scout camp. I don't know if that's good or bad ... they do make me laugh though so I like that.

On Easter Sunday Mitch and I attended church, which was extra special on Easter as always. I had to fight back tears almost the entire three hours. After that we were able to visit with most of Mitch's family and extended family, which was fun as always. We enjoy their company. After we left, I made Mitch stop at a park to fulfill a Latvian tradition. Our conversation went like this:

Lacey: Ooohh, can we stop at that park and swing on a swing?

Mitch: Why?

Lacey: Because, it's a Latvian tradition to swing on a swing on Easter. If you don't, you'll have bad luck for the rest of the year.

Mitch: I'm not going to swing on a swing, that's dumb. I'm a grown adult and everyone will make fun of me. Besides, you won't really have bad luck, that's just a silly superstition.

Lacey: I know it's silly and I don't believe in it, I just want to do it for old time's sake. You don't have to swing; I'll go by myself.

(Pulling into the park. Mitch always gives in. He's such a push over. Hee,hee. )

Mitch: I can't believe I'm swinging on a swing.

Lacey: See, it's not that bad. There's not that many people here and no one will make fun of you.

Mitch: Yeah, but now there will be sand in my car from our shoes.

Lacey (rolling her eyes): Whatever, I'll clean them off on the grass before I get in your precious, beloved car.

Mitch: What kind of luck do you get for sliding through the tube slide?

Lacey: I don't think that's a Latvian tradition. Pretty sure they don't have tube slides there.

So yes, we did the Latvian tradition and now we're expecting good luck!

Mitch is Mad at Me

Or mabye "annoyed" is a better word. Poor guy has been working so hard on our kitchen and I slowed down his progress tonight. I went visiting teaching and when I came home Mitch was outside. We talked for a minute and I went inside. On my way downstairs, I touched the railing, not knowing that Mitch had just touched it up with black paint. So yeah, I got some black paint on my thumb. Not a lot, but enough that Mitch had to touch it up again. He laughed it off and said sorry for forgetting to tell me not to touch the railing.
Well, guess what ... that's right ... not less that ONE hour later, I touched the stupid railing AGAIN! Only this time it was much worse. It got ALL over my hand and stupid me, the second I realized what I had done I gasped outloud and rubbed my hands together! What was I thinking???
This time Mitch was mad and said, "DON'T touch that!! This is the third time I've had to paint that tonight!!" Ooops! I know he was mad, but honestly, I thought it was funny. It only took two or three minutes for Mitch to touch it up (each time), so it wasn't a major set back, but I felt bad that I caused him so much anxiety.
He was so upset that he made a sign that says, "Don't touch!" and hung it on the railing. Ha,ha. I'm sorry, Mitch! I hope you still love me. :) And just for the record, I totally blame my dad for my almost non-existent short-term memory.

Love Story Meets Viva La Vida

Have you heard of the amazing pianist, Jon Schmidt? If you haven't, you're totally missing out. He is from Utah and he does a few local shows through out the year. I think he's simply brilliant. I love his arrangements. Plus, he's not just a pianist; he's a comedian, and he even does back flips. His music is current as opposed to boring, classical type music. I took Mitch to one of his shows last summer and Mitch actually liked it.
So, Jon's new song is "Love Story Meets Viva La Vida." Yup, he combined two of my favorite artists in one song: Taylor Swift and Coldplay. Give it a listen. It's my new running song. It totally pumps me up. Such a happy song ... Let me know what you think! (And BTW, can anyone tell me how to make the video smaller? I can't figure it out ... I'm not very computer-oriented.)

My Dear Annachka,

How I wish I could be in beautiful Lithuania this summer for your wedding! I would give anything to be there!!! Thank you for helping me learn Russian. Thank you for the laughs over "hot chocolate" at the cafe, which ended up being nothing more than a melted chocolate bar.
Most of all, thank you for your shining example of unwavering, unshakeable faith in the Gospel and our Savior. You simply amaze me. I will always look up to you, Annachka!
Pakachika,
Lacey a.k.a. Sister Miles
(Remember when we used to say "pakachika" to Sister Gillis and she would say it back, not knowing what it meant? That was so funny!)
Dear friends!

Many people ask us what presents do we want, it is very good to plan present list because we can receive 5 irons or 6 pans. Because of this, we clarify that if you will give us flowers it will be more than enough. We will move to Ireland at the end of July, so we will not be able to take all of our even useful gifts with us, of course we can leave them to our parents, but they already have irons.
Also, the color of our wedding is blue, so we would appreciate if you will put on something light blue. If you don’t have anything, then it can be a small accessories.
Thank you!

We love you,
Julius and Anna

Need a Job?

I'm in charge of hiring a new office assistant at my work. Anyone interested? I work for an insurance company that does retirement planning. Our office is in Layton, right off I-15.

• We need someone who can work 20 to 30 hours per week.
• Pay and benefits are negotiable.
• If you are in college we can work around your schedule.
• Duties include answering the phones, sending/recieving office mail, ordering office supplies, managing the postage/fax/and copy machine, etc.
• Also, you will be an assistant to two (maybe three) agents. As an assistant you will process applications and keep track of their progress. You will call clients and update them weekly on the status of their application.

If you're interested, you live in the area or don't mind traveling, and you think I like you enough to want to work with you, let me know! :) Or if you know anyone who might be interested, let me know. You can e-mail me at laceyq@comcast.net

Why I Hate Mowing the Lawn

I hate mowing the lawn. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Growing up my two brothers and I took turns mowing the lawn. Every three weeks I grudgingly took my turn. Many weeks I used my hard-earned money from teaching horse lessons to pay one of my bros ten bucks to mow the lawn on my turn. That was money well spent.

Before Mitch and I got married I told him that I refused to mow the lawn. I let him know that I would do the dishes, the laundry, scrub the toilet, and any other chore that a good wife should do, but I refused to mow the lawn. Mitch was fine with that. (He's such a perfectionist about the lawn that he probably didn't want me to do it anyways.)

Now we've been married for two years and I have never mowed the lawn. Until today. Mitch has been really busy lately with work, so I decided to be a good little wifey and mow the lawn. (Okay, I only mowed the front lawn ... the back lawn wasn't nearly as long.) As I was mowing, all the reasons why I hate mowing the lawn came flooding back to me. Only I realized that mowing the lawn now is way crappier than it ever was when I was a kid.

Why is it crappier now you ask? Because for whatever reason, my husband has a self- push mower instead of a self-propelled mower. Not only that, our lawn mower doesn't have a bag on it to catch the grass. So guess where the grass goes?? Wherever the heck it wants!! It gets everywhere!! All over the sidewalk, all over the driveway, and it clumps up in little piles all over the lawn, which I think makes the "nice" lawn mowing job look sloppy. I never understood why Mitch thinks mulching is so great; all it does is leave little piles of grass everywhere.

I'm sure my neighbors all had a good laugh at me tonight. I literally had to get a running start to push the mower up the little hill that is our front yard. I seriously felt like the biggest pansy. It got me thinking though ... Growing up I had friends who would say, "I don't have to mow the lawn because I'm a girl so my parents don't make me." I was always so jealous. As the only girl in my family (besides my mom of course), I wasn't excluded from much of the hard physical labor. I remember fertilizing the ENTIRE acre so the grass would grow for the horses. I remember getting lectured from my dad on the "proper" way to sweep the garage (use the little broom first to go around the edges, THEN use the big broom with short, swift sweeps to make a pile in the middle, THEN sweep it up in the dust pan). Honestly, I think the only hard physical thing I was excused from on account of my gender was digging irrigation ditches. I don't mean to make my parents sound like slave drivers; they weren't. They just taught us how to work hard. And while we didn't get allowance, we pretty much got whatever we wanted, but not in a spoiled-brat sort-of-way of course. We learned to work hard and my parents did as much as they could for us without spoiling us. And I must say I am very grateful for that now.

While I still hate mowing the lawn, especially with a self-push mower, I am glad that my parents didn't excuse me from those jobs because I'm a girl. I think it's important to learn the value of hard, physical work, boy or girl.

Plus, because I can start a lawn mower, I was able to get the leaf blower going so I could complete the extra step of removing the grass from the sidewalk and driveway, which, I must add, would not be necessary if there was a bag on the stinking lawn mower! I know Mitch hates throwing the grass in the garbage can because it fills it up really fast and it makes it stink, but we can get an extra garbage can for only twenty bucks a year, or something like that. Or there are some horses down the street whom I'm sure would LOVE some fresh cut grass to nibble on.

Whew, I feel much better now that I've let that all out. If Mitch wants to push the mower uphill, then more power to him. I want a self-propelled mower though. With a bag on it. I think we need to invest. But there is a positive to the self-push mower ... I don't have to do my arm workout at the gym tomorrow.

Tile Upon Tile, Precept Upon Precept

Yup, that was our weekend: tile and the Good Word of general conference. Mitch and his dad tiled our entire kitchen over the weekend. It looks AMAZING and I am so happy with it. THANK YOU so much, KEVIN, for your help!!! And THANKS, Mtich, for your hard work too!

Lest you think I did nothing, I'll have you know that I have now scrubbed the entire tile floor 6 times in order to get the haze of grout off. Now we just have to get the beadboard painted and put on the walls, paint the bar stools and light fixture, and put up new baseboard and chair rail. I'm so excited to see the final product. I love it thus far. I can't thank my father-in-law enough for spending his ENTIRE weekend at our house and my mother-in-law for her patience while Kevin spent the whole weekend helping Mitch. Thanks you guys!!! As always, I enjoyed listening to general conference this weekend. I was glad for the prophet's message of hope despite our economic circumstances. One thing President Monson said really struck me, "Your future is as bright as your faith." I love that and I truly believe it's true. It gives me hope that my children will grow up with safe, spiritual, and happy surroundings despite the wickedness that prevails in the world. I truly believe that despite the horrible things going on around us, there is still plenty of good and beauty in the world; things that will inspire, uplift, and encourage my children to be good people, live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and help others along their way. I think that too often we get caught up in the bad things and forget all the good. It truly is our faith that makes our future bright. With faith in Christ we can do all things.

Also, between conference sessions on Sunday, Mitch and I rode this beauty around the neighborhood.Isn't that awesome?? My grandparents bought this tandem bike brand new about 50 years ago. My uncle restored it and painted it dark green. He gave it to us when we went to Cali last year. We decided that this bike is great for anyone who needs relationship/couples counseling. You have to communicate well and work together to ride this bike without crashing! We didn't crash so I guess we communicate pretty well. It's a little scary until you get used to it, but it's a very comfortable ride!On the back fender the name, "Ethel" is printed in black letters. Ethel is my great-grandma's name, so I guess either my grandparents or uncle decided to name the bike Ethel. I'll have to ask who did that, it's pretty funny. We plan on cruisin' around on our Schwinn Twinn this summer!